The 142 Most Talented Character Actors in Hollywood
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J.K. Simmons is an American actor.
He was born Jonathan Kimble Simmons in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, to Patricia (Kimble), an administrator, and Donald William Simmons, a music teacher. He attended the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; University of Montana, Missoula, MT (BA in Music).
He had originally planned to be a singer and studied at the University of Montana to become a composer.
He starred as Captain Hook and Mr. Darling opposite gymnastics champ Cathy Rigby in the Broadway and touring revivals of Peter Pan.
He played Benny South-street in the 1992 Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls and can be heard on the cast recording.
He did a commercial voice-over work, including the voice of the yellow M&M in the candy's TV ads.
He appeared as police psychiatrist Emil Skoda on Law & Order (1990), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001).
As of 2011, has made five films with director Sam Raimi: For Love of the Game (1999); The Gift (2000); Spider-Man (2002); Spider-Man 2 (2004); and Spider-Man 3 (2007).
He won many awards from 2005 to 2007 in Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2014 won Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. 2015 won a Golden Globe for his Best Performance as an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, BAFTA Film Awards Best Supporting Actor, Independent Spirit Awards Best Supporting Male.- Actress
- Producer
- Executive
Melissa Leo is an American actress. She is known for her Academy Award-winning performance in the 2010 film The Fighter (2010). She was born on September 14, 1960, in New York City. Leo starred as the mother of boxer Micky Ward in the 2010 film The Fighter, also starring Mark Wahlberg. The role garnered her both Golden Globe (Best Supporting Actress) and Oscar awards. Other accolades include award nominations for the film Frozen River (2008) and the HBO series Mildred Pierce.- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Zeljko Ivanek was born on 15 August 1957 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is an actor and producer, known for Seven Psychopaths (2012), Argo (2012) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
As a child growing up in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Ernie Hudson wrote short stories, poems and songs, always thinking that his words might one day come to life on stage. After a short stint in the Marine Corps, he moved to Detroit where he became the resident playwright at Concept East, the oldest black theatre in the country. In addition, he enrolled at Wayne State University to further develop his writing and acting skills and found time to establish the Actors' Emsemble Theatre, where he and other talented young black writers directed and appeared in their own works. After graduating with a B.A. from Wayne State, he was rewarded a full scholarship to the M.F.A. program at the prestigious Yale School of Drama. While performing with the school's repertory company, he was asked to appear in the Los Angeles production of Lonne Elder III's musical "Daddy Goodness," which led to his meeting Gordon Parks, who gave Hudson the costarring role in his first feature film, Leadbelly (1976). Unfortunately, all that followed "Leadbelly" was a year of "bit parts and some harsh lessons about Hollywood," which led Hudson to enroll in another academic doctorate program at the University of Minnesota. He did not complete the program. Through his experience, he learned another vital lesson: "There are those who spend their lives studying it and those who spend their lives doing it." Hudson definitely wanted to be in the second group. Keeping in mind this self-revelation, Hudson accepted the starring role of Jack Jefferson in the Minneapolis Theatre In The Round's production of "The Great White Hope," a role that he put "everything he had into," including shaving his head. A series of starring and guest roles followed on such television shows as Fantasy Island (1977), The Incredible Hulk (1978), Little House on the Prairie (1974), Diff'rent Strokes (1978), Taxi (1978), One Day at a Time (1975), Gimme a Break! (1981), The A-Team (1983) and Webster (1983), as well as costarring roles in the TV movies White Mama (1980) with Bette Davis, Roots: The Next Generations (1979), Women of San Quentin (1983), California Girls (1985), Mad Bull (1977) and Love on the Run (1985). Other feature film credits include The Jazz Singer (1980), The Main Event (1979), Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983), Penitentiary II (1982), Going Berserk (1983), Joy of Sex (1984) and, of course, the mega-hit Ghostbusters (1984).- Actor
- Art Department
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Michael Badalucco, a Brooklyn native, got his start in the entertainment industry at a very young age, going to work with his father Giuseppe, a Sicilian-born immigrant, who worked as a carpenter on movie sets. In 1963, during the filming of Fail Safe starring Henry Fonda, a photo of a young boy was needed. Eight-year old Badalucco posed for the picture, and thus began his acting career. He went on to Xaverian H.S. and got his first taste of theatre there in musicals like A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum and dramas like Shaw's St. Joan. He began his formal acting studies at the State University of New York at New Paltz. It was there that he cut his teeth on stage, performing in over 20 plays. He graduated with a B.A. in Theatre Arts in 1976. In 2003, his alma mater conferred upon him an honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts, citing his "extraordinary success while never losing perspective on what is important in life." His first speaking role was in the feature film Raging Bull, directed by Martin Scorsese, which led to additional roles in movies such as Broadway Danny Rose, directed by Woody Allen. Throughout the 1990's, Badalucco appeared in a series of memorable supporting roles in such acclaimed films as Miller's Crossing, Sleepless in Seattle, Jungle Fever, The Professional, and Mac. His performance in the romantic comedy One Fine Day,prompted star Michelle Pfeiffer to recommend Badalucco to her husband,David E. Kelley, for a role in his ABC television series The Practice. Not only did Badalucco get the part, but his performance as Jimmy Berluti would ultimately serve as his breakout role. In 1999 he received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Next, on the big screen, he portrayed serial killer David Berkowitz in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam. He then stepped into the shoes of notorious gangster George "Baby Face" Nelson for the throwback Coen Brothers comedy, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and appeared in their subsequent film, The Man Who Wasn't There. He continues to pursue his craft on television, stage and screen. In addition to Badalucco's love of acting, he has been involved with a number of charitable organizations which include The Jimmy Fund and The Little Sisters of the Poor. In 2003, Habitat for Humanity of Los Angeles presented him with the Building Hope Award. He received the Heart of the City Award from Heartshare Human Services of New York in 2005. In 2013, he was inducted into the Diocese of Brooklyn Hall of Fame. Mr. Badalucco is privileged to support Italian-American causes through his work with the National Italian American Foundation and Arba Sicula, an organization which preserves, studies, and promotes the language and culture of Sicily. He is also a proud member of the New York Athletic Club, Tiro A Segno of New York, and The Italian American Marching Club of New Orleans, where he has served as Grand Marshal of its annual parade in honor of St. Joseph.- Actor
- Writer
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Tom Wilson is a creative artist whose professional career has explored almost every imaginable artistic discipline, blending them into a unique and very individual declaration of a life in the arts. A man of fervent but private faith his whole life, the last few years have been interesting, with hundreds of invitations to speak at conferences and retreats, as well as the opportunity to record the music that he began playing in church in the 1970s. Tom has enjoyed a successful career as an actor, writer and comedian for over 20 years. He has more than 50 films, television shows and comedy specials to his credit, and has appeared on talk shows with everyone from Johnny Carson to Jay Leno to David Letterman to Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford. As a voice-over actor, he has worked in dozens of animated series, including many episodes of Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants (1999). As a comedian he has been a regular performer at the world-famous Improv and Comedy Store since the day he arrived in Hollywood. His self-written one-man show, "Cowboy Tommy," boasted a series of sold-out engagements. He continues to act in movies and television, and he performs comedy and music at theaters across America. As a writer and producer, he's written for several prestigious literary magazines, as well as for Universal Studios, Disney, Fox and Film Roman studios, and produced a groundbreaking series of debates for Canadian television called "The Seven Deadly Sins", which examined cultural values and the role of the arts within them. As an avocation, he is a photographer and painter, with a photograph in the permanent collection of the California Museum of Photography and paintings on the walls of the guest bedrooms of many close personal friends (or, as artists like to say, "in many private collections.") Actor, comedian, writer, musician, and artist - Tom Wilson has transcended the limitations of pop-cultural celebrity to become an artist of honesty, gravity and grace. Thomas is a graduate of Radnor high school in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was known for his comedic personality.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Viola Davis is a critically revered actress of film, television, and theater and has won rave reviews for her multitude of substantial and intriguingly diverse roles. Audiences across the United States and internationally have admired her for her work- including her celebrated, Oscar-nominated performances in The Help (2011), Doubt (2008), and her Oscar winning performance in Fences (2016). In 2015, Davis won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series for her work in ABC's How To Get Away With Murder, making her the first black woman in history to take home the award. In addition to acting, Viola currently produces alongside her husband and producing partner, Julius Tennon, through their JuVee Productions banner. Together they have produced award-garnering productions across theater, television, and film.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
A tall, wavy-haired US actor with a deep, resonant voice, Clancy Brown has proven himself a versatile performer with first-class contributions to theatre, feature films, television series and even animation.
Clarence J. Brown III was born in 1959 in Urbana, Ohio, to Joyce Helen (Eldridge), a concert pianist, conductor, and composer, and Clarence J. "Bud" Brown, Jr., who helped manage the Brown Publishing Company, the family-owned newspaper started by Clancy's grandfather, Clarence J. Brown. Clancy's father and grandfather were also Republican congressmen from the same Ohio district, and Clancy spent much of his youth in close proximity to Washington, D.C. He plied his dramatic talents in the Chicago theatre scene before moving onto feature film with a sinister debut performance bullying Sean Penn inside a youth reformatory in Bad Boys (1983). He portrayed Viktor the Monster in the unusual spin on the classic Frankenstein story in The Bride (1985), before scoring one of his best roles to date as the evil Kurgan hunting fellow immortals Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery across four centuries of time in Highlander (1986).
Brown played a corrupt American soldier in the Walter Hill-directed hyper-violent action film Extreme Prejudice (1987), another deranged killer in Shoot to Kill (1988) and a brutal prison guard, who eventually somewhat "befriends" wrongfully convicted banker Tim Robbins, in the moving The Shawshank Redemption (1994). His superb vocal talents were in demand, and he contributed voices to animated series, including Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm (1995), Street Sharks (1994), Gargoyles (1994) and Superman: The Animated Series (1996). Brown then landed two more plum roles, one as a "tough-as-nails" drill sergeant in the science fiction thriller Starship Troopers (1997), and the other alongside Robin Williams in the Disney comedy Flubber (1997).
The video gaming industry took notice of Clancy's vocal abilities, too, and he has contributed voices to several top selling video games, including Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (2001), Lands of Lore III (1999), Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (2002) and Crash Nitro Kart (2003). His voice is also the character of cranky crustacean Mr. Eugene H. Krabs in the highly successful SpongeBob SquarePants (1999) animated series and films, and he contributed voices to The Batman (2004), Jackie Chan Adventures (2000) and Justice League (2001) animated series. A popular and friendly personality, Clancy Brown continues to remain busy both through his vocal and acting talents in Hollywood.- Actor
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Character actor Stephen Tobolowsky was born on May 30, 1951 in Dallas, Texas. Over the past three decades, Tobolowsky has racked up a lengthy list of roles in movies and television across many different genres.
While Tobolowsky initially attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas with the intention of studying geology, he was quickly drawn in to acting there. He later attended the University of Illinois for one year.
Tobolowsky worked primarily in theater during his early career, and wrote and directed a few plays including "Two Idiots in Hollywood" and "True Stories". His film career took off in the 1980s, though, thanks to roles in The Philadelphia Experiment (1984), Nobody's Fool (1986), Spaceballs (1987), and Mississippi Burning (1988). Since then, Tobolowsky has appeared in many popular movies including Bird on a Wire (1990), Basic Instinct (1992), Groundhog Day (1993), Radioland Murders (1994), Murder in the First (1995), Mr. Magoo (1997), The Insider (1999), Memento (2000), Freaky Friday (2003), Garfield: The Movie (2004) and Wild Hogs (2007). He has also done a substantial amount of voice work, most recently taking on the role of Uncle Ubb in The Lorax (2012).
Tobolowsky has been even more prolific in television over the past few decades. He's appeared on a diverse range of shows including Seinfeld (1989), Mad About You (1992), Chicago Hope (1994), The Practice (1997) and Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000), and has had recurring roles on CSI: Miami (2002), Deadwood (2004), Heroes (2006), Californication (2007) and Glee (2009).
Tobolowsky is married to fellow actor Ann Hearn.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Mary 'Mare' Megan Winningham is an actress and songwriter who has appeared in nearly 100 TV shows and feature films. She began her career in 1976 as a singer, and starred in numerous and diverse film roles before hitting it big as one of the original Brat Pack in Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire (1985) with Emilio Estevez, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, and Ally Sheedy.
Mare attended Chatsworth High School with Val Kilmer, James Rekart and Kevin Spacey, but she was bitten by the acting bug much earlier on. She had enjoyed drama and music since primary school, taking a particular interest in the guitar and drums.
Since St. Elmo's Fire (1985), Mare has played some outstanding roles in a number of big films. She starred in the Tom Hanks comedy Turner & Hooch (1989). She has also starred in two feature films with Kevin Costner, The War (1994) and the western Wyatt Earp (1994), the latter directed by Lawrence Kasdan and co-starring Gene Hackman. Mare won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role opposite Jennifer Jason Leigh in Georgia (1995).
Bad Day on the Block (1997) saw her starring opposite Charlie Sheen and she put in a superb performance in Brothers (2009), a war drama co-starring Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman.
Her myriad TV roles include ER (1994), Grey's Anatomy (2005), and 24 (2001) with Kiefer Sutherland.- Actor
- Producer
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Donal Logue's versatility and talent makes him one of the most well respected and beloved actors today. Born in Ottawa, Canada, Logue moved all over the United States, from the Boston area as an infant to various towns on the Mexican border. He returned to Boston to attend Harvard University, where he majored in Intellectual History and discovered his love for the performing arts. While in college, he appeared in over thirty plays, worked for two summers in the American Repertory Theatre's Harvard/Radcliffe Summer Stock Company, and spent a short time doing theatre in England. After graduating, Logue joined the Cornerstone Theatre Company which developed community theatre in rural parts of the United States. From then on Logue dedicated himself to pursuing his passion for acting. In his 20 plus years in the industry, Logue has starred in films such as, The Tao of Steve, the story of a larger-than-life, philosophizing lothario, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, and won him a Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance. His other film credits include Sneakers, Gettysburg, Blade, Runaway Bride, Reindeer Games, The Million Dollar Hotel, Comic Book Villains with Michael Rapaport, Confidence, Just Like Heaven, and The Groomsmen with Ed Burns. Recently, Donal co-starred in Max Payne with Mark Wahlberg, as well as Charlie St. Cloud with Zac Ephron. He also appeared in Zodiac, directed by David Fincher, based on the Robert Graysmith books about the notorious Zodiac serial killer. Following the US release of Zodiac, he co-starred in Mark Steven Johnson's Ghost Rider with Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes. Logue made his directorial debut with the independent film Tennis, Anyone?, which appeared at the US Comedy Arts Festival. He wrote, starred, and directed the film about two Hollywood has-beens who try and find meaning in their lives through a series of celebrity tennis tournaments. In television, Logue joined the cast of the NBC series "LIFE" about a former police officer who returns to the force after having been wrongly imprisoned for years. In 2007, he headlined the critically lauded ABC comedy "The Knights of Prosperity" in which a group of blue collar guys band together to plan a heist of Mick Jagger's New York City apartment. Prior to "The Knights of Prosperity" Logue starred in the Carsey-Warner produced show, "Grounded for Life" which aired for five seasons. He was also featured in a recurring role on "ER" as Sherry Stringfield's love interest. In 2010, Logue finished a critically acclaimed season on "Terriers," a television series created by Ted Griffin and Shawn Ryan for FX. He begins production on the Marc Cherry pilot "Hallelujah" for ABC in March of 2011. Logue lives in Los Angeles and has two children.- Actor
- Producer
- Composer
Keith David is a classically trained actor, winning 3 Emmys out of 6 nominations as well as being nominated for a Tony award. He starred in the recently concluded TV series "Greenleaf" for Oprah Winfrey's OWN network. Upcoming films include "Horizon Line" with Allison Williams ("Get Out") and "Black As Night," for Amazon.
In "Greenleaf" Keith portrayed 'Bishop James Greenleaf', the charismatic and God-fearing leader of the Calvary Fellowship and the patriarch of the family. The series followed the unscrupulous world of the Greenleaf family, their scandalous secrets and lies, and their sprawling Memphis megachurch. The series was praised for its push and pull dynamic, its hypocrisy, and its compelling characters. Keith's stellar performance was best stated by The Hollywood Reporter, "... Keith David ...is perfectly cast as Bishop Greenleaf. Whether he's playing to the congregation at the altar or getting conspiratorial in a smaller venue, this is an unusually great and meaty role for David."
On the big screen, Keith co-starred with Chadwick Boseman in "21 Bridges". Prior credits include "Night School" with Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish and "Tales from the Hood 2". Additional titles include the Academy award-winning films "Crash" and "Platoon." He is widely recognized for appearing in the highly-acclaimed films Disney's "The Princess and the Frog", "Requiem for a Dream", "Men at Work", "They Live", "There's Something About Mary", and "The Thing."
Other recent TV credits include an upcoming appearance on "Creepshow," "NCIS: New Orleans", "Blackish," MacGyver", and "Fresh Off the Boat". Earlier credits include "Community", "Enlisted", "ER", and "Mister Roger's Neighborhood". On Broadway, Keith starred in August Wilson's "Seven Guitars" and "Jelly's Last Jam" for which he garnered a Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical.
