Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
Only includes names with the selected topics
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
1-50 of 8,202
- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Oscar Isaac was born Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada in Guatemala, to a Guatemalan mother, María Eugenia, and a Cuban father, Oscar Gonzalo Hernández-Cano, a pulmonologist. Oscar was raised in Miami, Florida. Before he became an actor, he played lead guitar and sang vocals in his band the Blinking Underdogs. He graduated from the Juilliard School in 2005.
Isaac's first major film role was Joseph in the film The Nativity Story (2006). He also had a small role in All About the Benjamins (2002) and the Ché Guevara biopic Guerrilla (2011). In addition to movie appearances, he made an appearance in the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001). He also had a part in the movies The Life Before Her Eyes (2007); Body of Lies (2008), alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe; Agora (2009), alongside Rachel Weisz; and the Australian film Balibo (2009), where he played José Ramos-Horta, former president of East Timor, set amid the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975; Isaac won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role.
In 2013, Oscar starred in the Coen Brothers' folk music-themed comedy-drama, Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination. He subsequently starred in the crime drama A Most Violent Year (2014) and the science fiction thriller Ex Machina (2014), and appeared in the Star Wars films Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) and Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017), as X-wing pilot Poe Dameron, and the ninth X-Men film, X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), as the mutant supervillain Apocalypse. He has also headlined the HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero (2015), as politician Nick Wasicsko in 2015, which earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film.
He has two sons with his wife, Danish director Elvira Lind. He is also long-time friends with Triple Frontier (2019) co-star Pedro Pascal.- Actress
- Producer
- Executive
Danneel Ackles (born Elta Danneel Graul, she went by Danneel Harris professionally until after her marriage to Jensen Ackles) was born on March 18, 1979, in Lafayette, Louisiana is an American actress and model. The name "Danneel" was inspired by Danneel Street in New Orleans. She is known for her roles as Shannon McBain on the American daytime soap opera One Life to Live (1968) and as Rachel Gatina on the WB/CW television drama series One Tree Hill (2003).
Graul/Ackles was born and raised in Louisiana before moving to Los Angeles to study acting. She did some modeling work and in 2004 landed a role in the small independent film The Plight of Clownana (2004), a film was co-produced by her husband. She also had guest roles in a number of TV series, and a recurring role as Rachel on the CW's One Tree Hill (2003).
She has appeared in episodes of a number of TV Shows including, NCIS, CSI and How I Met Your Mother. Her other films include Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008), A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011), and Fired Up! (2009). Danneel co-starred with Jensen in Ten Inch Hero (2007) which they filmed in 2006. n May 2009, Harris was announced to have been cast in the Screen Gems Thriller film, The Roommate (2011).- Actress
- Producer
Morena Baccarin was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to actress Vera Setta and journalist Fernando Baccarin. Her uncle was actor Ivan Setta. She is of Italian as well as Lebanese and Portuguese/Brazilian descent. She moved to New York at the age of ten, when her father was transferred there. She attended the LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts and then the Juilliard School.
Staying in New York she, worked in the theater - notably in the Central Park production of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull" where she was also Natalie Portman's understudy - and appeared in several movies. After making Roger Dodger (2002) she moved to Los Angeles where she came to the attention of Joss Whedon who cast her in his short-lived cult sci-fi show Firefly (2002). Since then she has rarely been off our TV screens.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Joseph Jason Namakaeha Momoa was born on August 1, 1979, in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the son of Coni (Lemke), a photographer, and Joseph Momoa, a painter. His father is of Native Hawaiian and Samoan descent; and his mother, who is from Iowa, is of German, Irish, and Native American ancestry. Jason was raised in Norwalk, Iowa, by his mother. After high school, he moved to Hawaii, where he landed a lead role, beating out of thousands of hopefuls in the TV series Baywatch (1989) (known as "Baywatch Hawaii" in its 10th season). When the show ended, he spent the next couple of years traveling around the world. In 2001, he moved to Los Angeles, where he continued to pursue an acting career. In 2004, after the short-lived TV series
North Shore (2004), he was cast as the popular character "Ronon Dex" in the TV series Stargate: Atlantis (2004), which achieved a cult-like following. In 2010, he appeared in the Emmy-nominated HBO series Game of Thrones (2011), playing the Dothraki king, Khal Drogo. To illustrate to the producers that he was Khal Drogo, he performed the Haka, a traditional war dance of the Maori of New Zealand. The audition was with the same casting director who was casting the titular role in the reboot of Conan the Barbarian (2011). Four weeks after being cast as the popular Robert E. Howard character, Momoa began shooting in Bulgaria. His approach, like that of the filmmakers, was to pull from the eight decades of comics and stories as well as the Frank Frazetta images rather than the hugely popular 1982 movie. Jason has a production company, Pride of Gypsies, in which he is expanding his career from actor to filmmaker. He has directed a couple of short films and is working on his feature film debut Road to Paloma (2014), which is pulled from a series of stories that he's been developing over the years, which he calls the Brown Bag Diaries: Ridin' the Blinds in B Minor (2010). Jason lives with his wife, actress Lisa Bonet, with whom he has two children, Lola and Nakoa-Wolf.- Actor
- Producer
Travis Fimmel was born near Echuca, Victoria, Australia, to Jennie, a recreation officer for the disabled, and Chris, a cattle farmer. He was raised on a 5500-acre farm located between Melbourne and Sydney. Until the age of seventeen, his life was spent at
school and working on the family farm, morning and night-something he
continues to relish on his trips back home.
After high school, higher education called and he was accepted to
Melbourne University. It was not long until his intense curiosity led
him to begin his global adventures.
While bar-tending in London, giving away almost as much beer as he
sold, he met his would-be manager, David Seltzer. David saw a spark in
Travis and suggested he move to the United States to become an actor
and nurture his talent. Easily enticed by the arts, it was not long
before Travis made the move to Los Angeles, and within a week began
studying with renowned acting coach Ivana Chubbuck. The teaching
veteran, in addition to Travis, has mentored Jake Gyllenhaal, Eva
Mendes, Halle Berry, Brad Pitt and Charlize Theron.
Years of struggling and hard work continue to pay off and Travis has
chalked up starring roles in several projects including Rocky Point
(with Lauren Holly), Southern Comfort (with Madeleine Stowe and Eric
Roberts), Restraint (with True Blood's Stephen Moyer), Ivory (with
Martin Landau and Peter Stomare), Surfer Dude (with Matthew McConaughey
and Woody Harrelson), and AE's The Beast (with Patrick Swayze). He is best known for his roles as Ragnar Lothbrok in Vikings (2013), and Anduin Lothar in Warcraft (2016).
Production has taken Travis all over the world but, between roles, he
travels back to his family's farm as much as possible. Travis is quick
to point out that it is his love for Australian Rules (AKA "No" Rules)
Football, the countryside, his two older brothers, and a hard working
lifestyle that keeps his feet firmly planted on the ground.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Born in 1979 in London, England, actress Rosamund Mary
Elizabeth Pike is the only child of a classical violinist mother,
Caroline (Friend), and an opera singer father, Julian Pike. Due to her
parents' work, she spent her early childhood traveling around Europe. Pike attended
Badminton School in Bristol, England and began acting at the National
Youth Theatre. While appearing in a National Youth Theatre production
of "Romeo and Juliet", she was first spotted and signed by an agent,
although she continued her education at Wadham College, Oxford, where
she read English Literature, eventually graduating with an upper second
class honors degree.
Pike appeared in a number of UK television series, including
Wives and Daughters (1999),
before scoring an auspicious feature film debut as the glacial beauty
"Miranda Frost" in the James Bond film,
Die Another Day (2002); when the
film was released, she was only 23. Though her debut was a big-budget
action film, the film work that followed was primarily in smaller,
independent films, including
Promised Land (2004),
The Libertine (2004), (for which
she won the Best Supporting Actress award at The British Independent
Film Awards), and
Pride & Prejudice (2005), as
one of the Bennet daughters. A brief foray into Hollywood film followed
with the action flick, Doom (2005), and the
thriller, Fracture (2007), but she
returned to smaller films with exceptional performances in three films:
An Education (2009),
Made in Dagenham (2010), and the
lead opposite Paul Giamatti in
Barney's Version (2010).
