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Danai Gurira was born in Grinnell, Iowa, to Josephine and Roger Gurira, who were from Zimbabwe. Her father was then teaching Chemistry at Grinnell College. When she was five, the family moved back to Zimbabwe, residing in the capital Harare. Gurira later returned to the United States, and studied social psychology at Macalester College, receiving an MFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She is the co-author of the play, "In the Continuum", with Nikkole Salter.- Actress
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Lauren Cohan is a British-American actress and model, best known for her role as Maggie Greene on The Walking Dead (2010) and recurring roles on The Vampire Diaries (2009), Supernatural (2005), and Chuck (2007). After her film debut on Casanova (2005) as Sister Beatrice, she starred in the sequel to National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj (2006), as Charlotte Higginson. Her next role was in the 2007 film, Float (2008). In February 2010, she was cast in Death Race 2 (2010), with Sean Bean and Danny Trejo, and also the supernatural-horror film The Boy (2016), where Lauren played the main character, Greta Evans. In 2016, Cohan also appeared as Martha Wayne in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).
She was born in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and moved to the United Kingdom as a teen. She graduated from the University of Winchester / King Alfred's College where she studied Drama and English Literature, before touring with a theatre company she co-founded at the University. Lauren then split her time and work between London and Los Angeles, working on several films as well as some non-commercial projects.- Actress
Nadia Hilker is a German actress, known for her roles in Spring (2014), The 100 (2014) and The Walking Dead (2010).
Nadia Hilker is a renowned German film and television actress who has been in the movie industry since 2010. Best known for her role in Spring and The 100, Hilker's love for acting dates back to her childhood days. Her nationality is German. Her father worked in IT while her mother worked at Lufthansa airline. The two only spent thirty-five years as husband and wife and had Nadia and her brother as children. Growing up with her only brother was fun for Hilker as both had adventurous spirits. On several occasions, they visited Paris from Munich just to have coffee on the Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris and also built tree houses in the forest near their home.
Before joining the movie industry, Hilker worked as a model. She was discovered by a model agent at a ballet school. She lost interest in modeling after a couple of years to give chase to her acting ambition.
The German star began her journey to stardom by taking on the famous role of Marie-Luise Seelig in the television movie Zimmer mit Tante (2010). In the same year, she scored the role of Xenia in the television movie The Route (2010), a drama movie written by Tobias Stille and directed by Florian Froschmayer.
Over the course of her acting career, she has made more than eighteen appearances on television movies and films. Her notable films include Spring (2014), In the Gallery (2014), The Divergent Series: Allegiant (2016), and Collide (2016). In 2015, she was decorated with the Fright Meter award for roles in her debut movie, Spring.
In addition to acting, Nadia is also good at writing. She once said that writing is the only creativity that helps her grow and explore the world. Her other hobbies are cooking and music. As for her musical influences, she named King of Pop Michael Jackson as one of her musical heroes.- Actress
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Samantha Morton has established herself as one of the finest actors of her generation, winning Oscar nominations for her turns in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and Jim Sheridan's In America (2002). She has the talent to become one of the major performers in the cinema of this young century.
Samantha Morton was born on May 13, 1977 in Nottingham, England to parents who divorced when she was three years old. Peter and Pamela Morton took other spouses and made Samantha part of a mixed family of 13; she has eight brothers and sisters. She turned to play-acting early in her life, while she was a school-girl.
At 13, she left regular school to train as an actress at the Central Junior Television Workshop, where she learned her craft for three years. It was at the end of her training then that she decided that a life as a professional actress was for her.
She honed her skills in television roles, working her way up from series television to TV-movies and prestigious mini-series, such as Emma (1996) and Jane Eyre (1997). Her first major film role, Under the Skin (1997), won her the Best Actress Award from the Boston Film Critics Society. Woody Allen cast her as Hattie, the "dumb" (unspeaking) lover of Sean Penn's caddish jazz guitarist in Sweet and Lowdown (1999), a beautiful performance in a role that could have flummoxed a less-talented performer. Penn was Oscar-nominated for his performance, but it was Morton's Hattie that was central to the success of the film, Allen's last unqualified success. She provided the moral and narrative center of the film. It was quite a remarkable performance for a 21-year old as she had to do all her acting with her face, having been shorn of her voice. The role of Hattie won Morton a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination.
Ironically, Morton had never seen a Woody Allen movie before. (She grew up watching the TV and listening to the radio.) She agreed to do the film after reading the script (as she says, well-written roles for women are hard to find), and the movie made her a hot commodity in Hollywood after she won the Oscar nomination. (She lost out to Angelina Jolie). Morton was offered many roles, but was very choosy as she was not in acting as a game with a payoff of stardom and money.
She had consolidated her reputation by following up the Allen film with work in indie features that showed that she was not only talented, but quite courageous as a performer. She played a heroin addict in the underrated Jesus' Son (1999) and gave a brilliant performance in Morvern Callar (2002), the story of a Scottish supermarket clerk coping with her boyfriend's suicide.