Keith's work as a voice actor has made him a household name. His rich and powerful voice has been featured in national commercials, award shows, documentaries, video games, and animation. His work in narration has earned him three Emmys for Ken Burns' "Jackie Robinson", "The War", and "Unforgivable Blackness - The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson". Some of his other voice acting credits include countless fan favorites such as "Adventure Time", "Bojack Horseman," "Rick & Morty", "Spawn", and "Gargoyles". Keith has lent his voice to many video game titles. Recently he portrayed the character "Spawn" in the reboot of the "Mortal Kombat" video game. Other appearances include the "Halo" series (games 2, 3, and 5), the "Saint's Row" series (games 1, 2, and 4), as well as the "Mass Effect" series (games 1,2, and 3).
Born and raised in New York by his parents Lester and Dolores, Keith became interested in the arts at a very young age. After appearing in his school's production of "The Wizard of Oz", he knew this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He enrolled in New York's High School of the Performing Arts and continued his studies at The Juilliard School. After graduation, he was immediately hired by Joseph Papp as an understudy for the role of Tullus Aufidius in William Shakespeare's "Coriolanus." His work with Mr. Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festival launched his incredible career.
In addition to his versatile acting and voiceover work, Keith is also a remarkable singer. He's has been touring in 2 shows, "Too Marvelous for Words", in which he portrays the legendary singer Nat King Cole, and a show about the incredible Blues singer Joe Williams, "Here's to Life."
Twitter: @ImKeithDavid Instagram: @SilverThroat Facebook: @ImKeithDavid- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Kurtwood Smith was born on 3 July 1943 in New Lisbon, Wisconsin, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for RoboCop (1987), Broken Arrow (1996) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). He has been married to Joan Pirkle since 5 November 1988. He was previously married to Cecilia Souza.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Actor of Puerto Rican descent who gained fame making many memorable films in the 1980s and 1990s due to his villainous physical appearance. Guzmán was born in Cayey, Puerto Rico on August 28, 1956 and raised in New York City's Greenwich Village and the surrounding Lower East Side neighborhood. His mother Rosa worked in a hospital and Benjamin Cardona, his stepfather, was a TV repairman. Guzman presently resides in Vermont with his wife and kids.- Tess Harper attended Southwest Missouri State University, now known as Missouri State University, in Springfield, MO. During the late 1960s, she did "street" acting in the theme parks, Dogpatch, USA, in Jasper, AR, and Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO. She was discovered while doing theater work in Dallas, TX. After being turned down at an audition for a Chuck Norris movie, Harper was recruited to come do a reading for "Tender Mercies" with Robert Duvall, for which she was selected to play the supporting role, earning her a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress.
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Born in San Francisco and raised in the agricultural heartland of California's San Joaquin Valley, Fuller became passionate about acting while attending UC Berkley, where he received a degree in English literature. After graduating, he made the move to Los Angeles with everything he owned stuffed into the back seat of a Dodge Dart (including a king size foam rubber mattress). For the next ten years he was a Realtor by day and a stage actor by night. Then, in 1986, he created the leading role in Steven Berkhoff's explosively successful "Kvetch", earning rave reviews on both coasts.
Fuller has gone on to have a very successful career, working with some of Hollywood's best directors, including David O. Russell, Tony Scott, Harold Ramis, and Ivan Reitman, among others. His numerous film credits include "Auto Focus," "Ray," "Pushing Tin," "The Jack Bull," "Ghostbusters II," "Mr. Woodcock," "Nailed" and "The Pursuit of Happyness."
Kurt still returns to the stage occasionally, most recently in the acclaimed "Greedy" for Red Dog squadron. He's also worked at the La Jolla Playhouse and the Mark Taper Forum.
He is married to Jessica Hendra, a published author. They have two daughters, Julia and Charlotte. His birthday is September 16.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Stephen Root, one of today's most prolific character actors, is currently starring in HBO's hit series Barry, for which he received a Best Supporting Actor Emmy Nomination. Barry has been nominated for multiple Emmy's and Golden Globes, and has been renewed through season four. Stephen recently starred in Amazon's drama Uncle Frank (2020) and plays a role in the Michael Morris feature directorial debut To Leslie (2020).
Stephen starred opposite of Nicole Kidman in the Roger Ailes, Fox News sexual harassment scandal, Bombshell (2019). Stephen a pivotal role in the AFI Film Festival winner On the Basis Sex (2018), the Ruth Bader Ginsberg biopic and starred opposite Melissa McCarthy in the New Line hit comedy Life of the Party (2018). Stephen was also part of the talented ensemble in Netflix's The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), reuniting with directors Joel & Ethan Coen. Stephen was part of Jordan Peele's box office hit Get Out (2017). Aside from his feature films, Stephen can be seen in his recurring role on HBO's drama Perry Mason (2020), also renewed for a second season, and Amazon's hit drama series The Man in the High Castle (2015).
Root has earned rave reviews for bringing a variety of characters to life in such films as O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Selma (2014), No Country for Old Men (2007), Leatherheads (2008), J. Edgar (2011), Cedar Rapids (2011), and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004). He was catapulted into the realm of cult hero when he starred as the put-upon Milton Waddams in Mike Judge's Office Space (1999). His animated features include Rango (2011), Finding Nemo (2003), Finding Dory (2016), Ice Age (2002) & Ice Age: The Melt Down (2006), and The Country Bears (2002).
Root starred as the eccentric station owner, Jimmy James, for five seasons on NBC's NewsRadio (1995-99). Stephen has also recurred on FX's Justified (2010), Boardwalk Empire (2010), Turn: Washington's Spies (2014), Idiotsitter (2016), True Blood (2008), 24 (2001), West Wing (1999) and Pushing Daisies (2007). His many memorable guest appearances include Veep (2012), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2017), Big Bang Theory (2018), Angie Tribeca (2016), Fringe (2008), Raising Hope (2010), Children's Hospital (2010), CSI (2000), and Louie (2010).
Root was the voice of Bill Dauterieve and Mr. Strickland on FOX's Emmy-winning hit animated series King of the Hill (1997) for an impressive 13 seasons. He has also lent his voice to several animated series including Kevin Smith's revival of Masters of the Universe (2021), Amphibia (2019), BoJack Horseman (2019), Adventure Time (2010), Gravity Falls (2012), American Dad (2005), The Cleveland Show (2009), DreamWorks' Dragons: Riders of Berk (2012), Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness (2011), The X's (2005), and SyFy's Tripping the Rift (2004).
Born in Sarasota, Root received his initial training in the BFA program at the University of Florida and remains a die-hard Gators fan. After three years of touring the U.S. and Canada with the National Shakespeare Company, Root settled in New York, honing his craft in many regional theaters and starring off-Broadway in Journey's End and The Au Pair Man. His Broadway debut came in So Long on Lonely Street, which was followed by the Tony award-winning production of All My Sons, with Richard Kiley. A starring role as Boolie in the Broadway national touring company of Driving Miss Daisy with Julie Harris, brought Root to Los Angeles where he currently resides.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born in Bristol, England, Veronica is the older sister of the popular child actress Angela Cartwright. In her early career, Veronica was cast in a number of popular movies such as William Wyler's The Children's Hour (1961), Spencer's Mountain (1963) and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963). As such, she was cast as "Jemima Boone" in the popular television series Daniel Boone (1964), which ran from 1964 to 66. Her career after "Daniel Boone" may have been influenced by Hitchcock, since she appeared in both the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and the horror classic Alien (1979). On television, she appeared twice as Lumpy's younger sister, "Violet Rutherford" and once as "Peggy MacIntosh" on Leave It to Beaver (1957) and had a small role in the television movie Still the Beaver (1983).
Cartwright also appeared in Robert Kennedy and His Times (1985), Tanner '88 (1988) and had a recurring role on L.A. Law (1986). Her big screen features included The Right Stuff (1983), Flight of the Navigator (1986) and The Witches of Eastwick (1987). Veronica worked on the stage in "Electra", "Talley's Folly", "Homesteaders", "Butterflies are Free" and "The Triplet Connection". Alternating between television and big screen movies in the 90s, Cartwright has appeared in such films as Hitler's Daughter (1990) and Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995).- Actor
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New York City-bred actor Glynn Russell Turman, born on January 31, 1947, who enjoyed his first taste of success as a young teenager, originating the role of "Travis Younger" on Broadway in Lorraine Hansberry's landmark play "A Raisin in the Sun" in 1959 opposite Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil and Diana Sands as his various family members. While he did not play the role when it transferred to film in 1961, he intensified his studies at Manhattan's renowned High School of Performing Arts.
Upon graduation, Glynn apprenticed in regional companies throughout the country including Tyrone Guthrie's Repertory Theatre in which he performed in late 60s productions of "Good Boys," "Harper's Ferry," "The Visit" and "The House of Atreus." He made his Los Angeles stage debut in Vinnette Carroll's "Slow Dance on the Killing Ground" and earned TV marks for appearances in "Daktari," "Julia," "Room 222," a featured part in the TV movie Carter's Army (1970), and a regular role on the prime-time soap opera Peyton Place (1964). An impressive 1974 performance in "The Wine Sellers" earned him a Los Angeles Critics Award nomination and a Dramalogue Award. The play was entitled "What The Wine Sellers Buy" when he played it earlier on Broadway. He won his first NAACP Image Award for his work in the play "Eyes of the American."
A writer and stage director as well, Glynn received his second NAACP Image award for his directing of "Deadwood Dick" at the Inner City Cultural Center. He segued these directing talents to TV where he helmed several episodes of "The Parenthood," "Hanging with Mr. Cooper" and "The Wayans Bros," among others. He also directed during his seasons of steady employment on A Different World (1987), in which he played the role of Colonel Taylor for five seasons (1988-1993). The show's theme song was sung by his late ex-wife, legendary "Queen of Soul" artist Aretha Franklin. They divorced in 1984 after six years.
Glynn began his film career in the 1970s with such "blaxploitation" flicks as Honky (1971), Five on the Black Hand Side (1973), Together Brothers (1974) and Thomasine & Bushrod (1974), then advanced to the cult classic Cooley High (1975), plus The River Niger (1976) and A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich (1977). TV-movies included the prestigious Centennial (1978), Attica (1980) and Minstrel Man (1977), for which he won his third NAACP Image Award, Race to Freedom: The Underground Railroad (1994), Buffalo Soldiers (1997) and Freedom Song (2000). In the midst of these early movie roles, he was once considered to play "Han Solo" in the original "Star Wars" film.
A regular fixture on the smaller screen, Glynn appeared in a host of guest appearances during this time included "The Mod Squad," "The Rookies," "The Blue Knight," "The Paper Chase," "The Greatest American Hero," "Fame," "T.J. Hooker," "Hail to the Chief," "The Redd Foxx Show," "Matlock," "Murder, She Wrote" and "Touched by an Angel."
The actor has also participated in such mainstream, audience-favorite, adrenalin-packed movies as Gremlins (1984), Out of Bounds (1986), Deep Cover (1992), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), Subterfuge (1996), Sahara (2005), Burlesque (2010), Super 8 (2011) and Bumblebee (2018) along with the more critically acclaimed films Kings of the Evening (2008), Race (2016) and Windows on the World (2019) have also come across his path. Adept at professional roles, Glynn has enjoyed recurring roles into the millennium on such TV series as The Wire (2002) (as a mayor); Episode #1.422 (as a judge); and Mr. Mercedes (2017) (as another judge).
Glynn has returned from time to time to the theatre (2013, "Joe Turner's Come and Gone"). The father of four children from his first and present third marriages (between singer Franklin).- Actor
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A native of the Bronx, New York, Kevin Corrigan has been acting and writing since the age of 15. He made his film debut in Lost Angels (1989) and around that time, when he was just 17, his original play "The Boiler Room" was produced by the Young Playwrights Festival of New York. He has gone on to star in countless independent films and has made quite an impression. Corrigan is also an experienced guitarist and has played in several New York City bands.- Actor
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Chi McBride was born on 23 September 1961 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), I, Robot (2004) and The Terminal (2004). He is married to Julissa Marquez. They have one child.- Actress
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She has show biz in her blood. Martha Plimpton was born November 16, 1970, in New York City to two actors: Keith Carradine and Shelley Plimpton. Martha began her career at age 8, when her mom had a friend of hers, composer Elizabeth Swados, enroll her in an actors' workshop. At age 10, she got a small part in Rollover (1981), and also made a series of Calvin Klein commercials.
Her first substantial film role was as a tomboy in The River Rat (1984); the following year, Steven Spielberg cast her in The Goonies (1985). Martha met River Phoenix while they were both filming The Mosquito Coast (1986), but since she was only 15 at the time, she did not go out with him. Even though she had a small part in the movie, it established her as a serious actress. Martha appeared in movies such as the screwball comedy Stars and Bars (1988) and, that same year, she was paired again with Phoenix in Running on Empty (1988). They dated for a while and then broke up. For a while, she was engaged to actor Jon Patrick Walker.
As if making movies didn't keep her busy enough, Martha frequently worked at theaters and made her Chicago debut with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company Ensemble in "The Libertine" in 1996. As a member of that ensemble, she received a National Medal of Arts award in the autumn of 1998. As for movies, Colin Fitz Lives! (1997) and Eye of God (1997) in which she plays the starring role, have been run at the Sundance Film Festival. Although some recent movies have had low box office (Pecker (1998) $2.1 million, and 200 Cigarettes (1999) $6.8 million), Martha's performances shine and she often rises above her material.
Perhaps recalling how important acting lessons were to her as a child, she donates her time and efforts to the "52nd Street Project" which is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to matching the inner-city children with professional theater artists to create original theater, by writing, directing and performing their own plays. Perhaps one of the inner-city kids she is coaching will be the next famous actress in Hollywood.- Actor
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In both career and in real life, Bobby Cannavale tends to choose the unconventional way of doing things. In the beginning, his decisions may have cost the dark, swarthily good-looking actor some acting roles and/or good-paying parts but, in the end, his strong work ethic and sense of self, despite a lack of formal training, allowed him to take a successful path off the crowded acting trail. From character goofball and cut-up, he has broken into the leading man ranks with his recent starring role as a reincarnated matchmaker in the TV series Cupid (2009).
Born Roberto M. Cannavale on May 3, 1971, in Union City, New Jersey, to an Italian-American father, Sal, and a Cuban mother, Isabel, he was involved in various activities at his Union City Catholic school, St. Michaels, while growing up. An altar boy, choir boy and lector, he also appeared in the church school's various musicals including his very first, "Guys and Dolls", in which he showed up as one of the gangsters, and "The Music Man", appearing as the lisping, scene-stealing tyke, "Winthrop".
Bobby's parents divorced when he was five years old and his mother moved the family to Puerto Rico for a couple of years. Eventually, they returned to the States and settled in Coconut Creek, Florida, where he attended high school. Restless and uncomfortable in any sort of regimented setting, he often got suspended for playing the class clown. Graduating in the late 1980s, and bitten by the acting bug, Bobby chose to return to the New York/New Jersey area in order to jump start an acting career. Working in bars to support himself, he again avoided the confines of an acting school and, instead, gained experience as a "reader" on occasion with the Naked Angels theatre company. During this time (1994), he met and married Jenny Lumet, the actress-daughter of director Sidney Lumet. They had son, Jake, the following year. The couple divorced in 2003.
Spotted by playwright Lanford Wilson while performing in an East Village production of Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart", Bobby was invited to join Wilson's prestigious Circle Repertory Theatre. As a "reader" for the company, he eventually earned stage parts in "Chilean Holidays" (1996) and in Wilson's "Virgil Is Still the Frog Boy." He also went on to serve as understudy to Mark Linn-Baker in a 1998 production of "A Flea in Her Ear" and later replaced him. A noticeable role in the company's play, "The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told" by Paul Rudnick led to Bobby's being cast in the recurring role of a tugboat operator in the TV series Trinity (1998). Having only appeared in bit parts thus far in such movies as Night Falls on Manhattan (1996), directed by Lumet, and I'm Not Rappaport (1996), it was "Trinity" creator John Wells who caught Bobby's stage performance and handed him this career-making break on camera.
Bobby's "nice-guy" aura and blue-collar charm proved invaluable, if a bit restrictive. Once the "Trinity" series ended, Wells cast the 6'3" lug with the trademark caterpillar brows and crooked smile as lovelorn paramedic "Bobby Caffey" in his series Third Watch (1999). The character became quite popular but Bobby, again feeling restricted and wishing to broaden his horizon as an actor, asked to be released from the show -- but "in a big way". Creator Wells obliged and had the paramedic fatally shot in the chest and then experience a "beyond the grave" union with his character's deceased, ne'er-do-well dad.
Bobby next joined the cast of father-in-law Sidney Lumet's acclaimed TV courtroom drama 100 Centre Street (2001), starring Alan Arkin, cast against type as a brazenly opportunistic prosecutor. He subsequently earned recurring roles on Ally McBeal (1997) (in 2002) and Six Feet Under (2001) (in 2004). As for films, Bobby was featured in Gloria (1999), The Bone Collector (1999), Washington Heights (2002) and The Guru (2002) by the time he scored as the gregarious food truck driver in the critically-hailed indie film The Station Agent (2003), which paired him intriguingly opposite the diminutive actor Peter Dinklage.
Unwilling to shirk away from more controversial roles such as his gay drug dealer who has the hots for a fellow prisoner in the acclaimed series Oz (1997) or his closeted dancing neophyte in the film comedy Shall We Dance? (2004) starring Richard Gere, Bobby continued to elevate his status seesawing between film (Shortcut to Happiness (2003), Happy Endings (2005), Romance & Cigarettes (2005)) and TV assignments (the miniseries Kingpin (2003)). He earned big viewer points and an Emmy Award for his recurring portrayal of Will's dour cop/boyfriend on the hit sitcom Will & Grace (1998) in 2004. Elsewhere, on stage, he merited attention in such productions as "Hurlyburly" and earned a Tony Award nomination for his 2007 Broadway debut in "Mauritius."
