The Best Actresses and Actors - Born in the 1970s
The current year of the competition: 2000 - Film No. 19
Here is the link to the current year: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls027056439/
Points from my "The Best Films Ever Made"-Lists:
Vol. 1 = 100%, Vol. 2 = 50%, Vol. 3 = 33%, Vol. 4 = 25%, Vol. 5 = 20 %, Vol. 6 = 17%
Here is the link to the current year: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls027056439/
Points from my "The Best Films Ever Made"-Lists:
Vol. 1 = 100%, Vol. 2 = 50%, Vol. 3 = 33%, Vol. 4 = 25%, Vol. 5 = 20 %, Vol. 6 = 17%
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- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Winona Ryder was born Winona Laura Horowitz in Olmsted County, Minnesota, and was named after a nearby town, Winona, Minnesota. She is the daughter of Cynthia (Istas), an author and video producer, and Michael Horowitz, a publisher and bookseller. Her father's family is Ukrainian Jewish and Romanian Jewish. She grew up in a ranch commune in Northern California which had no electricity. She is the goddaughter of Timothy Leary. Her parents were friends of Beat poet Allen Ginsberg and once edited a book called "Shaman Woman Mainline Lady", an anthology of writings on the drug experience in literature, which included one piece by Louisa May Alcott. Ryder would later play the lead role of Josephine March in the adaptation of this author's novel Little Women (1994).
Ryder moved with her parents to Petaluma, California when she was ten and enrolled in acting classes at the American Conservatory Theater. At age 13, she had a video audition to the film Desert Bloom (1986), but did not get the role. However, director David Seltzer spotted her and cast her in Lucas (1986). When telephoned to ask how she would like to have her name appear on the credits, she suggested Ryder as her father's Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels album was playing the background. Ryder was selected for the role of Mary Corleone in The Godfather Part III (1990), but had to drop out of the role after catching the flu from the strain of doing the films Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990) and Mermaids (1990) back-to-back. She said she did not want to let everyone down by doing a substandard performance. She later made The Age of Innocence (1993), which was directed by Martin Scorsese, whom she believes to be "the best director in the world".2499 points- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Jared Leto is a very familiar face in recent film history. Although he has always been the lead vocals, rhythm guitar, and songwriter for American band Thirty Seconds to Mars, Leto is an accomplished actor merited by the numerous, challenging projects he has taken in his life. He is known to be selective about his film roles.
Jared Leto was born in Bossier City, Louisiana, to Constance "Connie" (Metrejon) and Anthony L. "Tony" Bryant. The surname "Leto" is from his stepfather. His ancestry includes English, Cajun (French), as well as Irish, German, and Scottish. Jared and his family traveled across the United States throughout his childhood, living in such states as Wyoming, Virginia and Colorado. Leto would continue this trend when he initially dropped a study of painting at Philadelphia's University of the Arts in favor of a focus on acting at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
In 1992, Leto moved to Los Angeles to pursue a musical career, intending to take acting roles on the side. Leto's first appearances on screen were guest appearances on the short-lived television shows Camp Wilder (1992), Almost Home (1993) and Rebel Highway (1994). However, his next role would change everything for Leto. While searching for film roles, he was cast in the show, My So-Called Life (1994) (TV Series 1994-1995). Leto's character was "Jordan Catalano", the handsome, dyslexic slacker, the main love interest of "Angela" (played by Claire Danes). Leto contributed to the soundtrack of the film, and so impressed the producers initially that he was soon a regular on the show until its end.
Elsewhere, Leto began taking film roles. His first theatrically released film was the ensemble piece, How to Make an American Quilt (1995), based on a novel of the same name and starring renowned actresses Winona Ryder, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Jean Simmons and Alfre Woodard. The film was a modest success and, while Leto's next film, The Last of the High Kings (1996), was a failure, Leto secured his first leading role in Prefontaine (1997), based on long-distance runner Steven Prefontaine. The film was a financial flop, but was praised by critics, notably Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. He also took a supporting role in the action thriller, Switchback (1997), which starred Dennis Quaid, but the film was another failure.
Leto's work was slowly becoming recognized in Hollywood, and he continued to find work in film. In 1998, everything turned for the better on all fronts. This was the year that Leto founded the band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, with his brother, Shannon Leto, as well as Matt Wachter (who later left the group), and after two guitarists joined and quit, Tomo Milicevic was brought in as lead guitarist and keyboardist. As well as the formation of his now-famous band, Leto's luck in film was suddenly shooting for the better. He was cast as the lead in the horror film, Urban Legend (1998), which told a grisly tale of a murderer who kills his victims in the style of urban legends. The film was a massive success commercially, though critics mostly disliked the film. That same year, Leto also landed a supporting role in the film, The Thin Red Line (1998). Renowned director Terrence Malick's first film in nearly twenty years, the film had dozens of famous actors in the cast, including Sean Penn, Woody Harrelson, John Travolta, Nick Nolte and Elias Koteas, to name a few. The film went through much editing, leaving several actors out of the final version, but Leto luckily remained in the film. The Thin Red Line (1998) was nominated for seven Oscars and was a moderate success at the box office. Leto's fame had just begun. He had supporting roles in both James Mangold's Girl, Interrupted (1999), and in David Fincher's cult classic, Fight Club (1999), dealing with masculinity, commercialism, fascism and insomnia. While Edward Norton and Brad Pitt were the lead roles, Leto took a supporting role and dyed his hair blond. The film remains hailed by many, but at the time, Leto was already pushing himself further into controversial films. He played a supporting role of "Paul Allen" in the infamous American Psycho (2000), starring Christian Bale, and he played the lead role in Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream (2000), which had Leto take grueling measures to prepare for his role as a heroin addict trying to put his plans to reality and escape the hell he is in. Both films were massive successes, if controversially received.
The 2000s brought up new film opportunities for Leto. He reunited with David Fincher in Panic Room (2002), which was another success for Leto, as well as Oliver Stone's epic passion project, Alexander (2004). The theatrical cut was poorly received domestically (although it recouped its budget through DVD sales and international profit), and though a Final Cut was released that much improved the film in all aspects, it continues to be frowned upon by the majority of film goers. Leto rebounded with Lord of War (2005), which starred Nicolas Cage as an arms dealer who ships weapons to war zones, with Leto playing his hapless but more moral-minded brother. The film was an astounding look at the arms industry, but was not a big financial success. Leto's flush of successes suddenly ran dry when he acted in the period piece, Lonely Hearts (2006), which had Leto playing "Ray Fernandez", one of the two infamous "Lonely Hearts Killers" in the 1940s. The film was a financial failure and only received mixed responses. Leto then underwent a massive weight gain to play "Mark David Chapman", infamous murderer of John Lennon, in the movie, Chapter 27 (2007). While Leto did a fantastic job embodying the behavior and speech patterns of Chapman, the film was a complete flop, and was a critical bomb to boot. It was during this period that Leto focused increasingly on his band, turning down such films as Clint Eastwood's World War 2 film, Flags of Our Fathers (2006).
In 2009, however, Leto returned to acting with Mr. Nobody (2009). Leto's role as "Nemo Nobody" required him to play the character as far aged as 118, even as he undergoes a soul-searching as to whether his life turned out the way he wanted it to. The film was mostly funded through Belgian and French financiers, and was given limited release in only certain countries. Critical response, however, has praised the film's artistry and Leto's acting.
He made his directorial debut in 2012 with the documentary film Artifact (2012).
Leto remains the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and main songwriter for Thirty Seconds to Mars. Their debut album, 30 Seconds to Mars (2002), was released to positive reviews but only to limited success. The band achieved worldwide fame with the release of their second album A Beautiful Lie (2005). Their following releases, This Is War (2009) and Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams (2013), received further critical and commercial success.
After a five years hiatus from filming, Leto returned to act in the drama Dallas Buyers Club (2013), directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and co-starring Matthew McConaughey. Leto portrayed Rayon, a drug-addicted transgender woman with AIDS who befriends McConaughey's character Ron Woodroof. Leto's performance earned him an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor. In order to accurately portray his role, Leto lost 30 pounds, shaved his eyebrows and waxed his entire body. He stated the portrayal was grounded in his meeting transgender people while researching the role. During filming, Leto refused to break character. Dallas Buyers Club received widespread critical acclaim and became a financial success, resulting in various accolades for Leto, who was awarded the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role and a variety of film critics' circle awards for the role.
In 2016, he played the Joker in the super villain film Suicide Squad (2016).
Leto is considered to be a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. He often remains completely in character for the duration of the shooting schedules of his films, even to the point of adversely affecting his health.2492 points- Actress
- Soundtrack
"Fairuza!" ("Turquoise" in Farsi), her father exclaimed as he saw her blue eyes: Fairuza Alejandra Balk had just been born on May 21, 1974 in Point Reyes, California. Her father, Solomon Ben Feldthouse, was a traveling musician originally from Idaho, and her mother, Cathryn Balk, was a belly dancer. Her parents split up soon after. Fairuza grew up just north of San Francisco, California on a commune-type ranch. Her mother later found work in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was there that Fairuza began her career at age 9 on the ABC special The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (1983). Two years later, she went to the United Kingdom where she attended the Royal Academy of Ballet, the Ramona Beauchamp Agency, and the Bush Davies Performing Arts School. Fairuza worked for the Walt Disney Company for a while; at 11, she was chosen from 1,200 girls to star as Dorothy in Return to Oz (1985). The next year she starred, prophetically enough, as The Worst Witch (1986) a harbinger of her breakout role in The Craft (1996) 10 years later.
Fairuza and her mother remained in London until 1988, then went to Paris where the 15-year-old starred in Valmont (1989). The next year they returned to Vancouver and Fairuza enrolled in high school, but ended up doing correspondence courses after proving shy in class. Back in Hollywood she starred in a string of movies, including Gas Food Lodging (1992), for which she received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress. Following further television and film work, she achieved cult status with her starring role as a teenage witch in her breakout film, The Craft (1996). That year she also appeared in The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), in which she did some belly-dancing and attracted the attention of Lancashire, England-born co-star David Thewlis. They did another movie together, American Perfekt (1997).
Fairuza was also the love interest in the wildly-popular The Waterboy (1998) and had a major role in American History X (1998). With a half-dozen movies for 2000, Fairuza is much in demand. Her interests are writing poetry and stories, playing the guitar, singing (her main enjoyment), and dancing. She lives in Venice, California and has an apartment in New York City.1979 points- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Ethan Green Hawke was born on November 6, 1970 in Austin, Texas, to Leslie Carole (Green), a charity worker, and James Steven Hawke, an insurance actuary. His parents were students at the University of Texas at the time but divorced when Ethan was 5 years old. His mother raised him alone for the next five years, moving around the country, until she remarried in 1981 and the family settled in Princeton Junction, New Jersey.
He attended West Windsor-Plainsboro High School and then transferred to the Hun School of Princeton and it was while he was there that he began taking acting classes at the McCarter Theatre on the Princeton campus. His early ambition had been to be a writer, but as a result of the acting lessons and appearances in student productions he persuaded his mother to allow him to attend an audition for a role in a sci-fi adolescent adventure, Explorers (1985). He got the role (along with River Phoenix) but although the movie was favourably reviewed, it met with little commercial success which discouraged Hawke from pursuing further movie roles for several years.
He was admitted to the prestigious Carnegie-Mellon University to study theatre but his studies were interrupted when he won his break-through role opposite Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society (1989) and he did not complete his degree. He then appeared in numerous films before taking a role in the Generation X drama Reality Bites (1994) for which he received critical praise. He starred in the romantic drama Before Sunrise (1995), and its later sequels Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013).
His subsequent acting career was a mix of theatre work (earning a number of awards and nominations, including a Tony Award nomination for his role in "The Coast of Utopia" at the Lincoln Center in New York), and a mix of serious and more commercial movies, notably Gattaca (1997) (where he met his first wife, Uma Thurman) and Training Day (2001). His role as the father in the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014) earned him multiple award nominations, including the Academy, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and SAG Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Meanwhile, he also wrote two novels: "The Hottest State" (1996) and "Ash Wednesday" (2002).1965 points- When Anheuser-Busch chose Amber Smith as the spokesperson for its new Michelob Ultra Amber lite beer, it was on a mission. Through posters, life-size standees and Point-of-purchase promotional materials, Amber's image was plastered across the nation. However, it was the 20-city "Meet Amber" tour that delivered on the campaign title!
A gifted high school student, Amber was discovered at an international modeling convention. The 15-year-old won and soon flew to Paris, where she worked hard and often and established a reputation for being passionate and expressive both on film and in print. Her "exotic" good looks drew the attention of top photographers such as the famous Helmut Newton, but it was her chameleon-like quality that got her on the covers of such prestigious magazines as "Vogue", "Elle", "Esquire", "Maxim" and "Playboy". Amber walked the runway for Chanel and represented Loreal Cosmetics and Wonderbra in their national advertising campaigns.
She then achieved the ultimate accolade for a fashion model: appearing in the coveted role of "Sports Illustrated" magazine's swimwear model. She has produced four award-winning calendars, two nationally released posters and a modeling documentary DVD, "Amber Smith Raw" (available in stores). Amber has already completed two movie scripts and has started on a how-to book that will contain her own stories, detailed experiences and opinions on the modeling and entertainment world.
After ripping through the modeling world, she added acting to her resume. She has worked with such acclaimed directors as Curtis Hanson, Abel Ferrara, Paul Mazursky and Barbra Streisand and landed parts in two Academy Award-winning movies, L.A. Confidential (1997) and American Beauty (1999), as well as a host of others. Her television credits include Just Shoot Me! (1997) and Friends (1994) (as "Amber Smith, Supermodel").
In 2005 E! Entertainment chose Amber for a reality show pilot, titled "The Amber Smith Project," which follows Amber's efforts to open up a modeling agency in Miami Beach. She also filmed yet another pilot, "The Anchorwoman," in which she will take over the life of a broadcast journalist. "The Anchorwoman" is in development.
She launched the 2006 Michelob Ultra Amber Lite beer "Meet Amber" campaign, which was created entirely around her. All promotional materials feature her image, name and signature. The "Meet Amber" national tour was launched the summer of 2006 through the end of the year.1853 points - Actor
- Producer
- Director
Tobias Vincent Maguire was born in Santa Monica, California. His parents were 18 and 20, and not yet married, when he was born. His mother, Wendy (Brown), did advertising, publicity, and acting in Hollywood for years as she coached and managed Tobey. His father, Vincent Maguire, was a cook and sometimes a construction worker. Tobey did not finish high school in order to pursue and focus on acting roles, but he did end up getting his GED. He did several commercials (he was a model dancer for Nordstrom by age six), and he had some roles on various TV shows before landing a starring role on the Fox comedy Great Scott! (1992). That role lasted nine weeks before the show was canceled. Fox-made series were not doing well in general at the time. He avoids drugs and alcohol, and his best friend is Leonardo DiCaprio. Tobey is a vegan and studies yoga. He now has two beautiful children with his ex-wife Jennifer Meyer Maguire. Their names are Ruby Sweetheart and Otis Tobias Maguire. Another little known fact is that his two half-brothers, Jopaul and Weston Epp, were the child actors who handed Tobey (Peter Parker) his mask after the train scene in Spider-Man 2.1775 points- Salvatore Cascio was born on 8 November 1979 in Palazzo Adriano, Sicily, Italy. He is an actor, known for Cinema Paradiso (1988), Everybody's Fine (1990) and Cyber Eden (1992).1706 points
- Actress
- Producer
Jennifer Connelly was born in the Catskill Mountains, New York, to Ilene (Schuman), a dealer of antiques, and Gerard Connelly, a clothing manufacturer. Her father had Irish and Norwegian ancestry, and her mother was from a Jewish immigrant family. Jennifer grew up in Brooklyn Heights, just across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan, except for the four years her parents spent in Woodstock, New York. Back in Brooklyn Heights, she attended St. Ann's school. A close friend of the family was an advertising executive. When Jennifer was ten, he suggested that her parents take her to a modeling audition. She began appearing in newspaper and magazine ads (among them "Seventeen" magazine), and soon moved on to television commercials. A casting director saw her and introduced her to Sergio Leone, who was seeking a young girl to dance in his gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America (1984). Although having little screen time, the few minutes she was on-screen were enough to reveal her talent. Her next role after that was an episode of the British horror anthology TV series Tales of the Unexpected (1979) in 1984.
After Leone's movie, horror master Dario Argento signed her to play her first starring role in his thriller Phenomena (1985). The film made a lot of money in Europe but, unfortunately, was heavily cut for American distribution. Around the same time, she appeared in the rock video "I Drove All Night," a Roy Orbison song, co-starring Jason Priestley. She released a single called "Monologue of Love" in Japan in the mid-1980s, in which she sings in Japanese a charming little song with semi-classical instruments arrangement. On the B-side is "Message Of Love," which is an interview with music in background. She also appeared in television commercials in Japan.
