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- Julie Dretzin was born on 24 May 1968. She is an actress, known for Beastly (2011), Bamboozled (2000) and Breaking Bad (2008). She is married to Sam Catlin. They have two children.
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Mary Mara's television credits include recurring roles on the series "ER" and guest-starring roles on "Hope & Gloria", "NYPD Blue" and "Law & Order". She has also appeared in the television films "In the Blink of an Eye", on the CBS Television Network, and "Indictment". Mara's feature film credits include "Mr. Saturday Night", "True Colors", "Blue Steel", "Just Looking", "Love Potion #9", with Sandra Bullock, and "The Hard Way", with Michael J. Fox. She has performed on stage in "Kindertransport", "Dream of a Common Language" and "Mad Forest" for the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York, as well as in a New York Shakespeare Festival production of "Twelfth Night", co-starring with Michelle Pfeiffer, Jeff Goldblum and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. She also appeared with William Hurt in a Yale Repertory production of "Ivanov", directed by the head of the Moscow Arts Theater (who spoke no English). While attending San Francisco State University, Mara established the theater company HART (Haight Ashbury Repertory Theatre), where she honed her acting skills. She later transferred to the Yale School of Drama from which she was graduated with a master's degree in fine arts. Mara, a native of Syracuse, N.Y., splits her time between homes in Los Angeles and San Francisco.- Actress
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Amy Meredith Poehler was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to high school teachers Eileen Frances (Milmore) and William Grinstead Poehler. Her brother is comedian Greg Poehler. She is of Irish (from her mother) and English, Irish, German, and Portuguese (from her father) descent. Amy was first involved with sketch comedy when she joined the group My Mother's Flea Bag when she was attending Boston College. In 1993, she went to Chicago where she studied at Second City and Improv Olympics. There, she met Del Close, who later became the voice of the UCB opening scene. In 1996, she joined the Upright Citizen's Brigade with Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh. Later on, the group moved to New York and became a Comedy Central show. The show went on only for three seasons. However, the group stayed together at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater. Today, the theater is one of the leading centers for improv and sketch shows.
After the Upright Citizens Brigade (1998) sketch show came and went, Amy joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975) in 2001. By the end of Christmas break of that year, she became a regularly featured performer. She has brought a slew of great performances on every show, such as impersonations of celebrities such as Kelly Ripa or Sharon Osbourne. When Jimmy Fallon left at the end of the 2003-04 season, Amy joined Tina Fey as a co-anchor for Weekend Update. Her Hollywood star is also growing bright, as she has done several feature films, including Blades of Glory (2007) with her then-real-life husband and Arrested Development (2003) star Will Arnett; and the Farrelly brothers-directed remake of The Heartbreak Kid (1993), in which she stars alongside another Arrested Development (2003) star, Jason Bateman.
Among her 2010s film starring roles are Sisters (2015), with Tina Fey, and The House (2017), with Will Ferrell. Having played one of her first roles in the indie Wet Hot American Summer (2001), she reprised her role in the television mini-series Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015) and Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (2017).
Amy was married to Canadian actor and comedian Will Arnett from 2003 to 2016. The couple have two children.- Actress
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Rhea Perlman was born on 31 March 1948 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Cheers (1982), Barbie (2023) and Matilda (1996). She has been married to Danny DeVito since 28 January 1982. They have three children.- Actress
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Salma Hayek was born on September 2, 1966 in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico. Her father is of Lebanese descent and her mother is of Mexican/Spanish ancestry. After having seen Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) in a local movie theater, she decided she wanted to become an actress. At age 12, she was sent to the Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans, Louisiana. After attending Mexico City's prestigious university Universidad Iberoamericana, she felt ready to pursue acting seriously.
She soon landed the title role in Teresa (1989), a hugely successful soap opera which earned her the star status in her native Mexico. However, anxious to make films and to explore her talent as well as passion, she left both Teresa (1989) and Mexico in 1991. Heartbroken fans spread rumors that she was having a secret affair with Mexico's president and left to escape his wife's wrath. She made her way to Los Angeles. She approached Hollywood with naive enthusiasm and quickly learned that Latina actresses were typecast as the mistress maid or local prostitute. By late 1992, she had landed only small roles. She appeared on Street Justice (1991), The Sinbad Show (1993), Nurses (1991), and as a sexy maid on Dream On (1990). She also had only one line in My Crazy Life (1993). Feeling under-appreciated by Anglo filmmakers, she vented her frustrations on Paul Rodriguez's late-night Spanish-language talk show.
Robert Rodriguez and his wife Elizabeth Avellan happened to be watching and were immediately smitten with her. He soon gave her big break -- to star opposite Antonio Banderas in the cult classic Desperado (1995), bringing her into Hollywood prominence. The moviegoers were as dazzled with her as he had been. Afterwards, she was cast again by Rodriguez to star in the cult classic From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). Her first star billing came later that year with Fools Rush In (1997) opposite Matthew Perry. It was a modest hit and her star continued to rise in both commercial and films such as Breaking Up (1997) with an unknown Russell Crowe, 54 (1998), Dogma (1999) and In the Time of the Butterflies (2001), the small artistic film which won her an ALMA award as best actress and the summer blockbuster Wild Wild West (1999). Her production company Ventanarosa produced the Mexican feature film El coronel no tiene quien le escriba (1999), which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and selected as Mexico's official Oscar entry for best foreign film.