After five consecutive failed pilots, Bobby has come front-and-center with his quirky starring role in the ABC series Cupid (2009), plus recurring roles in Cold Case (2003) and Nurse Jackie (2009), and his second Emmy-winning part in Boardwalk Empire (2010). He continues to rake up credits on the big screen with (The Merry Gentleman (2008), Diminished Capacity (2008), The Take (2007), 100 Feet (2008), Roadie (2011), Blue Jasmine (2013), link=tt2883512], Ant-Man (2015), I, Tonya (2017), Boundaries (2018) and The Irishman (2019), and with fascinating continuing/regular roles on such TV series as Cupid (2009), Cold Case (2003), Boardwalk Empire (2010), Nurse Jackie (2009), Vinyl (2016), Mr. Robot (2015) and Homecoming (2018), this dark, brutish character has plenty of staying power in both comedy and drama.- Actor
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Steve Buscemi was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Dorothy (Wilson), a restaurant hostess, and John Buscemi, a sanitation worker. He is of Italian (father) and English, Dutch, and Irish (mother) descent. He became interested in acting during his last year of high school. After graduating, he moved to Manhattan to study acting with John Strasberg. He began writing and performing original theatre pieces with fellow actor/writer Mark Boone Junior. This led to his being cast in his first lead role in Parting Glances (1986). Since then, he has worked with many of the top filmmakers in Hollywood, including Quentin Tarantino, Jerry Bruckheimer, and The Coen Brothers. He is a highly respected actor.- Actor
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Having made his feature film debut starring in the teen comedy Cavegirl Daniel Roebuck quickly realized that there was only one direction to travel in his career. Up!
Soon after Cavegirl, Roebuck established himself as one of the industry's youngest character actors with his haunting portrayal as the teenage killer, Samson in The River's Edge.
Daniel Roebuck was born and raised in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, A fan of movies and television from a very early age he was immediately drawn to the actors and comedians. As his obsession with performing grew his parents unwittingly fomented his future by gifting him with a cardboard TV on his seventh Christmas.
At the age of 10, he started performing in talent shows doing impressions of movie stars he loved. He joined a local circus two years later and made his debut as one of the youngest clowns in the country. Roebuck's clown act eventually segued into a magic act and he performed that throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.
It was only a matter of time before Roebuck discovered the theater and from that point he never looked back. Over the next few years while still in Pennsylvania, Roebuck continued to hone his craft, acting in, directing, and even writing over 40 plays. He also began performing stand up comedy.
Now, nearly 30 years later, Roebuck has amassed a substantial resume as an actor, writer and director. He has moved easily between all mediums having continued working on television, in movies and on the stage.
His film credits are myriad, having starred in blockbusters like The Fugitive, US Marshals,and final Destination, as well as popular titles including Agent Cody Banks and it's sequel, That's What I Am, Money Talks, Flash Of Genius and so many more.
Lately, Roebuck has enjoyed working in a number of horror movies - his favorite genre. He has collaborated with filmmaker Rob Zombie on Halloween, Halloween 2, Devil's Rejects, and Lords of Salem (as well as a commercial for AMDRO, the insecticide). He also appeared in Don Coscarelli's cult favorite Bubba Ho Tep as well as the director's Reggie's Tales and John Dies At The End.
Daniel has also been a familiar face on television for nearly 3 decades, he was a regular for three seasons on the evergreen hit drama, Matlock, portraying attorney 'Cliff Lewis," the junior partner of the law firm headed by Andy Griffith's beloved character, 'Ben Matlock.' Interestingly, his landing the role was the fulfillment of a promise made several years earlier with his first appearance on "Matlock" in its inaugural season. At that time, Roebuck was told that Griffith had been so impressed with his work that he would be back as a regular on the show. It took five seasons, two more guest shots as different characters, and a change of networks, but Griffith kept his promise and Roebuck indeed became a series regular.
He portrayed the irascible Rick Bettina on many episodes of Nash Bridges and in the fall of 2003 Daniel returned to series television as Pete Peterson, the gay owner of a local diner in A Minute With Stan Hooper.
As a television guest star, Daniel has played countless characters. Some of his most memorable are a cop who literally turns into a pig on Grimm, a Romulan on Star Trek, Next Generation, a gun toting hostage taker on NYPD Blue, a cranky studio owner on Sonny With A Chance and a grieving father on Glee. He played other memorable roles on New Adventures of Old Christine, NCIS, Ghost Whisperer, CSI, Boston Legal, CSI Miami, Law And Order, Desperate Housewives and Hot in Cleveland.
On the popular show, Lost, Roebuck portrayed the infamous Dr. Leslie Arzt, the aggravating science teacher whose explosive exit in the finale of the first season remains one of television's most surprising and talked about moments.
He has starred in dozens of TV Movies. Perhaps his most famous turn was his critically acclaimed portrayal of Jay Leno in The Late Shift. He stepped into another pair of famous shoes when he played Garry Marshall in Behind The Camera; Mork and Mindy, The Unauthorized Story. Other Movies for television include A Family Lost, A Glimpse Of Hell, Murder At The Presidio, Shredderman Rules, A Borrowed Life, Quints and many others. Daniel's voice over work includes Christmas Is Here Again (a film he also produced),The Haunted World Of El Super Beasto and the groundbreaking video game, L.A. Noire.
The theater remains Roebuck's first love and he has continued that passion in the Los Angeles area. He appeared in the world premiers of Sarcophagus and Crooks. He has also starred in No Time For Sergeants, Here Lies Jeremy Troy, Arsenic and Old Lace and The Man Who Came To Dinner among others. In 2006 Daniel founded THE Saint Francis Stage Company.
Behind the camera, Roebuck has produced, written and directed/co-directed a number of documentaries including Halloween: The Happy Haunting of America and it's sequel as well as Goolians, Movieland Memories and a number of documentaries for the Monsterama series.
Daniel has fulfilled nearly every dream of his childhood like appearing in Mad Magazine, becoming a toy and a Halloween mask and having his mug on a few trading cards.
When not performing, Roebuck writes articles about Horror Movies, raises two children, teaches The Audition is the Job Experience and mentors young actors.- Actor
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Danny Trejo was born Dan Trejo in Echo Park, Los Angeles, to Alice (Rivera) and Dan Trejo, a construction worker. A child drug addict and criminal, Trejo was in and out of jail for 11 years. While serving time in San Quentin, he won the lightweight and welterweight boxing titles. Imprisoned for armed robbery and drug offenses, he successfully completed a 12-step rehabilitation program that changed his life. While speaking at a Cocaine Anonymous meeting in 1985, Trejo met a young man who later called him for support. Trejo went to meet him at what turned out to be the set of Runaway Train (1985). Trejo was immediately offered a role as a convict extra, probably because of his tough tattooed appearance. Also on the set was a screenwriter who did time with Trejo in San Quentin. Remembering Trejo's boxing skills, the screenwriter offered him $320 per day to train the actors for a boxing match. Director Andrey Konchalovskiy saw Trejo training Eric Roberts and immediately offered him a featured role as Roberts' opponent in the film. Trejo has subsequently appeared in many other films, usually as a tough criminal or villain.
Trejo is of Mexican descent.- Actor
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Richard Riehle was born in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, to Mary Margaret (Walsh), a nurse, and Herbert John Riehle, an assistant postmaster. He is of German and Irish descent. Richard attended the University of Notre Dame, where he became heavily involved with the University Theatre. Appearing in such productions as "Luther", "Antigone", "Rhinoceros", "Romeo and Juliet", and "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying", he also took on the task of stage manager on many of these productions, and it was not unusual to find him helping to build the sets or manage the costumes during this period. Graduating with a B.A. (cum laude) in 1970, Richard traveled to Salzburg and Innsbruck to study German, a language in which he is fluent. Progressing to Academy of Dramatic Art in Rochester, Michigan, Richard has had extensive experience as a stage actor, as well as teaching acting, and made his Broadway debut in 1986 with "Execution of Justice". One of his major triumphs in the theatre has been alongside Kevin Spacey in the acclaimed 1999 revival of O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh", in which he played the drunken, corrupt ex-cop Pat McGloin. Brief appearances in Rooster Cogburn, The Duchess and Dirtwater Fox, Joy Ride, and Twice in a Lifetime, as well as in such TV fare as Escape From Hell (1977), Joe Kennedy: The Forgotten Kennedy (1977), and the NBC series "Hot Pursuit" (1984) have disguised an expanding repertory theatre portfolio. Richard has also contributed to such diverse undertakings as Bay Area Radio's Eugene O'Neill Project (playing Smithers to Joe Morton's Brutis Jones in "The Emperor Jones") and the Adams-Jefferson Project of Carleton College, participating in a series of recordings of the correspondence between the two US Presidents. To this day, Richard has maintained his involvement in theatre workshops and encouraging the dramatic arts under the auspices of the Mark Taper Forum and A.S.K. However, since his scene-stealing cameo as the Quartermaster in 1989's Glory, with his trademark bushy mustache and heavyset frame, Richard has acquitted himself as one of the best, and busiest, character players on TV and in the movies.- Actor
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Actor Stanley Tucci was born on November 11, 1960, in Peekskill, New York. He is the son of Joan (Tropiano), a writer, and Stanley Tucci, an art teacher. His family is Italian-American, with origins in Calabria.
Tucci took an interest in acting while in high school, and went on to attend the State University of New York's Conservatory of Theater Arts in Purchase. He began his professional career on the stage, making his Broadway debut in 1982, and then made his film debut in Prizzi's Honor (1985).
In 2009, Tucci received his first Academy Award nomination for his turn as a child murderer in The Lovely Bones (2009). He also received a BAFTA nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for the same role. Other than The Lovely Bones, Tucci has recently had noteworthy supporting turns in a broad range of movies including Lucky Number Slevin (2006), The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Tucci reached his widest audience yet when he played Caesar Flickerman in box office sensation The Hunger Games (2012).
While maintaining an active career in movies, Tucci received major accolades for some work in television. He won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his role in TV movie Winchell (1998), an Emmy for a guest turn on Monk (2002), and a Golden Globe for his role in HBO movie Conspiracy (2001).
Tucci has also had an extensive career behind the camera. His directorial efforts include Big Night (1996), The Impostors (1998), Joe Gould's Secret (2000) and Blind Date (2007), and he did credited work on all of those screenplays with the exception of Joe Gould's Secret (2000).
Tucci has three children with Kate Tucci, who passed away in 2009. Tucci married Felicity Blunt in August 2012.- Actress
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Equally at home on stage and on screen, award-winning actress Loretta Devine has created some of the most memorable roles in theatre, film and television.
Devine first captured national attention in the role of Lorrell, one of the three original "Dreamgirls" in Michael Bennett's classic award-winning Broadway musical of the same name. She followed that performance with a fiery portrayal of Lillian in Bob Fosse's critically acclaimed stage production "Big Deal." Subsequent work in George C. Wolfe's "Colored Museum" and "Lady Day at Emerson Bar and Grill," cemented Devine's status as one of the most talented and versatile stage actresses.
Film roles soon followed including a poignant turn as a single mother opposite Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett and Gregory Hines in Waiting to Exhale (1995) which earned Devine her first NAACP Image Award for 'Best Supporting Actress.' Devine also won an NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Penny Marshall's The Preacher's Wife (1996). Devine received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress for her work in "Women Thou Art Loosed." Devine was featured in the Academy Award-winning film "Crash" and the hit movie of "Dreamgirls." Some of her additional film credits include appearances in the successful "Urban Legend" franchise, "I Am Sam" opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and Sean Penn, "Kingdom Come," "What Women Want," "Punks," "Hoodlums," "Down in the Delta" and "Stanley and Iris."
Devine's more recent film credits include co-starring roles in "This Christmas" and "First Sunday" both of which opened Number 1 at the box office. Devine voiced the character of "Delta" in Disney's "Beverly Hills Chihuahua." She appeared with Chris Rock in Sony Screen Gems remake of "Death at a Funeral" and "Lottery Ticket" for Alcon/Warner Brothers. Devine portrayed "The Woman in Green" in Tyler Perry's adaptation of Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls." In 2011, Devine starred in two leading roles in the film "Jumping the Broom" with Paula Patton, Laz Alonso and Angela Bassett and in the Tyler Perry directed film "Madea's Big Happy Family," both films earned top spots at the box office, respectively. Devine followed up her box office hits with a strong lineup of independent films including Robert Townsend's "In The Hive" which earned Devine a NAACP Image Award nomination for "Best Actress in a Motion Picture", "You're Not You" alongside Hilary Swank, James Franco's "The Sound and the Fury" and the Kristen Wiig dramedy, "Welcome to Me."
On television, Devine became a critical darling in her Emmy award-winning role as "Adele" on ABC's hit medical drama "Grey's Anatomy." Devine's credits include numerous series roles on shows such as "The Cosby Show" spin-off "A Different World," Eddie Murphy's stop-motion animated series "The PJs," David E Kelly's "Boston Public," ABC's "Eli Stone" and alongside Jennifer Love-Hewitt on Lifetime's "The Client List." She most recently starred on NBC's critically acclaimed sitcom "The Carmichael Show" and co-starred in the 3rd season of BET's "Being Mary Jane" as the titular character's main antagonist, "Cece." Devine continues to voice "Hallie the Hippo" on Disney Channel's Peabody Award-Winning animated series, "Doc McStuffins," and will next star in the Netflix family series, "FAMILY REUNION" which will feature an all-black cast and crew.
With a career spanning three decades, Devine has earned much praise and accolades for her work on both the big and small screen. For her work as "Adele" on "Grey's Anatomy," Devine earned both a Primetime Emmy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination, a Gracie Allen Award for "Outstanding Female Actor in a Featured Role," a nomination for "Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series" from the Critics' Choice Television Awards and a NAACP Image Award and a NAACP Image Award nomination. In total, Devine has won nine NAACP Image Awards and has received a record twenty-four nominations. Devine has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the Pan African Film Festival and the NAACP Theatre Awards and the Thespian Award from the LA Femme International Film Festival.
Devine graduated from the University of Houston and later received a Master of Fine Arts from Brandeis University. She also received a Doctorate of Humane Letters as well as a Distinguished Alumni Award from The University of Houston.
She currently resides in Los Angeles.- Actress
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Award-winning stage actress Frances Conroy was introduced and encouraged by her parents to explore the elements of theater. Born Frances Hardman Conroy in Monroe, Georgia, she attended high school in Long Island and experienced classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse as a teenager. The pale, blue-eyed redhead also studied drama at Dickinson College and the Juilliard School (BFA) where she was taught, at the latter college, by theater greats John Houseman and Marian Seldes.
Following potent dramatic roles in such classical productions as "Mother Courage...and Her Children," "King Lear," "All's Well That Ends Well," "Measure for Measure" and "Othello" (as Desdemona) in the late 70s, Frances made her Broadway debut with "The Lady from Dubuque" in 1980. She went on to earn a well-respected name for herself under the Broadway and off-Broadway lights throughout the 1980s in such esteemed plays as "Our Town" (as Mrs. Gibbs), "The Little Foxes (as Birdie) and "In the Summer House." She also appeared with Ms. Seldes in the well-received plays "Ring 'Round the Moon" and "A Bright Room Called Day."
A performer with the The Acting Company, Frances won a Drama Desk Award for "The Secret Rapture" and an Obie for "The Last Yankee." In 2000 she received the Outer Critics Circle Award and a Tony nomination for "The Ride Down Mt. Morgan." Her other Broadway credits include "Ring Round the Moon", "The Little Foxes", "The Rehearsal" (Drama Desk Nominee), "Broken Glass", "In the Summer House" (Drama Desk Nominee) and "The Secret Rapture" (Drama Desk Nominee). Conroy's numerous Off- Broadway plays include "The Dinner Party", "The Skin of Our Teeth", "The Last Yankee" and "Othello" (Drama Desk Nominee).
An actress of subtle power, great depth and astonishing versatility, she has both an aloof serenity and faintly sad/sensitive ambiance that makes her all the more mysterious and intriguing. She came out to California in 1985 at the invitation of director Houseman and appeared in more theater plays, including "Richard III," at San Diego's Globe Theater. She also earned a sprinkling of generally overlooked film and TV parts, including small parts in Woody Allen's Manhattan (1979) (debut), Another Woman (1988) and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). Showing a distinct flair for the offbeat and neurotic, nothing really pushed the envelope for her on screen quite like her series' turn as the dowdy, emotionally frail undertaker's widow Ruth Fisher in the cult hit TV series Six Feet Under (2001). During the five-season run she won both a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild awards and was nominated four times for an Emmy.
Film roles have been growing more abundant over the years, offering a number of fascinating featured roles, often as eccentric, often disturbing mothers and matrons. Such movies include Billy Bathgate (1991), Scent of a Woman (1992), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), The Crucible (1996), Maid in Manhattan (2002), Die, Mommie, Die! (2003), Catwoman (2004), The Aviator (2004) (as Kate Hepburn's mother), Shopgirl (2005), The Wicker Man (2006), Humboldt County (2008), The Smell of Success (2009), Love Happens (2009), 6 Souls (2010), Waking Madison (2010), Chasing Ghosts (2014), Making the Rules (2014), Welcome to Happiness (2015), rare leading roles in No Pay, Nudity (2016) and Mountain Rest (2018), and as psychotic Joaquin Phoenix's needy mother in the Oscar-winning psychological drama Joker (2019).
