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Jennifer Garner, who catapulted into stardom with her lead role on the television series Alias (2001), has come a long way from her birthplace of Houston, Texas. Raised in Charleston, West Virginia by her mother Patricia Ann (née English), a retired English teacher, and her father, Billy Jack Garner, a former chemical engineer, she is the second of their three daughters. She spent nine years of her adolescence studying ballet, and characterizes her years in dance as consisting of determination rather than talent, being driven mostly by a love of the stage.
Jennifer took this determination with her when she enrolled at Denison University as a chemistry major; later she changed her major when she discovered that her passion for the stage was stronger than her love of science. New York attracted the young actress after college, and she worked as a hostess while pursuing a career in film and television. Her most recent move has been to Los Angeles, a decision that led to a role on the television series Felicity (1998), where she met her future husband Scott Foley. The couple divorced in 2004.
Jennifer starred in the television series Alias (2001) as Agent Sydney Bristow, who works for the Central Intelligence Agency. For her work, Garner has received four consecutive Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She has also received four Golden Globe nominations and won once, as well as received two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, and won once. She has appeared in numerous other television production as well as such films as Elektra (2005), 13 Going on 30 (2004), Daredevil (2003), Pearl Harbor (2001) and Dude, Where's My Car? (2000). Aside from filming Alias (2001), Jennifer enjoys cooking, gardening, hiking, and--inspired by her character on the series--kickboxing. She married actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck in 2005, now her ex-husband, with whom she has three children.- Producer
- Actor
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Benjamin Géza "Ben" Affleck-Boldt was born on August 15, 1972 in Berkeley, California and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to mother Chris Anne (Boldt), a school teacher, and father Timothy Byers "Tim" Affleck, a social worker. Ben has a younger brother, actor Casey Affleck, who was born in 1975. He is of mostly English, Irish, German, and Scottish ancestry. His middle name, Géza, is after a Hungarian family friend who was a Holocaust survivor.
Affleck wanted to be an actor ever since he could remember, and his first acting experience was for a Burger King commercial, when he was on the PBS mini-series, The Voyage of the Mimi (1984). It was also at that age when Ben met his lifelong friend and fellow actor, Matt Damon. They played little league together and took drama classes together. Ben's teen years consisted of mainly TV movies and small television appearances including Hands of a Stranger (1987) and The Second Voyage of the Mimi (1988). He made his big introduction into feature films in 1993 when he was cast in Dazed and Confused (1993). After that, he did mostly independent films like Kevin Smith's Mallrats (1995) and Chasing Amy (1997) which were great for Ben's career, receiving renowned appreciation for his works at the Sundance film festival. But the success he was having in independent films didn't last much longer and things got a little shaky for Ben. He was living in an apartment with his brother Casey and friend Matt, getting tired of being turned down for the big roles in films and being given the forgettable supporting ones. Since Matt was having the same trouble, they decided to write their own script, where they could call all the shots. So, after finishing the script for Good Will Hunting (1997), they gave it to their agent, Patrick Whitesell, who showed it to a few Hollywood studios, finally being accepted by Castle Rock. It was great news for the two, but Castle Rock wasn't willing to give Ben and Matt the control over the project they were hoping for. It was friend Kevin Smith who took it to the head of Miramax who bought the script giving Ben and Matt the control they wanted and, in December 5, 1997, Good Will Hunting (1997) was released, making the two unknown actors famous. The film was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won two, including Best Original Screenplay for Ben and Matt. The film marked Ben's breakthrough role, in which he was given for the first time the chance to choose roles instead of having to go through grueling auditions constantly.
Affleck chose such roles in the blockbusters Armageddon (1998), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and Pearl Harbor (2001). In the early years of the 2000s, he also starred in the box office hits Changing Lanes (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002), and Daredevil (2003), as well as the disappointing comedies Gigli (2003) and Surviving Christmas (2004). While the mid 2000s were considered a career downturn for Affleck, he received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in Hollywoodland (2006). In the several years following, he played supporting roles, including in the films Smokin' Aces (2006), He's Just Not That Into You (2009), State of Play (2009), and Extract (2009). He ventured into directing in 2007, with the thriller Gone Baby Gone (2007), which starred his brother, Casey Affleck, and was well received. He then directed, co-wrote, and starred in The Town (2010), which was named to the National Board of Review Top Ten Films of the year. For the political thriller Argo (2012), which he directed and starred in, Affleck won the Golden Globe Award and BAFTA Award for Best Director, and the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and BAFTA Award for Best Picture (Affleck's second Oscar win).
In 2014, Affleck headlined the book adaptation thriller Gone Girl (2014). He starred as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), and Justice League (2017). He reprised the role in Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) and he will next appear as Batman in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) and The Flash (2023).
Recently he has given praise-worthy performances in The Way Back (2020) as a recovering alcoholic, The Last Duel (2021) (notably he also co-wrote the script), and a scene-stealing golden globe nominated performance in The Tender Bar (2021).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Kevin Spacey Fowler, better known by his stage name Kevin Spacey, is an American actor of screen and stage, film director, producer, screenwriter and singer. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s before obtaining supporting roles in film and television. He gained critical acclaim in the early 1990s that culminated in his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the neo-noir crime thriller The Usual Suspects (1995), and an Academy Award for Best Actor for midlife crisis-themed drama American Beauty (1999).
His other starring roles have included the comedy-drama film Swimming with Sharks (1994), psychological thriller Seven (1995), the neo-noir crime film L.A. Confidential (1997), the drama Pay It Forward (2000), the science fiction-mystery film K-PAX (2001)
In Broadway theatre, Spacey won a Tony Award for his role in Lost in Yonkers. He was the artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London from 2004 until stepping down in mid-2015. Since 2013, Spacey has played Frank Underwood in the Netflix political drama series House of Cards. His work in House of Cards earned him Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award nominations for Best Actor.
As enigmatic as he is talented, Kevin Spacey for years kept the details of his private life closely guarded. As he explained in a 1998 interview with the London Evening Standard, "the less you know about me, the easier it is to convince you that I am that character on screen. It allows an audience to come into a movie theatre and believe I am that person". In October 2017, he ended many years of media speculation about his personal life by confirming that he had had sexual relations with both men and women but now identified as gay.
There are, however, certain biographical facts to be had - for starters, Kevin Spacey Fowler was the youngest of three children born to Kathleen Ann (Knutson) and Thomas Geoffrey Fowler, in South Orange, New Jersey. His ancestry includes Swedish (from his maternal grandfather) and English. His middle name, "Spacey," which he uses as his stage name, is from his paternal grandmother. His mother was a personal secretary, his father a technical writer whose irregular job prospects led the family all over the country. The family eventually settled in southern California, where young Kevin developed into quite a little hellion - after he set his sister's tree house on fire, he was shipped off to the Northridge Military Academy, only to be thrown out a few months later for pinging a classmate on the head with a tire. Spacey then found his way to Chatsworth High School in the San Fernando Valley, where he managed to channel his dramatic tendencies into a successful amateur acting career. In his senior year, he played "Captain von Trapp" opposite classmate Mare Winningham's "Maria" in "The Sound of Music" (the pair later graduated as co-valedictorians). Spacey claims that his interest in acting - and his nearly encyclopedic accumulation of film knowledge - began at an early age, when he would sneak downstairs to watch the late late show on TV. Later, in high school, he and his friends cut class to catch revival films at the NuArt Theater. The adolescent Spacey worked up celebrity impersonations (James Stewart and Johnny Carson were two of his favorites) to try out on the amateur comedy club circuit.
He briefly attended Los Angeles Valley College, then left (on the advice of another Chatsworth classmate, Val Kilmer) to join the drama program at Juilliard. After two years of training he was anxious to work, so he quit Juilliard sans diploma and signed up with the New York Shakespeare Festival. His first professional stage appearance was as a messenger in the 1981 production of "Henry VI".
Festival head Joseph Papp ushered the young actor out into the "real world" of theater, and the next year Spacey made his Broadway debut in Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts". He quickly proved himself as an energetic and versatile performer (at one point, he rotated through all the parts in David Rabe's "Hurlyburly"). In 1986, he had the chance to work with his idol and future mentor, Jack Lemmon, on a production of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night". While his interest soon turned to film, Spacey would remain active in the theater community - in 1991, he won a Tony Award for his turn as "Uncle Louie" in Neil Simon's Broadway hit "Lost in Yonkers" and, in 1999, he returned to the boards for a revival of O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh".
Spacey's film career began modestly, with a small part as a subway thief in Heartburn (1986). Deemed more of a "character actor" than a "leading man", he stayed on the periphery in his next few films, but attracted attention for his turn as beady-eyed villain "Mel Profitt" on the TV series Wiseguy (1987). Profitt was the first in a long line of dark, manipulative characters that would eventually make Kevin Spacey a household name: he went on to play a sinister office manager in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), a sadistic Hollywood exec in Swimming with Sharks (1994), and, most famously, creepy, smooth-talking eyewitness Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects (1995).
The "Suspects" role earned Spacey an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and catapulted him into the limelight. That same year, he turned in another complex, eerie performance in David Fincher's thriller Se7en (1995) (Spacey refused billing on the film, fearing that it might compromise the ending if audiences were waiting for him to appear). By now, the scripts were pouring in. After appearing in Al Pacino's Looking for Richard (1996), Spacey made his own directorial debut with Albino Alligator (1996), a low-key but well received hostage drama. He then jumped back into acting, winning critical accolades for his turns as flashy detective Jack Vincennes in L.A. Confidential (1997) and genteel, closeted murder suspect Jim Williams in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). In October 1999, just four days after the dark suburban comedy American Beauty (1999) opened in US theaters, Spacey received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Little did organizers know that his role in Beauty would turn out to be his biggest success yet - as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged corporate cog on the brink of psychological meltdown, he tapped into a funny, savage character that captured audiences' imaginations and earned him a Best Actor Oscar.
No longer relegated to offbeat supporting parts, Spacey seems poised to redefine himself as a Hollywood headliner. He says he's finished exploring the dark side - but, given his attraction to complex characters, that mischievous twinkle will never be too far from his eyes.
In February 2003 Spacey made a major move back to the theatre. He was appointed Artistic Director of the new company set up to save the famous Old Vic theatre, The Old Vic Theatre Company. Although he did not undertake to stop appearing in movies altogether, he undertook to remain in this leading post for ten years, and to act in as well as to direct plays during that time. His first production, of which he was the director, was the September 2004 British premiere of the play Cloaca by Maria Goos (made into a film, Cloaca (2003)). Spacey made his UK Shakespearean debut in the title role in Richard II in 2005. In 2006 he got movie director Robert Altman to direct for the stage the little-known Arthur Miller play Resurrection Blues, but that was a dismal failure. However Spacey remained optimistic, and insisted that a few mistakes are part of the learning process. He starred thereafter with great success in Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten along with Colm Meaney and Eve Best, and in 2007 that show transferred to Broadway. In February 2008 Spacey put on a revival of the David Mamet 1988 play Speed-the-Plow in which he took one of the three roles, the others being taken by Jeff Goldblum and Laura Michelle Kelly.
In 2013, Spacey took on the lead role in an original Netflix series, House of Cards (2013). Based upon a British show of the same name, House of Cards is an American political drama. The show's first season received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination to include Outstanding lead actor in a drama series. In 2017, he played a memorable role as a villain in the action thriller Baby Driver (2017).- Actress
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The acclaimed Cornish actress Dame Kristin Scott Thomas was born in Redruth, Cornwall, to Deborah (Hurlbatt) and Lieutenant Commander Simon Scott Thomas. Her father was a pilot for the British Royal Navy and died in a flying accident in 1964. Her stepfather, Lt. Cdr Simon Idiens, was also a pilot, and died six years later under similar circumstances. Her childhood home was Dorset, England. She left at the age of 19 to work as an au pair in Paris. She was married to French doctor François Oliviennes, with whom she had three children; Hannah, Joseph, and George.- Director
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Gilles Paquet-Brenner was born on 14 September 1974 in Paris, France. He is a director and writer, known for Crooked House (2017), Sarah's Key (2010) and Dark Places (2015).- Director
- Editor
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At 19 Adam got his start in feature film making early with his directorial debut Home Sick, a slasher horror film starring Bill Moseley and Tom Toweles. However it was his second effort at 24 years old with the film Pop Skull that garnered him a talent to watch. Made for a budget of around 2000 dollars he managed to capture the attention of French Distribution company The Wild Bunch. The film went on to premiere at the prestigious Rome Film Festival and the American Film Institute Film Festival. His dark and sometimes abrasive directing/editing style has been compared to directors such as David Lynch, Darren Aronofsky, and Shinya Tsukamoto.- Actress
- Producer
Born in NSW, Australia, Sharni Vinson grew up in Sydney's southern beach suburb of Cronulla. As a teenager, she competed at a National Level in swimming, holding 4 State records throughout high school. Sharni began singing, dancing and acting at a young age, becoming the 3rd generation of performers in her family. Her mother was a performer in musical theater, and her grandmother was Australia's youngest ballerina in 1945 to be offered a scholarship in the Borovansky Ballet Company in England. At the age of 12, Sharni enrolled as a student in the Brent Street School of Performing Arts in Sydney, where she trained in all faucets of dance over the next 10 years. At the age of 17 after graduating high school, Sharni was signed to Roadshow Music Australia as a member of the all girl pop group, "Foxfire IV", whose debut single 'Roses' reached the top 50 on Australia's ARIA charts.
Vinson is still best known amongst Australian audiences for her role as 'Cassie Turner' in the long running television series, "Home and Away" after she joined the show permanently in 2004. Her performance earned her a nomination for 'Most Popular New Talent' at the TV Week Logie Awards in 2006. In 2008, Sharni announced she would be leaving the #1 Australian drama series to pursue a career in America, where she was immediately embraced by the entertainment industry. In January 2008, she was chosen by director David Nutter (Smallville, Supernatural), to appear in the $50M LG 'Scarlet' TV series advertisement campaign, shot in Bangkok,Thailand. From there, she booked continuous guest roles on CSI:NY, NCIS, My Boys, Cold Case, and CW pilot 'Austin Golden Hour'. She also secured herself the lead role in the pilot presentation, 'The Depths', produced by Gregory Bonann (creator/producer 'Baywatch').
In March 2009, after an extensive search for a leading lady with amazing dance capability, Vinson booked the coveted lead role of 'Natalie' in Disney's "Step Up 3D"- the third installment of the 'Step Up' dance film franchise. The physically demanding role required a brutal 5 month 'boot camp', which included lengthy days of weight lifting, dance rehearsals, dialect coaching, capoeira classes and parkour training. 'Step Up 3D' was released in August 2010 and has grossed over $180M worldwide. The 'Step Up' series has since become the most successful dance film franchise in the world.