As she continued her stage work in England, Pike appeared in the spy
spoof,
Johnny English Reborn (2011),
and inhabited the role of "Andromeda" in the sci-fi epic,
Wrath of the Titans (2012).
She returned to action films with the female lead opposite
Tom Cruise in
Jack Reacher (2012).
Pike entered into a relationship with a mathematical researcher named Robie Uniacke in 2009. She gave birth to their first son, named Solo, in May 2012. She returned to acting and landed the coveted title role in Gone Girl (2014). The film became a critical and box-office hit, with Pike earning the film's sole Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. She also earned nominations as Best Actress from Screen Actor's Guild, Golden Globes, and BAFTA. She gave birth to her second son with Uniacke in December 2014.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Caitriona Balfe was born in Dublin, Ireland, and grew up in the village of Tydavnet, in County Monaghan. She started modeling at
the age of 19 after she was scouted by an agent while she was
collecting money for charity at a local mall. She has both walked the
runway and been featured in advertising campaigns for many top fashion
brands, including: Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, DKNY, Burberry, Dior, Louis
Vuitton, H&M, Marc Jacobs, Valentino, Cacharel, Roberto Cavalli,
Givenchy, Hugo Boss, Armani, Dries van Noten, Calvin Klein and Chanel.
She has also graced the covers of magazines such as Vogue and Elle. At the time she was scouted, Balfe was studying drama at the Dublin Institute of
Technology, hoping to become an actress. She returned to her initial career choice in 2009.- Actress
- Producer
Swedish actress Noomi Rapace was born in Hudiksvall, Gävleborgs län, Sweden to Swedish actress Nina Norén and Spanish Flamenco singer Rogelio de Badajoz (Rogelio Durán). Her parents did not stay together, and when she was five she moved to Iceland with her mother and stepfather, where she lived for three years. When she was eight she was cast in a small role in the Icelandic film 'Í skugga hrafnsins', and this sparked her love of acting. At 15 she left home and joined the Stockholm Theatre School.
Rapace won the recurring role of Lucinda Gonzales in the Swedish TV series Tre kronor (1994), and also became a respected stage performer. She won critical acclaim for playing the leading role in 2007's Daisy Diamond (2007). In 2009, Rapace came to the attention of international audiences for her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009). Her performance was widely praised, and she won the Best Actress prize at Sweden's prestigious Guldbagge Awards. She went on to reprise the role in the sequels, The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009) and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2009).
Rapace made her English-language film debut in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) alongside Robert Downey Jr. She was also cast as Elizabeth Shaw in Ridley Scott's Prometheus (2012).- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Nicole Austin was born in 1979 in Palos Verdes, California. Austin
later lived in Albequerque, New Mexico at the age of 10. She began
dancing and acting during her childhood and teenage years. Once
becoming an adult, Austin began to modeling in swimsuit competitions,
calendars, catalogs and videos. Once becoming a model, Austin enlarged
her breasts to 39DD. In 1999, she married Mike Williams, but they
divorced. She married rapper Ice-T in 2001. She and Ice-T are expecting their first child.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Tom Davis is a writer, actor and comic best known for his BAFTA and Royal Television Society award-winning comedy series MURDER IN SUCCESSVILLE and the BBC One hit comedy KING GARY(S1&2). He can most recently be seen in the critically acclaimed series, THE CURSE for Channel 4, which he also co-wrote. Tom will next be seen in WONKA for Warner Bros. starring opposite Timothee Chalamet and Olivia Colman. Other notable projects include ITV's ACTION TEAM, a spoof spy action-thriller with a cast that included Vicky McClure, Derek Riddell, Stephen Graham and Jim Howick; THE VIRTUES dir. Shane Meadows (C4), REDKNAPP'S WEEKEND WARM UP (Sky/NOW TV), THE MORGANA SHOW (C4), BAD EDUCATION (BBC3/Netflix), DRUNK HISTORY (Comedy Central), COCKROACHES (ITV2), BIG SCHOOL (BBC1), PLEBS (ITV2), A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN: EUROPEAN ROAD TRIP (Sky One) and JUDGE ROMESH (Dave). In film, Tom has been seen in THE BAD EDUCATION MOVIE, FREE FIRE, PREVENGE and PADDINGTON 2 as the memorable 'T-Bone'.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Jennifer Love Hewitt was born in Waco, Texas, to Patricia Mae (Shipp),
a speech-language pathologist, and Herbert Daniel Hewitt, a medical
technician. She has English, Italian, French, Scottish, and German ancestry.
She got her first name from her older brother Todd Daniel Hewitt (b.
November 8, 1970), who picked the name after a little blonde girl on whom
he'd had a crush. Her mother selected Jennifer's middle name, Love (which
she goes by offstage), from her best college friend. Her parents separated
when she was six months old and her mother raised her in Killeen, Texas.
Hewitt made her official performing debut at age 3 when she sang at a
livestock show. At age 5, she was taking tap, jazz, and ballet lessons, which
led to her joining the Texas Show Team, who toured the Soviet Union and
Europe. When she was 10 her family moved to Los Angeles with
encouragement from talent scouts, while Todd stayed behind to finish high
school in Texas Jennifer quickly found commercial work and a role on
Disney's Kids Incorporated (1984) in 1989. She went through a series of television
flops before finally hitting it big on Party of Five (1994) in 1995.- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Busy was born Elizabeth Jean Philipps in Illinois, US. She became interested in acting when she was in fourth grade and was always starring in school productions. In the summer, she would attend theater camp.
She is more commonly known as a television actress, getting her first break on Freaks and Geeks (1999), She joined Dawson's Creek (1998) and ER (1994), but her breakthrough role has been Laurie Keller on Cougar Town (2009).- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Jennifer Marie Morrison was born in Chicago, Illinois, the oldest child of teachers David and Judy
Morrison. She was raised in Arlington Heights, IL, with a younger
sister and brother. She attended the same school her parents taught at,
Prospect High School. As a child, she did some work as a model. After
graduating from high school, she attended Loyola University in Chicago,
where she studied Theater and English. She then moved on to study at
the Steppenwolf Theater Company, before relocating to Los Angeles,
California to pursue her acting career. Morrison's movie debut came in
1994, playing the daughter of Richard Gere
and Sharon Stone in
Intersection (1994). Success
followed with various film and television roles, including the lead in
Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000).
She came to wide scale public attention in 2004 for her role as Dr.
Allison Cameron in the television series
House (2004), for which she
was nominated for a prestigious Screen Actors Guild Award. Since
leaving "House M.D.", her career has continued to progress with roles
in Star Trek (2009),
How I Met Your Mother (2005)
and Warrior (2011).- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Pollyanna McIntosh grew up in Portugal and Colombia before returning to
her birthplace of Scotland, where she first began performing, on stage,
at The Edinburgh Festival. At 16, she left for London and soon became
involved in indie filmmaking (her first paid gig was as a stoner in
Irvine Welsh's
The Acid House (1998)) and
theatre, both as an actress and director. A move to Los Angeles in 2004
brought on more theatre, including a production of "The Woolgatherer",
in which she directed Anne Dudek (a regular
on
Mad Men (2007)/Big Love (2006))
and David Dayan Fisher (a regular on
24 (2001)/NCIS (2003))
to great reviews. She then landed her first US movie role as the
manipulative, born-again Christian, "Stacy", in
Headspace (2005). It was as the wild
"Thumper Wint" in the comedy,
Sex and Death 101 (2007)
(Simon Baker/Winona Ryder),
by Heathers (1988) writer
Daniel Waters, that the critics
began to take note of her talent, citing a unique blend of powerful
sexuality and irreverent humor. Working in both
LA and London, Exam (2009) was next, BAFTA-nominated as Outstanding British Debut and winner of Best
Independent at the Santa Barbara Film Fest, the film's critics noted Pollyanna's performance
was "smart, sassy and
sexy in equal parts....the emotional center of the film" praised her capacity to find the
"emotional vulnerability" of her seemingly tough and ambitious
character. GQ simply stated "stunning Pollyanna McIntosh is an
enormously talented actress".