The new millennium started out quietly as she prepared to produce and star in her dream role of Frida Kahlo, the legendary Mexican painter whom she had been admiring her entire life and whose story she wanted to bring to the big screen ever since she arrived in Hollywood. Frida (2002) was full of passion and enthusiasm, with performances from her and Alfred Molina as Kahlo's cheating husband Diego Rivera. It also featured an entourage of stars such as Antonio Banderas, Ashley Judd, Geoffrey Rush, Edward Norton and Valeria Golino.
It was a box office hit and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including best actress for Hayek. It won awards for make-up and score by Elliot Goldenthal. Later that year, she expanded her horizons, directing The Maldonado Miracle (2003), which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2003, she starred in the finale of Rodriguez's Desperado trilogy Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), again opposite Banderas. She also starred in After the Sunset (2004) opposite Pierce Brosnan, and Ask the Dust (2006) opposite Colin Farrell. She then starred in Bandidas (2006), which also featured Penélope Cruz, and Lonely Hearts (2006) opposite Jared Leto.- Actress
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Eva Jacqueline Longoria was born on March 15, 1975 in Corpus Christi, Texas to Ella Eva Longoria (née Mireles), a special education teacher & Enrique Longoria Jr., a rancher. The youngest of four sisters who grew up in a Mexican-American family on a ranch near Corpus Christi, Longoria attended Texas A&M University-Kingsville, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology. After graduating from college, she entered a talent contest that brought her to Los Angeles, where she was spotted and subsequently signed by a theatrical agent. After landing roles on The Bold and the Beautiful (1987), General Hospital (1963) and co-starring on Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990), she auditioned for and won the role of Isabella Braña on the popular series, The Young and the Restless (1973). After Y&R, Eva became well known worldwide thanks to Desperate Housewives (2004), where she played a main character, Gabrielle Solis. She also has a contract with L'Oreal and has been named one of the most beautiful people. A passionate advocate of education, she founded The Eva Longoria Foundation which helps Latinas build better futures for themselves and their families through education and entrepreneurship and earned a Masters in Chicano Studies presenting her thesis on "Success STEMS From Diversity: The Value of Latinas in STEM Careers." Eva has also contributed writing to publications on the subject of education.- Actress
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Holly Hunter was born in Conyers, Georgia, to Opal Marguerite (Catledge), a homemaker, and Charles Edwin Hunter, a part-time sporting goods company representative and farmer with a 250 acre farm. She is the youngest of seven children. Her parents encouraged her talent at an early age, and her first acting part was as Helen Keller in a fifth-grade play. In 1976 she went to Pittsburgh to pursue a degree in drama from Carnegie Mellon University. After graduating in 1980, she went to New York City, where she met playwright Beth Henley in a stalled elevator. Hunter went on to get roles in a number of Henley's southern Gothic plays, including Crimes of the Heart and The Miss Firecracker Contest. In 1982 the actress went to Los Angeles. She landed her first starring role in the movies in the Coen brothers' Raising Arizona (1987), a part that is said to have been written with her in mind. She gained stardom in 1987 when she played the driven TV news producer Jane Craig in James L. Brooks' Broadcast News (1987). In 1993 she earned an Academy Award and worldwide acclaim with her performance as a mute bride to a New Zealand planter in The Piano (1993).- Actress
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Jane Marie Lynch is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series Glee (2009-2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. Lynch also gained recognition for her roles in Christopher Guest's mockumentary films, such as Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003) and For Your Consideration (2006).- Actress
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Marisa Tomei was born on December 4, 1964, in Brooklyn, New York, to Patricia "Addie" (Bianchi), a teacher of English, and Gary Tomei, a lawyer, both of Italian descent. Marisa has a brother, actor Adam Tomei. As a child, Marisa's mother frequently corrected her speech as to eliminate her heavy Brooklyn accent. As a teen, Marisa attended Edward R. Murrow High School and graduated in the class of 1982. She was one year into her college education at Boston University when she dropped out for a co-starring role on the CBS daytime drama As the World Turns (1956). Her role on that show paved the way for her entrance into film: in 1984, she made her film debut with a bit part in The Flamingo Kid (1984). Three years later, Marisa became known for her role as Maggie Lawton, Lisa Bonet's college roommate, on the sitcom A Different World (1987).
Her real breakthrough came in 1992, when she co-starred as Joe Pesci's hilariously foul-mouthed, scene-stealing girlfriend in My Cousin Vinny (1992), a performance that won her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Later that year, she turned up briefly as a snippy Mabel Normand in director Richard Attenborough's biopic Chaplin (1992), and was soon given her first starring role in Untamed Heart (1993). A subsequent starring role -- and attempted makeover into Audrey Hepburn -- in the romantic comedy Only You (1994) proved only moderately successful.
