Actors and Actresses, etc
List activity
34 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
129 people
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
This African American actor attended Penn Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He started his junior year at 6' 5" and finished it at 6' 9"! He played basketball throughout his high-school years and won a scholarship. He averaged 18 points a game and 10 rebounds! He played basketball during college, but not when it would interfere with his major at George Washington University in Washington, DC, which was Theatrical Arts. During his college years, he met Jay Fenichel with whom he would later make musical productions. Upon graduation, Fenichel moved to Los Angeles and Hall moved to Venezuela to play basketball.
After a year, Hall lost interest and relocated to Los Angeles, California. Along with Fenichel, the duo put together two night-club acts/musicals. One was a semi-autobiographical two-man musical, "In Five," and the other was a two-man show called "The Worst of Friends," both of which played in night clubs throughout the LA area. They also had a promotional business where they did promotional acts in department stores for new products.
While working on the set of the series 227 (1985), he met his co-star, Alaina Reed-Hall, who played Rose Lee Holloway. They married--both on the set, and in real life. Predator 2 (1990) was released December 1990, and in April 1991, he died of AIDS, which he contracted through a blood transfusion a few months before.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Yvonne Jaqueline Strzechowski was born and raised in Australia. Her parents were Polish immigrants. She attended the Santa Sabina College for her high school education. She then went on to study Performance at the University of Western Sydney's School of Contemporary Arts, graduating in 2003. Shortly afterwards, she landed her first role on television in an episode of Fear Factory (2004). Her next role was also on Australian television, appearing in several episodes of Headland (2005). In 2007, she made her big screen debut in Gone (2006). This performance caught the attention of casting directors in Hollywood. She decided to move from Australia to Los Angeles and, on her third day of arrival, she landed her breakthrough role as "Sarah Walker" in Chuck (2007).- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Lesley Manville was born on March 12, 1956 in Brighton, East Sussex, England. She is a multi award-winning actress of theatre, film, and television, and has worked extensively with director Mike Leigh. She is known for Another Year (2010), All or Nothing (2002), Topsy-Turvy (1999) and Secrets & Lies (1996), and her performance in Phantom Thread (2017), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She also had a supporting role in the Disney fantasy Maleficent (2014). Manville's extensive stage career includes roles in "As You Like It", "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" and "The Alchemist". Her film debut was in Dance with a Stranger (1985). She was awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire at the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours for her services to drama. She was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire at the 2021 Queen's New Years Honours for her services to drama and to charity.- Kate Jennings Grant was born on 23 March 1970 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA. She is an actress, known for Notorious (2016), Billions (2016) and Love & Other Drugs (2010). She is married to Doug Hughes.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Juno Violet Temple was born in London, England, into a showbiz family, the daughter of producer Amanda Temple and film director Julien Temple. She was named 'Juno' after her parents took a visit to the Grand Canyon during pregnancy and found they were standing on a butte of Cape Final known as Juno Temple. She has English and Scottish ancestry.
Her family moved to America, where she spent the first four years of her life. The family then moved back to England and settled in Somerset. At age four, she decided she wanted to be an actress after her father showed her Beauty and the Beast (1946) by Jean Cocteau.
She attended Enmore Primary School in Somerset. It was during this time that her father cast her in his film Vigo (1998). However, her father ended up cutting her out of the film. Two years later, at age 11, her father cast her in another of his films, Pandaemonium (2000).
She became a weekly boarder at King's College boarding school in Taunton. She then moved on to Bedales boarding school in Hampshire to take her A-Levels, one of which was Drama. She left with a B and two C's.
At age 15, she told her parents that she was serious about becoming an actress Her mother saw a call for an open audition for Notes on a Scandal (2006), and Juno was successful in winning the role of Cate Blanchett's daughter. This was her big break and led to a role in another high-profile film, Atonement (2007). She dyed her hair red to play Lola.
In 2009, Juno moved to Los Angeles, partly for her acting career.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Anna Torv (born 7 June 1979) is an Australian actress known for her role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox television series Fringe (2008-2013). Torv was born in Melbourne, Victoria, the daughter of Susan (née Carmichael) and Hans Torv, also grew up in Gold Coast, Queensland. Her father is of Estonian descent, but was born in Stirling, Scotland. Her mother is of Scottish descent.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Alan Ritchson has carved a space for himself on both the large and small screens since he made the trek from a small town in Florida to Los Angeles.
Alan Michael Ritchson was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, to Vickie (Harrell), a high school teacher, and David Ritchson, a U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sergeant. He is of Czech, English, and German descent. Frequently relocating as the middle son of a military family, Alan learned to adapt and entertain in order to build friendships in new and unfamiliar environments. Certainly this has been a key ingredient in his success so far in the industry.
Alan's early credits include portraying Aquaman in the long running series Smallville. This marked the first portrayal of the superhero in an officially licensed live-action production.
Ritchson has also taken on grittier leading man roles in the independent film market with the modern-day western "Rex" and the dramatic love story of "Steam" alongside Ally Sheedy.
In contrast, he also made quite a comedic impression with his love-to-hate-him character of Thad Castle on the football comedy Blue Mountain State. He parlayed his comedic skills to work with Rebel Wilson in her CBS pilot Super Fun Night.
In addition to his acting repertoire, Alan also writes, produces and is a singer/songwriter.
Most recently Alan can be seen as the District 1 victor, Gloss, in Catching Fire; the second installment of the hugely successful Hunger Games franchise. He also portrayed the cool-but-crude Raphael in the Michael Bay produced reboot of TMNT.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Elizabeth Folan Gilpin is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Debbie "Liberty Belle" Eagan in the Netflix comedy series GLOW (2017-2019), for which she was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She also starred as Dr. Carrie Roman in the Showtime comedy-drama series Nurse Jackie (2013-2015). Gilpin has appeared in films such as the mystery thriller True Story (2015), the science fiction romantic comedy Future '38 (2017), the fantasy romantic comedy Isn't It Romantic (2019), the drama A Dog's Journey (2019), and the action comedy Stuber (2019). In 2020, Gilpin starred in the horror film The Grudge, the satirical action thriller The Hunt, and the action comedy Coffee & Kareem. For The Hunt, she won a Critics' Choice Super Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
A.J. Buckley was born on 9 February 1977 in Dublin, Ireland. He is an actor and producer, known for Disturbing Behavior (1998), CSI: NY (2004) and The Good Dinosaur (2015).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
William Thomas Sadler was born on April 13, 1950 in Buffalo, New York, to Jane and William Sadler. He began his acting career in New York theaters, appearing in more than 75 productions over the course of 12 years. His roles included that of Sgt. Merwin J. Toomey in Neil Simon's Tony Award winning play "Biloxi Blues". He is best remembered for his roles in Die Hard 2 (1990), Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991), The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995). He is also a television star, appearing in such sitcoms as Roseanne (1988) and Murphy Brown (1988) and such movies-of-the weeks as Charlie and the Great Balloon Chase (1981). Sadler also starred as Sheriff Jim Valenti on the WB science fiction television series Roswell (1999).- Actor
- Stunts
Chad Donella was born on 18 May 1978 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is an actor, known for Knox Goes Away (2023), Shattered Glass (2003) and Final Destination (2000). He has been married to Joni Bertin since 2007.- Alana De La Garza was born in Columbus, Ohio and later relocated to Texas, ultimately attending the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). After college, she moved to Orlando, Florida, landing roles in a number of independent films as well as commercials. Her work took her to New York, where she studied extensively under renowned acting instructor JoAnna Beckson. After getting her break as "Rosa Santos" on the daytime drama All My Children (1970), Alana moved to Los Angeles. A slew of guest spots followed. One of the most recognizable was her role as a con artist on the hit show Las Vegas (2003), followed by a series lead on the WB's The Mountain (2004). She recently completed the romantic comedy Mr. Fix It (2006) opposite David Boreanaz and has been guesting on CSI: Miami (2002), before joining the cast of Law & Order (1990) in June 2006.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
One of the most versatile actors working in Hollywood today, Lee Pace has established himself as a powerful leading man, consistently delivering compelling performances in film, television, and on stage.
Pace will next be seen in the highly anticipated Apple TV+ series FOUNDATION. Scheduled for a Fall 2021 release, the show is based on the beloved Isaac Asimov novels of the same name. FOUNDATION chronicles the saga of a band of exiles who discover that the only way to save the Galactic Empire from destruction is to defy it. Pace stars as Brother day, the current Emperor of the Galaxy.
He is known for starring as Thranduil the Elvenking in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy and as intergalactic villain Ronan the Accuser in the blockbuster Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy, a role he reprised in Captain Marvel. In 2003, Pace starred in the Sundance hit, Soldier's Girl. His breakthrough performance garnered him nominations for both the Golden Globes and the Independent Spirit Award, and he won a Gotham Award for Outstanding Breakthrough Performance. In 2008 he starred in Tarsem Singh's visually stunning adventure fantasy film, The Fall, which had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Other notable credits include The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, Driven, Lincoln, A Single Man, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Infamous and The Good Shepherd.
On the small screen, Pace is most notable for his starring role in Bryan Fuller's award-winning and critically acclaimed series "Pushing Daisies," for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe and Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor. He has also appeared as Joe MacMillan in four seasons of the AMC period drama television series Halt and Catch Fire.
After graduating with a BFA from Juilliard, Pace starred in the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway play, The Credeaux Canvas, as well as being part of the Vineyard production of The Fourth Sister. In the spring of 2004, he starred a limited engagement of the Off-Broadway production Small Tragedy, winning an Obie Award and was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Awards in the category of Outstanding Actor. In 2006, Lee starred in the two-character play Guardians by Peter Morris, which earned him his second nomination for a Lortel Award as Outstanding Actor.
In 2011, Pace made his Broadway debut in Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart, portraying Bruce Niles. In 2018, he starred as Joe Pitt in the Broadway revival of Angels in America.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni was born on February 25, 1966 in New York City. Her father, Anthony Pantaleoni, was a corporate lawyer, and her mother, Emily Ann (Patterson), worked as a dietitian and nutritionist. She is of Italian (from a paternal great-great-grandfather), Polish, English, Irish, Scottish, and German descent. Téa attended but did not complete studies at Sarah Lawrence College. She started out in acting as Lisa DiNapoli in Santa Barbara (1984) in 1989 and followed up with small roles in Switch (1991) and A League of Their Own (1992).
In 1992 she starred in the short-lived sitcom Flying Blind (1992). In 1994 she appeared in Wyatt Earp (1994) opposite Kevin Costner and The Counterfeit Contessa (1994) opposite D.W. Moffett. In 1995 she starred opposite Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the popular film Bad Boys (1995). She also had a guest appearance on Frasier (1993) that same year.
She appeared in many successful films after that, such as Flirting with Disaster (1996), Deep Impact (1998), The Family Man (2000), Spanglish (2004), You Kill Me (2007) and most recently, she starred in the film Ghost Town (2008) opposite Greg Kinnear.
Tea was married to television commercial producer Neil Joseph Tardio Jr. from 1991 to 1995. In 1997 she married actor David Duchovny, with whom she has two children: Daughter West Duchovny (born April 24, 1999) and Son Kyd Miller Duchovny (born June 15, 2002).- Actor
- Producer
Yila Timothy Kang is an American actor. He is known for his role as Kimball Cho in the television series The Mentalist and Gordon Katsumoto in the CBS/NBC reboot series Magnum P.I. Kang was born in San Francisco, California, and is the eldest of three brothers. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Fine Arts from Harvard's Institute for Advanced Theater Training at the American Repertory Theater and the Moscow Art Theatre- Actress
- Producer
- Executive
Rothe was born Jessica Rothenberg on May 28, 1987 in Denver, Colorado, the daughter of Steve and Susan Rothenberg. Jessica is known for her role in the Academy-award winning film La La Land (2016). She came into limelight starring as Tree Gelbman in the horror- thriller, Happy Death Day (2017). Rothe is also famous for her outstanding performance in the comedy-drama, Lily & Kat (2015), where she played the title role of Lily. Apart from films, she has made a name for herself in the television industry too. Some of her notable works on television are The Onion News Network (2011), Gossip Girl (2007), and Mary + Jane (2016). She hails from a theatre background and is a trained ballet dancer. Rothe has portrayed a range of characters from an insecure narcissist to a chirpy girl next door.
Rothe did her schooling at Cheery Creek High School, Greenwood Village, Colorado. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from Boston University. Her grandmother, Colleen Rothenberg, was a renowned theatre artist. Her love and passion for theater and acting inspired Rothe to become an actress.
When Rothe turned 8, she started taking ballet lessons. Along with that, she enrolled herself in a theatre group. Shortly after she was armed with the basics of the theater style acting, she started attending various acting workshops. The first such workshop she attended was at Kansas. During her University days, she learned to play violin and tap dance. Her fascination for arts was not confined only to stage performance. She learned clay and ceramic pottery as well later in her graduation days.
After she completed her graduation, Rothe started focusing on her acting career. Her theatre background did help her a lot in bagging some roles in films and television, but soon she realized that stage acting is quite different than the film acting. Her theatrical acting techniques and few of the professional acting workshops she attended later built her up as a complete artist Rothe commenced her acting career with theater. She acted in the stage play of the Huntington theatre, a Nicholas Martin and Kate Burton production, 'The Cherry Orchard'. Later, she played a character in the play 'Kevin Moriatry's Hair' at the Hangar Theatre Company. Rothe's acting skills got noticed in her debut film, 'The Art of Loving'. Her role in the film was a minor one though. Soon she was approached with many offers to act in television.
Rothe made her television in the role of Bojana Mitic in the episode, The Pink Panthers of the longest running reality crime show on the Fox Network, America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back (1988). She next appeared in two episodes of the spoof show, The Onion (2007). After this, Rothe worked in one or two episodes of a couple of television shows like Happy Endings (2011), Blue Bloods (2010), and Gossip Girl (2007).
In 2013, Rothe made her film in a short film, Promised Land (2013) in which she appeared as Maya. This film was a part of the television show, Future States, an omnibus of short films. Throughout 2013, Rothe appeared in cameos in several films and television shows. The year 2015 brought her the much-desired fame. Her role as Lily in the teen rom-com, Lily & Kat (2015) was very much appreciated both by the audience and the critics. This was her first lead role in any film. The same year, she again appeared in a significant role as Beatrix Carver in the science fiction, Parallels (2015). This role carved her image as a thriller and crime genre actress. Few of her next projects belonged to the same category. She appeared as Laura in the crime series, The Preppie Connection (2015) and as Lola in Wolves (2016). The latter was also premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016.
The film that broke her image was the Academy award-winning romantic musical film, La La Land (2016). This film marks a milestone in Rothe's career. She played the role of Alexis, the roommate of the character played by the actress, Emma Stone. This film was a life-changing experience for Rothe. Her theater art and dancing skills helped a lot to get into the skin of the character. The film was premiered at the Venice Film Festival on August 31, 2016, and had the official release on December 9, 2016.
The year 2016 turned out to be a lucky one to Rothe as she once again gave an applauding performance in the comedy-drama Mary + Jane (2016). She continued to give some mind-blowing performances with the 2017 suspense-horror flick, Happy Death Day (2017). This film provided Rothe a different experience altogether. In this film she appeared as Tree Gelbman, a self-obsessed and professional mean girl whose life turns upside down when she finds herself in absolutely weird and scary situations where she is continuously stalked by a masked man and eventually gets murdered. Rothe describes her experience in the film as horrifying as she acted dead numerous times. She met several challenges in the film, especially while working on the sequence where Tree reached her college stark naked! Because her character lived a particular day, again and again, experiencing the same sequence of events, Rothe found it a drag quite a few times in between the filming. According to her, it is the most challenging role she has played till date.
Jessica starred in the romantic film Forever My Girl (2018), released on January 26, 2018, as lead character Josie. She also reprised her role starring in Happy Death Day 2U (2019).
Rothe will next be seen in the film Valley Girl (2020), a remake of the 1980s film of the same name. This is the second musical on her slate.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio was born on June 30, 1959 in Brooklyn, New York, to Phyllis, a restaurant manager and server, and Gene D'Onofrio, a theatre production assistant and interior designer. He is of Italian descent and has two older sisters. He studied at the Actors Studio and the American Stanislavski Theatre. Vincent D'Onofrio is known as an "actor's actor". The wide variety of roles he has played and the quality of his work have earned him a reputation as a versatile talent.
His first paid role was in Off-Broadway's "This Property Is Condemned". He continued appearing in plays and worked as a bouncer, a bodyguard and a delivery man. In 1984, he made his Broadway debut in "Open Admissions", followed by work in numerous other stage plays. In 2012, D'Onofrio returned to teach at the Lee Strasberg Theater & Film Institute. As a film actor, D'Onofrio's career break came when he played a mentally unbalanced recruit in Full Metal Jacket (1987), directed by the renowned Stanley Kubrick. For this role D'Onofrio gained nearly 70 pounds. He had a major role in Dying Young (1991), and appeared prominently in the box-office smash Men in Black (1997) as the bad guy (Edgar "The Bug").
