30 actors who are always on the money
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Tom Hollander was born the second child of educated parents, both teachers. He grew up in Oxford, (UK).
Hollander credits the happy atmosphere of the Dragon School with his childhood introduction to acting. There, encouraged by an influential teacher named Andrew Roberts, he won the title role in "Oliver". His studies continued at Abingdon, as did his pursuit of acting. At about this point, he won a place in the National Youth Theatre, a UK organization for young people in the field of musical theatre, based in London, and later at the Children's Music Theatre. It was during CMT's "The Leaving of Liverpool" (1981) that he came to the attention of BBC television, and subsequently found himself front and center as the young protagonist in a well-regarded John Diamond (1981), based on the popular Leon Garfield adventure novel. He was just fourteen years old.
Other early projects included two roles in Bertholt Brecht's "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" (1985) for the National Youth Theatre, and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for Oxford University Dramatic Society.
Hollander attended Cambridge University at about the same time as his childhood friend Sam Mendes in a visually bold (and well-remembered) staging of "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1988). Other collaborations with Mendes have followed, including work at the West End production of "The Cherry Orchard" (1989, with Judi Dench), and the Chichester Festival Theatre (1989) as well as a Toronto staging of "Kean" (1991) with Derek Jacobi. He also appeared in the Cambridge Footlights Revue (1988).
Upon graduation, Hollander hoped to gain entry to drama school, but found himself disappointed. The oversight did nothing to discourage a successful career already well under way: he garnered an Ian Charleson Award for his turn as Witwould in "The Way of the World" (1992), was nominated again for a "splendidly sinister, manic" performance as "Tartuffe" (1996), and yet again as a finalist for his Khlestakov ("a performance of ideal vigour and impudence"), in Gogol's "The Government Inspector" (1997). Inevitably, Hollander was urged to try films, and appeared in two films as early as 1996. True Blue (1996) (aka "Miracle at Oxford") found him in a small but memorable role as the cox for Oxford's noted 1987 "mutiny crew" that went on to win the that year's boat race against Cambridge, and in a thankless role in Some Mother's Son (1996), a sober drama about an IRA gunman, playing a Thatcher representative.
Hollander's career has featured a number of memorable gay roles. His fans are especially fond of the larger-than-life Darren from Bedrooms and Hallways (1998), a romantic comedy with what one reviewer called the "funniest bedroom scene of the year" involving Hollander's character and Hugo Weaving. The over-the-top Darren was so convincing that some viewers assumed Hollander was gay. "Sometimes I call myself a professional homosexual impersonator," he told an interviewer at the time, quickly adding, "you could say that ...Sir Ian McKellen and Rock Hudson do straight actors." The following year, he would take on a very different kind of "gay" role, playing the notorious "Bosie" (Lord Alfred Douglas) against Liam Neeson's Oscar Wilde in "The Judas Kiss" (1998).
"Martha -- Meet Frank Daniel and Laurence" (aka The Very Thought of You (1998), with Joseph Fiennes and Rufus Sewell, brought accolades for his standout role as Daniel, a difficult music executive. Variety, impressed, noted him for "U.K. legit work" and called him the "undisputed hit of the pic".
2001 brought Gosford Park (2001), Robert Altman's masterfully stylized murder mystery, in which he played the quietly desperate Anthony Meredith against Michael Gambon's callously indifferent paterfamilias. Hollander's name figures in a half dozen or more "Best Ensemble" awards for this complex, multi-storied film.
Considered the character-actor-of-choice for roles with comedic qualities, Hollander has challenged assumptions about his capacity by taking on difficult, troubled characters such as the tightly-wound King George V in Stephen Poliakoff's The Lost Prince (2003) for BBC and the demented fascist dictator Maximillian II in Land of the Blind (2006). Hollander himself is particularly proud of the film Lawless Heart (2001), a slyly humorous, cleverly constructed comedy-drama told from three viewpoints. Hollander's character, the heart of the film, is a decent man, devastated by the death of his partner, and grieving privately as the stories of friends and family unfold around him. A study of desire, loyalty and courage, the film was very well reviewed and much respected.
More recent film work has brought him to the attention of mainstream movie audiences, who now know him as the magnificently petty tyrant Lord Cutler Beckett in the second and third installments of Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007). This role brought another kind of achievement: Hollander could now say that he'd been commemorated in collectible action-figure form.