Frances has also appeared to fine advantage in several other TV series of late, most notably American Horror Story (2011) in which she earned her fifth and sixth Emmy nomination. She also had stand-out roles in How I Met Your Mother (2005), Casual (2015), Arrested Development (2003) and Dead to Me (2019), in addition to episodic guest spots on "ER," "Desperate Housewives," "Nip/Tuck," "Grey's Anatomy," "Young Sheldon" and "Castle Rock."
In 1992, she married actor/husband Jan Munroe, an L.A. performance artist. After a few Broadway roles with "The Little Foxes" (as Birdie), "Ring Round the Moon" and "The Ride Down Mt. Morgan," Frances returned to the theatre after a six-year absence, in the 2006 production of "Pyrenees" by David Greig at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Los Angeles.- Actress
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Frances Fisher began by apprenticing at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia. She spent 14 years based in New York City, playing leads in over 30 productions of plays by such noted writers as John Arden, Noël Coward, Emily Mann, Joe Orton, Sam Shepard, William Shakespeare, Jean-Claude van Itallie, Eudora Welty and Tennessee Williams. She won a Drama Logue Award - Best Ensemble for the American Premier of Caryl Churchill's "Three More Sleepless Nights", played in the American premier of Judith Thompson's "The Crackwalker" and originated roles in Elia Kazan's "The Chain" and Arthur Miller's last play "Finishing the Picture". Besides working with Kazan and Miller, some of Ms. Fisher's more interesting theater experiences were creating roles from two great works of literature: George Orwell's "1984" and Victor Hugo's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Ms. Fisher worked at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles alongside Annette Bening and Alfred Molina in Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard". Fisher starred in "Sexy Laundry" with Paul Ben-Victor at the Hayworth Theatre in Los Angeles. She studied with Stella Adler and became a lifetime member of the Actors Studio by actually "walking up the stairs" and auditioning for legendary acting teacher Lee Strasberg. Ms. Fisher recently completed The Host (2013), Love on the Run (2016), Red Wing (2013) and will work with Catherine Hardwicke in her new film Plush (2013) in August 2012. Ms. Fisher was honored for a Lifetime Achievement Award 2011 in her old hometown of the Pacific Palisades, California.- Julio Oscar Mechoso was born on 31 May 1955 in Florida, USA. He was an actor, known for Planet Terror (2007), Jurassic Park III (2001) and Blue Streak (1999). He died on 25 November 2017 in Burbank, California, USA.
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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).- Actor
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Joe Morton was born on October 18, 1947 in New York, New York, USA. He is a television, film, and theater actor, best known for The Brother from Another Planet (1984), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Eureka (2006), and Scandal (2012). He also writes and directs, and is a singer/songwriter.- Actor
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Dylan Baker was born on 7 October 1959 in Syracuse, New York, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Happiness (1998), Revolutionary Road (2008) and Selma (2014). He has been married to Becky Ann Baker since 6 September 1987. They have one child.- Actor
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Garret studied journalism at the University of Washington and received an MFA from New York University's Graduate Acting Program. He performed on and off Broadway and in theaters around the country before he also began pursuing film and television roles. A self described workaholic, he enjoys a reputation as a highly respected and sought after performer known for his focused and immersive style.
Garret Lee Dillahunt was born in Castro Valley, California to working class parents. He has two brothers.- Peter Gerety was born on 17 May 1940 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He is an actor, known for Flight (2012), Charlie Wilson's War (2007) and Public Enemies (2009). He has been married to Natalie Burton since 27 November 2000.
- Actor
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Richard Jenkins was born on 4 May 1947 in DeKalb, Illinois, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Shape of Water (2017), The Visitor (2007) and Step Brothers (2008). He has been married to Sharon R. Friedrick since 23 August 1969. They have two children.- Actor
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Connecticut-born actor Bill Smitrovich (on May 16, 1947) started his acting career rather late. A Masters degree holder from Smith College and a former acting teacher at the University of Massachusetts, the hefty actor earned his big break in an understudy role in the world premiere of Arthur Miller's "The American Clock" at the Spoleto Festival, a production that went to Broadway. Other stage parts have included "Food from Trash," "Requiem for a Heavyweight," "Far East" and "Frankie & Johnny at the Claire de Lune." Bill was a founding member of the No Theatre Company, now in association with the Wooster Group, whose members included Willem Dafoe and the late Spalding Gray. Bill made his 1978 New York debut in the company's production of "The Elephant Man."
In the early 1980s he started tackling film and TV roles, often playing good cops and assorted villainous types. He made his film debut in a small role in A Little Sex (1982) and went on to play a prime part in the TV-movie pilot of Miami Vice (1984). A co-starring detective part on the series Crime Story (1986) led to more visibility. He finally became a household face (if not quite a name) as former construction worker-turned-restaurateur Drew Thatcher, the father of three on the critically acclaimed dramatic series Life Goes On (1989). Co-starring with Patti LuPone (of "Evita" fame), they played parents to a son born with Down Syndrome (portrayed by Chris Burke). The much-admired family-oriented show, which went on to deal with other topical themes such as AIDS, lasted four seasons.
Since then Bill has involved himself in raising public consciousness and sensitivity of Down Syndrome. He has hosted the annual "Life Goes On Celebrity Golf Classic" for the Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles. Following this TV success, Bill co-starred on the A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2001) with Timothy Hutton and Maury Chaykin, had a recurring chief prosecutor role on The Practice (1997) and played a lieutenant in the Fox hit series Millennium (1996). His many film roles include Key Exchange (1985), Renegades (1989), The Trigger Effect (1996) with Dermot Mulroney, Independence Day (1996) with Will Smith, a strong role as a public defender in Rob Reiner's Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Air Force One (1997) and, more recently, as a general in Kevin Costner's Cuban Missile Crisis drama Thirteen Days (2000). He also played Alexander Haig in the TV-movie biopic on Ronald Reagan starring James Brolin and Judy Davis.
Married to Shaw Purnell and the father of two, he has played a number of high-ranking officials, both good or corrupt, over the years. Most of Bill's recent work into the millennium has been on the small screen with guest appearances on such popular shows as "Nash Bridges," "NYPD Blue," "24," "Numb3rs," "Law and Order," "Criminal Minds," "Brothers & Sisters," "Desperate Housewives," "Boston Legal," "Castle," "Californication," "Two and a Half Men" and "Grey's Anatomy," with regular/recurring roles on such series as The Practice (1997), Without a Trace (2002), The Event (2010), The Last Ship (2014) Dynasty (2017). Occasional big screen supports include Thirteen Days (2000), Iron Man (2008), The Rum Diary (2011),Eagle Eye (2008), Ted (2012) and its sequel Ted 2 (2015), The November Man (2014), Bitch (2017) and Valley of Bones (2017)- Actor
- Additional Crew
Alan Dale was born on 6 May 1947 in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. He is an actor, known for Priest (2011), Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). He has been married to Tracey Dale since 8 April 1990. They have two children. He was previously married to Claire.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Fionnula Flanagan was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. From an early age she grew up speaking both English and Irish on a daily basis. Her parents weren't native Irish speakers but wanted Fionnula and her four siblings to learn the language. Her mother used to say, "A nation without a language is a nation without a soul". Fionnula has said she will be forever grateful to them for that. She was educated at the Abbey Theatre School in Dublin and in Switzerland. She moved to Los Angeles in 1968 and lives with her husband, psychiatrist Dr. Garrett O'Connor, in Beverly Hills. Of her enormous body of work, including stage, television and film, she might be most well-known for James Joyce's Women (1985), in which she plays six different women who had a profound influence on James Joyce's life. Besides giving an award-winning performance, she also wrote, adapted and produced the piece for the stage, and subsequently as a feature film. She believes Joyce is the most important writer in the English language, most notably for "Ulysses", "Finnegan's Wake" and "The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man". When she was growing up she thought the much lauded author was a good friend of her parents, because they were always saying, "Joyce said this, Joyce said that". When she was finally old enough to read Joyce for herself, the characters were like old friends.- Raymond J. Barry was born in New York, and attended Brown University, where he was a star athlete in football, basketball, and track. While there, he earned his degree in Philosophy and as a senior, was cast in the stage production of "Picnic," where he played a football player. He then entered the Yale Drama School and after completing, acted in the Broadway play "The Leaf People." He has appeared in over 100 plays and has starred in such films as Dead Man Walking (1995), Sudden Death (1995), and The Chamber (1996).
- Gary Basaraba was raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. He entered the Yale School of Drama at age 20. As a graduate of the Class of 1982, he began his film career immediately working for Louis Malle in Alamo Bay (1985). The list of directors that have chosen him to bring their films to life includes Martin Scorsese, Louis Malle, Karel Reisz, Adrian Lyne, Tony Scott, Alan Rudolph, Errol Morris, and many others. He has appeared in all genres of film and television, from cutting edge art films such as The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), to beloved classics such as Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), and, the popular animated series of Smurf films. Having starred in several television series, including the Peabody Award-winning Boomtown (2002), and appearing in many Emmy winning series such as Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) and Mad Men (2007), as a recurring guest star, he maintains a reputation as a fine actor with an unusual range from Everyman to every man's worst nightmare.
He remains a Canadian citizen, but has enjoyed a career primarily in the United Sates having resided in New York City and Los Angeles for over 30 years. - Actress
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- Music Department
Allison Janney is an award-winning actress who has earned a solid reputation in stage productions and in many supporting roles on screen, and who more recently has become prominent by portraying one of the major characters in the popular TV series The West Wing (1999).
Entertainment Weekly magazine describes Janney's screen presence as "uncommonly beautiful and infinitely expressive." As an actor, the magazine deems her to be "one to watch."
Janney was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Macy Brooks (Putnam), a former actress, and Jervis Spencer Janney, Jr., a real estate developer and jazz musician. While studying at Kenyon College, Janney answered a casting call for an on-campus play that was to be directed by Kenyon's most famous alumnus, the legendary actor Paul Newman. During her audition/interview, Janney played upon Newman's known passion for race car driving - she explained how she cut thirty minutes off of the 130 mile journey from her home town to the college. She got chosen for the play's cast.
After earning her degree in drama, Janney took Joanne Woodward's suggestion to do further study at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse. She also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.
Early in her career Janney got comedic roles in the soap operas As the World Turns (1956) and Guiding Light (1952). Later, she gave memorable movie performances in supporting roles in Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), American Beauty (1999) and Nurse Betty (2000), and in the made-for-TV movie ...First Do No Harm (1997), among others.
Among her stage work, Janney has played in a revival of Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge" on Broadway opposite Anthony LaPaglia, which earned her a Tony Award nomination, and a Drama League Award for outstanding artist for the 1997-98 season. She played in Noel Coward's "Present Laughter" opposite Frank Langella, which earned her the Outer Critics Circle Award and an Actors' Equity award. Janney also appeared in the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of "The Taming of the Shrew."
In 1999 Janney became part of the original cast of the acclaimed TV series The West Wing (1999) where she played the President's press secretary who eventually gets promoted to the White House Chief of Staff. Her impressive work during the seven seasons of that renowned series earned her four Emmys and two SAG Awards.
With her reputation becoming more broadly established during her work on "The West Wing" Janney won more substantive roles in feature films, in the acclaimed The Hours (2002) where she was Meryl Streep's lesbian lover, and in How to Deal (2003) where she played Mandy Moore's mother.- Actor
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Jim Beaver is an American character actor, best known for his leading roles on the TV series Deadwood (2004) and Supernatural (2005). Born in Laramie, Wyoming a minister's son, he was raised in and around Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. Following high school and a year of college, he joined the Marines and served as a radioman with the 1st Marine Division in Vietnam. He attended Oklahoma Christian College (now Oklahoma Christian University), Edmond, OK, where he first became interested in acting as a career. After one year, he transferred to Central State University (now the University of Central Oklahoma), Edmond, OK, and while a student made his professional debut in a production of "Rain" at the Oklahoma Theatre Center in 1972. He obtained a degree in theatre and returned to the Dallas area where he worked for five seasons with the Dallas Shakespeare Festival. He had written several plays in college and afterward (as well as a biography of actor John Garfield), and in 1979 he was commissioned for the first of three plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville. He also began to make appearances in bit roles in films and television shows shot in the Dallas area, including Semi-Tough (1977) and Dallas (1978). Moving to New York in 1979, he worked in stock and in dinner theatre tours, and also maintained a side career as a critic, columnist, and feature writer for Films in Review, the magazine of the National Board of Review. An assignment for an article on TV Superman George Reeves led him to Los Angeles. During his research there, his play "Verdigris" was produced to solid reviews at Theatre West in Hollywood, and he was signed as a writer by Sam Adams, partner in the prestigious Triad Artists agency. He began a successful period as a television writer, penning episodes for shows such as Vietnam War Story (1987), Tour of Duty (1987), and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985), and was nominated for a CableAce Award for an episode of the latter. He had continued to act on stage and in small film and TV roles, and in 1988 he landed a substantial supporting role as Bruce Willis's best friend, an alcoholic Vietnam veteran, in Norman Jewison's production In Country (1989). He gave up television writing and concentrated on acting. Slowly his roles grew larger (and more varied). He was Mark Harmon's chain-smoking detective partner Earl Gaddis on Reasonable Doubts (1991) and Edward Asner's dim-witted mechanic assistant Leland on Thunder Alley (1994). He was frequently cast in Westerns (Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), Bad Girls (1994), among many others) or as detectives, sheriffs, or police officers (Sister Act (1992), Sliver (1993), Joy Ride (2001)). After two seasons on 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996) as French Stewart's sullen bar-owner boss Happy Doug, Beaver landed his most prominent and critically acclaimed role, that of Ellsworth, the gruff but decent and beloved prospector in the landmark Western series Deadwood (2004). Nominated along with other cast members for a 2006 Screen Actors Guild Award, he found his career in high gear following that series. From it he moved to the popular father-figure role of demon hunter Bobby Singer on Supernatural (2005), a part that brought him a worldwide fan base and a secondary career making personal appearances. He was married to and had a daughter with Cecily Adams, the actress-casting director daughter of Get Smart (1965)'s Don Adams. Following her death from lung cancer in 2004, he wrote a best-selling memoir, "Life's That Way." He has continued to write plays and, between acting jobs, to work on the George Reeves project, now planned as a book. He served as biographical consultant on Reeves for the semi-biopic Hollywoodland (2006).- Actor
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Brad William Henke was born on 10 April 1966 in Columbus, Nebraska, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Choke (2008), Pacific Rim (2013) and Fury (2014). He was married to Katelin Chesna. He died on 29 November 2022 in the USA.- Actor
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Eric Stonestreet was born on 9 September 1971 in Kansas City, Kansas, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for The Loft (2014), Modern Family (2009) and Almost Famous (2000).- Actor
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An acting chameleon who can easily lose himself in the life of his film and television characters, Clifton Collins Jr. is a native Angeleno who grew up destined to become a part of the Latino entertainment industry. His great-grandparents on his mother's side were a Mexican trumpet player and Spanish dancer who formed a traveling family act, and his grandfather was well-known character actor Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, most famous for his humorous sidekick roles in 1950s/1960s John Wayne westerns (he played the excitable hotel keeper in Rio Bravo (1959)) and in sitcoms. His uncle and aunt dabbled in the business at one point as well. While his famous grandfather was unable to break out of the old unflattering Latino stereotypes, Collins Jr. has done Pedro proud in the new millennium. Playing everything from policemen to boxers to serial killers, he has managed to transcend the typical racial trappings of his grandfather's era and play flesh-and-blood, three-dimensional characters. It was not always that way.
Born short, lean and mean on June 16, 1970, he started his career in 1988 using his real name of Collins, but two years later began billing himself as "Clifton Gonzales-Gonzales" as a tribute to his aged grandfather and his early accomplishments. Pedro, who died in 2006, lived long enough to witness his grandson's achievements. Toiling in typical "barrio" roles at the beginning of his career, Collins Jr. found himself stuck in bit parts either as a struggling blue-collar worker or urban thug. In the mid-1990s, he began to search out and wing standout roles that enabled him to break the confines of the Latino stereotype. He slowly moved up in billing, even in mediocre material such as the futuristic prison film Fortress (1992) and the mindless 1970s rock-era comedy The Stöned Age (1994). His breakout role as Cesar, the vicious student and gangbanger in One Eight Seven (1997) opposite Los Angeles substitute teacher Samuel L. Jackson, set him on the right path. This led to a mesmerizing collection of other portrayals, both good-guy and bad-guy, in such films as The Replacement Killers (1998), The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998) and Tigerland (2000). His versatility finally tested, he played everything from a gay Mexican hitman in the critically acclaimed Traffic (2000) to a psychological profiler for the FBI in the mainstream actioner Mindhunters (2004). A number of top guest appearances came his way on such series as NYPD Blue (1993) and The Twilight Zone (2002) and he had recurring roles on Resurrection Blvd. (2000) and Alias (2001).
A monumental shift forward in his career happened recently with his hypnotic portrayal of killer Perry Smith, the object of writer Truman Capote's obsession, in the art-house favorite Capote (2005). Decades ago, Robert Blake played the same part in the gripping Capote book-to-film In Cold Blood (1967). This heralded achievement has enabled Collins to move into the co-producer's chair of late, notably for Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders (2006), in which he inhabits the role of serial killer Kenneth Bianchi. Obviously, there is plenty more in the works for this major talent.