Como Quien No Quiere La Cosa (2013)
(As if you Don't Like it!), is a hilarious South American farce in
which she plays Brit comedian
Trevor Lock's disgruntled wife. Shot
in Peru, she speaks Spanish throughout. In
Burke and Hare (2010), directed by
John Landis, she plays Isla Fisher's bestie
with Simon Pegg,
Andy Serkis,
Jessica Hynes,
Tom Wilkinson and
Tim Curry. Her demanding turn as the
lead in Lucky McKee's
The Woman (2011) made shock waves
at Sundance 2011, brought rave reviews and topped the New York Times
readers' favorite movies poll. For her performance, she was awarded
three Best Actress awards, including Total Film's Frightfest Award and
Fright Meter's. As the female lead in the BBC political comedy,
Bob Servant Independent (2013),
starring Brian Cox, she played the
professionally critical "Phillippa Edwards", a very different sort of
scary. In festival darling, Love Eternal (2013), she plays the female lead as a suicidal grieving mother. In the raucous
Filth (2013), she played opposite
James McAvoy and
Jamie Bell, in the adaptation of
Irvine Welsh's balls-out novel as the lusty Size Queen.
Two successful British thrillers that see Pollyanna go from vulnerable to kick ass are The Blood Lands (2014), (known in the USA as The Bloodlands) and Let Us Prey also starring Game of Thrones' Liam Cunningham. In Sundance TV's Hap and Leonard also starring James Purefoy, Michael Kenneth Williams and Christina Hendricks, Pollyanna is nothing but kick ass as the neon-clad psycho killer, Angel. In US indy comedies Prevertere and The Famous Joe Project Pollyanna played it characteristically unsafe once again. Possibly her strangest role yet has been as Bobby in Ding Dong, teaming up once again with Lucky McKee for the 2014 anthology film Tales of Halloween. Pollyanna will next be seen in Blood on Wheels as the vicious biker gang leader Trigga. The film is produced by James Franco.- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Christopher Michael "Chris" Pratt was born on June 21, 1979 in Virginia, Minnesota and raised in Lake Stevens, Washington, to Kathleen Louise (Indahl), who worked at a supermarket, and Daniel Clifton Pratt, who remodeled houses. He is of mostly Norwegian descent. He graduated from Lake Stevens High School in 1997, and has two older siblings, Cully and Angie.
Chris came to prominence for his small-screen roles, including Bright Abbott in Everwood (2002), Ché in The O.C. (2003), and Andy Dwyer and Parks and Recreation (2009), and notable film roles in Moneyball (2011), The Five-Year Engagement (2012), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Delivery Man (2013), and Her (2013). In 2014, he broke out as a leading man after headlining two of the year's biggest films: he voiced Emmet Brickowski in The Lego Movie (2014) & starred as Peter Quill/Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). In 2015, he headlined the sci-fi thriller Jurassic World (2015), the fourth installment in the Jurassic Park franchise and his most financially successful film. In 2016, he co-starred in the remake The Magnificent Seven (2016), with Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke, and appeared with Jennifer Lawrence in the sci-fi drama Passengers (2016). In the near future, he returns as Star-Lord for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) not far behind.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
American actor John Krasinski is known for his role as sardonic nice guy Jim Halpert on NBC's popular TV sitcom, The Office (2005), for which he won a 2007 and 2008 Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.
Born John Burke Krasinski on October 20, 1979, in Newton, Massachusetts, USA, he is the youngest of three brothers. His mother, Mary Claire (Doyle), is a nurse, and his father, Ronald Krasinski, is an internist. His father is of Polish descent and his mother is of Irish ancestry.
His first stage experience was starring in a satirical high school play, written and cast by his classmate B.J. Novak. Also good at sports, he played on the same Little League baseball team as Novak, later a writer and co-star on The Office (2005). After graduating from Newton South High School in 1997, Krasinski planned to be an English major and deferred his first semester of college to teach English in Costa Rica. He attended Brown University, graduating in English in 2001 with honors, then studied at the Eugene O'Neill National Theatre Institute in Waterford, Connecticut.
During the summer of 2000, he worked as a script intern on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993). Krasinski made his big screen debut in 2002, then played several small roles like "Ben" in Kinsey (2004), and "Bob Flynn" in Duane Hopwood (2005). He appeared as "Corporal Harrigan" in Jarhead (2005), by director Sam Mendes, then played a supporting role as "Ben" in The Holiday (2006), a romantic comedy by director Nancy Meyers. He is billed as the voice of "Lancelot" in Shrek the Third (2007). Krasinski co-starred opposite Robin Williams and Mandy Moore in the romantic comedy License to Wed (2007), as well as with George Clooney and Renée Zellweger in the football screwball comedy, Leatherheads (2008). He is also director and writer of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2009), a big screen adaptation of the eponymous collection of short stories by David Foster Wallace. He followed that film up with The Hollars (2016), a family drama, and A Quiet Place (2018), a well-received horror film that had one of the biggest opening weekends for the genre.
Krasinski is married to English actress Emily Blunt, with whom he has two children. He claims Los Angeles as his home but travels to New York City and his hometown of Newton, MA, frequently.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Almost everyone who has spent time with Kate Hudson -including directors, family members, co-stars and interviewers - is quick to comment on her ability to light up a room. Through some combination of a winning smile, solid work ethic, and good old-fashioned talent, the young actress has gone from indie beginner to Vanity Fair cover girl in just three years. What's more, she's done it all without capitalizing on the success of legendary actress mom, Goldie Hawn.
Kate Hudson was born in Los Angeles, California, to Goldie Hawn and Bill Hudson, a comedian, actor and singer. She was raised by her mother and her mother's longtime boyfriend, actor Kurt Russell, whom she considers to be her father. Kate is the sister of actor
Oliver Hudson, the half-sister of actor and hockey player Wyatt Russell, and the granddaughter of band musician Rut Hawn. She is the niece of entertainment publicist Patti Hawn, record producer Mark Hudson and musician Brett Hudson. Kate is of Hungarian Jewish (from her maternal grandmother), Italian (from her paternal grandmother), English, and German ancestry.
By all accounts, Hudson was a born performer - as a child she danced and sang at every opportunity. Her family hoped that she would attend New York University after graduating from high school, but she opted to get her feet wet in the professional acting world first. She made her big-screen debut as an ambitious young starlet stranded in a tiny California town in Desert Blue (1998). Her next two
films, while critically panned, made it into wider release: 200 Cigarettes (1999) (in which she played an earnest but accident-prone ditz) and Gossip (2000) (which cast her as a rich, virginal college student). Perhaps Hudson's biggest break was landing the role of rock groupie (or "Band Aide") Penny Lane in Almost Famous (2000). The part was originally intended for Sarah Polley; when Polley backed out to pursue another project, director Cameron Crowe considered scrapping the film altogether. Hudson, who had been cast in a smaller role (as William's stewardess sister), begged for a chance to read for Penny. Crowe was impressed, Hudson got the part, and the show went on. As much as Tinseltown gossipmongers would like to put them at odds, mother and daughter agree that Hawn is one of Hudson's biggest supporters.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
McAvoy was born on 21 April 1979 in Glasgow, Scotland, to James, a bus driver, and Elizabeth (née Johnstone), a nurse. He was raised on a housing estate in Drumchapel, Glasgow by his maternal grandparents (James, a butcher, and Mary), after his parents divorced when James was 11. He went to St Thomas Aquinas Secondary in Jordanhill, Glasgow, where he did well enough and started 'a little school band with a couple of mates'.
McAvoy toyed with the idea of the Catholic priesthood as a child but, when he was 16, a visit to the school by actor David Hayman sparked an interest in acting. Hayman offered him a part in his film The Near Room (1995) but despite enjoying the experience McAvoy didn't seriously consider acting as a career, although he did continue to act as a member of PACE Youth Theatre. He applied instead to the Royal Navy and had already been accepted when he was also offered a place at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD).
He took the place at the RSAMD (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) and, when he graduated in 2000, he moved to London. He had already made a couple of TV appearances by this time and continued to get a steady stream of TV and movie work until he came to attention of the British public in 2004 playing car thief Steve McBride in the successful UK TV series Shameless (2004) and then to the rest of the world in 2005 as Mr Tumnus, the faun, in Disney's adaptation of C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). In The Last King of Scotland (2006) McAvoy portrayed a Scottish doctor who becomes the personal physician to dictator Idi Amin, played by Forest Whitaker. McAvoy's career breakthrough came in Atonement (2007), Joe Wright's 2007 adaption of Ian McEwan's novel.