Marisa's other 1994 role as Michael Keaton's hugely pregnant wife in The Paper (1994) was well-received, although the film as a whole was not. Fortunately for Tomei, she was able to rebound the following year with a solid performance as a troubled single mother in Nick Cassavetes' Unhook the Stars (1996) which earned her a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She turned in a similarly strong work in Welcome to Sarajevo (1997), and in 1998 did some of her best work in years as the sexually liberated, unhinged cousin of Natasha Lyonne's Vivian Abramowitz in Tamara Jenkins' Slums of Beverly Hills (1998). Marisa co-starred with Mel Gibson in the hugely successful romantic comedy What Women Want (2000) and during the 2002 movie award season, she proved her first Best Supporting Actress Oscar win was no fluke when she received her second nomination in the same category for the critically acclaimed dark drama, In the Bedroom (2001). She also made a guest appearance on the animated TV phenomenon The Simpsons (1989) as Sara Sloane, a movie star who falls in love with Ned Flanders. In 2006, she went on to do 4 episodes for Rescue Me (2004). She played Angie, the ex-wife of Tommy Calvin (Denis Leary)'s brother Johnny (Dean Winters). At age 42, Marisa took on a provocative role in legendary filmmaker Sidney Lumet's melodramatic picture Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), in which she appeared nude in love scenes with costars Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Marisa then took on another provocative role as a stripper in the highly acclaimed film The Wrestler (2008) opposite Mickey Rourke. Her great performance earned her many awards from numerous film societies for Best Supporting Actress, a third Academy Award nomination, as well as nominations for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. Many critics heralded this performance as a standout in her career.- Actress
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Alex Borstein is a Chicago-born American actress, known for her work on the animated sitcom Family Guy (1999), Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005), Bad Santa (2003), and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017). Borstein became a MADtv cast member in 1997, during the sketch comedy show's third season. The following year, Seth MacFarlane cast her as the voice of Lois Griffin in Family Guy, which debuted on Fox in 1999. In 2013, due to her work on Family Guy, Borstein was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and, in 2018, Borstein won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her portrayal of Susie Myerson on the period dramedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.- Actress
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Originally from Copley, OH, Carrie Coon is a Chicago-based theatre, television and film actress. She received a BA in English and Spanish from the University of Mount Union, followed by her MFA in Acting at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Coon was nominated for a Tony Award in the Best Featured Actress category for her Broadway debut as Honey in the transfer of Steppenwolf Theatre's production of "Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", directed by Pam MacKinnon. Although Coon did not win in 2013, the production was awarded Best Revival, Best Director (MacKinnon) and Best Actor (Tracy Letts).- Michelle was born in July 1965, the second child of publican Brian and nurse Theresa Fairley. As a teenager she attended the Ulster Youth Theatre before moving to Belfast , where she was a member of Fringe Benefit, a repertory company where she acted alongside Conleth Hill, with whom she would later appear in television juggernaut 'Game of Thrones'. In 1986 she came to London and established herself as a considerable stage actress in 'Oleanna 'at the Royal Court, 'Dancing at Lughnasa' at the Old Vic, as Lady Macbeth with the West Yorkshire Playhouse and as Emilia, wife of the villainous Iago in the Donmar Warehouse's production of 'Othello', for which she was nominated for an Olivier award and on the strength of which she was offered the part of the fiercely matriarchal Lady Stark in 'Game of Thrones'. Following that character's demise she appeared in several American television series - '24', 'Suits' and 'The Lizzie Borden Chronicles ' - as well as playing the wife of (Southern) Irish Brendan Gleeson in the epic period film 'In the Heart of the Sea'. In 2015 she returned to Britain to appear in the play 'Splendour' in London and the television series 'Rebellion' chronicling the 1916 Easter Rising.
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Frances Louise McDormand was born on June 23, 1957, in Gibson City, Illinois. She was adopted by Canadian-born parents Noreen Eloise (Nickleson), a nurse from Ontario, and Rev. Vernon Weir McDormand, a Disciples of Christ minister from Nova Scotia, who raised her in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. She earned a BA in theater from Bethany College in 1979 and an MFA from Yale University in 1982. Her career after graduation began onstage, and she has retained her association with the theater throughout her career. She soon obtained prominent roles in movies as well, first starring in Blood Simple (1984), in which she worked with filmmaker Joel Coen, whom she married that year. She frequently collaborated with Coen and his brother, Ethan Coen, in their films.
McDormand's skilled and versatile acting has been recognized by both the critics and the Academy, and in addition to many critics' awards, she has been nominated for an Academy Award six times - Supporting in Mississippi Burning (1988), Almost Famous (2000), and North Country (2005), and Lead in Fargo (1996), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), and Nomadland (2020), winning the Oscar for the latter three. She also won a Best Picture Oscar as co-producer of "Nomadland." Keenly intelligent and possessed of a sharp wit, McDormand is the antithesis of the Hollywood starlet - rather than making every role about Frances McDormand, she dissolves into the characters she plays. Accordingly, she has expressed some reservations about the iconic recognition she has gained from her touching and amusing portrayal of Police Chief Marge Gunderson, the quintessential Minnesota Scandinavian, in Fargo (1996).
McDormand and Coen adopted a son, Pedro McDormand Coen, who was born in Paraguay, in 1994. They live in New York.- Director
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In the past five years, Nora has created and/or written series for Amazon, Hulu, Comedy Central, and CBS, directing TV series for ABC, Hulu and FunnyOrDie. In 2020, she became the first woman ever to direct a campaign for Bud Light. She's gone on to direct campaigns for Nestle, Duracell, and Uber, among others.
