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- Actress
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Bria Vinaite was born on 10 June 1993 in Lithuania. She is an actress and writer, known for The Florida Project (2017), Untitled Bria Vinaite Project and The OA (2016).- Actor
- Producer
Arnas Fedaravicius is a Lithuanian actor and producer known for his role as Sihtric in the British historical fiction series, The Last Kingdom.
Studying at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Fedaravicius was on the fast track to the screen, also receiving intensive stunt training, which was soon to become useful for his fight scenes in the popular period piece.
With credited acting roles in productions including Deadly Code (2013), Chasing Solace (2015) and Access All Areas (2017), Fedaravicius became more visible with the portrayal of Andrus in the television drama series Thicker Than Water. Appearing in several roles over the series duration, something bigger was waiting ahead.
The release of its first episodes in late 2015 captured an audience beyond borders, but The Last Kingdom was far from its peak. Co-produced by Netflix, where the show now airs, the series soon cast Fedaravicius in the of Sihtric, a character whose story is far deeper than the eye can see.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Laurence Harvey was a British movie star who helped usher in the 1960s with his indelible portrait of a ruthless social climber, and became one of the decade's cultural icons for his appearances in socially themed motion pictures.
Harvey was born Zvi Mosheh Skikne on October 1, 1928 in Joniskis, Lithuania, to Ella (Zotnickaita) and Ber Skikne. His family was Jewish. The youngest of three brothers, he emigrated with his family, to South Africa in 1934, and settled in Johannesburg. The teenager joined the South African army during World War II, and was assigned to the entertainment unit. His unit served in Egypt and Italy, and after the war the future Laurence Harvey returned to South Africa and began a career as an actor. He moved to London after winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. He then did his apprenticeship in regional theatre, moving to Manchester in the 1940s. The tyro actor reportedly supported himself as a hustler while appearing with the city's Library Theatre. Even at this point in his life he was known to be continually in debt and adopted a firm belief in living beyond his means, a pattern that would continue until his premature death. His lifestyle would often dictate working on less worthy projects for the sake of a paycheck.
His film debut came in House of Darkness (1948), and he was soon signed by Associated British Studios. His early film roles proved underwhelming, and his attempt to become a stage star was disastrous - his debut in the revival of "Hassan" was a notorious flop. After failing in the commercial theater in London's West End, Harvey joined the company of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon for the 1952 season. Regularly panned by critics during his stint on the boards in the Bard's works, he built up his reputation as a personality by becoming combative, telling the press that he was a great actor despite the bad reviews. Someone was listening, as Romulus Pictures signed him in 1953 and began building him up as a star.
Harvey was cast as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (1954), a film that exemplified the main problem that kept Harvey from major stardom (but subsequently would serve him quite well in a handful of roles): his screen persona was emotionally aloof if not downright frigid. Despite his icy portrayal of the great romantic hero Romeo, Harvey attracted enough attention in Hollywood to be brought over by Warner Bros. and given a lead role in King Richard and the Crusaders (1954).
In Old Blighty with Romulus after his Hollywood adventure, Harvey met his future wife Margaret Leighton on the set of The Good Die Young (1954). Other film appearances included I Am a Camera (1955) and Three Men in a Boat (1956), the latter becoming his first certified hit, and even greater success was to come. The colorful Harvey, a press favorite, became notorious for his high-spending, high-living ways. He found himself frequently in debt, his travails faithfully reported by entertainment columnists. More fame was to come.
After making three flops in a row, Harvey began a brief reign as the Jack the Lad of British cinema with the great success of Room at the Top (1958). That film and Look Back in Anger (1959), which was also released that year, inaugurated the "kitchen sink" school of British cinema that revolutionized the country's film industry and that of its cousin, Hollywood, in the 1960s.
Harvey was born to play Joe Lampton, if not in kin, then in kind. Lampton was a working-class bloke who dreams of escaping his social strata for something better. It was a perfect match of actor and role, as the icy Harvey persona made Joe's ruthless ambition to climb the greasy pole of success fittingly chilling. In bringing Joe to life on the screen, Harvey was more successful than Richard Burton (a far better actor) had been in limning the theater's Jimmy Porter in the film adaptation of John Osborne's seminal "Look Back in Anger," despite Burton's own working-class background. Burton's volcanic use of his mellifluous voice, a great instrument, is much too hot for the the small universe on the screen, a case of projection that is so intense that it overwhelms the character and the film (it took Burton another half-decade to learn to act on film, and a half-decade more to lose that gift). Whereas Burton had to learn to rein it in, Harvey's already tightly controlled persona made the social-climbing Lampton resonate. Harvey fits the skin of the character much better than does Burton. Despite not being an authentic specimen, the success of his performance as a working-class man-on-the-make proved to be the vanguard of a new generation of screen characters that would be played by the real thing: Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay, Terence Stamp and Michael Caine, among others. "Room at the Top" signaled the appearance of the New Wave of British cinema. For his role as Joe, Harvey received his first (and only) Academy Award nomination.
While historically significant, "Room at the Top" is no longer ranked at the summit of other, more contemporary kitchen-sink dramas, such as Karel Reisz's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), Tony Richardson's A Taste of Honey (1961) and Lindsay Anderson's This Sporting Life (1963), or even John Schlesinger's provincial comedy Billy Liar (1963), films that made stars out of the authentic working-class/provincial actors Finney, Alan Bates, Richard Harris and Courtenay, respectively. The virtue of the film is its emotional honesty about the manipulation of personal relationships for social gain in postwar Britain, a system that after a decade under the Conservatives had become self-satisfied and complacent. In its portrayal of class warfare, the film offers the most intense critique of the British class system offered by any film from the British New Wave, including "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning," which never leaves the confines of the working-class strata its main character, Arthur Seaton, is stuck in and ultimately reconciled to.