Steven Spielberg cast her, opposite superstar Tom Cruise, as the clairvoyant in Minority Report (2002), in which she more than held her own opposite Cruise and the special effects. (She took the role as Cruise and Steven Spielberg are favorites of hers). As good as she was, Morton was better served by Irish director Jim Sheridan, Sheridan cast her as a character modeled after his wife in an autobiographical picture more in line with persona and that made better use of her talents. Her performance as the young Irish mother coping with life in New York City in In America (2002) won her numerous critics' awards and another Oscar nod, this time as Best Actress.
At this point, one feels that the odds of her winning the Oscar are even or better. Samantha Morton continues to deliver fine work in provocative films such as Michael Winterbottom's Code 46 (2003), though she is branching out towards the mainstream, taking a role in the remake of that perennial family favorite, Lassie (2005).- Elizabeth Faith Ludlow is an American actress known for her portrayal of Arat in the AMC post-apocalyptic horror television series The Walking Dead (2016-2018), she is also recognized for her role as Mona over the course of 6 episodes of the USA TV series, Satisfaction and participated in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Elizabeth began her career in 2013. She portrayed a girl in an episode of The Vampire Diaries, television series. Since then, she has made her appearance in various television series, (2013) and subsequently Resurrection, Bound, Powers, Mr.Right, Satisfaction.
In 2016 she made her appearance in the movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as Easik Mother. The same year she also portrayed as Arat in the television series, The Walking Dead. Ludlow has also played as Agent Kat Ryan in Max Steel the same year. Elizabeth has made her appearance in various television series and movies. One of her most watched appearance as Arat in The Walking Dead. Ludlow will leave for Godzilla: King of the Monsters appear in a role not yet confirmed. - Actress
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Merritt Wever is an American actress, who earned an Emmy Award for playing the character Zoey on the Showtime series Nurse Jackie. She appeared in the films Birdman, Into the Wild, Neal Cassady, Michael Clayton, Series 7: The Contenders, Signs, The Adventures of Sebastian Cole, Bringing Rain, All I Wanna Do, and Marriage Story, among others. She appeared as a guest on the following television shows: Conviction, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and The Wire.
Merritt grew up in downtown New York and has been acting since she was very young. She graduated from LaGuardia High School and then attended Sarah Lawrence College. She was raised by her Texas-born mother to be politically progressive. When not acting or protesting, Merritt enjoys spending time with her cat Spooky or going to the theater with a friend. She also likes to eat steak, have a little wine, walk in the snow and talk to Canadians. Her favorite actors are Gena Rowlands, Meryl Streep and Michael J. Pollard. She lives in Manhattan.- Actress
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Brett Butler (born January 30, 1958) is an American actress, writer, and stand-up comedian. She played the title role in the comedy series Grace Under Fire.
Butler was born Brett Anderson in Montgomery, Alabama, the eldest of five sisters. Before experiencing success as a stand-up comic, she worked as a cocktail waitress.
One of the first notable appearances for Butler was on Dolly Parton's ill-fated 1987 variety series, Dolly. Parton hired Butler as a writer for the remainder of the show's season, but the series was subsequently canceled after one season of lackluster ratings.
She was the star of the ABC television show Grace Under Fire from 1993 to 1998. During the show, she battled a recurring drug addiction and spent time in rehab.
Butler published her memoirs, titled Knee Deep in Paradise, in 1996. The book was started before attaining her celebrity status, and candidly addresses much of this time frame, ending the autobiography before Grace Under Fire's television debut.
In February 1998, due to her erratic behavior stemming from substance abuse, she was dismissed from the show and ABC canceled the series.
After Grace was canceled in 1998, Butler moved out of Los Angeles and onto a farm in Georgia where she lived with 15 pets. In 2008, Butler headlined at an arts fundraiser and spoke freely with a reporter about her depression, past drug addiction, television work, and current life on a farm. She also expressed interest in writing another book.
In October 2011, Butler appeared on The Rosie Show and reported being sober since 1998. A 2011 Hollywood Reporter article said that when the money ran out, she turned to a homeless shelter for cover. By this time Butler was attempting to make a career comeback, and was working on developing a reality TV show about her self-professed psychic abilities and performing at the Downtown Comedy Club in Los Angeles.
Beginning in June 2012, Butler appeared in a recurring role on the CBS soap The Young and the Restless playing ex-psychiatrist Tim Reid's girlfriend.
Butler also had a recurring role as the bartender at the restaurant that Charlie Goodson frequents in the FX show Anger Management starring Charlie Sheen.- Actress
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Rutina Wesley is known for the character Tara Thorton, on the gritty Southern vampire drama, True Blood (2008). She was born in the city most renowned for glitz and glamour, Las Vegas, Nevada and was exposed to the arts at a very early age; in fact entertainment runs through her veins. Her father, Ivery Wheeler, is a noted tap dancer while her mother, Cassandra Wesley, performed on the Vegas strip as a showgirl. Rutina studied dance for years then earned an undergraduate degree in Theatre Performance from the University of Evansville in Indiana. She had the good fortune to be accepted by the acclaimed Julliard School. During Rutina's stint at Julliard, she was fortunate enough to spend a summer at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Fortune was with Rutina again when one of her Julliard classmates, Nelsan Ellis, reconnected with her when he became her co-star on True Blood (2008).