Since then, McAvoy has taken on theatre roles, starring in Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' (directed by Jamie Lloyd), which launched the first Trafalgar Transformed season in London's West End and earned him an Olivier award nomination for Best Actor. In January 2015, McAvoy returned to the Trafalgar Studios stage to play Jack Gurney, the delusional 14th Earl of Gurney who believes he is Jesus, in the first revival of Peter Barnes's satire 'The Ruling Class', a role for which he was subsequently awarded the London Evening Standard Theatre Award's Best Actor.
On screen, McAvoy has appeared as corrupt cop Bruce Robertson in Filth (2013), a part for which he received a Scottish BAFTA for Best Actor, a British Independent Film Award for Best Actor, a London Critics Circle Film Award for British Actor of the Year and an Empire Award for Best Actor. More recently, he reprised his role as Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and Dark Phoenix (2019). He began his depiction of Kevin Wendell Crumb, also known as The Horde, a man with an extreme case of dissociative identity disorder in M. Night Shyamalan's thriller Split (2016) and continued it in the sequel, Glass (2019). Also in 2019, he played Bill Denbrough in It Chapter Two (2019), the horror sequel to It (2017).
McAvoy and Jamie Lloyd look set to continue their collaboration in December 2019, with a production of 'Cyrano de Bergerac' at the Playhouse Theatre in the West End, London. The project has been on the cards as long ago as 2017, when McAvoy posted a picture of him reading the script and wearing a false nose.- Actor
- Producer
Charles Joel Nordström Kinnaman, known professionally as Joel Kinnaman, is a Swedish actor. He is best known for playing the lead role in the Swedish film Easy Money a role that earned him a Guldbagge Award in the "Best Actor" category - and for his role as Frank Wagner in the Johan Falk film series. He starred on AMC's The Killing as detective Stephen Holder, played Alex Murphy in the 2014 reboot of RoboCop, Rick Flag in Suicide Squad and Edward Baldwin in Apple's For All Mankind to name a few.- Freema Agyeman is a British actress who is known for playing Martha Jones in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (2007-2010), Alesha Phillips in crime procedural drama Law & Order: UK (2009-2011), Amanita Caplan in the Netflix science fiction drama Sense8 (2015-2018), and Dr. Helen Sharpe in the NBC medical procedural series New Amsterdam (2018-2022).
- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Rose Byrne was born in Balmain, Sydney, Australia. She is the daughter
of Jane, a primary school administrator, and Robin Byrne, a
semi-retired statistician and market researcher.
She landed her first role in a movie,
Dallas Doll (1994), when she was 15
years old.
Since then, Rose has appeared in a variety of Australian televisions
shows including
Heartbreak High (1994),
Echo Point (1995), and the film
Two Hands (1999) alongside
Heath Ledger. After this, she appeared in
various movies like The Date (1999),
My Mother Frank (2000), and
Clara Law's
The Goddess of 1967 (2000)
for which she obtained the Female Volpi Cup at the Venice Festival in
2000.
Her first experience on a big-budget movie came when she played
handmaiden, Dormé, to Natalie Portman,
Padmé Amidala, in
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002).
In 2003, she starred, coincidentally, as Rose Mortmain in the
adaptation of Dodie Smith's
I Capture the Castle (2003).
In 2004, she acted in
Wicker Park (2004) with
Diane Kruger and
Josh Hartnett. Here, she heard
Wolfgang Petersen was looking for an
actress for Briseis in his next movie
Troy (2004) with
Brad Pitt, she got the part and was recognised
as one of the most promising actresses in Hollywood.
After Troy (2004), she played Edith in a TV
adaptation of Casanova (2005). In
September 2005, she started to act in
Sunshine (2007), a
Danny Boyle movie, where she plays the pilot
in a space mission.- Music Artist
- Actress
- Music Department
Sara Bareilles was born on 7 December 1979 in Eureka, California, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for Little Voice (2020), Battle of the Sexes (2017) and She's Out of My League (2010).- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Mena Alexandra Suvari was born in Newport, Rhode Island, the youngest of four children. She is the daughter of Ando Suvari, a psychiatrist, and the former Candice Chambers, a nurse. Mena's first name comes from her British aunt named after the "House of Mena" Hotel (at the base of the pyramids in Egypt); her last name is Estonian. Suvari grew up in an old stone mansion that she insists was haunted. The family later relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, where her brothers lined up to attend the Citadel (a military college). Mena, meanwhile, was entertaining dreams of becoming an archaeologist, astronaut, or doctor. Her interests took a turn for the... less cerebral, however, when a modeling agency stopped by her all-girls school to offer classes. At age 12, after receiving a few pointers on her runway strut, Suvari attended a modeling convention and was snapped up by the Manhattan-based Wilhelmina agency. She later moved to L.A. under their children's theatrical division WeeWillys, which began her acting career.
Suvari started in on TV work almost immediately--commercials at first, followed by guest appearances on Boy Meets World (1993), ER (1994), and Chicago Hope (1994). Mena was a natural for movies: she is petite (5'4"), has blue eyes, and her natural hair color is blonde. She launched her film career in 1997, picking up small roles in Gregg Araki's Nowhere (1997) and the Morgan Freeman-Ashley Judd thriller Kiss the Girls (1997). She popped up again in the background of Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), then landed a slightly meatier role as the best friend of the telekinetic heroine in The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999).
Suvari's ticket to fame was the teen sex quest American Pie (1999), which cast her as a wholesome choir girl who falls for a jock (Chris Klein). A few months later, she turned even more heads as the vampish cheerleader who captures Kevin Spacey's unwholesome imagination in American Beauty (1999). The sultry-but-fragile character earned Suvari a British Academy Award nomination, as well as a flurry of job offers and gushing fansites. In the midst of the hubbub surrounding the film, she slipped off with her boyfriend, cinematographer Robert Brinkmann, to tie the knot in a secret ceremony. The media was quick to point out the pair's 18-year age difference, but Suvari shrugged it off (her own parents, who divorced in 2001 after 32 years of marriage, wed when her mother was 21 and her father 48).
The in-demand actress completed her patriotic hat trick by starring in American Virgin (1999) (originally titled "Live Virgin") as the daughter of a porn king. The title change wasn't enough of a boost to keep the mediocre movie afloat in theaters--after a brief New York run, it headed straight to video. Her next effort was another underperformer, but the aptly named Loser (2000) (a collegiate love story that reunited her with American Pie's Jason Biggs) at least made it into suburban circulation--perhaps on the name recognition of its two young stars. Suvari kept her chin up, heading back to high school for the cheerleading/bank heist flick Sugar & Spice (2001) and joining the cast of the period film The Musketeer (2001).
She continued to showcase her range in ability by costarring with John Leguizamo in Jonas Åkerlund's cult classic Spun (2002) and then alongside Jennifer Aniston in Rob Reiner's Rumor Has It... (2005) and Keira Knightley in Tony Scott's Domino (2005). She also played opposite James Franco in Sonny (2002), the directorial debut of Nicolas Cage, and had a recurring role on HBO's Six Feet Under (2001).
Mena rounded out her creative pursuits by playing the iconic Black Dahlia in Ryan Murphy's anthology series American Horror Story (2011) and continued working in TV by following up with an arc in the hit series Chicago Fire (2012), as well as leading the Amazon pilot Hysteria (2014) and WeTv's miniseries South of Hell (2015). Mena then starred opposite Alicia Silverstone for TV Land's American Woman (2018).
Amicably divorced from Brinkmann after five years, Mena had a brief second marriage to Simone Sestito, an Italian concert promoter who, she claims, drained her financially. Since 2018, she has been married to Canadian prop master Michael Hope. The couple had a son, Christopher Alexander Hope, in 2021. That same year, Mena published her first book, 'The Great Peace'. Mena's hobbies include: jewelry making, photography, mountain biking, and hiking. Her fans look forward to her new projects.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Jorge Daniel Pardo is an American actor. He is best known for playing Jack Toretto in F9 (2021), as well as the lead role of Ezekiel "EZ" Reyes in the television series Mayans M.C. (2018). Pardo was born in Panorama City, Los Angeles, California, his father is from Argentina and his mother from El Salvador JD also played "Nate"/Jason in the NBC sci-fi series Revolution, co-starring Billy Burke.