She enrolled at Yale, and then transferred two years later to Stanford. She trained in classical theater and improvisation, studying with the late drama coach Roy London, Howard Fine, and Harold Guskin.
The late 1980s saw her starring in a hit and three lesser seen films. Amongst the latter was her roles in Ballet (1989), as a ballerina and in Some Girls (1988), where she played a self-absorbed college freshman. The hit was Labyrinth (1986), released in 1986. Jennifer got the job after a nationwide talent search for the lead in this fantasy directed by Jim Henson and produced by George Lucas. Her career entered in a calm phase after those films, until Dennis Hopper, who was impressed after having seen her in "Some Girls", cast Jennifer as an ingénue small-town girl in The Hot Spot (1990), based upon the 1950s crime novel "Hell Hath No Fury". It received mixed critical reviews, but it was not a box office success.
The Rocketeer (1991), an ambitious Touchstone super-production, came to the rescue. The film was an old-fashioned adventure flick about a man capable of flying with rockets on his back. Critics saw in "Rocketeer" a top-quality movie, a homage to those old films of the 1930s in which the likes of Errol Flynn starred. After "Rocketeer," Jennifer made Career Opportunities (1991), The Heart of Justice (1992), Mulholland Falls (1996), her first collaboration with Nick Nolte and Inventing the Abbotts (1997). In 1998, she was invited by director Alex Proyas to make Dark City (1998), a strange, visually stunning science-fiction extravaganza. In this movie, Jennifer played the main character's wife, and she delivered an acclaimed performance. The film itself didn't break any box-office record but received positive reviews. This led Jennifer to a contract with Fox for the television series The $treet (2000), a main part in the memorable and dramatic love-story Waking the Dead (2000) and, more important, a breakthrough part in the polemic and applauded independent Requiem for a Dream (2000), a tale about the haunting lives of drug addicts and the subsequent process of decadence and destruction. In "Requiem for a Dream," Jennifer had her career's most courageous, difficult part, a performance that earned her a Spirit Award Nomination. She followed this role with Pollock (2000), in which she played Pollock's mistress, Ruth Klingman. In 2001, Ron Howard chose her to co-star with Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind (2001), the film that tells the true story of John Nash, a man who suffered from mental illness but eventually beats this and wins the Nobel Prize in 1994. Jennifer played Nash's wife and won a Golden Globe, BAFTA, AFI and Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. Connelly continued her career with films including Hulk (2003), her second collaboration with Nick Nolte, Dark Water (2005), Blood Diamond (2006), The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), He's Just Not That Into You (2009) and Noah (2014), where she did her second collaboration with both Darren Aronofsky and Russell Crowe and made her third collaboration with Nick Nolte in that same film.
Jennifer lives in New York. She is 5'7", and speaks fluent Italian and French. She enjoys physical activities such as swimming, gymnastics, and bike riding. She is also an outdoors person -- camping, hiking and walking, and is interested in quantum physics and philosophy. She likes horses, Pearl Jam, SoundGarden, Jesus Jones, and occasionally wears a small picture of the The Dalai Lama on a necklace. Her favorite colors are cobalt blue, forest green, and "very pale green/gray -- sort of like the color of the sea". She likes to draw.1705 points- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Matthew Paige Damon was born on October 8, 1970, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Kent Damon, a stockbroker, realtor and tax preparer, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University. Matt has an older brother, Kyle, a sculptor. His father was of English and Scottish descent, and his mother is of Finnish and Swedish ancestry. The family lived in Newton until his parents divorced in 1973, when Damon and his brother moved with his mother to Cambridge. He grew up in a stable community, and was raised near actor Ben Affleck.
Damon attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and he performed in a number of theater productions during his time there. He attended Harvard University as an English major. While in Harvard, he kept on skipping classes to pursue acting projects, which included the TNT original film, Rising Son (1990), and prep-school drama, School Ties (1992). It was until his film, Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), was expected to be a big success that he decided to drop out of university completely. Arriving in Hollywood, Matt managed to get his first break with a part in the romantic comedy, Mystic Pizza (1988). However, the film did not do too well and his film career failed to take off. Not letting failure discourage him from acting, he went for another audition, and managed to get a starring role in School Ties (1992). Up next for Matt was a role as a soldier who had problems with drug-addiction in the movie, Courage Under Fire (1996). Matt had, in fact, lost forty pounds for his role which resulted in health problems.
The following year, he garnered accolades for Good Will Hunting (1997), a screenplay he had originally written for an English class at Harvard University. Good Will Hunting (1997) was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, one of which, Matt won for Best Original Screenplay along with Ben Affleck. In the year 1998, Matt played the title role in Steven Spielberg's film, Saving Private Ryan (1998), which was one of the most acclaimed films in that year. Matt had the opportunity of working with Tom Hanks and Vin Diesel while filming that movie. That same year, he starred as an earnest law student and reformed poker player in Rounders (1998), starring opposite Edward Norton and John Malkovich. The next year, Matt rejoined his childhood friend, Ben Affleck and fellow comedian, Chris Rock, in the comedy Dogma (1999).
Towards the end of 1999, Matt played "Tom Ripley", a working-class young man who tastes the good life and will do anything to live it. Both Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow also starred in the movie. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) earned mixed reviews from critics, but even so, Matt earned praise for his performance. Matt lent his voice to the animated movie, Titan A.E. (2000) in the year 2000, which also earned mixed reviews from the public. He also starred in two other movies, All the Pretty Horses (2000) and the golf comedy-drama, The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000), starring alongside Will Smith. In the year 2003, he signed on to star in The Informant! (2009) by Steven Soderbergh and the Farrelly Brothers' Stuck on You (2003). He also starred in Gerry (2002), a film he co-wrote with his friends, Gus Van Sant and Casey Affleck. One of Matt's most recognizable work to date is his role in the "Bourne" movie franchise. He plays an amnesiac assassin, "Jason Bourne", in The Bourne Identity (2002), The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). Another praised role is that as "Linus Caldwell" in the "Ocean's" movie franchise. He had the opportunity to star opposite George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Don Cheadle in Ocean's Eleven (2001). The successful crime comedy-drama eventually had two other sequels, Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). Among other highly acclaimed movies that Matt has been a part of are Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm (2005), George Clooney's Syriana (2005), Martin Scorsese's The Departed (2006) and Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd (2006).
In his personal life, Matt is now happily married to Argentine-born Luciana Barroso, whom he met in Miami, where she was working as a bartender. They married in a private civil ceremony on December 9, 2005, at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau. The couple have four daughters Alexia, Luciana's daughter from a previous relationship, as well as Isabella, Gia and Stella. Matt is a big fan of the Boston Red Sox and he tries to attend their games whenever possible. He has also formed great friendships with his Ocean's co-stars, George Clooney and Brad Pitt, whom he works on charity projects with. He and actor Ben Affleck have remained lifelong friends and collaborators.1688 points- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Marisol Padilla Sánchez is an American actress born on June 7, in Los Angeles, California, She is known for her profound dramatic roles in L.A. Confidential (1997), Traffic (2000) and Before Night Falls (2000) amongst others. Her mother Daniela Valli, a Mexican Actress and Trapeze Artist, and is most likely a daughter to David Cassidy, an American actor and singer best known by the public for his role as Keith Partridge on The Partridge Family (1970).
Marisol was raised in Mexico and never thought about becoming an actress until, while She was waiting in the gardens of Churubusco studios in Mexico City where her mother was working as an actress, a man came and said he was David Lynch's assistant and invited her to be on a film a space odyssey, Dune (1984). She was 14 years old.
She discovered the power of her imagination and fell in love with Acting. To avoid becoming a pop Televisa star and better learn the art of acting She moved back to her birthplace Los Angeles to meet and find the man whom her mother told was her father and to search for a great Acting school.
A couple of years later she visited New York to study at The Actors Studio New York and was also fortunate to attend classes directly with Stella Adler, Uta Hagen, Sanford Meisner, years later She was introduced by her manager Davien Littlefield to Acting Teacher Tony Greco, who changed the course of her life as an Actress and a human being, She studied with him for several years. Tony was a long time assistant to Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio NY.
From NY theaters, TV shows, to featured films in Hollywood, Marisol's acting career progressed quickly allowing her to work with renowned directors like Wim Wenders, Curtis Hanson, Julian Schnabel, Steven Soderbergh, and many others.
Among her many awarded films where She appeared, two of them won plural Oscar awards, L.A. Confidential (1997) and Traffic (2000).
She met her father and began a story that for the love of her children needs to unfold.
Marisol now lives in Guadalajara, Mexico with her husband and children, where she continues to work as an Actress and influencing a great generation of Filmmakers.
She is the creator of The Acting Lab Studio where she is also a Teacher sharing her experience and artistic passion with Actors who want to succeed and learn how to create more meaningful Acting roles.
Marisol wants to cultivate a new breed of Film Artists who wish to be a part of a new world formed of Actors and Filmmakers with greater inspiration in humanity.
Marisol believes Guadalajara (Guillermo del Toro's land) will be the new Meca of Cinema in a few years.
She has discovered a goldmine of great Talent in Mexico and is a great inspiration to be part of this new beginning.1683 points- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
Glenn Fitzgerald is an actor of stage, film, and television.
Film roles include: Lonnie, the son of Alan Alda and Lily Tomlin in David O. Russell's cult classic Flirting with Disaster; Neil, the boy at the "key party" that goes home with Sigourney Weaver in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm; the Hasidic scholar husband of Renee Zellwegger in A Price Above Rubies; the uptight assistant to Sean Connery in Gus Van Sant's Finding Forester; and the earnest antique dealer in love with Bruce Willis' wife in M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense.
He has also played diverse roles in several indies including: a terminally ill pacifist forced to fight for his life in Series 7; a sociopathic skinhead opposite Ryan Gosling in The Believer; the sensitive, kind brother in Tully; and the reckless, drug-addled tank commander opposite Joaquin Phoenix in Buffalo Soldiers.
Between film jobs Glenn has built a respected stage career, originating roles in Jon Robin Baitz's Mizlansky/Zilinsky, opposite Nathan Lane and directed by Joe Mantello; Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero (nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor), Will Eno's The Realistic Joneses at Yale Rep with Tracy Letts and Parker Posey, directed by Sam Gold and David Lindsay-Abaire's Ripcord with Holland Taylor.
He's appeared in innovative productions of classic plays such as Hedda Gabler at New York Theatre Workshop directed by Ivo van Hove; The Importance of Being Earnest at Williamstown Theater Festival directed by David Hyde Pierce and starring Tyne Daly; CSC's Ivanov and Hamlet directed by Austin Pendleton alongside Ethan Hawke and Peter Sarsgaard; and Othello directed by Sam Gold at New York Theatre Workshop with Daniel Craig and David Oyelowo.
Television credits include series regular Brian Darling on ABC's Dirty Sexy Money, and guest starring roles on Six Feet Under, Billions, Madam Secretary, Elementary, Law and Order, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Homicide, and CSI:Miami.
Glenn is also a photographer whose intimate, behind-the-scenes portraits of theater productions have been featured in the New York Times.1668 points- Actress
- Composer
- Additional Crew
Bronagh Gallagher is an Irish-born singer and actress. Born in 1972 in Northern Ireland, Bronagh became involved in the performing arts, including music and drama during her teenage years. She later joined a local amateur drama group known as the Oakgrove Theatre Company. Bronagh made her screen debut in 1989, starting mostly on television series. Her first big feature film appearance was in Alan Parker 's The Commitments (1991) followed three years later in Quentin Tarantino 's Pulp Fiction (1994). Five years after that she appeared in George Lucas's film prequel Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). Rolling into the 21st century, Bronagh's work balanced out evenly between television and film. Further film appearances included Tristan + Isolde (2006) and Sherlock Holmes (2009). Her additional television work included Holby City (1999), The Bill (1984), The Field of Blood (2011) and in 2012 Pramface (2012). Bronagh still remains active as a singer as well as a musician.1641 points- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Uma Karuna Thurman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, into a highly unorthodox and internationally-minded family. She is the daughter of Nena Thurman (née Birgitte Caroline von Schlebrügge), a fashion model and socialite who now runs a mountain retreat, and of Robert Thurman (Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman), a professor and academic who is one of the nation's foremost Buddhist scholars. Uma's mother was born in Mexico City, Mexico, to a German father and a Swedish mother (who herself was of Swedish, Danish, and German descent). Uma's father, a New Yorker, has English, Scots-Irish, Scottish, and German ancestry. Uma grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts, where her father worked at Amherst College.
She and her siblings all have names deriving from Buddhist mythology; and Middle American behavior was little understood, much less pursued. And so it was that the young Thurman confronted childhood with an odd name and eccentric home life -- and nature seemingly conspired against her as well. She is six feet tall, and from an early age towered over everyone else in class. Her famously large feet would soon sprout to size 11 -- and even beyond that -- and although they would eventually be lovingly filmed by director Quentin Tarantino, as a child she generally wore the biggest shoes in class, which only provided another subject of ridicule. Even her long nose moved one of her mother's friends to helpfully suggest rhinoplasty -- to the ten-year-old Thurman. To make matters worse yet, the family constantly relocated, making the gangly, socially inept Thurman perpetually the new kid in class. The result was an exceptionally awkward, self-conscious, lonely and alienated childhood.
Unsurprisingly, the young Thurman enjoyed making believe she was someone other than herself, and so thrived at acting in school plays -- her sole successful extracurricular activity. This interest, and her lanky frame, perfect for modeling, led the 15-year-old Thurman to New York City for high school and modeling work (including a layout in Glamour Magazine) as she sought acting roles. The roles soon came, starting with a few formulaic and forgettable Hollywood products, but immediately followed by Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) and Stephen Frears' Dangerous Liaisons (1988), both of which brought much attention to her unorthodox sensuality and performances that intriguingly combined innocence and worldliness. The weird, gangly girl became a sex symbol virtually overnight.
Thurman continued to be offered good roles in Hollywood pictures into the early '90s, the least commercially successful but probably best-known of which was her smoldering, astonishingly-adult performance as June, Henry Miller's wife, in Henry & June (1990), the first movie to actually receive the dreaded NC-17 rating in the USA. After a celebrated start, Thurman's career stalled in the early '90s with movies such as the mediocre Mad Dog and Glory (1993). Worse, her first starring role was in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993), which had endured a tortured journey from cult-favorite book to big-budget movie, and was a critical and financial debacle. Fortunately, Uma bounced back with a brilliant performance as Mia Wallace, that most unorthodox of all gangster's molls, in Tarantino's lauded, hugely successful Pulp Fiction (1994), a role for which Thurman received an Academy Award nomination.
Since then, Thurman has had periods of flirting with roles in arty independents such as A Month by the Lake (1995), and supporting roles in which she has lent some glamorous presence to a mixed batch of movies, such as Beautiful Girls (1996) and The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996). Thurman returned to smaller films after playing the villainess Poison Ivy in the reviled Joel Schumacher effort Batman & Robin (1997) and Emma Peel in a remake of The Avengers (1998). She worked with Woody Allen and Sean Penn on Sweet and Lowdown (1999), and starred in Richard Linklater's drama Tape (2001) opposite Hawke. Thurman also won a Golden Globe award for her turn in the made-for-television film Hysterical Blindness (2002), directed by Mira Nair.
A return to the mainstream spotlight came when Thurman re-teamed with Quentin Tarantino for Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), a revenge flick the two had dreamed up on the set of Pulp Fiction (1994). She also turned up in the John Woo cautioner Paycheck (2003) that same year. The renewed attention was not altogether welcome because Thurman was dealing with the break-up of her marriage with Hawke at about this time. Thurman handled the situation with grace, however, and took her surging popularity in stride. She garnered critical acclaim for her work in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) and was hailed as Tarantino's muse. Thurman reunited with Pulp Fiction (1994) dance partner John Travolta for the Get Shorty (1995) sequel Be Cool (2005) and played Ulla in The Producers (2005).