Other films of note in which he has appeared are Mystic Pizza (1988), JFK (1991), The Player (1992), Ed Wood (1994), The Cell (2000), The Break-Up (2006) and Jurassic World (2015). In 1996, D'Onofrio garnered critical acclaim along with co-star Renée Zellweger for The Whole Wide World (1996), which he helped produce. He also made a guest appearance in The Subway (1997), where he played an accident victim who could not be rescued and was destined to die. For this performance he won an Emmy nomination. In 2000, he both produced and starred in Steal This Movie (2000), a biopic of radical leader Abbie Hoffman.
In 2001, D'Onofrio took the role which has likely given him his greatest public recognition: Det. Robert Goren, the lead character in the TV series Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001). Goren is based on Sherlock Holmes but, instead of relying upon physical evidence like Holmes, D'Onofrio's character focuses on psychology to identify the perpetrators, whom he often draws into confessing or yielding condemning evidence. He played the part for 10 years.
In his career D'Onofrio's various film characters have included a priest, a bisexual former porn star, a hijacker, a serial killer, Orson Welles, a space alien, a 1960s radical leader, a pulp fiction writer, an ingenious police investigator and Stuart Smalley's dope-head brother. His on-screen love interests have included Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Renée Zellweger, Marisa Tomei, Tracey Ullman, Rebecca De Mornay and Lili Taylor. One of his latest roles is in Marvel's Daredevil (2015) as Daredevil's nemesis, Wilson Fisk. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Tara Fitzgerald was born in Sussex, England. Her mother, Sarah Fitzgerald, is Irish, and her father, Michael Callaby, was Italian. Shortly after her birth, her family moved to Freeport, in the Bahamas where her grandfather, David Fitzgerald, was a well-established lawyer. Her sister, Arabella Fitzgerald, was born there, but the family returned to London when Tara was three. Her mother and father separated when she was four-years-old and, along with her mother and sister, Tara moved in with her uncle and Aunt Caroline. Her mother married the Irish actor Norman Rodway when Tara was age 6, and the birth of her half-sister, Bianca Rodway, followed shortly thereafter. Rodway and Sarah Fitzgerald separated when Tara was seven.
Tara's formative years were spent moving around - a lifestyle that saw her attending five primary schools while living in a variety of locations which included Glasgow, Dublin, and Stratford-upon-Avon. Eventually, Sarah and her three daughters returned to South London, but she left at the age of 16 after passing her "O" level examinations, now known as the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) exams. Her reason for taking a break from the educational process was that she was not allowed to pursue her goal of attending drama school. Tara had auditioned for RADA and the Guildhall, but she was unable to secure a placement. She now recognizes that, at age 17, she really had not been ready.
Tara spent the next two years working her way around Europe as a waitress, an experience that provided her with an improved perspective. When she returned to London and decided to audition for a place at the Drama Centre, she was accepted immediately. Her training at the Drama Centre leaned heavily toward method acting which she recalls was like one long therapy session of breaking down the ego, and then rebuilding it. (Other well-known actors who trained at the Drama Centre include Anthony Hopkins, Colin Firth, Simon Callow and Pierce Brosnan).
Life at the Drama Centre consisted of long days and hard work, but Tara recalls the time as being one of the best in her life. She was living at home with her mother, and working as a waitress at "The Ark" restaurant in Kensington to repay the bank loan which she had secured to cover her tuition fees. A theatrical agent noticed her performance in an amateur production, and arranged for Tara to audition for a co-starring role in the offbeat comedy Hear My Song (1991). Tara was the first actress to audition and, after the director had seen another 300 young hopefuls, the role was hers. Two weeks after graduating from college in July, 1990, Tara was at work on a major film that turned out to be a surprise success, and generated rave reviews of her performance. Tara never looked back.
Starring roles in several successful television productions during 1991 and 1992 followed. Tara received critical acclaim for The Black Candle (1991), Six Characters in Search of an Author (1992), The Camomile Lawn (1992) and Anglo Saxon Attitudes (1992). Her next major step was a co-starring role in the West End play, "Our Song", where she acquitted herself nightly opposite one of the legends of the London stage, Peter O'Toole. This success was followed by a role opposite Hugh Grant in the Australian hit film, Sirens (1994), for which the Australian Film Institute nominated Tara as Best Actress in a Lead Role.
An American mini-series, Fall from Grace (1994), was followed by the Irish film, A Man of No Importance (1994), which found Tara sharing honors with Albert Finney. Then came the two widely different television productions Mystery!: Cadfael (1994) (The Leper of St. Giles (#1.3)) and The Vacillations of Poppy Carew (1995).
Tara was back co-starring with Hugh Grant in The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995) before she embarked upon another major change of pace by playing "Ophelia" opposite Ralph Fiennes in "Hamlet" on the London and Broadway stages. Ralph received the notoriety, but Tara received the award for Best Supporting Actress from the New York Critics Circle.
Tara's next success was co-starring with Ewan McGregor in the highly acclaimed comedy/drama Brassed Off (1996). Then, it was back to BBC television for The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1996), The Woman in White (1997) and The Prince of Hearts (1997), all of which were featured on the U.S. mainstay, "Masterpiece Theatre". Tara's next theatrical film was Conquest (1998), which was produced in Canada. Back on the British side of the Atlantic, Tara starred in the contemporary Little White Lies (1998) and the Daphne Du Maurier swashbuckler (also featured on Masterpiece Theatre) Frenchman's Creek (1998), for which she received the award for Best Actress at the 1999 Reims International Television Festival.
A major part in the film Childhood (2001) (which, regrettably, has never been released) was followed by the harrowing role of a stalked woman in the psychological drama In the Name of Love (1999). Radio dramatizations have included "A Handful of Dust", "Look Back in Anger", "The African Queen" and, most recently, "Laughter in Leningrad".
Tara has been heard as the voice of the narrator in such diverse television mini-series as Wild Thing (Animal Life), The Final Day (Celebrity Deaths), Vice - Inside Britain's Sex Business (Self-explanatory), Reputations (Biographies), Omnibus: A Long Time Ago, The Story of Star Wars (TV Special) and, most recently, The Changemakers.
You also will hear Tara's great voice doing radio and television advertisements for products ranging from Johnson's Facial Wipes to Norwich Union Insurance.
Tara's recent cinematic appearances have included co-starring with Rutger Hauer in New World Disorder (1999), and starring opposite Rhys Ifans and Joseph Fiennes in Rancid Aluminum (2000).
During this period, Tara appeared on stage in the title role of "Antigone", and as "Blanche du Bois" in "A Streetcar Named Desire".
In 2001, Tara appeared as the female lead in the World War II drama, Dark Blue World (2001) (aka "Dark Blue World"), a Czech film by Academy Award-winning director Jan Sverák (Kolya (1996)). She was also seen on the big screen in I Capture the Castle (2003), a romantic comedy based upon the 1948 novel by Dodie Smith (101 Dalmatians).
Tara's recent television work has included a starring role in a segment of the highly-regarded psychological drama series Murder in Mind (2001), Echoes (2003). She also played the leading female role in Love Again (2003), a dramatization of the life of British poet Philip Larkin, which was telecast on the BBC in July.
Tara has completed work on Secret Passage (2004) opposite John Turturro, a period drama which is set in Venice during the Spanish Inquisition, and Five Children and It (2004), a family adventure film based on E. Nesbit's classic 1902 novel, which was released in the U.K. on October 22, 2004. During the late winter and early spring of 2004, Tara completed a very successful tour of the United Kingdom playing the role of "Nora Helmer" in "A Doll's House", for which she received high critical acclaim. In the fall of 2004, she began a tour in the role of "Mara Hill" in a new comedy "Clouds", by Michael Frayn.
During her career, Tara has picked her roles cautiously, always seeking to play the role of a strong woman. She feels that playing characters who have weak and insipid parts do not provide her with the motivation that the role of a strong woman can deliver. She has been remarkably successful in a variety of genre ranging from historical costume dramas (The Woman in White (1997), The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1996) and Frenchman's Creek (1998)), to contemporary psychological suspense dramas (Little White Lies (1998) and In the Name of Love (1999)), as well as comedy dramas (Brassed Off (1996) and Conquest (1998)), and offbeat comedies (Sirens (1994) and The Vacillations of Poppy Carew (1995)). Her fine performance in the World War II drama Dark Blue World (2001) (aka "Dark Blue World") and her recent work on stage give further evidence of her acting versatility.- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Basil Rathbone was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1892, but three years later his family was forced to flee the country because his father was accused by the Boers of being a British spy at a time when Dutch-British conflicts were leading to the Boer War. The Rathbones escaped to England, where Basil and his two younger siblings, Beatrice and John, were raised. Their mother, Anna Barbara (George), was a violinist, who was born in Grahamstown, South Africa, of British parents, and their father, Edgar Philip Rathbone, was a mining engineer born in Liverpool. From 1906 to 1910 Rathbone attended Repton School, where he was more interested in sports--especially fencing, at which he excelled--than studies, but where he also discovered his interest in the theater. After graduation he planned to pursue acting as a profession, but his father disapproved and suggested that his son try working in business for a year, hoping he would forget about acting. Rathbone accepted his father's suggestion and worked as a clerk for an insurance company--for exactly one year. Then he contacted his cousin Frank Benson, an actor managing a Shakespearean troupe in Stratford-on-Avon.
Rathbone was hired as an actor on the condition that he work his way through the ranks, which he did quite rapidly. Starting in bit parts in 1911, he was playing juvenile leads within two years. In 1915 his career was interrupted by the First World War. During his military service, as a second lieutenant in the Liverpool Scottish 2nd Battalion, he worked in intelligence and received the Military Cross for bravery. In 1919, released from military service, he returned to Stratford-on-Avon and continued with Shakespeare but after a year moved onto the London stage. The year after that he made his first appearance on Broadway and his film debut in the silent Innocent (1921).
For the remainder of the decade Rathbone alternated between the London and New York stages and occasional appearances in films. In 1929 he co-wrote and starred as the title character in a short-running Broadway play called "Judas". Soon afterwards he abandoned his first love, the theater, for a film career. During the 1920s his roles had evolved from the romantic lead to the suave lady-killer to the sinister villain (usually wielding a sword), and Hollywood put him to good use during the 1930s in numerous costume romps, including Captain Blood (1935), David Copperfield (1935), A Tale of Two Cities (1935), Anna Karenina (1935), The Last Days of Pompeii (1935), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Tower of London (1939), The Mark of Zorro (1940) and others. Rathbone earned two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1936) and as King Louis XI in If I Were King (1938).
However, it was in 1939 that Rathbone played his best-known and most popular character, Sherlock Holmes, with Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, first in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) and then in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939), which were followed by 12 more films and numerous radio broadcasts over the next seven years.
Feeling that his identification with the character was killing his film career, Rathbone went back to New York and the stage in 1946. The next year he won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Dr. Sloper in the Broadway play "The Heiress," but afterwards found little rewarding stage work. Nevertheless, during the last two decades of his life, Rathbone was a very busy actor, appearing on numerous television shows, primarily drama, variety and game shows; in occasional films, such as Casanova's Big Night (1954), The Court Jester (1955), Tales of Terror (1962) and The Comedy of Terrors (1963); and in his own one-man show, "An Evening with Basil Rathbone", with which he toured the U.S.- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Stephen Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947, at the Maine General Hospital in Portland. His parents were Nellie Ruth (Pillsbury), who worked as a caregiver at a mental institute, and Donald Edwin King, a merchant seaman. His father was born under the surname "Pollock," but used the last name "King," under which Stephen was born. He has an older brother, David. The Kings were a typical family until one night, when Donald said he was stepping out for cigarettes and was never heard from again. Ruth took over raising the family with help from relatives. They traveled throughout many states over several years, finally moving back to Durham, Maine, in 1958.
Stephen began his actual writing career in January of 1959, when David and Stephen decided to publish their own local newspaper named "Dave's Rag". David bought a mimeograph machine, and they put together a paper they sold for five cents an issue. Stephen attended Lisbon High School, in Lisbon, in 1962. Collaborating with his best friend Chris Chesley in 1963, they published a collection of 18 short stories called "People, Places, and Things--Volume I". King's stories included "Hotel at the End of the Road", "I've Got to Get Away!", "The Dimension Warp", "The Thing at the Bottom of the Well", "The Stranger", "I'm Falling", "The Cursed Expedition", and "The Other Side of the Fog." A year later, King's amateur press, Triad and Gaslight Books, published a two-part book titled "The Star Invaders".
King made his first actual published appearance in 1965 in the magazine Comics Review with his story "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber." The story ran about 6,000 words in length. In 1966 he graduated from high school and took a scholarship to attend the University of Maine. Looking back on his high school days, King recalled that "my high school career was totally undistinguished. I was not at the top of my class, nor at the bottom." Later that summer King began working on a novel called "Getting It On", about some kids who take over a classroom and try unsuccessfully to ward off the National Guard. During his first year at college, King completed his first full-length novel, "The Long Walk." He submitted the novel to Bennett Cerf/Random House only to have it rejected. King took the rejection badly and filed the book away.
He made his first small sale--$35--with the story "The Glass Floor". In June 1970 King graduated from the University of Maine with a Bachelor of Science degree in English and a certificate to teach high school. King's next idea came from the poem by Robert Browning, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came." He found bright colored green paper in the library and began work on "The Dark Tower" saga, but his chronic shortage of money meant that he was unable to further pursue the novel, and it, too, was filed away. King took a job at a filling station pumping gas for the princely sum of $1.25 an hour. Soon he began to earn money for his writings by submitting his short stories to men's magazines such as Cavalier.
On January 2, 1971, he married Tabitha King (born Tabitha Jane Spruce). In the fall of 1971 King took a teaching job at Hampden Academy, earning $6,400 a year. The Kings then moved to Hermon, a town west of Bangor. Stephen then began work on a short story about a teenage girl named Carietta White. After completing a few pages, he decided it was not a worthy story and crumpled the pages up and tossed them into the trash. Fortunately, Tabitha took the pages out and read them. She encouraged her husband to continue the story, which he did. In January 1973 he submitted "Carrie" to Doubleday. In March Doubleday bought the book. On May 12 the publisher sold the paperback rights for the novel to New American Library for $400,000. His contract called for his getting half of that sum, and he quit his teaching job to pursue writing full time. The rest, as they say, is history.
Since then King has had numerous short stories and novels published and movies made from his work. He has been called the "Master of Horror". His books have been translated into 33 different languages, published in over 35 different countries. There are over 300 million copies of his novels in publication. He continues to live in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, and writes out of his home.
In June 1999 King was severely injured in an accident, he was walking alongside a highway and was hit by a van, that left him in critical condition with injuries to his lung, broken ribs, a broken leg and a severely fractured hip. After three weeks of operations, he was released from the Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
British actress Emily Kathleen Anne Mortimer was born in Hammersmith, London, England, to writer and barrister Sir John Mortimer and his second wife, Penelope (née Gollop). She was educated at St Paul's Girls' School in West London, and it was whilst there she began acting. Mortimer moved on from school to Lincoln College, Oxford University, where she studied English Literature and Russian, and spent two terms at the Moscow Arts Theater Drama School, studying acting.
While appearing in an Oxford University student production, Mortimer was spotted by a TV producer who cast her in an adaptation of Catherine Cookson' s The Glass Virgin (1995). She made her feature film debut in 1996 alongside Val Kilmer in The Ghost and the Darkness (1996). Roles in various projects have followed, including Elizabeth (1998), Love's Labour's Lost (2000), Match Point (2005), Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Shutter Island (2010) and Hugo (2011).
During the making of Love's Labour's Lost (2000), Mortimer met her husband Alessandro Nivola. The couple have two children, Sam Nivola and May Nivola.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Kevin Norwood Bacon was born on July 8, 1958 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Ruth Hilda (Holmes), an elementary school teacher, and Edmund Norwood Bacon, a prominent architect who was on the cover of Time Magazine in November 1964.
Kevin's early training as an actor came from The Manning Street. His debut as the strict Chip Diller in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) almost seems like an inside joke, but he managed to escape almost unnoticed from that role. Diner (1982) became the turning point after a couple of television series and a number of less-than-memorable movie roles. In a cast of soon-to-be stars, he more than held his end up, and we saw a glimpse of the real lunatic image of The Bacon. He also starred in Footloose (1984), She's Having a Baby (1988), Tremors (1990) with Fred Ward, Flatliners (1990), and Apollo 13 (1995).
Bacon is married to actress Kyra Sedgwick, with whom he has 2 children.- Thorbjørn Harr was born on 24 May 1974 in Oslo, Norway. He is an actor, known for 22 July (2018), Barn (2019) and Vikings (2013). He has been married to Tai Victoria Grung since 2006. They have three children.
- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Stephen Graham was born August 3, 1973, in the small town of Kirkby, Lancashire, to a pediatric nurse mother and a social worker father. His paternal grandfather was Jamaican, and one of his grandmothers was Swedish. After years of small parts, he finally got his big break in an unexpected way, playing the dim-witted Tommy in Guy Ritchie's film, Snatch (2000). Apparently, Graham didn't audition for the role as Tommy--one day, he accompanied a friend to the audition for Ritchie and was asked if he was next. When Graham replied "no", Ritchie told the then-unknown actor, "I like your face", and was asked if he could start work Monday.
So much is to be said of this actor, who started his career with bit parts on ITV (he played Lee Sankey on Coronation Street (2006) in 1999 and was also cast in smaller films like Pit Fighter (2005). Graham also appeared in the critically acclaimed Gangs of New York (2002), directed by Martin Scorsese, and on television, playing Sgt. Myron 'Mike' Ranney in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers (2001). His acting course also includes brilliant performances in excellent works such as in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Parade's End (2012) and Taboo (2017).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Jamia Suzette Mays was born in Bristol, Tennessee, to Susan (Norris) and James Mays, and was raised in Grundy, Virginia with her older brother and sister. Her father was a high school teacher at Grundy Senior High School for seven years, before spending 25 years working in the coal-mining industry. He is now retired and lives with Jayma's mother in Bristol.
At school, Jayma enjoyed Math and singing. She graduated from high school in 1997. She then went on to get an Associate degree from Southwest Virginia Community College. She then did a year at Virginia Tech, transferring to Radford University. After earning her degree in Theatre in 2000, she moved to California.
She started out with an internship with actor Timothy Busfield, of the television series Thirtysomething (1987). In 2004, she had her screen television debut on Joey (2004). Her first feature film came, a year later, in Red Eye (2005). Her breakthrough role came when she won the role of "Emma Pillsbury" on the hit show Glee (2009).- Jason Lewis has been entertaining audiences on stage and screen for over 20 years.
Jason is recognized globally for his iconic role as 'Smith Jerrod' Samantha's (Kim Cattrall) lovable, kind, boyfriend on HBO's groundbreaking comedy series, Sex and the City. He reprised his role in both feature films, Sex and The City and Sex and the City 2, directed by Michael Patrick King. The series continues to air in syndication and on streaming platforms in hundreds of countries around the world.
Since his breakout role on Sex and the City, Jason has successfully parlayed his stardom into a series of quality film and television roles.
Most recently, Jason starred for two seasons as 'Joe Strong', an angel tattoo artist with a strong moral compass, on NBC's supernatural drama series Midnight, Texas. The series is adapted from the best selling books by True Blood author Charlaine Harris, and centers around the residents of a small Texas town who also have supernatural abilities.
Some of his television work includes recurring and guest star roles on ABC's family drama series Brothers & Sisters opposite Matthew Rhys. House M.D. with Hugh Laurie and Kal Penn, as well as Animal Kingdom, The Evidence, Six Degrees, CSI, CSI: Miami, How I Met Your Mother and Charmed.
In 2018 Jason starred in the independent features Half Magic co-starring Heather Graham and Angela Kinsey and the western, Running Wild with Sharon Stone.
Some of his other feature work includes: MGM's psychological thriller Mr. Brooks (Demi Moore and Kevin Costner); the independent film, The Pardon (John Hawkes and Jamie King); Warner Bros. drama The Jacket, (Adrian Brody); Nu Image Films' The Death and Life of Bobby Z, (Paul Walker and Laurence Fishburne); and the independent thriller The Attic (Elizabeth Moss).
Additionally, Jason also starred as the lead in Kenneth Lonergan's world-renowned stage play This Is Our Youth, for director Woody Harrelson in Toronto.
Born and raised in Southern California, Jason's first major break in entertainment was in fashion, as a model. Jason quickly became one of the top male models and modeled in campaigns and on runways worldwide for some of the most luxurious houses, including Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger, Michael Kors, and GUESS.
In addition to acting, Jason is a passionate philanthropist and has supported many charities over the years. Currently, he is very active with the charity Best Buddies, a non-profit organization founded by Anthony Kennedy Shriver. The charity works to foster friendships and opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Most recently, Jason has begun working with Habitat for Humanity and plans to grow his involvement with this organization as well.
Jason splits his time between Los Angeles and New York City. - Vanessa Zima was born in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, to parents Dennis and Marie, and is the sister of actresses Madeline Zima and Yvonne Zima. "Zima", a Polish surname, is her mother's maiden name; Vanessa's maternal grandfather was of Polish descent, while her other ancestry is Italian, German, and Irish.
Zima moved to LA and began her film career at the age of eight in The Baby-Sitters Club (1995), with Larisa Oleynik and Rachael Leigh Cook. She later appeared in a recurrent role as Daniel Benzali's daughter on Murder One (1995), and shortly afterwards took on the role of "Penny Jackson" in Ulee's Gold (1997), from her older sister, Madeline, who had other commitments.
This led to her role in Wicked (1998), playing Julia Stiles' younger sister, and guest-starring roles on The Visitor (1997), Crisis Center (1997) and Family Law (1999). Vanessa then landed her first starring role in the independent film Zoe (2001).
When not working, Vanessa enjoys choreography and dance. - Actress
- Director
- Producer
Sasha Alexander began acting by the time she was in the seventh grade when she found herself cast as the lead female in her school's production of "Baby." What she didn't know was that her male co-star would chicken out on her only a few hours before opening night. Determined to let the show go on, Sasha used her comedic skills and threw herself into the role. The audience response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic, and a star was born. Sasha continued acting in high school and college plays, and traveled east to New York from her native Los Angeles to perform in summer stock and Shakespeare Festival productions. It was here that her portrayal of Katherine in "The Taming of the Shrew" earned her the honor of studying in London with Cicely Berry and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Sasha graduated from USC's prestigious School of Cinema & Television, where she studied directing in an effort to hone her behind-the-camera skills. All the while, she continued to add to her acting resume with appearances in several critically acclaimed independent films, which premiered at festivals across the country. Besides her acting career, Sasha has also written a variety of productions, including Lucky 13 (2005), a comedy which she co-wrote, produced and stars in with Harland Williams and Lauren Graham. Sasha co-starred with Angie Harmon on the TV drama Rizzoli & Isles (2010).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Isaiah Washington was born on 3 August 1963 in Houston, Texas, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Grey's Anatomy (2005), Ghost Ship (2002) and Romeo Must Die (2000). He has been married to Jenisa Marie Garland since 14 February 1996. They have three children.- Grace Jane Gummer (born May 9, 1986) is an American actress. She received a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in the 2011 revival of Arcadia. Her television work includes recurring roles in The Newsroom (2012) and American Horror Story (2011): Freak Show, and regular roles in Extant and Mr. Robot. Gummer was born in New York City. The daughter of actress Meryl Streep and sculptor Don Gummer, she grew up in Los Angeles and Connecticut, with her older siblings, musician Henry Gummer and actress Mamie Gummer, and younger sister, model Louisa Jacobson.
Gummer (billed as Jane Grey) appeared with Streep in the 1993 film The House of the Spirits, as the younger version of her mother's character, Clara del Valle. After graduating from her mother's alma mater Vassar College with a degree in Art History and Italian, she made her stage debut in 2008 in Lukas Bärfuss's The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents. From 2010-11, she starred as Anna Moore on the TeenNick show Gigantic, which premiered October 8, 2010.
Gummer appeared in the 2010 film Meskada, in which she played the role of Nat Collins, before playing Abby in Bashert (2010) with Paulo Costanzo. She also had a small role as a student in Julia Roberts' class in Larry Crowne (2011), which was directed by Tom Hanks.
In the spring of 2011, she performed the role of Chloe Coverly in the revival of Arcadia by Tom Stoppard at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York.
Gummer appeared as Katie Rand on the NBC television series Smash on March 26, 2012, in the episode entitled "The Coup". The character Katie Rand is a humanitarian attempting to bring peace to her divorcing parents, including mother played by Anjelica Huston.
Gummer had a recurring role on the 2013 television series Zero Hour and joined the cast of the HBO series The Newsroom beginning in its second season, which premiered on July 14, 2013.
In 2014 and 2015, Gummer starred alongside Halle Berry on both seasons of the CBS show Extant.
On January 29, 2016, it was announced that Gummer had joined the cast of the USA Network series Mr. Robot as a series regular in the role of FBI field agent Dominique "Dom" DiPierro. She will also co-star opposite Daniel Radcliffe and Laurence Fishburne in the action-thriller Beast of Burden. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Mary McDonnell is a two-time Oscar®-nominated actress, who is known for her character portrayals in both period and present-day screen roles, as well as a long history of stage and film roles.
Mary Eileen McDonnell was born on April 28, 1952 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Eileen (Mundy) and John McDonnell, a computer consultant, both of Irish descent. Raised in Ithaca, New York, she graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia. She later attended drama school and was accepted into the prestigious Long Wharf Theatre Company on the East Coast. Two decades later, she landed her breakthrough film role, in Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves (1990), playing "Stands with a Fist", a white woman raised by the Sioux Indians. She earned her first Academy Award nomination for the role.
McDonnell's film credits include the Lawrence Kasdan films Grand Canyon (1991) and Mumford (1999) (opposite such seasoned performers as Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, and Ben Kingsley); Roland Emmerich's Independence Day (1996) (starring Will Smith); acclaimed art house cult-hit Donnie Darko (2001); and Margin Call (2011) (opposite Kevin Spacey), which earned her the Robert Altman Award at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards. On the small screen, McDonnell starred in four seasons on the Syfy Network's award-winning series Battlestar Galactica (2004) in her critically praised performance as President Laura Roslin. She garnered an Emmy nomination for her recurring guest role on the television series ER (1994). She stars as Captain Sharon Raydor on the TNT's hit drama series Major Crimes (2012), the follow-up to The Closer (2005), in which McDonnell originated the role and for which she earned a Primetime Emmy® nomination. She garnered a Best Actress Academy Award® nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of a paraplegic soap opera star in John Sayles's critically acclaimed film, Passion Fish (1992).
McDonnell began her career in theatre and has starred in a wide variety of both Broadway and off-Broadway productions. She received an Obie Award for her performance in Emily Mann's Still Life and has starred in off-Broadway productions including the debut production of Sam Shepard's Pulitzer Prize-winning Buried Child (off-Broadway), John Patrick Shanley Savage in Limbo, John O'Keefe's All Night Long, Michael Cristofer's Black Angel, Kathleen Tolan's A Weekend Near Madison, Paula Cizmar's Death of a Miner, and Dennis McIntyre's National Anthem. Her Broadway credits include Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke, the title role in Wendy Wasserstein's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Heidi Chronicles, and Emily Mann's Execution of Justice. She received rave reviews for her performance opposite David Strathairn in Emily Mann's acclaimed adaptation of Chekhov's classic, The Cherry Orchard.
McDonnell lives in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles County, California with her husband, actor Randle Mell, and their children, Olivia and Michael.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Faran Haroon Tahir was born in Los Angeles, California while his parents were studying acting and directing at UCLA Theatre Department. He comes from a theatre family well known in Pakistan and India. Both his parents are actors, directors and writers in Pakistan. Faran moved back to Los Angeles, California in 1980, when he was 17 years old. He received his Bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley and his graduate degree from the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University. He has been nominated and has won many awards for his work in theatre and film.- Writer
- Producer
- Director
John Hughes was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter. He was credited for creating some of the most memorable comedy films of the 1980s and the 1990s, when he was at the height of his career. He had a talent for writing coming-of-age stories, and for depicting fairly realistic adolescent characters.
In 1950, Hughes was born in Lansing, Michigan. The city's main employers for much of the 20th century were manufacturing plants for automobiles. Lansing housed the headquarters of companies such as Oldsmobile and the REO Motor Car Company. Hughes' father John Hughes Sr. was a salesman, while Hughes' mother Marion Crawford worked as a volunteer for charity organizations.
Hughes had three sisters and no brothers. His family moved often. For most of his childhood, the Hughes family lived in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, a commuter suburb of Metro Detroit. According to an interview of Hughes, he was the only boy in his neighborhood while growing up. He was surrounded by girls and "old people," and there was no boys around for him to befriend. He spend a lot of time alone, and used his active imagination to keep himself entertained.
In 1963, the Hughes family moved to Northbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Hughes attended first the Grove Middle School, and then the Glenbrook North High School. His high school experiences reportedly provided inspiration for his teen-themed films of his career. According to interviews with Hughes' friends, Hughes had a poor relationship with his parents who often criticized him.
As an adolescent, Hughes felt the need to escape his problems. He became an avid film fan, as he found that films satisfied his need for escapism. He was a fan of both the Rat Pack (an informal group of actors and singers), and the music group The Beatles.
After graduating high school, Hughes enrolled in the University of Arizona. He eventually dropped out of the University, and tried to make a living as a comedy writer. He wrote jokes for professional comedians, such as Rodney Dangerfield (1921 - 2004) and Joan Rivers (1933 - 2014).
In 1970, Hughes was hired by the advertising company Needham Harper & Steers (1925-1986). That same year, Hughes married his former high school classmate Nancy Ludwig. Hughes worked in the advertising industry for several years. In 1974, Hughes was hired by the advertising agency Leo Burnett Worldwide. This company's most notable clients included the Pillsbury Company, StarKist, Heinz, Green Giant, and Philip Morris.
As a marketing agent, Hughes was assigned to handle Virginia Slims, a brand of cigarettes produced by Philip Morris. The assignment required him to regularly travel to New York City, where Philip Morris' headquarters were located. Hughes took the opportunity to visit the offices of the popular humor magazine "National Lampoon" (1970-1998) in New York City. He successfully negotiated a new position as a regular contributor to the magazine.
Hughes reportedly impressed the magazine's editors by producing quality work at a fast pace. Among his first short stories was "Vacation '58," based on his recollections of his family's vacations during his childhood. The story was eventually adapted into the road comedy film "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983).
"National Lampoon" co-produced films written by their staff writers. Hughes provided the script for the black comedy "National Lampoon's Class Reunion" (1982), depicting a serial killer who targets his former classmates. The film was poorly received and under-performed at the box office, but it inspired Hughes to try to make a career as a screenwriter.
Hughes subsequently wrote the scripts for both "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983) and "Mr. Mom" (1983), comedy films which were box office hits. He then signed a contract for three films with the studio Universal Pictures. He made his directing debut in the coming-of-age comedy film "Sixteen Candles" (1984). The film depicted the misadventures of high school sophomore Samantha "Sam" Baker (played by Molly Ringwald). It performed well at the box office, and was well-received by critics.
Hughes quickly established himself as a leading director of teen films. His films "The Breakfast Club" (1985), "Weird Science" (1985), and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986) are considered classics of the genre. To cover new ground, he then directed "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" (1987), featuring a duo of adult protagonists. The stars of the film were experienced comic actors Steve Martin and John Candy. The film was a hit. More importantly, Hughes and Candy became close friends. They would often work together in subsequent films.
Hughes' next film as a director was "She's Having a Baby" (1988), about the life of a newlywed couple. The film fared poorly financially and was considered rather "blasé" by critics. Hughes made a comeback with "Uncle Buck" (1989), about a lifelong bachelor who has to take care of his two nieces and a nephew. The film was a box office hit, earning about 80 million dollars at the box office.
Hughes' final film as a director was the comedy-drama "Curly Sue" (1991), about homeless con artist Bill Dancer (played by Jim Belushi) who desperately tries to keep the custody of his surrogate daughter. While moderately successful at the box office at the box office, the film was widely ridiculed for being overly sentimental.
In the 1990s, Hughes found success as a screenwriter, scripting several box office hits. Among his most notable films in this period were "Home Alone" (1990) and "Beethoven" (1992), with both films starting lucrative media franchises. Hughes also wrote the scripts of the sequels "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" (1992) and "Home Alone 3" (1997). He also scripted a notable comic strip adaptation, "Dennis the Menace" (1993). It was based on the long-running comic strip "Dennis the Menace" (1951-) by Hank Ketcham (1920-2001).
In 1994, Hughes moved to the Chicago metropolitan area. At about that time, he started actively avoiding publicity. He rarely gave any interviews until the end of his life. In 1995, Hughes co-founded the production company Great Oaks Entertainment, which mainly handled co-production of Disney produced films. Hughes handled the scripting of two of the company's films: "101 Dalmatians" (1996) and "Flubber" (1997). Both were remakes of older films.
In 1997, Hughes severed his partnership with Ricardo Mestres. A year later, their final co-production, "Reach the Rock," was released. The film was scripted by Hughes, though it was uncharacteristically dramatic for a Hughes film. The film depicted the conflict between an alienated young man and a police chief.
In the 2000s, Hughes only scripted three more films. The most notable among them the romantic drama "Maid in Manhattan" (2002), a hit for protagonist Jennifer Lopez. It earned about 164 million dollars.
