Dope Talent
Creatives who change the game.
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- Writer
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- Bill Hinzman is known for Talk to Me (2022) and Talk 2 Me.
- Director
- Actor
- Editor
Danny Philippou was born on 13 November 1992 in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. He is a director and actor, known for Talk to Me (2022), RackaRacka (2013) and The Babadook (2014).- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Leah Saint Marie (formerly Welch) is a workhorse and an award-winning screenwriter with a taste for deeply complex, thrilling, and genre-bending stories. This probably makes sense given her background as an investigative journalist who studied female serial killers after getting her MFA in Creative Writing. Before going all in on her filmmaking career, Leah was a film projectionist for ten years (a stint which included living on Block Island, RI, in the old movie house), studied film stunts with a stunt family in Virginia, and as an investigative journalist she helped exonerate a man from prison.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
- Additional Crew
Daniel Katz is known for I Am Legend (2007), Funny Games (2007) and The Vanishing of Sidney Hall (2017).- Producer
- Additional Crew
John Hodges is Head of Film for Jax Media, where he heads Jax's feature film development and production. Prior to joining Jax in 2019, John was a founding partner of A24, where he helped oversee acquisition and distribution on some of the company's roster of more than 70 films, which includes Spring Breakers, Ex Machina, Amy, Lady Bird, and Best Picture winner Moonlight, as well as spearheading the formation of the A24 TV department. Prior to A24, John ran production and development for Big Beach (Little Miss Sunshine).- Executive
- Actor
- Director
- Stunts
Michael Philippou was born on 13 November 1992 in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. He is an actor and director, known for Talk to Me (2022), RackaRacka (2013) and The Babadook (2014).- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Todd Phillips is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter.
Growing up on Long Island, New York, Todd Phillips fell in love with feature film teen comedies made in the 1980s, and claims they were his biggest influence in becoming a filmmaker. While studying film at New York University, he made a documentary called Hated (1994), using his credit cards to finance the filmâEUR(TM)s $13,000 budget. About an excessive punk rocker, GG Allen, the student film won an award at the New Orleans Film Festival and went on to be released both theatrically and on DVD. Phillips' next project was a documentary called Frat House (1998), which followed the trials of young men trying to get accepted into a fraternity. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, but soon became banned from public viewing when the young men involved objected, and lawyers for their families stepped in.
While working on a commercial for Pepsi, Phillips met comedian Tom Green. He was writing the screenplay for his new film, Road Trip, and asked Green if he would be in it. Green agreed on the spot, and Phillips went on to make his first fictional movie, an homage to the types of films he grew up with. Road Trip was made on a budget of $15.6 million, and nearly made the money back in its opening weekend despite mixed reviews, most of which agreed it was in bad taste, with some finding that funny while others found it offensive.
Phillips continued on in the same genre with Old School (2003), about three grown men who try to return to their frat boy days. Phillips says, "Things go in cycles and right now people use the term gross out of comedy a lot and I find it very dismissive. I think it's very easy to be gross and very hard to be funny. The ones that work are actually very funny at their root. I, as a director, want to stick with comedies for a little while. It's the movies I grew up on and the stuff I like to see."
Phillips' next project was action comedy Starsky & Hutch, based on the hit television series that ran from 1975 to 1979. The film, starring Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller, is also set in the '70s. He's hoping to turn another '70s TV show, The Six Million Dollar Man, into a feature film starring Jim Carrey, but in the meantime, filmed the comedy School for Scoundrels (2006), starring Jon Heder and Billy Bob Thornton. His next film, The Hangover 2009, was an enormous success, spawning a 2011 sequel that he also directed. In between those two movies he directed Robert Downey Jr. and Hangover star Zach Galifianakis in the comedy Due Date 2010.
More recent films include The Hangover Part II (2011), The Hangover Part III (2013), and War Dogs (2016).
Move away from his favorite genre, he next took on the film Joker (2019), starring Joaquin Phoenix in the title role. The film debuted to much acclaim, and both Joaquin and Phillips received numerous award nominations, including Best Director nods for Phillips from the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and the BAFTAs.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Joaquin Phoenix was born Joaquin Rafael Bottom in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Arlyn (Dunetz) and John Bottom, and is the middle child in a brood of five. His parents, from the continental United States, were then serving as Children of God missionaries. His mother is from a Jewish family from New York, while his father, from California, is of mostly British Isles descent. As a youngster, Joaquin took his cues from older siblings River Phoenix and Rain Phoenix, changing his name to Leaf to match their earthier monikers. When the children were encouraged to develop their creative instincts, he followed their lead into acting. Younger sisters Liberty Phoenix and Summer Phoenix rounded out the talented troupe.