Previously he was best known for his role as Edward Araujo Jr./Gwen Amber Rose Araujo in the Lifetime Network movie called A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story. Pardo also had roles on FOX's Drive and The CW's Hidden Palms. Both series were canceled after their respective first seasons. Pardo played Young Santiago in the film The Burning Plain (2008) starring opposite Jennifer Lawrence with Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger. JD played the half-vampire Nahuel in the second half of Breaking Dawn, and a member of a drug cartel in Snitch. Pardo also starred in The CW TV series The Messengers that aired during the 2014-2015 season.- 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.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Jordan Peele is an Oscar- and Emmy-winning director, writer, actor, producer, and founder of Monkeypaw Productions. Peele's first feature film, "Get Out," was a critically acclaimed blockbuster, recognized with four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. The film would earn Peele the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. His second feature, "Us," broke numerous box-office records, becoming the biggest opening for an R-rated original film in history when released in March of 2019 to widespread critical praise. Peele's third feature, the original horror epic, "Nope," opened in the summer of 2022 to rave reviews, the No. 1 slot at the box office, and once again becoming a widely discussed cultural phenomenon. Five years in the making, Peele produced and co-wrote Henry Selick's stop-motion animated feature, "Wendell & Wild," to which he also lent his voice as one of the title characters. Under the Monkeypaw banner, Peele co-wrote and produced Nia DaCosta's "Candyman" which made history as the first film helmed by a Black woman director to open at No. 1 at the box office. He also produced Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman," which earned a nomination for Best Picture and won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. He has also served as executive producer for numerous television series, including "Hunters" (Amazon), "Lovecraft Country" (HBO), and "The Twilight Zone" (CBS). Prior to becoming a filmmaker, Peele was a celebrated comedian who was the co-star and co-creator of "Key & Peele" on Comedy Central.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Luke George Evans was born in Pontypool, Wales, and grew up in
Aberbargoed, in the south of Wales. He is the son of Yvonne (Lewis) and
David Evans. He moved to Cardiff at the age 17. He then won a
scholarship to the London Studio Centre, and graduated in 2000.
He starred in many of London's West End theatre productions. In 2009,
he landed the role of Apollo in Clash of the Titans (2010) (2010). Then, he
quickly landed roles in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010) (2010), Robin Hood (2010) (2010), Tamara Drewe (2010) (2010), Blitz (2011) (2010), The Three Musketeers (2011) (2011),
Ashes (2011), Immortals (2011) (2011) and The Raven (2012) (2012). He's also
scheduled to star in The Amateur American (2012), No One Lives (2012) (2012) and Only God Forgives (2013) (2013).
Luke Evans resides in Shoreditch, London.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
New Yorker Claire Catherine Danes was born in Manhattan, the daughter of Carla (Hall), a day-care provider and artist, and Christopher Danes, a computer consultant and photographer. She has an older brother, Asa. Her paternal grandfather, Gibson Andrew Danes, was a Dean of the Yale School of Art and Architecture. She is of mostly German and British Isles descent.
Claire was educated at Dalton School, New York, The New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies, The Professional Performing Arts School and Lycée Français de Los Angeles. From 1998, she attended Yale University, studying psychology, but dropped out after two years to concentrate on her acting career.
Danes first came to major public attention when she appeared as "Angela Chase" in My So-Called Life (1994). She won an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe award for this performance. A successful film career followed, including the role of "Juliet", opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996). She continued acting in such varied project as The Hours (2002),
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) and Stardust (2007).
In 2010, she appeared in the HBO Production, Temple Grandin (2010), playing the title character. She received huge critical acclaim for the role, and won an Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance. Since 2011, she has starred on the SHOWTIME series Homeland (2011), receiving great critical acclaim and winning Emmys and Golden Globes.- 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
- Director
- Cinematographer
When hunky, twenty-year-old heart-throb Heath Ledger first came to the attention of the public in 1999, it was all too easy to tag him as a "pretty boy" and an actor of little depth. He spent several years trying desperately to sway this image, but this was a double-edged sword. His work comprised nineteen films, including 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), The Patriot (2000), A Knight's Tale (2001), Monster's Ball (2001), Ned Kelly (2003), The Brothers Grimm (2005), Lords of Dogtown (2005), Brokeback Mountain (2005), Casanova (2005), Candy (2006), I'm Not There (2007), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009). He also produced and directed music videos and aspired to be a film director.
Heath Ledger was born on the fourth of April 1979, in Perth, Western Australia, to Sally (Ramshaw), a teacher of French, and Kim Ledger, a mining engineer who also raced cars. His ancestry was Scottish, English, Irish, and Sephardi Jewish. As the story goes, in junior high school it was compulsory to take one of two electives, either cooking or drama. As Heath could not see himself in a cooking class he tried his hand at drama. Heath was talented, however the rest of the class did not acknowledge his talent. When he was seventeen he and a friend decided to pack up, leave school, take a car and rough it to Sydney. Heath believed Sydney to be the place where dreams were made or, at least, where actors could possibly get their big break. Upon arriving in Sydney with a purported sixty-nine cents to his name, Heath tried everything to get a break.
His first real acting job came in a low-budget movie called Blackrock (1997), a largely unimpressive cliché; an adolescent angst film about one boy's struggle when he learns his best mate raped a girl. He only had a very small role in the film. After that small role Heath auditioned for a role in a T.V. show called Sweat (1996) about a group of young Olympic hopefuls. He was offered one of two roles, one as a swimmer, another as a gay cyclist. Heath accepted the latter because he felt to really stand out as an actor one had to accept unique roles that stood out from the bunch. It got him small notice, but unfortunately the show was quickly axed, forcing him to look for other roles. He was in Home and Away (1988) for a very short period, in which he played a surfer who falls in love with one of the girls of Summer Bay. Then came his very brief role in Paws (1997), a film which existed solely to cash in on guitar prodigy Nathan Cavaleri's brief moment of fame, where he was the hottest thing in Australia. Heath played a student in the film, involved in a stage production of a Shakespeare play, in which he played "Oberon". A very brief role, this offered him a small paycheck but did nothing to advance his career. Then came Two Hands (1999). He went to the U.S. trying to audition for film roles, showcasing his brief role in Roar (1997) opposite then unknown Vera Farmiga.
Then Australian director Gregor Jordan auditioned him for the lead in Two Hands (1999), which he got. An in your face Aussie crime thriller, Two Hands (1999) was outstanding and helped him secure a role in 10 Things I Hate About You (1999). After that, it seemed Heath was being typecast as a young hunk, which he did not like, so he accepted a role in a very serious war drama The Patriot (2000).
What followed was a stark inconsistency of roles, Ledger accepting virtually every single character role, anything to avoid being typecast. Some met with praise, like his short role in Monster's Ball (2001), but his version of Ned Kelly (2003) was an absolute flop, which led distributors hesitant to even release it outside Australia. Heath finally had deserved success with his role in Brokeback Mountain (2005). For his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in in the film, Ledger won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and Best International Actor from the Australian Film Institute, and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Ledger was found dead on January 22, 2008 in his apartment in the Manhattan neighborhood of SoHo, with a bottle of prescription sleeping pills near-by. It was concluded weeks later that he died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs that included pain-killers, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication. His death occurred during editing of The Dark Knight (2008) and in the midst of filming his last role as Tony in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009).
Posthumously, he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the ensemble cast, the director, and the casting director for the film I'm Not There (2007), which was inspired by the life and songs of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. In the film, Ledger portrayed a fictional actor named Robbie Clark, one of six characters embodying aspects of Dylan's life and persona.
A few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his performance as the Joker in 'The Dark Knight (2008). His untimely death cast a somber shadow over the subsequent promotion of the $185 million Batman production. Ledger received more than thirty posthumous accolades for his critically acclaimed performance as the Joker, the psychopathic clown prince of crime, in the film, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a Best Actor International Award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards (for which he is the second actor to win an acting award posthumously after Peter Finch who won an Oscar for Network (Best Actor 1977)), the 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, and the 2009 BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.- Actress
- Producer
Margaret Denise Quigley was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a father of
Polish and Irish descent (originally based in New York) and a
Vietnamese mother. Her parents met during the Vietnam War. Maggie has
two older half-siblings from her mother's previous marriage, and two
older sisters. The family moved to Hawaii and settled in Mililani.