That Joe chooses a woman other than the one he really loves in order to gain social mobility, engaging in emotional manipulation of other human beings, is a brutal indictment of the class structure of postwar Britain. Joe, on his way to his wedding and his great chance, has lost his humanity. His failure is symbolic of Britain's failure as well. It is the haughtiness and narcissism of the actor Harvey (qualities his screen persona engenders in film after film) that elucidates Lampton's weakness. A further irony of Harvey's effective, if ersatz, portrayal of working-class Joe is that it made him such a success - he soon went off to Hollywood to play opposite box-office titan Elizabeth Taylor in BUtterfield 8 (1960), thus losing out on further opportunities to appear in the British New Wave he helped introduce. As well as supporting Taylor in her Oscar-winning turn in "Butterfield 8" (the two became close friends), a badly miscast Harvey also co-starred as Texas hero Col. James Travis in John Wayne's bloated budget-buster The Alamo (1960).
With the exception of the lead in the British Jungle Fighters (1961)- a war picture that was decidedly NOT New Wave - Harvey did not appear again in a major British film until 1965, when he returned to the other side of the pond to reprise Joe in the "Room" sequel Life at the Top (1965). However, if he had never gone Hollywood, he might never have been cast in his other signature role: Raymond Shaw, the eponymous The Manchurian Candidate (1962). Once again, the match of actor and character was ideal, as Harvey's coldness and affect-free acting perfectly embodied the persona of the programmed assassin. The film, and Harvey's performance in it, are classic.
In this Hollywood interlude, Harvey also appeared in the screen adaptations of Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke (1961) opposite the great Geraldine Page, Oscar-nominated for her role, and the artistically less successful Walk on the Wild Side (1962), supported by the legendary Barbara Stanwyck, French beauty Capucine and a young Jane Fonda. The critics were less kind to his acting in these outings, and, indeed, the rather elegant Harvey does seem miscast as Dove Linkhorn, the wandering Texan created by hardboiled Nelson Algren, reduced to working in an automotive garage by the exigencies of the Great Depression. Critics were even less kind when Harvey tried to follow in Leslie Howard's footsteps in the remake of Of Human Bondage (1964).
Although he could not know it then, Harvey had reached the zenith of his career. In 1962 he won the Best Actor prize at the Munich film festival in 1962 for his role in The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962). Honors for Harvey were few after this point. He co-starred with Paul Newman and Claire Bloom in Martin Ritt's film version of the Broadway re-envisioning of Akira Kurosawa's cinematic masterpiece Rashomon (1950). The result, The Outrage (1964), in which Newman played a murderous Mexican bandit and Harvey his victim, was an unqualified flop that still boggles the mind of viewers unfortunate enough to stumble upon it, so outrageous is the idea of casting Newman as a Mexican killer (a role originated by Rod Steiger on the Broadway stage). Harvey, very often a wooden presence in his less inspired performances, was appropriately upstaged by the tree he remained tied to throughout most of the film.
Along with "Life at the Top," Harvey appeared in support of Oscar-winner Julie Christie in John Schlesinger's Darling (1965), an allegedly "mod" look at the jaded and superficial existence of what was then termed the "jet set." Despite its "New Wave"-like cutting and visual sense, "Darling" - which was embraced wholeheartedly by Hollywood and originally had been envisioned as a vehicle for Shirley MacLaine - was, at its heart, an old-fashioned Hollywood-style morality play, a warning that the wages of sin lead to emotional emptiness, hardy a revolutionary idea in 1965. Christie was excellent - particularly as she metamorphosed from Dolly-bird to a more mature sort of hustler - and first-male lead Dirk Bogarde always proved an interesting actor, but it was Harvey who most clearly embodied the zeitgeist of the picture. Once again, his coldness did him well as he limned the executive who manipulates and is manipulated by Christie's Diana character.
Harvey had become at this point a kind of good-luck charm for actresses with whom he appeared. Simone Signoret, Elizabeth Taylor and Christie won Best Actress Oscars after appearing in films with him, and Geraldine Page and "Room at the Top" co-star Hermione Baddeley were both Oscar-nominated in the period after appearing opposite Harvey. Alas, no one else collected kudos in a Harvey picture: he reached the high-water mark of his career in 1962, and his star was already in in decline to a murkier, less-lustrous part of the Hollywood/international cinema firmament.
Another irony of Harvey's career is that, despite ushering in the British New Wave and a cinema more independent of the meat-grinder ethos of the Hollywood and British studios catering to popular taste, he would have been better served in the 1930s and 1940s as a contract player at a major studio. Like Michael Wilding (who also became the third husband of Harvey's first wife, Margaret Leighton), another handsome man of limited gifts who nonetheless could be quite affecting in the right role, Harvey's career likely would have thrived under the studio system, with an interested boss to guide him. Like Minniver Cheever, however, he was unfortunate to have been born after his time.
As it was, the next (and last) decade of Harvey's screen life was a disappointment, with the actor relegated to less and less prestigious pictures and international co-productions that needed a "star" name. In the 1970s, Harvey became largely irrelevant as a player in the motion picture industry. His luck had run out. Good friend Liz Taylor, whose string of motion picture successes had also run its course, had him cast in Night Watch (1973), and he directed the last picture in which he appeared, Welcome to Arrow Beach (1973). If he had lived, he might have made the transition to director (he had earlier directed The Ceremony (1963) and finished directing A Dandy in Aspic (1968) after the death of original director Anthony Mann).
Laurence Harvey died on November 25, 1973, from stomach cancer. He publicly revealed that he was dismayed by being afflicted with the fatal disease, as he had always been careful with the way he ate. Sadly, his personal luck, just as capricious as his professional career, had also gone into eclipse. One of the more colorful characters to grace the screen was dead at the age of 45, exiting the stage far too soon for the legions of fans that still admired him despite the downturn in his fortunes.- Actor
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- Additional Crew
Al Jolson was known in the industry as "The World's Greatest Entertainer," for well over 40 years. After his death his influence continued unabated with such performers as Sammy Davis Jr., Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Jackie Wilson and Jerry Lee Lewis all mentioning him as an inspiration.