In need of an actress highly accomplished in water skills, Vinson portrayed pro-surfer 'Tara' in 'Blue Crush 2, Wild Coast' - a role which was specifically written in to add Vinson to the film. The film required all of its actors to partake in a vigorous surf camp, where her ocean savvy skills were put on display in the middle of shark infested waters in Durban, South Africa. The film was released in June 2011 by Universal Studios Home Entertainment 10 years after the original 'Blue Crush' premiered in Hawaii.
By the end of 2010, Sharni headed back to her home country where she joined the Australian/Singaporean co-produced shark thriller 'BAIT 3D', written by Russell Mulcahy (Resident Evil- Extinction). The film literally took a bite out of the Chinese box office after it opened #1 in October 2012, grossing over $25M in its first 3 weeks in theaters. But it was Vinson's next role which would finally earn her the industry credibility and recognition she had been seeking.
In March 2011, Sharni had auditioned for the low budget, indie horror film, titled "YOU'RE NEXT", which for months had been unable to cast its lead female actress. It was during her audition that director Adam Wingard (Godzilla v Kong) became convinced he had finally found his lead girl. He asked writer, Simon Barrett to re-create the role of 'Erin' to suit the actresses' native Australian background and the result was history in the making. During the film's premiere screening in 2011 at the Toronto International Film Festival, an immediate bidding war erupted, which eventually saw 'Lionsgate' win the battle to acquire the film. The company then soon merged with Summit Entertainment, creating a back log in their combined list of films, and by the time "YOU'RE NEXT" was finally released in September 2013, it had sat 'on the shelf' for 2 years. However, due to the buzz which had been building throughout the industry and by word of mouth via horror fans across the globe, the film managed to open to overwhelming success. Rolling Stone named 'YOU'RE NEXT' one of the "best horror movies of 2013", and Vinson's role as Erin was praised as the perfect blend of girl-next-door meets tough action survivalist, since earning her the title of America's new 'scream queen'. Vinson's most critically acclaimed role saw her take home 'Best Horror Actress' at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas in 2011 and the film has since become a horror cult classic in the industry worldwide.
In November 2012, Sharni led the way in the remake of an Australian cult classic, 'PATRICK', originally released in 1978. She was asked to play the lead role of 'Nurse Kathy' opposite Charles Dance (Game of Thrones, Alien) and Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under, Brothers and Sisters). The film was shot in Melbourne, Australia, and again, earned Sharni critical acclaim for her portrayal of a caring nurse who becomes the subject of her telepathic, murderous coma patient. The Australian Film Critics Association nominated her performance for Best Actress in 2014 at the AFCA Awards alongside Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts.
In June 2014, Sharni was asked to join Jackie Chan in his latest action adventure epic, "Dragon Blade", opposite John Cusack (Being John Malkovich) and Adrien Brody (The Pianist). As one of most costly Chinese films of all time, it released in February 2015 breaking all records at the box office in China. In "Dragon Blade", Sharni plays the Queen of the Roman Empire in the days of early war on the Silk Road.
In October 2014, Sharni teamed up with NYFA film student Shantal Freedman to play small town cop 'Jackie' in her final graduation project at the New York Film Academy. The short film titled "TICKETED" went on to become an official selection for the 2015 Short Film Corner at Cannes International Film Festival, the LA Shorts Fest, and won Best Student Film at the LA Cinema Festival of Hollywood. Vinson also received an honorable mention for Best Principal Actress at the Independent Film Awards 2015.
In May 2015, Adi Shankar (The Grey, Castlevania) approached Sharni about playing the lead female character in his highly anticipated new series titled, 'The Guardians of Justice'. In the half animated, half live-action superhero saga, Sharni portrays the fastest woman on Earth, 'The Speed,' opposite Jane Seymore, Denise Richards, and WWE wrestler Diamond Dallas Page. The original Netflix series premiered at the Cannes Series Festival in October 2021 and was released in March 2022 after 6 years in the making. The groundbreaking action series saw Vinson earn her first credit as co-executive producer.
Constantly taking on physically demanding roles and always up for a challenge, Sharni most recently agreed to participate in the 8th season of Australian SURVIVOR, 'Heroes verses Villains', competing on the Heroes Tribe.The reality series filmed in Samoa in August 2022 and is now streaming on Channel 10 in Australia.- Director
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Todd Solondz was born in Newark, New Jersey. One of his earliest jobs in the film industry was when, as a young man, he worked as a messenger for the Writers' Guild of America. During this time, he wrote several screenplays.
Solondz's first color film with sync sound was the short "Schatt's Last Shot" (1985). Solondz played a high schooler who wants to get into Stanford, but cannot because his sadistic gym teacher fails him. He also has no luck seducing the girl he desires. It was a student film, and is still screened at NYU, where Solondz made it.
Solondz's first feature was Fear, Anxiety & Depression (1989), a piece about a writer (Solondz) writing a play and sending it to Samuel Beckett.
Solondz found great critical acclaim with his second feature, Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995), a film about the cruelty of junior high school, parents, adult figures, and suburban life. The film won awards at Sundance, Berlin, and countless other festivals for its cruel realism, bitter humor, and unflinching portrayal of adolescence.
His third feature effort, Happiness (1998), was a wildly edgy and provocative film. The film revolves around a group of people who are miserable in their conventional lifestyles and pursue happiness in various forms of perverse sexuality. It featured a murderer, a rapist, a pedophile, and a man who harasses others with sexually obscene phone calls The film incited major controversy and was dropped by its original distributor, only to be picked up by another company. One of the particularly controversial aspects of the film was the element of the child psychologist as a repressed pedophile. In the film, he molests his son's friend at a sleep-over; but the character was sympathetic and deftly presented. Once again, the film was lauded with numerous awards and strong critical praise.
Solondz made it clear he was not softening up with his next effort, Storytelling (2001), which was about the artistic process. The film is divided into two halves, "Fiction" and "Non-Fiction." "Fiction" centers on a character in a creative-writing class, and "Non- Fiction" on a desperate filmmaker making a documentary about a depressed, listless, unmotivated teenager. "Fiction" concerns how fictional stories can be used to distort rather than illuminate reality, which is displayed via the exploits of the protagonist, a college student in a creative writing class. The film was in danger of being rated NC-17due to a racially charged sex scene. Solondz's response to the threat of the NC-17 was quite clever (and a bit tongue-in-cheek). Instead of trimming the scene, he simply blocked the image of the copulation with a large orange box. The film got an R rating. "Nonfiction" was loaded with social commentary. Topics covered in this part included a listless teenager and his overbearing family, homosexuality's current parallels to the scarlet letter, drug use, gun control in the home, and one's capability to murder.
Solondz's next film was Palindromes (2004), which was also controversial, due to the fact that the protagonist was played by eight people of differing size, race, and gender.
Solondz has established himself as a consistently engaging and unique filmmaker, as opposed to just one more cookie-cutter conformist director making his movies on the Hollywood assembly line. He is a real writer and filmmaker, agent provocateur, and a force with which to be reckoned.- Throughout her diverse career, Selma Blair has been one of the most versatile and exciting actresses on screen. Blair's longstanding career began with her comedic roles in pop culture classics in the early 2000s. Blair has worked with an array of acclaimed directors including Guillermo del Toro and Todd Solodnz, to name a few. Additionally, Blair was named one of Time Magazine's Person of The Year in 2017 as one of their Silence Breakers.
Upcoming, Blair will be seen as the subject of the documentary, Introducing, Selma Blair, which premiered to rave reviews at the 2021 SXSW Festival. At the festival, the feature won the Special Jury Recognition for Exceptional Intimacy in Storytelling. Following SXSW, DEADLINE wrote "Selma Blair's unflinching and raw vulnerability in Introducing, Selma Blair, coupled with director Rachel Fleit's almost voyeuristic chronicling of her MS diagnosis, invites us not just to feel empathy for the star. More than that, it invites us into her fight, prompting anyone watching to feel joined with her in battle." The documentary, which reveals Blair's intimate and raw journey with Multiple Sclerosis, was acquired by Discovery+ and is slated for release in Fall 2021.
Previously, Blair starred in the comedy/horror thriller Mom and Dad, alongside Nicholas Cage. The film, which follows a teenage girl and her younger brother as they must survive a wild 24 hours during which a mass hysteria of unknown origin causes parents to turn violently on their own kids. The film premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and later screened at the 2017 Sitges Film Festival and the 2017 Molins Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Jury Prize for Best Film and the Audience Award for Best Films. VARIETY critic Dennis Harvey wrote "She [Blair] covers a gamut from bittersweet sympathy to farce to monstrousness, running amok like a cat on piano keys, yet hitting each note perfectly. "Mom & Dad" isn't the kind of movie they give acting awards to - but in a just world, it would be."
On television, Blair was recently seen co-starring as "Kris Jenner" in FX's The People vs. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story for Ryan Murphy.
Blair also starred in Todd Solodnz's Dark Horse in 2011 as Miranda (formerly 'Vi'), alongside Christopher Walken and Mia Farrow. The film debuted at the Venice Film Festival and was later released by Virgil Films & Entertainment. Blair also starred in Todd Solodnz's Storytelling in 2001.
In 2008, Blair reprised her role as Liz Sherman in Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army, after starring in the original Hellboy in 2004 (also directed by del Toro).
Blair is perhaps best well known for her scene stealing performance as 'Vivian Kesington' in MGM's hit Romantic comedy Legally Blonde, alongside Reese Witherspoon. The film was nominated in 2002 for a Golden Globe Award in the category of Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy.
In 1999, Blair played the role of Cecile Caldwell in Cruel Intentions, alongside Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillippe. Columbia Pictures released the film, which was directed by Roger Kumble.
Other film credits include the YA film After (2019) and its sequel, After We Collided (2020), based on the popular romance novels of the same name. Blair also starred in Robert Benton's Feast of Love in 2007, and John Water's A Dirty Shame in 2004. In 2002, Blair reconnected with her Cruel Intentions director Roger Kumble in The Sweetest Thing for Columbia Pictures, alongside Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate, and Jason Bateman.
Blair also starred on television as 'Kim' on Kath & Kim for NBC from 2008-2009, opposite Molly Shannon. Blair has made memorable guest star appearances including Friends, Another Life, Heathers, Portlandia and Web Therapy.
On stage, Blair starred in the World Premiere production of Rajiv Joseph's Gruesome Playground Injuries at The Alley Theater and was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Spoken Word Recording" for her reading of The Diary of Anne Frank.
Blair currently resides in Los Angeles. - Director
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Michael Aloni was born on 30 January 1984 in Tel Aviv, Israel. He is an actor and director, known for Out in the Dark (2012), Shtisel (2013) and You Up?.- Writer
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A true master of his craft, Michael Haneke is one of the greatest film artists working today and one who challenges his viewers each year and work goes by, with films that reflect real portions of life in realistic, disturbing and unforgettable ways. One of the most genuine filmmakers of the world cinema, Haneke wrote and directed films in several languages: French, German and English, working with a great variety of actors, such as Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Toby Jones, Ülrich Muhe, Arno Frisch and the list goes on.
This grand figure from Austrian cinema was born in Germany on 23 March 1942, from a German father and an Austrian mother, with both parents being from the artistic world working as actors, a career that Michael also tried but without much success. At the University of Vienna he studied drama, philosophy and psychology, and after graduation he went on to become a film critic and TV editor. His career behind camera started with After Liverpool (1974), which he wrote and directed. He went on to direct five more TV films and two episodes from the miniseries "Lemminge" (1979)_.
The years spent on television works prompted him to finally direct his first cinema feature, during his early 40's, which is somewhat unusual for film directors. But it was worth waiting. In The Seventh Continent (1989), Haneke establishes the foundation of what his future cinema would be about: a cinema that doesn't provides answers but one that dares to throw more and more questions, a cinema that reflects and analyses the human condition in its darkest and unexpected ways outside of any Hollywood formula. Films that exist to confront audiences and not comfort them. In it, Haneke deals with the duality of social values vs. internal values while exposing an apparent perfect family that runs into physical and material disintegration for reasons unknown. It was the first time a film of his was sent to the Cannes Film Festival (out of competition lineup) but he managed to cause some commotion in the audience with polemic scenes that were meant to extract all possible reactions from the crowd.
His next ventures at the decade's turn was in dealing with disturbed youth and the alienation they have in separating reality from fiction, trying to intersect both to drastic results. In Benny's Video (1992), it's the disturbing story of a teen boy who experiences killing for the first time capturing the murder on tape, impressed by the power of detachment that films and videos can cause to people; and later on the highly controversial Funny Games (1997), where two teens hold a family hostage to play sadistic games just for their own sick amusement. The film cemented Haneke's name as one of the greatest authors of his generation but sparkled a great debate with its themes of violence, sadism and the influence those things have in audiences. At the 1997's Cannes Film Festival, it was the film that had the most walk-out's by the audience. In between both films, he released 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994) and Kafka's The Castle (1997), the latter being one of the rare times when Haneke developed an adapted work.
In the 2000's, he strongly continued in producing more outstanding works prone to debate and reflection in what would become his most prolific decade with the following films: Code Unknown (2000), The Piano Teacher (2001), Time of the Wolf (2003), Caché (2005), an American remake shot-by shot of Funny Games (2007) and The White Ribbon (2009). His study about romance versus masochism in The Piano Teacher (2001) was an intense work, with powerful performances by Isabelle Huppert and Benoit Magimel, that the Cannes jury in the year were so impressed that Haneke managed to actually reverse their award rules where it was decided that film entries at the festival couldn't win more than one main award (the two lead actors won awards and Haneke got the Grand Prize of the Jury, just lost the Palme d'Or). With The White Ribbon (2009), an enigmatic black-and-white masterpiece following the inception of Nazism in this pre WWI and WWII story focusing on repressed children living in this small village where strange events happen all the time and without any possible reasoning, Haneke conquered the world and audiences with an artistic and daring work that won his first Palme d'Or a Golden Globe as Best Foreign Language Film and received an Oscar nomination for the same category plus the cinematography work of Christian Berger.
2012 was the year that marked his supremacy in the film world with the release of the bold and beautiful Amour (2012), a love story with powerful real drama and one where Haneke removed most of his usual dark characteristics to present more quiet and calm elements without losing input in creating controversy. The touching story of George and Anne provided one the greatest moments of that year and earned Haneke his second and consecutive Palme d'Or at Cannes and his first Oscar nominations for Best Direction and Best Original Screenplay - and it was one of the several nominees for Best Picture Oscar, winning as Best Foreign Language Film.