She recently was a writer on the new series. Daisy Jones and the Six, produced by Reese Witherspoon, which debuted at #1 on Amazon. Nora was a founding member and accordion player for the band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, with whom she toured for seven years, winning a Grammy, and playing Letterman, Conan, Kimmel, Coachella, and Lallapalooza among others.
Previously, she sold her TV show, Assisted Living, to CBS, which was produced by Will Ferrell and Jessica Elbaum. Her half-hour, Best Seller, produced by Olivia Wilde, sold to Comedy Central, and she created/directed Door No. 1, a first of its kind live-action VR comedy series, starring Snoop Dogg and Ravi Patel, for Hulu. She also created and directed a fifteen-episode murder mystery, The Coop, for Eko and FunnyOrDie, guest starring Tony Hale, Bobby Moynihan and Margaret Cho.
Nora directed a pilot, Royalties, starring 2018 Emmy and Golden Globe winner Darren Criss, and episode #712 of The Goldbergs on ABC. Nora has also played many roles in film and TV, including The Office, Greek, and Jennifer Falls.
She is in pre production on her debut feature, "A Tree Fell In The Woods."- Actress
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Catherine Keener is an American actress, Oscar-nominated for her roles in the independent films Being John Malkovich (1999) and Capote (2005). Acclaimed in her community for her quirky roles in independent film and mainstream such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Keener got her start as a casting director in New York City.
Catherine Ann Keener was born in Miami, Florida, and was raised in Hialeah, FL. She is the daughter of Evelyn (Jamiel) and James Keener, who owned an auto shop. She is of Lebanese (mother) and English, Scottish, and German (father) descent. Keener attended Wheaton College in Massachusetts. She began taking acting classes when she was unable to sign up for a photography class. After graduating, Keener managed a McDonalds in New York City before becoming an assistant casting director and soon relocating to Los Angeles.
Not long after, Keener told her superior of her aspirations for acting and she landed a one-worded role as a waitress in About Last Night (1986). Two years later, she landed a role in a film called Survival Quest (1988), where she met her future husband, Dermot Mulroney. After struggling for years in the industry, Keener landed a role in an independent film, opposite the unknown Brad Pitt, in Johnny Suede (1991). Her ascent in independent film began as she starred in Living in Oblivion (1995) and Walking and Talking (1996) before her mainstream break with Being John Malkovich (1999) in 1999, which earned Keener her first Oscar nomination. Since then, Catherine Keener has starred in several critically acclaimed films.- Actress
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Spencer is a native of Montgomery, Alabama, which she claims is the proverbial buckle of the Bible belt. She's the sixth of seven siblings and holds a BS in Liberal Arts from Auburn University. A "closet" lover of acting, this practical Alabamian knew that she'd someday work in the film industry, but never dreamed it would be in front of the camera. In 1995, acclaimed director Joel Schumacher changed all that by giving her a small part opposite Sandra Bullock in the hit film A Time to Kill, and Spencer was on her way. In 1996, she teamed up with Bullock again in Bullock's directorial debut of Making Sandwiches, a short film that premiered at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival.
Spencer made her stage debut in Los Angeles and originated the role of "LaSonia" (pronounced lasagna) in famed writer/director Del Shore's, The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife, starring opposite veteran actors Beth Grant, Dale Dickey and David Steen (2003). The play garnered Spencer and her fellow cast mates critical acclaim and a bevy of awards. Since then, Spencer has continued to see success as an actor in both film and television, working alongside Hollywood's elite. In February 2009, she was lauded by Los Angeles Times publication: The Envelope, for her brief but memorable performance in the Will Smith drama Seven Pounds.- Actress
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Julianne Moore was born Julie Anne Smith in Fort Bragg, North Carolina on December 3, 1960, the daughter of Anne (Love), a social worker, and Peter Moore Smith, a paratrooper, colonel, and later military judge. Her mother moved to the U.S. in 1951, from Greenock, Scotland. Her father, from Burlington, New Jersey, has German, Irish, Welsh, German-Jewish, and English ancestry.
Moore spent the early years of her life in over two dozen locations around the world with her parents, during her father's military career. She finally found her place at Boston University, where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) degree in acting from the School of the Performing Arts. After graduation (in 1983), She took the stage name "Julianne Moore" because there was another actress named "Julie Anne Smith". Julianne moved to New York and worked extensively in theater, including appearances off-Broadway in two Caryl Churchill plays, Serious Money and Ice Cream With Hot Fudge and as Ophelia in Hamlet at The Guthrie Theatre. But despite her formal training, Julianne fell into the attractive actress' trap of the mid-1980's: TV soaps and miniseries. She appeared briefly in the daytime serial The Edge of Night (1956) and from 1985 to 1988 she played two half-sisters Frannie and Sabrina on the soap As the World Turns (1956). This performance later led to an Outstanding Ingénue Daytime Emmy Award in 1988. Her subsequent appearances were in mostly forgettable TV-movies, such as Money, Power, Murder. (1989), The Last to Go (1991) and Cast a Deadly Spell (1991).