After leaving Julliard, Rutina was cast in the Broadway production of a David Hare play, "The Vertical Hour" opposite Bill Nighy. Rutina followed "The Vertical Hour" with an appearance in the Public Theater production, "In Darfur". Her small role in the hit movie, Hitch (2005), was cut from the completed film but that did not deter her from pursuing her dream. She made another big-screen appearance, this time in the dance melodrama How She Move (2007). She also guest starred on the hit television show Numb3rs (2005); however, her break came when she signed onto the HBO production, True Blood (2008).
True Blood (2008) is adapted from the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire literary series by Charlaine Harris and conceived for the small screen by Alan Ball of American Beauty (1999) and Six Feet Under (2001). Rutina's portrayal of Tara Thornton, a character whose caustic tongue and tough manner conceal her vulnerability, helped make True Blood (2008) a cult hit. The success of True Blood (2008) shocked naysayers when the vampire soap opera became a favorite of both critics and audiences alike. We'll be seeing more of Rutina in 2010 when True Blood (2008) returns for its third season.- Kristin grew up in Wisconsin. Her father was an avid horseman and her mother a housewife involved in charities. Kristin moved to Los Angeles and began acting after studying fine arts in St. Louis, Boston and New York. She still studies drawing and painting, and working to better the lives of animals and the environment. She lives in Los Angeles with her many rescued animals.
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Anna Camp grew up in South Carolina and is the daughter of Dee and Thomas Camp. Anna graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2004. She then moved to New York City and has appeared in films and television shows since 2007. From 2009 to 2014, she starred in the series True Blood (2008) as Sarah Newlin. She had a main role in The Mindy Project (2012) from 2012 to 2013. In 2011, Camp appeared in the film The Help (2011). She starred in Pitch Perfect (2012) and Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), playing the character of Aubrey Posen. She was married to Michael Mosley from 2010 to 2013 and married Skylar Astin in 2016.- Actress
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Jodie Comer is a British actress from Liverpool, England. She is known for playing Rey's mother in Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, Villanelle in Killing Eve, Marguerite de Carrouges in The Last Duel, Kate Parks from Doctor Foster, Millie Rusk in Free Guy and Chloe Gemell from My Mad Fat Diary.- Actress
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Sandra Oh was born to Korean parents in the Ottawa suburb of Nepean, Ontario, Canada. Her father, Oh Junsu, a businessman, and her mother, Oh Young-Nam, a biochemist, were married in Seoul, Korea. They both attended graduate school at the University of Toronto. Sandra began her career as a ballet dancer and eventually studied drama at the National Theatre School in Montreal. She then starred in a London (Ontario) stage production of David Mamet's "Oleanna" and appeared as the title character in the Canadian television production The Diary of Evelyn Lau (1994), beating out over 1,000 applicants. Her list of awards includes the FIPA d'Or for Best Actress at the 1994 Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels at Cannes, France, two Genie Awards (the Canadian Oscar), a Cable Ace Award, a Theatre World Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2003, she married writer-director Alexander Payne and their first film together was the Oscar-winning Sideways (2004).- Actress
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Winona Ryder was born Winona Laura Horowitz in Olmsted County, Minnesota, and was named after a nearby town, Winona, Minnesota. She is the daughter of Cynthia (Istas), an author and video producer, and Michael Horowitz, a publisher and bookseller. Her father's family is Ukrainian Jewish and Romanian Jewish. She grew up in a ranch commune in Northern California which had no electricity. She is the goddaughter of Timothy Leary. Her parents were friends of Beat poet Allen Ginsberg and once edited a book called "Shaman Woman Mainline Lady", an anthology of writings on the drug experience in literature, which included one piece by Louisa May Alcott. Ryder would later play the lead role of Josephine March in the adaptation of this author's novel Little Women (1994).
Ryder moved with her parents to Petaluma, California when she was ten and enrolled in acting classes at the American Conservatory Theater. At age 13, she had a video audition to the film Desert Bloom (1986), but did not get the role. However, director David Seltzer spotted her and cast her in Lucas (1986). When telephoned to ask how she would like to have her name appear on the credits, she suggested Ryder as her father's Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels album was playing the background. Ryder was selected for the role of Mary Corleone in The Godfather Part III (1990), but had to drop out of the role after catching the flu from the strain of doing the films Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990) and Mermaids (1990) back-to-back. She said she did not want to let everyone down by doing a substandard performance. She later made The Age of Innocence (1993), which was directed by Martin Scorsese, whom she believes to be "the best director in the world".- Actress
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Margot Elise Robbie was born on July 2, 1990 in Dalby, Queensland, Australia to Scottish parents. Her mother, Sarie Kessler, is a physiotherapist, and her father, is Doug Robbie. She comes from a family of four children, having two brothers and one sister. She graduated from Somerset College in Mudgeeraba, Queensland, Australia, a suburb in the Gold Coast hinterland of South East Queensland, where she and her siblings were raised by their mother and spent much of her time at the farm belonging to her grandparents. In her late teens, she moved to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia to pursue an acting career.
From 2008-2010, Robbie played the character of Donna Freedman in the long-running Australian soap opera, Neighbours (1985), for which she was nominated for two Logie Awards. She set off to pursue Hollywood opportunities, quickly landing the role of Laura Cameron on the short-lived ABC series, Pan Am (2011). She made her big screen debut in the film, About Time (2013).