The family moved often, traveling through Central and South America (and adopting the surname "Phoenix" to celebrate their new beginnings) but, by the time Joaquin was age 6, they had more or less settled in the Los Angeles area. Arlyn found work as a secretary at NBC, and John turned his talents to landscaping. They eventually found an agent who was willing to represent all five children, and the younger generation dove into television work. Commercials for meat, milk, and junk food were off-limits (the kids were all raised as strict vegans), but they managed to find plenty of work pushing other products. Joaquin's first real acting gig was a guest appearance on River's sitcom, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1982).
He worked with his brother again on the afterschool special Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia (1984), then struck out on his own in other made-for-TV productions. He made his big-screen debut as the youngest crew member in the interstellar romp SpaceCamp (1986), then won his first starring turn in the Cold War-era drama Russkies (1987). In the late '80s, the Phoenix clan decided to pull up stakes and relocate again--this time to Florida. River's film career had enough momentum to sustain the move, but Joaquin wasn't sure what lay in store for him in the Sunshine State. As it happened, Universal Pictures had just opened a new studio in the area and he was cast almost immediately as an angst-ridden adolescent in Parenthood (1989). His performance was very well-received, but Joaquin decided to withdraw from acting for a while--he was frustrated with the dearth of interesting roles for actors his age, and he wanted to see more of the world.
His parents were in the process of separating, so he struck out for Mexico with his father. Joaquin returned to the public eye three years later under tragic circumstances. On October 31, 1993, he was at The Viper Room (a Los Angeles nightclub partly-owned by Johnny Depp) when his brother River collapsed from a drug overdose and later died. Joaquin made the call to 911, which was rebroadcast on radio and television the world over. Months later, at the insistence of friends and colleagues, Joaquin began reading through scripts again, but he was reluctant to re-enter the acting life until he found just the right part. He finally signed up to work with Gus Van Sant (who had directed River in My Own Private Idaho (1991) and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993)) to star as Nicole Kidman's obsessive devotee in To Die For (1995). The performance made Joaquin (who had dropped Leaf and reverted to his birth name) a critics' darling in his own right.
His follow-up turn in Inventing the Abbotts (1997) scored more critical kudos and, perhaps more importantly, introduced him to his one-time fiancée Liv Tyler. (The pair dated for almost three years.) He returned to the big screen later that year with a supporting role in Oliver Stone's U Turn (1997), then played a locked-up drug scapegoat in Return to Paradise (1998). He and "Paradise" co-star Vince Vaughn re-teamed almost immediately for the small-town murder caper Clay Pigeons (1998), which Joaquin followed with a turn as a porn store clerk in 8MM (1999). The film that confirmed Phoenix as a star was the historical epic Gladiator (2000). The Roman epic cast him as the selfish, paranoid young emperor Commodus opposite Russell Crowe's swarthy hero. Determined to make his character as real as possible, Phoenix gained weight and cultivated a pasty complexion during the shoot. He received international attention and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for that role.
Later that year, he appeared in two indies, playing a dock worker in The Yards (2000) (which he counts among his favorite experiences--and one of the only films of his that he can sit through) and the priest in charge of the Marquis de Sade's asylum in Quills (2000). He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor as the legendary musician Johnny Cash in the biography Walk the Line (2005). He also recorded an album, the film's soundtrack, for which he received the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
Lady Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, is an American songwriter, singer, actress, philanthropist, dancer and fashion designer.
Gaga was born on March 28, 1986 in Manhattan, New York City, to Cynthia Louise (Bissett), a philanthropist and business executive, and Joseph Anthony Germanotta, Jr., an internet entrepreneur. Her father is of Italian descent; and her mother, who is from West Virginia, is of half Italian and half French, English, German, and Scottish ancestry. Gaga was able to sing and play the piano from a young age. She attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart from age 11 where was bullied for her appearance (she was small and plumper than other girls with large front teeth) and eccentric habits.