Thurman had been briefly married to Gary Oldman, from 1990 to 1992. In 1998, she married Ethan Hawke, her co-star in the offbeat futuristic thriller Gattaca (1997). The couple had two children, Levon and Maya. Hawke and Thurman filed for divorce in 2004.1507 points- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Known outside her native country as the "Spanish enchantress," Penélope Cruz Sánchez was born in Madrid to Eduardo Cruz, a retailer, and Encarna Sánchez, a hairdresser. As a toddler, she was already a compulsive performer, re-enacting TV commercials for her family's amusement, but she decided to focus her energies on dance. After studying classical ballet for nine years at Spain's National Conservatory, she continued her training under a series of prominent dancers. At 15, however, she heeded her true calling when she bested more than 300 other girls at a talent agency audition. The resulting contract landed her several roles in Spanish TV shows and music videos, which in turn paved the way for a career on the big screen. Cruz made her movie debut in El laberinto griego (1993) (The Greek Labyrinth), then appeared briefly in the Timothy Dalton thriller Framed (1992). Her third film was the Oscar-winning Belle Epoque (1992), in which she played one of four sisters vying for the love of a handsome army deserter. The film also garnered several Goyas, the Spanish equivalent of the Academy Awards. Her resume continued to grow by three or four films each year, and soon Cruz was a leading lady of Spanish cinema. Live Flesh (1997) (Live Flesh) offered her the chance to work with renowned Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar (who would later be her ticket to international fame), and the same year she was the lead actress in the thriller/drama/mystery/sci-fi film Open Your Eyes (1997), a huge hit in Spain that earned eight Goyas (though none for Cruz). Her luck finally changed in 1998, when the movie-industry comedy The Girl of Your Dreams (1998) won her a Best Actress Goya. Cruz made a few more forays into English-language film, but her first big international hit was Almodóvar's All About My Mother (1999), in which she played an unchaste but well-meaning nun. As the film was showered with awards and accolades, Cruz suddenly found herself in demand on both sides of the Atlantic. Her next big project was Woman on Top (2000), an American comedy about a chef with bewitching culinary skills and a severe case of motion sickness. While in the US, she also signed up to star opposite Johnny Depp in the drug-trafficking drama Blow (2001) and opposite Matt Damon in Billy Bob Thornton's All the Pretty Horses (2000). Cruz says she's wary of being typecast as a beautiful young damsel, but it's hard to imagine disguising her wide-eyed charms and generous nature. Fortunately, with Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky (2001) (a remake of Open Your Eyes (1997)) and a John Madden collaboration looming in her future, Damsel Penelope isn't likely to disappear just yet.1465 points- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Ask Kate Winslet what she likes about any of her characters, and the word "ballsy" is bound to pop up at least once. The British actress has made a point of eschewing straightforward pretty-girl parts in favor of more devilish damsels; as a result, she's built an eclectic resume that runs the gamut from Shakespearean tragedy to modern-day mysticism and erotica.
Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born in Reading, Berkshire, into a family of thespians -- parents Roger Winslet and Sally Anne Bridges-Winslet were both stage actors, maternal grandparents Oliver and Linda Bridges ran the Reading Repertory Theatre, and uncle Robert Bridges was a fixture in London's West End theatre district. Kate came into her talent at an early age. She scored her first professional gig at eleven, dancing opposite the Honey Monster in a commercial for a kids' cereal. She started acting lessons around the same time, which led to formal training at a performing arts high school. Over the next few years, she appeared on stage regularly and landed a few bit parts in sitcoms. Her first big break came at age 17, when she was cast as an obsessive adolescent in Heavenly Creatures (1994). The film, based on the true story of two fantasy-gripped girls who commit a brutal murder, received modest distribution but was roundly praised by critics.
Still a relative unknown, Winslet attended a cattle call audition the next year for Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility (1995). She made an immediate impression on the film's star, Emma Thompson, and beat out more than a hundred other hopefuls for the part of plucky Marianne Dashwood. Her efforts were rewarded with both a British Academy Award and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Winslet followed up with two more period pieces, playing the rebellious heroine in Jude (1996) and Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996).
The role that transformed Winslet from art house attraction to international star was Rose DeWitt Bukater, the passionate, rosy-cheeked aristocrat in James Cameron's Titanic (1997). Young girls the world over both idolized and identified with Winslet, swooning over all that face time opposite heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio and noting her refreshingly healthy, unemaciated physique. Winslet's performance also garnered a Best Actress nomination, making her the youngest actress to ever receive two Academy Award nominations.
After the swell of unexpected attention surrounding Titanic (1997), Winslet was eager to retreat into independent projects. Rumor has it that she turned down the lead roles in both Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Anna and the King (1999) in order to play adventurous soul searchers in Hideous Kinky (1998) and Holy Smoke (1999). The former cast her as a young single mother traveling through 1970s Morocco with her daughters in tow; the latter, as a zealous follower of a guru tricked into a "deprogramming" session in the Australian outback. The next year found her back in period dress as the Marquis de Sade's chambermaid and accomplice in Quills (2000). Kate holds the distinction of being the youngest actor ever honored with four Academy Award nominations (she received her fourth at age 29). As of 2016, she has been nominated for an Oscar seven times, winning one of them: she received the Best Actress Oscar for the drama The Reader (2008), playing a former concentration camp guard.
For her performance of Joanna Hoffman in Steve Jobs (2015), she received her seventh Academy Award nomination.
Off camera, Winslet is known for her mischievous pranks and familial devotion. She has two sisters, Anna Winslet and Beth Winslet (both actresses), and a brother, Joss.
In 1998, she married assistant director Jim Threapleton. They had a daughter, Mia Honey Threapleton, in October 2000. They divorced in 2001. She later married director Sam Mendes in 2003 and gave birth to their son, Joe Alfie Winslet-Mendes, later that year. After seven years of marriage, in February 2010 they announced that they had amicably separated, and divorced in October 2010. In 2012, Kate married Ned Rocknroll, with whom she has a son. She was awarded Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to Drama.1445 points- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Juliette Lewis has been recognized as one of Hollywood's most talented and versatile actors of her generation since she first stunned audiences and critics alike with her Oscar-nominated performance as "Danielle Bowden" in Cape Fear (1991). To date, she has worked with some of the most revered directors in the industry, including Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Lasse Hallström, Oliver Stone, and Garry Marshall. Whether lending dramatic authenticity or a natural comedic flair to her roles, Lewis graces the screen with remarkable range and an original and captivating style.
Lewis was born in Los Angeles, Californa, to Glenis (Duggan) Batley, a graphic designer, and Geoffrey Lewis, an actor. By the age of six, she knew she wanted to be a performer. At twelve, Lewis landed her first leading role in the Showtime miniseries Home Fires (1987). After appearing in several TV sitcoms including The Wonder Years (1988), she made her move to film, starring with Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) and with Jennifer Jason Leigh in the drama Crooked Hearts (1991). At 16, Lewis starred opposite Brad Pitt in the critically acclaimed television movie Too Young to Die? (1990), catching the attention of Martin Scorsese, who cast her in his thriller Cape Fear (1991). Her powerful scenes with Robert De Niro captured the quiet complexities of adolescence and earned her an Oscar nomination and Golden Globe nomination for "Best Supporting Actress". Her auditorium scene with De Niro went down in movie history as one of cinema's classic scenes.
Lewis next worked with Woody Allen in Husbands and Wives (1992), playing a self-assured college coed with a penchant for older men and, particularly, her married professor. She quickly followed suit with a succession of starring roles in a variety of blockbusters and critically acclaimed projects including Kalifornia (1993), Romeo Is Bleeding (1993), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), and Natural Born Killers (1994), Oliver Stone's controversial media satire about two mass murderers who become legendary folk heroes. Lewis's other credits include the Nora Ephron comedy Mixed Nuts (1994), with Steve Martin and Adam Sandler; the sci-fi action film Strange Days (1995) with Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett; Quentin Tarantino's vampire tale From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) with George Clooney; The Evening Star (1996) with Shirley MacLaine; the Garry Marshall-directed The Other Sister (1999), and Todd Phillips' Old School (2003), co-starring opposite Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Will Ferrell as well as Starsky & Hutch (2004). In addition to her film career, Lewis has continued to add roles to her growing list of television credits with a performance in Showtime's My Louisiana Sky (2001), for which she secured an EMMY nomination, and a starring role in the Mira Nair-directed HBO's film Hysterical Blindness (2002), alongside Uma Thurman and Gena Rowlands.
After a six-year hiatus from film to pursue her burgeoning music career exclusively, Lewis announced her return to acting with a handful of upcoming movies. Juliette starred alongside Elliot Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig and Jimmy Fallon in the comedy Whip It (2009). The film was released by Fox Searchlight on October 2nd, 2009. Directed by Drew Barrymore, the film tells the story of an ex-beauty pageant contestant that leaves her crowns behind after joining a roller derby team. Lewis plays "Iron Maven", the star of a top derby team. Next, she joined the cast of the acclaimed European animated thriller Metropia (2009), as the voice of "Nina". She also appeared in the romantic comedy The Switch (2010), opposite Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, and Patrick Wilson. The film tells the story of a single mother (Aniston) who decides to have a child using a sperm donor. Juliette plays "Debbie Epstein", the best friend of Aniston's character. Lewis also appears in Sympathy for Delicious (2010), Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut. The film follows a paralyzed DJ, struggling to survive on the streets of LA who turns to faith healing and mysteriously develops the ability to cure the sick. Juliette plays "Ariel", costarring alongside Orlando Bloom, Mark Ruffalo, and Laura Linney. The film took home the US Dramatic Special Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Most recently, Juliette Lewis appears in the indie-drama Conviction (2010), which stars Hilary Swank, Melissa Leo, Minnie Driver, and Sam Rockwell. She plays "Roseanna Perry" in the true story of an unemployed single mother (Swank) who saw her brother begin serving a life sentence in 1983 for murder and robbery. The role has won Lewis praise from audiences and critics, alike, for her performance, with USA Today saying, "Juliette Lewis has an indelible role" and the San Francisco Chronicle saying "Her character work should be studied in schools. Just remarkable". In addition to Conviction (2010), Lewis also makes a cameo in Todd Phillips's comedy, Due Date (2010), starring Robert Downey Jr., Michelle Monaghan, and Zach Galifianakis.
Beginning in 2004, Juliette took a hiatus from acting to embark on a musical journey. After six years, two full length albums and countless high profile tours and festival gigs with her band, 'Juliette & the Licks', Juliette set out on a solo career. Releasing "Terra Incognita" last fall, the album has taken her all across the world from Europe to Japan to Turkey, Australia, North America and Canada. For more information on Juliette Lewis' music, please visit her MySpace page. Juliette Lewis resides in Los Angeles.1440 points- Actor
- Producer
- Executive
Barry Robert Pepper was born on April 4, 1970, in Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada. He has two older brothers named Alex and Doug Pepper. The Peppers didn't stick around Campbell River for too long. They had been building a ship in their backyard for years. When Barry was five years old, the ship was done and the family set sail. The ship, named "The Moonlighter," was a 50-foot craft that would be their home for the next five years. They navigated through the South Pacific islands, using only a sextant and the stars as guides. While visiting such exotic locales as Fiji and Tahiti, Barry was educated through correspondence courses and sometimes enrolled in public schools. He grew up around Polynesian children and credits them for his love of dance, music and other expressive arts. Barry had plenty of time to practice his newfound loves, too. Without television as entertainment on the ship, the family relied on games and sketch acting for fun. When the five-year cruise was over, the Peppers returned to their native Canada, where they set up shop on a small island off the West Coast near Vancouver. They built a farm on the outskirts of a small artists' town, which was populated mainly by hippies, poets, musicians and other craftsmen. While in high school, Barry was enthusiastic about art and excelled in sports. In addition to playing volleyball, he was an excellent rugby player. He graduated in 1988 from George P. Vanier High School in Courtenay and then enrolled in college and majored in marketing and graphic design, but after getting involved with the Vancouver Actors Studio, he changed his course. Once again, he was using "the stars" to navigate. Barry landed his first role on Madison (1993) (a sort of Canadian 90210) and other prominent television series before moving on to more prestigious roles in the US. Television movies followed, most notably the mini-series Titanic (1996), which costarred George C. Scott. Still, Barry's career really wasn't taking off. He was a hard-working actor, but not a star. That all changed in 1998. After a string of big screen duds, Pepper obtained his breakthrough role as a Bible-quoting sniper in Steven Spielberg's WW II drama Saving Private Ryan (1998). With the success of the film came sudden stardom for its cast--complete with photo spreads, interviews and even some Oscar buzz. Barry followed the film with a small but noteworthy role in the blockbuster, Enemy of the State (1998) opposite Will Smith and Gene Hackman. Next he co-starred in an Oscar-worthy film starring Tom Hanks: Stephen King's The Green Mile (1999). Barry received much critical acclaim in 2001 for his portrayal of Roger Maris in the made-for-cable drama about the 1961 home run race between Maris and Mickey Mantle called 61* (2001).1438 points- Jon Seda's first passion was to be a championship boxer. After taking runner-up in the NJ Golden Gloves, the 1992 Olympics was the next goal. That's when fate stepped in; at his first audition, for Gladiator (1992), he was given a co-starring role! Since then he has branched off into numerous television and film roles. He has garnered critical acclaim for his roles in such films as I Like It Like That (1994), The Sunchaser (1996), Selena (1997), Undisputed (2002), and in television for his roles in Homicide: Life on the Street (1993), UC: Undercover (2001), Third Watch (1999), Oz (1997), NBC Chicago PD, and he also starred as Marine Sgt. John "Manila" Basilone in HBO's award-winning mini series The Pacific (2010).1392 points
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Grégoire Colin was born on 25 July 1975 in Châtenay-Malabry, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He is an actor and director, known for On the Edge (2012), La baie du renard (2009) and Nénette and Boni (1996).1312 points- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Wojciech Klata was born on 27 January 1976 in Warsaw, Poland. He is an actor and assistant director, known for Schindler's List (1993), Boys Don't Cry (2000) and The Decalogue (1989).1301 points- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of noted producer and director Bruce Paltrow and Tony Award-winning actress Blythe Danner. Her father was from a Jewish family, while her mother is of mostly German descent. When Gwyneth was eleven, the family moved to Massachusetts, where her father began working in summer stock productions in the Berkshires. It was here that she received her early acting training under the tutelage of her parents. She graduated from the all-girls Spence School in New York City and moved to California where she attended the UC Santa Barbara, majoring in Art History. She soon quit, realizing it was not her passion. She made her film debut with a small part in Shout (1991) and for the next five years had featured roles in a mixed bag of film fare that included Flesh and Bone (1993); Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994); Se7en (1995); Jefferson in Paris (1995); Moonlight and Valentino (1995); and The Pallbearer (1996). It was her performance in the title role of Emma Woodhouse in Emma (1996) that led to her being offered the role of Viola in Shakespeare in Love (1998), for which she was awarded the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Her roles have also included The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Shallow Hal (2001), Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), Proof (2005), Iron Man (2008), Two Lovers (2008), and Country Strong (2010). She has two children with her former husband, English musician Chris Martin.1273 points- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Giuseppe Andrews was born in Key Largo, Florida. His birth name is Joey Murcia Jr, but as he grew up he thought his name sounded too young and changed it to Giuseppe after Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. After his parents divorced, Andrews became interested in acting. He and his father moved to Los Angeles because of his father's work, and for a time lived in a van. One day he saw an ad in a magazine for auditions for an agency and decided to go for it. He was signed up and says that it was really hard to get into the industry, but he was very lucky.
Since that time he has been in many films, television movies and programs, and music videos. He is best known as his role for Lex in Detroit Rock City (1999) and for his role as Germ on the TV series Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place (1998). He can also be seen in The Smashing Pumpkins "1979" music video and their "Perfect" music video. His next goal is to be more involved behind a camera, like writing and directing his own films. He also writes music and hopes to combine them into his future films, too.1273 points- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Few actors in the world have had a career quite as diverse as Leonardo DiCaprio's. DiCaprio has gone from relatively humble beginnings, as a supporting cast member of the sitcom Growing Pains (1985) and low budget horror movies, such as Critters 3 (1991), to a major teenage heartthrob in the 1990s, as the hunky lead actor in movies such as Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Titanic (1997), to then become a leading man in Hollywood blockbusters, made by internationally renowned directors such as Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan.
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio was born in Los Angeles, California, the only child of Irmelin DiCaprio (née Indenbirken) and former comic book artist George DiCaprio. His father is of Italian and German descent, and his mother, who is German-born, is of German, Ukrainian and Russian ancestry. His middle name, "Wilhelm", was his maternal grandfather's first name. Leonardo's father had achieved minor status as an artist and distributor of cult comic book titles, and was even depicted in several issues of American Splendor, the cult semi-autobiographical comic book series by the late 'Harvey Pekar', a friend of George's. Leonardo's performance skills became obvious to his parents early on, and after signing him up with a talent agent who wanted Leonardo to perform under the stage name "Lenny Williams", DiCaprio began appearing on a number of television commercials and educational programs.