In August 2009, Hughes visited New York City with his wife. He wanted to visit one of his sons who lived there, and to meet his new grandson. On August 6, Hughes suffered a heart attack while walking in Manhattan. He was transported to Roosevelt Hospital, but died shortly after. He was fifty-nine years old.
Hughes was buried in Lake Forest Cemetery, a rural cemetery located in Lake Forest, Illinois. He was survived by his wife, their two children, and several grandchildren.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Vanessa Marano started acting in the theater when she was seven years old, performing in numerous plays at A.C.T. in Agoura Hills, California. She began her professional career with several national commercials.
Marano is most recognized for her roles as "April Nardini", the daughter of "Luke", in the highly popular show, Gilmore Girls (2000) and for the role of "Francesca", the daughter of the Emmy Award-winning Lisa Kudrow, in the HBO original series, The Comeback (2005). Recently, she starred in Scoundrels (2010), playing the scheming, school-skipping daughter of Virginia Madsen. She has had recurring roles in shows including Dexter (2006), Without a Trace (2002), Trust Me (2009) and The Young and the Restless (1973). Her guest-starring credits include Parenthood (2010), Medium (2005), Ghost Whisperer (2005), Past Life (2010), Six Feet Under (2001), Malcolm in the Middle (2000) and Grounded for Life (2001).
She starred as a young girl who becomes a quadriplegic in the critically acclaimed television movie, The Brooke Ellison Story (2004), directed by Christopher Reeve.
Marano's first film was the animated hit, Finding Nemo (2003), followed by the independent films, Easy (2003), The Clique (2008), Stopping Power (2000), Dear Lemon Lima (2009) and, most recently, The Secret Lives of Dorks (2013).
Vanessa is working with Lucy Liu on a miniseries, playing the troubled foster teenager, "Imogene 'Immy' Hicks" in Marry Me (2010).
Vanessa speaks Italian and is enrolled in her sophomore year in college.- Actor
- Producer
- Stunts
It isn't hard to make James Le Gros bust a gut laughing. Just call him Brad Pitt. Okay, so he doesn't get $6 million a film or have his photo air-kissed by legions of swooning schoolgirls during recess. But if you've caught Le Gros' quirky personality, you may wonder why he's still toiling away. But this Minnesota native, despite being tight-lipped on Pitt, Le Gros will happily chitchat about his career. Le Gros says he isn't very "LA", although he did live there for a short while.- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Aubrey Shea Peeples (she/they) is a queer actor and jazz pop musician from the swampy suburbs of Florida. They grew up a theater rat, working in professional theater by age ten. After deferring Harvard to continue pursuing her film career, they joined ABC's Nashville as Layla Grant - a woman who, after becoming semi-famous as a teenager on a vocal competition show, struggles with depression, addiction, divorce, and estrangement from her family while exploring who she truly is as an artist. During her time on the show Aubrey had the honor of touring the country and performing at the Grand Ole Opry multiple times, playing blues and soul music. Since her time on the show, she has shot several independent films including her writing & directorial debut "Decadeless," which premiered at the Portland Oregon Women's Film Festival in 2019 and can be found on youtube. They also lead Carrie Brownstein's pilot "Search & Destroy" for Hulu, based on her band Sleater-Kinney. Aubrey's debut album "Happy Birthday" was released on her birthday, November 26, 2021, under her musical alter ego "swampz" and is now streaming everywhere including spotify and apple music. While sonically referencing jazz, 1940s-era studio movie musicals, and 80s synth pop, this album thematically focuses on depression, anxiety, and PTSD. They are currently (2022) leading Kit Williamson's new television series "Unconventional" as Margot, a queer bipolar human coming to terms with her childhood trauma while embarking on starting a family. In the future, Aubrey would like to go to school and major in Human Evolutionary Biology, Ecology, and Sociology.
She thanks the theatrical & queer communities of Orlando, Florida for their love and acceptance through the years.- Elizabeth Berrington is an English actress and graduate of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, she is best known for her roles as Ruby Fry in Waterloo Road, Paula Kosh in Stella, Mel Debrou in Moving Wallpaper and Dawn Stevenson in The Syndicate. She has also featured in British television series such as The Bill, Doctor Who, The Office, Casualty, The Lakes, The Grimleys, Rose and Maloney and Stella.
- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Joss Whedon is the middle of five brothers - his younger brothers are Jed Whedon and Zack Whedon. Both his father, Tom Whedon and his grandfather, John Whedon were successful television writers. Joss' mother, Lee Stearns, was a history teacher and she also wrote novels as Lee Whedon. Whedon was raised in New York and was educated at Riverdale Country School, where his mother also taught. He also attended Winchester College in England for two years, before graduating with a film degree from Wesleyan University.
After relocating to Los Angeles, Whedon landed his first TV writing job on "Roseanne", and moved on to script a season of "Parenthood". He then developed a film script which went on to become Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). Whedon was very unhappy with the final film - his original script was extensively re-written and made lighter in tone. After this he earned screenwriting credits on such high profile productions as Alien: Resurrection (1997) and Toy Story (1995), for which he was Oscar nominated. He also worked as a 'script doctor' on various features, notably Speed (1994).
In 1997, Whedon had the opportunity to resurrect his character Buffy in a television series on The WB Network. This time, as showrunner and executive producer, he retained full artistic control. The series, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was a popular and critical hit, which ran for several seasons, the last two on UPN. Whedon also produced a spin-off series, "Angel", which was also successful. A foray in to sci-fi television followed with "Firefly", which developed a cult following, but did not stay on air long. It did find an audience on DVD and through re-runs, and a spin-off feature film Serenity (2005) was released in 2005.
Other projects have included comic book writing, the sci-fi drama "Dollhouse" and the screenplay for Marvel blockbuster The Avengers (2012).- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Jessica Capshaw was born in Columbia, Missouri, the daughter of actress Kate Capshaw (née Kathleen Sue Nail) and salesman Robert Capshaw. Her parents were both students at the University of Missouri. The family moved to New York to pursue Kate's modeling career. Her parents divorced when she was three and Jessica got drawn into her mother's new world. Kate married director Steven Spielberg when Jessica was 15. Among her three parents, she is one of 10 biological and adopted siblings. Jessica graduated from Brown University in 1998 with an English degree. She then attended acting classes at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. From there, she got her first acting role on TV's Odd Man Out (1999).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Brian Howe was born on 31 December 1957 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Newsroom (2012), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) and Westworld (2016).- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Phil Hartman was born Philip Edward Hartmann on September 24, 1948, in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. His surname was originally "Hartmann", but he later dropped the second "n". He was one of eight children of Doris Marguerite (Wardell) and Rupert Loebig Hartmann, a salesman. He was of German, Irish, and English descent. The family moved to the United States when Phil was around ten, and he spent the majority of his childhood in Connecticut and Southern California. He later obtained his American citizenship in the early 1990s. He often would visit his homeland of Canada throughout his career, and the City of Brantford even erected a plaque on the Walk of Fame in the town in honor of Phil's career and memory. The Humber College Comedy: Writing & Performance program in Toronto, Ontario, also has an award in Phil's memory that is given out to their Post-Graduate comedy students.
Phil originally studied Graphic Design at California State University. He began to work part time as a graphic artist, designing album covers for such bands as Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (see Crosby Stills Nash & Young) and Poco. In 1975, alongside doing album work, Phil joined the California comedy troupe, The Groundlings. While in The Groundlings, Phil worked with Paul Reubens and Jon Lovitz, who became good friends of his until his death. Phil and Paul created the character Pee Wee Herman together, and Phil even had a role on Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986) as pirate Captin' Carl.
In 1986, Phil joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975) and was on the show for a record of 8 seasons (which was later broken by Tim Meadows). Phil played a wide range of characters including: Frank Sinatra, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Ed McMahon, Barbara Bush, and many others. He was known to help out other writers who wanted to get their sketches read and onto the show. He held Saturday Night Live (1975) together during his 8-year reign, thus the nickname he garnered while on the show, "The Glue." Phil was also known for his voice work on commercials and cartoons. He was probably most well known for the voices of Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz on the animated comedy The Simpsons (1989). He also provided other minor voices for The Simpsons (1989). Phil left Saturday Night Live (1975) in 1994, and in 1995, was cast in the critically acclaimed NBC show NewsRadio (1995) as arrogant radio show host Bill McNeal.
After Phil's death, Phil's good friend Jon Lovitz attempted to fill the void as Max Lewis on NewsRadio (1995), but the struggling show's ratings dropped, and the show later fizzled out and ended in 1999. Phil had an interesting career in movies, mostly playing supporting characters. He was the lead in Houseguest (1995) and was also in Greedy (1994), Jingle All the Way (1996), Sgt. Bilko (1996), and his last live action film, Small Soldiers (1998). His last role was the English language dub of Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), as the quick-witted cat Jiji, which featured Small Soldiers co-star Kirsten Dunst in the lead voice role.
On May 28th, 1998, Phil was shot to death while sleeping in his Encino, California home by his wife, Brynn Hartman. Brynn left the house and later came back with a friend to show him Phil's body. When her friend went to call 911, Brynn locked herself in the bedroom with Phil's lifeless body and shot herself. It was later discovered by the coroner that Brynn had alcohol, cocaine, and the antidepressant, Zoloft, in her system. They left behind two children, Sean Edward (b. 1988) and Birgen (b. 1992). Phil and Brynn's bodies were cremated and spread upon Catalina Island, just off the coast of California, on June 4, 1998. Phil had specifically stated in his will that he wanted the ashes spread on Catalina Island because it was his favorite holiday getaway as he was an avid boater, surfer and general lover of the sea.
Phil was a very caring and sensitive person and was described as "very sweet and kind of quiet."- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Dan O'Brien is an American actor of Irish and Italian descent. He debuted off-off Broadway in 1997 to critical acclaim from Village Voice critic Alexis Soloski, in New Dramatist playwright, Sander Hick's play, 'Sealove, Manager' at the Ohio Theater, Wooster St. New York. After completing his education at the University of Notre Dame, Dan returned to New York and became what theatre critic Martin Denton called an "Indie-theater all-star." Briefly working as the Administrative Director of the New York International Fringe Festival - he auditioned for a play at the Present Company Theatorium on his lunch break and was cast in Village Voice Theater Editor, Brian Park's, American Absurdum, winning a Fringe First Award with the Production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2000.
New York Theater-
O'Brien performed in over twenty productions at some of New York's finest Off Broadway and independent theaters, including Anne Bogart's SITI Company Studio at Columbia, MCC, The Atlantic, The Flea, Here Arts, The Vineyard, The Ohio, Collective Unconscious, The Present Company Theatorium, The Kraine, Hudson Shakespeare Company, East Village Latino Arts Center Charas El Bohio, and La Plaza Cultural.
While working at the The Red Room theater on East Fourth Street he met playwright and actress Julie Shavers. They founded Black Rocking Chair productions in 2004 and produced Julie's work to critical praise by Terry Teachout at the New York International Fringe Festival, as well as The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Ohio Theater, PS 1, and barns and stages across Tennessee.
Commercials and Sitcoms -
Dan became a favorite of NY commercial casting directors and production companies working in a series of funny television commercials in the early 2000's, with directors like Academy Award Winner Erol Morris(Fog of War), Documentarian Chris Smith(Senior), comedians Martin Granger, David Shane, Jim Jenkins, and others winning several Cannes awards for commercials. The visibility got Dan's deadpan comedic style noticed by Hollywood sitcom producers who requested him to screen test, notably Family Guy writer, Ricky Blitt for 'Romantically Challenged' opposite Allyssa Milano, Ben Stiller for 'The Station' with John Goodman, and 'Will and Grace' producers Max Mutchick and David Kohan.
Leaving New York for Los Angeles in 2011 Dan quickly joined the cast of a NBC's Thursday night prime-time sitcom, 'Whitney,' from 2011-2013. Dan also guest starred on popular television series like 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'How I Met Your Mother,' 'Law and Order,' 'Ray Donovan,' 'The Affair,' 'American Housewife' and others. CBS cast O'Brien in their 2018 pilot "Pandas in New York" by Ajay Sahgal. Dan developed several major motion pictures in early readings by Aaron Sorkin, "The Trial of the Chicago Seven" and Beau Willimon's 'Farragut North' later "Ides of March."
Voice overs -
O'Brien is a leading commercial voice over talent notably voicing the television and radio campaigns for Sprint from 2014 until they were acquired by T-Mobile in 2019. Other notable campaigns voiced by O'Brien include Zillow from 2014-2019, PNG 2015, Tangerine Bank, 2014-15 and Nutro Dog Food from 2017 to the present.
Dan has directed plays and musicals in New York and Edinburgh: Julie Shaver's "Go Robot Go" at the NY Fringe, Nick Colt's puppet musical 'Birdy and Golden Putter' at the Gene Frankel Theater, and Shavers' 'Silver Bullet Trailer' at The Ohio Theater. He directed Shavers' play 'Mary Go Nowhere' developed at The Sewanne Writers Conference with Paula Vogel at the Assembly Rooms in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017. He has directed a series of award winning short films with puppeteer Matty Austin, 'Healing Old Wounds' and 'Healing Old Wounds, Trick or Treatment.' From 2019 to the present O'Brien has hosted a satirical web series as Fr. Daniel Malarky treating clergy who suffer from Notre Dame Football related anxiety.
Producing -
O'Brien is producing a film with Academy Award winner Johnathan King and Concordia Media ('Spotlight' 'Greenbook') written by Pulitzer nominated playwright Theresa Rebeck, based on the life of defrocked priest Rev. Marek Bozek of Poland who fought the Vatican to keep an inner city Polish parish from closing in St. Louis and paid with his priesthood.- Ingrid Park was born in February 1971 in Auckland, New Zealand. She is an actress, known for Go Girls (2009), Burying Brian (2008) and Luella Miller (2005).
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Robert Baker was born on 15 October 1979 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), The Lone Ranger (2013) and Out of Time (2003).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Nora Angela was born and grew up in El Paso, Texas. She spent several years attending elementary school in Richardson, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, before moving back to El Paso. When she was 14 she moved to Dallas where she attended the McKinney High School for several years. She attended the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science for one year.
At the age of 18 she moved to California to pursue an acting career. She appeared in a number of films like Tart (2001), American Pie 2 (2001), R.S.V.P. (2002), May (2002), 'The Song of Rose (2003)'and others as well as in several TV series. She is best known for her role as Laynie Hart from the WB's show, Everwood.- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Soundtrack
Martin Henderson was born in Auckland, New Zealand. He began acting when he was 13, appearing in Strangers (1989), a local television production. He attended Westlake Boys High School and Birkenhead Primary. He first became a star in his home country when he starred in the series Shortland Street, playing the character Stuart Neilson from 1992 to 1995, in the early- to mid-'90s. He then moved to Australia to star in the short-lived soapie, Echo Point, and Sweat, which also starred a very young Heath Ledger. The pair became friends, and Martin convinced Heath to move to Sydney and make a go of his career, and the two lived together. Martin also worked on Home and Away and Big Sky, as well as getting an AFI Award nomination for his supporting role in the Aussie film Kick. Martin left Australia to study acting and theatre in New York, where he also looked up Heath in LA.
Henderson spent more than a year unsuccessfully auditioning for film roles in Los Angeles, but in 2001, he was finally cast in a supporting role in the John Woo-directed war film Windtalkers. In 2002, he starred opposite actress Naomi Watts in the horror film The Ring. In 2005, he starred opposite Indian actress Aishwarya Rai in the romantic film Bride & Prejudice, and in the award-winning Little Fish starring Cate Blanchett. In 2010, it was announced Henderson had been cast in the creator of Grey's Anatomy new television series Off the Map wherein doctors travel to the end of the world to rediscover why they had initially wanted to become doctors.
In 2018, he starred in the horror film The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018).- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Multi-hyphenate actor, producer, writer, and director, Sarah Drew is best known for playing 'Dr. April Kepner' for nine seasons on the hit ABC series "Grey's Anatomy" and Hannah Rogers in Warner Bros' "Everwood".
Her recent TV credits include Freeform's hit series "Cruel Summer" which was the recipient of the Hollywood Critics Association Award for Best Cable Drama Series, and the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ series "Amber Brown," written, directed and produced by Bonnie Hunt. Sarah released four films in 2023, producing and starring in Lifetime's "The Girl Who Caught a Killer", Sony Affirm's "Birthright Outlaw", and starring in Hallmark's "Guiding Emily". "A Cowboy Christmas Romance" marks Sarah's second feature film that she's written and executive produced for Lifetime, in 2022, Sarah produced and starred in her writing debut "Reindeer Games Homecoming" as part of Lifetime's holiday slate. Sarah made her directorial debut in "Grey's Anatomy: B-Team the Webisodes" which was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Awards for an Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series.