Al Jolson was born Asa Yoelson in Seredzius, Lithuania, to a Jewish family, the son of Naiomi Etta (Cantor) and Moise Rubin Yoelson, who emigrated alone to Washington, D.C., to establish himself. After four years he sent for his family. Nine months later his wife died (apparently during childbirth), which devastated the eight-year-old Asa. Young Al would soon find his outlet in the theater. Soon he was singing with his older brother, Harry, for senators and soldiers. He entertained the troops that were headed for the Spanish-American War.
Jolson's career in vaudeville started with his brother in New York, but never really got off the ground. Different partners allowed Jolson to experiment, but it was as a solo act in San Francisco that he finally hit it big. He was signed eventually by Lew Dockstaders' Minstrels. It is important to note that, although performing in blackface, Dockstader's was not a minstrel show in the traditional sense of the "Tambo and Bones" variety of the previous century. It was a sophisticated, topical, Broadway-style revue. The myth lingers to this day that Jolson was a minstrel. He most certainly was not.
Jolson's stay in vaudeville was relatively short, as his talent was quickly recognized by the Shubert Brothers, who signed him to appear in the opening show of their new Winter Garden Theater on Broadway in April of 1912. Thus began what many consider to be the greatest career in the history of Broadway. Not a headliner initially, Jolson soon became "King of the Winter Garden," with shows specifically written for him. "Winter Garden" and "Jolson" became synonymous for close to 20 years. During that time Jolson received reviews that have yet to be matched. Audiences shouted, pleaded and often would not allow the show to proceed, such was the power of his presence. At one performance in Boston, the usually staid and conservative Boston audience stopped the show for 45 minutes! He was said to have had an "electric' personality, along with the ability to make each member of the audience believe that he was singing only to them.
In 1927 Jolson starred in the New York-shot The Jazz Singer (1927) and the rest is film history. But just before it was theatrically released, producer, Warner' His appearance in that film, nowadays considered a somewhat creaky, stodgy and primitive museum piece, electrified audiences and caused a sensation. Jolson was bigger than ever and Hollywood came a-calling. However, Jolson on film was a pale version of Jolson on stage. His screen appearances, with some exceptions, are stiff and wooden. Though he continued into the 1930s to star on radio, he was no longer quite the star he had been.
During World War II, Jolson entertained troops in Africa and Sicily but was cut short by a bout of malaria and pneumonia. Always a favorite with audiences, he continued to entertain in the United States when he met his fourth wife, Erle Chenault Galbraith, an x-ray technician.
By the mid-'40s, though. his stardom had faded quite a bit. Columbia Pictures, inspired by the success of Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), decided that a Jolson biography might work as well. In 1946 it released The Jolson Story (1946), with song-and-dance man Larry Parks miming to Jolson's vocals. It was the surprise smash hit of the season and the highest grossing film of the year. Parks received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Jolson was now as big, or bigger, than ever. So successful was the film that Columbia made a sequel, Jolson Sings Again (1949), which remains one of a few biography sequels in film history (Funny Girl/Funny Lady - the story of fellow Winter Garden performer Fannie Brice is another rare example). It was also quite successful at the box office. So big had Jolson's star risen that in 1948, when Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Perry Como were at their peaks, Jolson was voted "The Most Popular Male Vocalist" by a Variety poll.
In 1950, against his doctor's orders, Jolson went to Korea to entertain his favorite audience, American troops. While there his health declined and shortly after his return to the U.S. he suffered a massive heart attack and died.- Actor
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With eye-catching good looks, blond Lithuanian-born actor Jacques Sernas (aka Jack Sernas) is best known for cutting a fine figure in European costumers and spectacles in the 1950s and 1960s. Born on July 30, 1925, his father died when he was a year old and the boy would be raised by his mother in Paris. After schooling there he joined up as a French Resistance fighter during W.W.II. Captured by German forces and imprisoned for over a year in Buchenwald, he was eventually freed.
Sernas originally studied medicine in the early postwar years but acting soon caught his fancy. He made an unbilled movie debut in the French film Miroir (1947) starring Jean Gabin. In the years to come Italian/European action films would dominate his screen time. Audience attention grew in proportion with a variety of comedies, dramas, costumers and adventures including Lost Youth (1948) [Lost Youth]; Stolen Affections (1948) [Stolen Affections]; Il falco rosso (1949) [The Red Falcon] in which he played the title role; Bluebeard (1951); the costumed romancer Anita Garibaldi (1952) [Anita Garibaldi]; and Lulù (1953) co-starring with Valentina Cortese.
The actor hit major international attention after being cast as Paris opposite sex sirens Rossana Podestà and Brigitte Bardot in Helen of Troy (1956) and Hollywood itself took brief notice, handing him a starring role in the Warner Bros. war film Jump Into Hell (1955) and a few TV guest parts. When nothing came of it, he returned to Italy and was for the most part relegated to supporting characters, making one lasting impression as a fading matinée idol in Fellini's masterpiece La Dolce Vita (1960).
Other Italian/European films in and around this decade included Goddess of Love (1957) co-starring Belinda Lee; The Nights of Lucretia Borgia (1959); Duel of Champions (1961) starring Alan Ladd; The Centurion (1961) in which he co-starred with John Drew Barrymore; Duel of the Titans (1961) starring musclemen Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott; 55 Days at Peking (1963) starring Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner, which filmed in Spain; The Secret Agents (1965) [aka The Dirty Game] starring Henry Fonda, which filmed in Germany; the "spaghetti western" Fort Yuma Gold (1966), Midas Run (1969) starring Fred Astaire and Richard Crenna, which filmed in Italy and England; and the Italian/US co-production Hornets' Nest (1970), a war drama starring Rock Hudson.