He's worked three times with director Joe Wright, beginning with the prissy, yet strangely likeable Mr. Collins in Pride & Prejudice (2005), as a clueless classical cellist in an unfortunately truncated role in The Soloist (2009), and as Issacs, the German henchman in Hanna (2011).
With In the Loop (2009), Hollander brought a perfectly unbearable, delicate tension to the role of Simon Foster, the earnestly clueless "British Secretary of State for International Development" who says the wrong thing at exactly the wrong moment. The film acted as a kind of companion piece to the critically-acclaimed The Thick of It (2005) on BBC2, Armando Iannucci's furious political satire on the machinations of war and media. Hollander's contribution to the expanded story was apparently so well-received he was "brought back" (but in a different role, entirely) from film to television for a series-ending surprise-appearance in series 3, delighting fans of the show.
Recent work in television has brought him the opportunity to expand on his special capacity for conveying nuanced and contradictory characters. He earned an award for Best Actor at the FIPA International Television Festival for his portrayal of Guy Burgess in Cambridge Spies (2003), and earned praise for the monstrously rude yet oddly endearing Leon in the satire Freezing (2008), with Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern) for BBC. He was unforgettable in an elegantly brief but very moving portrayal of King George III for HBO's John Adams (2008).
2010 brought Hollander to widespread attention with Rev. (2010), which he co-created with James Wood. The show, initially described in what was assumed to be familiar terms ("vicar", "comedy") became something entirely new: "...an exploration of British hypocrisy and a warmly played character piece", wrote Giles Fraser, Canon Chancellor at St Paul's Cathedral in a piece for The Sunday Telegraph. Rev. was much more than it appeared: reviews called it intelligent, realistic and very funny, with a stellar cast headed by Hollander as the sympathetic and very human vicar, Adam Smallbone. The show would garner a BAFTA in 2011 for Best Situation Comedy, among other awards and recognition.
Hollander supports a variety of charitable causes in innovative ways. In 2006 he ran his first race for the Childline Crisis hotline, and in 2007 ran for the Teenage Cancer Trust. He is a long-time supporter of the Helen and Douglas House in Oxford, which provides Hospice care for children, and continues to support charitable organizations by contributing readings and other appearances throughout the year. Hollander is a patron of BIFA, the British Independent Film Awards, and has supported the efforts of the Old Vic's "24 Hour Plays New Voices" Gala, which forwards the cause of young writers for the British stage.
Hollander continues to diversify with voicework roles in radio, reading audiobooks, doing voiceover work and onstage. He appeared in the Old Vic's production of Georges Feydeau's "A Flea in Her Ear" (2010), playing a demanding dual role: the upstanding Victor Emmanuel Chandebise and the lame-brained Poche. Reviews called it "insanity", and his performance "a breathtaking combination of lightning physical precision and shockingly true confusion".
Hollander is in production for series 2 of the winning comedy Rev. (2010).- Actress
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Tatiana Gabrielle Maslany was born September 22, 1985 in Regina, Saskatchewan, to Renate, a translator, and Dan, a woodworker. She graduated from Dr. Martin LeBoldus High school in 2003. She was a well respected student, and participated as often as possible in school productions. She is well known for her participation in the Canadian Improv Games. Maslany starred in the 2006 television movie, Booky Makes Her Mark (2006) along with Megan Follows and Stuart Hughes.
She had supporting roles in the films Eastern Promises (2007) and The Vow (2012), and came to fame starring in the series Orphan Black (2013), playing multiple roles. Maslany also had a large role in the 2015 film Woman in Gold (2015), playing a young version of Maria Altmann, Helen Mirren's character.- Actress
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Monica was born in March 1969 into an Irish family and has a sister Gabrielle. She studied drama at the Guildhall School in London, graduating in 1991 and soon afterwards went into television. A supremely versatile character actress, she has tended to specialize in stunning portrayals of the darker side of life, as real-life stalker Maria Marchese in U Be Dead (2009), demure but deadly Miss Gilchrist in the superior Poirot adaptation After the Funeral (2006) and, particularly, as serial killer Rosemary West in Appropriate Adult (2011) for which she, along with fellow Guildhall graduate Dominic West, deservedly received a BAFTA award. Therefore it was rather a surprise when she was not the killer in Midsomer Murders episode The Great and the Good (2009), though she sort of made up for it by playing twin sisters, one nice, one less so, in Call the Midwife episode Episode #2.3 (2013). On stage she has not let the villainous side down as Regan in 'King Lear' with Ian McKellen and an unusual version of 'Macbeth', set in Africa, with her Lady Macbeth the only white protagonist. In 2014, despite a lighter role in the TV sitcom W1A (2014), she was back to being enjoyably horrid as George Mackay's bigoted mother in the film Pride (2014).- Actor
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Damon Herriman was born on 31 March 1970 in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. He is an actor and writer, known for House of Wax (2005), The Nightingale (2018) and The Little Death (2014).- Actress
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Julia Garner is an American actress and model. She has appeared in the films Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), and played leading roles in Electrick Children (2012), We Are What We Are (2013) and Grandma (2015). She also plays Ruth Langmore in the Netflix original series Ozark (2017) and in several episodes of the television series The Americans (2013).