DiCaprio began attracting the attention of producers, who cast him in small roles in a number of television series, such as Roseanne (1988) and The New Lassie (1989), but it wasn't until 1991 that DiCaprio made his film debut in Critters 3 (1991), a low-budget horror movie. While Critters 3 (1991) did little to help showcase DiCaprio's acting abilities, it did help him develop his show-reel, and attract the attention of the people behind the hit sitcom Growing Pains (1985), in which Leonardo was cast in the "Cousin Oliver" role of a young homeless boy who moves in with the Seavers. While DiCaprio's stint on Growing Pains (1985) was very short, as the sitcom was axed the year after he joined, it helped bring DiCaprio into the public's attention and, after the sitcom ended, DiCaprio began auditioning for roles in which he would get the chance to prove his acting chops.
Leonardo took up a diverse range of roles in the early 1990s, including a mentally challenged youth in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), a young gunslinger in The Quick and the Dead (1995) and a drug addict in one of his most challenging roles to date, Jim Carroll in The Basketball Diaries (1995), a role which the late River Phoenix originally expressed interest in. While these diverse roles helped establish Leonardo's reputation as an actor, it wasn't until his role as Romeo Montague in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996) that Leonardo became a household name, a true movie star. The following year, DiCaprio starred in another movie about doomed lovers, Titanic (1997), which went on to beat all box office records held before then, as, at the time, Titanic (1997) became the highest grossing movie of all time, and cemented DiCaprio's reputation as a teen heartthrob. Following his work on Titanic (1997), DiCaprio kept a low profile for a number of years, with roles in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) and the low-budget The Beach (2000) being some of his few notable roles during this period.
In 2002, he burst back into screens throughout the world with leading roles in Catch Me If You Can (2002) and Gangs of New York (2002), his first of many collaborations with director Martin Scorsese. With a current salary of $20 million a movie, DiCaprio is now one of the biggest movie stars in the world. However, he has not limited his professional career to just acting in movies, as DiCaprio is a committed environmentalist, who is actively involved in many environmental causes, and his commitment to this issue led to his involvement in The 11th Hour, a documentary movie about the state of the natural environment. As someone who has gone from small roles in television commercials to one of the most respected actors in the world, DiCaprio has had one of the most diverse careers in cinema. DiCaprio continued to defy conventions about the types of roles he would accept, and with his career now seeing him leading all-star casts in action thrillers such as The Departed (2006), Shutter Island (2010) and Christopher Nolan's Inception (2010), DiCaprio continues to wow audiences by refusing to conform to any cliché about actors.
In 2012, he played a mustache twirling villain in Django Unchained (2012), and then tragic literary character Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (2013) and Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).
DiCaprio is passionate about environmental and humanitarian causes, having donated $1,000,000 to earthquake relief efforts in 2010, the same year he contributed $1,000,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Society.1255 points- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Zack Ward was born in 1970. He wanted to act, but his mom, an actress herself, wanted her son to be normal, and would not let him. Finally, his brother intervened, allowing Zack the chance to act. After a year of the small stuff, he got his first big audition for the '80s classic A Christmas Story (1983). About 300 kids showed up for the part (originally he was the sidekick, Grover), and he kept getting called back until it was him and one other redhead. He won the role. On the first set, in Cleveland, the director told him that he was to play the part of Scut Farcus instead of Grover. This was his breakthrough.1231 points- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Matt Ross was born on 3 January 1970 in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Captain Fantastic (2016), American Psycho (2000) and Face/Off (1997).1213 points- Actor
- Soundtrack
With charm to spare and dark, unassumingly handsome looks, British actor Ben Chaplin arrived on the Hollywood scene in smart and sexy fashion with the comedy The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996). While his habit for avoiding mainstream artificiality in favor of small, intense, independent vehicles is quite intact, in retrospect it looks as if he has purposely avoided glossy Hollywood stardom in search of quality work.
Chaplin was born Benedict John Greenwood in Windsor, England, where he was raised, the youngest of four children of Cynthia (Chaplin), a drama teacher, and Peter Greenwood, a civil engineer. He first developed an interest in acting while appearing in a school play. He attended London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, but did not conform well to the school's program layout and left after his first year to scout out the local theatre scene. A one-time statistician for the London Transport Authority during his fledgling years as a young actor, he made his TV debut in 1990. His first role of note occurred with a co-starring role in the TV-movie Bye Bye Baby (1992). This led to an introduction to film-making with a small part as a footman in the Merchant Ivory period drama The Remains of the Day (1993) starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. After a breakthrough playing a social misfit in the film Feast of July (1995) and a show-stopping, offbeat role in the BBC TV series Game-On (1995), Hollywood quickly took notice and he was offered the role of the photographer who gets caught between two women in The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996) co-starring Uma Thurman and Janeane Garofalo.
Just as in acting school, he was unwilling to conform to the Hollywood system and immediately sought out work on the London stage. Following theatre roles in "The Neighbour" (1993) and "Peaches" (1994), he earned winning reviews and an Olivier Award nomination for his compelling portrayal of Tom Wingfield opposite theatre legend Zoë Wanamaker in "The Glass Menagerie" on the London stage.
Quite in demand by this time for films he appeared alongside Jennifer Jason Leigh and Albert Finney in Washington Square (1997), Agnieszka Holland version of the Henry James novel that had previously appeared on screen as The Heiress (1949) starring Montgomery Clift and winning Olivia de Havilland the Academy Award for Best Actress of 1949. This period piece failed to achieve its predecessor's financial success or critical praise, but Ben did receive kudos for his touching performance in the role of Private Bell in Terrence Malick much-admired remake of The Thin Red Line (1998).
Since then Ben has concentrated on risk-taking and quality rather than on mainstream filming. In the exorcist-themed Lost Souls (2000) he played an atheistic crime writer deemed to become Satan himself; played a modest bank clerk who tangles with a Russian mail-order bride (Nicole Kidman) in Birthday Girl (2001); portrayed Sandra Bullock's rookie partner in the crimer Murder by Numbers (2002); and melded beautifully into a number of period pieces such as The Touch (2002), Stage Beauty (2004), The New World (2005) and Me and Orson Welles (2008).
The dark-eyed, thick-browed, soulful-eyed actor also showed off his transatlantic appeal on stage after making his 2003 Broadway debut in "The Retreat from Moscow" and earning a Tony nomination in the process. Recent filming has included a prime role in yet another portrait of Dorian Gray (2009).1211 points- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Dashiell Raymond Mihok was born on May 24, 1974 in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, to Andrea Mihok (née Cloak) and Raymond Thorne (born Raymond Mihok), both actors, with ties to the New York stage. He is of Czech and British descent. Dash was raised in a trendy artist building. He attended many different schools, including the Bronx High School of Science. During his freshman year in 1988, while going to high school, he participated in City Kids, a foundation in New York City whose purpose is to engage and develop young people through programs dealing with self-esteem, leadership, and communication, which grew into a role on CityKids (1993), a short-lived TV series that starred a group of multi-ethnic teen actors and Jim Henson's Muppets. Dash was part of the group's touring company, which put on productions all over the city.
Much of the New York native's early work was lensed in his hometown. The young actor appeared in guest spots on the NYC-filmed dramas New York Undercover (1994), NYPD Blue (1993), and Law & Order (1990). Mihok made his film debut in the 1994 racially themed independent feature "Black is White" before receiving particularly strong reviews for his role as a mentally unbalanced young man in the CBS-TV movie thriller Murderous Intent (1995), and an appearance in Barry Levinson's hard-hitting Sleepers (1996) followed. While Mihok's performances in these New York-filmed features were strong, he first gained real notice with his featured role in Baz Luhrmann's modern take on Romeo + Juliet (1996).
He was a featured regular on the CBS sitcom Pearl (1996), on which he starred as Rhea Perlman's rebellious son Joey. He also had a recurring role during 1999 on the WB's college drama Felicity (1998) as Lynn, a competitive swimmer attending the fictional University of New York. He has also had a guest appearance on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000).
To date, he has been in a variety of independent and high-budget films, the most recent of which being Hollywoodland (2006) and Firehouse Dog (2007).1211 points- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Minnie Driver was born January 31, 1970 in London and raised in Barbados until she was seven. Her mother, Gaynor Churchward, was a designer and former couture model. Her father, Charles Ronald "Ronnie" Driver, was a businessman. Minnie's mother was her father's mistress while he was still married to his wife. Minnie's sister, Kate Driver, is a manager and producer.
Her breakout role was in the 1995 film Circle of Friends. Minnie then appeared briefly in the James Bond picture Goldeneye. Since then, she has focused on working in a wide tonal range of films. These include several cult classics: Grosse Point Blank, Big Night, and Owning Mahowny; the painted romance of Good Will Hunting (earning an Oscar nomination for best actress in a supporting role); musicals like The Phantom of the Opera; period comedies like the Oscar Wilde classic An Ideal Husband; and Princess Mononoke, the seminal animated Japanese film by Hayao Miyazaki. Minnie has also starred in several family films such as Tarzan, Ella Enchanted, and the 2021 live action Cinderella.
Minnie has a wide-range of television work in place from FX's dark comedy classic The Riches, in which she co-starred with Eddie Izzard, to starring in two network sitcoms including NBC's About A Boy adaptation as well as ABC's Speechless. Both of which ran for several seasons. Minnie also pops up in key guest-starring roles such as her turn as Lorraine Finster on Will & Grace which lasted almost fifteen years and as Cath on the current BBC / HBO comedy Starstruck. Minnie is also starring in the Amazon anthology Modern Love which is on air now (2021).
On September 5, 2008, she gave birth to a boy named Henry Story Driver. She is in a long-term relationship with Addison O'Dea.1205 points- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
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.1194 points- Son of a nurse and a bank employee, Benoît Magimel was born in Paris and grew up there. At age 12, he played Momo in Life Is a Long Quiet River (1988) by Étienne Chatiliez. He stopped his studies at age 16 to become an actor.
But he had a dual personality: on one hand the man of low budget films like A Single Girl (1995), A Minute of Silence (1998), Le roi danse (2000), Déjà mort (1998), Thieves (1996), To Matthieu (2000) alongside Nathalie Baye, The Flower of Evil (2003), Errance (2003), Children of the Century (1999) with Juliette Binoche, The Bridesmaid (2004) with Laura Smet, The Piano Teacher (2001) alongside Isabelle Huppert, and on the other hand also wide audience releases like The Nest (2002), Crimson Rivers 2: Angels of the Apocalypse (2004), Trouble (2005), Strange Gardens (2003), and Sky Fighters (2005).
Charming, ambiguous, talented Benoit Magimel will probably illuminate the next decade, and more.1172 points - Actor
- Soundtrack
River Phoenix was born River Jude Bottom in Madras, Oregon. His mother, Arlyn (Dunetz), a Bronx-born secretary, and his father, John Bottom, a carpenter, met in California in 1968. They worked as itinerant fruit pickers, and later joined the Children of God religious group (John was originally Catholic, while Arlyn was born Jewish). By the time River was two, they were living in South America, where John was the sect's Archbishop of Venezuela. They later left the group and, in 1977, moved back to the United States, changing their last name to "Phoenix". They lived with River's maternal grandparents in Florida, and later moved to Los Angeles. His parents encouraged all of their children to get into movies and, by age ten, River was acting professionally on TV. His film debut was in Explorers (1985), followed rapidly by box-office successes with Stand by Me (1986) and The Mosquito Coast (1986), and as young Indiana in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). His role as Danny Pope in Running on Empty (1988) earned him an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor. His best role was probably Mike, the hustler in My Own Private Idaho (1991).
A dedicated animal-rights activist and environmentalist, River was a strict vegetarian and a member of PeTA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). River was a talented musician as well as an actor, and he played guitar, sang, and wrote songs for his band, Aleka's Attic, which also included his sister Rain Phoenix, while living in Gainsville, Florida. Although the band never released its own album, their song "Across the Way" can be found on PeTA's "Tame Yourself" album, used to fight animal abuse. River was in the middle of filming Dark Blood (2012), playing the character Boy when he died. The film couldn't be finished due to too many unfilmed crucial scenes. His mother was later sued.
River died of acute multiple drug intoxication involving lethal levels of cocaine and morphine at age 23 outside the Viper Room, Johnny Depp's Los Angeles club.1158 points- Agnieszka Krukówna was born on 20 March 1971 in Chorzów, Slaskie, Poland. She is an actress, known for Fluke (1999), Farba (1997) and Schindler's List (1993). She was previously married to Radoslaw Fleischer.1117 points
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Born in 1970 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Paula Malcomson is an extremely prolific film and television actress with numerous credits to her name. Malcomson began her career in the early 1990s with small parts primarily in film before scoring higher-profiles roles in the Oscar-nominated film The Green Mile (1999) and A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001). In 2006, she joined the cast of HBO's Deadwood (2004) in the role of Trixie, and would also go on to appear in creator David Milch's next series, John from Cincinnati (2007). From then on, Malcomson made appearances in a number of high-profile series, including ER (1994), Lost (2004), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), and had regular roles on both Sons of Anarchy (2008) and Caprica (2009) in 2010. As her list of television appearances steadily grew, she also was cast in the role of Katniss' unnamed Mother in the blockbuster adaptation of The Hunger Games (2012). After the release of that film, she also filmed the pilot for Liev Schreiber's Showtime series Ray Donovan (2013).1115 points- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Naidu's first professional acting job, which he won from an open call, was a leading role opposite Michael Keaton in the 1986 film Touch and Go (1986). This was followed by an ABC Afterschool Specials (1972) episode, No Greater Gift (1985), where he played Nick Santana, a 12-year-old boy with a terminal illness. Naidu then appeared in the MacGyver (1985) TV series' first-season episode, To Be a Man (1986) in 1986.
Other early film credits include Where the River Runs Black (1986) opposite Charles Durning and Vice Versa (1988). Between 1988 and 1995 he worked extensively in classical theatre.
Naidu returned to film acting in 1996 with Richard Linklater's SubUrbia (1996), for which he was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male and competed against the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Roy Scheider and Jason Lee.
On screen, Naidu starred in the cult film Office Space (1999), as well as appearing in such films as K-PAX (2001), SUBWAYStories: Tales from the Underground (1997), Requiem for a Dream (2000), Bad Santa (2003), The War Within (2005), The Guru (2002), Waterborne (2005), and Loins of Punjab Presents (2007). He co-starred as a series regular in the sitcom LateLine (1998) and had guest starring roles on the television dramas The Sopranos (1999), The West Wing (1999), and Bored to Death (2009).
Naidu has been working extensively with musicians from the Asian underground music movement for many years as a breakdancer and an M.C. His vocals have appeared on many records, most notably Talvin Singh's mercury award winner "OK".
In 2006, Naidu directed his first feature film Ashes (2010) which had its release in 2010 and for which he won Best Actor accolades from the MIACC Film Festival in New York and the London Asian Film Festival.
Naidu's most recent theatre credits include The Kid Stays in the Picture at the Royal Court Theatre, The Master and Margarita with Complicite, a world tour of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure with Complicite, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui alongside Al Pacino, directed by Simon McBurney and The Little Flower of East Orange alongside Ellen Burstyn at New York's Public Theater directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. In 2001 Naidu's solo theatre piece Darwaza was a sold-out hit at New York's Labyrinth Theatre.1094 points- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Benjamin Géza "Ben" Affleck-Boldt was born on August 15, 1972 in Berkeley, California and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to mother Chris Anne (Boldt), a school teacher, and father Timothy Byers "Tim" Affleck, a social worker. Ben has a younger brother, actor Casey Affleck, who was born in 1975. He is of mostly English, Irish, German, and Scottish ancestry. His middle name, Géza, is after a Hungarian family friend who was a Holocaust survivor.
Affleck wanted to be an actor ever since he could remember, and his first acting experience was for a Burger King commercial, when he was on the PBS mini-series, The Voyage of the Mimi (1984). It was also at that age when Ben met his lifelong friend and fellow actor, Matt Damon. They played little league together and took drama classes together. Ben's teen years consisted of mainly TV movies and small television appearances including Hands of a Stranger (1987) and The Second Voyage of the Mimi (1988). He made his big introduction into feature films in 1993 when he was cast in Dazed and Confused (1993). After that, he did mostly independent films like Kevin Smith's Mallrats (1995) and Chasing Amy (1997) which were great for Ben's career, receiving renowned appreciation for his works at the Sundance film festival. But the success he was having in independent films didn't last much longer and things got a little shaky for Ben. He was living in an apartment with his brother Casey and friend Matt, getting tired of being turned down for the big roles in films and being given the forgettable supporting ones. Since Matt was having the same trouble, they decided to write their own script, where they could call all the shots. So, after finishing the script for Good Will Hunting (1997), they gave it to their agent, Patrick Whitesell, who showed it to a few Hollywood studios, finally being accepted by Castle Rock. It was great news for the two, but Castle Rock wasn't willing to give Ben and Matt the control over the project they were hoping for. It was friend Kevin Smith who took it to the head of Miramax who bought the script giving Ben and Matt the control they wanted and, in December 5, 1997, Good Will Hunting (1997) was released, making the two unknown actors famous. The film was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won two, including Best Original Screenplay for Ben and Matt. The film marked Ben's breakthrough role, in which he was given for the first time the chance to choose roles instead of having to go through grueling auditions constantly.