After abandoning a flash-mob film project, he returned to the screen with Happy End (2017), a film dealing with the refugee crisis in Europe and again he debuted his film at Cannes, receiving mildly positive reviews.
Besides his film work, Haneke also directs theatre productions, from drama to opera, from Così fan tutte to Don Giovanni.- Writer
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Director, writer, producer and composer Tom Tykwer was born in 1965 in Wuppertal, Germany. He showed an interest in film-making from childhood, making super 8 films from the age of 11. Among his first jobs was working at a local art-house cinema. Tykwer eventually relocated to Berlin, first working as a film projectionist and then becoming head of programming at the Moviemento Theater.
Tykwer's friend, the director Rosa von Praunheim, encouraged him to experiment with film-making and the result was the short Because (2001). Other short films followed, and in 1993 Tykwer made his first full length feature Deadly Maria (1993). Tykwer's international breakthrough came in 1998 with Run Lola Run (1998), which was a hit with both audiences and critics alike. The film garnered many awards and was the most successful German film of the year.
Subsequent projects include Heaven (2002), Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), The International (2009) and the ambitious epic Cloud Atlas (2012).- Writer
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Director, writer, and producer Lilly Wachowski was born in 1967 in Chicago, the daughter of Lynne, a nurse and painter, and Ron, a businessman. Lilly was educated at Kellogg Elementary School in Chicago, before moving on to Whitney M. Young High School. After graduating from high school, she attended Emerson College in Boston but dropped out.
Lilly teamed up with her older sibling, Lana Wachowski, and began working on films. Their first script was optioned and formed the basis for the film Assassins (1995). The Wachowskis went on to make their directorial debut with the self-written Bound (1996), which was well-received. They followed this with the smash hit The Matrix (1999) and went on to produce two successful sequels, The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003).
Other projects include scripting and producing the cult hit V for Vendetta (2005), a live-action version of a Japanese anime series; Speed Racer (2008); Cloud Atlas (2012); and the ambitious epic Jupiter Ascending (2015).- Writer
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Lana Wachowski and her sister Lilly Wachowski, also known as the Wachowskis, are the duo behind such ground-breaking movies as The Matrix (1999) and Cloud Atlas (2012). Born to mother Lynne, a nurse, and father Ron, a businessman of Polish descent, Wachowski grew up in Chicago and formed a tight creative relationship with her sister Lilly. After the siblings dropped out of college, they started a construction business and wrote screenplays. Their 1995 script, Assassins (1995), was made into a movie, leading to a Warner Bros contract. After that time, the Wachowskis devoted themselves to their movie careers. In 2012, during interviews for Cloud Atlas and in her acceptance speech for the Human Rights Campaign's Visibility Award, Lana spoke about her experience of being a transgender woman, sacrificing her much cherished anonymity out of a sense of responsibility. Lana is known to be extremely well-read, loves comic books and exploring ideas of imaginary worlds, and was inspired by Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) in creating Cloud Atlas.- Writer
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Stuart Blumberg was born on 19 July 1969. He is a writer and actor, known for Keeping the Faith (2000), The Kids Are All Right (2010) and Thanks for Sharing (2012).- Director
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After Ten Horn's debut movie The deflowering of Eva van End, with its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival 2012, film magazine Variety listed Ten Horn as one of 'Ten European directors to watch'.
Michiel ten Horn (1983) graduated in 2007 from the HKU, the University of the arts Utrecht, where he studied animation. As a student he already focused on live-action, but his animation background stayed active, in his storytelling and use of form.
Recently, Michiel directed the first Dutch Netflix Original Series Ares. The show premiered in January 2020 and tells the story of an Amsterdam student who joins a secret society that has been around since the 17th century, the Dutch Golden Age, but must decide how far she is willing to go to rise up to the ranks.
Michiel's debut film The Deflowering of Eva van End is a tragicomedy about the Van End family who, after the arrival of an impossibly perfect German exchange student, can no longer imagine how they ever managed to live with their imperfect selves. The film has been sold to 23 countries including USA, and went on to receive three Golden Calf nominations for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Music. At the same festival, the film won the Dutch Film Critics Award for Best Film of the Year and was honored with the Film Poster Award.
His next film The Peter Pan man (Aanmodderfakker, 2014) was originally produced as a TV film but after it gloriously conquered the 2014 Netherlands Film Festival with six nominations (Best Music, Best Production-Design, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Film), the network uniquely decided to give the film a theatrical run as well. Eventually the film won three Golden Calf Awards for Best Film, Best Actor and Best Screenplay.
Currently, he is in preproduction for his next Dutch feature film Volgens de Overlevering and is attached to direct the German/ Canadian feature film Nightlife.- Tomer Pawlicki was born on 22 April 1986 in Tel Aviv, Israel. He is an actor, known for Rembrandt en ik (2011), Flikken Maastricht (2007) and Rampvlucht (2022).
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Brandon Cronenberg was born on 10 January 1980 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a director and writer, known for Possessor (2020), Infinity Pool (2023) and Antiviral (2012).- Caleb Landry Jones is an American actor and musician, known for his roles as Banshee in X-Men: First Class, Jeremy Armitage in Get Out, Red Welby in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Ty Carter in The Outpost, Jeff in Finch, and Martin Bryant in Nitram. His accolades include a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and a Aacta Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in Nitram.
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Neil Jordan was born on 25 February 1950 in Sligo, Ireland. He is a writer and producer, known for The Crying Game (1992), Greta (2018) and Breakfast on Pluto (2005). He has been married to Brenda Rawn since 30 June 2004. They have two children. He was previously married to Vivienne Shields.- Director
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Brian De Palma is one of the well-known directors who spear-headed the new movement in Hollywood during the 1970s. He is known for his many films that go from violent pictures, to Hitchcock-like thrillers. Born on September 11, 1940, De Palma was born in Newark, New Jersey in an Italian-American family. Originally entering university as a physics student, De Palma became attracted to films after seeing such classics as Citizen Kane (1941). Enrolling in Sarah Lawrence College, he found lasting influences from such varied teachers as Alfred Hitchcock and Andy Warhol.
At first, his films comprised of such black-and-white films as To Bridge This Gap (1969). He then discovered a young actor whose fame would influence Hollywood forever. In 1968, De Palma made the comedic film Greetings (1968) starring Robert De Niro in his first ever credited film role. The two followed up immediately with the films The Wedding Party (1969) and Hi, Mom! (1970).
After making such small-budget thrillers such as Sisters (1972) and Obsession (1976), De Palma was offered the chance to direct a film based on Stephen King's classic novel "Carrie". The story deals with a tormented teenage girl who finds she has the power of telekinesis. The film starred Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie and John Travolta, and was for De Palma, a chance to try out the split screen technique for which he would later become famous.
Carrie (1976) was a massive success, and earned the two lead females (Laurie and Spacek) Oscar nominations. The film was praised by most critics, and De Palma's reputation was now permanently secured. He followed up this success with the horror film The Fury (1978), the comedic film Home Movies (1979) (both these films featured Kirk Douglas), the crime thriller Dressed to Kill (1980) starring Michael Caine and Angie Dickinson, and another crime thriller entitled Blow Out (1981) starring John Travolta.
His next major success was the controversial, ultra-violent film Scarface (1983). Written by Oliver Stone and starring Al Pacino, the film concerned Cuban immigrant Tony Montana's rise to power in the United States through the drug trade. While being a critical failure, the film was a major success commercially.
Moving on from Scarface (1983), De Palma made two more movies before landing another one of his now-classics: The Untouchables (1987), starring old friend Robert De Niro in the role of Chicago gangster Al Capone. Also starring in the film were Kevin Costner as the man who commits himself to bring Capone down, and Sean Connery, an old policeman who helps Costner's character to form a group known as the Untouchables. The film was one of De Palma's most successful films, earning Connery an Oscar, and gave Ennio Morricone a nomination for Best Score.
After The Untouchables (1987), De Palma made the Vietnam film Casualties of War (1989) starring Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn. The film focuses on a new soldier who is helpless to stop his dominating sergeant from kidnapping a Vietnamese girl with the help of the coerced members of the platoon. The film did reasonably well at the box office, but it was his next film that truly displayed the way he could make a hit and a disaster within a short time. The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) starred a number of well-known actors such as Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman, however it was still a commercial flop and earned him two Razzie nominations.
But the roller coaster success that De Palma had gotten so far did not let him down. He made the horror film Raising Cain (1992), and the criminal drama Carlito's Way (1993) starring Al Pacino and Sean Penn. The latter film is about a former criminal just released from prison that is trying to avoid his past and move on. It was in the year 1996 that brought one of his most well-known movies. This was the suspense-filled Mission: Impossible (1996) starring Tom Cruise and Jon Voight.
Following up this film was the interesting but unsuccessful film Snake Eyes (1998) starring Nicolas Cage as a detective who finds himself in the middle of a murder scene at a boxing ring. De Palma continued on with the visually astounding but equally unsuccessful film Mission to Mars (2000) which earned him another Razzie nomination. He met failure again with the crime thriller Femme Fatale (2002), the murder conspiracy The Black Dahlia (2006), and the controversial film Redacted (2007) which deals with individual stories from the war in Iraq.
Brian De Palma may be down for the moment, but if his box office history has taught us anything, it is that he always returns with a major success that is remembered for years and years afterwards.- Actress
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Rachel Anne McAdams was born on November 17, 1978 in London, Ontario, Canada, to Sandra Kay (Gale), a nurse, and Lance Frederick McAdams, a truck driver and furniture mover. She is of English, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish descent. Rachel became involved with acting as a teenager and by the age of 13 was performing in Shakespearean productions in summer theater camp; she went on to graduate with honors with a BFA degree in Theater from York University. After her debut in an episode of Disney's The Famous Jett Jackson (1998), she co-starred in the Canadian TV series Slings and Arrows (2003), a comedy-drama about the trials and travails of a Shakespearean theater group, and won a Gemini award for her performance in 2003.
Her breakout role as Regina George in the hit comedy Mean Girls (2004) instantly catapulted her onto the short list of Hollywood's hottest young actresses. She followed that film with a star turn opposite Ryan Gosling in the adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks bestseller The Notebook (2004), which was a surprise box office success and became the predominant romantic drama for a new, young generation of moviegoers. After filming, McAdams and Gosling became romantically involved and dated through mid-2007. McAdams next showcased her versatility onscreen with the manic comedy Wedding Crashers (2005), the thriller Red Eye (2005), and the holiday drama The Family Stone (2005).
McAdams then explored the independent film world with Married Life (2007), which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and also starred Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper and Patricia Clarkson. Starring roles in the military drama The Lucky Ones (2008), the newspaper thriller State of Play (2009), and the romance The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) followed before she starred opposite Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in Guy Ritchie's international blockbuster Sherlock Holmes (2009). McAdams played the plucky producer of a failing morning TV show in Morning Glory (2010), the materialistic fiancée of Owen Wilson in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris (2011), and returned to romantic drama territory with the hit film The Vow (2012) opposite Channing Tatum. The actress also stars with Ben Affleck in Terrence Malick's To the Wonder (2012) and alongside Noomi Rapace in Brian De Palma's thriller Passion (2012).
In 2005, McAdams received ShoWest's "Supporting Actress of the Year" Award as well as the "Breakthrough Actress of the Year" at the Hollywood Film Awards. In 2009, she was awarded with ShoWest's "Female Star of the Year." As of 2011, she has been romantically linked with her Midnight in Paris (2011) co-star Michael Sheen.- Director
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Matteo Garrone was born in Rome in 1968. He is the son of a theatre critic, Nico Garrone, and a photographer. In 1996 he won the Sacher d'Oro, an award sponsored by Nanni Moretti, with the short film Silhouette (1996), that became one of the three episodes of his first feature film Land in Between (1996). He won Best Director at the European Film Awards and at the David di Donatello Awards for Gomorrah (2008). His film Reality (2012) competed in competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prix. His latest film Tale of Tales (2015) was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.- Writer
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Asghar Farhadi is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is considered one of the most prominent filmmakers of Iranian cinema as well as world cinema in the 21st century. His films have gained recognition for their focus on the human condition, and portrayals of intimate and challenging stories of internal family conflicts. In 2012, he was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. That same year, he also received the Legion of Honour from France.
Farhadi was born in Isfahan, Iran. At the age of 15, in 1987, he joined the Isfahan branch office of the Iranian Youth Cinema Society, which had been established for 4 years earlier and he made several short films. He is also a graduate of theatre, with a BA in dramatic arts and MA in stage direction from University of Tehran and Tarbiat Modares University, respectively.
While completing his studies, he wrote a number of radio plays for Iran's national broadcasting service and directed several television programs. In 2001 Farhadi co-wrote the screenplay for the political satire Ertefa-e past (Low Heights, 2002), with famed war film director, Ebrahim Hatamikia.
Farhadi's first feature film, Dancing in the Dust (2003), tells the story of a young man who is forced to divorce his wife and go hunting snakes in the desert in order to repay his debts to his in-laws. His next film, The Beautiful City (2004), is about a young man who is sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit.
Farhadi's breakthrough came with his third film, About Elly (2009), which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. The film tells the story of a group of friends who go on a weekend trip to the Caspian Sea, and the secrets that are revealed over the course of the weekend.
Farhadi's next film, A Separation (2011), won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film tells the story of a middle-class Iranian couple who are going through a divorce, and the moral dilemmas they face as they try to decide what is best for their young daughter.
Farhadi's subsequent films, The Past (2013) and The Salesman (2016), were also critically acclaimed. The Salesman won a second Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Farhadi's latest film, A Hero (2021), was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. The film tells the story of a man who is released from prison and tries to win back his wife's trust.
Farhadi's films are known for their their complex and suspenseful plots, their realistic characters, and their exploration of moral dilemmas. His films often deal with themes of family, relationships, and social class.
Farhadi is a master of creating suspense, and his films are often compared to those of Alfred Hitchcock. He is also a skilled director of actors, and his films have featured some of the most celebrated Iranian actors, including Shahab Hosseini, Leila Hatami, and Taraneh Alidoosti.
In 2022, Farhadi was accused of plagiarism by a former student, who claimed that he had stolen the idea for his film A Hero from a documentary she had made. Farhadi denied the allegations, and a court in Iran eventually ruled in his favor. However, the allegations have tarnished Farhadi's reputation and raised questions about his creative process.
Asghar Farhadi is one of the most important filmmakers of our time. His films are both entertaining and thought-provoking, and they offer a unique insight into Iranian society and culture. He is a true auteur, and his work is sure to be studied and admired for many years to come.- Director
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Kristen Carroll Wiig was born on August 22, 1973 in Canandaigua, New York, to Laurie J. (Johnston), an artist, and Jon J. Wiig, a lake marina manager. She is of Norwegian (from her paternal grandfather), Irish, English, and Scottish descent. The family moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, before settling in Rochester, New York. When Wiig was 9 years old, her parents divorced and she lived with her mother and older brother Erik.