Maggie dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, but modeled and found
herself bursting onto the Hong Kong movie scene - eventually becoming a
full-fledged superstar in Asia. She changed her name to the easily
pronounceable "Maggie Q" (for the Chinese audience). She had a cameo in
the Jackie Chan and
Chris Tucker smash hit
Rush Hour 2 (2001) and is part of the
supporting cast in
Mission: Impossible III (2006),
starring Tom Cruise.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Natasha Lyonne is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated producer, actor, writer, and director.
Lyonne co-created Netflix series Russian Doll (2019), which received three Emmy awards, a total of 13 Emmy nominations including Comedy Series and Lead Actress for Lyonne, a Gotham Award nomination, and a Golden Globe acting nomination for Lyonne after premiering in 2019. She is showrunner and writes and directs for the series, in which she stars alongside Greta Lee, Charlie Barnett, and Chloë Sevigny.
Lyonne directed the October 2020 Netflix comedy special, Sarah Cooper: Everything's Fine (2020), a variety special dealing with issues of politics, race, gender, and class and featured Helen Mirren, Fred Armisen, Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Hamm, Aubrey Plaza, Ben Stiller, Winona Ryder, and Marisa Tomei, among others. In addition to directing, Lyonne executive-produced the special through Animal Pictures, her production company with Maya Rudolph and Danielle Renfrew Behrens. Animal Pictures is developing and producing a slate of original content, including the half-hour series Desert People, which Lyonne co-created with Alia Shawkat and Apple TV+'s upcoming comedy series starring Rudolph, created by Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard.
Lyonne portrayed Tallulah Bankhead opposite Andra Day in her Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning turn as legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday in Academy Award nominee Lee Daniels's The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021). The biopic was released by Hulu in February 2021.
In 2019, Lyonne returned as Nicky Nichols in the seventh and final season of the Netflix original drama series Orange Is the New Black (2013), for which she also directed an episode. Lyonne directed and appeared in an episode of Comedy Central's Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens (2020). She also directed an episode of Shrill (2019), starring Aidy Bryant, and an episode of Hulu series High Fidelity (2020), starring Zoë Kravitz.
Lyonne made her directorial debut with Kenzo short film Cabiria, Charity, Chastity (2017), featuring the Fall/Winter 2017 collection. She wrote the screenplay for the film, which stars Rudolph, Armisen, and Leslie Odom Jr., among others. In 2017, she produced and starred in IFC Midnight's Antibirth (2016), directed by Danny Perez, co-starring Sevigny. This independent farce horror hybrid, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016, was released wide in the US in 2016, and released in the UK in 2017.
In 2014, Lyonne earned an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Orange Is the New Black (2013). Recent television credits include guest stints on Portlandia (2011), Girls (2012), Inside Amy Schumer (2013), The Simpsons (1989), and IFC's Documentary Now! (2015).
As a young child, Lyonne was signed by the Ford Modeling Agency and at the age of six, and she was cast as Opal on Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986). She is well-known for her acclaimed performances in Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), the beloved comedy directed by Tamara Jenkins and co-starring Alan Arkin and Tomei; the coming-of age comedy But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), with Clea DuVall and RuPaul; and Everyone Says I Love You (1996). Additional film credits include The Grey Zone (2001), Sleeping with Other People (2015), Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015), Blade: Trinity (2004), Party Monster (2003), James Mangold's Kate & Leopold (2001), American Pie (1999), American Pie 2 (2001), Detroit Rock City (1999), A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018), and Irresistible (2020).
On stage, Lyonne starred alongside Ethan Hawke in The New Group's darkly comic Off-Broadway production of Blood From a Stone, written by Tommy Nohilly and directed by Scott Elliott. Lyonne earned critical acclaim for her adept portrayal of the couch-ridden, heartbroken Grace in the Roundabout Theatre Company s production of Tigers Be Still, written by Kim Rosenstock and directed by Sam Gold. In 2019, Lyonne co-presented Jacqueline Novak: Get On Your Knees with executive producer Mike Birbiglia. The comedy showed at the Cherry Lane Theatre and received rave reviews. Lyonne's other stage credits include roles in Love, Loss, and What I Wore, an intimate collection of monologues and stories by Delia Ephron and Nora Ephron, and the familial drama Two Thousand Years, directed by Scott Elliot and written by the legendary Mike Leigh.- Director
- Actress
- Choreographer
Christine Helen Lakin was born on January 25th, 1979 in Dallas, Texas.
After moving several times as a child, her family finally settled in
Atlanta, Georgia, where Christine started her acting career. There, she
attended the Atlanta workshop players - a theater group which plays in
schools in the Atlanta metro area. Her first audition was for a
TV-commercial - "Got Milk?!", and after not getting that job, she
didn't have to wait long for her next opportunity, which was the part
as the young Rose in the civil-war flick The Rose and the Jackal (1990), which also starred
Christopher Reeve. In 1991, she took her first step towards big fame and landed
the role as the tomboyish Al on the Friday night hit Step by Step (1991).
During the sitcom's long run, Christine gracefully grew up, graduated
from high school in 1997 and made various appearances on other
television shows. When Step by Step (1991) was cancelled in 1998, Christine, while
attending UCLA and majoring in film, looked for other film roles. She
landed jobs in independent films such as Boltneck (2000) and Finding Kelly (2000). Whatever It Takes (2000)
was Christine's first wide theatrical film release. Since then, she has
had a slew of independent coming-of-age films along with guest
appearances on such hit shows as Boston Public (2000), and Opposite Sex (2000). Still attending
UCLA and handling a film career, Christine is managing to do what few
child actors tend to do, which is continue.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
This stunning and resourceful actress has been primarily a film player thus far. Only recently has she been opening herself up more to doing television (the series Gemini Division (2008), which she executive-produced), and animated voice-overs. Dawson's powerhouse
talent stands out the most in edgy, urban filming that dates back to 1995 when she was only sixteen.
A rags-to-riches article entitled "Rosario Dawson: From Tenement to Tinseltown" probably says it all. Rosario was born on May 9, 1979 in New York City. Her mother, Isabel Celeste, of Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban descent, is a singer, and her stepfather, who raised her, Greg Dawson, of Irish descent, is a construction laborer. Her parents, who married when both were teenagers, eventually divorced. Rosario and her younger brother, Clay Dawson, had it hard while growing up, and were cared for by family members, most of whom were poverty-stricken, and some of whom were HIV-positive.
Her career actually started as a child when she made a minor showing on the children's show, Sesame Street (1969). As the story goes, she was "discovered" as an adolescent on her front porch step by two photographers. One of them, Harmony Korine, was an aspiring screenwriter who thought the inexperienced sixteen-year-old was ideal for the controversial cult film Kids (1995), in which she would portray a sexually active adolescent. It took time for Rosario's film career to kick in after that, but by the late 1990s, she had nabbed several independent films. Since then, she has moved into main-stream hits (and misses) and has surprised viewers with her earthy, provocative, uninhibited approach to her roles.
Reflecting New York's tougher, tawdrier side as assorted streetwalkers, homeless mothers, drug addicts, etc., her film highlights have included Light It Up (1999), Edward Burns' Sidewalks of New York (2001), Spike Lee's 25th Hour (2002) and Shattered Glass (2003). For Oliver Stone, she portrayed the duped bride of Colin Farrell's famed B.C. Macedonian warrior, Alexander (2004) (as in "...the Great"), which featured a notoriously violent-tinged nude/sex scene.
Expanding her horizons beyond film, she has always expressed interest in singing. She hooked up with Prince for the re-release of his 1980s hit "1999" and appeared in The Chemical Brothers' video for the song "Out of Control" from the album "Surrender". She is also featured on the Outkast track, "She Lives in My Lap". On stage, she co-starred as Julia in a revival of "Two Gentlemen of Verona" at the Public Theater's "Shakespeare in the Park" and appeared in "The Vagina Monologues".