She recently directed a radio play for LA Theater Works called "Fever Syndrome" which is set to be released later this year. In film, some notable projects include her debut in Columbia Picture's "Radio" alongside Ed Harris and Cuba Gooding Jr., as well as the lead in the hit Sony comedy "Moms' Night Out" alongside Patricia Heaton and Sean Astin. In 2022, she received a Canadian Screen Award Nomination for her lead role in Lifetime's "Stolen By Their Father". She began producing with Provident Films' "Indivisible," in which she starred alongside Tia Mowry.
Sarah got her start in the arts at a young age before booking the lead role of the critically acclaimed production of Romeo and Juliet at McCarter Theatre Center, an award-winning regional theater, in her fourth year of university. The opportunity catapulted her career, opening doors thanks to rave reviews by critics. She went on to make her Broadway debut in Vincent and Brixton, a classic play based on Vincent van Gogh, at the Lincoln Center Theater, then London's West End, before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in television and film. When she's not working, Sarah spends time giving back to her community, donating to charities close to her heart such as Door of Hope in Pasadena and Lwala Community Alliance, an organization dedicated to improving health care in Africa.
Sarah is a devoted wife to Dr. Peter Lanfer and mom to her kids Hannah (9) and Micah (12) and currently resides in Los Angeles.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Chris Carmack was born on 22 December 1980 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He is an actor, known for The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations (2009), Lovewrecked (2005) and Shark Night (2011). He has been married to Erin Carmack since 19 October 2018. They have two children.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Kimberly Jayne "Kim" Raver is an American actress from New York City. She has had a relatively long career in television roles, but she is primarily remembered for three roles. She portrayed the paramedic Kimberly "Kim" Zambrano in the police procedural "Third Watch" (1999-2005), the political advisor Audrey Raines in several seasons of the crime thriller series #24 (2001-2010), and the cardio-thoracic surgeon Dr. Theodora Grace "Teddy" Altman in the medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" (2005-). Raver joined the medical drama in its 6th season. She was originally intended to only portray a new recurring character, but was promoted to a series-regular before the end of that season.
In 1975, Raver made her television debut as a child actress in the long-running educational children's television "Sesame Street" (1969-). She appeared regularly in the series from 1975 to 1978. She decided to follow an acting career in the early 1990s, but she mostly acted in television commercials for the first few years of her career.
In 1995, Raver made her Broadway debut in the play "Holiday" by Philip Barry. Shortly later, Raver started portraying one-shot characters in popular television series of the 1990s, such as "Law & Order", "The Practice", and "Spin City". Her role in "Third Watch" was the first time that Raver portrayed a major character in television.
Raver portrayed the Assistant District Attorney Kathryn Hale, one of the main characters in the short-lived action drama series "The Nine" (2006-2007). In the series, Kathryn and several other characters were held hostage by bank robbers over a 52-hour period. The episodes explored events in the lives of the hostages both before and after the robbery. The series was nominated for a Golden Reel Award, but was canceled due to poor ratings.
Raver portrayed the editor-in-chief Nico Reilly, one of the main characters in the short-lived comedy-drama series "Lipstick Jungle" (2008-2009). The series was based on a popular novel by Candace Bushnell, and focused on the life-long friendship of three career women who worked in different industries. The series was canceled due to poor ratings and a controversy over abrupt casting changes.
Raver joined the cast of "Grey's Anatomy" in 2009, and decided to depart from the series in 2012. Following a years-long hiatus, she returned to the series in 2017. She has remained a series-regular ever since. Raver also had recurring roles in the crime drama "Ray Donovan" (2013-2020) and the political thriller "Designated Survivor" (2016-2019) during this period. Raver made her voice acting debut in animation in the superhero film "Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors" (2018), where she voiced the super-heroine Captain Marvel /Carol Danvers.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Camilla Luddington was born in Ascot, Berkshire, England. She has traveled to the U.S. as a teenager and has lived in Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, and California.
She was educated at an all-girls school in Ascot, Berkshire, later attending the American School in England at Thorpe in Surrey. She also lived in suburban Austin, Texas for a year when she was fourteen, and attended Westwood High School.
When she was eighteen, she enrolled in Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, before moving to New York City, and studying at New York Film Academy. She then moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting.
She has since appeared at several high profile TV shows, before rising to prominence as Catherine Princess of Wales in the Lifetime TV movie, William & Kate (2011). She went on to appear in Californication (2007) and True Blood (2008). Luddington was a guest star during the ninth season of ABC's Grey's Anatomy (2005) as Dr. Jo Wilson. She was upgraded to series regular for the tenth season. In June 2012, Crystal Dynamics confirmed Luddington would voice Lara Croft in the new Tomb Raider (2013) video game reboot. She did both the voice and the motion capture in the course of three years. She is set to appear in The Pact II (2014) in 2014. She is also returning to the role of Lara Croft for the latest Tomb Raider Game, Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015).- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Exotic leading man of American films, famed as much for his completely bald head as for his performances, Yul Brynner masked much of his life in mystery and outright lies designed to tease people he considered gullible. It was not until the publication of the books "Yul: The Man Who Would Be King" and "Empire and Odyssey" by his son, Yul "Rock" Brynner, that many of the details of Brynner's early life became clear.
Yul sometimes claimed to be a half-Swiss, half-Japanese named Taidje Khan, born on the island of Sakhalin; in reality, he was the son of Marousia Dimitrievna (Blagovidova), the Russian daughter of a doctor, and Boris Yuliyevich Bryner, an engineer and inventor of Swiss-German and Russian descent. He was born in their home town of Vladivostok on 11 July 1920 and named Yuli after his grandfather, Jules Bryner. When Yuli's father abandoned the family, his mother took him and his sister Vera to Harbin, Manchuria, where they attended a YMCA school. In 1934 Yuli's mother took her children to Paris. Her son was sent to the exclusive Lycée Moncelle, but his attendance was spotty. He dropped out and became a musician, playing guitar in the nightclubs among the Russian gypsies who gave him his first real sense of family. He met luminaries such as Jean Cocteau and became an apprentice at the Theatre des Mathurins. He worked as a trapeze artist with the famed Cirque d'Hiver company.
He traveled to the U.S. in 1941 to study with acting teacher Michael Chekhov and toured the country with Chekhov's theatrical troupe. That same year, he debuted in New York as Fabian in "Twelfth Night" (billed as Youl Bryner). After working in a very early TV series, Mr. Jones and His Neighbors (1944), he played on Broadway in "Lute Song" with Mary Martin, winning awards and mild acclaim. He and his wife, actress Virginia Gilmore, starred in the first TV talk show, Mr. and Mrs. (1948). Brynner then joined CBS as a television director. He made his film debut in Port of New York (1949). Two years later Mary Martin recommended him for the part he would forever be known for: the King in Richard Rodgers' and Oscar Hammerstein II's musical "The King and I". Brynner became an immediate sensation in the role, repeating it for film (The King and I (1956)) and winning the Oscar for Best Actor.
For the next two decades, he maintained a starring film career despite the exotic nature of his persona, performing in a wide range of roles from Egyptian pharaohs to Western gunfighters, almost all with the same shaved head and indefinable accent. In the 1970s he returned to the role that had made him a star, and spent most of the rest of his life touring the world in "The King and I". When he developed lung cancer in the mid 1980s, he left a powerful public service announcement denouncing smoking as the cause, for broadcast after his death. The cancer and its complications, after a long illness, ended his life. Brynner was cremated and his ashes buried in a remote part of France, on the grounds of the Abbey of Saint-Michel de Bois Aubry, a short distance outside the village of Luzé. He remains one of the most fascinating, unusual and beloved stars of his time.- Matthew McNulty was born on 14 December 1982 in Manchester, England, UK. He is an actor, known for The Rising (2022), Domina (2021) and Deadwater Fell (2020). He is married to Katie. They have three children.
- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
An actor, comedian and writer, Seth Rogen has come a long way from doing stand-up comedy as a teen.
Rogen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, to Sandy (Belogus), a social worker, and Mark Rogen, who worked for non-profits. His father is American-born and his mother is Canadian. He is of Russian Jewish descent. He attended Vancouver Talmud Torah Elementary School and Point Grey Secondary School (although he dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles) and was known for the stand-up comedy he performed at Camp Miriam, a Habonim Dror camp. At sixteen, Rogen placed second in the 1998 Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest.
Soon after that he landed his first role in Judd Apatow's short-lived but well regarded TV series Freaks and Geeks (1999), taking on the role of Ken Miller. Though the show only lasted one season, it was the launching pad for many careers, including Rogen, Apatow, James Franco, and Jason Segel. This early work sharpened Rogen's keen improvisational skills, which he's used on many projects since.
Following Freaks and Geeks (1999), he participated in a few unsuccessful television projects, and then joined the American television version of Da Ali G Show (2000) as a writer during its second and last season, along with his childhood friend and writing partner Evan Goldberg. The writing team received an Emmy nomination. As a huge fan of the first season, Rogen was thrilled to get the chance to work with Sacha Baron Cohen.
Continuing his work with Apatow, he joined the cast of Apatow's debut film The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) and is credited as co-producer. After that he took the lead in Knocked Up (2007), Apatow's second movie and a huge success. He's since been a frequent collaborator with Apatow, in projects such as Superbad (2007), Pineapple Express (2008) and Funny People (2009). He co-wrote Superbad (2007), with Goldberg; the pair started the project when they were teens. They won the Canadian Comedy Award for Best Writing in a Film in 2008. They later wrote Pineapple Express (2008) and The Green Hornet (2011), also starring Rogen.
A talented voice artist, Rogen is in the animated films Horton Hears a Who! (2008), Kung Fu Panda (2008), and Monsters vs. Aliens (2009), and has voiced characters for The Simpsons (1989) and American Dad! (2005).
Rogen was named the Canadian Comedy Person of the Year by the Canadian Comedy Awards in both 2008 and 2009.
Rogen lives in Los Angeles with Lauren Miller Rogen, whom he met in 2004. They became engaged in September 2010 and married in October 2011.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is an actress known for her versatile work in a variety of film and television projects. Possibly most known for her role as Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), she has also starred in critically acclaimed independent films such as Smashed (2012), for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination, as well as genre fare like Final Destination 3 (2006) and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof (2007).
Winstead was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina but largely raised in Sandy, Utah, which is where she discovered a love for the performing arts. She grew up training to be a ballerina and attended the Joffrey Ballet School training program at the age of 12. It was also around this time that she began to pursue a career in acting and soon started working steadily in television and film.
Winstead is also a recording artist and performs under the name "Got a Girl" alongside producer Dan the Automotor.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Music Department
Angeline Ball was born on 28 June 1969 in Cabra, Dublin, Ireland. She is an actress, known for The Commitments (1991), Bloom (2003) and The General (1998).- Actress
- Soundtrack
One of the brightest film stars to grace the screen was born Emilie Claudette Chauchoin on September 13, 1903, in Saint Mandé, France where her father owned a bakery at 57, rue de la République (now Avenue Général de Gaulle). The family moved to the United States when she was three. As Claudette grew up, she wanted nothing more than to play to Broadway audiences (in those days, any actress or actor worth their salt went for Broadway, not Hollywood). After her formal education ended, she enrolled in the Art Students League, where she paid for her dramatic training by working in a dress shop. She made her Broadway debut in 1923 in the stage production of "The Wild Wescotts". It was during this event that she adopted the name Claudette Colbert.
When the Great Depression shut down most of the theaters, Claudette decided to make a go of it in films. Her first film was called For the Love of Mike (1927). Unfortunately, it was a box-office disaster. She wasn't real keen on the film industry, but with an extreme scarcity in theatrical roles, she had no choice but to remain. In 1929 she starred as Joyce Roamer in The Lady Lies (1929). The film was a success and later that year she had another hit entitled The Hole in the Wall (1929). In 1930 she starred opposite Fredric March in Manslaughter (1930), which was a remake of the silent version of eight years earlier. A year after that Claudette was again paired in a film with March, Honor Among Lovers (1931). It fared well at the box-office, probably only because it was the kind of film that catered to women who enjoyed magazine fiction romantic stories. In 1932 Claudette played the evil Poppeia in Cecil B. DeMille's last great work, The Sign of the Cross (1932), and once again was cast with March. Later the same year she was paired with Jimmy Durante in The Phantom President (1932). By now Claudette's name symbolized good movies and she, along with March, pulled crowds into the theaters with the acclaimed Tonight Is Ours (1933).
The next year started a little on the slow side with the release of Four Frightened People (1934), where Claudette and her co-stars were at odds with the dreaded bubonic plague on board a ship. However, the next two films were real gems for this young actress. First up, Claudette was charming and radiant in Cecil B. DeMille's spectacular Cleopatra (1934). It wasn't one of DeMille's finest by any means, but it was a financial success and showcased Claudette as never before. However, it was as Ellie Andrews, in the now famous It Happened One Night (1934), that ensured she would be forever immortalized. Paired with Clark Gable, the madcap comedy was a mega-hit all across the country. It also resulted in Claudette being nominated for and winning the Oscar that year for Best Actress. IN 1935 she was nominated again for Private Worlds (1935), where she played Dr. Jane Everest, on the staff at a mental institution. The performance was exquisite. Films such as The Gilded Lily (1935), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) and No Time for Love (1943) kept fans coming to the theaters and the movie moguls happy. Claudette was a sure drawing card for virtually any film she was in. In 1944 she starred as Anne Hilton in Since You Went Away (1944). Again, although she didn't win, Claudette picked up her third nomination for Best Actress.
By the late 1940s and early 1950s she was not only seen on the screen but the infant medium of television, where she appeared in a number of programs. However, her drawing power was fading somewhat as new stars replaced the older ones. In 1955 she filmed the western Texas Lady (1955) and wasn't seen on the screen again until Parrish (1961). It was her final silver screen performance. Her final appearance before the cameras was in a TV movie, The Two Mrs. Grenvilles (1987). She did, however, remain on the stage where she had returned in 1956, her first love. After a series of strokes, Claudette divided her time between New York and Barbados. On July 30, 1996, Claudette died in Speightstown, Barbados. She was 92.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Maggie Gyllenhaal was born on November 16, 1977 in New York City, New York as Margalit Ruth Gyllenhaal, the daughter of producer/screenwriter Naomi Foner and director Stephen Gyllenhaal, and the older sister of actor Jake Gyllenhaal. She is of Ashkenazi Jewish (mother) and Swedish, English, and German (father) descent.
She made her film debut in Waterland (1992). She had sporadic roles throughout her teenage years though she took a break to attend Columbia University where she graduated w/ a degree in literature in 1999. In addition, she briefly studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, which helped w/ her post-graduation transition back into acting.
Soon after graduating, she had supporting roles in Cecil B. Demented (2000) & Donnie Darko (2001). Her breakout role came later when she starred in Secretary (2002), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination. She followed that up w/ supporting roles in 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), Adaptation. (2002), & Mona Lisa Smile (2003) among other movies. She received her 2nd Golden Globe nomination for playing a recent prison parolee in Sherrybaby (2006). She followed that up w/ roles in World Trade Center (2006), Stranger Than Fiction (2006) & The Dark Knight (2008).
In 2009, she received great acclaim for her role in Crazy Heart (2009), which earned her 1st Oscar nomination. Since then, she has been seen in Nanny McPhee Returns (2010), Hysteria (2011) & Won't Back Down (2012).- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Paulette Goddard was a child model who debuted in "The Ziegfeld Follies" at the age of 13. She gained fame with the show as the girl on the crescent moon, and was married to a wealthy man, Edgar James, by the time she was 17. After her divorce she went to Hollywood in 1931, where she appeared in small roles in pictures for a number of studios. A stunning natural beauty, Paulette could mesmerize any man she met, a fact she was well aware of. One of her bigger roles in that period was as a blond "Goldwyn Girl" in the Eddie Cantor film The Kid from Spain (1932). In 1932 she met Charles Chaplin, and they soon became an item around town. He cast her in Modern Times (1936), which was a big hit, but her movie career was not going anywhere because of her relationship with Chaplin. They were secretly married in 1936, but the marriage failed and they were separated by 1940. It was her role as Miriam Aarons in The Women (1939), however, that got her a contract with Paramount. Paulette was one of the many actresses tested for the part of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), but she lost the part to Vivien Leigh and instead appeared with Bob Hope in The Cat and the Canary (1939), a good film but hardly in the same league as GWTW. The 1940s were Paulette's busiest period. She worked with Chaplin in The Great Dictator (1940), Cecil B. DeMille in Reap the Wild Wind (1942) and Burgess Meredith in The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946). She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in So Proudly We Hail! (1943). Her star faded in the late 1940s, however, and she was dropped by Paramount in 1949. After a couple of "B" movies, she left films and went to live in Europe as a wealthy expatriate; she married German novelist Erich Maria Remarque in the late 1950s. She was coaxed back to the screen once more, although it was the small screen, for the television movie The Female Instinct (1972).- Actor
- Music Department
A Canadian actor of Cree and Stoney descent, Gordon Tootosis made his film debut in the western film Alien Thunder (1974) with Donald Sutherland and Chief Dan George. Tootoosis provided memorable performances in television and movies, including the role of 'One Stab' in Legends of the Fall (1994), the role of 'Growling Bear' in the Steven Spielberg produced miniseries Into the West (2005) and the role of 'Chief Red Cloud' in the HBO film Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007). His television credits include guest appearances on Friday the 13th: The Series (1987), MacGyver (1985), Northern Exposure (1990), The X-Files (1993), The Magnificent Seven (1998) and Smallville (2001). Tootoosis provided the voice of 'Kekata' in Disney's animated feature Pocahontas (1995) and Sheriff Gordy in Open Season (2006).- Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
Gary Dale Farmer is a character actor with plenty of character. With over 100 Film and TV appearances attached to his resume, and plenty more in the pipeline, Gary has shown he can adapt easily to any genre when necessary. He was born in Ohsweken, Ontario, into the Cayuga nation and Wolf Clan, and studied photography and Film at both the Syracuse University and Ryerson Polytechnic University. He then began a successful career as an actor, first taking small roles in movies such as Police Academy (1984), the John Schlesinger film The Believers (1987) with Martin Sheen, the Matt Dillon vehicle, The Big Town (1987), and Renegades (1989) starring Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips.