After graduating from Brighton High School in Rochester, Wiig attended the University of Arizona as an art student. She took her first acting class, as an elective, and was soon encouraged by her teacher to pursue acting. Years later, she moved to Los Angeles and Wiig worked as a main company member of the Los Angeles-based improv and sketch-comedy troupe The Groundlings. As a Groundlings alumna, she joins the ranks of such SNL cast mates as Maya Rudolph, Will Ferrell, Phil Hartman, and Jon Lovitz.
Wiig made her big-screen debut to universal high praise as Katherine Heigl's passive-aggressive boss in Judd Apatow's smash-hit comedy Knocked Up (2007). Additional film credits include Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Whip It (2009), starring Elliot Page; Greg Mottola's Adventureland (2009), with Ryan Reynolds, Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg; David Koepp's Ghost Town (2008), with Ricky Gervais; and Jake Kasdan's Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), another Apatow-produced film, in which she starred opposite John C. Reilly. She has also guest-starred on the Emmy-winning NBC series 30 Rock (2006), the HBO series Bored to Death (2009), with Jason Schwartzman, and Flight of the Conchords (2007).
Wiig joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975) in 2005, and was known for playing such memorable characters as the excitable Target clerk, Lawrence Welk singer Doonese, the hilarious one-upper Penelope, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Suze Orman, among others. Wiig earned four Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on the show. She left the show in the spring of 2012.
In 2011, Wiig co-wrote and starred in Bridesmaids (2011), along with Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, and Rose Byrne. The film was a box office hit and won several awards, plus earned two Oscar nominations (Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay), and two Golden Globes nominations (Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical and Best Actress).
Wiig also appeared in such notable films as Greg Mottola's Paul (2011), opposite Simon Pegg and Nick Frost; Andrew Jarecki's All Good Things (2010), opposite Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella; DreamWorks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon (2010), with Gerard Butler and Jay Baruchel; the Universal Pictures' animated feature film Despicable Me (2010), starring Steve Carell and Jason Segel; and Jennifer Westfeldt's Friends with Kids (2011), opposite Jon Hamm, Megan Fox, Adam Scott, Maya Rudolph and Westfeldt.- Actress
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Actress Sami Gayle stars as "Nicky Reagan-Boyle" on CBS' cop drama Blue Bloods.
Gayle began her acting career as Baby June in the off-Broadway production of "Gypsy," starring Patti LuPone. She then reprised her role when the production transferred to Broadway shortly thereafter. Gayle later co-starred in the off-Broadway plays "Oohrah!" at the Atlantic Theatre Company and MCC Theatre's "Family Week," under the direction of Academy-Award winner Jonathan Demme. She was featured in the 2007 Broadway production of "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical."
Gayle's breakthrough role in film came in 2012 when she co-starred as a young prostitute opposite Adrien Brody, in director Tony Kaye's DETACHMENT. Also that year,she starred opposite Nicolas Cage and Josh Lucas in Millennium Films' STOLEN.
In February 2014, Gayle starred in the film adaptation of VAMPIRE ACADEMY for The Weinstein Company. She played "Mia Rinaldi," nemesis to the film's Rose and Lissa. In April 2014, she appeared opposite Kristen Wiig and Guy Pierce in the indie, HATESHIP LOVESHIP, which premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Later in the year, Gayle will be seen with Robin Wright in THE CONGRESS, which had its world premiere at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.- Producer
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Alexandre Aja was born on 7 August 1978 in Paris, France. He is a producer and director, known for High Tension (2003), The Hills Have Eyes (2006) and Piranha 3D (2010). He is married to Laïla Marrakchi.- Writer
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Joseph Hillstrom King or Joe Hill is an American writer born in Hermon, Maine. He is the son of writer Stephen King and Tabitha King. Joe published his first book (a collection of horror stories called '20th Century Ghosts') in 2005:. It won the Bram Stoker Award and the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection. He has since published the bestselling novels 'Heart Shaped Box' (2008) and 'Horns' (2010). He collaborated with his father for the novella, 'Throttle', for the Richard Matheson tribute anthology 'He Is Legend'. Joe appeared in the cult classic film Creepshow (1982), in which he played Billy, the son of overbearing father Tom Atkins, in the film's wraparound segment.- Actor
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Daniel Jacob Radcliffe was born on July 23, 1989 in Fulham, London, England, to casting agent Marcia Gresham (née Jacobson) and literary agent Alan Radcliffe. His father is from a Northern Irish Protestant background, while his mother was born in South Africa, to a Jewish family (from Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Germany). Daniel began performing in small school productions as a young boy. Soon enough, he landed a role in David Copperfield (1999), as the young David Copperfield. A couple of years later, he landed a role as Mark Pendel in The Tailor of Panama (2001), the son of Harry and Louisa Pendel (Geoffrey Rush and Jamie Lee Curtis). Curtis had indeed pointed out to Daniel's mother that he could be Harry Potter himself. Soon afterwards, Daniel was cast as Harry Potter by director, Chris Columbus in the film that hit theaters in November 16, 2001, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001). He was recognized worldwide after this film was released. Pleasing audiences and critics everywhere, filming on its sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), commenced shortly afterwards. He appeared again as Harry in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) directed by Alfonso Cuarón, and then appeared in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) directed by Mike Newell. Shortly afterwards, he finished filming December Boys (2007) in Adelaide, Australia, Kangaroo Island, and Geelong, Australia which began on the 14 November 2005 and ended sometime in December. On January 27, 2006, he attended the South Bank Awards Show to present the award for "Breakthrough Artist of the Year" to Billie Piper. Daniel reprised his famous character once again for the next installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007). In February 2007, he took on his first stage role in the West End play Equus, to worldwide praise from fans and critics alike. Also that year, he starred in the television movie My Boy Jack (2007), which aired on 11 November 2007 in the UK.
After voicing a character in an episode of the animated television series The Simpsons in late 2010, Radcliffe debuted as J. Pierrepont Finch in the 2011 Broadway revival How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, a role previously held by Broadway veterans Robert Morse and Matthew Broderick. Other cast members included John Larroquette, Rose Hemingway and Mary Faber. Both the actor and production received good reviews, with USA Today commenting: "Radcliffe ultimately succeeds not by overshadowing his fellow cast members, but by working in conscientious harmony with them - and having a blast in the process." Radcliffe's performance in the show earned him Drama Desk Award, Drama League Award and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations. The production itself later received nine Tony Award nominations. Radcliffe left the show on 1 January 2012. His first post-Harry Potter project was the 2012 horror film The Woman in Black, adapted from the 1983 novel by Susan Hill. The film was released on 3 February 2012 in the United States and Canada, and was released on 10 February in the UK. Radcliffe portrays a man sent to deal with the legal matters of a mysterious woman who has just died, and soon after he begins to experience strange events from the ghost of a woman dressed in black. He has said he was "incredibly excited" to be part of the film and described the script as "beautifully written".
In 2013, he portrayed American poet Allen Ginsberg in the thriller drama Kill Your Darlings (2013), directed by John Krokidas. He also starred in an Irish-Canadian romantic comedy film The F Word directed by Michael Dowseand written by Elan Mastai, based on TJ Dawe and Michael Rinaldi's play Toothpaste and Cigars and then he starred in an American dark fantasy horror film directed by Alexandre Aja Horns. Both of the films premiered at the 38th Toronto International Film Festival. Radcliffe also performed at the Noël Coward Theatre in the stage play revival of Martin McDonagh's dark comedy The Cripple of Inishmaan as the lead, Billy Claven, for which he won the WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actor in a Play. In 2015, Radcliffe starred as Igor in a science fiction horror film Victor Frankenstein (2015), directed by Paul McGuigan and written by Max Landis, which was based on contemporary adaptations of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein. In 2016, he appeared as a wealthy villain in the mystery/action film Now You See Me 2 (2016), and as an oftentimes mobile corpse in the indie fantasy Swiss Army Man (2016).
Now being one of the world's most recognizable people, Daniel leads a somewhat normal life. He has made friends working on the Harry Potter films, which include his co-stars Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.- Actress
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Juno Violet Temple was born in London, England, into a showbiz family, the daughter of producer Amanda Temple and film director Julien Temple. She was named 'Juno' after her parents took a visit to the Grand Canyon during pregnancy and found they were standing on a butte of Cape Final known as Juno Temple. She has English and Scottish ancestry.
Her family moved to America, where she spent the first four years of her life. The family then moved back to England and settled in Somerset. At age four, she decided she wanted to be an actress after her father showed her Beauty and the Beast (1946) by Jean Cocteau.
She attended Enmore Primary School in Somerset. It was during this time that her father cast her in his film Vigo (1998). However, her father ended up cutting her out of the film. Two years later, at age 11, her father cast her in another of his films, Pandaemonium (2000).
She became a weekly boarder at King's College boarding school in Taunton. She then moved on to Bedales boarding school in Hampshire to take her A-Levels, one of which was Drama. She left with a B and two C's.
At age 15, she told her parents that she was serious about becoming an actress Her mother saw a call for an open audition for Notes on a Scandal (2006), and Juno was successful in winning the role of Cate Blanchett's daughter. This was her big break and led to a role in another high-profile film, Atonement (2007). She dyed her hair red to play Lola.
In 2009, Juno moved to Los Angeles, partly for her acting career.- Director
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Manuel Martín Cuenca was born on 30 November 1964 in Almería, Almería, Andalucía, Spain. He is a director and writer, known for Cannibal (2013), The Daughter (2021) and The Motive (2017).- Actor
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Antonio studied journalism, but he always knew he wanted to be an actor. He worked as a sports journalist in Canal Sur Radio and Television. During this period, he often traveled to Madrid so he could assist to the Cristina Rota acting school. His first role in cinema was in Los peores años de nuestra vida (1994) as Emilio Martínez-Lázaro. He succeeded on TV with Padre Coraje and Lleno, por favor. He is known for acting in a lot of Spanish short films. He has worked many times with Daniel Sánchez Arévalo in these short films. Antonio acted on this director's first film called AzulOscuroCasiNegro (2006), which lead him to win The Goya Award as Best Secondary Actor. Antonio has worked also many times with Álex de la Iglesia as a supporting actor, but it was in 2010 when he had the leading role in Balada triste de trompeta, being nominated to The Goyas Awards. In 2009, he took again the leading role in a Sánchez Arévalo film called Gordos, a comedy. He gained 33 kilos to play his role as Enrique. Because of that character, he was rewarded with his second nomination to The Goyas Awards. During next years he kept acting in Daniel Sánchez Arévalo films, as La isla interior (2009), Lope (2010) and Primos (2011). In December 2008, Antonio starred in a stage play named La taberna fantástica, written by Alfonso Sastre and directed by Gerardo Malla. Later, in 2012, he was nominated to The Goyas Awards as Best Leading Role and as Best Supporting actor for his performances in Grupo 7 and Invasor, winning neither of them. He played the leading role in Raúl Arévalo's debut as a film director in Tarde para la ira in 2016. In 2018, Antonio de la Torre starred in El reino with Mónica López and directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Antonio received his second The Goya Award as Best Leading Role because of this film.- Actress
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Olimpia Melinte was born in Iasi, Romania, on November 7, 1986. She is an actress, known for Cannibal (2013), My Baby (2013), Seven Acts of Mercy (2011), Killing Time (2012) and Cele ce plutesc (2010).
Born on November 7, 1986, in Iasi, Romania, Olimpia Melinte has always wanted to be an actress. Supported by her parents, who understood and encouraged all her dreams, she studied acting in high school and college. She has a master degree in Dramatic Arts from the Arts University "George Enescu" (Iasi). Olimpia has appeared on the stage of the National Theatre in Iasi in many theatre productions and wishes to come back some day in a great Romanian production guided by a young Romanian director. Her first contact with the big screen was the main part she played in the feature film "Cele ce plutesc", directed by Mircea Danieliuc. Her debut film role landed her two nominations at The Gopo Awards 2010 (for the Best Actress category & Young Hope category). She attracted more attention with her next role in Massimiliano & Gianluca de Serio's movie "Sette opere di misericordia", proving she could hold her own across from screen experienced foreign actors. The film also earned high praise from critics, being awarded in film festivals like Locarno, Annecy, Vilerupt and Marrakech, and brought her an acting award at the Bobbio Film Festival in Italy. She worked with the young and talented Romanian director Luiza Parvu for her short movies Draft &, My Baby and, recently, A New World, with Florin Piersic Jr. for his feature "Killing Time" and also appeared in Dan Chisu's comedy "Bucuresti NonStop" Olimpia starred alongside Antonio de la Torre in the movie "Canibal", directed by Manuel Martín Cuenca, well received by audience and critics at the 2013 editions of the films festivals in Toronto, San Sebastian, Torino etc.- Actor
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Richard Ellef Ayoade was born in Hammersmith, and grew up in Suffolk, in England, the son of a Norwegian mother, Dagny Amalie (Baassuik), and a Nigerian father, Layide Ade Laditi Ayoade. He studied Law at Cambridge university, and followed in the footsteps of British Comedy legends like Monty Python's Eric Idle, Hugh Laurie and Graeme Garden when he became the president of the Cambridge Footlights club.
Ayoade's first real TV break was directing, co-writing and starring with Matthew Holness in the cult classic Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (2004) a parody of shlocky 1980's science fiction television shows, and noticed for it's "so bad it's good!" aesthetic. Notably shy and self-effacing in interviews, his performance as the debauched, self-assured publisher/pornographer/nightclub owner 'Dean Learner' showcased the young comedian's acting talent.
After cameos in another cult series The Mighty Boosh (2003) as the shaman "Saboo", his position in the popular consciousness was cemented in the series The IT Crowd (2006) where Ayoade played the social oblivious, dweebish savant known as "Moss".
All the while Ayoade continued to direct music videos for Vampire Weekend, Kasabian, and the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs before finally getting his chance to direct a feature film, Submarine (2010), based on the novel by Joe Dunthorne.
Submarine was followed by The Double (2013) co-written by Avi Korine and based on a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky.- Actor
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Curly haired and with a fast-talking voice, Jesse Eisenberg is a movie actor, known for his Academy Award nominated role as Mark Zuckerberg in the 2010 film The Social Network. He has also starred in the films The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland, The Education of Charlie Banks, 30 Minutes or Less, Now You See Me and Zombieland. Additionally, he played Lex Luthor in the 2016 film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Jesse Adam Eisenberg was born on October 5, 1983 in Queens, New York, and was raised in East Brunswick Township, New Jersey. His mother, Amy (Fishman), is a professional dressed-up clown who performed at children's birthday parties for a living in their hometown of East Brunswick for 20 years. His father, Barry Eisenberg, ran a hospital before moving on to become a college professor. Jesse has two sisters, Kerri and Hallie Eisenberg, who was a popular child star. His family is Jewish (his ancestors came to the U.S. from Poland, Russia, and Ukraine).