By the age of 14, Gaga was performing at open mike nights in clubs and bars. By age 17, she had gained early admission to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. In addition to sharpening her songwriting skills, she composed essays and analytical papers on art, religion, social issues and politics. At the age of 19 Gaga withdrew from her studies and moved out of her parents' home in order to pursue a musical career. During this time she started a band which began to gain local attention.
After a brief partnership with talent scout Rob Fusari, which resulted in the creation of her stage name, Gaga was signed to Def Jam Records in 2006; however she was dropped from the label after just three months. Devastated, Gaga returned home, and became increasingly experimental: fascinating herself with emerging neo-burlesque shows, go-go dancing at bars dressed in little more than a bikini in addition to experimenting with drugs.
Gaga met performance artist Lady Starlight during this time; after a performance at Lollapalooza Festival in 2007 Gaga was signed by Vince Herbert to Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records. Having served as an apprentice songwriter under an internship at Famous Music Publishing, which was later acquired by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Gaga subsequently struck a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV. As a result, she was hired to write songs for Britney Spears and labelmates New Kids on the Block, Fergie, and the Pussycat Dolls. At Interscope, singer-songwriter Akon recognized her vocal abilities when she sang a reference vocal for one of his tracks in studio; Akon then convinced Interscope-Geffen-A&M Chairman and CEO Jimmy Iovine to form a joint deal by having her also sign with his own label Kon Live, making her his "franchise player."
In 2008 Gaga released her first album 'The Fame' to lukewarm radio play; Gaga toured around Europe and in gay clubs in the US to promote the album - however it was not until her first hit 'Just Dance' came to mainstream attention in 2009 that Gaga exploded onto the music scene.
Since then Gaga has gained numerous awards and nominations for a string of hits; her first album spawned several more smash hits 'Paparazzi', 'Loveame' and 'Poker Face'); while touring the album Gaga wrote 'The Fame Monster', an EP examining the darker side to her new-found fame. The Fame Monster was released in 2009 and won multiple awards, spawning her most iconic single 'Bad Romance' as well as 'Telephone' and 'Alejandro'. During this time Gaga came under increased public and critical scrutiny for her eccentric and often bizarre style choices. Gaga embarked on her second tour, The Monster Ball; upon finishing in May 2011, the critically acclaimed and commercially accomplished tour ran for over one and a half years and grossed $227.4 million, making it one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time and the highest-grossing for a debut headlining artist. Concerts performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City were filmed for an HBO television special. The special accrued one of its five Emmy Award nominations and has since been released on DVD and Blu-ray.
In 2011 Gaga released her second full-length album 'Born this Way'; the album was received vastly more critically than her previous two for touching on themes of politics, sexuality, and religion. Despite this, the album's songs were praised critically, and Born This Way sold 1.108 million copies in its first week in the US, debuting atop the Billboard 200, and topping the charts in more than 20 other countries. In addition to exceeding 8 million copies in worldwide sales, Born This Way received 3 Grammy Award nominations, including her third consecutive for Album of the Year. In March 2012, Gaga was ranked fourth on Billboard's list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing $25,353,039 dollars, which included sales from Born This Way and her Monster Ball Tour.
At the end of April 2012, Gaga's Born This Way kicked off in Korea - the tour would last 2 years and take the singer to every continent of the globe. However in February 2012 the tour was abruptly canceled; Gaga had a labral tear in her right hip which she had been nursing secretly for several weeks in the hopes that she would be able to continue the tour. After a performance in Toronto left her unable to walk and in considerable pain, she was taken to hospital for surgery and the tour was canceled. Through to Jan. 17, the tour had grossed $168.2 million and moved 1.6 million tickets to 85 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore, with the Asian, European, and South American legs already completed in 2012. The North American leg, which was to wrap the tour and was almost completely sold out, would have likely put the tour at more than $200 million gross, easily in the top 20 tours of all time and probably in the top 15, according to Billboard. As it stands, Gaga finished sixth among all touring artists in 2012, with a gross of $125 million and attendance of more than 1.1 million, according to Boxscore.