She lucked into and got to show off her singing chops in the film adaptation of the hit New York musical Rent (2005), when Daphne Rubin-Vega, the original Mimi, became pregnant and was unable to reprise her exotic dancer role. Rosario also appeared as a prostitute in the adaptation of the graphic novel Sin City (2005). Of late, she has turned to producing. One of those, Descent (2007), had her playing a college coed who is brutally attacked and raped by a fellow student. Her more popular ventures have thus far included the role of Valerie Brown in the live-action version of the comic strip Josie and the Pussycats (2001), the Will Smith starrer Men in Black II (2002), Eagle Eye (2008) with Shia LaBeouf and Seven Pounds (2008), again with Smith, in which she offered one of her more tender-hearted performances as a woman with a potentially fatal heart condition.
More recent millennium films opposite some of Hollywood's top leading movie men include the tense actioneer Unstoppable (2010) with Denzel Washington and Chris Pine; the comedy/fantasy Zookeeper (2011) opposite Dalekmania (1995); romantic dramedy 10 Years (2011) with Channing Tatum; crime drama Fire with Fire (2012) with Bruce Willis; romantic comedy Top Five (2014) with Chris Rock; and action adventure Zombieland: Double Tap (2019) with Woody Harrelson. She has also top-lined independent films with her own feisty characters such as the thriller Unforgettable (2017) and the title role in the dramedy Krystal (2017).
Focusing also on TV projects, Rosario has graced such action series/mini-series as Daredevil (2015), Iron Fist (2017) and The Defenders (2017), as well as the comedy Jane the Virgin (2014) and animated cartoon series The Last Kids on Earth (2019).
Off-camera, the still-single Dawson is highly active in political, social and environmental causes and has been involved with such organizations/charities/campaigns as the Lower East Side Girls Club, Global Cool, the O.N.E. Campaign, Oxfam, Amnesty International, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Control Arms, International Rescue Committee, Voto Latino (which she founded), Conservation International, Doctors Without Borders, National Geographic Society, The Nature Conservancy and Save the Children. In October 2008, she lent her voice to the RESPECT! Campaign, a movement aimed at preventing domestic violence.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Minneapolis native Rachael Leigh Cook began her career as a model at
the tender age of 10, gracing Milk-Bone boxes and Target ads
nationwide in the USA. She also appeared in a now-famous (in the USA)
anti-drug TV spot in which, armed with a frying pan, she bashed her way
through a kitchen to show the disastrous effects of heroin. At 14, her
modeling agency sent her to read for a short film
(26 Summer Street (1996)) and
changed the course of her young life--from that moment on, Cook was
hooked on acting. When she reached L.A. later that year, Cook bypassed
the wannabe stage and nailed her first audition (for the part of a
budding entrepreneur in
The Baby-Sitters Club (1995)).
She returned to theaters three months later in the
Jonathan Taylor Thomas vehicle
Tom and Huck (1995), then filled her
calendar with appearances in independent and made-for-TV movies. She
divided her time between Minneapolis and Tinseltown, shuttling from
school events to movie shoots with her mother in tow. Cook's starlet
status crystallized in 1999, when she starred opposite
Freddie Prinze Jr. in the Pygmalion
retelling She's All That (1999).
Her on-screen transformation from ugly duckling to ravishing beauty
scored several teen-oriented awards and made Cook a hot commodity in
Hollywood. She signed for a handful of plum follow-up roles, including
a troubled adolescent in
Sylvester Stallone's
Get Carter (2000), a frontier gal in
Texas Rangers (2001), and the
caterwauling lead in the live-action version of
Josie and the Pussycats (2001).
Cook now lives primarily in Los Angeles, but she returns home
frequently to visit with friends and family. Her father, Tom (a former
stand-up comic), is a social worker in the public school system, and
her younger brother, Ben, is an aspiring filmmaker.- Actress
- Producer
Bianca Lawson was born on 20 March 1979 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Save the Last Dance (2001), The Feast of All Saints (2001) and Rogue (2013).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Emmett can currently be seen as the series lead Jimmy Kinsella in the AMC series KIN opposite Aidan Gillen and Charlie Cox. He was nominated for an IFTA Award for his performance. Emmett was also recently seen reprising his role as Billy Grade in the latest series of PEAKY BLINDERS opposite Cillian Murphy and Paul Anderson for the BBC and Netflix.
His other recent television credits include the ITV series THE TOWER written by Patrick Harbinson (Homeland), TEN PERCENT for Amazon, Channel 4's DERRY GIRLS, THE DECEIVED written by Lisa McGee for New Pictures/Netflix, the Sharon Horgan penned WOMEN ON THE VERGE opposite Kerry Condon, Netflix's hit series SAFE starring opposite Michael .C. Hall and Amanda Abbington and the iconic role of Lobo in KRYPTON for SYFY and DC Entertainment.
Prior to his, he starred as the co-lead role in ITV's outstanding Tony Marchant series BUTTERFLY opposite Anna Friel and Alison Steadman, directed by Anthony Byrne, three series of BBC's THE FALL alongside Gillian Anderson and in the BAFTA winning series IN THE FLESH.
His feature credits include MISSING IN EUROPE produced by Rick Benattar (Real Steel, Iron Clad), LAPWING directed by Philip Stevens, HERE ARE THE YOUNG MEN directed by Eoin Macken, ARGYLLE for Apple TV, directed by Matthew Vaughan and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY directed by James Gunn.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Evangeline Lilly, born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, in 1979, was discovered on the streets of Kelowna, British Columbia, by the famous Ford modeling agency. Although she initially decided to pass on a modeling career, she went ahead and signed with Ford anyway, to help pay for her University of British Columbia tuition and expenses.- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Aaron Paul was born Aaron Paul Sturtevant in Emmett, Idaho, to Darla (Haynes) and
Robert Sturtevant, a retired Baptist minister. While growing up, Paul
took part in church programs, and performed in plays.
He attended Centennial High School in Boise, Idaho. It was there, in
eighth grade, that Aaron decided he wanted to become an actor. He
joined the theatre department and became obsessed with the idea of
acting for a living. After finishing school, Aaron moved to Los
Angeles.
During the late '90's, he worked as an usher at the Universal Studios
Movie Theatre in Hollywood. His television debut was in an episode of
Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990),
which was followed by an appearance in another Aaron Spelling series,
Melrose Place (1992).
On the big screen, Aaron played the estranged son of
Jeff Bridges in
K-PAX (2001), and
Tom Cruise's brother-in-law in
Mission: Impossible III (2006).
After appearing in several roles on American television, his
breakthrough role came as "Jesse Pinkman" in the AMC series
Breaking Bad (2008). The
character was only supposed to last for one season, but series creator
Vince Gilligan changed his mind, due to
Aaron's chemistry with Bryan Cranston. He
has won three Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama
Series" for this role (2010, 2012 and 2014).- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Olga Kurylenko is a Ukrainian-French actress and model, went from sharing a
cramped flat with her aunt, uncle, grandparents and cousin to starring
as a Bond girl opposite
Daniel Craig.
She was born Olga Konstantinovna Kurylenko on November 14, 1979, in
Berdyansk, Ukraine, Soviet Union. Her mother, Marina Alyabysheva,
divorced her father, Konstantin Kurylenko, soon after her birth. After
the divorce her mother struggled to survive as an art teacher. Young
Olga was brought up by her mother and her grandmother, Raisa. During
her youth Olga had the humbling experience of living in poverty; she
had no choice but to wear rags and had to darn the holes on her
sweater. During her years in Ukraine she studied art and languages and
spent seven years studying piano at a local school of music in
Berdyansk. She also went to a ballet studio until 13.
At age 13 Olga and her mother made a trip to Moscow. There she was
spotted by an agent, who approached her at a subway station and offered
her a job as a model. Initially Olga's mother was suspicious, but she
checked the agent's credentials and eventually allowed Olga to accept
training as a model in Moscow, which turned out to be a good career
choice.
By age 16 she was ready for the next step. She moved to Paris, learned
French in six months and was signed by the Madison agency. At age 18
she appeared on the cover of Glamour, and in short order graced the
covers of Elle, Madame Figaro, Marie Claire, and Vogue. She also became
the face of Lejaby lingerie, Bebe clothing, Clarins and Helena
Rubinstein cosmetic companies.