Robbie rose to fame co-starring alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, portraying the role of Naomi Lapaglia in Martin Scorsese's Oscar nominated film, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). She was nominated for a Breakthrough Performance MTV Movie Award, and numerous other awards.
In 2014, Robbie founded her own production company, LuckyChap Entertainment. She also appeared in the World War II romantic-drama film, Suite Française (2014). She starred in Focus (2015) and Z for Zachariah (2015), and made a cameo in The Big Short (2015).
In 2016, she married Tom Ackerley in Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia.
She starred as Jane Porter in The Legend of Tarzan (2016), Tanya Vanderpoel in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016) and as DC comics villain Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad (2016), for which she was nominated for a Teen Choice Award, and many other awards.
She portrayed figure skater Tonya Harding in the biographical film I, Tonya (2017), receiving critical acclaim and a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress - Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.- Actress
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Jodie Foster started her career at the age of two. For four years she made commercials and finally gave her debut as an actress in the TV series Mayberry R.F.D. (1968). In 1975 Jodie was offered the role of prostitute Iris Steensma in the movie Taxi Driver (1976). This role, for which she received an Academy Award nomination in the "Best Supporting Actress" category, marked a breakthrough in her career. In 1980 she graduated as the best of her class from the College Lycée Français and began to study English Literature at Yale University, from where she graduated magna cum laude in 1985. One tragic moment in her life was March 30th, 1981 when John Warnock Hinkley Jr. attempted to assassinate the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. Hinkley was obsessed with Jodie and the movie Taxi Driver (1976), in which Travis Bickle, played by Robert De Niro, tried to shoot presidential candidate Palantine. Despite the fact that Jodie never took acting lessons, she received two Oscars before she was thirty years of age. She received her first award for her part as Sarah Tobias in The Accused (1988) and the second one for her performance as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).- Actress
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Angelina Jolie is an Academy Award-winning actress who rose to fame after her role in Girl, Interrupted (1999), playing the title role in the "Lara Croft" blockbuster movies, as well as Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Wanted (2008), Salt (2010) and Maleficent (2014). Off-screen, Jolie has become prominently involved in international charity projects, especially those involving refugees. She often appears on many "most beautiful women" lists, and she has a personal life that is avidly covered by the tabloid press.
Jolie was born Angelina Jolie Voight in Los Angeles, California. In her earliest years, Angelina began absorbing the acting craft from her actor parents, Jon Voight, an Oscar-winner, and Marcheline Bertrand, who had studied with Lee Strasberg. Her good looks may derive from her ancestry, which is German and Slovak on her father's side, and French-Canadian, Dutch, Polish, and remote Huron, on her mother's side. At age eleven, Angelina began studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, where she was seen in several stage productions. She undertook some film studies at New York University and later joined the renowned Met Theatre Group in Los Angeles. At age 16, she took up a career in modeling and appeared in some music videos.
In the mid-1990s, Jolie appeared in various small films where she got good notices, including Hackers (1995) and Foxfire (1996). Her critical acclaim increased when she played strong roles in the made-for-TV movies True Women (1997), and in George Wallace (1997) which won her a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination. Jolie's acclaim increased even further when she played the lead role in the HBO production Gia (1998). This was the true life story of supermodel Gia Carangi, a sensitive wild child who was both brazen and needy and who had a difficult time handling professional success and the deaths of people who were close to her. Carangi became involved with drugs and because of her needle-using habits she became, at the tender age of 26, one of the first celebrities to die of AIDS. Jolie's performance in Gia (1998) again garnered a Golden Globe Award and another Emmy nomination, and she additionally earned a SAG Award.
Angelina got a major break in 1999 when she won a leading role in the successful feature The Bone Collector (1999), starring alongside Denzel Washington. In that same year, Jolie gave a tour de force performance in Girl, Interrupted (1999) playing opposite Winona Ryder. The movie was a true story of women who spent time in a psychiatric hospital. Jolie's role was reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), the role which won Nicholson his first Oscar. Unlike "Cuckoo", "Girl" was a small film that received mixed reviews and barely made money at the box office. But when it came time to give out awards, Jolie won the triple crown -- "Girl" propelled her to win the Golden Globe Award, the SAG Award and the Academy Award for best leading actress in a supporting role.
With her newfound prominence, Jolie began to get in-depth attention from the press. Numerous aspects of her controversial personal life became news. At her wedding to her Hackers (1995) co-star Jonny Lee Miller, she had displayed her husband's name on the back of her shirt painted in her own blood. Jolie and Miller divorced, and in 2000, she married her Pushing Tin (1999) co-star Billy Bob Thornton. Jolie had become the fifth wife of a man twenty years her senior. During her marriage to Thornton, the spouses each wore a vial of the other's blood around their necks. That marriage came apart in 2002 and ended in divorce. In addition, Jolie was estranged from her famous father, Jon Voight.