By the early 1990s, Gary was starring in more substantial roles. He portrayed Cowboy Dashee in the Robert Redford- produced thriller, The Dark Wind (1991) - again opposite Lou Diamond Phillips- and starred with Corey Feldman and
Jim Jarmusch re-prised Gary's role as the Native American spiritual guide - Nobody - for his next film, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), and Frank Oz cast him alongside Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro in The Score (2001). Gary continues to work steadily as an actor and has also moved behind the camera - he has directed a few projects, including an episode of the Forever Knight (1992) TV series, episode 'Father Figure' (1992).
Gary formed his own band: 'Gary Farmer and the Troublemakers'. They play the blues and have released two CDs.- Actress
- Writer
Born in England and raised in Montreal, Catherine Disher attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and McGill University in Montreal ( as an English Literature Major ) before being accepted by and graduating from one of the most prestigious theatre schools in North America- The National Theatre School of Canada. Ms Disher is best known for her varied work in series television for which she has received seven Gemini Award nominations, the first being for her role in "Grand Larceny". She was nominated twice for her role as Natalie Lambert in the cult vampire series "Forever Knight". She won the Gemini for best actress in 2004 for her portrayal of volatile federal cabinet minister Audrey Flankman in the CBC series "Snakes and Ladders" and won another Gemini in 2010 for best supporting actress for her role as Superintendent Maggie Norton in the CBC drama series "The Border". She was nominated three times for the "Border"- one nomination for each season of the show.
Ms. Disher has also appeared in many television movies in roles as diverse as showgirl Dulcie Dobbs in the period heist "Grand Larceny", Betty Fox in "The Terry Fox Story" and Chief Catherine Novak in the recent, highly rated Lifetime movie "An Officer And A Murderer". Ms Disher has been honored to portray busybody Martha Tinsdale, the doyenne of Middleton society, in the popular Hallmark series of "Good Witch" movies.
Ms. Disher is also an accomplished voice performer appearing in countless radio dramas, video games ( such as Resident Evil as Jill Valentine ) and cartoons such as X-Men ( as Jean Grey ), Sailor Moon, Care bears, Atomic Betty, Franklin, Babar and as Mom in the Emmy winning Rolie Polie Olie.- Actress
- Music Department
- Additional Crew
Rosie Cavaliero was born on 27 November 1967 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Jane Eyre (2011), Scoop (2006) and Vera Drake (2004).- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Director
Craig Hall was born on May 10th, 1974 in Auckland, New Zealand after his parents emigrated from Glasgow,Scotland. He is an actor, known for King Kong (2005), The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug (2013), The World's Fastest Indian (2005) and A Place To Call Home (2013). His film debut was in Savage Honeymoon (2000), which was initially restricted by the New Zealand Office of Film & Literature Classification to adults over 18 because of a scene where characters throw a barbecue's gas bottle onto a fire and watch it explode.- Don McManus was born on 8 November 1959 in San Diego, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Vice (2018), Sorry for Your Loss (2018) and Mom (2013).
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Stuart Graham was born on 31 May 1967 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. He is an actor and director, known for Hunger (2008), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and The Good Word (2014).- Producer
- Writer
- Actor
Tim Kring was born on 9 July 1957 in El Dorado County, California, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Heroes (2006), Chicago Hope (1994) and The Conspiracy for Good: London 2010 (2010).- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Aisling Bea is an actor, stand-up comedian, and writer from Ireland. In 2020 she won a BAFTA for Breakthrough Talent for her television series This Way Up, in which she also starred. In 2014 she won the British Comedy Award for Best Female TV Comedian. She trained at LAMDA (The London Academy for Music and Dramatic Art). In 2012 she won the Gilded Balloon So You Think You're Funny? stand-up competition; she was the first woman to win it in 20 years.- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
David Kelley might be described as living the American Dream, 1990s' style: write a screenplay, move to Hollywood, make millions and marry a movie star. A former Boston lawyer, in the last decade, he switched careers to become a successful television producer whose shows are recognized for their quality as well as receiving top ratings. David Kelley was born in 1956 and is originally from Maine. He attended Princeton University and Boston University Law School. He married actress Michelle Pfeiffer in November 1993. They have two children: Claudia Rose Kelley, born in March 1993, who was adopted by Ms. Pfeiffer eight months before their marriage, and John Henry, born in August 1994. Claudia Rose Kelley was christened and given Mr. Kelley's name at the couple's wedding ceremony. Mr. Kelley was an associate at Fine & Ambrogne in 1983 when he wrote a film script based on some of his legal experiences. Through a family friend, he got the script optioned and acquired an agent in 1986. It was produced in 1987, as a film titled From the Hip (1987), starring Judd Nelson, Elizabeth Perkins, and John Hurt. At the same time, producers Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher (creators of the successful police drama Hill Street Blues (1981)) were planning a new series set in a law firm, and looking for writers with legal backgrounds. They saw Mr. Kelley's script and invited him to Los Angeles to discuss writing a single script for L.A. Law (1986). The meeting was so successful that Mr. Kelley joined the show's staff as a story editor. The next year, he became executive story editor, and after Terry Fisher left the show, he became the supervising producer. Steven Bochco left L.A. Law (1986) after the third season, and Mr. Kelley took over as executive producer, while continuing to write many of the scripts himself. Mr. Kelley has since produced more critically acclaimed and successful shows. He served as creative consultant on Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989), which was produced by Steven Bochco, and as executive producer and writer for Picket Fences (1992). He is the executive producer of Chicago Hope (1994). He is part of the television production division of Twentieth Century Fox, which has been owned by Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate, The News Corporation Ltd., since 1985.- Matthew Marsh lives in London and has been working in theatre film television & radio since 1977 - this versatile character actor often plays American Russian south African and German roles and many others along with his native UK ones - he has been lucky enough to work all over the world in film and TV and in theatre he loves working on new plays
- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Pauline Quirke was born on 8 July 1959 in Hackney, London, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Birds of a Feather (1989), Emmerdale Farm (1972) and Broadchurch (2013). She has been married to Steve Sheen since August 1996. They have two children.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Olivia Colman was born on 30 January 1974 in Norwich, Norfolk, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for The Favourite (2018), Tyrannosaur (2011) and The Lost Daughter (2021). She has been married to Ed Sinclair since August 2001. They have three children.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Perhaps best known for his chilling performance as "Candyman", the charismatic 6' 5" actor Tony Todd has consistently turned in compelling performances since his debut in the fantasy film Sleepwalk (1986). Born in Washington, D.C., Todd spent two years on a scholarship at the University of Connecticut, which, in turn, led to a scholarship from the renowned Eugene O'Neill National Theatre Institute. It proved to be the foundation for intense stints at the Hartman Conservatory in Stamford, Connecticut and the Trinity Square Repertory Theatre Conservatory in Providence, Rhode Island. Todd appeared in dozens of classical and many experimental plays, yet still managed to find time to teach playwriting to high school students in the Hartford public school system.
Todd's extensive credits exemplify his versatility. They include such film classics as The Rock (1996), The Crow (1994), Lean on Me (1989), Bird (1988), Night of the Living Dead (1990), Final Destination (2000), the multiple Academy Award winning Oliver Stone film Platoon (1986) and The Secret (2000), which was nominated and screened at the Cannes Film Festival. Todd's recent films include the independent film Silence (2002) and Final Destination 2 (2003). He has had prominent guest starring roles in numerous critically-acclaimed television series, including recurring on Boston Public (2000), For the People (2002) and The District (2000), as well as NYPD Blue (1993), Smallville (2001), Law & Order (1990), Crossing Jordan (2001), Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) and The X-Files (1993). Todd recurred on three incarnations of "Star Trek" and guest starred on Xena: Warrior Princess (1995) and episodes of CSI: Miami (2002) and Andromeda (2000). His television movies include starring roles in True Women (1997), Black Fox (1995), Butter (1998), Ivory Hunters (1990), Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (1999) and Control Factor (2003).
Todd's considerable theatre credits include the world premiere of award-winning playwright August Wilson's "King Hedley II", where he originated the title role in Pittsburgh, Seattle and Boston. Variety commented: "Todd's King Hedley dominates the stage. A sour-faced mix of rage and resolve, anger and vulnerability. Todd's Hedley was a memorable tour-de-force even on opening." He also received a coveted Helen Hayes nomination for his performance in Athol Fugard's "The Captain's Tiger at La Jolla, the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Kennedy Center. Other theatre credits include "Les Blancs", "Playboy of the West Indies", "Othello", "Zooman and the Sign", award-winning playwright Keith Glover's "Dark Paradise", "Aida" (on Broadway), and most recently, "Levee James" for the prestigious Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference and The New Dramatist Guild.- Producer
- Writer
- Actor
Highly inventive U.S. film director/producer/writer/actor Sam Raimi first came to the attention of film fans with the savage, yet darkly humorous, low-budget horror film, The Evil Dead (1981). From his childhood, Raimi was a fan of the cinema and, before he was ten-years-old, he was out making movies with an 8mm camera. He was a devoted fan of The Three Stooges, so much of Raimi's film work in his teens, with good friends Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert, was slapstick comedy based around what they had observed from "Stooges" movies.
Among the three of them, they wrote, directed, produced and edited a short horror movie titled Within the Woods (1978), which was then shown to prospective investors to raise the money necessary to film The Evil Dead (1981). It met with lukewarm interest in the U.S. with local distributors, so Raimi took the film to Europe, where it was much more warmly received. After it started gaining positive reviews and, more importantly, ticket sales upon its release in Europe, U.S. distributors showed renewed interest, and "Evil Dead" was eventually released stateside to strong box office returns. His next directorial effort was Crimewave (1985), a quirky, cartoon-like effort that failed to catch fire with audiences. However, he bounced back with Evil Dead II (1987), a racier and more humorous remake/sequel to the original "Dead" that did even better at the box office. Raimi was then given his biggest budget to date to shoot Darkman (1990), a comic book-style fantasy about a scarred avenger. The film did moderate business, but Raimi's strong visual style was evident throughout the film via inventive and startling camera work that caught the attention of numerous critics.
The third chapter in the Evil Dead story beckoned, and Raimi once again directed buddy Campbell as the gritty hero "Ash", in the Gothic horror Army of Darkness (1992). Raimi surprised fans when he took a turn away from the fantasy genre and directed Gene Hackman and Sharon Stone in the sexy western, The Quick and the Dead (1995); four years later, he took the directorial reins on A Simple Plan (1998), a crime thriller about stolen money, starring Bill Paxton and Bridget Fonda. In early 1999, he directed the baseball film, For Love of the Game (1999), and, in 2000, returned to the fantasy genre with a top-flight cast in The Gift (2000). In 2002, Raimi was given a real opportunity to demonstrate his dynamic visual style with the big-budget film adaptation of the Stan Lee comic book superhero, Spider-Man (2002), and fans were not disappointed. The movie was strong in both script and effects, and was a runaway success at the box office. Of course, Raimi returned for the sequel, Spider-Man 2 (2004), which surpassed the original in box-office takings.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Marina Sirtis was born in London, England, to Greek parents, Despina (Yianniri), a tailor's assistant, and John Sirtis. Her parents did not want her to become an actress. As soon as Marina completed high school, she secretly applied to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. After her graduation, she worked in musical theater, repertory and television. In 1986, she moved to Los Angeles, California to boost her career. For six months, she auditioned for roles but was unsuccessful. Just before she planned to go back home, she got the role of Counselor Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). After the series ended, she reprised her role for a string of successful Star Trek films: Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). In 1992, Sirtis married rock guitarist Michael Lamper. She occasionally attends Star Trek conventions so that her loving fans can meet her, and she can meet the fans.- Peter Mensah has been doing martial arts since he was 6 years old, growing up in St. Albans, England, just north of London. A former engineer, Mensah came to Canada 11 years ago. He'd worked for British Gas developing gas fields at Morecambe Bay and had done theatre in school. He comes from an academic family. His father, an architect, relocated with his mother to their native Ghana. He only has two younger sisters. Mensah emigrated from Britain to see the world and it was a toss up whether his destination would be Canada or Australia. The paperwork for Canada came through first.
- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Joey King started acting professionally when she was four years old. A national spot for Life Cereal was Joey's first commercial. It has been said that Joey inherited the love of acting from her grandmother, who used to perform in live theater.
She has appeared in several television shows and movies of the week, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Entourage (2004), Medium (2005), R.L. Stine's the Haunting Hour (2010) and "Avenging Angel", to name a few. Also she has completed three pilots, and was a series regular on the short lived show, "Bent" were she has said, "Jeffrey Tambor made me laugh everyday".
Joey voiced the yellow fur ball Katie, for the animated feature Horton Hears a Who! (2008), and Beaver, for "Ice Age 3-D". She has also voiced the lead character Jessie, in the book series movie adaptation of "The Boxcar Children", and lastly the voice of China Girl in the much anticipated Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), a prequel to the the world famous 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz (1939). Joey said, "I think it's really neat to hear my voice come out of animal or creature that someone made from their imagination!"
Her first film Grace (2006), was shot when she was six years old. On the first day of filming Joey had to pretend to almost drown in the ice cold ocean. Joey has said she was completely hooked on making movies after that.
Joey was nine years old when she landed her first lead role in the feature Ramona and Beezus (2010). Joey played Ramona Quimby, whose character always seems to be in some sort of mischief. Joey has said that the role changed her life and she will always be grateful to, two of the most amazing, talented woman, Liz Allen and Denise DeNovi who are still good friends of Joey's.
In her short years, Joey has worked with some very prestigious directors; Christopher Nolan, who Joey describes as super involved in every detail, including being present when Joey shaved off her hair for her role in The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Sam Raimi, who captured Joey's heart with his gentle and patient demeanor and brilliant vision, while working on Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), and Roland Emmerich who Joey has said is such a gifted director, who I was so lucky to get to work for and will be my friend for life, while filming the action movie, White House Down (2013).
Joey has spoken to many schools and Boys and Girls Clubs on the importance of making a positive difference in the world, even if you are young. She attends and contributes to many charities, and you can often find her helping her grandmother deliver food to the elderly through Meals on Wheels when she is not working.
Joey's performances have earned her outstanding critical reviews from such critics as Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times, and Amy Biancolli of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Joey has said she feels like the luckiest person in the world to be able to do what she loves and be surrounded by people she loves!- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
British actor Clive Owen is one of a handful of stars who, though he is best known for his art house films, can handle more mainstream films with equal measures of grace and skill. Owen is typically cast as characters whose primary traits are a balance of physical strength, intellect, conflicting soul but forceful will. He is best known to film audiences for his work in Children of Men (2006), Closer (2004) and his breakout part in Croupier (1998).
Born in Coventry, in England's West Midlands county, on 3 October 1964, Owen is the fourth of five brothers. He is the son of Pamela (Cotton) and Jess Owen, a country and western singer. His father abandoned the family when he was three years old, and Owen was subsequently raised by his mother and stepfather. He attended Binley Park Comprehensive School and joined the youth theater at 13 after playing the scene-stealing role of the Artful Dodger in a production of "Oliver!"
Acting was not his first choice as a profession, but he changed his mind and went on to graduate from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1987. Owen proceeded to join the Young Vic Theatre Company, where he honed his craft while performing in a number of Shakespearean productions.
Clive made his film debut in the British-made Vroom (1990) co-starring with David Thewlis as two fellows who restore a classic American car and take off on the road. Within two years, Clive became a full-fledged TV star playing devilish rogue Stephen Crane in Chancer (1990). However, the now-sought-after Clive abandoned the star-making part at the height of the show's popularity because of unwanted invasion of privacy and his fear of typecasting. His next project raised more than a few eyebrows when he filmed Close My Eyes (1991) in which he played a brother who acts on his incestuous desires for his older sister. Clive's reputation as a lovable shyster was completely shattered and he lost profitable commercial endorsements following the film's release. Offers fell off for the next two years as a result. But the persistent Clive carried on with stage work, including the role of a bisexual in a production of Noël Coward's "Design For Living." He returned to TV at that time as well and played a number of roles in both mini-movies and series.