As the years rolled by Sernas was seen less and less on film and more and more on Italian TV. Into the millennium he appeared in a few elderly roles, one being a 2003 TV movie about Pope John XXIII. Jacques died at age 89 on July 3, 2015 in Rome.- Actress
- Soundtrack
A former ballet dancer, graceful Mari Aldon married Hollywood director Tay Garnett, who encouraged her to become an actress. She did, but did not leave a deep imprint on film history, with one exception, the role of Judy Beckett, a prisoner of the Seminoles and Gary Cooper's charming romantic interest in Distant Drums (1951). Besides this, she appeared in few feature films, and then only briefly in two major movies, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's The Barefoot Contessa (1954) and David Lean's 'Summer Vacation' (1955). The rest of her career was devoted to television.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Katya Virshilas was born on 10 September 1983 in Lithuanian SSR, USSR [now Lithuania]. She is an actress, known for Take the Lead (2006), John Tucker Must Die (2006) and Shall We Dance? (2004). She has been married to Klaus Kongsdal since 7 July 2012. They have one child.- Kaz Garas was born on 4 March 1940 in Kaunas, Lithuania. He is an actor, known for Mean Creek (2004), Strange Report (1969) and Most Wanted (1976).
- Director
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Although his name nowadays means very little except to animation buffs (and even they have to be pretty well informed), Wladyslaw Starewicz ranks alongside Walt Disney, as one of the great animation pioneers, and his career started nearly a decade before Disney's. He became an animator by accident - fascinated by insects, he bought a camera and attempted to film them, but they kept dying under the hot lights. Stop-motion animation provided an instant (if slow) solution, and Starewicz discovered that he had a natural talent for it. He subsequently made dozens of short films, mostly featuring his trademark stop-motion puppets, but also live action films (some blending live action and animation), moving to France after the Russian Revolution to continue his career. His longest and most ambitious film was the feature-length 'Tale of the Fox', which took ten years to plan and eighteen months to shoot. Starewicz' films were virtually one-man shows (writer/director/cameraman/designer/animator), though other important contributions (in front of and behind the camera) were made by his daughters.- Agne Grudyte was born on 9 July 1986 in Siauliai, Lithuanian SSR, USSR [now Siauliai, Lithuania]. She is an actress, known for Sniffer (2013), Flight Crew (2016) and Single Valentine (2013).
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Tall, blonde, turquoise-eyed Cornell Borchers was born of Lithuanian ancestry and studied medicine before turning towards a career in the performing arts. She attended drama classes from 1947 to 1948 and was discovered for films by the director Arthur Maria Rabenalt. She made a few German films before signing a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox. Publicity quickly touted her as the new Ingrid Bergman, but her first Hollywood sojourn turned out to be rather brief. After just one picture, The Big Lift (1950), Cornell walked out on her contract, convinced that quality roles were not forthcoming. For a while, her career lost its direction and she toiled away in a brace of minor German crime dramas and romances. Fortuitously, she was then snapped up by Michael Balcon for his Ealing production of The Divided Heart (1954), a sober post-war drama for which Cornell won a BAFTA award as Best Foreign Actress. This rekindled Hollywood's interest and Universal-International signed her to a two-picture-a-year deal. She was co-starred opposite Rock Hudson in the melodrama Never Say Goodbye (1956), and, in Ingrid Bergman-like fashion (even rather sounding like her) beguiled Errol Flynn in the romantic espionage drama Istanbul (1957). Her swan song was an undistinguished social drama entitled Flood Tide (1958), a misfire, which resulted in Universal failing to renew her contract. Cornell returned to Germany, having reached what amounted to be the apex of her career. She eventually quit acting in 1959, devoting herself to her family and living a secluded life away from the limelight.- Director
- Cinematographer
- Editor
Jonas Mekas, born December 24, 1922, Semeniskiai, Birzai, Lithuania, is a director, cinematographer, editor, writer, actor, poet, artist and publicist. More than 60 years of tireless work in film, arts and media has earned him the epithet "The Godfather of American Avant-Garde Cinema". In 1944 Jonas Mekas left Lithuania, with his brother Adolfas, because of the war. The both of them were imprisoned in a labor-camp in Elmshorn, Germany. After eight months they escaped to Denmark. By the end of 1949 the Mekas brothers emigrated to the U.S., settling in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. Two weeks after his arrival, he borrowed the money to buy his first Bolex 16mm camera and began to record brief moments of his life. Soon he got deeply involved in the American Avant-Garde film movement. In 1954, together with his brother, he started Film Culture magazine, which soon became the most important film publication in the US. In 1958 Jonas Mekas began his legendary Movie Journal column in the Village Voice. In 1962 he founded the Film-Makers' Cooperative, and in 1964 the Film-Makers' Cinematheque, which eventually grew into Anthology Film Archives, one of the world's largest and most important repositories of avant-garde cinema, and a screening venue. Jonas Mekas film "The Brig" was awarded the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1963. Other films include "Walden" (1969), "Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania" (1972), "Lost Lost Lost" (1975), "Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol" (1990), "Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas" (1992), "As I was Moving Ahead I saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty" (2000), "Letter from Greenpoint" (2005), "Sleepless Nights Stories" (2011) and "Out-takes from the Life of a Happy Man" (2012). In 2007, he completed a series of 365 short films released on the internet -- one film every day -- and since then has continued to share new work on his website. He currently lives and works in New York City.- Producer
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Dalia Ibelhauptaite was born on 4 May 1967 in Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, USSR [now Lithuania]. She is a producer and director, known for Ghosted (2023), Rocketman (2019) and Let the Good Times Roll (1999). She has been married to Dexter Fletcher since 1997.- Dovile Kundrotaite is a Lithuanian actress born in Kaunas. She has finished her acting studies in the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. Dovile's career began in an international production "War & Peace" directed by Tom Harper, starring James Norton, Paul Dano and Lily James in 2016. On the same year she acted in a TV film "Jack The Ripper" directed by Sebastian Niemann After that she was cast in a Lithuanian TV series "Meile Gydo/Love Cures" and in 2018 she played a nun in the feature film "The Owl Mountain" that has won The Diamond Award in the European Independent Film Awards, The Best Picture and Best Original Score in the Festigious International Film Festival in 2018. 2019 was a highlight of Dovile's career as she got cast in a Lithuanian comedy "Vestuves/The Wedding" directed by Vygantas Bachmackij where she played the lead role and was nominated as best leading actress in Lithuanian film awards "Silver Crane" 2020. After that she has been working both in Lithuanian and international productions. The most recent works include Netflix TV series "Clark", directed by J. Akerlund, where Dovile Kundrotaite has been cast as Elizabeth Oldgren, one of the original victims from the bank robbery in Sweden. And a leading role in a feature film "Remember to blink" (dir. Austeja Urbaite), for which the actress had to learn french. Dovile Kundrotaite is fluent in Lithuanian, English, can speak french and a little Russian
- Introducing Diana Krüger, the talented Lithuanian actress now making waves in Germany. With a lifelong passion for performance and a diverse dance background, Diana commands attention on both stage and screen. From intense crime dramas to enchanting romances, she infuses every role with depth, authenticity, and undeniable charisma. Her international experience and dedication ensure she continually captivates audiences worldwide. Keep an eye on Diana Krueger-she's a star on the rise.