Gaga wrote her third album, ARTPOP, released in 2013. Gaga made her acting debut in Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills (2013), the sequel to his 2010 film Machete, and also appeared in Rodriguez's sequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014). In 2018, she starred with Bradley Cooper, who also directed, in A Star Is Born (2018). Gaga received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the role.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Brendan Gleeson was born in Dublin, Ireland, to Pat and Frank Gleeson. From a very young age, he loved to learn, especially reading classical text in and outside the classroom. He took great attention to Irish play writers such as Samuel Beckett, which eventually led to him performing in his high school play production of "Waiting for Godot", and paying great attention to detail in his high school drama classes. Upon finishing 12th grade, he spent a couple of years with the Dublin Shakespeare Festival, and under the advice of a director there, headed across to London and auditioned for drama schools. Soon to follow, he was invited to audition for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford upon Avon, and spent a couple of seasons back in England on the stage. He then, at the age of thirty five, decided to audition for films in the UK and began to build a very respectable resume playing many different diverse characters.
He made his debut as a quarryman in The Field (1990). He had several small roles in major Hollywood movies based in Ireland, such as Far and Away (1992) and Into the West (1992). Memorably played historical Irish figure "Michael Collins" in The Treaty (1991). Made his breakthrough in Scottish themed Braveheart (1995), which was largely filmed in Ireland, opposite Mel Gibson. He played Gibson's right-hand man "Hamish". Since then, he has appeared in numerous major films such as Mission: Impossible II (2000), Lake Placid (1999), Turbulence (1997). He has made a name for himself taking the titular role in The General (1998), based on the life of Irish criminal "Martin Cahill", for which he won the Boston Society of Film Critics Award. He appears in director John Boorman's film The Tailor of Panama (2001) as well as Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002) and Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001).
Ever since, he has continued to bring his huge stage presence to the screen, always delivering the character in full development to his audience. He is married to his lovely wife, Mary, since 1982. They have four sons.- Actress
- Producer
- Casting Department
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.- Director
- Producer
- Actor
Justin Benson was born on 9 June 1983 in San Diego, California, USA. He is a director and producer, known for The Endless (2017), Spring (2014) and Synchronic (2019).- Director
- Cinematographer
- Producer
Aaron Moorhead was born on 17 December 1987. He is a director and cinematographer, known for The Endless (2017), Spring (2014) and Synchronic (2019).- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Kate Herron is a Writer-Director working in film, television and comic books.
She served as Executive Producer and directed the entirety of Marvel Studios "Loki", starring Tom Hiddleston with Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku and Jonathan Majors. The show received international acclaim on it's launch on Disney Plus and was confirmed by Marvel after it's launch as their most-watched show on the platform. Kate was recognized in Variety's 2021 "Top of Their Game" Television Producers Impact Report for her work on the show.
Kevin Feige said of Kate's contribution and bringing together the idea of a Loki time-travel show, "The real answer is, the inspiration was Kate. We knew we wanted to do a Tom Hiddleston-Loki series. We knew we wanted to have time travel elements. Our producer, Stephen Broussard, and our other producer, Kevin Wright, and I were always fans of this Time Variance Authority organization from the comics for years and years. We've loved the idea of it. But just didn't know exactly what to do with it before Kevin and Stephen had the idea of putting it as a major part of this show. But it's really Kate's meetings with us and her pitch that brought in all those references and allowed us to look at this as in a slightly different genre than we were anticipating. So, that's my answer; is our inspiration was Kate and her pitch for this job."
Previously Kate directed the first season of Netflix Original, "Sex Education", created by Laurie Nunn and produced by Eleven Film. The show stars Asa Butterfield, Ncuti Gatwa, Emma Mackey and Gillian Anderson. She directed the second half of the show which launched on Netflix on January 11th 2019, to 190 countries. It was described as, "A standout teen comedy" by Rolling Stone, "Snort out loud funny" by Financial Times and "Horny and Heartfelt" by Entertainment Weekly. It's first season received a 91% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 81 on Meta Critic.
Before "Sex Education", Kate directed every episode of "Five by Five" for BBC/Green Door Pictures, starring & exec-produced by Idris Elba. The show was a Sunday Times Critics Pick of the Week and is on Amazon Prime. This was her first directing job in television.