In 1997, Clive had a huge hit on the London stage with "Closer," a cynical, contemporary ensemble piece about relationships. Controversy surrounded him again in the film role of Max in Bent (1997) playing a brash, reckless homosexual lothario in decadent pre-war Germany who finds unconditional love while interned in a Nazi war camp. His biggest film break, however, was in Mike Hodges' Croupier (1998), as a struggling writer-turned-casino employee who gets in over his head with a femme fatale scam artist. English audiences stayed away in droves but the U.S. embraced the film and Hollywood took notice of Clive, who was virtually unknown outside of England. Despite playing detective Ross Tanner in a series of successful "Second Sight" mini-movies and finding critical acclaim on stage with "The Day in the Death of Joe Egg" in 2001, Clive has focused primarily on film, including the offbeat Brit romantic comedy Greenfingers (2000), the classy and popular Robert Altman period piece Gosford Park (2001), the Matt Damon star-vehicle The Bourne Identity (2002), and the title role in King Arthur (2004). He has since reached the top rungs of the Hollywood ladder with the film version of his stage smash Closer (2004), in which he received an Academy Award nomination and won both the Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for "Supporting Actor." He also had noteworthy roles opposite Denzel Washington in Inside Man (2006); and Julianne Moore and Michael Caine in Children of Men (2006), as well as handling a few biopics, playing Sir Walter Raleigh opposite Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth I in the film Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and Ernest Hemingway (Emmy nomination) in Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012) also starring Nicole Kidman.
More recent films include starring roles in The International (2009), Duplicity (2009), The Boys Are Back (2009), Trust (2010), Intruders (2011), Blood Ties (2013), Last Knights (2015), The Confirmation (2016) and Anon (2018). He also played Claudius in a retelling of "Hamlet" per Ophelia's perspective in Ophelia (2018); and played in support to Will Smith in the sci-fi thriller Gemini Man (2019).
Owen is married to former actress Sarah-Jane Fenton, who played Juliet to his Romeo at the Young Vic in 1998. The couple has two daughters.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Sam Neill was born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland, to army parents, an English-born mother, Priscilla Beatrice (Ingham), and a New Zealand-born father, Dermot Neill. His family moved to the South Island of New Zealand in 1954. He went to boarding schools and then attended the universities at Canterbury and Victoria. The 6-foot tall star has a BA in English Literature. Following his graduation, he worked with the New Zealand Players and other theater groups. He also was a film director, editor and scriptwriter for the New Zealand National Film Unit for 6 years.
Sam Neill is internationally recognised for his contribution to film and television. He is well known for his roles in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993) and Jane Campion's Academy Award Winning film The Piano (1993). Other film roles include The Daughter (2015), Backtrack (2015) opposite Adrien Brody, MindGamers (2015), United Passions (2014), A Long Way Down (2014), Escape Plan (2013), The Hunter (2011) with Willem Dafoe, Daybreakers (2009), Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010), Little Fish (2005) opposite Cate Blanchett, Skin (2008), Dean Spanley (2008), Wimbledon (2004), Yes (2004), Perfect Strangers (2003), Dirty Deeds (2002), The Zookeeper (2001), Bicentennial Man (1999) opposite Robin Williams, The Horse Whisperer (1998) alongside Kristin Scott Thomas, Sleeping Dogs (1977), and My Brilliant Career (1979).
He received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for the NBC miniseries Merlin (1998). He also received a Golden Globe nomination for One Against the Wind (1991), and for Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983). The British Academy of Film and Television honoured Sam's work in Reilly by naming him Best Actor. Sam received an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in Jessica (2004).
Other television includes House of Hancock (2015), Rake (2010), Doctor Zhivago (2002), To the Ends of the Earth (2005), The Tudors (2007) with Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Crusoe (2008), Alcatraz (2012) and recently in Old School (2014) opposite Bryan Brown, Peaky Blinders (2013) alongside Cillian Murphy and The Dovekeepers (2015) for CBS Studios.- Laura de Carteret is known for The Lost Symbol (2021), Y: The Last Man (2021) and Mrs. America (2020).
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Carla Gallo is an American actress from Brooklyn, New York City. Her ancestry includes primarily Germans and Italians. She has had several recurring roles in television series. Her most notable role so far was that of supporting character Daisy Wick in the police procedural "Bones". Her character was an impulsive intern with a habit of non-stop talking. Gallo played this role for nearly a decade, from 2008 to 2017.
Gallo received her college education at Cornell University, a research university located in Ithaca, New York. She graduated with a degree in theater. She made her film debut in the black comedy film "Spanking the Monkey" (1994). She portrayed Toni Peck, the adolescent girlfriend of protagonist Ray Aibelli (played by Jeremy Davies). Toni is unaware that her boyfriend has a sexual relationship with his own mother Susan Aibelli (played by Alberta Watson). Toni is surprised when a jealous Susan attacks and injures her, in retaliation for sleeping with Ray. The film was a minor box office hit, earning 1,4 million dollars at the box office. That was about 7 times the size of the film's budget.
By 1999, Gallo started appearing in guest roles in various television series. Her earliest appearances in television series included episodes of the police procedural "Law & Order" and the medical drama "ER". She gained her first recurring role in the sitcom "Undeclared" (2001-2002), which focused on the lives of college freshmen. Gallo portrayed Lizzie Exley, a neurotic psychology student. Lizzie served as the main love interest of protagonist Steven Karp (Jay Baruchel), despite the fact that she was already dating an older man. The questionable nature of Steven and Lizzie's relationship was one of the series' main subplots. The series received critical acclaim, but suffered from low ratings throughout its first and only season. It was ranked as the 93rd most viewed show of American television at the time.
In 2003, Gallo joined the cast of the dark fantasy television series "Carnivàle" (2003-2005). The series was set in the 1930s, and mainly depicted traveling performers at a carnival. Gallo played the dancer Libby Dreifuss, the elder of the two surviving daughters of striptease artist Rita Sue Dreifuss (played by Cynthia Ettinger) and her manager Felix "Stumpy" Dreifuss (played by Toby Huss). During the first season, Libby's role focused on her lesbian relationship with her only friend, the fortune-teller Sofie Bojakshiya (played by Clea DuVall). After Sofie discovers that Libby was keeping secrets from her, she berates Libby and ends their relationship. In the second season, Libby's role focused on her ill-fated marriage to roustabout Clayton "Jonesy" Jones (played by Tim DeKay). She married him against the objections of both her parents, despite knowing that Jonesy was both a former lover of her mother and a former love interest of Sophie. The series only lasted for two seasons and 24 episodes, though the writers had planned the plot developments of a third season.
In 2008, Gallo joined the cast of police procedural "Bones" in its 4th season. Her character of intern Daisy Wick was developed as a knowledgeable and astute assistant to the protagonist Temperance "Bones" Brennan (played by Emily Deschanel), but her impulsiveness and motormouth nature were her main character flaws. Ongoing subplots about Daisy involved her on-and-off romantic relationship with FBI psychologist Lance Sweets (played by John Francis Daley), her treatment of Temperance as both a role model and as a surrogate family member, and getting used to the role of a single mother following the death of Sweets. Daisy ended the series as the lead anthropologist of the National Forensic Lab.
Also in 2008, Gallo joined the cast of the comedy-drama series "Californication" during its second season. She played the role of porn star and aspiring Hollywood actress Daisy, both a client and a lover for publicity agent Charlie Runkle (played by Evan Handler). Their relationship caused the end of Charlie's marriage to Marcy Runkle (played by Pamela Adlon). Gallo left the series following its 3rd season, having played Daisy for 11 episodes.
In 2009, Gallo joined the cast of the comedy-drama series "Men of a Certain Age" (2009-2011), which dealt with the experiences of three middle-aged men. Gallo played Annie, the young girlfriend of retired actor Terry Elliot (played by Scott Bakula). Annie was frequently annoyed at his immature behavior and his tardiness in their dates. The series lasted for 2 seasons and 22 episodes.
In 2014, Gallo had the supporting role of Paula Faldt-Blevins in the comedy film "Neighbors". Paula had a sexual relationship with frat boy Scoonie Schofield (played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse). This relationship motivated Paula's jealous ex-husband Jimmy Blevins (played by Ike Barinholtz) to scheme against the entire fraternity. The film earned 270.7 million dollars at the worldwide box office. In the summer of 2014, Gallo gave birth to her first daughter. In May 2017, Gallo gave birth to her second daughter. She eventually married her long-term partner Mark Satterthwaite. Her husband is a professional screenwriter.
Gallo returned to the role of Paula in the sequel film "Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising" (2016). Paula had resumed her relationship with Jimmy, and was expecting her first baby. But she eagerly joined in an escalating conflict between her friends and a new sorority. The conflict was motivated by the incompatible money-making schemes of the two groups. It was eventually resolved through a mutually beneficial deal. The film earned 108.8 million at the worldwide box office, and decent reviews about several of its subplots.
In 2018, Paula portrayed film producer Lucy Fisher (1949-) in the biographical film "A Futile and Stupid Gesture ". The film covered the life of comedy writer Douglas Kenney (1946-1980), and portrayed several of Kenney's associates throughout his career. The real Kenney was killed in an accidental fall from a cliff, leaving behind notes for various unfinished projects. The film was released in the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, to lukewarm reviews.
Gallo has continued her career to the early 2020s. In May 2022, she was hired as part of the main cast of the upcoming series "Platonic". Filming started within the same month. By 2022, Gallo was 46-years-old. She has no plans to retire yet, and she has managed to keep her audience entertained for nearly 30 years.- Actress
- Soundtrack
The daughter of a retired sea captain and his much-younger wife, actress Norma Varden was born and raised in turn-of-the-century London. A piano prodigy, she studied in Paris and appeared in concert in England during her teenage years. Acting, however, became her career of choice, studying at the Guildhall School of Music. She took her very first stage bow in a production of Peter Pan. In the adult role of Mrs. Darling, she was actually younger than the actors playing her children. In years to come, Norma would play a number of mature, lady-like roles that were much older than she was.
She performed Shakespeare in repertory and was at first cast in dramatic plays such as The Wandering Jew (1920-her West End debut) and Hamlet (1925) as the Player Queen. In various acting companies, she eventually found a flair for comedy and became the resident character comedienne for the famous Aldwych Theatre farce-ers from 1929 to 1933 à la Marx Bros. foil Margaret Dumont. Finding success there in the comedies A Night Like This and Turkey Time, she later recreated both roles on British film a couple of years later. She went on to prove herself a minor but avid scene-stealer in such movies as Evergreen (1934), The Iron Duke (1934), Stormy Weather (1935) and East Meets West (1936), quickly finding an amusing niche as a haughty society maven. She played both benevolent and supercilious with equal ease -- her height (5'7-1/2"), elongated oval face, vacant manner, plummy voice and slightly drowsy eyes adding immensely to the look and amusement of her characters.
In the early 1940s, the veteran actress visited California, accompanied by her ailing, widowed mother, for a take on the warmer climate and decided to permanently settle. Again, she found herself in demand as a now silvery-haired duchess, queen or Lady something, albeit in less meaty, sometimes even unbilled parts. Although she could dress down when called upon as a bar maid, nurse and landlady, she usually was asked to provide the requisite atmosphere for glossy, opulent settings. Her more noticeable roles came as lecherous Robert Benchley's wealthy, put-upon wife in The Major and the Minor (1942); the vile Lady Abbott in Forever Amber (1947); the giddy socialite nearly strangled by Robert Walker in Hitchcock's classic Strangers on a Train (1951); the impressively bejeweled wife of Charles Coburn, whom Marilyn Monroe fawns over in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953); and the Von Trapp housekeeper Frau Schmidt in The Sound of Music (1965).
Norma became a steadfast radio and TV comedy foil during the 40s, 50s and 60s, often at the mercy of a Lucille Ball or Jack Benny. Her longest radio part was as Basil Rathbone's housekeeper on his Sherlock Holmes radio series. On TV, she appeared in such shows as Mister Ed (1961), The Beverly Hillbillies (1962), Bewitched (1964) and Batman (1966) She had recurring roles as Betty Hutton's aunt on The Betty Hutton Show (1959) and as Shirley Booth's neighbor on Hazel (1961). Never married, Norma's mother passed away in 1969, and the actress retired shortly after. She died of heart failure in 1989, a day before her 91st birthday.- Actor
- Producer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Andy McPhee was born in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. He is known for 2067 (2020), High Ground (2020) and Saving Mr. Banks (2013).- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Diedrich Bader was born in Alexandria, Virginia, but moved to Paris, France, with his family at age two. While in the "City of Light" he developed an appreciation for movie legends like Fred Astaire and Charles Chaplin. So, when a fragile "Chaplin" movie reel burned in the theater's projector, four-year-old Bader hopped on stage and entertained the crowd with an imitation of the "Little Tramp." The standing ovation he received set the course for the rest of his life--he knew he wanted to perform.
He returned to the United States for high school and attended North Carolina School of the Arts. During spring break he was discovered by a casting director in Santa Fe, New Mexico. That meeting led to an audition for a small role in a TV pilot. Bader landed a starring role instead. Although the pilot wasn't picked up, Bader moved to Los Angeles and began auditioning for other roles. He landed guest spots on several series, including Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990), Cheers (1982) and Quantum Leap (1989). Filmmaker Penelope Spheeris liked his tongue-in-cheek delivery when he read for her action-adventure spoof series, Danger Theatre (1993). She hired him in that role and for the feature film The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), which she directed. Bader played the dual roles of twins Jethro and Jethrine Beaudine. He also filmed the political thriller The Assassination File (1996) for the Encore Entertainment Group. Bader was excited to work on the project, as it allowed him to be shot in the head -- a first for the actor. Bader's father, William, was Chief of Staff for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is president of the Eurasia Foundation on Capitol Hill. His mother, Gretta, is a sculptor whose portrait of the late Sen. J. William Fulbright sits in the National Gallery in Washington, DC. Bader's wife is actress Dulcy Rogers; they reside in Los Angeles, CA.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Alan Tudyk was born in El Paso, Texas, but grew up in Plano, where he attended Plano Sr. High. In 1990, he went on to study drama at Lon Morris Jr. College. While there, he was awarded the Academic Excellence Award for Drama. He was also named Most Likely to Succeed and Sophomore Beau. During this time, Alan was also an active member of the Delta Psi Omega fraternity.
After leaving LMJC, Alan went on to study at the prestigious Juilliard conservatory but left in 1996 before earning a degree.
After a number of smaller stage productions and a small role in the movie Patch Adams (1998), Alan landed his first Broadway role in 1999 with "Epic Proportions." He quickly became a sought-after comedic actor, with roles in such films as 28 Days (2000) and A Knight's Tale (2001).
In 2002, Alan got the role of Wash, the wise-cracking pilot of Serenity on the short-lived series Firefly (2002). Although it lasted only eleven episodes, this may be Alan's most well-known and best-loved role. No other networks would buy the failed series, but Universal Pictures began courting creator Joss Whedon to produce a big-screen version of the series. While awaiting the final news of Firefly's fate, Alan played the beloved Steve the Pirate in the movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) and the voice of the robot Sonny in I, Robot (2004).
In 2005, Alan finally reprised the role of Wash in Serenity (2005), the feature-film version of the series Firefly. The same year, he went back to Broadway from June to November, taking over the role of Lancelot for Hank Azaria in the successful musical "Spamalot."
He lives in New York City but also has a place in Los Angeles, California- Actor
- Writer
Colm Joseph Feore OC is a Canadian actor. A 13-year veteran of the Stratford Festival, he is known for his Gemini-winning turn as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the CBC miniseries Trudeau (2002), his portrayal of Glenn Gould in Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993), and for playing Detective Martin Ward in Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006) and its 2017 sequel.
His other roles include Martin Harrison in Chicago (2002), Lord Marshal Zhylaw in The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), First Gentleman Henry Taylor on 24 (2009), Cardinal Della Rovere on The Borgias (2011-2013), Laufey in Thor (2011), General Ted Brockhart on House of Cards (2016-2017), Declan Gallard on 21 Thunder (2017), Wernher von Braun in For All Mankind (2019), and Sir Reginald Hargreeves on The Umbrella Academy (2019-present). Feore is also a Prix Iris and Screen Actors Guild Award winner and a Genie Award nominee.- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Mickey Jones was born on 10 June 1941 in Houston, Texas, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Total Recall (1990), Starman (1984) and Sling Blade (1996). He was married to Phyllis Jean Starr and Sandra Joel Davis. He died on 7 February 2018 in Simi Valley, California, USA.- Actress
- Producer
- Music Department
Zooey Deschanel's quirky charm, striking blue eyes, and distinctively offbeat humor have made her one of the most beloved indie darlings of recent decades. Hailing from a renowned entertainment family, she began her career in the late 1990s. Deschanel's talent shines through her diverse roles, encompassing both comedic and dramatic territory, as well as her musical abilities.