In 2000, Jolie was asked to star in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001). At first, she expressed disinterest, but then decided that the required training for the athletic role was intriguing. The eponymous character was drawn from a popular video game. Lara Croft was a female cross between Indiana Jones and James Bond. When the movie was released, critics were unimpressed with the final product, but critical acclaim wasn't the point of the movie. The public paid $275 million for theater tickets to see a buffed up Jolie portray the adventuresome Lara Croft. Jolie's father Jon Voight appeared in the movie, and during filming there was a brief rapprochement between father and daughter.
One of the Lara Croft movie's filming locations was Cambodia. While there, Jolie witnessed the natural beauty, culture and poverty of that country. She considered this an eye opening experience, and so began the humanitarian chapter of her life. Jolie began visiting refugee camps around the world and came to be formally appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Some of her experiences were written and published in her popular book "Notes from My Travels" whose profits go to UNHCR.
Jolie has stated that she now plans to spend most of her time in humanitarian efforts, to be financed by her actress salary. She devotes one third of her income to savings, one third to living expenses and one third to charity. In 2002, Angelina adopted a Cambodian refugee boy named Maddox, and in 2005, adopted an Ethiopian refugee girl named Zahara. Jolie's dramatic feature film Beyond Borders (2003) parallels some of her real life humanitarian experiences although, despite the inclusion of a romance between two westerners, many of the movie's images were too depressingly realistic -- the movie was not popular among critics or at the box office.
In 2004, Jolie began filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) with co-star Brad Pitt. The movie became a major box office success. There were rumors that Pitt and Jolie had an affair while filming Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Jolie insisted that because her mother had been hurt by adultery, she herself could never participate in an affair with a married man, therefore there had been no affair with Pitt at that time. Nonetheless, Pitt separated from his wife Jennifer Aniston in January 2005 and, in the months that followed, he was frequently seen in public with Jolie, apparently as a couple. Pitt's divorce was finalized later in 2005.
Jolie and Pitt announced in early 2006 that they would have a child together, and Jolie gave birth to daughter Shiloh that May. They also adopted a three-year-old Vietnamese boy named Pax. The couple, who married in 2014 and divorced in 2019, continue to pursue movie and humanitarian projects, and now have a total of six children. She was appointed Honorary Dame Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George at the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours for her services to United Kingdom foreign policy and the campaign to end warzone sexual violence.- Actress
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Clea DuVall was born in Los Angeles on September 25, 1977, to Rosemary (Hatch) and actor Steph DuVall. DuVall's teenage years presented her with many challenges. Her parents divorced when she was twelve, and, when her mother remarried, DuVall moved out because she did not feel at home in the newly-reconstituted family, dropping out of high school and getting her own apartment. An only child, she sought entertainment in movies and television programs, which she consumed voraciously, memorizing entire scenes from movies. Though a rather shy person, DuVall decided she wanted to be an actress, and returned to high school, this time the Los Angeles High School of the Arts. However, the rigors of independent living (she had to work to support herself) meant that she could spend little time in class, and, as a result, she fared poorly in the school.
Nonetheless, DuVall had intensity, commitment and strong natural talent, and soon after graduating, the roles began to come, at first guest spots in television programs and small roles in small films. Soon her first major role came, in Robert Rodriguez's successful 1998 take on the alien-body-snatcher genre, The Faculty (1998), which featured many other up-and-coming young actors such as Elijah Wood and Josh Hartnett, as well as a strong cast of established adult performers. DuVall played Stokely, a bizarre, tough Goth Girl. This role was typical of DuVall's casting - the outsider, attractive though in an edgy and sometimes slightly disturbing way. (DuVall is pretty and can be glamorous, or can appear rough-around-the-edges, for a role.) Similar roles came in But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) as a tattooed lesbian and Girl, Interrupted (1999) as a mental patient.
DuVall is a complex person - soft-spoken and friendly, yet tough and independent - and she ably lends this complexity to her characters, making her a popular casting choice. She continues to turn in strong performances in such productions as the ensemble thriller Identity (2003), the HBO supernatural series Carnivàle (2003) and the critically-praised 21 Grams (2003). DuVall is a chain smoker and a close friend of director Jamie Babbit. She is no relation to veteran actors Robert Duvall or Shelley Duvall.- Actress
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Brittany Murphy was born Brittany Anne Bertolotti on November 10, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia, to Sharon Kathleen Murphy and Angelo Joseph Bertolotti. Her father's ancestry is Italian, and her mother is of Irish and Slovak descent. Her father moved the family back to Edison, New Jersey as a native New Yorker and to be closer to other siblings from previous marriages. While dining out one night in the presence of Hollywood royalty, Brittany at the age of 5 approached an adjoining table when Academy Award nominee Burt Reynolds and George Segal were seated. Brittany introduced herself to the Hollywood legends and confidently told them that someday she too would be a star.
She comes from a long line of international musicians and performers with three half-brothers and a sister. Angelo Bertolotti was torn from their tight-knit family as a made-man with the Italian Mafia. The Senior Bertolotti, who coined the nickname of "Britt" for his daughter, was also an entrepreneur and diplomat for organized crime families and one of the first to be subjected to a RICO prosecution. Brittany's interests and well-being were always her father's first goal and objective. To distance his talented daughter from his infamous past, Angelo allowed Sharon to use her maiden name for Brittany's, so that her shining star would not be overshadowed by a father's past, with the couple divorcing thereafter.