He attended East Brunswick High School, but he didn't really enjoy school. From age 10, he performed in children's theater. Jesse had his first professional role in an off-Broadway play, "The Gathering". Before fame, he made his first television appearance role that came in 1999 when he was 16 with a show on Fox's Get Real (1999), but the show was canceled in 2000. In his senior year of high school, he had landed his first film leading role in the 2002 film Roger Dodger (2002). He won an award for "Most Promising New Actor" at the San Diego film festival.
Jesse attended the New School University, New York, where he was a liberal arts major, with a focus on Democracy and Cultural Pluralism. He also studied at The New School in New York City's Greenwich Village. He applied and was accepted to New York University but declined enrollment to complete a film role. He has been playing the drums since he was age 8.
His breakthrough role came in Zombieland (2009). In 2010, he was nominated for Best Actor at the Golden Globes and Academy Awards for his role of Facebook's creator, Mark Zuckerberg, in the film, The Social Network (2010). He also voiced Blu, a rare blue macaw, in the film Rio (2011), and its sequel Rio 2 (2014). He starred alongside Aziz Ansari in the 2011 comedy 30 Minutes Or Less, and played himself in the 2013 comedy film He's Way More Famous Than You (2013).- Actress
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Mia is an Australian actress, born and raised in the country's capital, Canberra. She is the daughter of photographers Marzena Wasikowska and John Reid. Her mother is Polish and her father is an Australian of British ancestry. She has an older sister, Jess, and a younger brother, Kai. At age eight, her family moved to Poland for a year.
At age nine, Mia took ballet classes with dreams of becoming a professional ballerina. However, an injury prevented this from happening and she quit at age fourteen. Mia turned to acting, having been excited by European and Australian cinema. She was attending Canberra High School, but left to pursue her career as an actor.
She had just turned 15 when she landed the role of Lilya in Suburban Mayhem (2006). Her breakthrough role came when she was cast as Alice in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010).- Director
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Jean-Marc Vallée was a Canadian filmmaker, editor and screenwriter from Montreal. He directed Black List, C.R.A.Z.Y., The Young Victoria, Wild, Dallas Buyers Club, Los Locos, Loser Love and Café de Flore. He also created the HBO shows Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects. He was married to Chantal Cadieux and had two sons. He passed away on Christmas Day 2021.- Director
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Mariana Chenillo was born on 23 July 1977 in Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico. She is a director and writer, known for Nora's Will (2008), Paradise (2013) and Sucedió en un día (2010).- Actor
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Born in Egypt to Armenian parents, he was raised in Western Canada. Both his parents were painters, and he planned to be a playwright, but after making a short film, he became hooked on telling stories visually. Returned to ethnic "homeland" when he filmed Calendar (1993) in Armenia. Won attention at the Sundance Film Festival for earlier work, then broke through critically and commercially with Exotica (1994). Afterwards, The Sweet Hereafter (1997) led him to receive two Academy Award nominations, and then Chloe (2009) became his biggest moneymaker ever (after the film's DVD/Blu-ray release).- Director
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She came to prominence with the much lauded adaptation of Jeanette Winterson's autobiographical novel 'Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit'. Since then she's directed feature films, television dramas and documentaries. In 2008, she founded the charity called Filmclub with Lindsay Mackie. It has since grown to be one of the largest and most influential after-school clubs in the UK, attracting over 150,000 children and young people each week.
Filmclub screens 100 years of film from all over the world to its members. Inspirational, entertaining and with positive outcomes on literacy, social behaviour and cultural awareness, Filmclub members have the opportunity to review, discuss and meet professional film-makers.
In 2006, she was asked to build a web-site for the Guardian newspaper to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Greenham camp.- Director
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Denis Villeneuve is a French Canadian film director and writer. He was born in 1967, in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada. He started his career as a filmmaker at the National Film Board of Canada. He is best known for his feature films Arrival (2016), Sicario (2015), Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013), and Incendies (2010). He is married to Tanya Lapointe.- Producer
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John Wells is one of the most prolific writers, directors and producers for television, film and the stage. Over the past two decades, Wells has been a creative force behind some of primetime's biggest hit series, including ER, The West Wing, Third Watch and China Beach. He is currently Executive Producer of the hit NBC crime drama Southland.
Shows produced by John Wells have received an astounding 267 Emmy nominations with 55 Emmy wins, not to mention 5 Peabody Awards, and numerous People's Choice Awards, Producers Guild Awards, a HUMANITAS Prize (nominated 7 times), as well as numerous distinctions from health care organizations across the country for ER. During its fifteen year run, ER earned 122 Emmy nominations, the most in television history.
A seven-time Writers Guild Award nominee, in 2007, Wells received the WGA's prestigious Paddy Chayefsky Television Laurel Award, given to writers who have advanced the literature of television and made outstanding contributions to the profession of television writers. In 2005, Wells was awarded the David Susskind Achievement Award in Television from the Producers Guild of America.
Wells and his team at John Wells Productions have a number of high-profile films in various stages of production and development.
Wells recently wrote and directed The Company Men, a drama set against the backdrop of affluent Boston suburbs that vividly portrays the struggles of families coping with the current ongoing economic meltdown. The film marks Wells' feature film directorial debut with an extraordinary ensemble cast including Academy Award® winners Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper, as well as Emmy® winner Craig T. Nelson and Golden Globe nominee Maria Bello.
As a producer, Wells' most recent motion-picture credits include: Carroll Ballard's critically-acclaimed drama Duma, a children's film starring Hope Davis and Campbell Scott; Peter Kosminsky's adaptation of Janet Fitch's critically acclaimed novel White Oleander, starring Alison Lohman, Robin Wright Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer and Renée Zellweger; and Neil Jordan's The Good Thief, starring Nick Nolte. Wells also served as a producer on Andrzej Bartkowiak's Doom, based upon the popular video game and starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
In an arrangement unique to the business, John Wells Productions also funds Killer Films, the independent operation of Christine Vachon, Pam Koffler and Katie Roumel. For Killer Films, Wells executive produced Todd Haynes' innovative Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There, Tom Kalin's Savage Grace, Douglas McGrath's Infamous, Mary Harron's The Notorious Bettie Page and Phyllis Nagy's Mrs. Harris for HBO, which garnered several Emmy nominations. Also in collaboration with Killer Films was Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven, Mark Romanek's One Hour Photo, Todd Graff's Camp, Fenton Bailey's Party Monster, Robert Altman's The Company, Michael Mayer's A Home at the End of the World and John Waters' A Dirty Shame.
As a TV producer, Wells' diverse projects include series Smith, The Evidence and Jonny Zero, as well as telemovies Dark Shadows (2004) and The Big Time (2002). Wells' award-winning stage productions include Judgement, Balm in Gilead, Battery and She Also Dances.
Wells served as President of the Writers Guild of America, West (1999-2001) and was vital to the success of the 2001 MBA contract negotiations.
Born in Alexandria, Virginia, and raised in Denver, Colorado, Wells graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a bachelor of fine arts and later earned a Masters degree in film and television at the University of Southern California, where he also serves on the school's Television Executive Advisory Council.- Writer
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Paul Haggis established himself over twenty years with an extensive career in television, before his big break into features arrived when he became the first screenwriter to garner two Best Film Academy Awards back-to-back for his scripts: "Million Dollar Baby" (2004) directed by Clint Eastwood, and "Crash" (2005) which Paul directed himself.
In 2006, among others, Haggis penned two Clint Eastwood productions, "Flags of our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima," for which he earned his third Best Screenplay Oscar nomination. He also co-wrote "Casino Royale," which garnered considerable acclaim for reinvigorating the James Bond spy franchise.
In 2007, Haggis wrote, directed, and produced "In the Valley of Elah." The film starred Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and Susan Sarandon, and earned Jones a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance.
In 2010, his film "The Next Three Days" was released, starring Russell Crowe, Liam Neeson, and Elizabeth Banks.
And in 2013 he wrote and directed the romantic, personal drama "Third Person," which starred Liam Neeson, Olivia Wilde, Mila Kunis, Adrien Brody, James Franco, and Kim Basinger.
Most recently, Haggis directed and executive produced all six episodes of the HBO mini-series "Show Me A Hero," starring Oscar Isaac, Catherine Keener, Winona Ryder, James Belushi, and Alfred Molina.
Currently, Haggis is co-directing a feature length documentary on the AIDS crisis in San Francisco, called "5B."
Equally committed to his private and social concerns, Haggis is the founder of Artists for Peace and Justice. Under this umbrella, many of his friends in the film business have come forward to major build schools and clinics serving the children of the slums of Haiti (www.APJNow.org).- Actress
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Moran Atias was born on 9 April 1981 in Haifa, Israel. She is an actress and producer, known for Third Person (2013), The Next Three Days (2010) and Mother of Tears (2007).- Actor
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Adrien Nicholas Brody was born in Woodhaven, Queens, New York, the only child of retired history professor Elliot Brody and Hungarian-born photographer Sylvia Plachy. He accompanied his mother on assignments for the Village Voice, and credits her with making him feel comfortable in front of the camera. Adrien attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts in New York.
Despite a strong performance in The Thin Red Line (1998), time constraints forced the director to edit out much of Adrien's part. In spite of his later work with Spike Lee and Barry Levinson, he never became the star many expected he would become until Roman Polanski called on him to play a celebrated Jewish pianist in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. He pulled off a brilliant performance in The Pianist (2002), drawing on the heritage and rare dialect of his Polish-born grandmother, as well as his father, who lost family members during the Holocaust, and his mother, who fled Communist Hungary as a child during the 1956 uprising against the Soviet Union.- Director
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Thomas Imbach was born on 19 December 1962 in Lucerne, Switzerland. He is a producer and director, known for Mary Queen of Scots (2013), Happiness Is a Warm Gun (2001) and Day Is Done (2011).- Actor
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George MacKay was born in 1992 in Hammersmith, London, England, to Kim Baker, a British costume designer, and Paul Christopher MacKay, an Australian stage/lighting manager, from Adelaide. One of his grandmothers is from Cork, Ireland.
At the age of ten, George was scouted to audition for a role in the family feature, Peter Pan (2003). He quickly landed the part of Curly, one of the Lost Boys, and went on to have several minor roles on TV, including an episode of Rose and Maloney (2002) and Footprints in the Snow (2005). At thirteen, George landed the part of Riccio in the film adaptation of Cornelia Funke's best-selling children's novel, The Thief Lord (2006), starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and was also cast in lead role for the BBC adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Johnny and the Bomb (2006).
George worked with Tim Roth, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Sophie Okonedo for the HBO Movie Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006) and later took a part in the Dickensian drama, The Old Curiosity Shop (2007). Soon after, George co-starred with Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber on Defiance (2008). In 2009, George took on the role of Harry, in The Boys Are Back (2009) alongside Clive Owen, for which he received 2 award nominations. His career took another step forward with Hunky Dory (2011).
Since, George has featured in several shorts which have been popular on the festival circuit and played the part of Tommo Peaceful with counterpart Jack O'Connell in the adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's Private Peaceful (2012).
2013 was George's breakthrough year, and was recognized for his parts as Aaron in For Those in Peril (2013), Davy in the musical Sunshine on Leith (2013), Jake Whittam in Breakfast with Jonny Wilkinson (2013) and the dark horse Eddie in How I Live Now (2013). George received several nominations and for such features and later bought home a total of 5 awards.
George had a stint in the West End in 2014 in The Cement Garden. He portrayed Joe in the well-received Pride (2014) and Duane Hopkins' Bypass (2014) premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in October. Both Captain Fantastic and Sadie Jones' The Outcast (2015) are in post-production and George will be returning to theatre for Eugene O'Neill's 'Ah,Wilderness!' this April.
In 2016, George starred in the film Captain Fantastic (2016), opposite Viggo Mortensen, and the mini-series 11.22.63 (2016), with James Franco and Sarah Gadon. He rounded out the decade playing the starring role in Sam Mendes' 1917 (2019), a box office hit and highly critically-acclaimed drama set during World War I and shot to simulate a single take in real time.- Actress
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Saoirse Una Ronan was born in The Bronx, New York City, New York, United States, to Irish parents, Monica Ronan (née Brennan) and Paul Ronan, an actor. When Saoirse was three, the family moved back to Dublin, Ireland. Saoirse grew up in Dublin and briefly in Co. Carlow before moving back to Dublin with her parents.
Saoirse made her first TV appearance with a small role in a few episodes of the TV series, The Clinic (2003). Her first film appearance was in the 2007 movie, I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007). Saoirse received international fame after appearing in the movie, Atonement (2007), which was directed by Joe Wright. The movie co-starred Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. The film was successful, both critically and commercially, and in 2008, Saoirse earned an Oscar nomination for her role. She became one of the youngest actresses to be nominated for an Oscar. She continued to earn success and fame. Between 2008 to 2011, she starred in a number of successful movies, including City of Ember (2008), which earned her a nomination for Irish Film & Television Award, The Lovely Bones (2009), for which she was nominated for a BAFTA Award, and The Way Back (2010), for which she won Irish Film & Television Award for Actress in a Supporting Role. In 2016, Ronan was nominated for her second Oscar for Brooklyn (2015). She became the second youngest actress to receive two Oscar nominations at the age of 21. The youngest actress is Angela Lansbury. In 2018, Ronan was nominated for her third Oscar for Lady Bird (2017). She's the second youngest actress (first being Jennifer Lawrence) to receive three Oscar nominations before the age of 24.
Saoirse Ronan resides in London, United Kingdom.- Director
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Bruce La Bruce was born on 3 January 1964 in Southampton, Ontario, Canada. He is a director and writer, known for Gerontophilia (2013).- Actress
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Katie Boland was born on 14 February 1988 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is an actress and producer, known for Lolz-ita (2017), Long Story, Short (2013) and The Master (2012).- Writer
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Mariana Rondón was born on 8 May 1966 in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. She is a writer and director, known for Bad Hair (2013), Postales de Leningrado (2007) and A la medianoche y media (2000).- Samantha Castillo, Venezuelan actress, was born on March 12th, 1980, in Los Teques, Venezuela.
Her acting career began more than 20 years ago, Samantha has a Bachelors degree in Arts from Central University of Venezuela, and additional acting training in different techniques and schools in Venezuela and Cuba.