More recent millennium work includes potent performances in Road Dogz (2002); Tom Cool (2009), which he produced; Dirty (2005); For Your Own Good (1996), which he co-produced; Star Trek (2009); Freeloaders (2012); The Vault (2017); and the Oscar-winning Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019).- Actor
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Gary Michael Cole is an American television, film and voice actor. Cole began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. On television, he has had starring roles in the TV series Midnight Caller, American Gothic, The West Wing, Crusade, The Good Wife, The Good Fight, Veep, Chicago Fire, and Mixed. In film, he has appeared in The Brady Bunch Movie, One Hour Photo, Office Space, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Breach, and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. He is also known for voicing the title character on the Adult Swim series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Principal Shepherd on Family Guy, and James Timothy Possible on Kim Possible. As of season 19, Cole joined NCIS, taking over from Mark Harmon, who left the show, as FBI Special Agent, and new head of Gibbs' team, Alden Parker.- Prolific and versatile character actor William Sanderson was born on January 10, 1944, in Memphis, Tennessee. His mother was an elementary school teacher and his father was a landscape designer. William served two years in the US Army. Following his military service he attended Southern Methodist University. He earned both a BBA degree and a JD law degree from Memphis State University. William went to New York to try his luck as an actor. He studied his craft with Herbert Berghof and William Hickey.
Sanderson began his acting career in off-Broadway stage productions and appeared in several independent pictures. He gave a superbly lively and intense performance as vicious racist and escaped convict Jessie Lee Kane in the brutal exploitation feature Fight for Your Life (1977). William was likewise marvelous as gentle toymaker J.F. Sebastian in the fantastic science-fiction cult favorite Blade Runner (1982). He has played his fair share of loathsome bad guys (he refers to these particular characters as "prairie scum"), such as nasty lout Calvin in Raggedy Man (1981), lowlife hick Lee Dollarhide in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) and weaselly criminal Snow in Lone Wolf McQuade (1983). Not surprisingly, considering his distinctive Southern drawl, he has also appeared in such westerns as the comedy Wagons East (1994), Crossfire Trail (2001), Monte Walsh (2003), Andersonville (1996), Gods and Generals (2003) and the acclaimed TV mini-series Lonesome Dove (1989) (one of several projects in which Sanderson has acted alongside Tommy Lee Jones). Sanderson gave a lovely and touching portrayal in a rare lead role as emotionally dysfunctional recovering alcoholic ukulele minstrel Stanley Myer in the poignant indie drama Stanley's Gig (2000). He achieved his greatest popularity, however, as flaky backwoodsman Larry on the hit sitcom Newhart (1982) on which he uttered the memorable catchphrase, "I'm Larry. This is my brother Darryl and this is my other brother Darryl." More recently Sanderson had a terrific role as conniving hotel proprietor E.B. Farnum on the sensationally gritty cable western TV series Deadwood (2004). Among the TV shows William has done guest spots on are The Practice (1997), The Pretender (1996), ER (1994), The X-Files (1993), Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), Sirens (1993), Matlock (1986), Babylon 5 (1993), Married... with Children (1987), The Twilight Zone (1985), Knight Rider (1982), Coach (1989), The Dukes of Hazzard (1979) and Starsky and Hutch (1975).
He has also done voices for numerous cartoon characters, radio commercials and books on tape. Outside of his substantial film and TV credits, William has acted on stage in productions of such plays as "The Taming of the Shrew," "When Ya Comin' Back, Red Ryder?," "Insect Comedy," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Dutchman," "Fishing," "Authentic Life of Billy the Kid," "Tobacco Road," and "Scotch Rocks." William Sanderson lives in Burbank, California, with his wife Sharon Wix. - Actor
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Peter Dinklage is an American actor. Since his breakout role in The Station Agent (2003), he has appeared in numerous films and theatre plays. Since 2011, Dinklage has portrayed Tyrion Lannister in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011) . For this he won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film in 2011.
Peter Hayden Dinklage was born in Morristown, New Jersey, to Diane (Hayden), an elementary school teacher, and John Carl Dinklage, an insurance salesman. He is of German, Irish, and English descent. In 1991, he received a degree in drama from Bennington College and began his career. His exquisite theatre work that expresses brilliantly the unique range of his acting qualities, includes remarkable performances full of profoundness, charisma, intelligence, sensation and insights in plays such as "The Killing Act", "Imperfect Love", Ivan Turgenev's "A Month in the Country" as well as the title roles in William Shakespeare's "Richard III" and in Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya".
Peter Dinklage received acclaim for his first film, Living in Oblivion (1995), where he played an actor frustrated with the limited and caricatured roles offered to actors who have dwarfism. In 2003, he starred in The Station Agent (2003), written and directed by Tom McCarthy. The movie received critical praise as well as Peter Dinklage's work including nominations such as for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role at the "Screen Actors Guild" and Best Male Lead at the "Film Independent Spirit Awards". One of his next roles has been the one of Miles Finch, an acclaimed children's book author, in Elf (2003). Find Me Guilty (2006), the original English Death at a Funeral (2007), its American remake Death at a Funeral (2010), Penelope (2006), The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) are also included in his brilliant work concerning feature films.
His fine work in television also includes shows such as Entourage (2004), Life as We Know It (2004), Threshold (2005) and Nip/Tuck (2003). In 2011, the primary role of Tyrion Lannister, a man of sharp wit and bright spirit, in Game of Thrones (2011), was incarnated with unique greatness in Dinklage's unparalleled performance. The series is an adaptation of author George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, and his work has received widespread praise, also highlighted by his receiving of the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series at The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards (2011), The 67th Primetime Emmy Awards (2015), The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards (2018) and The 71st Primetime Emmy Awards (2019) as well as of the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television at [error].
Dinklage, among others, has also voiced Captain Gutt in Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) and The Mighty Eagle in The Angry Birds Movie (2016), starred in the comedy horror film Knights of Badassdom (2013) while his tour-de-force interpretations as a multifarious "chameleon" of substantial mastery and artistic generosity also include film and TV gems such as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), Three Christs (2017) and I Think We're Alone Now (2018).- Actress
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Mary Lynn Rajskub is an American actress, comedienne and singer who is best known as a co-star of Kiefer Sutherland on the popular television series 24 (2001).
Born June 22, 1971, in Detroit, Michigan, Rajskub comes from a family of Irish, Czech, and Polish ancestry. In 1989 she graduated from Trenton High School before attending Detroit's College for Creative Studies with a painting major. She later transferred to the San Francisco Art Institute, graduating as a painter but also studying music and acting. After performing as a stand-up comedian at various clubs and restaurants for some years, Rajskub made her 1995 television debut when David Cross hired her as one of the original cast members of the sketch comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David (1995). During its second season she left the show to take a brief job as a coffee brewer at Seattle's Best Coffee before again making her way to TV; In 1999 she joined the cast of 'Veronica's Closet' TV series as Cloe, appearing in 15 episodes of the show.
A skilled guitarist, Rajskub has been one half of comic duo "Girls Guitar Club" and appeared on the NBC's 'Late Friday' show. The 2000's saw her venturing into more dramatic roles, most notably as analyst Chloe O'Brian opposite Kiefer Sutherland on the hit TV series 24 (2001). She joined the show in 2003 at the beginning of its third season, drawing praise from both critics and the viewership; Rajskub became a recurring cast member and eventually the show's leading female.
While she has mainly been a television star, Rajskub also played bit parts on the big screen in Magnolia (1999), Man on the Moon (1999), and Road Trip (2000), among other works. She offered mesmerizing performances in Mysterious Skin (2004), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), and in Punch-Drunk Love (2002), then played a few more visible roles such as Janet Stone in Firewall (2006), opposite Harrison Ford, and as Pam in Little Miss Sunshine (2006). In 2006 Rajskub was awarded the Female Breakthrough Award for her comedic stage productions and acting prowess in both TV and film. She was also nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Awards twice, in 2005 and 2007.
Besides her work in film and on television, Mary Lynn Rajskub has been performing locally in Hollywood with her Girls Guitar Club show. Outside of acting, she is fond of art and is known as a regular at numerous LA museums. Her own paintings have been displayed and sold at art auctions and exhibits.- Actor
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Terry Kinney, the stage, film and television actor, was born in Lincoln, Illinois and attended Illinois State University. While at university, his friend, the aspiring actor Jeff Perry, took Kinney to Chicago to see a production of "Grease" in which his best friend, Gary Sinise, was appearing. The like-minded trio of Sinise, Perry and Kinney opened their own Chicago theatrical troupe, the Steppenwolf Theatre, in 1973 in the basement of a church in Highland Park. The company's metamorphosis into one of the country's great regional theatrical companies began in 1976, after Kinney and Perry joined it full-time after graduating from college. The theater has, since 1976, put on a full season of ensemble works.
The founders of Steppenwolf supported the theater and themselves with odd jobs until he company began financially self-supporting in the early 1980s. Re-located in the old St. Nicholas Theater, Steppenwolf's productions began to attract a steady audience. Steppenwolf flourished artistically and financially in the '80s, and moved once again to its permanent home at 1650 N. Halsted Street in Chicago.
At the height of the company's fame, Kinney and Sinise were Steppenwolf's artistic co-directors, winning numerous awards, and even transferring some productions, such as their monumental adaptation of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath", to Broadway. In addition to Kinney and Sinise, the company included such first rate actors as John Malkovich, Joan Allen and John Mahoney. As an actor, Kinney was nominated for a Tony Award for his appearance as the "Reverend Casy" in "Grapes."
Kinney made his movie debut in 1985, with a bit part in Seven Minutes in Heaven (1986), and has been much in demand as a supporting actor ever since. On television, he had a recurring role on Thirtysomething (1987) and appeared as a regular on the HBO prison drama Oz (1997).- Mark Margolis was an American actor who is well-known for his collaborations with film director Darren Aronofsky, particularly Pi (1998), Requiem for a Dream (2000), Noah (2014), Black Swan (2010), and The Fountain (2006). Margolis also gained notoriety for his portrayal of "Tio" Hector Salamanca in the highly successful crossover series Breaking Bad (2008) and Better Call Saul (2015). He also acted in the hit films Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) and Scarface (1983). He has been married to Jacqueline Margolis since 1962 and has one child with her.
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Sean Patrick Flanery was born in Lake Charles, La. and raised in a small town outside of Houston, Texas. While attending the University of St. Thomas in Houston, he saw a beautiful girl leaving a building on campus every Monday and decided to drop an English class and sign up for "whatever the hell they were teaching in that building". The building was the University's theater department, and the class was acting. Through his theater studies, he penned a piece of children's theater and decided afterwards to pack up his car and head to Los Angeles with the hopes of actually producing the play. Somewhere in the process, an agent approached him and requested to represent him commercially. His first paid role in Hollywood was a Kellog's Corn Pops commercial starring alongside none other than Paul Walker. Shortly after a string of national commercials, the same agent then began representing him for TV/film roles. He very quickly landed the title role in George Lucas' The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992) after shooting 2 films for the Mickey Mouse Club called Just Perfect (1990) and My Life as a Babysitter (1990). Since then, Flanery has been in numerous films and TV shows every year, including Powder (1995), The Dead Zone (2002), Saw 3D (2010), Suicide Kings (1997), and the runaway cult hit The Boondock Saints (1999), and most recently, the TV show "Powers" for Sony, which was scheduled to be released in early 2015.
Flanery is also noted for winning the Toyota celebrity race of Long Beach two years in a row, the first as an amateur, and the second after being invited back to compete as a pro. He won after qualifying on the pole both times.
Off camera, Flanery is a high ranking martial artist having earned his black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu from the Renzo Gracie lineage on May 4th of 2008. He owns his own BJJ academy called Hollywood Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in West Hollywood, Ca. where he trains regularly when his film schedule allows.- Actor
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Johnathon Schaech exploded onto the scene as one of Hollywood's most handsome leading men in Jocelyn Moorhouse's How to Make an American Quilt (1995) and Tom Hanks' directorial debut That Thing You Do! (1996) Since then, Johnathon has shown incredible versatility as an actor. Over the last twenty years, he's starred in over one-hundred and sixty Hollywood productions. Working opposite some of the most acclaimed and awarded actors, producers, writers and directors including Gwyneth Paltrow, Kenneth Branagh, Ed Harris, Idris Elba, Antonio Banderas, Bruce Willis, Tom Fontana, Gary Goetzman, Neil Moritz, Greg Araki, Cary Brokaw, Roy Lee, Jessica Lange and Bill Paxton. Schaech recently captivated television audiences as the eccentric movie-star in Showtime's hit series Ray Donovan (2014) and has portrayed comic-book legend Jonah Hex on the first three season's of DC's Legends. (2015-2018) Having aged into a ruggedly handsome man, he's fast becoming one of Hollywood's go-to stars for action roles. Starring in Renny Harlin's 5 Days of War (2014), Todd Robinson's Phantom (2015), Roland Joffe's Texas Rising (2016), Steven C. Miller's Marauders (2017) and soon takes the lead opposite Frank Grillo in the action-packed Reprisal (2018). Johnathon now uses his national voice for dyslexia, working with Harvard University accredited NoticeAbility.org; a nonprofit dedicated to helping students with the brain-based difference identify their unique strengths and build their self-esteem. Johnathon has a four-year-old son, Camden, with his wife of five years, internet influencer Julie Solomon.- Actor
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A native of New Jersey and son of a mechanic, African-American John Amos has relied on his imposing build, eruptive nature and strong, forceful looks to obtain acting jobs, and a serious desire for better roles to earn a satisfying place in the annals of film and TV. He has found it a constant uphill battle to further himself in an industry that tends to diminish an actor's talents with severe and/or demeaning stereotypes and easy pigeonholing. A tough, often hot-headed guy with a somewhat tender side, John would succeed far better on stage than on film and TV...with one extremely noteworthy exceptions.
Born on December 27, 1939, John was first employed as an advertising copywriter, a social worker at New York's Vera Institute of Justice, and an American and Canadian semi-professional football player before receiving his calling as an actor. A stand-up comic on the Greenwich Village circuit, the work eventually took him West and, ultimately, led to his hiring as a staff writer on Leslie Uggams' musical variety show in 1969. Making his legit stage debut in a 1971 L.A. production of the comedy "Norman, Is That You?", John went on to earn a Los Angeles Drama Critics nomination for "Best Actor". As such, he formed his own theater company and produced "Norman, Is That You?" on tour.
The following year he returned to New York to take his first Broadway bow in "Tough To Get Help". By this time he had secured secondary work on the classic The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970) as Gordy the weatherman. His character remained on the periphery, however, and he left the show after three discouraging seasons. On the bright side, he won the recurring role of the sporadically-unemployed husband of maid Florida Evans (played by Esther Rolle) on Norman Lear's Maude (1972) starring Bea Arthur. The two characters were spun-off into their own popular series as the parental leads in Good Times (1974).
Good Times (1974), a family sitcom that took place in a Chicago ghetto high-rise, initially prided itself as being the first network series ever to be created by African-Americans. But subsequent episodes were taken over by others and John was increasingly disgruntled by the lack of quality of the scripts and the direction Lear was taking the show. Once focused on the importance of family values, it was shifting more and more toward the silly antics of Jimmie 'JJ' Walker, who was becoming a runaway hit on the show as the aimless, egotistical, jive-talking teenage son JJ. John began frequently clashing with the higher-ups and, by 1976, was released from the series, with his character being killed in an off-camera car accident while finding employment out of state.
Amos rebounded quickly when he won the Emmy-nominated role of the adult Kunte Kinte in the ground-breaking epic mini-series Roots (1977), one of the most powerful and reverential TV features ever to hit television. It was THE TV role of his career, but he found other quality roles for other black actors extremely difficult to come by. He tried his best to avoid the dim-headed lugs and crime-motivated characters that came his way. Along with a few parts (the mini-movie Willa (1979) and the films The Beastmaster (1982) and Coming to America (1988)), he had to endure the mediocre (guest spots on The Love Boat (1977), "The A-Team", "Murder, She Wrote" "One Life to Live"). John also toiled through a number of action-themed films that focused more on grit and testosterone than talent.
He found one answer to this acting dilemma on the proscenium stage. In 1985, the play "Split Second" earned him the NAACP Award as Best Actor. He also received fine reviews in a Berkshire Theater festival production of "The Boys Next Door", a tour of O'Neill's towering play "The Emperor Jones", and in a Detroit production of Athol Fugard's "Master Harold...and The Boys". In addition, John directed two well-received productions, "Miss Reardon Drinks a Little" and "Twelve Angry Men", in the Bahamas. He took on Shakespeare as Sir Toby Belch in "Twelfth Night" at Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare and earned strong notices in the late August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Fences" at the Capital Repertory Company in Albany, New York. Overseas he received plaudits for his appearance in a heralded production of "The Life and Death of a Buffalo Soldier" at the Bristol's Old Vic in England. Capping his theatrical career was the 1990 inaugural of his one-man show "Halley's Comet", an amusing and humanistic American journey into the life of an 87-year-old who recalls, among other things, World War II, the golden age of radio, the early civil rights movement, and the sighting of the Comet when he was 11. He wrote and has frequently directed the show, which continues to play into the 2007-2008 season.