Garner was born in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, New York. Her mother, Tami Gingold, a therapist, had a successful career in Israel as a comedian. Her father, Thomas Garner, is a painter and an art teacher, originally from Shaker Heights, Ohio. She has an older sister, Anna (Ani), who is a writer, producer and an artist. Garner is Jewish. Garner resides with her parents in their house in New York City. She considers Italian actress Monica Vitti and especially Bette Davis to be major influences on her acting style, having cited Davis's performance in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) She started taking acting lessons at the age of 15 to overcome her shyness. She had her theatrical debut at the age of 17 in Sean Durkin's Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), playing the role of Sarah. In 2012, director David Chase invited her to play a small role which he wrote specifically for her in Not Fade Away (2012). Her first starring role was in the 2012 movie, Electrick Children (2012).
In 2013, she starred alongside Ashley Bell in the horror film The Last Exorcism Part II (2013), and played the lead in the American remake of the Mexican horror film We Are What We Are (2013). Garner co-starred in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) as new character Marcy, a young stripper who crosses paths with another new character, Johnny (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). This marked the first time she acted against a green screen. In 2015, Garner had a recurring role on the third season of FX's The Americans (2013). She continued the role on a recurring basis periodically through seasons 4 through 6. She was to have made her off-Broadway debut in Noah Haidle's play Smokefall at MCC Theater in 2016, but had to drop out during rehearsals because of scheduling conflicts.
In 2017, she began starring in the Netflix series Ozark (2017) as Ruth Langmore opposite Jason Bateman and Laura Linney.- Actor
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Will Sharpe was born on 22 September 1986 in Camden, London, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Flowers (2016), Landscapers (2021) and The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021).- Actress
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Helen Sjöholm was born on 10 July 1970 in Sundsvall, Västernorrlands län, Sweden. She is an actress, known for As It Is in Heaven (2004), Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) and Simon och ekarna (2011). She has been married to David Granditsky since 26 August 2006. They have three children.- Actor
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An actor for all seasons and all kinds of roles (from dark, difficult characters to more loving ones) Paul Dano has an extensive body of work that includes working with directors such as Paul Thomas Anderson, Steve McQueen, Dayton & Ferris, Ang Lee, Denis Villenueve, and Paolo Sorrentino; acting with heavyweights such as Harrison Ford, Daniel Day-Lewis, Alan Arkin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Toni Collette, Michael Caine, and Kevin Kline just to mention a few names; and easily making a fine transition in between independent cinema, art-house films, and mainstream Hollywood blockbusters.
Paul Franklin Dano was born on 19 June 1984 in New York City, the son of Gladys (Pipp) and Paul Dano. He is of Rusyn, Slovenian/Czech, and Swedish descent. At an early age he was already appearing in community plays and by his early teens he got his first TV appearance on an episode of Smart Guy (1998). His first major role was as Howie Blitzer, a trouble teenager who gets involved with an older man, played by Brian Cox, in the controversial and acclaimed L.I.E. (2001). For the role, Dano was awarded an Independent Spirit Award in the Best Debut Performance category, along with some other awards from indie cinema. From then on, he moved on to supporting roles in The Girl Next Door (2004), Taking Lives (2004), The King (2005), Fast Food Nation (2006) and The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005).