She started her acting career doing Theater, she premiered on the big screen with "Pelo Malo" (Winner of the Concha de Oro at the San Sebastian Film Festival 2013), obtaining huge worldwide recognition for her performance in the character of "Marta", for which she was nominated and winner in a dozen Festivals.
She performed the Leading Role in 4 films in different parts of the world "Le Badanti", "La Migliori età" from Italy, "El Malquerido", where she was also awarded, and "El Amparo", where she filmed in extreme conditions on the border of Venezuela.
Now we can see her performing in "Buscando a Frida" a new Argos production for Netflix and in the Mini TV-Series "Cecilia" where she performs as "Sara" on HBO.
This 2022 we are going to be able to see her performing in the film by Michelle Garza Cervera "Hueseras" playing the character of "Carolina", and in the new project of Isaac Ezban "Mal de Ojo" where she plays the leading role.
Main Awards and Nominations: Best Actress Platino del Cine Iberoamericano 2015 Awards Best Actress Fenix Awards 2014 Best Actress- Torino Film Festival, Italy 2013 Best Interpretation Festival du Nouveau Cinema Montreal, 2013 Best Actress- Cine Mérida- Venezuela Film Festival, 2014 Best Actress- ELCO Oriente Film Festival- Venezuela 2014 Revelation Actress Samantha Castillo- Unasur- Argentina 2014 Best Actress Samantha Castillo- Fest cinema d'auteur Rabat 2014 - Director
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Arie Posin is known for Over My Dead Body (2002), The Chumscrubber (2005) and The Face of Love (2013).- Actress
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Annette Bening was born on May 29, 1958 in Topeka, Kansas, the youngest of four children. Her family moved to California when she was young, and she grew up there. She graduated from San Francisco State University and began her acting career with the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, eventually moving to New York where she acted on the stage (including a Tony-award nomination in 1987 for her work in the Broadway play "Coastal Disturbances") and got her first film roles, in a few TV movies.
As is so often the case, her first big-screen role was in a forgettable movie, this one The Great Outdoors (1988), in which she had little screen time. However, her next work onscreen was in Milos Forman's Valmont (1989), a film adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' "Les Liaisons Dangereuses". Unfortunately, de Laclos' story had also just served as the source of a more Hollywoodized and successful movie version, Dangerous Liaisons (1988), which had been released the previous year, and Foreman's treatment went little noticed. Bening's career turned an important corner the following year when she co-starred with Anjelica Huston and John Cusack in Stephen Frears's powerful, entertaining screen adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel The Grifters (1990), and her artful turn as a con artist gained her the first of several Academy award nominations. On the strength of this performance Warren Beatty cast Bening as Virginia Hill, Bugsy Siegel's fiery actress moll, in his Bugsy (1991), the story of Siegel's founding of Las Vegas. Although the movie itself did not fare well, it resulted in a relationship with Beatty which led to Bening's pregnancy and then her marriage to Beatty in 1992 - it was the second marriage for Bening, who had been separated from her first husband since 1986 but did not finalize her divorce until 1991. The couple then collaborated on the extravagant flop Love Affair (1994), though the next year her career rebounded with her turn as Queen Elizabeth in the highly-regarded 1995 production of Richard III (1995). Notable performances have since included an obsessive, pushy real estate agent in American Beauty (1999), and as the eponymous character in István Szabó's screen adaptation of the W. Somerset Maugham novel Being Julia (2004) - both were duly noted by the Academy, with Oscar nominations.
Bening has great poise and screen presence and, at her best, can turn in a very strong performance. Although her resume often features long stretches of mediocre productions before the next good part turns up, when it does, it proves worth the wait. Bening has four children with Beatty.- Actor
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Scott Haze was named one of Variety's 10 Actors To Watch For 2013. Since its inception 15 years ago, Variety's "10 Actors to Watch" program has become a key showcase celebrating the finest acting talents from all corners of the globe. Past talented that have been spotlighted include Adrien Brody, Melissa Leo, Andrew Garfield, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Lawrence and Octavia Spencer.- Actor
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Adam MacDonald is a writer/director, born in Montreal, now residing in Toronto. His directorial works include three short films: Sombre Zombie (2005) and In the Dominican (2010) His feature length debut, Backcountry (2015). -- had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was represented by Cinetic Media and bought by IFC. At TIFF TheGlobe and Mail named Adam one of the "Top Ten Canadians to Watch." His second feature Pyewacket (2017) also had its world premier at the Toronto international film festival, where it was represented by Seville international and bought by IFC. NOW magazine proclaimed Adam one of the 10 Canadians to watch at TIFF 2017.
His first television credit was successfully helming the entire third season (8 EPS) of Aaron Martin's SLASHER ( SOLSTICE) for NETFLIX. Adam wrote both his feature films. He recently completed the commissioned writing assignment of the epic thriller the BLACK DONNELYS ( a Canadian/Irish co- production). He's also attached to direct. He's been hired to rewrite HOLLYWOOD horror scripts such as the THE FORGOTTEN as well as the upcoming UK/INDIA horror SAMSARA
His first short, Sombre Zombie was produced with a grant from the Bravo! Network . Canada's renowned filmmaker Bruce McDonald, (Hard Core Logo) mentored Adam during his creative process. Upon completion the film aired on Bravo! and also screened in several festivals, including the very popular Fantasia and Nashville Film Festivals.
Building upon his shorts, Adam wrote and directed Backcountry. Upon its TIFF World Premiere, the film received rave reviews. Backcountry has been "Certified Fresh" by Rotten Tomatoes, with an 88% Fresh Rating. . Among the outlets praising it were The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, RogerEbert.com, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Vulture, and Salon. Fangoria proclaimed it "The best Canadian horror film in ages" . Backcountry reached #1 on iTunes Horror in the United States, Canada , Australia, Germany, Italy, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, Spain, Saudi Arabia and #3 in the UK. The film held most of these positions for weeks. As of now it is one of IFC's top grossing films of 2015.
BACKCOUNTRY has been featured in over 25 BEST OF HORROR lists including AIN'T IT COOL NEWS, THE DALLAS OBSERVER, DREAD CENTRAL, BLOODY DISGUSTING AND FANGORIA.
Besides his filmmaking Adam is also an accomplished actor, with over 40 credits to him name. This experience has become a vital tool in his directing efforts. Currently, Adam's favourite film is Hong-jin Na's The Chaser. He continues to love boxing as well as pop culture and music from the eighties.- Anthony Therrien is known for Fake Tattoos (2017), Corbo (2014) and Jusqu'à ce que tu meures (2023).
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Fab Filippo was born on 30 November 1973 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is an actor and writer, known for Sort Of (2021), Save Me (2017) and Billable Hours (2006). He has been married to Robin Payne since 2006.- Writer
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Born in Brooklyn in 1969 Noah Baumbach is the son of two film critics, Georgia Brown and Jonathan Baumbach (also a writer). His studies at Vassar College were the subject of his first film (made as he was 26 years old), Kicking and Screaming (1995). His second major picture, made ten years later, The Squid and the Whale (2005) was no less autobiographical but went back further in his personal history, back to the time when his parents separated. Recounting this past trauma and its aftermath earned Noah a selection at the Sundance Film Festival, three Golden Globe nominations and a best screenplay Oscar nomination. From then on his career was launched and his output became more regular with Margot at the Wedding (2007) starring Nicole Kidman and his wife Jennifer Jason Leigh, Greenberg (2010), filmed in Los Angeles, with Ben Stiller and Greta Gerwig. Back in New york, where he lives, he was the director (and co-author with his main actress, Greta Gerwig) of the bittersweet art house success Frances Ha (2012). Besides directing films, he also co-writes some with Wes Anderson, a good friend of his, and is the author of humor columns in the New Yorker.- Actress
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Amanda Seyfried was born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to Ann (Sander), an occupational therapist, and Jack Seyfried, a pharmacist. She is of German, and some English and Scottish, ancestry. She began modeling when she was eleven, and acted in high school productions as well as taking singing lessons.
More soap work followed as she completed her schooling and had already secured a place at Fordham University when she was offered a role in the Tina Fey-penned teen comedy Mean Girls (2004). She deferred her university education to complete the film. More television work followed, raising her profile across America, while her appearances in Mamma Mia! (2008) and Red Riding Hood (2011) helped establish her international fame.- Actress
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Naomi Ellen Watts was born on September 28, 1968 in Shoreham, England to Myfanwy Edwards "Miv" (Roberts), an antiques dealer and costume/set designer, and Peter Watts (Peter Anthony Watts), Pink Floyd's road manager. Her maternal grandfather was Welsh. Her father died when she was seven and she followed her mother and brother around England until she was 14 and they finally settled in Australia, homeland of her maternal grandmother. When they arrived, she coaxed her mother to let her take acting classes. After bit parts in commercials, she landed her first role in For Love Alone (1986). Naomi met her best friend Nicole Kidman when they both auditioned for a bikini commercial and shared a taxi ride home. In 1991, Naomi starred with Kidman in the sleeper hit Flirting (1991), directed by John Duigan. Naomi continued her career by starring in the Australian Brides of Christ (1991) co-starring Oscar-winners Russell Crowe and Brenda Fricker.
In 1993, she worked with John Duigan again in Wide Sargasso Sea (1993) and director George Miller in Gross Misconduct (1993). Tank Girl (1995), in 1995, an adaptation of the comic book was a cult hit, starred Naomi as "Jet Girl", but it didn't do at the box-office or do much for her career. Watts continued to take insignificant parts in movies including the much forgotten film Children of the Corn: The Gathering (1996). It wasn't until David Lynch cast her in the critically acclaimed film Mulholland Drive (2001) that she began to become noticed. Her part as an aspiring actress showed her strong acting ability and wide range and earned her much respect, as much as to say by some that she was overlooked for a Oscar nomination that year. Stardom finally came to Naomi in the surprise hit The Ring (2002), which grossed over $100,000,000 at the box-office and starred Watts as an investigative reporter hunting down the truth behind several mysterious deaths seemingly caused by a video tape. While the movie did not fare well with the critics, it launched her into the spotlight. In 2003, she starred in Alejandro González Iñárritu's 21 Grams (2003) which earned her - what some say is a much overdue Oscar nomination and brought others to call her one of the best in her generation of actors. The same year, she was nominated for 21 Grams (2003), Naomi was chosen to play "Ann Darrow" in director Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005) which took her to New Zealand for a five month shoot. Watts completed her first comedy in I Heart Huckabees (2004) for director David O. Russell, playing a superficial spokes model - a break from her usual intense and dramatic roles she is known for.
In 2005, she reprized her role as the protective-mother-reporter "Rachel Keller" in The Ring Two (2005). The movie, released in March, opened to $35,000,000 at the box office in the first weekend and established her as a box-office draw. Also in 2005, it was decided that her independent movie Ellie Parker (2001) would be re-released in late 2005 after its success at resurfacing at the Sundance Film Festival. The movie, which Naomi also produced, features her in the title role and is a bit biographical, but yet exaggerated take of the life of a struggling actress as she comes to Hollywood and encounters nightmares of the profession (it also features Watts' own beat-up Honda which she travels around in). In 2006, she starred with Edward Norton in The Painted Veil (2006). In July of 2007, Naomi gave birth to a boy, Alexander Pete (Sasha Schreiber) in Los Angeles with Liev Schreiber. Since then her career choices have gathered even more critical acclaim with starring roles roles in German director Michael Haneke's American remake of his thriller Funny Games (2007), David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises (2007), and the action-thriller, The International (2009), released in February 2009. In mid-2008, Watts announced she was expecting her second child with Schreiber and gave birth to second son Samuel Kai Schreiber, in New York on December 13.- Producer
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Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller was born on November 30, 1965, in New York City, New York, to legendary comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. His father was of Austrian Jewish and Polish Jewish descent, and his mother was of Irish Catholic descent (she converted to Judaism).
His parents made no real effort to keep their son away from the Hollywood lifestyle and he grew up among the stars, wondering just why his parents were so popular. At a young age, he and his sister Amy Stiller would perform plays at home, wearing Amy's tights to perform Shakespeare. Ben also picked up an interest in being on the other side of the camera and, at age 10, began shooting films on his Super 8 camera. The plots were always simple: someone would pick on the shy, awkward Stiller ... and then he would always get his revenge. This desire for revenge on the popular, good-looking people may have motivated his teen-angst opus Reality Bites (1994) later in his career. He both directed and performed in the film, which co-starred Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke.
Before he got to Hollywood, he put in several consistently solid years in the theater. After dropping out of UCLA, he performed in the Tony Award winner, "The House of Blue Leaves". While working on the play, Stiller shot a short spoof of The Color of Money (1986) starring him (in the Tom Cruise role) and his The House of Blue Leaves (1987) costar John Mahoney (in the Paul Newman role). The short film was so funny that Lorne Michaels purchased it and aired it on Saturday Night Live (1975). This led to his spending a year on the show in 1989.
Stiller made his big screen debut in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (1987) in 1987. Demonstrating early on the multifaceted tone his career would take, he soon stepped behind the camera to direct Back to Brooklyn for MTV. The network was impressed and gave Stiller his own show, The Ben Stiller Show (1992). He recruited fellow offbeat comedians Janeane Garofalo and Andy Dick and created a bitingly satirical show. MTV ended up passing on it, but it was picked up by Fox. Unfortunately, the show was a ratings miss. Stiller was soon out of work, although he did have the satisfaction of picking up an Emmy for the show after its cancellation.
For a while, Stiller had to settle for guest appearance work. While doing this, he saved up his cash and in the end was able to scrape enough together to make Reality Bites (1994), now a cult classic which is looked upon favorably by the generation it depicted. Ben continued to work steadily for a time, particularly in independent productions where he was more at ease. However, he never quite managed to catch a big break. His first big budget directing job was Jim Carrey's The Cable Guy (1996). Although many critics were impressed, Jim Carrey's fans were not. In 1998, There's Something About Mary (1998) had propelled Stiller into the mainstream spotlight. He also starred in such hit movies as Keeping the Faith (2000) and Meet the Parents (2000).- Actor
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Adam Douglas Driver was born in San Diego, California. His mother, Nancy (Needham) Wright, is a paralegal from Mishawaka, Indiana, and his father, Joe Douglas Driver, who has deep roots in the American South, is from Little Rock, Arkansas. His stepfather is a Baptist minister. His ancestry includes Dutch, English, German, Irish and Scottish. Driver was raised in Mishawaka after his parents' divorce, attending Mishawaka High School, where he appeared in plays. After 9/11, he enlisted in the Marines, serving for more than two years before being medically discharged after he suffered an injury, which prevented him from being deployed.