She made her entrance into the big screen with 1990's Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990), where she played the victim of a mummy. Two years later, Julianne appeared in feature films with supporting parts in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) and the comedy The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992). She kept winning better and more powerful roles as time went on, including a small but memorable role as a doctor who spots Kimble Harrison Ford and attempts to thwart his escape in The Fugitive (1993). (A role that made such an impression on Steven Spielberg that he cast her in the Jurassic Park (1993) sequel without an audition in 1997). In one of Moore's most distinguished performances, she recapitulated her "beguiling Yelena" from Andre Gregory's workshop version of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in Louis Malle's critically acclaimed Vanya on 42nd Street (1994). Director Todd Haynes gave Julianne her first opportunity to take on a lead role in Safe (1995). Her portrayal of Carol White, an affluent L.A. housewife who develops an inexplicable allergic reaction to her environment, won critical praise as well as an Independent Spirit Award nomination.
Later that year she found her way into romantic comedy, co-starring as Hugh Grant's pregnant girlfriend in Nine Months (1995). Following films included Assassins (1995), where she played an electronics security expert targeted for death (next to Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas) and Surviving Picasso (1996), where she played Dora Maar, one of the numerous lovers of Picasso (portrayed by her hero, Anthony Hopkins). A year later, after co-starring in Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), opposite Jeff Goldblum, a young and unknown director, Paul Thomas Anderson asked Julianne to appear in his movie, Boogie Nights (1997). Despite her misgivings, she finally was won over by the script and her decision to play the role of Amber Waves, a loving porn star who acts as a mother figure to a ragtag crew, proved to be a wise one, since she received both Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. Julianne started 1998 by playing an erotic artist in The Big Lebowski (1998), continued with a small role in the social comedy Chicago Cab (1997) and ended with a subtle performance in Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho (1960). 1999 had Moore as busy as an actress can be.
As the century closed, Julianne starred in a number of high-profile projects, beginning with Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune (1999) , in which she was cast as the mentally challenged but adorable sister of a decidedly unhinged Glenn Close. A portrayal of the scheming Mrs. Cheveley followed in Oliver Parker's An Ideal Husband (1999) with a number of critics asserting that Moore was the best part of the movie. She then enjoyed another collaboration with director Anderson in Magnolia (1999) and continued with an outstanding performance in The End of the Affair (1999), for which she garnered another Oscar nomination. She ended 1999 with another great performance, that of a grieving mother in A Map of the World (1999), opposite Sigourney Weaver.- Actress
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Laura Leggett Linney was born in New York City on February 5, 1964, into a theatre family. Her father was prominent playwright Romulus Linney, whose own great-grandfather was a congressman from North Carolina. Her mother, Miriam Anderson (Leggett), is a nurse. Although she did not live in her father's house (her parents having divorced when she was an infant), Linney's world revolved, in part, around his profession from the earliest age. She graduated from Brown University in 1986 and studied acting at Juilliard and the Arts Theatre School in Moscow and, thereafter, embarked on a career on the Broadway stage receiving favorable notices for her work in such plays as "Hedda Gabler" and "Six Degrees of Separation".
Linney's film career began in the early 1990s with small roles in Lorenzo's Oil (1992) and Dave (1993). She landed the role of Mary Anne Singleton in the PBS film adaptations of Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City" series, playing her in Tales of the City (1993), More Tales of the City (1998) and Further Tales of the City (2001). Linney's first substantial big-screen role was as the ex-girlfriend of Richard Gere's character in Primal Fear (1996) and her superb performance brought her praise and a better selection of roles. Clint Eastwood chose Linney to play his daughter, another prominent role, in 1997's Absolute Power (1997), followed by another second billing in the following year's The Truman Show (1998).
Always a strong performer, Linney truly came into her own after 2000, starting the decade auspiciously with her widely-praised, arguably flawless performance in You Can Count on Me (2000). She found herself nominated for an Academy Award for this, her first lead role, for which her salary had been $10,000. Linney won numerous critics' awards for her role as Sammy, a single mother whose life is complicated by a new boss and the arrival in town of her aimless brother. On the heels of this success came her marvelous turn as Bertha Dorset in The House of Mirth (2000), clearly the best performance in a film of strong performances. Since then, Linney has frequently been offered challenging dramatic roles, and always rises to the occasion, such as in Mystic River (2003) and Kinsey (2004), for which she received another Academy Award nomination.- Actress
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Daughter of a law professor at Northwestern University, she moved with her family to Los Angeles when he transferred to the University of California at Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.). She began acting in school plays at North Hollywood High, graduated from The Oakwood School and then continued her stage training at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and the drama division of The Juilliard School in New York. Following a pleasant screen debut in Robert Redford's Oscar-winning Ordinary People (1980), McGovern gave a great performance as Evelyn Nesbit in Ragtime (1981) for which she earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress. She has continued performing on stage between film assignments rather than concentrate on being a film star.- Actress
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Born in Salisbury, Maryland, USA, following high school Linda studied for two years at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, before moving on to acting studies in New York. In New York she attended acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg. Her first parts were small parts in TV series, with her biggest break coming with her role in The Terminator (1984). Most known to public at large from her part in the TV series Beauty and the Beast (1987) (before Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), at least).- Actress
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Carrie-Anne Moss was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. At age 20, after studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she moved to Europe to pursue a career in modeling. While in Spain she was cast in the TV show Dark Justice which was produced in Barcelona for its first season and Los Angeles for its second. Once in LA, Carrie-Anne was cast in other series regular opportunities like Matrix (which coincidentally presaged the movie that would later make her famous), and then Aaron Spelling's Models Inc.