Affleck chose such roles in the blockbusters Armageddon (1998), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and Pearl Harbor (2001). In the early years of the 2000s, he also starred in the box office hits Changing Lanes (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002), and Daredevil (2003), as well as the disappointing comedies Gigli (2003) and Surviving Christmas (2004). While the mid 2000s were considered a career downturn for Affleck, he received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in Hollywoodland (2006). In the several years following, he played supporting roles, including in the films Smokin' Aces (2006), He's Just Not That Into You (2009), State of Play (2009), and Extract (2009). He ventured into directing in 2007, with the thriller Gone Baby Gone (2007), which starred his brother, Casey Affleck, and was well received. He then directed, co-wrote, and starred in The Town (2010), which was named to the National Board of Review Top Ten Films of the year. For the political thriller Argo (2012), which he directed and starred in, Affleck won the Golden Globe Award and BAFTA Award for Best Director, and the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and BAFTA Award for Best Picture (Affleck's second Oscar win).
In 2014, Affleck headlined the book adaptation thriller Gone Girl (2014). He starred as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), and Justice League (2017). He reprised the role in Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) and he will next appear as Batman in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) and The Flash (2023).
Recently he has given praise-worthy performances in The Way Back (2020) as a recovering alcoholic, The Last Duel (2021) (notably he also co-wrote the script), and a scene-stealing golden globe nominated performance in The Tender Bar (2021).1067 points- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Alison Folland was born on 10 August 1978 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress and director, known for To Die For (1995), The Happening (2008) and Good Will Hunting (1997).1066 points- Actress
- Writer
Mary Kate Schellhardt grew up in an artistic family. Always in acting class, Mary Kate studied in Chicago at the Piven Theatre Workshop where she developed through the Viola Spolin techniques in theatre games.
At the age of 13, she was discovered by casting director Gail Levin, during a nationwide search for the role of "Ellen Grape" in Lasse Hallström's What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). Landing the role, her film career began. During her final two years of high school, she shot Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home (1995), Apollo 13 (1995) and The Great Mom Swap (1995), traveling to film sets in Austin, Los Angeles, and the San Juan Islands.
Determined to lead a normal life outside of her film work, Mary Kate was in plays in high school when she wasn't working professionally. Helplessly in love with the craft, both on screen and on stage, and wanting further knowledge of it, Mary Kate attended Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama, an acting conservatory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
After graduation, Mary Kate moved to Los Angeles and began working in television and film once more. She lived in the artistic mecca of Brooklyn for three years and relocated to Los Angeles from New York in 2014. Currently (2014), she splits her time between the coasts, looking to secure footing in the different arenas of stage, film and television.1063 points- KaDee Strickland was born on 14 December 1975 in Patterson, Georgia, USA. She is an actress, known for Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004), Fever Pitch (2005) and The Grudge (2004). She has been married to Jason Behr since 10 November 2006. They have one child.1051 points
- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
John Yohan Cho was born in Seoul, South Korea, and moved to Los Angeles, California as a child. His father was a Christian minister. Cho was educated at Herbert Hoover High School at Glendale, before moving on to the University of California at Berkeley, where he studied English literature. Upon graduation, he moved back to Los Angeles, working for a while as a teacher at Pacific Hills School where he taught 7th grade English. He also began acting with the famed Asian American theatre company East West Players.
A screen acting career began with small roles in projects such as Wag the Dog (1997), Bowfinger (1999), and the critical favorite Better Luck Tomorrow (2002). His breakthrough came when he appeared in the teen romance comedy American Pie (1999) and helped coin the phrase "MILF". Other roles followed, and he scored another hit in the slacker comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004). Cho also starred in the hugely successful franchise reboot Star Trek (2009), in the sought-after role of Hikaru Sulu, and has continued working steadily in Hollywood, starring in the indie drama Columbus (2017), thriller film Searching (2018), and the horror follow-up The Grudge (2019). As well as acting, Cho is also a singer and performs in the band Viva La Union.
He is married to actress Kerri Higuchi, and they have two children.1051 points- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Toni Collette is an Academy Award-nominated Australian actress, best known for her roles in The Sixth Sense (1999) and Little Miss Sunshine (2006).
Collette was born Toni Collett (she later added an "e") on November 1, 1972, in Blacktown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She is the first of three children of Judith (Cook), a customer service representative, and Bob Collett, a truck driver. From age six, she was brought up in suburban Sydney. At the age of eleven, she showed her phenomenal acting skills when she faked appendicitis out of boredom and longing for attention; her act was so convincing that doctors had to remove her appendix, even though the test showed nothing was wrong with it. At 16, she left school and enrolled in the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA). At that time, she was a struggling actress, supporting herself by delivering pizzas. After 18 months of studies, she left NIDA for her feature film debut as "Wendy Robinson", opposite Russell Crowe and Anthony Hopkins, in The Efficiency Expert (1991), and earned herself a nomination for Best Supporting Actress from the Australian Film Institute. Collette made her stage debut with the Sydney Theatre Company, as "Sonya" in Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya", a performance that won her a critic's circle award as Best Newcomer. She also appeared in stage productions at the Belvoir Street Theatre, under directorship of Geoffrey Rush. In 1994, she won the Australian Best Actress in a Lead Role for her work in Muriel's Wedding (1994), for which she had to gain 40 pounds in seven weeks. In 1995, Toni Collette came to Hollywood with a supporting role in The Pallbearer (1996), then had a string of supporting roles. Her first lead as "Diana Spencer", an Australian woman who shares the name and birthday of Princess Diana, in the comedy, Diana & Me (1997), was obscured by the real Diana's death, which practically occurred at the same time when the movie was released. Her breakthrough came with the role as "Lynn Sear" in The Sixth Sense (1999), for which she quite rightly won an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Her latest memorable role as "Sheryl", a beaten-down but loving mother, in Little Miss Sunshine (2006), is also a fine ensemble work with Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, and Alan Arkin. Since 2003, Toni Collette has been married to musician Dave Galafassi, with whom she recorded her singing and songwriting debut album, titled "Beautiful Awkward Pictures", in 2006. She co-owns an independent production company in Australia, and also continues her music career as a singer. Toni resides with her husband in Sydney, Australia, and owns a second home in Ireland.1048 points- Actor
- Music Department
- Additional Crew
The 1/2 Taiwanese and 1/2 Japanese Takeshi Kaneshiro may have started out as a puerile teen idol in the Chinese entertainment scene, but he's since become a proper film star in his own right. Whether by his own design or not, the boyishness that marked his first steps into showbiz has evolved into a cool, somewhat reticent demeanor that has now become his trademark. Despite being effortlessly good-looking, he chooses to strike a sometimes uneasy balance between the commercially pleasing and the quirky in his choice of film roles -- a move that's unusual for Asian leading men. But whether he's the faithful lover in the Japanese AIDS drama Kamisama mousukoshi dake (1998), the canned-pineapple-eating cop in Chungking Express (1994) or awkward in his role in Misty (1996), a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950), Asian audiences love his style. Other memorable roles include his turn as a lovelorn student in Tempting Heart (1999), an angel in Lavender (2000) and the leader of a trio of robbers in Space Travelers (2000). There hasn't been an Asian actor quite as versatile as Kaneshiro, who is able to straddle the Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japanese film industries because of his proficiency in various languages. Still, one wonders if the reason why he's so sought after is because he is so elusive. No one really knows what he does outside of film commitments, and his reluctance towards being in the spotlight is legendary.1026 points- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Edward Walter Furlong was born in Glendale, California. His mother, Eleanor (Tafoya), is from a Mexican family, and worked at a youth center. Furlong had no acting ambitions until he was approached by casting agent Mali Finn, who was looking for a young actor to play the role of John Connor in what turned out to be one of the the biggest box-office hits of the 1990s, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Finn instantly recognized his ability, and suggested him for the part, feeling that he could hold his own playing opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton.
For his career-starting role, Furlong earned an MTV movie award for best breakthrough role, and a Saturn Sci-Fi award for best young actor. From there, he took an unconventional route through Hollywood, which led to his working with some of the top people in the business, in both studio and independent films. His work has included starring opposite Jeff Bridges in American Heart (1992) for which he was nominated for an IFP Spirit award for best supporting actor. He has also starred in A Home of Our Own (1993) with Kathy Bates, Little Odessa (1994) with Tim Roth, The Grass Harp (1995) with Walter Matthau and Barbet Schroeder's Before and After (1996).
He also starred opposite Edward Norton in Tony Kaye's controversial and gripping drama American History X (1998) and in the hit comedy Pecker (1998). More recently, Furlong has been opposite Willem Dafoe in the prison drama Animal Factory (2000), directed by Steve Buscemi. He recently starred in Pupi Avati's 13th-century tale, The Knights of the Quest (2001).1023 points- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Born in Santa Ana, California in 1970, Jason Lee is an American film photographer, actor, producer, and director. Well known for having been a professional skateboarder during skateboarding's very pivotal late 80s and early 90s, Lee would go on to pursue acting in 1993, working in film, television, and voiceover, and with such directors as Kevin Smith, Cameron Crowe, Lawrence Kasdan, and Brad Bird.
Retiring from skateboarding in 1995, Lee has maintained solid ties to the industry, most notably through his partnership with longtime friend and fellow ex-professional skateboarder, Chris Pastras, and their now 25-year-old skate brand, Stereo Skateboards, which Lee co-manages with Pastras.
In 2002, Lee developed a passion for film photography and has been an active photographer and film advocate ever since, having had his work both published and exhibited throughout the years. In October 2016, Lee published a selection of small and large format Polaroid and Fuji instant film photographs spanning a decade as a special limited hardbound issue of Fort Worth-based Refueled Magazine. Just 500 sold-out signed and numbered copies were produced, with three of those copies now living in the libraries of the SFMOMA, Amon Carter, and Philbrook museums. Lee's next publication, to be released in 2017, will be a book comprised of large format color film photographs made throughout Texas.
Lee is also the subject of a 2018 documentary from director Greg Hunt that will take the viewer on the road with him as he exposes his remaining boxes of now-expired 8x10 Polaroid film, a favorite medium of Lee's and one that is no longer being produced. An accompanying book of the large format Polaroids will be published, with the originals being exhibited. Additionally in 2018, Lee will be publishing and exhibiting selections of B&W film photographs from the past 10 years, with the collection's focus primarily on the West Coast and Southwest.
Lee has also produced and directed music videos for Beck and the band Midlake, a short documentary and live concert film featuring Midlake, two Stereo Skateboards films, and a previously unreleased 2006 short film starring Giovanni Ribisi and Beth Riesgraf, which will have its online debut in 2017.
'Acting has been a lot of fun, and I've liked that I've been able to bounce around a bit, and that I was able to make some movies for my kids, do some dramas, play 'Earl,' work with Pixar... It's a fun gig. And I enjoy being a part of that bigger process. But just as with skateboarding, photography is much more uniquely personal, and more of an independent endeavor. Very fulfilling. I look forward to continuing to work as an actor, as I do maintaining my ties to skateboarding and having Stereo as the outlet that it's been for me for over two decades now, and perhaps directing more projects, but photography will remain my primary creative focus as it has been for the past 15 years.'
Lee can be followed on Instagram at @jasonlee, @stereoskateboards, and @filmphotographic, an Instagram film community gallery and resource page founded by Lee in 2015.1023 points- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Kent Faulcon is an actor-writer-director who has been seen in memorable films like "Selma," "War of the Worlds," "Men in Black," and television shows including ABC's hit series "Blackish" and six seasons as a series regular on OWN's "For Better or Worse." His directorial feature debut "Sister's Keeper" screened in dozens of film festivals in the U.S. and internationally. Kent's most recent television directing project was helming an episode of the new DC superhero series "Naomi" on The CW.1013 points- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Pavel Delong is a Polish actor who completed his education at the National Academy of Theatre Arts in Krakow. He made his acting debut in 1993, both on stage and in movies. His first movie role was in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993). His career spans over three decades, during which he has portrayed a wide range of characters in various genres. He is also known for his roles in the movie Quo vadis (2001) and the TV series Daria (2020).1008 points- Actor
- Producer
- Composer
Adrien Nicholas Brody was born in Woodhaven, Queens, New York, the only child of retired history professor Elliot Brody and Hungarian-born photographer Sylvia Plachy. He accompanied his mother on assignments for the Village Voice, and credits her with making him feel comfortable in front of the camera. Adrien attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts in New York.
Despite a strong performance in The Thin Red Line (1998), time constraints forced the director to edit out much of Adrien's part. In spite of his later work with Spike Lee and Barry Levinson, he never became the star many expected he would become until Roman Polanski called on him to play a celebrated Jewish pianist in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. He pulled off a brilliant performance in The Pianist (2002), drawing on the heritage and rare dialect of his Polish-born grandmother, as well as his father, who lost family members during the Holocaust, and his mother, who fled Communist Hungary as a child during the 1956 uprising against the Soviet Union.1004 points- Actress
- Producer
Hong Tao was born on 15 January 1972 in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China. She is an actress and producer, known for Hei yanjing (1997), Forgetting to Know You (2013) and A Little Reunion (2019). She has been married to Zheng Xu since 2003. They have one child.1002 points- Actor
- Writer
Daniel Wyllie is an Australian actor of stage, film and television. Wyllie began acting on the stage and has a wide range of work in the theatre.
Wyllie primarily works in theatre, having appeared in many productions over the past twenty years. He performs frequently with the Sydney company Company B Belvoir, having appeared in productions of plays such as The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Pillowman and creating the role of Fish Lamb in the landmark production of Cloudstreet, which toured both nationally and internationally.
His first major acting role as Frank Fletcher in the film Spotswood, alongside Anthony Hopkins and Ben Mendelsohn. He also played Neo-Nazi skinhead Cackles in Romper Stomper alongside Russell Crowe.
Wyllie's television work includes Bastard Boys, Bad Cop, Bad Cop, Underbelly and the role of Charlie Jackson in the drama series Love My Way, for which he received a Silver Logie for "Most Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series" in 2004.
He also received Australian Film Institute Awards nominations in 2005, 2006 and 2007.1001 points- Actor
- Soundtrack
With his starring roles in two of the most popular foreign films of all time, Italian native Marco Leonardi has become one of Hollywood's most sought-after young actors. Leonardi most recently completed production on two feature films that showcase his diversity as an actor. In Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), Leonardi stars as a drunken bandito with Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp. He filmed _Mary (2005)_ with Juliette Binoche in Italy. Leonardi made his U.S. feature debut in the independent drama My Brother Jack (1997). Based on a true story and set in the 1960s, "My Brother Jack" centers on an Italian-American, working-class family whose son becomes addicted to heroin. Since the film's premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival, Leonardi has been gathering critical acclaim for his portrayal of the drug-addicted young magician. Leonardi is best known to American audiences from the hugely successful foreign films Like Water for Chocolate (1992) and _Nuovo cinema Paradiso (1989)_. Based on the novel of the same name, "Like Water For Chocolate" remains one of the highest-grossing foreign films in the United States, running in theaters for a record number of consecutive weeks. In "Cinema Paradiso" Leonardi portrayed the adult "Toto," whose fascination with movies and his loving relationship with a Sicilian movie theater projectionist is chronicled. Critically acclaimed, "Cinema Paradiso" won the Academy Award for best Foreign Film. American audiences most recently saw Leonardi co-starring in the TNT Original Movie David (1997). Born in Australia to Italian parents, Leonardi grew up in Rome and began in commercials at the age of three. An Italian Film veteran, Leonardi has starred in over 20 films in his native Italy including The Stendhal Syndrome (1996), opposite Asia Argento and directed by Dario Argento; The Palermo Connection (1990), directed Francesco Rosi and starring Jim Belushi and Mimi Rogers; and Una vacanza all'inferno (1997), opposite F. Murray Abraham, Giancarlo Giannini. Leonardi divides his time between Los Angeles and Rome. Fluent in four languages (Italian, English, Portuguese, and Spanish), Leonardi enjoys soccer, horseback and motorcycle riding and playing with dog "Benny".996 points- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Maïwenn (sometimes credited as Maïwenn Besco or her birth name Maïwenn Le Besco, born 17 April 1976) is a French actress, film director and screenwriter.