Dano's rise to stardom came in consecutive films that showcased his talents and made him an important name in the business: as Dwayne, a rebel teen who copes with his teen angst by refusing to speak to everyone in his family, only using of his cold expressions and a notepad in Little Miss Sunshine (2006), he was praised by critics and audiences, a role that earned him, among other awards, the Screen Actors Guild as Best Ensemble Cast. The following year, he appeared in a dual role as twin brothers Paul and Eli Sunday - the latter character, a devoted preacher, is more extensive and challenging than the mysterious Paul, in Paul Thomas Anderson critically acclaimed There Will Be Blood (2007). The role was given to Dano after a recommendation from Daniel Day-Lewis who had worked with the young actor in The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005) and found him a very talented and interesting role. Anderson followed Day-Lewis' suggestion, and the result was another hit for Dano, who received several awards nominations, including the BAFTA as Best Supporting Actor.
After that, he went on with his career with Taking Woodstock (2009), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), Ruby Sparks (2012) - in which he appears alongside his girlfriend Zoe Kazan, Looper (2012), as the tortured suspect in Prisoners (2013); the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave (2013); as a young Method actor in Youth (2015); the freak comedy Swiss Army Man (2016); Okja (2017); and the miniseries War & Peace (2016) and Escape at Dannemora (2018), the latter being a role completely the opposite he ever played in previous years, as an inmate who escapes jail, a very physical work for him. In between those films and projects, he gained notoriety by playing the young Brian Wilson in Love & Mercy (2014), the Beach Boys leader who suffers a nervous breakdown while trying to compose an epic album. That role gave Paul Dano plenty of buzz during awards season, some deserved recognition, and his first Golden Globe nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category.
His career seems to always be going further as each year goes by, always promising. He made his directorial debut in Wildlife (2018), which was co-written with Zoe Kazan. They've been living together for a decade and have a daughter.
In the 2020s, he provided the voice for a character in the thriller The Guilty (2021) and played the Riddler in the box-office hit The Batman (2022), in one of his most challenging roles. During the 2022/2023 awards season, he received a lot of praise and attention for his role in the acclaimed The Fabelmans (2022) where he plays a version of Steven Spielberg's father.- Actor
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Justice Elio Smith is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Franklin Webb in the 2018 science fiction film Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Tim Goodman in Pokémon Detective Pikachu and Theodore Finch in All the Bright Places. Smith was born in California. Smith graduated from the Orange County School of the Arts in 2013 and has performed in shows around Orange County.- Actress
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Sarah Snook was born and raised in Adelaide, South Australia. Showing promise in performing arts at a young age, Sarah was awarded a scholarship to study drama at Scotch College, Adelaide. After high school, she was accepted in to the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) and graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting).
Having started out in theatre in Sydney, Sarah was the runner-up in the 2011 Australians in Film Heath Ledger Scholarship. She has since gone on to work extensively in film and television in Australia, receiving awards from the Australian Academy for Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) for Best Actress in a Film, Predestination (2014), and Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama, Sisters of War (2010), the Film Critic's Circle of Australia (FCCA) for Best Actress - Lead Role, Predestination (2014) and Not Suitable for Children (2012), and the Australian Film Critics Association (AFCA) for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, These Final Hours (2013).
Internationally, Sarah has acted in numerous films, most notably Steve Jobs (2015) and The Glass Castle (2017). She also appeared in the Netflix series Black Mirror (2011). On stage, Sarah made her West End debut in 2016 alongside Ralph Fiennes in The Old Vic's production of Henrik Ibsen's "The Master Builder".
In 2017 Sarah wrapped on two Australian productions, Winchester (2018) and Brothers' Nest (2018), and was in New York later in 2017 to shoot the first season of HBO series, Succession (2018).- Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie was born in Wellington, New Zealand, to actress Miranda Harcourt and director Stuart McKenzie. She is the granddaughter of actress Dame Kate Harcourt and Peter Harcourt. Peter's family founded the real estate company Harcourts International in Wellington. She has an elder brother and a younger sister, actress Davida McKenzie. She completed her secondary education at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School in 2018. After a good role in The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, she rose to critical prominence with the lead role in Debra Granik's 2018 drama film Leave No Trace. After supporting roles in the 2019 films The King, Jojo Rabbit, and True History of the Kelly Gang, as well as the 2021 thriller Old, she played the lead role as Eloise, a wide-eyed woman from Cornwall in Edgar Wright's psychological horror film Last Night in Soho.