Driver attended the University of Indianapolis (for a year) and then transferred to study drama at Juilliard School in New York City, graduating in 2009. He began acting in plays, appearing on Broadway, before being cast in Lena Dunham's series Girls (2012), as her character's love interest, Adam Sackler. The role gained him attention, and he subsequently began a robust film career, appearing in small roles in J. Edgar (2011) and Lincoln (2012), supporting roles in Frances Ha (2012) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), and then to major mesmerizing roles like in the comedy-drama This Is Where I Leave You (2014), Martin Scorsese's Silence (2016) and as Kylo Ren in the Star Wars movie saga beginning with Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015).
Widely regarded as the one of greatest actors of his generation by now both in the United States and internationally as his superb qualities have been expressed further in a sublime range of excellent performances full of unique profoundness, subtlety, charisma and insights such as the ones included in brilliant films like Paterson (2016), Logan Lucky (2017), The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018) and The Report (2019). His interpretations in BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Marriage Story (2019) were also nominated in the Academy Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role respectively.- Actor
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Humanitarian and actor Richard Gere was born on August 31, 1949, in Philadelphia, the second of five children of Doris Anna (Tiffany), a homemaker, and Homer George Gere, an insurance salesman, both Mayflower descendants. Richard started early as a musician, playing a number of instruments in high school and writing music for high school productions. He graduated from North Syracuse Central High School in 1967, and won a gymnastics scholarship to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where he majored in philosophy. He left college after two years to pursue acting, landing a lead role in the London production of the rock musical "Grease" in 1973. The following year he would be in other plays, such as "Taming of the Shrew." Onscreen, he had a few roles, and gained recognition in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977). Offscreen, he spent 1978 meeting Tibetans when he traveled to Nepal, where he spoke to many monks and lamas. Returning to the US, on Broadway he portrayed a concentration-camp prisoner in "Bent," for which he received the 1980 Theatre World Award. Back in Hollywood, he played the title role in American Gigolo (1980), establishing himself as a major star; this status was reaffirmed by An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). In the early 1980s, Richard went to Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador (amidst ongoing wars and political violence); he traveled with a doctor and visited refugee camps. It is said that Richard was romantically linked with Tuesday Weld, Priscilla Presley, Barbra Streisand and Kim Basinger. In 1990 Richard teamed up with Julia Roberts to star in the blockbuster Pretty Woman (1990); his cool reserve was the perfect complement to Julia's bubbling enthusiasm. The film captured the nation's heart, and won the People's Choice award for Best Movie. Fans clamored for years for a sequel, or at least another pairing of Julia and Richard. They got that with Runaway Bride (1999), which was a runaway success (Richard got $12 million, Julia made $17 million, the box office was $152 million, which shows what happens when you give the public what it wants!). Offscreen, Richard and Cindy Crawford got married December 12, 1991 (they were divorced in 1995). Afterwards, Richard started dating actress Carey Lowell. They had a son, Homer James Jigme Gere, on February 6, 2000. Richard was picked by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world in 1991, and as their Sexiest Man Alive in 1999. He is an accomplished pianist and music writer. Above all, Richard is a humanitarian. He's a founding member of "Tibet House," a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of Tibetan culture. He has been an active supporter of "Survival International" for several years, a worldwide organization supporting tribal peoples, affirming their right to decide their own future and helping them protect their lives, lands and human rights (these tribes are global, including the natives of the Amazon, the Maasai of East Africa, the Wichi of Argentina, and others). In 1994 Richard went to London to open Harrods' sale, donating his £50,000 appearance fee to Survival. He has been prominent in their charity advertising campaigns.- Actress
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Jena Malone was born in Reno, Nevada, raised in Sparks, Nevada; two cities that have merged together over time, to Deborah Malone and Edward Berge. Her grandfather owned a casino, Karl's Silver Club, in Reno. She was raised by her mother and her mother's partner. Beginning as a child actress, and then stepping up to roles as a young adult, Malone's career path has been compared to that of Jodie Foster, herself a former child actress and who has co-starred with Malone in two movies. Jena is often described as having a maturity beyond her years and, in her career thus far, she has often tackled roles that are difficult and are not standard fare for actors her age.
Malone's first claim to fame was in performing the title role in Bastard Out of Carolina (1996) for which she won the Young Artist Award, and which she filmed when she was merely ten years old. This movie dealt with issues of child abuse, violence and sex. Jena has said in later interviews that this movie and her participation in it continue to influence her life substantially.
Showing self-assurance and a clear vision of personal goals from an early age, Jena, at age 14, was encouraged to try out for Air Force One (1997), a movie that was virtually guaranteed to be a success since box-office king Harrison Ford was cast in the lead, but Jena said she'd prefer to seek other roles that were of more interest to her.
In the following years, Malone appeared in several made-for-TV movies for which she won or was nominated for many awards. In 1997, she lucked in to being cast in the blockbuster Contact (1997) where she portrayed the child version of Jodie Foster's lead character. Foster stated that she built her character by mimicking Jena. And, in 1998, Jena was cast in the major film Stepmom (1998) where she co-starred with Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon and Ed Harris. Jena was given what was likely the best line in that movie where her character, bitter over her parents' divorce, confronts her father who has returned home briefly; at a moment of crisis, her dad tells her "You do NOT run out on your mother", and the rueful Malone exclaims "No -- that's YOUR job".
Also, in 1998, Malone appeared in a two-part episode of the critically acclaimed TV series Homicide: Life on the Street (1993). Contrary to what might usually be expected of a teenage actress, in this episode, Jena played the complex role of the perpetrator of a crime, which she portrayed with subtlety.
At age 15, Jena was legally emancipated and thus took direct control of her finances and her career. Malone began getting more attention and acclaim in her next set of films: the artistic cult film Donnie Darko (2001); the teenage journey The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002) where she again co-starred with Jodie Foster; and the satirical Saved! (2004) which debuted Jena as the lead in a movie.
Jena has expressed an interest in directing some day, and so she is preparing for roles behind the camera as well as in front. In 2002, she co-produced American Girl (2002) while also starring in it. And, in 2003, she undertook a formal study of photography.
In early 2006, Malone debuted on the Broadway stage in the play "Doubt". A review by Broadway.com characterized her performance as "astonishing".
Many people in Hollywood have jobs as actors. Watch for Jena Malone. She is an artist.- Actor
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In 2023, Mr. Domingo was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play as a producer for the Pulitzer Prize winning play Fat Ham. Colman won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor Drama for his role as Ali in the HBO series Euphoria. Domingo has been honored with the inaugural Denver Film CinemaQ-LaBahn Ikon Film Award, the National Hispanic Media Coalition Impact Award, the Creative Coalition Television Humanitarian Award and the Atlanta's Out On Film Icon Award. Colman Domingo stars in the Netflix, Higher Ground film Rustin as Bayard Rustin slated for the fall of 2023. He also stars as Mister in the Warner Brothers, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg produced The Color Purple musical motion picture. A two time Film Independent Spirit, Gotham, SAG, Critics Choice and NAACP award nominee, he won a Hollywood Critics Association Award for Best Actor in a Limited Series/Anthology and an Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for his work in Euphoria. Domingo is a Tony®, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Drama Desk, Drama League and NAACP Theatre Award nominated, OBIE and Lucille Lortel Award winning actor, playwright, director and producer. Colman received his Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Ursinus College. He is on the faculty of University of Southern California, School of Dramatic Arts as a Professor of acting, after having served as a Juilliard School Creative Associate and a faculty member of the Yale School of Drama. Colman has starred in some of the most profound films in recent years such as Barry Jenkins' If Beale Street Could Talk, Steven Spielbergs' Lincoln, Lee Daniel's The Butler, Ava DuVernay's Selma, Nia DaCosta's Candyman and Janicza Bravo's Zola.- Producer
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Oren Moverman was born on 4 July 1966 in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel. He is a producer and writer, known for The Messenger (2009), Love & Mercy (2014) and Bad Education (2019).- Producer
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Ramin Bahrani was born on 20 March 1975 in North Carolina, USA. He is a producer and director, known for 99 Homes (2014), The White Tiger (2021) and Man Push Cart (2005).- Actor
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Andrew Russell Garfield was born in Los Angeles, California, to a British mother, Lynn, and American father, Richard Garfield. When he was three, he moved to Surrey, U.K., with his parents and older brother. He is of English and Polish Jewish heritage. Andrew was raised in a middle class family, and attended a private school, the City of London Freemen's School. He began acting in youth theatre productions while he was still at school. At age 19, he went to the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
His first professional roles were on the stage and in 2005 he made his TV debut in the Channel 4 teen series Sugar Rush (2005) in the UK. More TV work followed (reaching a wider UK audience in a two-part story in the third season of Doctor Who (2005)), as well as a number of movie appearances. Garfield played Eduardo in The Social Network (2010) and Tommy in Never Let Me Go (2010), two films that brought him to full international attention. That same year, he was cast as the title character in the reboot of the Spider-Man film franchise, The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). He reprised the role in the sequel, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), before passing off the torch to Tom Holland.
Resuming his work in drama films, Garfield starred in Ramin Bahrani's 99 Homes (2014), with Michael Shannon, Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge (2016), about real-life Seventh Day Adventist war hero Desmond Doss, and Martin Scorsese's Silence (2016), opposite Adam Driver, playing Jesuit priests. He received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his role as Doss.
In 2017, he starred in Andy Serkis-directed drama Breathe (2017), where Garfield plays Robin Cavendish, an adventurous man paralyzed by polio. In 2018, he headlines David Robert Mitchell's noir thriller Under the Silver Lake (2018).- Actor
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Michael Corbett Shannon was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, the son of Geraldine Hine, a lawyer, and Donald Sutherlin Shannon, an accounting professor at DePaul University. His grandfather was entomologist Raymond Corbett Shannon.
Shannon began his professional stage career in Chicago. His first acting role was in "Winterset" at the Illinois Theatre Center. Over the next several years, he continued working on the stage with such companies as Steppenwolf, The Next Lab and the Red Orchid Theatre. He subsequently relocated to London for a year, and performed on stage in London's West End in such productions as "Woyzeck", "Killer Joe" and "Bug".
While in Chicago, Shannon also kept busy in front of movie and television cameras, most notably in the big screen project Chicago Cab (1997), based on the long-running stage play "Hellcab". Kangaroo Jack (2003) marked the third Jerry Bruckheimer production in which Shannon has appeared. He also appeared in Bad Boys II (2003), directed by Michael Bay and starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, and in Grand Theft Parsons (2003), with Johnny Knoxville and Christina Applegate.
In addition, Shannon appeared in Pearl Harbor (2001), also directed by Bay. His other film credits also include Curtis Hanson's 8 Mile (2002); Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky (2001) with Tom Cruise; Carl Franklin's High Crimes (2002) with Morgan Freeman; John Waters' Cecil B. Demented (2000), and Joel Schumacher's war drama Tigerland (2000).- Actress
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Laura Dern was born on February 10, 1967 in Los Angeles, the daughter of actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd. Dern was exposed to movie sets and the movie industry from infancy, and obtained several bit parts as a child. Her parents divorced when Dern was two and Dern lost contact with her father for several years as a result.
Her parents' background and her own early taste of the movie-making world soon convinced the young Dern to pursue acting herself. Like so many young actors, her decision may have been influenced by social awkwardness -- the child of 1960s counterculture parents, she was steeped in Eastern mysticism and political radicalism, and was seen as an oddball by her more conservative classmates. Even before her teens, she had achieved most of her impressive 5' 10" height and was rail-skinny with a slouching posture.. Perhaps the nine-year-old Dern found refuge by studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute.
The first success for the young Dern came in 1980, with a role in Adrian Lyne's Foxes (1980), a teen movie starring Jodie Foster. She followed this with several small parts, or parts in small movies, such as Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982) and Teachers (1984), as a student who has an affair with a teacher. (Her mother objected to her active presence on movie sets at age thirteen, which required Dern to sue for emancipation so she could play her role in "The Fabulous Stains"). Her next roles, as the blind girl who befriends the deformed boy in Mask (1985), and as a teen-aged girl whose sexual awakening collides with a mysterious older man in Smooth Talk (1985), gave her career an important boost. Dern appeared to have made it with a leading role in David Lynch's acclaimed Blue Velvet (1986), but it was four years before her next notable film, and this was the bizarre Wild at Heart (1990), also directed by Lynch.
The following year, Dern starred in Rambling Rose (1991), which would become her signature performance, as a sexually-precocious, free-spirited young housemaid in the South in the 1930s. Dern earned an Oscar nomination for her performance, and so did her mother and co-star, Diane Ladd. Dern continues to win prominent roles on the big screen, often in smaller, highly-regarded human dramas such as October Sky (1999), I Am Sam (2001) and We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004), although she is perhaps most widely known for her repeat role as Ellie Sattler in the summer adventure movies Jurassic Park (1993) and Jurassic Park III (2001), or for her guest performance on Ellen (1994), as the woman to whom Ellen finally comes out as a lesbian.
Dern's pre-teen gawkiness matured into lithe beauty, but this doesn't prevent Dern from fearlessly throwing herself into a wide variety of roles which are sometimes unflattering, an excellent example being her unflinchingly comic portrayal of an intensely annoying loser whose pregnancy becomes a social and political football in Citizen Ruth (1996). This results in Dern being one of the most interesting actors working in Hollywood today.
Having previously dated such Hollywood talent as Treat Williams, Renny Harlin, Kyle MacLachlan, Jeff Goldblum and Billy Bob Thornton, Dern eventually married musician Ben Harper in 2005. Early in her career, Dern was roommate to Marianne Williamson, the spirituality guru. Dern attended two days of college at UCLA and one semester at USC.- Noah Lomax was born on 7 November 2001 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He is an actor, known for The Tale (2018), 99 Homes (2014) and Safe Haven (2013).
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Daniel Barnz was born on 7 May 1970 in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Cake (2014), Phoebe in Wonderland (2008) and Beastly (2011).- Additional Crew
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Adriana Barraza was born on 5 March 1956 in Toluca, Estado de Mexico, Mexico. She is a director and actress, known for Babel (2006), Blue Beetle (2023) and Drag Me to Hell (2009). She has been married to Arnaldo Pipke since 29 April 2005. She was previously married to Carlos Valsagna.- Additional Crew
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Richard Glatzer was born on 28 January 1952 in Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for Still Alice (2014), Quinceañera (2006) and Colette (2018). He was married to Wash Westmoreland. He died on 10 March 2015 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Director
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Hailing from Leeds, England, Westmoreland earned his college degree in Politics at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and soon after moved to America to pursue filmmaking. His 2014 film, "Still Alice," starring Julianne Moore, Kristen Stewart, Alec Baldwin and Kate Bosworth, saw Moore win nearly every acting award including a BAFTA and her first Oscar.