Maïwenn Le Besco was born in Les Lilas, Seine-Saint-Denis, France, a suburban area east of Paris. Maïwenn is of mixed Breton, Vietnamese, French, and Algerian descent. Her Algerian ancestry comes from her maternal grandfather. Maïwenn's mother, Catherine Belkhodja, introduced her to the entertainment industry at a young age, an experience later chronicled by Maïwenn in her one-woman shows Le Pois Chiche (The Chickpea) and I'm an Actress.
Maïwenn starred in several films as a child, then teen, actress--notably as the child version of the lead role played by Isabelle Adjani in the hit film One Deadly Summer (1983).
Following her marriage to director Luc Besson and the birth of their daughter in 1993, Maïwenn interrupted her career for several years. During this period, she only appeared in a supporting part in Besson's Léon: The Professional (1994), in which she was credited as Ouin-Ouin. She also directed the film's making-of. Perhaps Maïwenn's most internationally-seen film role was her appearance as the alien Diva Bazina in Besson's The Fifth Element (1997).
After her breakup with Besson, Maïwenn returned to France. She performed as a standup comedian in an autobiographical one-woman-show, and reentered the movie business after several filmmakers saw her comedy routine in Paris. She appeared in several notable movies, including the horror film High Tension (2003), in which she starred opposite Cécile de France. By the time the film came out in 2003, she had decided she wanted to try directing. In 2006, she directed her first feature film, the semi-autobiographical Pardonnez-moi (2006). According to Maïwenn, after Besson learned she planned to use her own money to produce the film, he told her "You need to immediately stop what you're doing. You're crazy. Nobody puts their own money into a movie." After seeing the film he apologized, saying she was right on this occasion. Her second film was All About Actresses (2009), in which she appears as herself making a documentary. She achieved international recognition when her third film, the social drama Polisse (2011), won the Jury Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. All three films feature Maïwenn with a camera, stemming from a childhood fascination and her interest in the mise en abyme, the story within a story. Her 2015 film My King (2015) was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, with Emmanuelle Bercot winning the Best Actress award.
Maïwenn met film director Luc Besson when she was 12 and they began dating when she was 15. In January 1993, at age 16, she gave birth to their daughter Shanna. On the DVD extras for the 1994 film Léon: The Professional, Maïwenn said the film is based on her relationship with Besson. She was 20 at the beginning of filming (early 1996) for The Fifth Element, during which Besson left her for the film's star, Milla Jovovich.
In 2004, Maïwenn had a son, Diego, with Jean-Yves Le Fur, her second ex-husband who is a real estate developer.983 points- Actress
- Soundtrack
Jing Ning was born on 27 April 1972 in Guiyang, Guizhou, China. She is an actress, known for 1911 (2011), Pao Da Shuang Deng (1994) and Red River Valley (1997).959 points- Actress
- Producer
Labina Mitevska was born in 1975 in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. She studied in the faculty of Art and Archaeology at the University of St. Kiril and Metodi (Skopje) as well at the European Film College (Denmark) and the University of Arizona's Department of Art History. She started her career by coincidence, starting in Milcho Manchevski's film Pred Dozdot (Before the Rain (1994)) in the role of Zamira, a young North Macedonian Albanian girl. Her next appearance was in the North Macedonian theatre production of Tuku Taka Pod Oblaka (All of a Sudden Under the Clouds). In 1996, Labina played a supporting role in Welcome to Sarajevo (1997), directed by Michael Winterbottom, who next cast her in I Want You (1998). In 2000, she had the lead role in the Czech film Loners, and next appeared in Too Bad That Balkan Express Was Already Used, directed by her sister Teona Mitevska. Beside acting, a couple of her essays have appeared in the North Macedonian magazines Start and Dnevnik.944 points- Actor
- Producer
Jacob Vargas began his acting career when he was discovered breakdancing in a schoolyard at age 12. His introduction to acting came with a bit part as a breakdancer on the hit TV show Diff'rent Strokes (1978). In 1995 he won the very first ALMA Award (for Emerging Artist of the Year) for his work in both Allison Anders' My Crazy Life (1993) and Gregory Nava's My Family/Mi familia (1995). He later starred in films such as Selena (1997), Get Shorty (1995), American Me (1992), Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997) and the cult favorite Next Friday (2000) as Ice Cube's nemesis, Joker. He later shined as Tijuana cop Manolo, 'Benicio del Toro''s partner in Steven Soderbergh's Academy Award- winning film Traffic (2000), which earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award and another ALMA Award. He then made us laugh as Sammy the chef in John Moore's Flight of the Phoenix (2004) and brought depth to Marine sniper Cortez in Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes' war drama Jarhead (2005). In 2006 he starred as a straight-arrow DEA agent opposite Laurence Fishburne and Paul Walker in the action drama _Death and Life of Bobby Z, The (2006)_ and joined an all-star cast as a politically charged busboy in Emilio Estevez's historical drama Bobby (2006) and played a psychologically tortured drone pilot in Alex Rivera's sci-fi political love story _Sleep Dealer, The (2006)_. Not satisfied with just being labeled as an actor, he has also been focusing his talents on writing and producing through his production company, Third Son Productions. In 2001 he executive produced and starred in the independent film Road Dogz (2002). He also co-produced and starred in the stage play "Latinologues", which ran on Broadway in 2005 and is available on DVD. Through Third Son Productions, he is currently developing several feature film and television projects.935 points- Actor
- Producer
Chang Chen, an international renowned actor, first earned his attention at the age of 14 when he took the lead role in A Brighter Summer Day. Since then, he was nominated three times at the Golden Horse Awards, and several times for best actor at the Berlinale and the Cannes Film Festival. He won Best Actor at the 3rd Osaka Asia Film Festival for his performance in The Go Master.
Chang's outstanding versatile performance, coupled with his diligent learning attitude, made him the favorite cast of world's renowned directors. His dedication to filmmaking is seen not only in how he strives to improve his acting skills, but also the initiatives he had taken in learning local Uyghur language and horse riding for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the game of go and meditation for The Go Master, and three years of practice bajiquan (martial arts) for the The Grandmaster which he later won first prize in a recognized competition.
In 2017, Chang's performance in Mr. Long was nominated for the 67th Berlinale international film festival in official competition.
In 2018, Chang was the only Asian actor who served as one of the juries at the 71st Cannes Film Festival.910 points- Actress
- Producer
- Script and Continuity Department
Jennifer Anne Lien was born on August 24, 1974 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She has an older sister and an older brother. Jennifer knew that she wanted to act from a young age. Encouraged by her English and drama teachers, she began performing in a summer theater and festivals at the age of 13. She had roles in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and "Othello" before moving on to more contemporary dramatic and musical theater. Jennifer first appeared in front of the camera playing twins in an industrial film for bubblegum. She made her television debut when she guest starred in an episode of the Oprah Winfrey drama series Brewster Place (1990).878 points- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Ethan Suplee has established himself over the past few decades as an actor of considerable talent and accomplishment. His diverse and eclectic resume ranges from hilarious roles in such comedies as Mallrats (1995) and Without a Paddle (2004) to hauntingly dramatic performances in intense features such as American History X (1998), Blow (2001) and Cold Mountain (2003). His breakthrough performance as a young football player in Disney's Remember the Titans (2000) with Denzel Washington garnered him critical acclaim and led to another role opposite Washington in director Nick Cassavetes' thriller, John Q (2002).
Born in New York and raised in Los Angeles, Suplee is the son of actors Deborah Deeble and Bill Suplee. He landed his first role, at the age of 16, on the popular television series, Boy Meets World (1993). He had a recurring role as the reluctant bully "Frankie" for three seasons. Most recently for television, he made a powerful guest-starring appearance on NBC's Third Watch (1999) as a disturbed young man who filmed a video journal about his obsession with a girl.
He made his feature film debut in 1995 (alongside My Name Is Earl (2005) co-star Jason Lee) in writer/director Kevin Smith's Mallrats (1995), where he played the memorable "Willam Black", a young man determined to crack the mystery behind the mall's magic eye poster. Smith went on to cast Suplee in Chasing Amy (1997) and as the voice of "Norman the Golgothan" in Dogma (1999). More recent comedy credits include "Without A Paddle" with Seth Green and Matthew Lillard, director Todd Phillips Road Trip (2000) and Evolution (2001) for director Ivan Reitman.
Suplee showcased his impressive acting chops with a powerful and compelling performance in 1998 in director Tony Kaye's "American History X". He played a carelessly violent racist skinhead who tries to convince his friend (Edward Norton) to "come back to his roots" in their gang of white supremacists.
His role of high school football lineman "Louie" in Disney's "Remember the Titans" exposed Suplee to a larger audience, and he was singled out by many critics as a fresh and welcome screen presence, with the Hollywood Reporter calling his performance "scene-stealing."
With Ted Demme's 1970s drug-cartel drama "Blow," Suplee continued to raise his profile, playing "Tuna", the best friend of Johnny Depp's newly turned drug dealer "George Jung".
More recently, Suplee played a pivotal role of a young soldier in Miramax and Anthony Minghella's period piece "Cold Mountain," with Jude Law and Nicole Kidman. He also co-starred with Ashton Kutcher in New Line's The Butterfly Effect (2004).
Suplee co-stars opposite Jason Lee in NBC and Twentieth Century-Fox TV's half-hour comedy, "My Name is Earl." He plays "Randy", the brother of Lee's "Earl" who, following an epiphany, embarks on a mission to right all the wrongs he has inflicted on people.
For the big screen, Suplee will next be seen starring in Art School Confidential (2006) for director Terry Zwigoff (Ghost World (2001)), and he recently completed work for director Darren Aronofsky on Warner Bros.' The Fountain (2006) with Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz.
In his spare time, Suplee enjoys reading, cooking and playing chess. He has also recently starting taking Muay Thai kick-boxing classes three times a week. Muay Thai is a form of martial arts boxing using full contact sparring, kicks, punches, kick blocks and shadow boxing learned under professional instruction.878 points- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Antonio David Lyons was born on December 20th in Hollywood, Florida, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Book of Negroes (2015), American History X (1998), Hotel Rwanda (2004) and The Sum of All Fears (2002).
His artistic universe straddles the globe with one foot planted firmly in both South Africa and the USA. He holds an MA in Applied Theatre from the City University of New York (CUNY) and manages to maintain a thriving career as a professional artist in tandem with his activist and scholarly pursuits. His career continues to evolve with the added dimension of poetic house artist and lyricist. In 2007 he released his first solo project Human Jewels and We Dance We Pray in 2011. He is the author of three plays: Celebration, Beautiful Struggle and We Are Here. He has also been a Fulbright Awardee, an Oregon Shakespeare Festival Producing Fellow and a Scholar in Residence at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). We Are Here (WAH) has grown into a social activism initiative that has implemented programming in South Africa, New York, Detroit, and Ann Arbor. This project is designed to foster an environment where the arts can impact social conditions, attitudes, perceptions and structures amongst men and boys.878 points- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Alex Sol was born in 1973. He is an actor and assistant director, known for Taking Lives (2004), American History X (1998) and The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002).878 points- Actor
- Music Department
- Sound Department
Keram Malicki-Sanchez is an actor, filmmaker, musician/film composer and also noted new media producer/consultant who has been invited to speak at conferences across North America about the future of tech, social media, immersive technology and the intersection of technology and the arts. He is the executive director of the FIVARS (Festival of International Virtual and Augmented Stories) and founding organizer of VRTO (Toronto's virtual reality meet-up group) and Canada's largest Virtual Reality conference, which he founded in 2015. As the curator of FIVARS, Keram has created an international network of content partners and introduced many new artists in the field of spherical, immersive and interactive narrative to global audiences.
Keram's made his professional acting debut at age seven, playing the title role in "Oliver!" in Toronto. His performance received widespread acclaim, and he went on to do roles in Mame and Evita for the same theatre. By the age of ten, Keram was busy recording radio dramas for the CBC and launched his music career, singing on various records. At age fourteen, he recorded a full length album in South America, which was signed to a major label there, and he also had two songs charting on the radio. Also that year, he was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award (Canada's Tony) for his performance in an adaptation of Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper".
At fifteen, he met Degrassi High actor Keith White on a sitcom pilot, "Cutting Loose", and the two formed the band Blue Dog Pict for which Keram was the frontman for seven years. The band released three albums and toured across North America, charting in the top ten on several dozen College radio stations. At seventeen Keram scored a lead role on the Franklin Waterman produced series Catwalk (1992) with co-stars Paul Popowich and Neve Campbell.
Keram played the title role of Chris Black in Skin Deep (1995) which won the People's Choice award at the Berlin film festival and was also an official selection at the Toronto Film Festival a year later.
In 1992 he founded Constant Change Productions, an independent record label and film production company which produced several videos for the band, one of which received the largest request in MuchMusic history.
In 2008 he released his solo acoustic record "Box" followed by "Come to Life" in 2014 which featuring over 30 musicians whose collective resumes include Beck, Coheed and Cambria and Alex Lifeson of RUSH. As a musician, he now performs under the artist name: "Keram."
Known not only as an actor, but as what Lenny Stoute of the Toronto Star calls 'a one man cultural blitzkrieg' Keram's interest in acting, performing music, film scoring, record producing, writing, multimedia design and production and filmmaking continues to provoke his audience & fans 'devout to the point of being cultish", and raise questions.878 points- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Jordan Marder was born on 11 April 1973 in Westchester County, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for American History X (1998), Lord of Illusions (1995) and Virtuosity (1995).878 points- Actor
- Director
- Writer
A native of Canada, Gordon was born in Toronto and lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia before coming to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Always the class clown growing up, Gordon somehow knew he would turn his knack for making kids laugh (and driving teachers crazy) into a way of life. His first professional role came when he guest starred on CBC's "Street Cents" series, which was filmed in Halifax. After this experience, Gordon moved to Los Angeles with his father, to pursue a career in acting. He quickly found work, appearing in a national footwear commercial with basketball great Charles Barkley, and later appeared in the films "Sliders" and "American History X."878 points- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Keith Odett was born on 24 November 1971 in Santa Barbara County, California, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for The Strip (1999), Act Like a Movie Star (2013) and Post Star (2011).878 points- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Wes Bentley is an American actor who first became well-known via his role in the Oscar-winning film American Beauty (1999), in which he played the soulful, artistic next-door neighbor Ricky Fitts. He also portrayed game-maker Seneca Crane in The Hunger Games (2012), and co-stars in Lovelace (2013) as photographer Thomas.
Wesley Cook Bentley was born September 4, 1978, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to David and Cherie Bentley, two Methodist ministers. Wes joined older brothers Jamey and Philip, and was later joined by younger brother, Patrick. Wes attended Sylvan Hills High School in Sherwood, Arkansas, where he was in the drama club. Interest in acting came from Improv Comedy. He, his brother Patrick, his best friend Damien Bunting, and another close friend Josh Cowdery developed an Improv group called B(3) + C. They regularly dominated competitions in Arkansas. He then placed First in the state of Arkansas in solo acting in 1996, his senior year of high school, Second in Duet, and also regularly won for Poetry and Prose Readings.
Wes appeared on-stage quite a bit in Little Rock. At The Weekend Theater, Wes played the straight son of the gay couple in a production of "La Cage aux Folles". At Murry's Dinner Playhouse, Wes' plays included "Oliver". At his mother's urging, Wes attended Juilliard School in New York after high school graduation. He was there only a short time but appeared in stage work like "Henry IV, Part 1" and "The Weavers". Wes then worked at Blockbuster and was a waiter at TGI Friday's on Long Island. Wes has stated that his most prideful venture in life was starting a soccer team from scratch at his high school and subsequently putting together a full conference, one of Arkansas's first. Wes had no real experience in soccer before doing this.
Bentley made his onscreen debut in Jonathan Demme's Beloved (1998). Following his success in American Beauty, Bentley struggled with substance abuse, which cost him his first marriage to actress Jennifer Quanz. Although he continued to land parts in films, including that of the primary antagonist in Ghost Rider (2007) and another major role in The Game of Their Lives (2005), Bentley has publicly admitted that during most of the 2000s he only took on acting roles to earn enough money to buy drugs. Bentley did not enter a 12-step program until 2009. He has stated that he considers his sobriety to be an ongoing process.
Bentley is one of the main subjects featured in the documentary My Big Break (2009), which followed him and his former roommates Chad Lindberg, Brad Rowe, and Greg Fawcett as they struggle to find success within the film industry. In 2010, Bentley made his professional stage debut with Nina Arianda in David Ives' award-winning play "Venus In Fur."