- Elvinas Juodkazis was born on 29 August 1994 in Siauliai, Lithuania. He is an actor, known for Hilma (2022), Festning Norge (2023) and Instrument of War (2017).
- Writer
- Actor
- Director
Romain Gary was born on 8 May 1914 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was a writer and actor, known for The Longest Day (1962), Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! (1971) and Birds in Peru (1968). He was married to Jean Seberg and Lesley Blanch. He died on 2 December 1980 in Paris, France.- Actress
- Producer
- Music Department
Simona Milinyte - Simonna is a singer, actress, voiceover artist and media personality born in Lithuania. She is living in Los Angeles now. She had her radio show, national tour, 2 albums. Simonna's self titled perfume line is coming up. She participated in the biggest music contest in Europe - Eurovision National election and in the National Final came 7th. Simona Milinyte also has finished New York Film Academy "Acting for film". In addition to all this, Simonna also has California State University certification for Victim Advocacy and Bachelor of Arts of Communication university degree, which makes her unique in this industry because, she is willing to work so hard to put her project's name's out into the public of her hundreds of thousands of fans on Twitter, Instagram and plenty more. Celebrities such as Tom Cruise, Paris Hilton, Seth Rogen follows her on twitter and Instagram. Simonna has also booked many new roles for the upcoming years, due to her commitment and dedication to her craft. Simonna is a guest star in "NCIS: Los Angeles" season finale episode which aired on CBS. In 2019, Simonna started to host her own radio show called "Bleav In Sports Gossip" about sports and entertainment industry. Her podcast airs every week and is available on iHeartRadio, iTunes, Spotify, Google play and etc.
Simonna is a lead in a new short movie "Robot Romance" with Golden Globe winner, Oscar nominee for the Best actress Sally Kirkland. This film has won several pf prestigious awards at film festivals, including being a winner of: DRUK International Film Festival - Short film Critics Choice Award. World Film Carnival - Singapore "Best Short Film"; Virgin Spring Cinefest - Silver Award "Best Short Film"; Simonna is playing a lead role in several movies, new TV comedy series, she is series regular voiceover actress in the new upcoming animation series, lead in a horror thriller "The Blackstone" movie where Simona transformed into a ghostly woman. Also acting in the drama "Hollywood Rooftop" which is directed by Brett Leonard who did a movie with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. People, Entertainment Weekly, Yahoo Celebrities, LA Times, BBC wrote about Simonna.
Simonna is getting over 3.5 million views on her Twitter profile. One of the music videos (with Harry Potter movies star) https://youtu.be/lPl8GnniJ2I
Here is some of her work other work: Animation series Maui Kitty's Day Play (series regular, voiceover), horror movie"The Blackstone" (lead role / the main ghost); Horror Thriller "The Great Illusion" (With Selma Blair, Graham Greene); "Robot Romance" with Golden Globe winner, Oscar nominee for the Best actress Sally Kirkland;Guest star in "NCIS: Los Angeles" season finale; 'Hollywood Rooftop" (Director is Brett Leonard who directed movie with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe), Detectives/Crime short movie' Insane' , upcoming comedy episodes "First Month Is For Free"; "Mirroring Michael Jackson"; "Jesus And The Others" (with Golden Globe Winner Peter Coyote); "Due Justice" (with Steve Guttenberg and Tara Reid); horror movie "Last One Standing", medieval times era movie "Rose in The Flame"; "Justice with Judge Mablean", crime drama "Chaaw" and etc.
To date, she's released two albums, "12" and "Simonna".
Simonna has been in 56th, 57th, 58th Grammy's consideration list. Simonna's new singles Say to Me, Rush for love, My Eyes on You came out on her official VEVO channel and is being played by radio stations, clubs worldwide. New music video featuring "Harry Potter" actor Devon Murray has been announced with trailer . Music video was released In 2017 on VEVO, MTV channels. To add. in Grammy's consideration list, Simonna's song and name is next to Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, Sia, Shakira and other major artists.- Born in Lithuania, he was taken to Germany when he was twelve, where he received dramatic training. In 1949, he emigrated to Australia where he took Australian citizenship in 1955, and joined the Old Vic Company, which was on an Australia tour. His success on the tour encouraged him to give all his time to acting, and he set up his own small film unit in Adelaide, then came to England where he got a part in the film 'The One Tha Got Away.' He didn't bother to attend the wardrobe call in London as he had his own uniform that he'd worn in the actual desert campaign.
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Maurice Cass was born on October 12, 1884, in Vilnius, Lithuania (then Vilno, Russian Empire). He emigrated to the USA, and in his pursuit of an acting career, he began as announcer and comedian in New York. Cass had a pleasant face, a small body and a big voice.