Before working in television, Kate cut her teeth on the independent film circuit making a number of comedy short films. Her work was featured by Vimeo Staff Picks, Comedy Central and the British Film Institute did a Retrospective of her shorts in 2016 as part of Underwire Film Festival. Paul Feig described her film "Smear" which starred Loki's Sophia Di Martino, as "Very funny"
Her shorts also had her featured as a Forbes 30 Under 30, a Screen International Star of Tomorrow, Broadcast Hot Shot and on the BBC Hot New Talent List. She was described as "A huge comedy voice in the years to come" by Sky Comedy.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Sophia Marie Di Martino is an English actress known for portraying Sylvie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series Loki. Di Martino was born in Nottingham and grew up in the suburb of Attenborough. She is half Italian. She attended Chilwell Comprehensive School, where she completed an A Level in performing arts. She went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts with honors in media and performance from the University of Salford.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Thomas William Hiddleston was born in Westminster, London, to English-born Diana Patricia (Servaes) and Scottish-born James Norman Hiddleston. His mother is a former stage manager, and his father, a scientist, was the managing director of a pharmaceutical company. He started off at the preparatory school, The Dragon School in Oxford, and by the time he was 13, he boarded at Eton College, at the same time that his parents were going through a divorce. He continued on to the University of Cambridge, where he earned a double first in Classics. He continued to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 2005.
Whilst at University of Cambridge, he was seen by the Hamilton Hodell agency in the play "A Streetcar Named Desire" and was signed. Following this, he was cast in his first television role in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (2001). Hiddleston won his first film role as Oakley in Joanna Hogg's award-winning first feature, Unrelated (2007). His breakthrough role came when he portrayed the nemesis Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe feature film Thor (2011). He reprised the character in The Avengers (2012), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), and Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
He has also appeared in Steven Spielberg's War Horse (2011), The Deep Blue Sea (2011), Woody Allen's romantic comedy Midnight in Paris (2011), and the romantic vampire film Only Lovers Left Alive (2013). On television, he appeared on the BBC series The Hollow Crown (2012), in the adaptations of Shakespeare's "Henry IV" and "Henry V". In theatre, he has been in the productions of "Cymbeline" (2007) and "Ivanov" (2008). In December 2013, he starred as the title character in the Donmar Warehouse production of "Coriolanus" which played until February 2014. He won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Play for his role in "Cymbeline" while also being nominated for the same award the same year for his role as Cassio in "Othello".- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Bill Istvan Gunther Skarsgard is a Swedish actor, producer, director, writer, voice actor, and model. He is best known for portraying Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the supernatural horror films It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019), based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. He also voiced the Deviant Kro in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Eternals (2021).- Erin Mae Kellyman (born 17 October 1998) is a British actress. Kellyman appears as Enfys Nest, leader of the rebel Cloud Riders, in Solo: A Star Wars Story and Eponine Thénardier in the 2019 BBC adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel Les Miserables.
Originally from Tamworth, Staffordshire, Kellyman was a graduate of the Nottingham Television Workshop.
Kellyman appeared in Raised by Wolves, written by Caitlin Moran and her sister Caroline Moran for Channel 4. She also appeared in the 2016 BBC sitcom The Coopers Vs The Rest with Tanya Franks and Kerry Godliman, about a trio of adopted children raised by a suburban couple.
The role of Nest in Solo has been reported as the 'anti-hero we deserve' and 'the most important new character introduced in the movie'. This role has reported to have given Kellyman 'global recognition'. For the role Kellyman had to go through three stages of audition.
Kellyman also appears in the BBC's adaptation of Les Misérables as Éponine alongside Olivia Coleman, Lily Collins, David Oyelowo, and Dominic West. Kellyman praised the diversity in the BBC Production admitting she never considered she'd be able to play such a role in a period drama.
Kellyman has has been announced for a BBC Two new dark comedy series Don't Forget The Driver, starring Toby Jones. - Actor
- Producer
- Editorial Department
Christian Charles Philip Bale was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK on January 30, 1974, to English parents Jennifer "Jenny" (James) and David Bale. His mother was a circus performer and his father, who was born in South Africa, was a commercial pilot. The family lived in different countries throughout Bale's childhood, including England, Portugal, and the United States. Bale acknowledges the constant change was one of the influences on his career choice.
His first acting job was a cereal commercial in 1983; amazingly, the next year, he debuted on the West End stage in "The Nerd". A role in the 1986 NBC mini-series Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986) caught Steven Spielberg's eye, leading to Bale's well-documented role in Empire of the Sun (1987). For the range of emotions he displayed as the star of the war epic, he earned a special award by the National Board of Review for Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor.