In 1999 Olga married French photographer
Cedric Van Mol, but divorced him 3-1/2
years later. One day Olga presented herself to an acting agency.
Eventually she swapped the catwalk for the movie screen, and her acting
career took off. In 2005 she made her film debut as "Iris", a sensual
beauty, in The Ring Finger (2005), by
director Diane Bertrand.
Olga's cinematic roles have been notably steamy, and her natural beauty
and explicit nudity attracted the attention of the male audiences. She
appeared opposite Elijah Wood in
Paris, I Love You (2006) and as
"Sofia" in The Snake (2006), then
co-starred as Russian beauty "Nika Boronina" opposite
Timothy Olyphant in
Hitman (2007). She also appeared as
"Mina Harud" in the indie surveillance-thriller
Tyranny (2008). On Christmas Eve
2007, Olga was offered to play what will become her biggest hit:
co-starring as "Camille", the Bond girl, opposite
Daniel Craig in
Quantum of Solace (2008), a
sequel to Casino Royale (2006).
With the international success as Bond Girl, Olga also made appearances
on various TV productions in Russia and Ukraine. In 2012, Olga
Kurylenko was cast as Julia, supporting role in the Sci-Fi adventure
Oblivion (2013) opposite
Tom Cruise and
Morgan Freeman.- Actress
- Soundtrack
JoAnna Garcia Swisher was born in Tampa, Florida. She began performing at the age of ten, when she auditioned for a local theater production and landed the lead. She continued to act in high school where she was discovered by Nickelodeon and commuted from Florida to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to star for two seasons in the television series, Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990). After graduating from high school, she spent a year attending Florida State University, but dropped out to move to Hollywood where she worked extensively in television and then in popular movies.- Actress
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Hong Chau was born on 25 June 1979 in Thailand. She is an actress and writer, known for The Whale (2022), Downsizing (2017) and The Menu (2022).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Ramón Rodríguez was born on 20 December 1979 in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico. He is an actor and producer, known for Will Trent (2023), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) and Battle Los Angeles (2011).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jesse Gordon Spencer is an Australian actor and musician. He is best known for his roles as Billy Kennedy on the Australian soap opera Neighbours (1994-2000, 2005, 2022), Dr. Robert Chase on the American medical drama House (2004-2012) and Captain Matthew Casey on the American drama Chicago Fire (2012-2021).- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Cote de Pablo was born in Santiago, Chile, but was raised in Miami, Florida. She attended Arvida Middle School in Miami and then Carnegie Mellon University. She graduated in 2000 after studying music theater. Whilst at Carnegie Mellon she appeared in several theater productions, including "Indiscretions," "The Fantasticks," "The House of Bernarda Alba," "And The World Goes 'Round," "A Little Night Music," and "Cloud Techtonics." Her first television job was co-hosting the 1994 show Control (2000), alongside Entertainment Tonight (1981) host Carlos Ponce.
In 2001, Cote appeared on the New York City Public Theater stage in the Shakespearean play "Measure for Measure," then moved on to roles on the small screen such as Gina in the ABC series The Education of Max Bickford (2001), acting alongside Academy Award-winners Richard Dreyfuss and Marcia Gay Harden, Golden Globe winner Regina Taylor, veteran actress Helen Shaver, and
Katee Sackhoff. She also had roles in The $treet (2000) and When I Grow Up (1990). In 2004, she starred in the short-lived Fox series
The Jury (2004), playing Marguerite Cisneros.
In 2005, she played Dolores Fuentes in the stage musical "The Mambo Kings" and later was cast as Mossad officer Ziva David in the hit series NCIS (2003), alongside Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Pauley Perrette, David McCallum, Sean Murray, Lauren Holly, Rocky Carroll, and Brian Dietzen.
As of 2008, she was living in Los Angeles.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Dania is a Latin American actress born in the Dominican Republic. She
grew up, living with her grandmother, in a poor household. Her parents
left for the United States, when she was 6-months old, and she finally
joined them in New York when she was age 10.
She knew from a young age that she wanted to act. She was discovered by
a model scout and cast in a soda commercial. She attended the Actor's
workshop in New York City and moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting
career.
Her first job was Jay-Z's girlfriend in his music
video,
Streets Is Watching (1998).
She went on to appear in high profile TV shows
The Sopranos (1999),
Entourage (2004) and
Heroes (2006). She has also
appeared in films and, in 2012, she was cast in
American Reunion (2012). She is
currently starring on Lifetime's
Devious Maids (2013) as 'Rosie
Falta'.- Actress
Abby Brammell was born on 19 March 1979 in Kentucky, USA. She is an actress, known for Jobs (2013), The Unit (2006) and Fastlane (2002). She has been married to Stefan Bishop since 22 January 2010. They have one child. She was previously married to Jake La Botz.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Sara Rue was born in New York City, New York. She is an actress and producer, known for Popular (1999), Less Than Perfect (2002), The Ring (2002), The Big Bang Theory (2007), Rules of Engagement (2007), Malibu Country (2012), and Pearl Harbor (2001). She stars in the upcoming TV Land comedy, Impastor (2015) (summer 2015) as "Dora Winston", alongside Mircea Monroe, Mike Kosinski, David Rasche and Michael Rosenbaum. She currently resides in Los Angeles, with her husband, Kevin Price, and daughter, Talulah Rue Price.- Producer
- Writer
- Actor
Kevin Darnell Hart is an African-American comedian and actor who is known for his roles in the Jumanji sequels including Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), Undeclared (2001), Scary Movie 3 (2003), Think Like a Man (2012), Ride Along (2014), The Secret Life of Pets (2016), Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017), Central Intelligence (2016) and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019). Hart's comedic reputation continued to grow with the release of his first stand-up album Kevin Hart: I'm a Grown Little Man (2009). He has since released four more comedy albums: Kevin Hart: Seriously Funny (2010), Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain (2011), Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (2013), and Kevin Hart: What Now? (2016). In 2015, Time magazine named him on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2017, he launched the Laugh Out Loud Network, a subscription video streaming service in partnership with Lionsgate. He has 4 children from two marriages.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Tatyana Marisol Ali was born on January 24, 1979, in North Bellmore, New York, to Sonia, a nurse from Panama, and Sheriff Ali, a retired police officer from Trinidad. At the age of four, she started singing and got a taste of fame when she begged her mother to take her to an audition for Sesame Street (1969).
She went on to perform in many productions in her native New York, including the Broadway show "Fences"--with James Earl Jones and, later, Billy Dee Williams--and the off-Broadway show "Orfeo del Campo". When she was seven, she appeared on Star Search (1983) and won twice, receiving a four-star rating when she appeared for a second time. At age 11, Tatyana moved from New York to Los Angeles to establish her career and, not long afterwards, got her breakthrough role:Will Smith's cousin, "Ashley Banks," from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990).
While filming "The Fresh Prince," she also had exciting side projects, including guest roles in television shows such as The Cosby Show (1984), The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1989) (aka "The Mickey Mouse Club"), Kyno's Storytime (1992), Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990) and Foster's Field Trip (1994).
The public saw her grow on "Fresh Prince" from an adorable little girl to a stunning young woman, and she sang in several episodes of the show, most notably her rendition of Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and an original song, "Make Up Your Mind." Smith was so impressed with her singing that he asked if she would consider doing it professionally. Tatyana began preparing for her singing career during the last year of the show as she began training her vocal cords, recording demos and publicly performing on television and in various informal live concerts. Her performances on "The Fresh Prince" actually helped her build a fan base that anxiously waited for her first album launch. On August 25, she released her album "Kiss the Sky" (MJJ Music/Work/SME) and her single "Daydreamin'." The single was certified gold within weeks of its release, and it quickly rose on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles, where it reached #6 and stayed there for two weeks. She also contributed to major movies such as Crocodile Dundee II (1988) and Eddie Murphy: Raw (1987). Since then, she has had significant roles in two films, Fall Into Darkness (1996) and Fakin' Da Funk (1997). She has also guest-starred in several sitcoms, including In the House (1995), and had a cameo role in the film Kiss the Girls (1997). She also went to Harvard and graduated with a degree in Anthropology in June 2002. She is now working on a new album and starring in more movies.