In recent years, John has enjoyed recurring parts on "The West Wing" and "The District", and is more recently appearing in the offbeat series Men in Trees (2006) starring Anne Heche. John Amos has two children by his former wife Noel Amos and two children. Son K.C. Amos director, writer, producer, editor and daughter Shannon Amos a director, writer and producer. Amos has one grand child,a grand-daughter, Quiera Williams.- Actor
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Dean Joseph Norris is an American actor. He is well known for playing DEA agent Hank Schrader on the AMC series Breaking Bad (2008-2013). He also portrayed town councilman James "Big Jim" Rennie on the CBS series Under the Dome (2013-2015) and played mob boss Clay "Uncle Daddy" Husser on the TNT series Claws. He reprises his role as Hank Schrader in the Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul (2020). Throughout his career, Norris has acted in nearly 50 movies and more than 100 different TV shows.
Norris has appeared in films such as Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Hard to Kill (1990), Total Recall (1990), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), The Firm (1993), Starship Troopers (1997), The Cell (2000), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Evan Almighty (2007), and Sons of Liberty (2015), and has more recently starred in films such as The Book of Henry (2017), Death Wish (2018), and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019).- Actor
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Rugged character actor Muse Watson is an established stage actor and veteran screen performer with a host of widely varying characters to his name, ranging from the hook-wielding killer in "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (1997), to the gentle, cat-loving con in the Fox television suspense drama "Prison Break" (2005). From the good ole boy, Hank, in the Julia Roberts drama "Something to Talk About" to the quick to shoot mentor Mike Franks in "NCIS". Fifty five movies and over fifty five episodes of TV and Muse is going strong. His theater credits include Hamlet in "Hamlet", Stanley in "A Streetcar Named Desire", Pale in "Burn This", Cervantes in "Man of La Mancha", and directing "Ain't MisBehavin". Muse also gave an unforgettable performance with Jennifer Love Hewitt as a special guest on Saturday Night Live. Muse and his wife and daughter now divide their time between their home in Berea, Ky. and their "hide-out" in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.- Actress
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The product of a musical family, (Margaret) JoBeth Williams was born on December 6, 1948, in Houston, Texas, to Frances Faye (Adams), a dietitian, and Fredric Roger Williams, a wire/cable company manager and opera singer. Her father encouraged her early interest in theater during high school.
She made her professional debut at age 18 in a Houston-based musical production, then studied at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, with the intentions of becoming a child psychologist. The acting bug hit her again, however, and she decided to pursue theater after receiving her B.A. in English in 1970. Working intensely to lose her Texas twang, her early training came as a member of the Trinity Repertory Company, where she stayed for two-and-a-half years.
In New York the lovely Jobeth became a daytime regular in the mid-1970s on both Somerset (1970) and in a vixenish role on Guiding Light (1952) before making a brief but memorable impact in a highly popular film at the end of the decade. In the Dustin Hoffman starring film Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Jobeth plays Hoffman's gorgeous sleepover who gets caught stark naked by his young, precocious son (Justin Henry) the following morning. She also impressed on the stage with major roles in "Moonchildren" and "A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking."
Her star maker would could in the form of the strong-willed mother of three who fights to save her brood from home-invading demons in Steven Spielberg's humongous critical and box-office hit Poltergeist (1982), which also made a major star out of movie husband Craig T. Nelson. Officially in the big leagues now, she joined the star ensemble cast of The Big Chill (1983), and appeared opposite Nick Nolte in Teachers (1984). Disappointing outcomes in the lackluster sequel Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) and the intriguing but overlooked American Dreamer (1984) prodded her to search for more challenging work on TV.
It is the small screen, in fact, that has particularly shown off the range of Jobeth's talent over the years, particularly in domestic drama. Cast in some of the finest TV-movies served up, Jobeth won deserved Emmy nominations for her real-life mother of an ill-fated missing child in Adam (1983) and real-life surrogate mother in Baby M (1988). Other monumental mini-movie efforts include her nurse in the apocalyptic drama The Day After (1983); her magnetic performance opposite Terry Kinney as an adulterous worshiper and minister who carry out plans to kill their respective spouses in the gripping suspense show Murder Ordained (1987); alcoholic James Woods' long-suffering wife in My Name Is Bill W. (1989); a social worker trying to reach a deaf girl in Breaking Through (1996); and the overbearing mother whose son turns to drugs in Trapped in a Purple Haze (2000). She continues to balance both film and TV projects into the millennium.
Behind the scenes she was nominated for an Academy Award for her directorial debut of Showtime's On Hope (1994)and continues to seek out other directing projects. It doesn't hurt being married to a director for encouragement. She and John Pasquin, who directed her in the film Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) and on the short-lived TV series Payne (1999), have two children.
Into the millennium, Jobeth starred as a psychiatrist in the offbeat crime drama The Rose Technique (2002); then played a series of mom support roles -- Drew Barrymore's in Fever Pitch (2005), Reiko Aylesworth's in Crazylove (2005) and Adam Brody's in In the Land of Women (2007); plus roles in The Big Year (2011), Songs of Alchemy (2012), Barracuda (2017), Alex & The List (2017), SGT. Will Gardner (2019) and What the Night Can Do (2020). In addition to guest appearances on such popular program as "The Guardian," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Judging Amy," "Miss Match," "Numb3rs," "Criminal Minds," "The Nine," "Dexter," "NCIS," "The Good Doctor," and recurring roles on Private Practice (2007), Hart of Dixie (2011), Marry Me (2014) and Your Family or Mine (2015), she earned kudos as Sybil's mentally disturbed mother in a revived TV movie version of Sybil (2007).- Actor
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Michael Madsen is an enigmatic force in the entertainment industry, widely regarded as one of the most intense and compelling actors of our time. With an electrifying presence both on and off the screen, Madsen has captivated audiences worldwide with his mesmerizing performances, making an indelible mark on the realm of cinema. Known for his rugged charm and brooding charisma, Madsen has perfected the art of bringing complex characters to life, seamlessly transitioning between nuanced vulnerability and unbridled intensity. Michael Madsen continues to command attention and leave an indelible impact on the industry.
Born with an innate talent for acting, Madsen's journey in the entertainment industry has been nothing short of extraordinary. His powerful performances have earned him critical acclaim and a dedicated fan base, cementing his status as a true Hollywood icon. Madsen's distinctive ability to effortlessly portray characters with a captivating blend of sensitivity and grit has led to collaborations with renowned directors and fellow actors, garnering him numerous accolades and nominations. His unparalleled versatility has allowed him to effortlessly navigate between genres, delivering unforgettable performances in films such as "Kill Bill: Vol. 1," "Thelma & Louise," and "Donnie Brasco," among others.
Beyond his remarkable acting career, Michael Madsen's multifaceted talents extend to other creative endeavors. An accomplished poet, he has published several volumes of poetry, revealing a profound depth and introspection that mirrors the complexity of his on-screen persona. With an unparalleled body of work and an undying passion for his craft, Michael Madsen remains an indomitable force, continuously pushing the boundaries of cinematic storytelling and leaving an indelible mark on the entertainment landscape.- Margo Martindale was born July 18, 1951 in Jacksonville, Texas, to Margaret (Pruitt) and William Everett Martindale, a lumber company owner and dog handler. She is the youngest of three children, and the only daughter. Margo attended Lon Marris College, and later transferred to University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and did a summer study at Harvard University. She made her film debut appearance in Days of Thunder (1990), she played the minor role of Donna. Notable roles include: Sister Colleen, Susan Sarandon's fellow nun in Dead Man Walking (1995). She played a brief but memorable role as the selfish mother to Hilary Swank's character in Million Dollar Baby (2004).
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Betty Buckley, who has been called "The Voice of Broadway," is one of theater's most respected and legendary leading ladies. She is an actress/singer whose career spans theater, film, television and concert halls around the world. She is a 2012 Theatre Hall of Fame inductee and the 2017 recipient of the Julie Harris Awards from the Actor's Fund for Artistic Achievement.
She won a Tony Award for her performance as Grizabella, the Glamour Cat, in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats. She received her second Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a musical for her performance as Hesione in Triumph of Love, and an Olivier Award nomination for her critically acclaimed interpretation of Norma Desmond in the London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, which she repeated to more rave reviews on Broadway.
Her other Broadway credits include 1776, Pippin, Song and Dance, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Carrie. Off-Broadway credits include the world premiere of Horton Foote's The Old Friends for which she received a Drama Desk Nomination in 2014, White's Lies, Lincoln Center's Elegies, the original NYSF production of Edwin Drood, The Eros Trilogy, Juno's Swans and Getting My Act Together and Taking It On The Road. Regional credits include The Perfectionist, Gypsy, Threepenny Opera, Camino Real, Buffalo Gal, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Old Friends at Houston's Alley Theatre and Grey Gardens at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, NY and The Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles in 2016 for which she received an Ovation Award Nomination. In London she starred in Promises, Promises for which she was nominated for An Evening Standard Award and in 2013 the British premiere of Dear World.
Ms. Buckley most recently appeared in the new M. Night Shyamalan hit film Split co-starring James McAvoy, released in January 2017. She was nominated for a Saturn Award for her work in the film. Her other films include her debut in Brian de Palma's screen version of Stephen King's Carrie, Bruce Beresford's Tender Mercies, Roman Polanski's Frantic, Woody Allen's Another Woman, Lawrence Kasden's Wyatt Earp and M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening.
On television, Buckley most recently guest starred in the NBC Series Chicago Med and in the HBO series The Leftovers and Getting On. She appeared in The Pacific also for HBO and twice on the Kennedy Center Honors. She also starred for three seasons in the HBO series Oz and as Abby Bradford in the hit series Eight Is Enough. She has appeared as a guest star in numerous television series, miniseries and films for television including Evergreen, Roses For The Rich, Without A Trace, Law & Order: SVU and Pretty Little Liars.
Buckley tours in concert worldwide with her ensemble of musicians and recently was featured in the Royal Albert Hall concert of Follies in celebration of Stephen Sondheim's 85th birthday. She has recorded 17 CD's: including Ghostlight produced by T Bone Burnett released in 2014 and most recently Story Songs released in April 2017.
She received a Grammy Nomination for Stars and The Moon, Betty Buckley Live at the Donmar. She received her second Grammy Nomination for the audio book The Diaries of Adam and Eve. For over forty years Ms. Buckley has been a teacher of scene study and song interpretation, giving workshops in Manhattan and various universities and performing Arts Conservatories around the country. She has been a faculty member in the theatre department of the University of Texas at Arlington and teaches regularly at the T. Schreiber Studio in New York City, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX and in Los Angeles, Denver and Oklahoma.
In 2009, Ms. Buckley received the Texas Medal of Arts Award for Theater and was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in 2007. She has two honorary doctorates from The Boston Conservatory and Marymount College and has been honored with three Lifetime Achievement Awards for her contributions to theater from the New England Theater Conference, The Shubert Theater in New Haven and the Terry Schreiber School in NYC.- Born and raised in the Bronx, and spent most of his formative years hanging out in New York City, Kirk Acevedo, who is of Puerto Rican descent, received his BFA from SUNY Purchase and founded a theater company called The Rorschach Group. After guest-starring on several television shows like New York Undercover (1994) and Law & Order (1990), he landed his best-known role as Alvarez, a morose and violent prisoner struggling for redemption on HBO's notoriously gritty Oz (1997). Though he was nominated for a Cable Ace award and an ALMA award for his work on Oz (1997), it was Acevedo's role as Pvt. Tella in The Thin Red Line (1998) that won him an ALMA.
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Callie Thorne was born on 20 November 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Necessary Roughness (2011), Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) and Prison Break (2005).- Actress
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Direct from Spartanburg, South Carolina, this tall, blonde actress has earned the respect of stage and film audiences alike for her many touching portrayals of matter-of-fact, down-to-earth Southern folk. For someone who first attracted attention as a hash-slinging replacement for Diane Ladd (herself a replacement for the ever-popular Polly Holliday) in the final, languishing years of the popular CBS sitcom Alice (1976), Celia Weston certainly has evolved into one of the more sought-after character performers of "Deep South" film drama.
Born December 14, 1951, and raised in South Carolina, Celia, along with her sister, enjoyed creating their own little world of characters, acting out small skits and later began appearing in local plays. She did not, however, meet the unanimous encouragement of her family when the one-time art and psychology major at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, decided to do an abrupt about-face and study acting. She earned an Artist Diploma in Drama at the North Carolina School of the Arts before moving to London to continue her training. More than determined, she eventually returned to the States in 1977 and studied with Uta Hagen and Herbert Berghof while slinging hash herself in New York City. In between, there was sporadic regional and off-off-Broadway work along with summer stock. At age 28, Celia made a big leap with her Broadway debut in "Loose Ends" (1979) starring Kevin Kline. Following her prime theater role in Edward Albee's "The Lady from Dubuque" in 1980 and a small part in Clint Eastwood's film Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), Hollywood showed her the money when she became the new Southern-fried waitress in town alongside Linda Lavin and Beth Howland on the "Alice" series.
Her character of Jolene was given rather short shrift during the four seasons (1981-1985) she appeared. Although Celia valiantly tried the invest the role with some sass, she was the newcomer and was too often overshadowed by the other two. Following the show's demise, she had a number of lean years before her luck changed again. In 1988, she was handed a couple of featured roles in the movies Stars and Bars (1988) and A New Life (1988). Her penchant for toned-down, unaffected realism was not overlooked. While interspersing theater roles with the sudden upswing of film parts now coming her way, she finally came into her own in both venues in the mid-to-late 1990s. After earning critical applause for her brittle dramatic turn as the backwoods mother of a murdered child in Dead Man Walking (1995), she went on to win an Outer Critics Award and Tony nomination for her Southern matron in Broadway's acclaimed "The Last Night of Ballyhoo" (1997).
Preferring art-house obscurity to mainstream popularity, Celia has stayed true for the most part with classier, character-driven drama and it has paid off in career dividends. An always interesting presence, her gals can tangle and backbite with the best of them or show true grit and/or extreme emotional fragility at times of unbearable sorrow. Celia has also played a variety of dialects over the years. A gregarious and eccentric turn as a possible mother to a searching Ben Stiller in the wonderful Flirting with Disaster (1996) led to her Civil War wife in Ride with the Devil (1999); her grieving, prejudicial Teutonic mother in Snow Falling on Cedars (1999); the part of Cate Blanchett's haughty aunt in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999); and the Southern belle-like mental patient in K-Pax (2001). In addition, her Southern roots have complimented such Tennessee Williams' plays as "Summer and Smoke" and "Suddenly Last Summer" on Broadway.
Into the millennium, Celia is still going strong. She has been a vibrant presence in such ensemble films as In the Bedroom (2001), Far from Heaven (2002) and The Village (2004). In 2005, she received one of her best roles in years as the dressed-down Southern matriarch in the obscure independent film Junebug (2005), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
More recent films include matronly parts in Joshua (2007), The Invasion (2007), The Box (2009), Knight and Day (2010), Goodbye to All That (2014), In the Radiant City (2016), Poms (2019) and Adam (2020). She has essayed just as many parts on both dramatic and comedic series TV, including regular/recurring roles on Our Willie (1913), Memphis Beat (2010), American Horror Story (2011), Modern Family (2009) and Hunters (2020).- Jack McGee was born on 2 February 1949 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for The Fighter (2010), Gangster Squad (2013) and Moneyball (2011). He has been married to Stephanie since 19 August 1996.
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One of the hottest stars of the mid-1980s, Virginia Madsen has since played a variety of roles that have cemented her reputation as a fantastic actress who can adapt to any part.
Virginia was born in Chicago, Illinois, and belongs to an acting family -- with her brother, Michael Madsen, also an actor, and her mother, Elaine Madsen (née Melson), an Emmy-winning writer, poet, and producer. Her paternal grandparents were Danish, and her father, Calvin Madsen, was a firefighter. Audiences first caught a glimpse of her as "Princess Irulan" in the 1984 science fiction epic Dune (1984). She followed that up with Electric Dreams (1984); however, it was in 1986 that Virginia captured the hearts of the audience with an intense portrayal of a Catholic school girl who fell in love with a boy from a prison camp in Duncan Gibbins' Fire with Fire (1986). Virginia played the role of "Lisa" and her co-star was Craig Sheffer, who played Lisa's love interest, "Joe Fisk". Kari Wuhrer also made an appearance as Virginia's best friend, "Gloria". Fire with Fire (1986) was a low-budget production, starring a bunch of fresh faces who were till then-unknown to Hollywood. However, the movie was a success and elevated its three young stars overnight. Virginia has never looked back since.
Not only did she receive amazing reviews for her Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated performance in Alexander Payne's hit film, Sideways (2004), but this Independent Spirit Award-winning actress has an illustrious resume of roles alongside the most notable and respected actors in the business.
Also on Virginia's slate is her production company, with partner Karly Meola, called "Title IX Productions". Their first project was the documentary I Know a Woman Like That (2009), which previewed at the Phoenix Film Festival in April 2009 and premiered at the Chicago Film Festival in October 2009. The doc was directed by Virginia's mother, Elaine Madsen, about the lives of extraordinary women ages 64-94. Next in the company's lineup is the documentary Fighting Gravity (2010), about women ski jumpers' ongoing battle for the right to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Title IX will team up with "Empire 8 Productions" and Vancouver-based "Screen Siren" on the project. The duo also has several projects in development that they're shopping around for financing including screenwriters Sebastian Gutierrez's screen adaptation of Martha O'Connor's novel "The Bitch Posse" and a remake of the 1984 film Electric Dreams (1984), in which Virginia appeared.- Actor
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From Timothy Olyphant's first screen appearances, such as his two-minute bit in The First Wives Club (1996), to "Nicko", whose presence at times dwarfed the island in A Perfect Getaway (2009), he has been a force to be reckoned with.