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Widely considered as one of the greatest stage and screen actors of his generation both in his native Scotland and internationally, David Tennant was born David John McDonald in West Lothian, Scotland, to Essdale Helen (McLeod) and Sandy McDonald, who was a Presbyterian minister. He is of Scottish and Ulster-Scots descent. When he was about 3 or 4 years old, he decided to become an actor, inspired by his love of Doctor Who (1963).
He was brought up in Bathgate, West Lothian and Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland and was a huge fan of the band The Proclaimers. He attended Paisley Grammar school and while there he wrote about how he wanted to become a professional actor and play the role of the Doctor in Doctor Who (1963).
He made his first television appearance (which was also his first professional acting job) when he was 16, after his father sent some photos of him to a casting director at Scottish television. He also attended a youth theatre group at weekends run by the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now renamed the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). When he was 16 he auditioned for and won a place at the academy; the youngest student to ever do so, and started as a full time drama student when he was 17.
He worked regularly in theatre and TV after leaving drama school, and his first big break came in 1994 when he was cast in a lead role in the Scottish drama Takin' Over the Asylum (1994). He then moved to London where his career thrived. Among other significant factors of his prolific artistic course, he spent several years as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and became famous from his lead roles in TV dramas Blackpool (2004) and Casanova (2005).
In 2005, his childhood wish came true. David was cast to play the role of the Doctor in Doctor Who (2005) alongside Billie Piper, after Christopher Eccleston decided to leave. Playing the Doctor made him a household name and a sex symbol, being voted "Sexiest Man in the Universe" by readers of The Pink Paper and 16th Sexiest Man in the World by a Cosmopolitan survey. Since leaving the series in 2010 his career has continued to rise, with lead roles in films, TV series and theatre.- Actor
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Domhnall Gleeson is an Irish actor and writer. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter film franchise (2010-2011), About Time (2013), Ex Machina (2015) and The Revenant (2015).
He is the son of actor Brendan Gleeson, alongside whom he has appeared in several films and theatre projects.
Gleeson starred in Anna Karenina (2012), Frank (2014), Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017). He also portrayed the First Order's General Hux in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017).
In 2013 he starred in the Black Mirror episode Be Right Back.
His film debut was Boy Eats Girl (2005).- Actor
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Hugh was born on 6 January 1985 in London. He attended Eastbourne College from 1998 to 2003. He studied drama at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and on graduation went into stage work. After minor roles in 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' and 'Any Human Heart' on television in 2014 he registered with viewers in two very different ongoing roles, as stupid intern Will in the satirical look at the BBC 'W1A' and as the sympathetic village doctor in the period piece 'Our Zoo'. From 2016 he has been seen in the comedy series 'The Windsors' as a sweet but dumb version of Prince William and in 2018 appeared on the big screen as a younger version of Colin Firth's 'Harry' in the much-awaited 'Mamma Mia - Here We Go Again.'- 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.- Actress
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Camille Cottin is a French actress and comedian. Following her debut as a stage actress, she became known in 2013 for playing a capricious Parisian woman in the Canal+ hidden camera-sketches series Connasse (2013-2015), as well as in the theatrical film based on the series The Parisian Bitch, Princess of Hearts (2015), which brought her significant mainstream success in France.- Actress
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Judy Greer was born and raised outside of Detroit, Michigan, as Judith Therese Evans. She is the daughter of Mollie Ann (née Greer), a hospital administrator and former nun, and Richard Evans, a mechanical engineer. She has German, Irish, English, Welsh, and Scottish ancestry. After training for nearly ten years in classical Russian ballet, Greer shifted her interest to acting and was accepted into Chicago's prestigious Theatre School at DePaul University.
After a variety of odd jobs during college, from telemarketer to oyster shucker, Greer landed her first on-screen role just three days after graduation -- a small part in the Jason Lee-David Schwimmer comedy Kissing a Fool (1998). She flew to Los Angeles for the film's premiere and never left. Greer quickly landed a role in the dark comedy Jawbreaker (1999), with Rose McGowan and Rebecca Gayheart. Greer starred as a school wallflower-turned-babe in a story about high school girls who accidentally kill their best friend and try to cover up the murder.