Brittany began receiving accolades and applause in regional theater at the early age of 9. At the age of 13, she landed several national commercials. She appeared on television and caught the attention of a personal manager and an agent. Soon, Brittany's mother Sharon turned full-time to being a "Stage Mom" where Angelo provided financial support throughout and their relationship is memorialized with a long and close history in pictures. The hopeful daughter and mother moved to Burbank, CA, where Brittany landed her first television role on Blossom (1990). Hearts and doors opened up for a starring role on Drexell's Class (1991), a short lived TV series.
Brittany's big screen movie debut started with Clueless (1995), where she was co-starring with Alicia Silverstone. Britt soared, demonstrating her musical and artistic talents with dramatic and comedic roles landing a nomination for best leading female performance in the Young Artist Awards for her role in the television film David and Lisa (1998). She garnered tremendous attention for her role in Girl, Interrupted (1999) with Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie. Brittany's band, "Blessed Soul" was growing with her as lead singer and Britt lent her vocal talents to the TV hit, cartoon sensation, King of the Hill (1997) as the voice of Luanne.
She is alleged to have been a witness in the case of the former Department of Homeland Security employee and persecuted whistleblower Julia Davis. According to Davis, Brittany and her fiancée Simon Monjack were then targeted for retaliation that included land and aerial surveillance and a threatened prosecution. Monjack was arrested and detained by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Brittany and Simon confided in Alex Ben Block of the Hollywood Reporter, telling him in an interview that they were under surveillance by helicopters and their telephones have been wiretapped. This information was published by THR posthumously, in an article entitled "The Last Difficult Days of Brittany Murphy."
On December 20, 2009, Brittany Murphy died an untimely death. The LAPD and Los Angeles County Coroner closed the case within one hour, attributing her death to pneumonia and anemia. Five months after Brittany's unexpected demise, her husband Simon Monjack was found dead in the house he shared with Brittany. The chief/spokesperson at the Los Angeles County Dept of Coroner, Craig Harvey, stated that Simon also died from the same exact causes as his wife, namely pneumonia and anemia. Neither Brittany, nor Simon, were given a thorough and complete forensic autopsy for poisons. Brittany's father, Angelo "AJ" Bertolotti, is pursuing the investigation of the true reasons behind Brittany's and Simon's sudden demise, as he believes that the two were murdered. Abnormally high levels of heavy metals and poisons were discovered in Brittany's hair, tested by two other independent forensic labs with famed Pathologist, attorney Cyril Wecht concluded from the appearances, Brittany could have been murdered and should be exhumed. Her father Angelo is preparing court actions to ensure she obtains justice.- Actress
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Kirsten Vangsness has been widely known as the bespectacled-brainy-tech-kitten Penelope Garcia on the CBS hit drama "Criminal Minds" (and its spin-off "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior" and "Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders"). She has long been a fan favorite, beloved for her vibrant personality and quirky style. Most recently "Criminal Minds" was re-imagined for Paramount+ and picked up for its second season on the streamer, making that a grand total of 17 seasons and counting for the iconic series. Kirsten has been a staple in homes across the world for over 18 years. Alongside starring in the series, she has co-written five episodes for the procedural series, including the series finale, alongside show runner Erica Messer.
Kirsten was selected to present her one-woman show, "MESS," and ensemble production of "Cleo, Theo and Wu" on the international stage at the prestigious 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe as part of her FEMPIRE series. Her collection of shows cultivate power within the feminine self on a stage, and empower others to find their light and create opportunities for all women to shine.
Kirsten can be heard as part of the voice cast for the sci-fi comedy podcast, "Voyage to the Stars." Set in the year 2263, the series follows a misfit space crew tasked to investigate what lurks behind a wormhole. Kirsten voices a lesbian space alien who falls into a love triangle with members of the space crew.
In features, Kirsten has been seen at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah for the world premiere of the adventure comedy film; "Dave Made A Maze". Directed by Bill Waterson, the feature re-imagines the classic 80's adventure film, with a modern fantastical edge. Kirsten was also seen at the Film Noir festival in Paris for the premiere of the spoof "Kill Me, Deadly", a feature she both starred in and produced. Based on Bill Roben's critically acclaimed play of the same name, Kirsten plays the torch-singing femme fatale.
In September 2016, Kirsten and her two business partners opened Blinking Owl Distillery, the very first craft distillery to open in Orange County. Based in Santa Ana, Blinking Owl exploded onto the scene, receiving numerous positive reviews and accolades since the grand opening. They are now helping supply multiple businesses with their signature hand sanitizer; Dirty Bird.
She has enjoyed a long and varied career, which includes being a longtime member and former president of Hollywood's Theatre of Note's Artistic Board. Her stage work has garnered the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Natalie Schafer Award for best emerging comic actress, the 15 Minutes of Fem Best Actress Award, and a Garland Award for best actress for the West Coast premiere of Neil LaBute's Fat Pig at the Geffen Playhouse.