Carrie-Anne's work was gaining attention when the late great Mali Finn brought her in to audition for The Wachowski's, who offered her the opportunity to create the iconic cyber warrior "Trinity". Alongside her "One" Keanu Reeves, in stride with Laurence Fishburne and the multifaceted Hugo Weaving. Carrie-Anne Moss galvanized her place in cinematic history in one of the highest grossing sci-fi action franchises of all time.
Carrie-Anne began receiving a wide range of scripts but it was the complex screenplay Memento that stirred her creative senses and once meeting the then unknown writer/director Christopher Nolan, it was without hesitation that she accepted the role of "Natalie" in Nolan's directorial debut. Her remarkable performance won her the coveted Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female that year.
Prominent directors and producers continued to pursue her. She survived with Val Kilmer on the Red Planet for Warner Bros; sweetened Lasse Hallstrom's multi Oscar nominated Chocolat for Miramax and tracked Sir Ben Kingsley in Paramount's Suspect Zero. She mothered Shia LaBeouf in DreamWork's box-office hit Disturbia; and together with Samuel L. Jackson, led the intense interrogation of Michael Sheen in Sony's Unthinkable.
Carrie-Anne continued to collaborate on independent projects including The Chumscrubber with Ralph Fiennes and Glenn Close; the comedy noir Mini's First Time also starring Alec Baldwin and Luke Wilson; Snow Cake the touching drama with Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman; Fireflies in the Garden in the company of Ryan Reynolds, Julia Roberts and Willem Defoe; and the retro zombie rom-com Fido along with Billy Connelly and Dylan Baker.
Throughout her career, Carrie-Anne has joined compelling television projects such as Ryan Murphy's Pretty Handsome; CBS's Vegas for James Mangold and Marvel's Jessica Jones as "Jerry Hogarth" for show runner Melissa Rosenberg. She recently finished acting and also producing in her second season, the bi-lingual English/Norwegian detective crime series Wisting, as an FBI agent set in the Norwegian landscape.
Next up, Carrie-Anne returns once again to star as "Trinity" in the much anticipated fourth installment of Lana Wachowski's Matrix Resurrections opposite Keanu Reeves for Warner Bros, which launches globally December 22, 2021- Actress
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- Director
Kyra Minturn Sedgwick was born on August 19, 1965 in New York City to Patricia (Rosenwald), a family and speech therapist, and Henry Dwight Sedgwick V, a venture capitalist. Her mother was from an upper-class German Jewish family, and her father was from a wealthy Massachusetts clan of English descent, with many prominent ancestors (including Judge Theodore Sedgwick and educator Endicott Peabody).
Sedgwick attended private schools. She made her professional acting debut at age 16 on the soap opera Another World (1964). A graduate of USC, Kyra has pursued a career that includes stage, screen and television. Kyra's reason for becoming an actor is that it gives her the ability to be compassionate and to walk around in the shoes of others. Her first brush with stardom came in Born on the Fourth of July (1989) as "Donna", the high-school sweetheart of Tom Cruise. Two of her roles led to Golden Globe nominations: Miss Rose White (1992) and Something to Talk About (1995). She met her husband, Kevin Bacon, when they played leads in the television movie Lemon Sky (1988). They have two children.- Actress
- Soundtrack
The sultry, versatile, petite (5' 4") beauty Sherilyn Fenn was born Sheryl Ann Fenn in Detroit, Michigan, into a family of musicians. The youngest of three children, her mother, Arlene Quatro, played keyboard in rock bands, her aunt is rock-star Suzi Quatro, and her grandfather, Art Quatro, was a jazz musician. Her father, Leo Fenn, was the manager of such bands as The Pleasure Seekers (the all-girl band formed by the Quatro sisters), Alice Cooper, and The Billion Dollar Babies. Sherilyn's ancestry includes Irish, Italian, Hungarian, German, and Bohemian Czech.
Sherilyn traveled a lot with her divorced mother and two older brothers before the family settled in Los Angeles when she was seventeen. Fenn, who says herself she's demure didn't want to start with a new school again and soon enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.
Fenn began her career with a number of B-movies including The Wild Life (1984) (alongside Chris Penn), skater film Thrashin' (1986) (opposite Josh Brolin) and teen-fantasy movie The Wraith (1986) (opposite Charlie Sheen). She had a memorable part in the cult teen-comedy Just One of the Guys (1985) in which she tries to seduce a teenage girl disguised as a boy, played by Joyce Hyser. Fenn landed her first starring role, as an engaged heiress to an old Southern family experiencing her sexual awakening in Zalman King's erotic drama film Two Moon Junction (1988), after which she said she wanted to hide for a year. Fenn won her most outstanding role and made an indelible impression on the public when she was cast by David Lynch and Mark Frost as the tantalizing Audrey Horne, the high-school femme fatale from the critically acclaimed TV series Twin Peaks (1990). The series ran from 1990 to 1991, and the character of Audrey was one of the most popular with fans, in particular for her unrequited love for FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (played by Kyle MacLachlan) and her style from the '50s (with her saddle shoes, plaid skirts and tight sweaters). Sherilyn made a memorable impression as the cherry stem-twisting siren. This was her breakout role; even now she says of her Twin Peaks (1990) experience: "It still makes me feel kind of proud and special to be part of something like that". In the show's second season, when the idea of pairing Audrey and Cooper was abandoned, Audrey was paired with other characters like Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook) and John Justice Wheeler (Billy Zane). Sherilyn hit cult status when Lynch filmed her dancing on Angelo Badalamenti's music and with another memorable scene in which her character knotted a cherry stem with her tongue.