With his nearsightedness and his inevitable pince-nez adding weight to his intelligent face, Cass was destined to play professors, doctors, writers, and managers with his special brand of genial, slightly absent-minded officiousness. He started playing bit parts, often uncredited, and made a career as a character actor in more than 120 film and television productions. His best known work was Professor Newton, a supporting role in a series of space adventure movies made for TV and shown over the period from 1954 to 1956. Cass's snow-white haired Professor Newton could always be counted on to provide the scientific explanation for all the fantastic events that unfolded before the viewer. Professor Newton had his own observatory (which was filmed at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles) and although elderly, he would often accompany the astronauts on their adventurous space flights.
Maurice Cass's character, Professor Newton, was replaced by Professor Mayberry upon Cass's death of a heart attack, at the age of 69, on June 8, 1954, in Hollywood, California.- Donatas Banionis was a popular Lithuanian actor known for Nobody Wanted to Die (1965), Myortvyy sezon (1968), and Solaris (1972).
He was born Donatas Juozas Banionis on April 28, 1924, in Kaunas, Lithuania. His mother, Blazhaitite-Banionene Ona, was a homemaker. His father, Juozas Banionis, was a tailor who took part in the Russian Revolution of 1917, was wounded in the Russian Civil War, then became a political prisoner, and briefly emigrated to Brasil during the 1920s. Young Banionis was raised with his elder sister during the years of Lithuanian independence before WWII.
In 1941 Donatas Banionis was hired by the famous Lithuanian theatrical director Juozas Miltinis and became an actor at the newly formed Panevezys Drama Theatre. He studied acting under Juozas Miltinis and graduated from the Panevezys Acting Studio in 1945. In 1947 Banionis made his film debut: he appeared in a cameo role in 'Marite' (1947). His first major film work was the role of adventurer Daus in 'Adomas nori buti zmogumi' (Adam Wants to Be a Man 1959) by director Vytautas Zalakevicius.
Long before becoming an acclaimed actor Banionis tried to escape from the Soviet Union at the end of the Second World War; but he failed to join his Lithuanian compatriots when they fled the Soviets. Soon the Iron curtain became impenetrable from either side. However, in 1970, as a member of an official Soviet delegation, he made his first visit to the Lithuanian community in Chicago. Then Banionis, being already a famous actor, came to realize that his former compatriots earned their good living and nice homes by working very hard from very poor beginnings. At that time, Banionis enjoyed a highly privileged life as a top film-star in the Soviet Union. He was awarded the State Prize in 1975, and was received by such Soviet leaders as Leonid Brezhnev and Mikhail Gorbachev.
Banionis earned critical acclaim for his role of Vaitkus in 'Niekas nenorejo mirti' (Nobody Wanted to Die, 1966) by director Vytautas Zalakevicius. A powerful film, it was even dubbed the "Lithuanian Seven Samurai." Banionis' tragical character Vaitkus is the undecided one among the Lithuanian "brothers in the woods", who are fighting against the Soviets after the end of the Second World War. Banionis demonstrated his range as a comedian in the comic role of a priest in 'Beregis avtomobilya' (Watch Out for the Automobile, 1966) by director Eldar Ryazanov. Banionis' sweet character blends well with the stellar ensemble of actors, such as Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, Oleg Efremov, Andrey Mironov, Anatoliy Papanov, Evgeniy Evstigneev, Georgi Zhzhyonov, and other Russian film stars.
Donatas Banionis is a refined intellectual actor with effortless style. His mastery of timing, his powerful silence, and his reserved energy shines in his major film-works; such as in 'King Lear' (1969) by Grigoriy Kozintsev, in 'Solaris' (1972) by Andrei Tarkovsky, in 'Goya - oder Der arge Weg der Erkenntnis' (1971) by director Konrad Wolf, in 'Begstvo mistera Mak-Kinli' by director Mikhail Shvejtser, in 'Beethoven - Days in a Life' (1976) by director Horst Seemann, and in other films.
One of his memorable film-works is the character of a Russian spy 'Ladeinikov' in 'Myortvy Sezon' (The Dead Season, 1968) by director Savva Kulish. That film role provided Banionis with an auspicious connection. In 2004, the actor had a meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Putin confirmed that he made up his mind to become an intelligence officer after seeing Banionis in the role of a Russian spy.
In his later works Donatas Banionis constitutes the link between cinema of the past and contemporary Lithuanian film. He showed reserved and convincing work in the role of 'The old man' in 'Kiemas' (Courtyard, 1999), a reflective film about a Lithuanian father and his family's depressing fate in the 1970's Soviet Union. He worked with director Aleksandr Buravskiy in 'Attack on Leningrad' (2006), a film about the historic siege during the Second World War; where his acting partners are Gabriel Byrne, Mira Sorvino, Aleksandr Abdulov, Kirill Lavrov, Mikhail Efremov and others.
During his acting career spanning over sixty five years, Donatas Banionis played over 50 roles in film and on television. He also played over 100 stage roles, mainly at the Panevezys Juozas Miltinis' Drama Theatre. Banionis was designated People's Actor of the USSR (1974), and People's actor of the Lithuanian Republic (1973). He is Chevalier of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas.
Donatas Banionis lived in the city of Panevezys, Lithuania. He was Honorable Citizen of Panevezys (1999). Actor died of heart related problems on 4th of September 2014 in Panevezys, Lithuania. He was ninety years old. - Director
- Actor
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Sharunas Bartas was born on 16 August 1964 in Siauliai, Lithuanian SSR, USSR [now Lithuania]. He is a director and actor, known for Frost (2017), The Corridor (1995) and Three Days (1991).- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Wiktoria Gorodecka was born in 1982 in Panevezys, Aukstaitija, Lithuanian SSR, USSR [now Lithuania]. She is an actress, known for Hold Tight (2022), Ogród Luizy (2007) and Doppelganger. The Double (2023).- Lina Braknyte was born on 19 November 1952 in Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, USSR [now Lithuania]. She is an actress, known for The Girl and the Echo (1964), Tri tolstyaka (1966) and Dubravka (1967).