Kirsten is originally from Porterville, CA and graduated from California State University, Fullerton. She currently resides in Los Angeles, and can currently be seen weekly on her Youtube show; Kirsten's Agenda.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Paget Brewster is an American actress. Her career started in the early 1990s, but her breakthrough was portraying FBI agent Emily Prentiss in the long-running police procedural series "Criminal Minds" (2005-2020, 2022-). Prentiss was introduced as the replacement to the character of Elle Greenaway (played by Lola Glaudini) who resigned in the 2nd season. Brewster portrayed the character regularly from 2006 to 2012, and again since 2016.
Brewster is also a prominent voice actress in animation. Her most prominent voice roles so far were portraying the reporter Audrey Timmonds in "Godzilla: The Series" (1998-2000), the super-heroine Birdgirl/Judy Ken Sebben in "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law" (2000-2018) and the sequel series "Birdgirl" (2021-2022), bounty hunter Rona Vipra in "Duck Dodgers" (2003-2005). Lana Lang in "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" (2012), Lois Lane in "Justice League: Gods and Monsters" (2015), Poison Ivy in "Batman and Harley Quinn" (2017) , and the adventurer Della Duck in "DuckTales" (2017-2021). Della was depicted as the twin sister of Della Duck. The character of Della was created for the "Donald Duck" comic strip in 1937, but had been limited to minor appearances until her re-introduction in "DuckTales" .
In 1969, Brewser was born in Concord, Massachusetts, to Galen Brewster and his wife Hathaway Tew. Both of her parents worked as school administrators at Middlesex School, a non-sectarian high school located in Concord. Brewster spend most of her early life in Massachusetts. She moved to New York City for her college education, as a design student at the Parsons School of Design. During her first year there, she took some acting roles. She eventually decided to drop out of the design school, and to pursue acting as a full-time career.
In the mid-1990s, Brewster moved to San Francisco, in order to take acting classes. In 1995, she became the host of the late-night talk show "The Paget Show" at KPIX-TV. Her first notable acting role in television was portraying the recurring role of the actress Kathy in the fourth season of the sitcom "Friends". She appeared in the series from 1997 to 1998. Kathy was depicted as a love interest to both Joey Tribbiani (played by Matt LeBlanc) and Chandler Bing (played by Matthew Perry). The love triangle caused some problems in the relationship of the two men. Kathy was written out of the series when she left Chandler for another man. Following this role, Brewster started appearing regularly in various films.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Jane Marie Lynch is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series Glee (2009-2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. Lynch also gained recognition for her roles in Christopher Guest's mockumentary films, such as Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003) and For Your Consideration (2006).- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Houston, Texas native Chandra Wilson began performing in musicals at the age of five with Theatre Under the Stars. She attended Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and later went on to acquire her BFA in Drama from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts through which she spent four years at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. Chandra's first series regular job was on ABC's Bob Patterson (2001) in the role of Claudia Hopper. She has made numerous other television appearances including guest-starring and recurring roles. She has also appeared in national television commercials for Blockbuster Video, Burger King, Scope, and the United Negro College Fund as well as numerous radio commercials.
Aside from film and television, she has several New York stage credits. Her portrayal of Bonna Willis in the production of "The Good Times are Killing Me" by Lynda Barry (both at the Second Stage and Minetta Lane Theatres) won her a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance.
Some of her other stage credits include "Paper Moon: The Musical" at the Papermill Playhouse, "The Family of Mann" by Theresa Rebeck, "Believing" for the Young Playwright's Festival and the Broadway production of "On the Town" directed by George C. Wolfe.- Actress
- Producer
- Music Department
Sara Ramirez was born in Mazatlán, Mexico, on August 31, 1975, and moved to the United States at 7 after their parents' divorce. Sara is a graduate of The Juillard School (1997). Ramirez made their Broadway debut in the Paul Simon musical The Capeman (1998) before winning a Tony Award for their portrayal of the Lady of the Lake in the 2005 production of Spamalot.
Ramirez appeared as Dr. Callie Torres in 239 episodes of the ABC hit Grey's Anatomy, and has gained acclaim for their role as Che Diaz in the Sex and the City reboot, "And Just Like That..."
In addition to their acting career, Sara is a singer/songwriter and activist in support of LGBT rights. They are a member of the True Colors United board of directors and the San Diego, New York, and San Francisco LGBT Centers. In 2015, they were awarded the Ally for Equality Award by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Katherine Marie Heigl was born on November 24, 1978 in Washington, D.C., to Nancy Heigl (née Engelhardt), a personnel manager, and Paul Heigl, an accountant and executive. Her father is of German/Swiss-German and Irish descent, and her mother is of German ancestry. A short time after her birth, the family moved to New Canaan, Connecticut, where Katherine was to spend the majority of her childhood; the youngest member of her family, Katherine--or "Katie" as she is nicknamed--has two elder siblings, John and Meg. Tragically, her older brother Jason died in 1986 of brain injuries suffered in a car accident, after being thrown from the back of a pickup truck. When doctors determined he was brain-dead, the family made the difficult decision to donate his organs. Not only did this painful chapter give Katherine a greater perspective and appreciation for life, but it motivated her to use her celebrity to promote the importance of organ donation.