She went on to play a news correspondent in David O. Russell's Three Kings (1999), landing a memorable opening love scene with George Clooney. Her performance caught the eye of Hollywood, and she appeared next in Mike Nichols's What Planet Are You From? (2000) as a flight attendant opposite Garry Shandling. Her television credits include a recurring role as Jason Bateman's assistant Kitty on Fox's Arrested Development (2003), as well as guest-starring roles on Love & Money (1999), Maggie Winters (1998), and Early Edition (1996).
Greer starred opposite Jennifer Garner in Columbia Pictures' romantic comedy 13 Going on 30 (2004), directed by Gary Winick. Greer played an office colleague alongside Garner's character, with whom she shares a checkered past.
She co-starred in writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's The Village (2004), opposite Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sigourney Weaver, and William Hurt. Set in 1897, the film revolves around a close-knit community that lives with the knowledge that a mythical race of creatures resides in the woods surrounding them. The Village (2004) was released July 30, 2004, by Touchtone Pictures. Greer also co-starred in director Wes Craven's Cursed (2005), a modern twist on the classic werewolf tale written by Kevin Williamson. The busy actress also landed a co-starring role opposite Orlando Bloom and Susan Sarandon in writer-director Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown (2005), playing the sister of Bloom's character and daughter of Sarandon's character.
She also joined Jeff Bridges and Jeanne Tripplehorn in the independent film The Amateurs (2005) by writer-director Michael Traeger. The film revolves around a motley group of friends who band together to make an amateur porn film. Greer plays a young temptress at the local mattress store who secures a role in the movie by allowing the store to be used as a film location.
Greer wrapped production in New York on a co-starring role opposite Tom McCarthy ("The Station Agent") in Danny Leiner's The Great New Wonderful (2005) for Serenade Films/Sly Dog Films. The dark comedy tells five different stories against the backdrop of an uncertain post-September 11 New York. The cast also includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Edie Falco and Tony Shalhoub.
She also appeared in writer-director Adam Goldberg's psychological drama I Love Your Work (2003), opposite Giovanni Ribisi. The film is about a fictional movie star (Ribisi) and his gradual meltdown and increasing obsession with a young film student and his girlfriend. The stellar cast also included Franka Potente, Christina Ricci, and Jason Lee and debuted at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival. In the film, Greer plays Samantha, the personal assistant of Ribisi's character.
Greer had a starring role as the female lead role in the comedy The Hebrew Hammer (2003) as the feisty, fearless Esther, who joins forces with an Orthodox Jewish Blaxploitation hero (Adam Goldberg) to save Hanukkah from an evil son of Santa Claus (Andy Dick). The Hebrew Hammer (2003) debuted at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and premiered on Comedy Central followed by a theatrical release.
She also appeared in Adaptation. (2002), from director Spike Jonze. In the film, Nicolas Cage stars as self-loathing writer Charlie Kaufman (and twin brother Donald) as he attempts to adapt the novel "The Orchid Thief" for the big screen. Greer played Alice, the waitress with whom he becomes obsessed -- the object of his fantasies.
Greer turned in a scene-stealing comedic performance in The Wedding Planner (2001), with Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey, in which she played Penny, Lopez's sweet but ditsy assistant who tries hard, but often falls a little short. Equally adept at more dramatic roles, Greer gave a standout performance opposite Mel Gibson in What Women Want (2000), playing a suicidal file clerk rescued by the one man who can hear women's thoughts. Greer's pivotal scene with Gibson is the heart of the film.
With a genuine gift for comedy and an engaging on-screen presence, Judy Greer has quickly become one of Hollywood's most captivating talents. Having appeared in such diverse films as Jawbreaker (1999), What Women Want (2000), The Wedding Planner (2001), Adaptation. (2002), and Wilson (2017) as well as a number of upcoming feature film projects, Greer turns in scene-stealing performances opposite some of the industry's biggest stars.- Actress
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Hannah Waddingham was born in 1974, in Wandsworth, London. Her family was involved in performing arts as her mother, Melodie Kelly, and both her maternal grandparents were opera singers.
She is best known for her contribution to West End musical theatre, particularly her performances in the original London production of "Spamalot" as the Lady of the Lake and as Desiree Armfelt in Trevor Nunn's acclaimed revival of "A Little Night Music", roles that earned her two Olivier Award nomination.
In October 2000, she released the single "Our Kind of Love", billed simply as Hannah, in the UK Singles Chart where it peaked at No. 41.
In 2008, she made her film debut as Elizabeth Maddox in How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008). Her other film credits include Into the Woods (2011), Les Misérables (2012), Winter Ridge (2018) and The Hustle (2019).