Born in Hawaii, Timothy David Olyphant was raised in Modesto, California. He is the son of Katherine Lyon (Gideon) and John Vernon Bevan Olyphant, a college teacher who was also an executive at E & J Gallo Winery. He has an older brother, Andy, who is in A&R for Warner Bros. Records, and a younger brother, Matt Olyphant, who was the lead singer for the punk rock group, Fetish, and is also an artist. He is a descendant of the prominent Vanderbilt and Olyphant families of businesspeople, and his ancestry includes Russian Jewish (from a maternal great-grandfather), English, German, Scottish, Dutch, and Irish. Timothy quickly became Modesto's favorite son, competing as a pro swimmer and excelling at drawing. It was, by chance, that he enrolled in an acting course as an elective and decided to pursue an acting career. He took his family and headed to New York City, where he studied the craft and began auditioning for roles. From the beginning, he tried to choose diversified roles and take chances with every genre and always approached everything he did with commitment, humor and grace. Timothy is married to his college sweetheart, Alexis Knief, and, together, they raise three children, one son and two daughters in California. He has managed to keep his personal life out of the tabloids. He obviously has his priorities straight, as this is no easy task in Hollywood.
Highlights of Olyphant's career include his riveting portrayal of "Sheriff Seth Bullock" in HBO's hit drama, Deadwood (2004). He now personifies intensity as complex Kentucky Marshal, "Raylan Givens", in FX's Justified (2010). On the big screen, in 2010's The Crazies (2010), he had the chance to infuse his character with doubts, fears and humaneness in an inhumane situation. Mr. Olyphant proved he could carry a major movie on his talent, alone. He recently appeared in I Am Number Four (2011), a sci-if thriller, in which Tim provided the adult mentorship, taking a back seat to the teen cast.- Annie Corley graduated from McCutcheon High School in Lafayette, Indiana and later enrolled at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. Since 1990, Annie has appeared in several films, her most notable role to date is Meryl Streep's on-screen daughter in The Bridges of Madison County (1995). She later made a chilling appearance as Donna, Christina Ricci's on-screen aunt in Monster (2003).
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Keith Szarabajka is an American actor from Illinois known for acting in The Equalizer, Angel, Argo and The Dark Knight. He also voice acted in several animated series and video games including Halo 4, Batman: Arkham Knight, Mass Effect, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Teen Titans, Dead Space, Ultimate Spider-Man, L.A. Noire and Fallout: New Vegas.- Actress
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One of three children (she has two brothers, Greg and Don), Dianne Wiest was born in Kansas City, Missouri, USA on 28 March 1946. Her original ambition was to be a ballerina, but she was bitten by acting bug after some stage work, most notably playing Desdemona to James Earl Jones' Othello on Broadway. She made her film debut in 1980, but did not make a name for herself until her performance as Emma, a prostitute during the 1930s Depression, in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985). Allen was so impressed by Wiest's acting ability that he has directed her on four more occasions since. Under Allen's direction, Wiest won a well deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, for her brilliant performance as the neurotic, wannabe actress Holly in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). She followed her Academy Award success with performances in The Lost Boys (1987) and Bright Lights, Big City (1988) before stealing the show from the likes of Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Jason Robards, Keanu Reeves and Martha Plimpton in Ron Howard's Parenthood (1989).
Playing Helen Buckman, the divorced mother of two difficult teenagers, Wiest was both touching and hilarious, and received her second Oscar nomination. Arguably her most beloved role came as Peg Boggs, the kindly Avon Lady who discovers the titular Edward Scissorhands (1990). Wiest returned to Woody Allen for Bullets Over Broadway (1994), a superb comedy film set in 1920s New York, winning her second Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her magnificent portrayal of Helen Sinclair, a boozy, glamorous and neurotic star of the stage, who could made the words "Don't speak!" the funniest sentence ever captured on film. Recently enjoying great success with witchy roles in the comedy film Practical Magic (1998) and the television miniseries The 10th Kingdom (2000), Dianne Wiest lives in New York City with her two adopted daughters, Emily and Lily.- Actor
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Ron Perlman is a classically-trained actor who has appeared in countless stage plays, feature films and television productions.
Ronald N. Perlman was born April 13, 1950 in Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York. His mother, Dorothy (Rosen), is retired from the City Clerk's Office. His father, Bertram "Bert" Perlman, now deceased, was a repairman and a drummer. His parents were both from Jewish families (from Hungary, Germany and Poland).
With a career spanning over three decades, Perlman has worked alongside such diverse actors as Marlon Brando, Sean Connery, Dominique Pinon, Brad Dourif, Ed Harris, John Hurt, Jude Law, Christina Ricci, Federico Luppi, Sigourney Weaver, Michael Wincott and Elijah Wood to name a few.
While he has never been a bankable star, Perlman has always had a large fan-base. He started out strong as Amoukar, one of the tribesmen in Jean-Jacques Annaud's Academy Award-winning film Quest for Fire (1981), for which he earned a Genie Award nomination. Perlman teamed up with Annaud again, this time as a hunchback named Salvatore in The Name of the Rose (1986). His first real breakthrough came later when he landed the role of the noble lion-man Vincent, opposite Linda Hamilton on the fantasy series Beauty and the Beast (1987). His work in this role earned him not only a Golden Globe Award but an underground fan following. Sadly the series was canceled in its third season shortly after Hamilton's character's death.
After that, he spent time doing supporting work on television and independent films such as Guillermo del Toro's debut Cronos (1992) (where a lifelong friendship and collaboration between the director and Perlman would blossom) as Angel and his first lead role as One in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's surreal The City of Lost Children (1995). His first real big role in a mainstream film came when Jeunet wanted him for the brutish Johner in his first Hollywood outing Alien: Resurrection (1997). Perlman has also used his distinctive voice to his advantage, appearing in many animated films/series, commercials and he is a video game fan favorite because of his work on such games as the Fallout series.
It was not until much later he received worldwide fame when his good friend Guillermo del Toro helped him land the title role in the big-budget comic book movie Hellboy (2004). Del Toro fought the studio for four years because they wanted a more secure name, but he stood his ground and in 2004, after almost 25 years in and out of obscurity, Perlman became a household name and a sought out actor. Perlman has had one of the most offbeat careers in film, playing everything from a prehistoric ape-man to an aging transsexual and will always be a rarity in Hollywood.
Other notable roles include the cunning Norman Arbuthnot in The Last Supper (1995), sniper expert Koulikov in Enemy at the Gates (2001), vampire leader Reinhardt in Blade II (2002), his reprisal of Hellboy in Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) and biker chief Clarence Morrow on the popular series Sons of Anarchy (2008).
He currently resides in Los Angeles, California with his wife, Opal, and their two children, Blake and Brandon.- Actor
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Tom Virtue was born on 19 November 1957 in Sherman, Texas, USA. He is an actor, known for Even Stevens (2000), Green Book (2018) and Iron Man 3 (2013). He has been married to Alima Khaiser since 1999. They have four children.- Actor
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Dean Winters is known for his role as Ryan O'Reily on HBO's award-winning series Oz (1997) and as Tina Fey's character's "Beeper King" boyfriend on the Emmy-winning comedy, 30 Rock (2006). His noteworthy comedic performance was recently included in Entertainment Weekly's "Must List" as well as Variety's short-list of Emmy-worthy guest performances. In addition to being featured in the film P.S. I Love You (2007) with Hilary Swank, Winters was a series regular on FX's critically-acclaimed, one-hour drama Rescue Me (2004), in which he played Denis Leary's character's brother, Johnny Gavin, an NYPD police detective.
He recurred as Lena Headey's former love interest on the Fox series, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008). He can also be seen as the Allstate spokesmodel character known as Mayhem.
Winters also played Detective Brian Cassidy on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999). Other television credits include guest-starring roles in CSI: Miami (2002), Sex and the City (1998), Third Watch (1999), The Twilight Zone (1985), Millennium (1996), New York Undercover (1994), NYPD Blue (1993) and Homicide: Life on the Street (1993). Some of Winters's film projects include Winter of Frozen Dreams (2009), Bristol Boys (2006), Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002), Bullet in the Brain (2001), Snipes (2001), Undercover Angel (1999), All Shook Up (1999), Conspiracy Theory (1997), starring Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts, Firehouse (1996), Sidney Lumet's television movie Strip Search (2004) and The Devil You Know (2013).- Actor
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Wendell Edward Pierce is an American actor and businessman. He is known for roles in HBO dramas such as Detective Bunk Moreland in The Wire and trombonist Antoine Batiste in Treme; as well as portraying James Greer in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, high-powered attorney Robert Zane in Suits, and Michael Davenport in Waiting to Exhale. Pierce also had roles in the films Malcolm X, Ray, and Selma, and performed the lead role of Willy Loman in the 2019 revival of a play Death of a Salesman on the West End in London at the Piccadilly Theatre, which earned him a nomination for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play. He has been thrice nominated for Independent Spirit Awards.- Actor
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Jason Beghe was born on 12 March 1960 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Next Three Days (2010), Thelma & Louise (1991) and Monkey Shines (1988). He was previously married to Angie Janu.- Actor
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Miguel Ferrer was an American actor known for playing Morton from RoboCop, Shan Yu from Mulan, Martian Manhunter from Justice League: The New Frontier, Slade Wilson from Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, Death from Adventure Time, Sesa Refumee from Halo 2 and Vice President Rodriguez from Iron Man 3. He passed away in January 2017 due to throat cancer. He is survived by his wife and three children.- Actor
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Shawn Wayne Hatosy is an American film and television actor and director. He is best known for his roles in the films In & Out, The Faculty, Outside Providence, Anywhere but Here, The Cooler, and Alpha Dog. He is also well known for his role as Detective Sammy Bryant on the TNT crime drama series Southland and is starring as Andrew "Pope" Cody in the TNT crime drama series, Animal Kingdom, based on the 2010 Australian film of the same title.- Jeffrey Nordling was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, USA. Jeffrey is an actor, known for Big Little Lies (2017), 24 (2001) and Flight 93 (2006). Jeffrey is married to Francia Dimase. They have three children.
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As a rule, W. Earl Brown does not usually speak of himself in the third-person, however the Internet Movie Database will not accept biographical information written in the first person, therefore:
W Earl Brown was born and raised in western Kentucky. Realizing early in life that he had an aversion to manual labor, he knew that farming life was not for him. He could spend entire afternoons jumping gullies and climbing trees playing Cowboy or Soldier but the drudgery of having to attend to chores was not a strong suit of young Earl's. The first theater he ever attended was on his grandparents' front porch, where, in following family tradition, they would entertain themselves after a day's work with songs and stories. He was much better suited to that part of Kentucky farm life rather than the fields and barns.
In high school, Earl was actively involved in forensic competition where his coach fired a competitive spirit and taught his students the value of hard work and sacrifice. It was during those years, Earl's love of movies blossomed and he first had the dream of working in films; however, at that point in his life such an idea seemed impossible to achieve. The first in his family to go to college, Earl took an acting class on a whim at Murray State University and it was in that class that he found his Calling. He began performing in numerous productions on campus. It was in a production of "That Championship Season" in 1984 that he first had the experience of craft being elevated to art, and due to that, he was hooked.
Earl received his MFA from DePaul University's Theatre School in 1989. After graduation, he performed in numerous plays around Chicago. His first job on a film set was teaching dialect on Backdraft (1991). Not long after that, his performance in "A View From the Bridge" at the Steppenwolf Theatre catapulted his career as an actor into television and film. He landed numerous roles and within a couple of years had hit the proverbial glass ceiling. In 1993, he relocated to Los Angeles and started over.
Wes Craven was an early supporter, casting Earl in New Nightmare (1994), A Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) and the role of "Kenny" in the classic, Scream (1996). Two years after the success of Scream, Earl played "Warren", Cameron Diaz's mentally challenged brother, in There's Something About Mary (1998). Among his many other film credits are the highly regarded films: Being John Malkovich (1999), The Master (2012), The Sessions (2012), Wild (2014), Black Mass (2015), and the Netflix hits - The Highwaymen (2019) and The Unforgivable (2021).
On television, Earl has guest starred in many series, including: The Mandalorian (2019), Luck (2011), Seinfeld (1995), American Horror Story (2011), Justified (2009), X-Files (2002), Six Feet Under (2001), and NYPD Blue (2000 & 2005). Among the TV movies he has been involved with, was the starring role in VH1's Meatloaf: To Hell and Back (2000). He played "Tom Carlin" in ABC's highly acclaimed anthology series American Crime (2015) and "Teague Dixon" in HBO's True Detective (2015). He is probably best known as "Dan Dority" in HBO's Deadwood (2003). During that series' second season, the show's creator, David Milch, invited him to join the writing staff. In 2007, Earl earned a WGA nomination for writing on a drama series and a SAG nomination for best drama ensemble acting. Establishing himself on a show as critically lauded as Deadwood opened doors for other writing projects, including the Sony release, Bloodworth (2011), which Earl wrote and produced.
In addition to his television and film work, Earl co-starred in Sony's The Last Of Us, 2013 Video Game Of The Year. He also writes music and records with Sacred Cowboys, an LA based Americana band. In 2018, he combined his love of music and film by co-creating the short film, Dad Band, which racked up 1.3 million views on YouTube.
One other thing of note, because W. Earl Brown gets asked it often and it seems as hoity-toity as speaking of himself in the third person: The "W" was added to his name upon joining the Screen Actors Guild. The guild has a rule that actors can not have the same name as another actor. He was told that there was an "Earl Brown" and a "William Brown", hence he became W. Earl Brown (a name he remembered from the label of an Elvis Presley record)... Then when his recording work in Sacred Cowboys necessitated his joining the songwriter's rights association, ASCAP, (where songwriter W. Earl Brown was represented) he had to become "William Earl Brown." It's confusing - he knows.- Actress
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Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio was born in Lombard, Illinois, to Mary D. (Pagone) and Frank A. Mastrantonio, who ran a bronze foundry. Her parents were of Italian descent. She was raised in Oak Park, IL, and began her career in school plays as a teenager. Mary attended the University of Illinois and got bitten by the acting bug, starring in "Guys and Dolls".
Leaving for New York, she took part in "West Side Story" in 1981. She also made it into movies, starring alongside Al Pacino in Scarface (1983). In 1985, she starred in The Color of Money (1986), which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Around 1990, a string of movies came about that really gave her a lot of attention: important roles in The Abyss (1989), Class Action (1991), and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991). At this time she married The January Man (1989) director Pat O'Connor. Mastrantonio is also a renowned cabaret-style singer, and her singing is showcased in John Sayles's Limbo (1999).
Careerwise, she took the decision to pick roles she liked instead of roles that would attract attention. Also, she took time off to be with her family. As of 2001, she lives with her husband and two children in London, England, UK.- Actress
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At sixteen years old, Melanie Lynskey dazzled the film world with an audacious debut in Peter Jackson's revered psychological crime picture, Heavenly Creatures (1994). Her electrifying portrait of Pauline Parker - high school misfit whose fierce rapport with her only friend (a pre-fame Kate Winslet) spirals dangerously out of control - was deemed "perfect" (Richard Corliss, TIME) and secured the humble New Zealander a Best Actress trophy in her motherland. Following a three-year interval spent studying at university and relocating to Los Angeles, Lynskey made a welcome return to the silver screen when she was cast as Drew Barrymore's sweet-natured stepsister in Andy Tennant's 'girl power' twist on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998). Parts in But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), Coyote Ugly (2000), Snakeskin (2001), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), Shattered Glass (2003), and Clint Eastwood's Oscar-nominated war epic Flags of Our Fathers (2006) came next.
In the consequent years, Lynskey emerged as one of the industry's most celebrated character actors, picking up plaudits for a host of appearances in prestige vehicles such as Sam Mendes's Away We Go (2009), Jason Reitman's Up in the Air (2009), Steven Soderbergh's The Informant! (2009), Tom McCarthy's Win Win (2011), Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), and Adam McKay's Don't Look Up (2021). Prolific supporting roles - opposite the calibre of George Clooney, Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio - aside, spotlight turns in Hello I Must Be Going (2012), Happy Christmas (2014), The Intervention (2016) - for which she scored a Special Jury Prize at Sundance - and the genre-bending I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017) have equally proved her mettle as a dynamite leading lady.
Since entering the annals of 21st century popular culture with her riotous embodiment of Rose - on the toweringly successful Two and a Half Men (2003), where she appeared for over a decade as Charlie Sheen's duplicitous admirer - Lynskey has injected her scene-stealing prowess into a multitude of small-screen gigs: among them, HBO's exalted tragicomedy Togetherness (2015), which showcased her "sublime" (Vanity Fair) depiction of a dissatisfied stay-at-home mom; macabre Stephen King spookfest Castle Rock (2018), where she headlined as pill-popping psychic Molly Strand; and all-star political period piece Mrs. America (2020), in which she joined forces with Cate Blanchett. For her spellbinding work on Showtime's Yellowjackets (2021) - where she's front-and-centre as Shauna, a suburban housewife consumed by horrific secrets - Lynskey collected the coveted Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series (2022), with Rolling Stone's Alan Sepinwall describing her turn in the runaway cult smash as the "dark, messy, charismatic part she's been waiting her whole career to play".- Actor
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Michael Emerson was born on 7 September 1954 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA. He is an actor, known for Saw (2004), Lost (2004) and Person of Interest (2011). He has been married to Carrie Preston since 5 September 1998.- Actor
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Lenny Clarke was born on 16 September 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Fever Pitch (2005), Halloween Kills (2021) and Here Comes the Boom (2012). He has been married to Jennifer Miller since 19 October 1996.- Actor
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Eamonn Walker was born on 12 June 1962 in London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Oz (1997), Unbreakable (2000) and Lord of War (2005). He is married to Sandra Walker. They have three children.- Actor
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Jimmi Simpson is an American actor. He was born in Hackettstown, New Jersey, the youngest of three brothers. After graduating from Bloomsburg University with a Bachelor of Arts in theater, he acted for four seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts.