In 2015, Westmoreland was awarded the Humanitas Prize in the feature film category for the movie, an award he shared with co-writer Richard Glatzer. The duo's previous pictures include "The Last of Robin Hood," starring Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandon and Dakota Fanning, as well as the 2006 movie "Quinceañera." The latter went on to win the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and also picked up the Humanitas Prize as well as the the John Cassavetes Spirit Award.
In 2018, Westmoreland directed the critically lauded "Colette" starring Keira Knightley - a film about the iconic French novelist and her tumultuous first marriage. The movie, written by Wash and Richard Glatzer, premiered Sundance and was quickly snapped up by Bleecker Street in a competitive situation.
Next, he adapted and directed the psychological drama "Earthquake Bird" for Netflix, produced by Ridley Scott and his Scott Free banner. Originally from Leeds in the North of England, Westmoreland currently lives in Los Angeles, California.- Lisa Genova was born in 1970. She is a writer, known for Still Alice (2014), Every Note Played and Have You Heard About Greg? (2021).
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One of Québec's most politically aware filmmakers, Denys Arcand studied history at Université de Montréal, where he co-directed Seul ou avec d'autres (1962) with Denis Héroux and co-written with Stéphane Venne. He joined the National Film Board (NFB) in 1963, where his feature-length documentary on the textile industry, On est au coton (1970), was so controversial it was suppressed for 6 years. He made another fine documentary, Québec: Duplessis et après... (1972), before leaving the NFB for the private sector. La maudite galette (1972), Réjeanne Padovani (1973) and Gina (1975) were distinctive views of Québec society, original and provocative. All 3 used the gangster film as a source while distorting many of its conventions. He then moved to TV, scripting the Duplessis (1978) series for Radio-Canada and directing 3 episodes of Empire, Inc. (1983). He returned to the NFB to make a documentary on the 1980 referendum, Le confort et l'indifférence (1982), which revealed growing cynicism about the political process. It won the Québec Critics Prize.
He returned to commercial filmmaking after a hiatus of 10 years with The Crime of Ovide Plouffe (1984), before achieving major success with the scathing comedy about sexual mores, The Decline of the American Empire (1986) (The Decline of the American Empire), a film that won numerous prizes, including the prestigious Critic's Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The New York Film Critics voted it Best Foreign Film in 1986 and it won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay at the 1987 Genies. It was also nominated as Best Foreign Film by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science. Jesus of Montreal (1989) confirmed Arcand's international reputation, winning the Jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It won 10 Genies, including Best Picture and Director, and was nominated in the Best Foreign Film category by the Academy. Arcand then moved into English-language production in an attempt to break into a larger international market. Love and Human Remains (1993), his first feature in English, was followed by Stardom (2000), a film that looked at the world of fashion. Neither achieved the subtlety and texture of his earlier work.
The overwhelming success of The Barbarian Invasions (2003), which marked both a return to the French language and to the characters who had peopled The Decline of the American Empire (1986), showed that Arcand had lost none of his powers of observation. The film won two awards at the Cannes Film Festival (best screenplay, and best actor for Marie-Josée Croze), Best Canadian Feature Film at the Toronto International Film Festival and the prestigious Oscar for Best Foreign Film. In 2005 Arcand was named Companion of the Order of Canada, which recognizes individuals for exceptional achievements of national or international significance.- Producer
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Denise Robert was born in 1954 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She is a producer and actress, known for The Barbarian Invasions (2003), The Confessional (1995) and Father and Guns (2009). She is married to Denys Arcand.- Actor
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Bruneau began studying acting in 2000, training at Theatre at Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe, a Canadian theater school. He pursued his theatrical training at the National Theater School of Canada, where he studied from 2002 to 2006. During his third year at the National School, Bruneau was one of the actors in a traveling children's show. One of the other actors was the son of a director who had accompanied his son on the tour and noticed Bruneau's talent. Several months later, the director, André Forcier, had Bruneau audition for the lead in the movie "The United States of Albert" (2004). Impressed with his reading, Forcier cast Bruneau in the title role. The movie was the story of a young man's journey seeking love across the United States. Following his role in the critically-acclaimed film, Bruneau continued to pursue his acting career, appearing in television and film as well as in a number of stage productions including runs of Peter Shaffer's "Equus" and Molière's "The Miser." In 2014 Bruneau was cast in the lead role of "The Kingdom of Beauty," a film by celebrated Québécois filmmaker Denys Arcand.- Melanie Merkosky was born on 7 April 1980 in Canada. She is an actress, known for An Eye for Beauty (2014), Virgin River (2019) and Buddy Games: Spring Awakening (2023).
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Yves Jacques was born on 10 May 1956 in Québec, Canada. He is an actor and director, known for The Barbarian Invasions (2003), The Decline of the American Empire (1986) and Napoléon (2002).- Actress
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This remarkable, one-of-a-kind actress has, since the early 1990s, intrigued film and TV audiences with her glowing, yet careworn eccentricity and old world-styled glamour. Very much in demand these days as a character player, Patricia Clarkson nevertheless continues to avoid the temptation of money-making mainstream filming while reaping kudos and acting awards in out-of-the-way projects.
The New Orleans born-and-bred performer with the given name of Patricia Davies Clarkson was born on December 29, 1959, the daughter of Arthur ("Buzz") Clarkson, a school administrator, and Jackie Clarkson, a local city politician and councilwoman. Patricia demonstrated an early interest in acting and managed to appear in a few junior high and high school-level plays while growing up. She took her basic college studies at Louisiana State University, studying speech for two years, before transferring to New York's Fordham University and graduating with honors in theatre arts.
Accepted into the prestigious Yale School of Drama graduate program, she earned her Master of Fine Arts after gracing a wide range of productions including "Electra," "Pericles," "Twelfth Night", "The Lower Depths," "The Misanthrope," "Pacific Overtures" and "La Ronde". From there she took on New York City where she attracted strong East Coast notice in 1986 for her portrayal of Corrina in "The House of Blue Leaves" and in such other plays as "Eastern Standard" (1988) and "Wolf-Man" (1989).
Known for her organic approach to acting, the flaxen-maned actress decided to try out her trademark whiskey voice in Hollywood at age 28, making her movie debut as Mrs. Eliot Ness in Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987) starring Kevin Costner. The following years she gained attention for playing Samantha Walker in The Dead Pool (1988) where she starred opposite Clint Eastwood's popular "Dirty Harry" character. Playing supportive, wifely types at the onset, she became a strong contender for character stardom by the mid-to-late 1990s, not only on stage but in the independent film arena.
On stage Patricia received impressive notices for her contributions to the plays "Raised in Captivity," "The Ride Down Mt. Morgan," "Three Days of Rain" and, in particular, "The Maiden's Prayer," which nabbed her both Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Award nominations. In 2004, she finally enacted the classic part she seemed born to play, that of Southern belle Blanche DuBois in the Kennedy Center production of "A Streetcar Named Desire". She earned glowing notices.
On camera she was offered roles of marked diversity. From the heavier dramatics of a film like Pharaoh's Army (1995), she could move deftly into light comedy, courtesy of Neil Simon in the TV-movie London Suite (1996). It was, however, her bleak, convulsive portrayal of Greta, a strung-out, heroin-happy German has-been actress, opposite a resurgent Ally Sheedy in the acclaimed art film High Art (1998) that truly put Patricia on the indie map. From this she was handed a silver plate's worth of excitingly offbeat roles. In 2003 alone, Patricia received a special acting prize at the Sundance Film Festival for her superb work in three films: as a somber, grieving artist in The Station Agent (2003), a cold-hearted cancer victim in Pieces of April (2003), and a jokey, get-with-it mom in All the Real Girls (2003). She was nominated for a "Best Supporting Actress" Oscar for the second film mentioned.
On TV Patricia received two Emmys for her recurring guest part as Frances Conroy's free-spirited sister in the acclaimed black comedy series Six Feet Under (2001). She also received the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics awards for her supporting work in the gorgeous, 1950s-styled melodrama Far from Heaven (2002), as a prim and proper Stepford-wife and deceptive friend to Julianne Moore.
No matter the size, such as her extended cameos in The Green Mile (1999), All the Real Girls (2003), Miracle (2004) and Elegy (2008), Patricia manages to make the most of whatever screen time she has, often stealing scenes effortlessly. Working for director/actor Woody Allen in a small but notable role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), he was impressed enough to promote her with a lead in a subsequent film Whatever Works (2009).
More recent work includes leads and supports in the films Vincent in Brixton (2003), Legendary (2010), Friends with Benefits (2011), Learning to Drive (2014), The Bookshop (2017), Delirium (2018), Out of Blue (2018), Almost Love (2019) and as the antagonist Ava Paige in the sci-fi thrillers The Maze Runner (2014), Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) and Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018). On TV, the never-married Patricia earned a supporting Golden Globe for her fine work in the mini-series Sharp Objects (2018) and had a strong recurring role on the political series House of Cards (2013).- Director
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Gaspar Noé is an Argentinian filmmaker and screenwriter who lives in France. He is the son of Luis Felipe Noé, an Argentinian artist. He directed I Stand Alone, Irréversible, Enter the Void, Love, Climax, Carne, Lux Æterna, Sodomites and Vortex. His films are known for having a sensory overload style, most notably in Enter the Void. He is married to Lucile Hadzihalilovic.- Actor
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Karl Glusman was born on 3 January 1988 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for Love (2015), Devs (2020) and Watcher (2022). He was previously married to Zoë Kravitz.- Actor
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Bryan Lee Cranston was born on March 7, 1956 in Hollywood, California, to Audrey Peggy Sell, a radio actress, and Joe Cranston, an actor and former amateur boxer. His maternal grandparents were German, and his father was of Irish, German, and Austrian-Jewish ancestry. He was raised in the Canoga Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, and also stayed with his grandparents, living on their poultry farm in Yucaipa. Cranston's father walked out on the family when Cranston was eleven, and they did not see each other again until 11 years later, when Cranston and his brother decide to track down their father.
Cranston is known for his roles as Walter White on the AMC crime drama Breaking Bad (2008), Hal on the Fox situation comedy Malcolm in the Middle (2000), and Dr. Tim Whatley on five episodes of the NBC situation comedy Seinfeld (1989). For his role on "Breaking Bad", he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series four times (2008-2010, 2014), including three consecutive wins. After becoming one of the producers during the series' fourth and fifth seasons, he also won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series twice.
In June 2014, Cranston won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his portrayal of Lyndon B. Johnson in the play "All the Way" on Broadway. He reprised the role of Lyndon Johnson in the television adaptation All the Way (2016), which earned him widespread praise by critics. For the biographical drama Trumbo (2015), he earned widespread acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Cranston also appeared in several acclaimed films, such as Saving Private Ryan (1998), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Drive (2011), Argo (2012) and Godzilla (2014). In 2019, he starred with Kevin Hart in the box office hit The Upside (2017).- Actor
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John Stephen Goodman's an American film, TV & stage actor. He was born in Affton, Missouri to Virginia Roos (Loosmore), a waitress and saleswoman & Leslie Francis Goodman, a postal worker who died when he was a small child. He's of English, Welsh & German ancestry. He's best known for his role as Dan Conner on the TV show Roseanne (1988), which ran until 1997 & for which he earned him a Best Actor Golden Globe in 1993. He's also noted for appearances in films of the Coen brothers, w/ prominent roles in Raising Arizona (1987) as an escaped convict, in Barton Fink (1991) as a congenial murderer, in The Big Lebowski (1998) as a volatile bowler & in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) as a cultured thief. Additionally, he has done voice work in numerous Disney & Pixar films, including the Sulley in Monsters, Inc. (2001). Having contributed to more than 50 films, he has also won 2 American Comedy Awards & hosted Saturday Night Live (1975) 14 times.- Actor
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Patrick Huard is an actor, comedian, filmmaker, author, emcee, director and producer. Having recently celebrated his 20 years in the business and his 40th birthday, he has an impressive record of achievements to his credit. He has appeared in 15 feature films, including La Vie après l'Amour, Nez Rouge, Sur le Seuil, Maman Last Call, Monica la Mitraille, Cadavres, Bon Cop Bad Cop (for which he co-wrote the screenplay and which became one of biggest box office successes of all time in Canada), Funkytown, Starbuck (Quebec's most popular film in 2011, distributed in more than 20 countries) and Omertà, from screenwriter and director Luc Dionne. This film revisits the cult TV series 11 years after the end of its third season. Patrick was delighted to be able to work with the likes of Michel Côté, Rachelle Lefevre, Stéphane Rousseau and René Angelil on this film.
Patrick Huard loves live performance. In March 2012, he made an eagerly anticipated return to the stage with his third one-man show entitled Le Bonheur, nearly 12 years after his last solo effort. Patrick is currently touring the province with this show. Previously, he presented two highly successful two comedy shows, 18 ans et plus and Face à Face. As well, he appeared in several Juste pour rire galas and in Eric Bogosian's play Talk Radio, doing some 1,200 shows and selling hundreds of thousands of tickets across Quebec.
On television, Patrick has played all kinds of characters-guy guys, bad guys and even a drag queen-in such series as Music Hall, Cover Girl, Fortier, Au Nom de la Loi and Taxi 0-22 where he spent four seasons as Rogatien, his famous irascible taxi driver. For this role, he was honoured with the Artis trophy in 2008 and 2009 in the "actor in a comedy program" category. The public also showed their affection for Patrick, twice selecting him for the Male Personality of the Year trophy, in 2009 and 2010. In 2012, after his return to the stage, Patrick took part in TVA's hit show Star Académie. After making his mark in the 2009 edition for his amazing ability to share his knowledge, he was pleased to reprise his role as a performance teacher on the popular program.
Patrick Huard has also hosted several Juste pour rire galas, the Gala de l'ADISQ, the Soirée des Jutra, a comedy series on Radio-Canada as well as several daily radio shows.
Increasingly, Patrick Huard can also be found behind the camera. He produced and directed Taxi 0-22 (four seasons on TVA), in addition to videos, commercials, a documentary for Canal D, his first feature film, Les 3 P'tits Cochons [The Three Little Pigs], the biggest box office hit in Quebec in 2007, and Filière 13.
In collaboration with Vidéotron and Sid Lee, Patrick also put his remarkable creativity and versatility to work for the mobile channel Lib tv, which is celebrating its first anniversary this summer. He serves as its ambassador, program director and coproducer (with his company, Jessie Films) in addition to working as designer, producer and actor. A forum of choice for local talent, Lib tv pushes the limits of creativity and experiments with new concepts. Since June 2011, the quirky programs on the new channel have been viewed nearly one million times, via illico mobile, illico web and illico TV.- Director
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