After a brief guest appearance on the sitcom 'Veronica's Closet,' Deschanel made her feature film debut in Lawrence Kasdan's 'Mumford' (1999). Her breakout role came courtesy of Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical 'Almost Famous' (2000), where she portrayed the enigmatic Anita Miller, the older sister of the film's protagonist. Deschanel effortlessly embodies the rebellious and free-spirited youth of the 1970s rock scene. Her nuanced performance in 'Almost Famous' solidified her status as a rising star.
Deschanel's reputation is built on her ability to portray endearingly awkward and unconventional female characters. Her portrayal of the heartbroken yet resilient Summer Finn in '(500) Days of Summer' (2009) became an iconic portrayal of unconventional romance in the 21st-century. Her deadpan delivery and self-aware humor found perfect expression in her most well-known role, Jessica Day, in the hit sitcom 'New Girl' (2011 - 2018). As the bubbly and optimistic school teacher who moves in with three male roommates, she quickly became a beloved television icon, earning numerous award nominations for her performance.
While widely recognized for her comedic roles, Deschanel has also proven her dramatic chops in independent films such as 'All the Real Girls' (2003). This critically-acclaimed film earned her recognition for authentically portraying a young woman navigating a complex relationship. She further demonstrated her versatility with the role of Trillian in the science-fiction comedy 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'(2005), demonstrating her ability to adapt to fantastical and quirky settings.
Deschanel's off-screen talents extend to her musical abilities. She often showcases her singing in films and television, notably in 'Elf' (2003) where her rendition of 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' with Will Ferrell is a holiday classic. She also starred in the television adaptation of 'Once Upon a Mattress' (2005). Deschanel formed the musical duo 'She & Him' in 2006 with singer-songwriter M. Zooey Claire Deschanel, is an American actress and musician.
Ward, where her retro-inspired vocals and songwriting talents have produced multiple successful albums.
Beyond acting and music, Deschanel has become a multi-faceted figure in popular culture. Her co-founding of the women-focused digital media company HelloGiggles in 2011 demonstrated her entrepreneurial spirit and desire to empower women. Her carefully curated personal style, often featuring vintage-inspired pieces, has also earned her recognition as a fashion icon.
Deschanel's career has continued to thrive in recent years. She lent her voice to the animated film 'Trolls' (2016) and its sequel 'Trolls World Tour' (2020), playing the cheerful and optimistic Princess Bridget. She also took on supporting roles in films like 'Rock the Kasbah' (2015) and 'The Driftless Area' (2015). Alongside her continued musical endeavors, Deschanel remains an active figure on television, hosting 'The Celebrity Dating Game' (2021).
Looking ahead, Deschanel has several projects in development. She's attached to star in 'Dreamin' Wild', a biopic where she will portray legendary singer-songwriter Cass Elliot of The Mamas & the Papas. Deschanel is also slated to make a return to dramatic territory with the film 'Harold and the Purple Crayon,' a live-action adaptation of the beloved children's book. Her continued willingness to experiment across genres solidifies her place as a dynamic and enduring talent in the entertainment world.
With her endearing personality, comedic timing, and the ability to imbue both quirky and serious characters with depth and heart, Zooey Deschanel has built a captivating and enduring career. Her contributions to film, television, and music have earned her a devoted following and a position as a beloved figure in popular culture. As she ventures into new projects, Deschanel continues to captivate audiences with her unique blend of charm, talent, and undeniable individuality.- Actress
- Writer
- Editorial Department
Milana Vayntrub is an Uzbekistan-born American actress, writer and stand-up comedian. She began her career making YouTube videos amounting over 11 million views, then turned her web content into an MTV pilot. In 2016 she was recognized by Adweek on the cover of their Creative 100 issue for her activism, documentary work, and her role as Lily Adams in AT&T commercials. She is most recognized as an actress for her role as Sloane on the NBC dramatic series This Is Us and as a writer for Adult Swim's Robot Chicken Robot Chicken (2001) .- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
For Joely, the theatre must be in her genes. Born in Marylebone, London, England, she is the daughter of director Tony Richardson and Vanessa Redgrave, granddaughter of Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, niece of Lynn Redgrave, and sister of Natasha Richardson, all actors. Former husband Tim Bevan is a producer. However the genes were slow - as a child she saw her older sister Natasha interested in acting but she was imagining a career in tennis. Her father put his foot down, and tennis was out. British by birth, she considers herself a sort of honorary American, having attended boarding school at Thacher in Ojai, California. Beginning in the '80s film became her life, from small parts in Wetherby (1985) to BBC dramas such as Lady Chatterley (1993) to today's Disney studio going to the dogs in 101 Dalmatians (1996).- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Taissa Farmiga is an American actress, and the younger sister of Academy Award nominee Vera Farmiga, who is 21 years her senior. She was born in Readington Township, New Jersey, USA, to Ukrainian-born parents Michael and Lubomyra (Spas) Farmiga.
Unlike her older sister, Taissa initially had no interest in becoming an actor. However, she was persuaded to make her acting debut in Vera's directorial debut film Higher Ground (2011). Also playing the lead, Vera wanted to cast someone who was physically similar to play the younger version of her character. Taissa was 15 years old and, apart from a second grade school play, had no previous acting experience. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and Taissa's performance received critical acclaim. It was after Sundance that Taissa officially decided to pursue acting. At age 16, she landed a leading role as Violet Harmon in the Fox horror series American Horror Story (2011).
Farmiga has since starred in films from a range of genres, including Sofia Coppola's crime film The Bling Ring (2013), Jorge Dorado's psychological thriller Anna (2013), Todd Strauss-Schulson's horror comedy The Final Girls (2015), Hannah Fidell's romantic drama 6 Years (2015), Ti West's western In a Valley of Violence (2016), and Warren Beatty's comedy-drama Rules Don't Apply (2016).- Actor
- Director
- Producer
David Morrissey started acting at Everyman's Youth Theatre in Liverpool, where he was born and raised. He made an auspicious debut in One Summer (1983), a series about two Liverpool runaways. Following a degree at RADA, he worked with the theatre company Cheek By Jowl. He has also worked at theatre such as the Manchester Royal Exchange and the National Theatre. He is married to novelist Esther Freud, the great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud and daughter of artist Lucian Freud.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Wendy Barrie was born in Hong Kong to an English-Irish father and a Russian Jewish mother. Her dad was the distinguished King's Counsel F.C. Jenkins which ensured that the family was well off. Wendy received her education at a convent school in England and a finishing school in Switzerland. After working in beauty parlors for a brief period she set her sights on the stage and made her first foray into acting at the London Savoy Theatre in "Wonder Bar" (1930). Two years later, she was "discovered" by producer Alexander Korda while lunching at the Savoy Grill. Having successfully auditioned for the part she was famously cast as Jane Seymour, the third of the six wives at the center of The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), starring Charles Laughton. Hollywood soon beckoned and Wendy left England for America in 1934. During the next decade and a bit, she found regular employment at Paramount (1935), Universal (1936-38) and RKO (1938-42). A blonde, vivacious lass with a certain innocent charm and an instinctive acting ability, she tended to play mostly ingenue roles in minor films and often rose above her material. This led to her being given a grittier role in the social drama Dead End (1937) and Wendy's career henceforth alternated between supporting roles in bigger pictures and leads in B-movies.
From the late 1930s her parts became more varied, ranging from a gangster's moll in the crime melodrama I Am the Law (1938) to a plane crash victim in Five Came Back (1939) and Richard Greene's love interest in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939), with Basil Rathbone as "Sherlock Holmes". By the 1940s, Wendy's star began to fade. This was in no small part due to the bad publicity generated by her real-life role as mistress of notorious underworld figure Bugsy Siegel. As her pickings became ever slimmer she found herself relegated to perfunctory leads in various entries of "The Saint" and "Falcon" series at RKO. After appearing in a string of other decidedly mediocre productions she decided to embark on what turned out to be a successful new career as television host of her own pioneering talk show, Picture This (1948) (1948-50). Her relaxed, informal style brought her great popularity and plaudits from television critics like Jack Gould of the New York Times. Wendy's other claim to fame was as one of the first celebrities to make television commercials, famously with Revlon on 'The $64,000 Question'. During the 1960s, she also broadcast her own radio interview show from the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. She was actively involved in various charities and was known to attend as guest speaker at philanthropic functions, freely giving of her time without remuneration. In the mid '70s, Wendy suffered a stroke which affected her mental state and she spent the last years of her life at a nursing home in Englewood, New Jersey, where she died in February 1978, aged 65.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
David Hayman was born on 9 February 1948 in Bridgeton, Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He is an actor and director, known for The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008), Sid and Nancy (1986) and Macbeth (2015). He is married to Alice Hayman. They have three children.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
As a rule, W. Earl Brown does not usually speak of himself in the third-person, however the Internet Movie Database will not accept biographical information written in the first person, therefore:
W Earl Brown was born and raised in western Kentucky. Realizing early in life that he had an aversion to manual labor, he knew that farming life was not for him. He could spend entire afternoons jumping gullies and climbing trees playing Cowboy or Soldier but the drudgery of having to attend to chores was not a strong suit of young Earl's. The first theater he ever attended was on his grandparents' front porch, where, in following family tradition, they would entertain themselves after a day's work with songs and stories. He was much better suited to that part of Kentucky farm life rather than the fields and barns.
In high school, Earl was actively involved in forensic competition where his coach fired a competitive spirit and taught his students the value of hard work and sacrifice. It was during those years, Earl's love of movies blossomed and he first had the dream of working in films; however, at that point in his life such an idea seemed impossible to achieve. The first in his family to go to college, Earl took an acting class on a whim at Murray State University and it was in that class that he found his Calling. He began performing in numerous productions on campus. It was in a production of "That Championship Season" in 1984 that he first had the experience of craft being elevated to art, and due to that, he was hooked.
Earl received his MFA from DePaul University's Theatre School in 1989. After graduation, he performed in numerous plays around Chicago. His first job on a film set was teaching dialect on Backdraft (1991). Not long after that, his performance in "A View From the Bridge" at the Steppenwolf Theatre catapulted his career as an actor into television and film. He landed numerous roles and within a couple of years had hit the proverbial glass ceiling. In 1993, he relocated to Los Angeles and started over.
Wes Craven was an early supporter, casting Earl in New Nightmare (1994), A Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) and the role of "Kenny" in the classic, Scream (1996). Two years after the success of Scream, Earl played "Warren", Cameron Diaz's mentally challenged brother, in There's Something About Mary (1998). Among his many other film credits are the highly regarded films: Being John Malkovich (1999), The Master (2012), The Sessions (2012), Wild (2014), Black Mass (2015), and the Netflix hits - The Highwaymen (2019) and The Unforgivable (2021).
On television, Earl has guest starred in many series, including: The Mandalorian (2019), Luck (2011), Seinfeld (1995), American Horror Story (2011), Justified (2009), X-Files (2002), Six Feet Under (2001), and NYPD Blue (2000 & 2005). Among the TV movies he has been involved with, was the starring role in VH1's Meatloaf: To Hell and Back (2000). He played "Tom Carlin" in ABC's highly acclaimed anthology series American Crime (2015) and "Teague Dixon" in HBO's True Detective (2015). He is probably best known as "Dan Dority" in HBO's Deadwood (2003). During that series' second season, the show's creator, David Milch, invited him to join the writing staff. In 2007, Earl earned a WGA nomination for writing on a drama series and a SAG nomination for best drama ensemble acting. Establishing himself on a show as critically lauded as Deadwood opened doors for other writing projects, including the Sony release, Bloodworth (2011), which Earl wrote and produced.
In addition to his television and film work, Earl co-starred in Sony's The Last Of Us, 2013 Video Game Of The Year. He also writes music and records with Sacred Cowboys, an LA based Americana band. In 2018, he combined his love of music and film by co-creating the short film, Dad Band, which racked up 1.3 million views on YouTube.
One other thing of note, because W. Earl Brown gets asked it often and it seems as hoity-toity as speaking of himself in the third person: The "W" was added to his name upon joining the Screen Actors Guild. The guild has a rule that actors can not have the same name as another actor. He was told that there was an "Earl Brown" and a "William Brown", hence he became W. Earl Brown (a name he remembered from the label of an Elvis Presley record)... Then when his recording work in Sacred Cowboys necessitated his joining the songwriter's rights association, ASCAP, (where songwriter W. Earl Brown was represented) he had to become "William Earl Brown." It's confusing - he knows.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Shaw was already an accomplished theater actress when director Jim Sheridan awarded her a role in his film, My Left Foot (1989). The film is a telling of Christy Brown (Daniel Day-Lewis), an Irishman disgruntled with his confinement to a body horribly crippled by cerebral palsy but who found incredible success as an artist and writer. Shaw portrayed Eileen Cole, the doctor largely responsible for Christy's education and physical rehabilitation. Since, Shaw has received several accolades for her film and television performances.- Sian Brooke is a British actress, known for portraying Laura in All About George, Lori in Cape Wrath, and Eurus Holmes in Sherlock. Sian Elizabeth Phillips was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England and is the youngest of three siblings. She took on a stage name to avoid confusion with fellow actress Siân Phillips, choosing Brooke after an English Civil War general who served at Lichfield. She is the daughter of a police officer and a teacher.Her parents are Welsh. Brooke's early education was at The Friary School in Lichfield. She initially joined the Lichfield Youth Theatre at the age of 11 before becoming a member of the National Youth Theatre and subsequently training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from where she graduated in 2002.
Her acting debut was as Krista in television series Dinotopia in 2002. Brooke's television credits include A Touch of Frost, Hotel Babylon, Foyle's War and The Fixer. As a child, she was featured in Strangers in Utah with Adrian Dunbar and Phyllida Law. She also played the lead roles of Laura in All About George and Lori Marcuse in Cape Wrath. Brooke has lent her voice to the radio dramas Murder on the Homefront, A Pin to See the Peepshow and Dreaming in Africa.
Brooke's theatre work includes Harvest, Dying City, Dido Queen of Carthage, In The Club, The Birthday Party and Absolutely Perhaps. She has also appeared in productions of Poor Beck, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear and Romeo and Juliet, with the Royal Shakespeare Company. From July to August 2008, Brooke played Dorothy Gale in the musical The Wizard of Oz at the Southbank Centre. The production was directed by Jude Kelly. During 2011 at the Almeida Theatre, London, she appeared in Stephen Poliakoff's My City and Neil LaBute's Reasons to be Pretty. From August to October 2015, Brooke played Ophelia alongside Benedict Cumberbatch in the Barbican's production of Hamlet.
In 2017, Brooke starred in the fourth season of television crime drama Sherlock as Sherlock Holmes' secret sister Eurus. She initially auditioned for multiple characters in the show before the show runners told Brooke that all the characters were one, Eurus, who would be a master of disguise. Michael Hogan writing for The Daily Telegraph in his review of the third episode of the season commented that the role was "a star-making turn from Sian Brooke". Later in the year, she appeared with Sheridan Smith and Gemma Whelan in the BBC miniseries The Moorside based on the Kidnapping of Shannon Matthews. - Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Gary Graham was born on 6 June 1950 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Robot Jox (1989), Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) and The Jackal (1997). He was married to Becky Hopkins, Diane Patricia Vaughan, Caren Leslie Williams and Susan Lavelle. He died on 22 January 2024 in Spokane Valley, Washington, USA.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Born in Puducherry, India, and raised in the posh suburban Penn Valley area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, M. Night Shyamalan is a film director, screenwriter, producer, and occasional actor, known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots.
He is the son of Jayalakshmi, a Tamil obstetrician and gynecologist, and Nelliate C. Shyamalan, a Malayali doctor. His passion for filmmaking began when he was given a Super-8 camera at age eight, and even at that young age began to model his career on that of his idol, Steven Spielberg. His first film, Praying with Anger (1992), was based somewhat on his own trip back to visit the India of his birth. He raised all the funds for this project, in addition to directing, producing and starring in it. Wide Awake (1998), his second film, he wrote and directed, and shot it in the Philadelphia-area Catholic school he once attended--even though his family was of a different religion, they sent him to that school because of its strict discipline.
Shyamalan gained international recognition when he wrote and directed 1999's The Sixth Sense (1999), which was a commercial success and later nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Shyamalan team up again with Bruce Willis in the film Unbreakable (2000), released in 2000, which he also wrote and directed.
His major films include the science fiction thriller Signs (2002), the psychological thriller The Village (2004), the fantasy thriller Lady in the Water (2006), The Happening (2008), The Last Airbender (2010), After Earth (2013), and the horror films The Visit (2015) and Split (2016).