Simpson made his film debut in the teen comedy Loser (2000).
He is best known for his television work, which includes roles in Netflix political drama series House of Cards (2013), and the HBO television series Westworld (2016).- Actor
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An only child, Idrissa Akuna Elba was born and raised in London, England. His father, Winston, is from Sierra Leone and worked at Ford Dagenham; his mother, Eve, is from Ghana and had a clerical duty. Idris attended school in Canning Town, where he first became involved in acting, before he dropped out. He gained a place in the National Youth Music Theatre - thanks to a £1,500 Prince's Trust grant. To support himself between acting roles, he worked in jobs such as tyre-fitting, cold call advertising sales, and working night shifts at Ford Dagenham. He worked in nightclubs under the nickname DJ Big Driis at age 19, but began auditioning for television roles in his early-twenties.
His first acting roles were on the soap opera Family Affairs (1997), the television serial Ultraviolet (1998), and the medical drama Dangerfield (1995). His best known roles are as drug baron Russell "Stringer" Bell on the HBO series The Wire (2002), as DCI John Luther on the BBC One series Luther (2010), and as Heimdall in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He later starred in the films Daddy's Little Girls (2007), Prom Night (2008), RocknRolla (2008), The Unborn (2009) and Obsessed (2009). He also appeared in the films American Gangster (2007), Takers (2010), Thor (2011), Prometheus (2012), Pacific Rim (2013), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Beasts of No Nation (2015) and Star Trek Beyond (2016). He voiced Chief Bogo in Zootopia (2016), Shere Khan in The Jungle Book (2016), and Fluke in Finding Dory (2016).
Idris Elba was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2016 New Years Honours for his services to drama.- Actor
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Philip Casnoff was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Strong Medicine (2000), Sinatra (1992) and The Post (2017). He has been married to Roxanne Hart since 7 August 1983. They have two children.- Actor
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Denis Patrick Seamus O'Hare is an American actor, singer, and author noted for his award-winning performances in the plays Take Me Out and Sweet Charity, as well as portraying vampire king Russell Edgington on HBO's fantasy series True Blood. He is also known for his supporting roles in such films as Charlie Wilson's War, Milk, Changeling, and Dallas Buyers Club. In 2011, he starred as Larry Harvey in the first season of the FX anthology series American Horror Story, for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie in 2012. He returned to the show in 2013, playing Spalding in American Horror Story: Coven and once more as Stanley in American Horror Story: Freak Show, the latter for which he earned a second Primetime Emmy Award nomination. For his performance in American Horror Story: Hotel as Liz Taylor, O'Hare received critical acclaim.- Music Department
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Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to an Italian carpenter/stagehand father from Naples, Italy, and an African-American opera singer mother from Alabama. His parents, working in Europe at the time of his birth, settled in Manhattan by the time he was 6, and that's where he grew up.
Coming from a theatrical background, it was, perhaps, inevitable that young Giancarlo would appear on stage sooner or later, and he did, at age 8, appearing on Broadway as a slave child in "Maggie Flynn" in 1966.
More Broadway work followed through the 1960s and early '70s, followed by some small roles in movies. TV work followed in the 1980s, with increasingly significant parts in a string of high-profile series until he became well-established as a character player both on TV and in a number of movies.
He came very much to the public's attention playing Agent Mike Giardello in the TV series Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) in 1998 and since then has rarely been off our screens.- Actress
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Roxanne Hart was born in Trenton, New Jersey, to Joan Irene (McKee) and Edward J. Hart, Jr. Her father was a teacher who later became the school principal at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, New York. Roxanne graduated from Greeley in 1969. She appeared in several Broadway productions before she made her film debut performance in The Verdict (1982). She played the part of Sally Doneghy. Since, she made appearances in a number of films, including Once Around (1991) with Holly Hunter, Showtime's made-for-television film Alone (1997) supporting an all-star cast ensemble, including, Hume Cronyn, James Earl Jones, Chris Cooper and Shelley Duvall. And The Good Girl (2002) starring Jennifer Aniston.- Actor
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In 1979 with his Detroit friends, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, Bruce Campbell raised $350,000 for a low-budget film, The Evil Dead (1981), in which he starred and co-executive produced. Completed piecemeal over four years, the film first gained notoriety in England where it became the best-selling video of 1983, beating out The Shining (1980). After its appearance at Cannes, where Stephen King dubbed it "the most ferociously original horror film of the year", New Line Cinema stepped forward to release "Evil Dead" in the U.S.
After co-producing Crimewave (1985), a cross-genre comedy written by Sam Raimi, Ethan and Joel Coen, Campbell moved to Los Angeles and quickly gained a foothold producing or starring in genre films such as the Maniac Cop (1988) series, Lunatics: A Love Story (1991), Moontrap (1988), and Mindwarp (1991), a post-apocalyptic "Jeremiah Johnson", during which he met his wife-to-be, filmmaker, Ida Gearon.
Campbell then rejoined his Detroit colleagues to star and co-produce the second and third films in the Evil Dead trilogy (Evil Dead II (1987) & Army of Darkness (1992)), completing 12 years of work on the cult favorite.
This rough-and-tumble background was a plus as Campbell made his foray into television, first starring in the highly touted Fox series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993), then as a recurring guest-star on the hit show Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993).
With these under his belt, Campbell easily made the transition to director, helming numerous episodes and recurring as the King of Thieves in the #1 syndicated Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995), and its follow-up phenomenon, Xena: Warrior Princess (1995).
Bruce has since expanded his range on television, appearing in anything from Disney's update of The Love Bug (1997), to decidedly dramatic turns on the acclaimed series Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) and The X-Files (1993). At the invitation of ABC, Campbell ventured into the world of sitcoms with a recurring role on ABC's Emmy-nominated Ellen (1994), participating in one of the three touted "out" episodes.
But Campbell didn't abandon his film roots. During that time, he had featured roles in the blockbuster Congo (1995), John Carpenter's Escape from L.A. (1996), and the award-winning independent crime drama, Running Time (1997). He followed these up with roles in Paramount's romantic comedy, Serving Sara (2002), Jim Carrey's The Majestic (2001), and all three of Sam Raimi's blockbuster Spider-Man movies.
After a return to episodic television in the swashbuckling series, Jack of All Trades (2000), Campbell took the title role in MGM's cult sleeper Bubba Ho-Tep (2002). His directorial debut, Man with the Screaming Brain (2005) premiered on the Sci Fi Channel, and Dark Horse Comics published the comic adaptation.
Campbell then directed and starred as himself in My Name Is Bruce (2007), a spoof of his B-movie career, then re-teamed with Disney for their fun-filled hit, Sky High (2005).
Campbell has since made the leap into other forms of entertainment, and is enjoying his role as an author with back-to-back New York Times bestsellers: a memoir entitled "If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor", and his first novel, "Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way".
In the multi-media industry, Bruce has enjoyed voicing characters for Disney's animated TV series The Legend of Tarzan (2001) and the Warner Brothers feature The Ant Bully (2006). He also portrayed the character of "Mayor Shelbourne" in the animated hit film, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009). Recently, Campbell voiced the role of "Rod Torque Redline" in Cars 2 (2011), the sequel to the smash Disney animated feature and for the immensely popular game, "Call of Duty".
In 2013, Bruce co-produced the hit remake of Evil Dead (2013), joined his filmmaking pal Sam Raimi on Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), and completed an impressive seven-year run on the spy show, Burn Notice (2007) (2007-2013), USA's #1 show on cable.
More than two decades after the release of Army of Darkness (1992), Bruce returned to his most iconic role for Ash vs Evil Dead (2015), a highly-anticipated series premiering on the Starz network on Halloween 2015.- Actor
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John Billingsley was born on 20 May 1960 in Media, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an actor, known for The Man from Earth (2007), Out of Time (2003) and 2012 (2009). He has been married to Bonita Friedericy since June 2000.- Actor
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Ronny Cox is a superbly talented actor, singer-songwriter, and musician who has been consistently active in Hollywood for more than 40 years portraying a diverse range of characters. Born in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, Cox received positive reviews for his first film role, his portrayal of ill-fated businessman Drew Ballinger in the terrifying backwoods thriller Deliverance (1972), with Cox featuring in the entertaining "Duelling Banjos" sequence of the film. Following this promising start, Cox regularly guest-starred in numerous television series before scoring the lead in the short-lived family drama Apple's Way (1974) and grabbing the critics' attention again with an excellent performance in the Emmy-nominated TV movie A Case of Rape (1974).
Interestingly, Cox was often at his best playing rigorous authority figures, usually in law enforcement or military roles, including as a detective in the TV movie Who Is the Black Dahlia? (1975), alongside Charlton Heston in the submarine drama Gray Lady Down (1978), as a Los Angeles detective pursuing cop killers in The Onion Field (1979), and alongside then-rising stars Tom Cruise and Sean Penn in the powerful Taps (1981). The 1980s was a high-profile decade for Cox, with strong supporting roles in several blockbusters playing strong-willed figures on both sides of the law. Cox starred alongside box office sensation Eddie Murphy in the mega-hit Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and its sequel, Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), as well as portraying sinister company executives in the futuristic sci-fi action films RoboCop (1987) and Total Recall (1990).
Throughout the 1990s, Cox was again prolific, appearing in many television series, feature films, and high-caliber TV movies. He took control of the USS Enterprise for two episodes as Captain Edward Jellico in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), and contributed entertaining performances in Murder at 1600 (1997), Early Edition (1996), Forces of Nature (1999), and the chilling tale Perfect Murder, Perfect Town: JonBenét and the City of Boulder (2000). Cox has continued to remain busy with more recent performances in Stargate SG-1 (1997), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), and the highly popular Desperate Housewives (2004). However, when he's not in front of the cameras, Cox can be found touring and demonstrating his musical talents at various music festivals and theater shows and, to date, he has released ten albums (four of them live performances)-an eclectic mixture of jazz, folk, and western tunes.- Actor
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Writer, actor, comedian, doer of good works, excellent good friend to the famous and not, Fry lives in his London SW1 flat and his Norfolk house when not traveling. Famous for his public declaration of celibacy in the "Tatler" back in the 1980s, Emma Thompson has characterised her friend as "90 percent gay, 10 percent other."
Stephen Fry was born in Hampstead, London, to Marianne Eve (Newman) and Alan Fry, a physicist and inventor. His maternal grandparents were Hungarian Jewish immigrants, while his father's family was of English background. He grew up in Norfolk and attended Uppingham School and Stout's Hill. After his notorious three months in Pucklechurch prison for credit card fraud, he attended Queens College, Cambridge in 1979, finishing with a 2:1 in English in 1981/2. While at Cambridge, he was a member of the Cherubs drinking club, and Footlights with Thompson, Tony Slattery, Martin Bergman, and Hugh Laurie (to whom he was introduced by E.T.). His prolific writing partnership with Laurie began in 1981 with resulting Footlights revues for (among others) Mayweek, Edinburgh Festival, and a three month tour of Australia. In 1984, Fry was engaged to do the rewrite of the Noel Gay musical "Me and My Girl," which made him a millionaire before the age of 30. It also earned him a nomination for a Tony award in 1987. (Sidenote: It was upon SF's suggestion that Emma Thompson landed a leading role in the London cast of this show.) Throughout the 1980s, Fry did a huge amount of television and radio work, as well as writing for newspapers (e.g. a weekly column in the "Daily Telegraph") and magazines (e.g. articles for "Arena"). He is probably best known for his television roles in Blackadder II (1986) and Jeeves and Wooster (1990).
His support of the Terence Higgins Trust through events such as the first "Hysteria" benefit, as well as numerous other charity efforts, are probably those works of which he is most proud. Fry's acting career has not been limited to films and television. He had successful runs in Alan Bennett's "Forty Years On," Simon Gray's "The Common Pursuit" with John Sessions, Rik Mayall, John Gordon Sinclair, and others. Michael Frayn's "Look Look" and Gray's "Cell Mates" were less successful for both Fry and their playwrights, the latter not helped by his walking out of the play after only a couple of weeks. Fry has published four novels as well as a collection of his radio and journalistic miscellanea. He has recorded audiotapes of his novels (an unabridged version of "The Liar" was released in 1995), as well as many other works for both adults and children.- Actor
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Bruce McGill grew up in San Antonio, Texas. His mother, Adriel Rose (Jacobs) is an artist, and his father, Woodrow Wilson McGill, is a real estate and insurance agent. He graduated from Douglas MacArthur High School San Antonio, where he acted in the department of theatre, and from The University of Texas at Austin with a degree in drama. His love for acting stems back to elementary school. He is related to former Texas State Senator A.R. Schwartz. McGill has starred in many films. His role as "D-Day" in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), taken out of desperation as a young unemployed actor, ended up being his most well known. His long acting career also includes films, Wildcats, The Last Boy Scout, My Cousin Vinny, Cliffhanger, Timecop, The Legend of Bagger Vance, The Sum of All Fears, along with many others. McGill starred in many television roles, including portraying the Boston Police Homicide Detective Vince Korsak on the TNT television crime drama, Rizzoli & Isles. The character of Korsak is the mentor and friend of Detective Jane Rizzoli, portrayed by Angie Harmon. Director Michael Mann,considers McGill a favorite, having worked with him on The Insider, Ali and Collateral. He has also appeared in four HBO TV films, CIA Director George Tenet in Oliver Stone's film W and, also, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. McGill has been married to his wife Gloria since 1994.- Actor
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Rainn Wilson lives in Los Angeles with his wife, fiction writer Holiday Reinhorn (Big Cats), and his son, Walter McKenzie Wilson who was born in 2004. He grew up in Seattle, Washington but graduated from New Trier H.S. in Winnetka, Illinois. After attending both Tufts University and the University of Washington, Rainn studied acting at NYU's graduate acting program and spent years doing theater both on and off-Broadway, on tours with the Acting Company and in region theatre including The Guthrie and Arena Stage.
Rainn co-created and directed The New Bozena, a sketch comedy and post-modern clown show which performed in New York and ended up doing a pilot presentation at Fox TV. He made his directorial debut with The New Bozena (2005), a short film based on the show.
After many years of working in TV and film, his breakthrough role happened, as Arthur, the odd love interest to the much older Frances Conroy on Six Feet Under (2001). His favorite role to date, however, is Bill Harris in the film, Baadasssss! (2003).
Rainn is a member of the Baha'i Faith.- Susanna Thompson was born on 27 January 1958 in San Diego, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Malignant (2021), Dragonfly (2002) and Once and Again (1999). She is married to Martin B. Katz.
- Gregory Itzin, accomplished stage, film and television actor, was perhaps best known for his Emmy Award-nominated performance for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series as Pres. Charles Logan on 24. Born in Washington, D.C. to parents Evelyn Loretta Itzin and Martin Joseph Itzin, he and his family moved to Burlington, Wisconsin at a young age, where is father became mayor. He studied and trained at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, intending to become a stage actor.
Itzin's film credits most notably include the roles of John Archibald Campbell opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln" for director Steven Spielberg; Jack Stern in "The Ides of March" opposite Ryan Gosling and George Clooney, also directed by Clooney; Warden Iger opposite Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler in "Law Abiding Citizen" for director F. Gary Gray; his comedic portrayal of Flemming Steel opposite Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds in "The Change-Up" for director David Dobkin, and his memorable scene opposite Johnny Depp in "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas" for director Terry Gilliam.
In addition to his stand-out performance in 24, his television credits range from recurring roles on "Friends", "Murder One", "The Mentalist", "Desperate Housewives", "Covert Affairs" and "Mob City" to "Big Love", "The Practice" and "Boston Legal". Known as a frequent "Star Trek" actor, Itzin appeared as five different characters in "Star Trek: Enterprise", "Star Trek: Deep Space 9" and "Star Trek: Voyager". He was hired repeatedly by such highly esteemed producer-directors as David E. Kelley, John Wells, Steven Bochco, David Milch, Rick Berman and Michael Piller -- a testament to his praiseworthy performances.
With the ongoing roles on television and appearances in dozens of films, Itzin's love for the stage never waned. He was nominated for both Tony and Drama Desk Awards for his performance in the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Kentucky Cycle" (which he performed in the world premiere at the Intiman Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum, Kennedy Center and on Broadway). He was a proud member of the Antaeus Theater Company. In 2010, he won the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award for his portrayal of Earl of Kent in their production of "King Lear". Also a member of The Matrix Theatre Company, he won several L.A. Drama Critics Circle Awards: for his portrayal of Vladimir in "Waiting For Godot", McCann in "The Birthday Party" and Lenny in "The Homecoming" (the last two by Harold Pinter). Itzin also lent his voice to many radio plays for LA Theatre Works, including "Arcadia", "Enron", "Oedipus The King", "Incident At Vichy", "Boats on a River", "Saint Joan" and most recently Comte de Guiche in "Cyrano De Bergerac".
Itzin was married to his wife Judith from 1979 until his death in 2022; they had two children, son Wilke (also an actor) and daughter Julia. Gregory and Judith were the proud grandparents of Wylder Itzin, son of Wilke and Talia Itzin.