In 2015, Waddingham joined the cast of the fifth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011) as Septa Unella. Hannah appeared in Sex Education (2019) as Sofia Marchetti. In 2020, she gained international recognition for her acclaimed portrayal of Rebecca Welton in the Apple+ comedy series Ted Lasso (2020), for which she won Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the 2021 Critics Choice Awards.
In 2014, Hannah welcomed her first child, a daughter. Hannah has since split up with the father.- Actress
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Alison Pill was most recently seen in HELLO TOMORROW! for Apple TV+. She previously starred in the CBS All Access series, STAR TREK: PICARD, Alex Garland's FX miniseries, DEVS, and the Amazon series, THEM. Pill's other television work includes Ryan Murphy's AMERICAN HORROR STORY: CULT, the ABC drama THE FAMILY, the acclaimed Aaron Sorkin HBO series THE NEWSROOM, the HBO drama IN TREATMENT, THE BOOK OF DANIEL, and LIFE WITH JUDY GARLAND: ME AND MY SHADOWS.
Alison's film credits include ALL MY PUNY SORROWS, which premiered at TIFF in 2021 and the Oscar nominated biopic, VICE, written and directed by Adam McKay, opposite Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Steve Carrell. Pill's other film credits include MISS SLOANE, HAIL CAESAR!, SNOWPIERCER, GOON, SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD, MILK, DAN IN REAL LIFE, DEAR WENDY, and PIECES OF APRIL. Next up for Alison is Michael Shannon's ERIC LARUE.
Alison starred on Broadway in the Tony nominated production of THREE TALL WOMEN, written by Edward Albee, directed by Joe Mantello, and opposite Glenda Jackson and Laurie Metcalf. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her Broadway debut in THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE and for a Lucille Lortel Award for ON THE MOUNTAIN. She won The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble in the U.S. premiere of THE DISTANCE FROM HERE.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
David Thewlis was born David Wheeler in 1963 in Blackpool, Lancashire, to Maureen (Thewlis) and Alec Raymond Wheeler, and lived with his parents above their combination wallpaper and toy shop during his childhood. Originally, he came to London with his band Door 66, however he changed his plans and entered Guildhall School of Drama.
He had minor roles in films and TV until he took the main role in Naked (1993). The film won him several awards including the New York Critics Award. He has since been in many other films including DragonHeart (1996), Restoration (1995), Black Beauty (1994) and he took the part of Professor Remus John Lupin in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) and its sequels.
Recently, he starred in the third season of FX's Fargo (2014).
He lived with the British actress Anna Friel from 2001-2010. They have a daughter, Gracie Ellen Mary, born July 9, 2005.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Thomas William Hiddleston was born in Westminster, London, to English-born Diana Patricia (Servaes) and Scottish-born James Norman Hiddleston. His mother is a former stage manager, and his father, a scientist, was the managing director of a pharmaceutical company. He started off at the preparatory school, The Dragon School in Oxford, and by the time he was 13, he boarded at Eton College, at the same time that his parents were going through a divorce. He continued on to the University of Cambridge, where he earned a double first in Classics. He continued to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 2005.
Whilst at University of Cambridge, he was seen by the Hamilton Hodell agency in the play "A Streetcar Named Desire" and was signed. Following this, he was cast in his first television role in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (2001). Hiddleston won his first film role as Oakley in Joanna Hogg's award-winning first feature, Unrelated (2007). His breakthrough role came when he portrayed the nemesis Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe feature film Thor (2011). He reprised the character in The Avengers (2012), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), and Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
He has also appeared in Steven Spielberg's War Horse (2011), The Deep Blue Sea (2011), Woody Allen's romantic comedy Midnight in Paris (2011), and the romantic vampire film Only Lovers Left Alive (2013). On television, he appeared on the BBC series The Hollow Crown (2012), in the adaptations of Shakespeare's "Henry IV" and "Henry V". In theatre, he has been in the productions of "Cymbeline" (2007) and "Ivanov" (2008). In December 2013, he starred as the title character in the Donmar Warehouse production of "Coriolanus" which played until February 2014. He won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Play for his role in "Cymbeline" while also being nominated for the same award the same year for his role as Cassio in "Othello".- Actor
- Producer
- Script and Continuity Department
Despite his prominence in Hollywood as a character actor known for playing villains and criminals, Ben Mendelsohn has been a leading man in Australia since starting acting as a teenager.