- Born in Lithuania and getting her start in music, Egle Petraite grew up in Maryland, USA, where she began acting in theater and film, which later took her to New York City. She went on to study at The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, New York, and received her BFA from Adelphi University. Egle continues to work in the realms of film/TV, theatre and music, and can be seen in Camp, Fishbowl, The Daughter, among others.
- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Algina Lipskis is a Lithuanian born British actress and writer, trained at Sylvia Young Theatre School in London. Her first lead role was as Natasha in the 2007 feature film 'Natasha' directed by the late Jag Mundhra. She appeared in the acclaimed BBC Drama 'The Lost Prince' (2003) created by the renowned director Stephen Poliakoff as Princess Anastasia. She's also starred in 'Telling Lies' (2008), 'Ibiza Undead' (2016), 'Action Team' (2018), 'In Search of Fear' (2021), and 'Night Explorers: The Asylum' (2022).- Actor
Sol Horwitz was born on 4 November 1872 in Kovno, Russian Empire [now Kaunas, Lithuania]. He was an actor. He was married to Jennie Horwitz. He died on 19 December 1943 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Kristina Buozyte was born on 9 October 1982 in Klaipeda, Lithuanian SSR, USSR [now Lithuania]. She is a director and writer, known for Vesper (2022), Vanishing Waves (2012) and Kolekcioniere (2008).- Additional Crew
- Producer
- Actor
Terry McGinnis originally born in Lithuania on April 24 1995 to a Lithuanian mother and an American father is a British-American actor, producer, artist, activist and entrepreneur who has been behind or part of, some of the biggest blockbusters and TV shows produced by major Hollywood studios, music labels and ad agencies such as The Batman (2022), Tenet (2020) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). He is a climate and ocean conservation activist alongside fellow activists Leonardo DiCaprio and Joaquin Phoenix and is founder and Chief Executive Officer of one of the largest software companies in Britain and United States, Online Shop Inc.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Emilis Velyvis was born on 30 May 1979 in Vilnius, Lithuania. He is a writer and director, known for Redirected (2014), Zero 3 (2017) and The Generation of Evil (2021).- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Zygmunt Malanowicz was born on 4 February 1938 in Wilno, Wilenskie, Poland [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was an actor and writer, known for Knife in the Water (1962), Jaroslaw Dabrowski (1976) and Bez ulik (1992). He died on 4 April 2021 in Poland.- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Soundtrack
Shimen Ruskin was born on 25 February 1907 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was an actor and assistant director, known for Fiddler on the Roof (1971), The Producers (1967) and Love and Death (1975). He was married to Kate Urkowitz and Rae Spiegel. He died on 23 April 1976 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Aliona Bozbey was born on 20 February 1986 in Lithuania. She is an actress, known for Back Streets (2006), Süper Ajan K9 (2008) and Full Moon (2017).
- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Eva Paris Cicinyte was born on 16 April 1993 in Lithuania. She is an actress and producer, known for Seeing Is Believing: Women Direct (2017), If It Kills Me and When the Sky Falls (2015).- Editorial Department
- Actress
Julija Steponaityte was born on 1 July 1992 in Lithuania. She is an actress, known for The Summer of Sangaile (2015), Personal Shopper (2016) and Man Dvim Keli (2014).- Actress
- Production Manager
- Art Director
Sarune Urbonaviciene aka Sharune was born in South Lithuania. She is of Lithuanian descent. Since early age she studied music and participated in numerous concerts around Europe. Her first feature lead was violinist Eva in crime thriller 'Play With Me' directed by Yezid Jimenez in 2014. Since then, she works in film medium on both sides of camera.- Guste Ona Maria was born on 28 May 2001 in Nida, Lithuania. She is an actress, known for Curfew (2024).
- Vytautas Medineckas was born on 29 July 1987 in Vilnius, Lithuania. He is an actor, known for Paradise (2023), Kas Butu Jeigu nebutu menulio (2023) and 2 Nights Till Morning (2015).
- Casting Director
- Actor
- Casting Department
Donatas Simukauskas is an Eastern European actor. He was schooled in acting at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. The breakthrough role of Donatas' career was in a cult Lithuanian comedy "Zero: Alyvine Lietuva" in 2006 where he played a corrupt police officer. After that came numerous roles in local and international productions such as "Die Flucht/March of Millions" directed by Kai Wessel, TV mini-series "War &Peace" by Robert Dornhelm starring Clemence Poesy and Malcolm McDowel, Japanese TV series "Clouds Over the Hill". Among the highlights of Donatas' career there are roles in feature films "The Crown Jewels" directed by Ella Lemhagen starring Alicia Vikander and Bill Skarsgard, "Gitel" directed by Robert Mullan where Donatas played Rabbi Ozerovski and a Lithuanian blockbusters "Zero II" and "Redirected" where Donatas astablished himself as a prominent comedy actor. His most recent work include Swedish TV series "Moscow Noir" by Mikael Håfström, Johan Brisinger and Mårten Klingberg in 2018 and "Kalifat" in 2020 and a feature film "Sasha Was Here" nominated for Best First Feature in Tallin Black Nights Festival in 2018 and Golden Duke in Odessa International Film Festival in 2019.- Director
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Allan A. Buckhantz was born on 3 January 1923 in Kaunas, Lithuania. He was a director and producer, known for Intercontinental Express (1964), Portrait of a Hitman (1979) and Willy (1962). He was married to Ingeborg Wiese, Susanne Cramer and Suzanne Lloyd. He died on 10 October 2011 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Writer
- Director
- Cinematographer
Tadas Vidmantas - a Lithuanian-born film director, scriptwriter and copywriter. T. Vidmantas was born in Sirvintos town, Lithuania. Graduated Sirvintos Laurynas Stuoka-Gucevicius high school. T. Vidmantas started his career as an award-winning playwright in 2001. Two years later he began directing short films and comedy sketches. 2004 - 2008 Tadas studied graphic design at Vilnius Academy of Arts. He earned a bachelor's degree. April 2008 - May 2009 T. Vidmantas was working as a director in ''Magnet Films'' Production company (now Grandma Enterprise). Since May 2009, T. Vidmantas is freelancing as film director, scriptwriter and producer. In 2010 he moved to London, UK. T. Vidmantas got married with Lina Vidmante (previously Lina Balciunaite) in 2013. After 7 years in London, couple moved back to Lithuania.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Jascha Heifetz came to the USA in 1917, became a citizen in 1925, and joined ASCAP in 1937. He was educated at the Royal School of Music in Vilna (which he entered at five and from which he graduated at nine), the St. Petersburg Conservatory (with Leopold Auer, earning an Honorary Music Degree), the New York College of Music, and Northwestern University. His first professional appearance was at age five, during which he gave his first concert, then at St. Petersburg, in 1911, in Berlin in 1912, and at Carnegie Hall in 1917. Eventually he concertized throughout the world, and made many recordings, becoming also a Commander in the French Legion of Honor. He also composed several popular songs, among them "When You Make Love to Me" and "So Much in Love".- Born in 1962. In 1984 completed BA in acting in Lithuanian school of Arts. 1984-92 acted in National Drama Theater of Kaunas. In 2002 he got MA degree in directing, University Victoria, Canada. Since 2004 he is acting and directing in various theaters in Lithuania.