Shortly after shooting Twin Peaks' pilot episode, David Lynch gave her a small but impressive part in Wild at Heart (1990), as a girl injured in a car wreck, obsessed by the contents of her purse, opposite Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern. According to Fenn, the turning point in her career was when she met veteran acting coach Roy London in 1990. She credits him with instilling confidence and newfound enthusiasm.
After two nominations (Emmy and Golden Globe) and covers for Rolling Stone and Playboy magazines, Fenn was propelled to stardom and became a major sex symbol. She was chosen as one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World", was named one of the "10 Most Beautiful Women in the World" by Us magazine, and one of the "100 Sexiest Women in the World" by FHM magazine. Fenn's classic looks - with her lily-white skin, vertiginous boomerang eyebrows, beauty mark next to her left eye and topaz eyes - were highlighted by renowned photographers like George Hurrell Sr., Steven Meisel, and Bettina Rheims, and led her to be compared to the ones like Marilyn Monroe and Ava Gardner. Fenn has had an eclectic career with a significant body of work following Twin Peaks (1990). She chose to focus on widening her range of roles and was determined to avoid typecasting. She turned down the Audrey Horne spin-off series that was offered to her, and unlike most of the cast, chose not to return for the 1992 prequel movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), as she was then shooting Of Mice and Men (1992). She proved her mettle as an actress with varied roles in neo-noir black comedy Desire and Hell at Sunset Motel (1991) (as a sultry femme fatale, opposite Whip Hubley and David Hewlett), huis-clos Diary of a Hitman (1991) (the directorial debut of her acting coach Roy London, in which she plays a fragile mother who confronts hitman Forest Whitaker), John Mackenzie's fictionalized biopic Ruby (1992), (as stripper Sheryl Ann DuJean, a Marilyn Monroe look-alike fictional character, who is a composite of several real-life women from Jack Ruby and president John Kennedy's entourage; opposite 'Danny Aiello' and Arliss Howard), romantic comedy Three of Hearts (1993) (as Kelly Lynch and William Baldwin's love interest), Carl Reiner's 1940s detective parody Fatal Instinct (1993) (as Armand Assante's lovesick secretary and Sean Young and Kate Nelligan's rival) and Showtime's biblical Slave of Dreams (1995), directed by Robert M. Young (as Potiphar's seductive wife Zulaikha, opposite Adrian Pasdar and Edward James Olmos, and produced by Dino De Laurentiis).
A highlight of Fenn's film career is Gary Sinise's film adaptation of Of Mice and Men (1992), in which she brought nuance to the role of a seductive and lonely country wife, desperately in need to talk to somebody, opposite Sinise and John Malkovich. In 1993, Fenn teamed up with David Lynch's daughter Jennifer Lynch and starred in her directorial debut Boxing Helena (1993) as a haughty seductress forced to live in a box after her limbs were amputated by love-obsessed surgeon Julian Sands in an effort to possess her (a role Kim Basinger backed out of). Both Lynch and Fenn were proud of their work in it but the film - which was overshadowed by the lawsuits against Kim Basinger after she dropped out - ultimately was a critical and commercial failure. Another outstanding performance was in NBC's miniseries Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story (1995). During the shooting, Fenn fought to keep integrity in the script. Her priority was to respectfully and accurately portray Taylor, and she supported the original screenwriter's effort to concentrate on Taylor the person, not the legend. The same year she starred in an episode of Tales from the Crypt (1989) directed by Robert Zemeckis, alongside Isabella Rossellini and John Lithgow, as the lover of Humphrey Bogart, who appeared in the episode via CGI special effects. She went on to star in independent films that have been well received on the festival circuit like Jon Harmon Feldman's Lovelife (1997) (as a low self-esteemed waitress, along with Bruce Davison, Jon Tenney, Carla Gugino and Saffron Burrows), romantic comedy Just Write (1997) (as the dream actress of Hollywood tour bus driver Jeremy Piven, who mistakes him for a famous screenwriter) and Adrian Pasdar's neo-noir directorial debut Cement (2000), a contemporary re-telling of "Othello", in which she played a tempting but imprudent femme fatale, alongside Chris Penn, Jeffrey Wright and Henry Czerny.