Paul Benjamin Mendelsohn was born in Melbourne, Australia, to Carole Ann (Ferguson), a nurse, and Frederick Arthur Oscar Mendelsohn, a medical researcher. Getting his start in television, including The Henderson Kids (1985) and the long running soap opera Neighbours (1985), Mendelsohn broke out with his performance as an ill-fated juvenile delinquent in the acclaimed coming of age film The Year My Voice Broke (1987). Mendelsohn won the best supporting actor award from the Australian Film Institute, his first of eight nominations.
Mendelsohn went onto to become one of the most popular teen/young adult stars in Australia cinema, often rivaling other emerging talents of his generation, including Russell Crowe, Noah Taylor, and Guy Pearce, leading the Australian tabloid to nickname them "the Mouse Pack" in reference to the Rat Pack in America and Brit Pack in the UK, emerging at the same time. Among his peers, Mendelsohn seemed to corner the market on troubled, angry young men, thanks to his roles in Idiot Box (1996), Metal Skin (1994), and Nirvana Street Murder (1990). But Mendelsohn also proved he was capable of being a romantic lead, starring in the comedies The Big Steal (1990), Cosi (1996), and Amy (1997).
In the 1990s, Mendelsohn appeared in just one "Hollywood" film, the action film Vertical Limit (2000), as one of two daredevil climbers on a rescue mission, often providing the film's comic relief. The film failed to find an audience and Mendelsohn returned to Australia, where he primarily worked in theater and television, despite earning best actor nominations from the Australian Film Institute and Australian Film Critics Circle for the drama Mullet, as a prodigal son returning to his small town. He also took steps to work in more international films such as The New World (2005), Knowing (2009) and Australia (2008). Mendelsohn has acknowledged that there was a period of almost two years that he had so little work, he considered leaving the acting profession entirely.
In 2009, Mendelsohn experienced a bit of a comeback with the role in the independent Australian films Beautiful Kate (2009), as troubled man forced to reunite with his dying father and come to terms with the death of his twin sister, with whom he had a complicated relationship. He was nominated for Australian Film Institute and Australian Film Critics Circle Best Actor in 2009. A year later, he appeared as Pope in Animal Kingdom (2010), the most terrifying and violent member of a crime family. In 2010, he won Best Actor from the Australian Film Institute, Independent Film Award, and Australian Film Critics Circle.
Since 2010, Mendelsohn has become a major player in Hollywood as a character actor in both blockbuster films (The Dark Knight Rises (2012)) and critically acclaimed films such as Killing Them Softly (2012) and The Place Beyond the Pines (2012). In 2013 he appeared in the UK Starred Up (2013), which earned him a Best Supporting Actor Award from the British Independent Film Awards. He received high praise for his performance as gambling addict in 2015's Mississippi Grind (2015) (earning an independent spirit award nomination for best actor). The same year he began a two season run on Netflix's Bloodline (2015) as Danny Rayburn, the black sheep in a well respected family in the Florida Keys (he was considered a guest actor in the third and final season). In 2016 his career took another leap forward, appearing as the main villain in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), and winning the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He missed the ceremony, as he was filming Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One (2018).- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
James Norton was born in 1985 to two teachers and has a younger sister who is a doctor. Growing up in North Yorkshire he espoused acting at a very early age - playing Joseph in his primary school nativity play aged five - and, after leaving Ampleforth College he did work experience at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. Rather than go straight to acting school he read theology at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and then travelled to Nepal, where he became interested in Buddhism. On return he enrolled at RADA in London, graduating in 2010 and, just before graduating bagging a (very) small part as Carey Mulligan's boyfriend in the final scene of 'An Education'. In 2011 he appeared on the London stage in revivals of 'Journey's End' and 'The Lion in Winter' with Joanna Lumley and Robert Lindsay. At the tail end of 2013 he was in the faux-Austen mystery 'Death Comes To Pemberley' on television but 2014 has been the year when he became known to a wider audience via the period films 'Mr Turner' and 'Belle' as the heroine's first love interest and most particularly violent serial 'Happy Valley' as a murderous kidnapper and rapist and, by contrast in the post-war set whodunit series 'Grantchester' as a tipsy young vicar with a penchant for solving cases.