Bentley has one child with his second wife, producer Jacqui Swedberg.868 points- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Mena Alexandra Suvari was born in Newport, Rhode Island, the youngest of four children. She is the daughter of Ando Suvari, a psychiatrist, and the former Candice Chambers, a nurse. Mena's first name comes from her British aunt named after the "House of Mena" Hotel (at the base of the pyramids in Egypt); her last name is Estonian. Suvari grew up in an old stone mansion that she insists was haunted. The family later relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, where her brothers lined up to attend the Citadel (a military college). Mena, meanwhile, was entertaining dreams of becoming an archaeologist, astronaut, or doctor. Her interests took a turn for the... less cerebral, however, when a modeling agency stopped by her all-girls school to offer classes. At age 12, after receiving a few pointers on her runway strut, Suvari attended a modeling convention and was snapped up by the Manhattan-based Wilhelmina agency. She later moved to L.A. under their children's theatrical division WeeWillys, which began her acting career.
Suvari started in on TV work almost immediately--commercials at first, followed by guest appearances on Boy Meets World (1993), ER (1994), and Chicago Hope (1994). Mena was a natural for movies: she is petite (5'4"), has blue eyes, and her natural hair color is blonde. She launched her film career in 1997, picking up small roles in Gregg Araki's Nowhere (1997) and the Morgan Freeman-Ashley Judd thriller Kiss the Girls (1997). She popped up again in the background of Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), then landed a slightly meatier role as the best friend of the telekinetic heroine in The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999).
Suvari's ticket to fame was the teen sex quest American Pie (1999), which cast her as a wholesome choir girl who falls for a jock (Chris Klein). A few months later, she turned even more heads as the vampish cheerleader who captures Kevin Spacey's unwholesome imagination in American Beauty (1999). The sultry-but-fragile character earned Suvari a British Academy Award nomination, as well as a flurry of job offers and gushing fansites. In the midst of the hubbub surrounding the film, she slipped off with her boyfriend, cinematographer Robert Brinkmann, to tie the knot in a secret ceremony. The media was quick to point out the pair's 18-year age difference, but Suvari shrugged it off (her own parents, who divorced in 2001 after 32 years of marriage, wed when her mother was 21 and her father 48).
The in-demand actress completed her patriotic hat trick by starring in American Virgin (1999) (originally titled "Live Virgin") as the daughter of a porn king. The title change wasn't enough of a boost to keep the mediocre movie afloat in theaters--after a brief New York run, it headed straight to video. Her next effort was another underperformer, but the aptly named Loser (2000) (a collegiate love story that reunited her with American Pie's Jason Biggs) at least made it into suburban circulation--perhaps on the name recognition of its two young stars. Suvari kept her chin up, heading back to high school for the cheerleading/bank heist flick Sugar & Spice (2001) and joining the cast of the period film The Musketeer (2001).
She continued to showcase her range in ability by costarring with John Leguizamo in Jonas Åkerlund's cult classic Spun (2002) and then alongside Jennifer Aniston in Rob Reiner's Rumor Has It... (2005) and Keira Knightley in Tony Scott's Domino (2005). She also played opposite James Franco in Sonny (2002), the directorial debut of Nicolas Cage, and had a recurring role on HBO's Six Feet Under (2001).
Mena rounded out her creative pursuits by playing the iconic Black Dahlia in Ryan Murphy's anthology series American Horror Story (2011) and continued working in TV by following up with an arc in the hit series Chicago Fire (2012), as well as leading the Amazon pilot Hysteria (2014) and WeTv's miniseries South of Hell (2015). Mena then starred opposite Alicia Silverstone for TV Land's American Woman (2018).
Amicably divorced from Brinkmann after five years, Mena had a brief second marriage to Simone Sestito, an Italian concert promoter who, she claims, drained her financially. Since 2018, she has been married to Canadian prop master Michael Hope. The couple had a son, Christopher Alexander Hope, in 2021. That same year, Mena published her first book, 'The Great Peace'. Mena's hobbies include: jewelry making, photography, mountain biking, and hiking. Her fans look forward to her new projects.868 points- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Ara Celi was born on 31 May 1974 in El Paso, Texas, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Machete (2010), American Beauty (1999) and Bruce Almighty (2003). She has been married to Robert Godines since 2000. They have two children.868 points- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Marissa Jaret Winokur was born in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Bupkis (2023), What We Do in the Shadows (2019) and Celebrity Big Brother (2018). She has been married to Judah Miller since 7 October 2006. They have one child.868 points- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Brian Bloom is an American actor and writer known for playing Brock Pike in The A-Team, Captain America, Daredevil, Bullseye, the Silver Surfer and the Punisher in several Marvel games and cartoons, Kleiver in Jak and Daxter, Black Mask in Batman: Arkham Origins, Nick Reyes in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Varric Tethras in Dragon Age and B.J. Blazkowicz in Wolfenstein. He wrote The A-Team and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.868 points- Originally from Gulfport, Mississippi, Symba realized at a very early age that she wanted to be an actress - and her first break came after winning the "Miss Teen All-American" pageant in Miami. A New York-based modeling agent spotted her there and asked her to move to the Big Apple. Later, in 1991, her "big break" came after winning $100,000 as the Spokesmodel Winner on Star Search (1983). Although she loved New York, finally she could afford to move to Hollywood to further pursue her long-held dream of becoming a working actress. She made her acting debut on the comedy series Blossom (1990) and followed up with guest appearances on over 50 television shows such as Veronica's Closet (1997), Friends (1994), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), Star Trek: Voyager (1995), CSI: Miami (2002), CSI: NY (2004), Dexter (2006), Mr. Sunshine (2011), Better with You (2010), Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008), Life (2007), The West Wing (1999), Will & Grace (1998), That's So Raven (2003), The Bold and the Beautiful (1987), Days of Our Lives (1965), and Girlfriends (2000), among many others. She has also booked Lead and Supporting roles in several films, such as L.A. Confidential (1997), All About Steve (2009) (in which, by sheer coincidence, she booked a scene with her ex-boyfriend, Thomas Haden Church - which was later cut before the film was released), First Finish, Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), and Abandoned Minds. And she has Hosted many shows, as well - from Co-Hosting the poker pilot Final Table Challenge, with John Daly, to The Bikini Open and The Geraldo Rivera Show (1987) - to numerous live and Internet events.
Booking many national and regional commercials, throughout the years, has helped allow Symba to remain focused on her craft. For 7 years, she also starred in the eye-catching and comical "Remarkable Mouth" TV commercials in which she lip-syncs to incredibly fast montages promoting radio stations. During her stint as The Remarkable Mouth, she filmed almost sixty spots for around the United States, as well as for several countries around the globe, including Lithuania, Portugal, Australia, and Brazil - often in different languages. A few of these spots can now be seen on YouTube. Symba also made personal appearances all over the country meeting fans of these award-winning commercials.
Symba writes, directs, and produces, as well. She mainly writes screenplays - but has also written spec pilots for TV, created commercial campaigns, and written for the thereat, too. Her smash hit play, the outrageous comedy "Lana's Pupil, (Every Woman's Guide to Golddigging)", had audiences rolling - and asking for more.
Aside from the entertainment business, she is working on getting a design patent for an invention that she hopes will revolutionize an entire industry.
Symba has never been married and has no children. She resides in Los Angeles, California, (2011).867 points - Agnieszka Wagner was born on 17 December 1970 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. She is an actress, known for Schindler's List (1993), Letters to Santa (2011) and Quo vadis (2001).865 points
- Maja Ostaszewska is a renowned Polish actress, known for her versatile roles in both cinema and theatre. She is a graduate of the National Academy of Theatre Arts in Krakow and has been associated with various theatres including the National Theatre. Her portrayal of characters in Jack Strong (2014) and Body (2015) solidified her status in the industry. Her contributions to the arts have earned her numerous awards and accolades.865 points
- Agnieszka Korzeniowska was born in 1970 in Chrzanów, Malopolskie, Poland. She is an actress, known for Schindler's List (1993), Niedzielne igraszki (1983) and Na dobre i na zle (1999).865 points
- Actress
- Additional Crew
As an artist and entrepreneur, and never to shy away from challenging topics, Sarah Ripard's diverse body of work reflects her passion to continue collaborating with high caliber filmmakers and artists who examine and deepen an awareness of the human condition, the world, and have the vision and courage to bring the poetry of their dreams to life on the screen and stage. Over the years she's built an eclectic resume that juxtaposes drama and comedy from ancient texts, mysticism to modern-day street-life characters.
Sarah believes engaging storytelling has the power to change the way we view ourselves and the outside world from which we have come.
Sarah is the Creator/Executive Producer/Host of PARENTAINMENT: Empower, Educate and Entertain. A revelatory new TV docu-talk show focused on investing in the future of humanity and leading-edge human development and what it really takes to raise healthy, self-regulating, compassionate human citizens in the modern world.
Born in Malta in 1981 to parents Nessa Busjeet and Frances Ripard, who divorced when she was very young, Sarah was raised by her Mother in England, who then remarried Vinod Busjeet which moved them both to the United States.
Sarah hails from a rich cultural heritage spanning several continents and languages. She is of Maltese, Mauritian, Northeast African, French, Sicilian-Italian and Indian ancestry.
Coming from four generations of an acting family tradition as performing artists, filmmakers, musicians, and social activists, the artistic road was in Sarah's blood from the very beginning. Her paternal grandmother, Mary Ripard, was the respected Maltese film/tv/theatre actress and opera singer. Her maternal grandmother, Jamilla Casmally, was the angelic voice of classical Indian music who soared across the Mauritian radio airwaves.
With Sarah's chameleon abilities to transform into a variety of roles in film, television and theatre, she has played parts ranging from; the great heroines of Shakespeare and Greek, a hardened criminal, Goddess Aphrodite, a freedom fighter, a grieving mother, The Buddha, to a broken-hearted streetwalker from the inner city, to name a few.
Over the years Sarah has worked with her dear friend, mentor and artistic colleague, Clayton LeBouef of, Something the Lord Made (2004), Homicide: Life on the Street(1993) and Allergic to Nuts (2003).
On Broadway, Sarah originated the role of ''Kitty DeSouza'' as well as performed 'Shanti' and covered 'Rani' in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway extravaganza production of Bombay Dreams at the Broadway Theatre, New York.
She has received favorable acting reviews from national and international newspapers and numerous acting awards including the prestigious Helen Hayes Award nomination for her unique theatre portrayal as 'Mme. DeTourvel' in 'Dangerous Liaisons'.
Sarah attended the distinguished Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England and spent precious time with worldwide renowned mime master Marcel Marceau.
While working in Washington, DC, she taught at Latin Dancer Inc. with Bolivian-born dance artiste Humberto where they also performed together in the styles of Rumba, Cha Cha, Argentine Tango, Foxtrot, Salsa, Cumbia, and Waltz.
In the United States, Sarah has worked in film, television and theatre with notable companies in Los Angeles, Washington DC and New York including: ABC, CBS, NBC, TNT, The Disney Channel, LifeTime Channel, Classic Media, Sixth Sense Prod., Tribeca Film Center, The Kennedy Center, The Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Arena Stage, The Wolf Trap, The Smithsonian Institute, John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, Los Angeles Classic Theatre Company, Lobero Theatre and many more...
Sarah produced and starred in the critically acclaimed West Coast World Premiere of Convergence, a beautiful, lyrical full-length drama surrounding the ongoing tragic events of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, which she has visions of making into a feature film one day.
At the end of it all, Sarah's greatest production and accomplishment is her role as Mother, to her daughter Anastasia, who teaches her every day what it means to BE truly HUMAN!864 points- Actress
- Writer
- Editor
Liisa Repo-Martell was born in February 1971 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is an actress and writer, known for Lars and the Real Girl (2007), The English Patient (1996) and Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise (2006).857 points- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Additional Crew
Shane began his film career when he was 12, as Clint Eastwood's son in Unforgiven (1992). He got a chance to play his childhood idol on television by portraying a "young MacGyver" for a few of episodes of MacGyver (1985). He was short-listed, and brought to Los Angeles by Steven Spielberg to audition for Hook (1991).
Shane's worked alongside Ed Harris, Chuck Norris, Max von Sydow, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Stockard Channing.
He's the second of 3 boys of parents' John Meier, and Jane Weir. His brothers are Ash and Travis.857 points- Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
Joshua Aaron Charles is an American actor. He is best known for the roles of Dan Rydell on Sports Night; Will Gardner on The Good Wife, which earned him two Primetime Emmy Award nominations; and his early work as Knox Overstreet in Dead Poets Society. He is the son of Allan Charles, an advertising executive. He is of Jewish heritage on his father's side, and has described himself as Jewish. He began his career performing comedy at the age of nine. As a teenager, he spent several summers at Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Center in New York, and attended the Baltimore School for the Arts.848 points- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
A professional actor since 1985, Dylan got his big break as Richard Cameron in "Dead Poets Society". He has since appeared in numerous feature films, including "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken", "Jack Reacher", "Flight", "X2", and "The Way of the Gun", and has worked alongside such cinematic luminaries as Cliff Robertson, James Caan, Kathy Bates, Benicio Del Toro, Brian Cox, Alfre Woodard, Sir Ian McCellan, Patrick Stewart, and the late Robin Williams. His television credits include appearances on "Monk", "House", "Without A Trace", "Cold Case", "The X-Files" and "Drop Dead Diva". A longtime screenwriter and member of the WGAW since 2005, he is the sole or contributing writer on "Booth", "The Mayor of Castro Street", "The Ghost Inside" and "Mission Blacklist", as well as being the writer, director, and star of the critically-acclaimed Web series "The Steps".848 points- Actor
- Director
Allelon Ruggiero has been a professional actor since 1988 when he played Stephen Meeks, one of the "dead poets" from Peter Weir's classic, "Dead Poets Society". He finished out his acting training at the Performing Arts School of Philadelphia after "Dead Poets" wrapped, and went on to study film at University of the Arts. While Ruggiero was attending the University he appeared in various movies: "New Jack City", "Green Card", "Two Bits", "Eyes Beyond Seeing", "Twelve Monkeys", and "Thinner".
In 1992 he played the episode lead, Carl Borland, in NBC's "Law and Order- Intolerance". After finishing "Law and Order" Ruggiero chose to focus on writing, directing and acting in his short film entitled "Lost", which screened at the Museum of American Art in 1995, won third place at the Denver International film works festival in 1997 and is now a permanent part of PBS's "Independent Images" series.
In the winter of 1998 Ruggiero appeared as Jimmy, the possessed executioner, in Gregory Hoblit's supernatural thriller," Fallen", starring Denzel Washington. He can also be seen in the upcoming Philippe Mora film, "Joseph's Gift", starring Sam Bottoms and Robert Townsend.
Ruggiero's latest roles include the lead of Allen Anderson in Roger Corman's, "The Greenskeeper", and also a small day player role in Sam Mendes' "Jarhead".
Al is currently developing several projects with D-lux films.848 points- Production Manager
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Kurt Leitner was born in Wilmington, Delaware, USA. Kurt is a production manager and actor, known for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024), The Creator (2023) and Down Low (2023).848 points- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Gael García Bernal was born in Guadalajara to Patricia Bernal, an actress/model & José Ángel García, an actor/director. His stepfather's cinematographer Sergio Yazbek. He began his acting career as a child, working w/ his parents in a variety of plays. At 14, he starred in a soap opera called El abuelo y yo (1992). He appeared in film school exercises and short films, including De tripas, corazón (1996), which was directed by Antonio Urrutia & nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Film. He also starred in El ojo en la nuca (2001), a short film directed by Rodrigo Plá. He studied acting at the Central School of Speech & Drama in London. Amores Perros (2000) was his first major feature film, followed by And Your Mother Too (2001), directed by Alfonso Cuarón & filmed by Emmanuel Lubezki.843 points- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Vanessa Bauche was born on 18 February 1973 in Mexico. She is an actress and producer, known for Amores Perros (2000), The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) and The Mask of Zorro (1998).843 points- Ricardo Dalmacci was born on 14 January 1972 in Naples, Campania, Italy. He is an actor, known for Amores Perros (2000), Prisionera (2004) and Alta tensión (1997).843 points
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Humberto Busto was born on 23 June 1978 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He is an actor and director, known for Polar Bear (2017), Diablero (2018) and El Chapo (2017).843 points- Christopher Serrone was born in 1976 in Queens, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for Goodfellas (1990), Pathfinders: In the Company of Strangers (2011) and Pumpkinhole (2022).843 points
- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Valerie Chow was born in Hong Kong as Ka-Ling Chow, the only daughter of a well-off family. In 1991, she won Miss Hong Kong Pageant as the first runner up. She went back to Hong Kong University to finish her law degree before returning, in 1993, to her acting career.