Tired of Hollywood, Fenn contemplated starting a European career when she starred opposite Ray Winstone in the British psychological drama and huis-clos Darkness Falls (1999) (as a wealthy, neglected wife, sequestered with her husband by a man determined to understand the events that led to his wife ending up in a coma). She eventually decided to return to the United-States and gained newfound enthusiasm with the lead role in Showtime's dark comedy Rude Awakening (1998) as Billie Frank, an alcoholic ex-soap actress who struggles with her self-destructive habits. Based upon creator/executive producer Claudia Lonow's experience, the series ran from 1998 to 2001 and co-starred Lynn Redgrave, Jonathan Penner and Mario Van Peebles. Following Rude Awakening (1998), Fenn's film and television credits have included Showtime's family comedy Off Season (2001), directed by Bruce Davison (along with Hume Cronyn, Rory Culkin, Adam Arkin and Davison; as a singer who takes care of her orphaned nephew), Matthew Ryan Hoge's The United States of Leland (2003) (as a woman who represents happiness and joie de vivre to Ryan Gosling), Showtime's Cavedweller (2004) (2004, along with Kyra Sedgwick and directed by Lisa Cholodenko), Geretta Geretta's Whitepaddy (2006) (opposite Lisa Bonet and Hill Harper, as a woman who struggles with her dysfunctional family after she reluctantly returned home and tries to fit in with her new neighborhood that has become predominantly black), Emily Skopov's Novel Romance (2006) (as a pregnancy shop owner, opposite Traci Lords and Paul Johansson), psychological thriller Presumed Dead (2006) (as a female detective working on a missing person case, who has to outwit crime novelist Duncan Regehr in order to get to the truth), and The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (2007) (as a flirtatious version of Lulu Hogg).
Fenn has appeared along with Rob Estes and Milo Ventimiglia in a 2003 episode of Amy Sherman-Palladino's Gilmore Girls (2000), which was the pilot for a California-set spin-off, eventually dropped by the network. Sherman-Palladino brought her back in the series with a different part as Scott Patterson's ex-girlfriend and protective mother to his daughter (2006-2007). Fenn had previously had recurring parts on Dawson's Creek (1998), (2002, as Joshua Jackson's seductive boss) and Boston Public (2000) (2003-2004, as a porn star turned tutor). Other notable guest appearances have included 21 Jump Street (1987) (opposite her then-fiancé Johnny Depp), Friends (1994) (1997, as Matthew Perry's wooden-legged girlfriend), The Outer Limits (1995) (2001, as a duplicated scientist), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) (2002, as a manipulative actress), and The 4400 (2004) (2005, as Jean DeLynn Baker, a 4400 who has the ability to grow deadly toxin-emitting spores on her hands).
Fenn's interest in directing and children led her to step behind the camera to direct in 2006 a documentary film about the child enrichment program CosmiKids and Judy Julin, the program's founder. She subsequently joined its executive team as executive director of the film and television division.
On set, Sherilyn is noted for having a quirky sense of humor and a joie de vivre. Off-screen, Sherilyn is proud of the friendship she has maintained with her ex-hubby Toulouse Holliday, a musician and film technician. Sherilyn lives with her son, Myles, and two cats: Ophelia and Redmond. Sherilyn practices meditative kundalini yoga, and every room in her house has feng shui elements-- crystals in one corner, water in another. Sherilyn enjoys biking, swimming and cooking, and of course being a mom: "After I had my son, I found life much funnier and brighter".- Actress
- Producer
Michelle Hurd was born in New York City, New York, USA. Michelle is an actor and producer, known for Blindspot (2015), Star Trek: Picard (2020) and The Glades (2010). Michelle has been married to Garret Dillahunt since 6 July 2007.- Actress
- Producer
Rutina Wesley is known for the character Tara Thorton, on the gritty Southern vampire drama, True Blood (2008). She was born in the city most renowned for glitz and glamour, Las Vegas, Nevada and was exposed to the arts at a very early age; in fact entertainment runs through her veins. Her father, Ivery Wheeler, is a noted tap dancer while her mother, Cassandra Wesley, performed on the Vegas strip as a showgirl. Rutina studied dance for years then earned an undergraduate degree in Theatre Performance from the University of Evansville in Indiana. She had the good fortune to be accepted by the acclaimed Julliard School. During Rutina's stint at Julliard, she was fortunate enough to spend a summer at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Fortune was with Rutina again when one of her Julliard classmates, Nelsan Ellis, reconnected with her when he became her co-star on True Blood (2008).
After leaving Julliard, Rutina was cast in the Broadway production of a David Hare play, "The Vertical Hour" opposite Bill Nighy. Rutina followed "The Vertical Hour" with an appearance in the Public Theater production, "In Darfur". Her small role in the hit movie, Hitch (2005), was cut from the completed film but that did not deter her from pursuing her dream. She made another big-screen appearance, this time in the dance melodrama How She Move (2007). She also guest starred on the hit television show Numb3rs (2005); however, her break came when she signed onto the HBO production, True Blood (2008).
True Blood (2008) is adapted from the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire literary series by Charlaine Harris and conceived for the small screen by Alan Ball of American Beauty (1999) and Six Feet Under (2001). Rutina's portrayal of Tara Thornton, a character whose caustic tongue and tough manner conceal her vulnerability, helped make True Blood (2008) a cult hit. The success of True Blood (2008) shocked naysayers when the vampire soap opera became a favorite of both critics and audiences alike. We'll be seeing more of Rutina in 2010 when True Blood (2008) returns for its third season.