Katherine was first thrust into the limelight as a child model. An aunt, visiting the family in New Canaan, took a number of photographs of Katherine, then aged nine, in a series of poses to advertise a hair care product she had invented. Upon returning to New York, with permission from Katherine's parents, she sent the photos to a number of modeling agencies. Within a few weeks, Katherine had been signed to Wilhelmina, a renowned international modeling agency. Almost immediately, she made her debut in a magazine advertisement and soon followed this with an inaugural television appearance in a national commercial for Cheerios breakfast cereal.
Following a number of commercials and modeling assignments for Sears and Lord & Taylor, she made her big-screen debut in That Night (1992), which starred Juliette Lewis and C. Thomas Howell. It was then that she realized that acting rather than modeling was her passion. In 1993, Katherine appeared in Steven Soderbergh's critically-acclaimed Depression-era drama, King of the Hill (1993), before landing her first leading role as a rebellious teenager, alongside Gérard Depardieu, in My Father the Hero (1994). During this time, Katherine continued to attend New Canaan High School, balancing her academic studies with work on films and modeling, which she undertook during holidays, vacations and weekends.
In 1995, she played "Sarah Ryback", the niece of Steven Seagal's character, in Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995), which was her "debut" in the action film genre. Acting was now becoming a stronger focus for Katherine, although she still modeled extensively, appearing regularly in magazines such as "Seventeen". Television appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992) and Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993) soon followed, before she took the lead role in Disney's Wish Upon a Star (1996) in 1996. It was also during that year that Katherine's parents divorced and, following her graduation from high school in 1997, she moved with her mother into a four-bedroom house in Los Angeles' Malibu Canyon area. This enabled her to focus upon acting with the guidance and support of her mother, who now managed her career.
In 1997, Katherine portrayed "Taffy Entwhistle", Rita Hayworth's stand-in, in Stand-ins (1997) and was also cast as the beauteous "Princess Ilene" in the European production, Prince Valiant (1997). She then made her made-for-TV movie debut, co-starring with Peter Fonda in a re-working of the classic Shakespearean play, The Tempest (1998), updated with an American Civil War theme. In this film, she played "Miranda Prosper", a young woman torn between her love for both her father and a Union soldier. Bug Buster (1998) and Bride of Chucky (1998) represented a venture into the horror genre for Katherine. While both films could be described as rather tongue-in-cheek despite their gory emphases, Bride of Chucky (1998) was the better received, both critically and commercially.
In 1999, Katherine decided to branch out into series television when she accepted the role of the haughty, yet vulnerable, "Isabel Evans", on Roswell (1999), a show that blended teen angst with sci-fi drama. Though she had never planned to embark on a career in television, the role of Isabel, a teenager with a secret life, was an offer she found impossible to refuse. In the series, Isabel, her brother Max (Jason Behr) and their friend Michael (Brendan Fehr) are aliens passing as humans in Roswell, New Mexico, as they desperately try to hide the truth from government agencies, the people of Roswell and even their own adopted families. To publicize her role on the show, Katherine graced the covers of magazines such as "TV Guide", "Maxim" and "Teen" and was interviewed on Later (1994) and The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (1999). Along with her mother Nancy, she also appeared in an episode of the Sci-Fi TV talk show, Crossing Over with John Edward (2001), during which she spoke with John Edward, a psychic medium, about her late brother, Jason. During the three years Roswell (1999) was in production, Katherine found time to work on several movies. 100 Girls (2000), an independent film released in 2001, is the story of a college freshman who meets the girl of his dreams in an elevator during a blackout, and spends the rest of the movie trying to find her again. Her cameo role is that of Arlene, the competitive tomboy. The second film, Valentine (2001), a horror film starring David Boreanaz and Denise Richards, appeared in U.S. theaters on February 2, 2001. In this movie, which is based upon the 1996 novel by Tom Savage, Katherine plays "Shelley", a medical student who meets a sudden demise.
In the spring of 2001, Katherine accepted a role in NBC's Critical Assembly (2002), a two-hour original television thriller. Katherine and Kerr Smith (Dawson's Creek (1998)) co-starred as brilliant and politically concerned college students who build a nuclear device to illustrate the need for a change in national priorities, but are betrayed by a fellow student when the bomb ends up in the hands of a terrorist. Unfortunately, the telefilm, directed by Eric Laneuville, written by Tom Vaughan, and based on the best-seller "The Seventh Power" by James Mills, was shelved when its storyline was deemed too close for comfort to the events of September 11, 2001. It was eventually broadcast in 2003. Since the cancellation of Roswell (1999) in the spring of 2002, Katherine has been busy with various projects, including an appearance on UPN's update of the classic television series, The Twilight Zone (2002). That episode, entitled Cradle of Darkness (2002), aired on October 2, 2002, and featured Katherine in the role of a woman who goes back in time to stop one of the most notorious murders in history. In addition, she completed a movie, Descendant (2003), a psychological thriller inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher". She has also starred as "Romy" in ABC/Touchstone's two-hour telepic, Romy and Michele: In the Beginning (2005), a prequel to the 1997 feature, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997). During the summer of 2002, Katherine made a major decision in the direction of her career when she signed on for representation in all areas with the William Morris Agency, one of the biggest and most prestigious agencies in the entertainment industry. She is now being represented by Norman Aladjem at Paradigm Agency and being managed by Nancy Heigl and Stephanie Simon and Jason Newman at Untitled Entertainment.