Sakalas Uzdavinys was the first one who started professional castings of actors in Lithuania as it was never popular there. He brought it from Canada as he lived and worked there for ten years.
He has performed in more than 11 motion movies and 50 theatrical plays,among which there are several plays where he was contributing as director. - Actress
- Writer
Before graduating from the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy in 2019, Ausra has been living in Belgium, France and UK. She also traveled to South Africa to volunteer for the youth program. Her first feature film appearance was in Antti J. Jokinen's production, "Katilo". Following this, she took part in several short films before assuming a prominent role in a Lithuanian comedy directed by D.Ulvydas. In 2022, Ausra delivered a supporting performance in French in Jerome Salle's "Kompromat". Ausra secured one of the leading roles in the acclaimed Finnish TV series "Allonmurtaja" Season 4 where she played in English, Russian and Lithuanian languages. The series, directed by Oskari Sipola and Mazdak Nassir, is slated for release in December 2023. Ausra is also a published author. She lives with her 2 sons in Lithuania.- Regimantas Adomaitis was born on 31 January, 1937, in Siauliai (Lithuania). After learning in the actor's department of Lithuanian conservatory he made a debut in the theater, and spent several years in the cinema. For his career he played in the theaters Vilnius, Kaunas, Kapsukas. Worked at the motion picture studios of Lithuania, Russia, Moldavia, Ukraine, Latvia, Armenia, and also in Germany. Married to singer Eugenia Baerite.
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Lithuanian-born Ivan Lebedeff was educated at the University of St. Petersburg. He was slated for a diplomatic career in the Imperial Lyceum at Tsarskoye Selo - a natural progression, since his aristocratic father was a highly-placed advisor to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. However, the outbreak of World War I changed all that. Ivan enlisted as a volunteer in the Third Regiment of the Imperial Dragoons and was soon decorated and promoted after capturing a German general near Pskov, at the small town of Nevel. He was wounded in action on more than one occasion, as well as suffering from the effects of mustard gas. Transferred to the Romanian front, he found himself deserted by nearly everyone under his command as the Russian Revolution took hold.
Ivan and other Tsarist supporters made their way to Odessa on the Black Sea, which had been occupied by French and allied forces. Ivan was made impromptu food administrator for the beleaguered city, but was soon captured and imprisoned after the Bolsheviks forced an allied withdrawal. Being a resourceful chap, he was able to escape, and, briefly, led another White Russian contingent in what was - by now - clearly a futile campaign. Ivan eventually slipped across the Turkish border and found sanctuary in Constantinople. From there, he went on to Vienna and then Germany, where he found his first acting opportunities. He later proceeded to Paris, where a chance meeting with legendary director D.W. Griffith led to his being cast as Amiel in The Sorrows of Satan (1926).
Ivan arrived in the U.S. in 1925 and became a naturalised citizen within the year. After another good supporting role opposite Gloria Swanson in The Love of Sunya (1927), he had a good spell in dashing secondary leads at RKO between 1929 and 1931. After that, the stature of his roles began to diminish. He was increasingly typecast as suave continental rogues, gigolos and con-men (if not Russian/Spanish/French counts, princes and army officers - many of them phony), invariably sporting a thin moustache and slicked back hair. By the mid-1940's, Ivan had slipped into relative obscurity with just a few more bit parts and cameos, before his early death from a heart attack in March 1953.- After 12 years as an award-winning classical pianist in Lithuania and a degree in Entertainment Management from a prestigious Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, Tekle Baroti is now an actress gaining recognition in film and on stage in London. With a list of many independent shorts and theatre productions, she got her first big break in "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" (Walt Disney Pictures, dir. Joachim Rønning, 2019). Since moving to London, Tekle has not only become an active presence in the local performing community (became a founding member of the Sedos Improv group) but also established connections in Lithuania by joining the Women in Film and TV organization.
- Stunts
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Giedrius Nagys was born on 31 October 1965 in Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, USSR [now Lithuania]. He is an actor, known for The Martian (2015), 65 (2023) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Joseph Buloff was born on 20 January 1899 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was an actor, known for Silk Stockings (1957), Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) and Reds (1981). He was married to Luba Kadison. He died on 27 February 1985 in New York City, New York, USA.- Juozas Budraitis was born on 6 October, 1940, in the village of Liepynai (Lithuania). For twenty one year he tried to make it into cinema, but the present collaboration began only after five years. He became one of the Lithuanian actors actively playing in the cinema. Besides Lithuania he worked in the studios of Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Belorussia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and also in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Germany. For a short time he worked in the theater of city Kaunas.