Chow's career kicked off with a good start with "Wan 9 Zhao 5" (Twenty Something), in which she played Alice, a girl who tries to find true love in Hong Kong's club scenes. Then came her big break, "Chungking Express", in which she plays the woman who broke Tony Leung's heart. She had only a few scenes, but made quite an impression. The blurry image of her wearing a bra and a skirt, walking around the house as if she is swaying in and out of space (and Leung's memory), made Chow a symbol of mysterious seduction.
After Chungking Express, Chow did a 20-eposide TV series, playing the outside interest of a honest married man; who eventually divorced his fat, cooking-oil-soaked wife. The series itself was a huge success, but her role was not warmly received, and her career began to go downwards. She went on to star in a string of insignficant films, which either showed her as a two-dimensional seductress, or tried unsuccessfully to "cleanse" her image as a home-wrecker. She finally decided to move to the States and start fresh. However, Chow's career in Hollywood was equally uneventful, with the exception of her Revlon contract.
After returning to Hong Kong, she found a job working for the marketing and events department of Lane Crawford, the Hong Kong equivalent of Neiman Marcus; and acting became her part-time job. Ironically, one of her latest part-time jobs, a 40-episode TV series called "Hap Qua Yin Som" (Healing Hearts), was her biggest success ever. Her role, a lawyer named Flora, was recognized as the perfect modern woman--smart, beautiful, and independent. The success of Healing Hearts led to another major cosmetic contract--Chow signed on to become the spokeperson for Neutrogena's whitening mask, a new line that was launched in Hong Kong.840 points- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Candela Peña was born on 14 July 1973 in Gavà, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She is an actress and director, known for Princesses (2005), All About My Mother (1999) and Take My Eyes (2003).838 points- Eloy Azorín was born on February 19, 1977, in Madrid. He is the humourist Eloy Arenas's son. Thanks to him, he knows the show business from the inside out. His first appearance in cinema was as the main character of Como un relámpago (1996) where he shared credits with Santiago Ramos and Assumpta Serna, directed by Miguel Hermoso. This was the confirmation that he didn't want to do anything but act. He joined the school of Dramatic Art, auditioning with a monologue written by his father. Later on, in 1998, he appeared in the film Atómica (1998) written and directed by Alfonso Albacete and David Menkes, where he interpreted a small role. But he became really well-known with the multi-awarded All About My Mother (1999), of Pedro Almodóvar, starring as Cecilia Roth's son. He ignored during the ten days of shooting that All About My Mother (1999) would turn the world, monopolizing the attention of all media and the best prizes in the film industry. The surprise came with the Oscar. Since then, his work has multiplied. Cuba (2002), Besos para todos (2000), Aunque tú no lo sepas (2000) and Mad Love (2001) (still in production) are the titles that take his name in 2000. It is Besos para todos (2000) his last great success. Next to Emma Suárez, he stars as a student that discovers the mysteries of love and sex in a grey and multicolored Spain in the 1960s. These lines only describe the beginning of a promising career.838 points
- Actress
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Yael Barnatán was born in 1976 in Spain. She is an actress and assistant director, known for All About My Mother (1999), Matar al ángel (2004) and Hospital Central (2000). She is married to Ezequiel. They have two children.838 points- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Elizabeth Regen is an American actress best known for her role as Rita Nash in the television sitcom Whoopi, appearing in 22 episodes from 2003-2004.
She made her screen debut in the 1994 feature film The Professional, playing the ill fated sister of the main protagonist, Mathilda (played by Natalie Portman).
She followed up with roles in the movies Free Country the Movie (1996) and Snapped (1998) before landing a three-episode recurring role as Sandra Reynolds in the television drama Big Apple, in 2001.
Her role in Big Apple paved the way for a guest appearance on Law & Order later that year, in the episode entitled "Bronx Cheer" (Season 11, Episode 16).
Also in 2001, she had a supporting role in the feature film Love The Hard Way, starring Adrien Brody.
Regen only made one screen appearance in 2002 - a guest starring role in the Sex And The City episode "I Love A Charade" (Season 5, Episode 8).
She began 2003 by voicing the role of Sindee Hutton in the video game CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, based on the television series of the same name.
In September 2003 she made her first appearance in Whoopi, in the pilot episode. She was one of four regular cast members on the show, which carried her through 22 episodes into 2004.
In Whoopi she played the character of Rita, Courtney Rae's 'culturally confused' girlfriend.
In 2004, Regen played the role of Maggie Shaye in the feature film Looking for Kitty, which she followed up with a guest appearance in Third Watch, in the episode entitled "Alone Again, Naturally" (Season 6, Episode 2).
2005 brought Regen a on-screen lead role as Laura Del Vecchio, in the movie Parting Words.
Regen went on to win Best Actress at the Hoboken Film Festival.
Parting Words also won Best Film at the Long Island Film Festival.
The following year - 2006 - was her busiest to date, with two-episode recurring roles on Modern Men and So NoTORIous; a guest starring role on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (playing the same role she played in the video game); and appearances in two feature films: Beer League and Nail Polish.
Regen has a recurring role in the 2007 television crime drama The Black Donnelly's.838 points- Actor
- Director
- Music Department
Attended the East Meadow Public School System. In High School he stole the leads of all the plays. He was in Theatre Guild. Graduating in 1996, he was voted Most-Dramatic in the Senior Superlatives although he spent much of senior year in Florida filming The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo (1996). He also plays in a folk band originally named 28 Orange Street, later renamed 'Common Rotation'.838 points- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Almost everyone who has spent time with Kate Hudson -including directors, family members, co-stars and interviewers - is quick to comment on her ability to light up a room. Through some combination of a winning smile, solid work ethic, and good old-fashioned talent, the young actress has gone from indie beginner to Vanity Fair cover girl in just three years. What's more, she's done it all without capitalizing on the success of legendary actress mom, Goldie Hawn.
Kate Hudson was born in Los Angeles, California, to Goldie Hawn and Bill Hudson, a comedian, actor and singer. She was raised by her mother and her mother's longtime boyfriend, actor Kurt Russell, whom she considers to be her father. Kate is the sister of actor Oliver Hudson, the half-sister of actor and hockey player Wyatt Russell, and the granddaughter of band musician Rut Hawn. She is the niece of entertainment publicist Patti Hawn, record producer Mark Hudson and musician Brett Hudson. Kate is of Hungarian Jewish (from her maternal grandmother), Italian (from her paternal grandmother), English, and German ancestry.
By all accounts, Hudson was a born performer - as a child she danced and sang at every opportunity. Her family hoped that she would attend New York University after graduating from high school, but she opted to get her feet wet in the professional acting world first. She made her big-screen debut as an ambitious young starlet stranded in a tiny California town in Desert Blue (1998). Her next two films, while critically panned, made it into wider release: 200 Cigarettes (1999) (in which she played an earnest but accident-prone ditz) and Gossip (2000) (which cast her as a rich, virginal college student). Perhaps Hudson's biggest break was landing the role of rock groupie (or "Band Aide") Penny Lane in Almost Famous (2000). The part was originally intended for Sarah Polley; when Polley backed out to pursue another project, director Cameron Crowe considered scrapping the film altogether. Hudson, who had been cast in a smaller role (as William's stewardess sister), begged for a chance to read for Penny. Crowe was impressed, Hudson got the part, and the show went on. As much as Tinseltown gossipmongers would like to put them at odds, mother and daughter agree that Hawn is one of Hudson's biggest supporters.837 points- Liz Stauber was born in Indianapolis to Dan Stauber, a mental health administrator, and Paula Jones, a respected psychotherapist and daughter of civic leader Vel Ryder. The couple divorced while Liz and her sister Christine were young. Liz got her first acting role as a small child in Indianapolis Junior Civic Theatre's The Velveteen Rabbit at age nine, she appeared in Macbeth at Indiana Repertory Theatre, in the role of a young boy who gets murdered. Other community plays she appeared in included Chicago Gypsies and To Kill a Mockingbird at Edyvean Repertory Theatre. She appeared in her first professional play at age 15, a part for which she auditioned, as Caroline in Daisy Foote's God's Pictures, directed by Andrew Tsao at the IRT. Local critics praised her performance, and she was cast the next year in Civic Theatre's Little Women, as the older Amy, with her younger sister, Christine, as young Amy, and their mother, Paula Jones, as Marmee. The play, directed by Lynne Perkins, received only average notices. She attended Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School before transferring to my alma mater North Central High School, graduating a semester early in January of 1997, after which she appeared as Peaseblossom (combined with any part Shakespeare indicated as "Fairy") in Indiana Repertory Theartre's stunning production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Danielle Bedau, who had filled the postion of Andrew Tsao, after he left to direct Home Improvement, and starring some of the cities finest actors, including James Solomon Benn, Miki Mathioudakis, Marita Clarke, Cristen Paige, and Millicent Wright. Liz had planned to spend the summer of 1997 at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London before studying drama at NYU, until she received a call from Andrew Tsao, who was directing The Tempest, wanting her to play the part of Miranda. On the opening night, a Creative Artists agency representative was impressed, and she got many offers from agents. She had previously auditioned for Father Hood (1993) and The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), without success. She lived on invitation in Tsao's Southern California home while he and his family were out of town. Of course, she wasn't home very much. She was cast as the "Yearbook Girl" in a film known as The Party (which became Can't Hardly Wait (1998)), but was recast as the "Gossipy Girl" to honor her time commitment for starring as Ally Hayden in Brett Leonard's T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous (1998). T-Rex also kept her out of an IRT production of A Christmas Carol she had wanted to appear in.
Her favorite role remains Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. IRT artistic director Janet Allen, IRT associate artist Priscilla Lindsay (one of the most popular and acclaimed of all Indianapolis actors), and voice teacher Jo Trakimas are those whom she cites as her biggest influences. Allen called her "incredibly disciplined and focused." Paula Jones closed her practice and moved to a neighboring town, having always wanted to live in L.A., sending Christine to Interlochen, a prestigious boarding school for the arts in Michigan, where she starred in The Nutcracker, preparing for a career as a dancer, the area Liz considers herself lacking, though she sings as well as acts. Liz has changed her view of California, having wanted to live in New York or London, and is surprised to have encountered sincere people and 'good Midwestern values.' Liz enjoys horseback riding, painting, and drawing, and really likes vampires, especially Neil Jordan's film of Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), and while still in Indy cited him as her favorite director. She wishes to one day write and direct films herself, as well as to act, both on stage and screen.837 points - Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Jimmy Fallon was born in 1974 in Brooklyn, New York, to Gloria (Feeley) and Jimmy Fallon. He is of Irish, German, and Norwegian descent. He was raised in Saugerties, New York, which is in upstate New York. He has performed stand up, impressions and characters across the country, in some of the biggest comedy clubs, such as the Improv (in Los Angeles) and Caroline's Comedy Club (in New York City). He also took acting classes with The Groundlings, an LA-based breeding ground for great comedians. Jimmy joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975) as a featured player in September 1998. He has already been called the best SNL player since Phil Hartman, and is popular amongst SNL fans.837 points- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Marlon Wayans is an American actor, writer and comedian. He is known for playing Tyrone C. Love in Requiem for a Dream, Shorty Meeks from Scary Movie, Marcus Anthony Copeland II from White Chicks and Thunder from Marmaduke. He played Drake Winston/Robin in deleted scenes of Batman Returns and Batman Forever, a character that finally debuted in the Batman 89 comic book series.837 points- Actress
- Director
- Music Department
Trine Dyrholm was born on 15 April 1972 in Odense, Denmark. She is an actress and director, known for Queen of Hearts (2019), Love Is All You Need (2012) and In a Better World (2010).834 points- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Jason Hervey was born April 6th, 1972 in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of Alan & Marsha Hervey, brother of Scott. At the age 4, Jason began his career appearing in over 250 commercials for some of Americas favorite brands. Before long, his visibility from the various commercials lead him to several appearances in some of televisions most notable shows. He also appeared in cameo roles in such feature films as Back to The Future, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Back To School, Monster Squad, Police Academy 2, Meatballs 2, Tim Burtons Franken-weenie and more. After appearing for two seasons in Different Strokes, Jason landed the role of Wayne Arnold in the Emmy Award-winning hit series "The Wonder Years". From this platform and experience Jason was able to leverage opportunities behind the camera as he began a career in producing. His first project was at the age of 17 whereby Jason created, starred in and produced 26 episodes of the Saturday morning series "Wide World of Kids". After 6 seasons and 29 Emmy Nominations for "The Wonder Years", Jason partnered with former Sony of America CEO Peter Guber in Mandalay Sports Action Entertainment,(MSAE). While at Mandalay Jason spearheaded a partnership with Time Warner's "World Championship Wrestling" (WCW) which yielded 17 original productions in television, home video and Pay Per View, an original soundtrack with Tommy Boy records and 4 television movies for TBS and TNT including one of the highest rated TV movies in the history of basic cable in which Jason was the original creator. After more than 5 years at Mandalay and growing that division, Jason had a short lived stint as a Chief Marketing Officer at a Fortune 500 company. Jason then returned to his roots in the entertainment business by partnering with long time friend, colleague and former President of Time Warners "World Championship Wrestling" (WCW) Eric Bischoff to form Bischoff Hervey Entertainment (BHE TV, LLC) Bischoff Hervey Entertainment specializes in content creation and production for various broadcast outlets, licensing and merchandising and innovative brand integration solutions. Jason and his family currently reside in Scottsdale, Arizona and Los Angeles, California.834 points- Actress
- Soundtrack
Maia Brewton was born on 30 September 1977 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Adventures in Babysitting (1987), Back to the Future (1985) and Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990). She has been married to Lara Spotts since 2008. They have two children.834 points- Actor
- Music Department
- Writer
Damon Whitaker was born on 21 October 1970 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for First Daughter (2004), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) and Mr. Holland's Opus (1995).831 points- Rahul Khanna was born on 20 June 1972 in Bombay, Maharashtra, India. He is an actor, known for Bollywood/Hollywood (2002), Wake Up Sid (2009) and The Emperor's Club (2002).827 points
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Jude Law is an English actor. Law has been nominated for two Academy Awards and continues to build a prolific body of work that spans from early successes such as Gattaca (1997) and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) to more recent turns as Dr. John Watson in Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), as Hugo's father in Hugo (2011) and in the titular role in Dom Hemingway (2013).
David Jude Law was born on December 29, 1972 in Lewisham, London, England, to Margaret Anne (Heyworth) and Peter Robert Law, both of whom taught at comprehensive schools; his father later became a headmaster. Law has said that he was named after both the book Jude the Obscure and the song Hey Jude.
In 1992, Jude began his stage career. He starred in many plays throughout London, and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award of "Outstanding Newcomer" After doing the play "Indiscretions" in London, he moved and did it again on Broadway. This time, he was alongside Kathleen Turner. He then received a Tony Nomination for "Outstanding Supporting Actor". He was then rewarded the Theatre World Award. After Broadway, Jude started on the big screen, in many independent films. His first big-named movie was Gattaca (1997), with Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke. He also had a good role in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). Jude's latest rise to fame has been because of The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), in which he plays Matt Damon's obsession. The film did very well at the box office, and critics loved Jude's acting.
Following the success of Gattaca (1997) and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Law's feature film career continued to gain momentum throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s with roles in such films as Enemy at the Gates (2001), Road to Perdition (2002), I Heart Huckabees (2004), The Aviator (2004) and many others. Law is one of three actors, along with Colin Farrell and Johnny Depp, to take over acting responsibilities in the Terry Gilliam project The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) following Heath Ledger's death.
Law is a partner in the production company "Natural Nylon". His partners include Jonny Lee Miller, Ewan McGregor and his ex-wife Sadie Frost.
Law has been active in many charitable activities and supports several different foundations and causes, doing work for organizations including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Make Poverty History, Breast Cancer Care and others. Law is also a peace advocate, and in 2011, participated in street protests against the rule of Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus.
Law married Sadie Frost in 1997 and the couple had two sons (Rafferty and Rudy) and a daughter (Iris) before divorcing in 2003. Law and Alfie (2004) co-star Sienna Miller were engaged to be married in 2005 and separated in 2006 (they would later rekindle their relationship in 2009, splitting once again in 2011). Law and American model Samantha Burke had a brief relationship in 2008 that resulted in the birth of Law's fourth child, daughter Sophia. Law's fifth child, with an ex-girlfriend, Catherine Harding, was born in 2015.826 points- Pernilla Alwin is a Swedish actress born on 4 September 1970. Her major film role came under the direction of Ingmar Bergman in the acclaimed masterpiece Fanny and Alexander (1982), where she played Fanny (also in the extended miniseries as well). Ver natural instincts are all evident while playing an abused child who, along with her brother suffers a great deal on the hands of her uncles and aunts. It marked as her breakthrough role and her only major performance - she appeared in one TV project afterwards.824 points