Adjusting to fame and his difficulties with attention (he thought about quitting acting early on), Bale appeared in Kenneth Branagh's 1989 adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V (1989) and starred as Jim Hawkins in a TV movie version of Treasure Island (1990). Bale worked consistently through the 1990s, acting and singing in Newsies (1992), Swing Kids (1993), Little Women (1994), The Portrait of a Lady (1996), The Secret Agent (1996), Metroland (1997), Velvet Goldmine (1998), All the Little Animals (1998), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999). Toward the end of the decade, with the rise of the Internet, Bale found himself becoming one of the most popular online celebrities around, though he, with a couple notable exceptions, maintained a private, tabloid-free mystique.
Bale roared into the next decade with a lead role in American Psycho (2000), director Mary Harron's adaptation of the controversial Bret Easton Ellis novel. In the film, Bale played a murderous Wall Street executive obsessed with his own physicality - a trait for which Bale would become a specialist. Subsequently, the 10th Anniversary issue for "Entertainment Weekly" crowned Bale one of the "Top 8 Most Powerful Cult Figures" of the past decade, citing his cult status on the Internet. EW also called Bale one of the "Most Creative People in Entertainment", and "Premiere" lauded him as one of the "Hottest Leading Men Under 30".
Bale was truly on the Hollywood radar at this time, and he turned in a range of performances in the remake Shaft (2000), Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001), the balmy Laurel Canyon (2002), and Reign of Fire (2002), a dragons-and-magic commercial misfire that has its share of defenders.
Two more cult films followed: Equilibrium (2002) and The Machinist (2004), the latter of which gained attention mainly due to Bale's physical transformation - he dropped a reported 60+ pounds for the role of a lathe operator with a secret that causes him to suffer from insomnia for over a year.
Bale's abilities to transform his body and to disappear into a character influenced the decision to cast him in Batman Begins (2005), the first chapter in Christopher Nolan's definitive trilogy that proved a dark-themed narrative could resonate with audiences worldwide. The film also resurrected a character that had been shelved by Warner Bros. after a series of demising returns, capped off by the commercial and critical failure of Batman & Robin (1997). A quiet, personal victory for Bale: he accepted the role after the passing of his father in late 2003, an event that caused him to question whether he would continue performing.
Bale segued into two indie features in the wake of Batman's phenomenal success: The New World (2005) and Harsh Times (2005). He continued working with respected independent directors in 2006's Rescue Dawn (2006), Werner Herzog's feature version of his earlier, Emmy-nominated documentary, Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997). Leading up to the second Batman film, Bale starred in The Prestige (2006), the remake of 3:10 to Yuma (2007), and a reunion with director Todd Haynes in the experimental Bob Dylan biography, I'm Not There (2007).
Anticipation for The Dark Knight (2008) was spun into unexpected heights with the tragic passing of Heath Ledger, whose performance as The Joker became the highlight of the sequel. Bale's graceful statements to the press reminded us of the days of the refined Hollywood star as the second installment exceeded the box-office performance of its predecessor.
Bale's next role was the eyebrow-raising decision to take over the role of John Connor in the Schwarzenegger-less Terminator Salvation (2009), followed by a turn as federal agent Melvin Purvis in Michael Mann's Public Enemies (2009). Both films were hits but not the blockbusters they were expected to be.
For all his acclaim and box-office triumphs, Bale would earn his first Oscar in 2011 in the wake of The Fighter (2010)'s critical and commercial success. Bale earned the Best Supporting Actor award for his portrayal of Dicky Eklund, brother to and trainer of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward, played by Mark Wahlberg. Bale again showed his ability to reshape his body with another gaunt, skeletal transformation.
Bale then turned to another auteur, Yimou Zhang, for the epic The Flowers of War (2011), in which Bale portrayed a priest trapped in the midst of the Rape of Nanking. Bale earned headlines for his attempt to visit with Chinese civil-rights activist Chen Guangcheng, which was blocked by the Chinese government.
Bale capped his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman in The Dark Knight Rises (2012); in the wake of the Aurora, Colorado tragedy, Bale made a quiet pilgrimage to the state to visit with survivors of the attack that left theatergoers dead and injured. He also starred in the thriller Out of the Furnace (2013) with Crazy Heart (2009) writer/director Scott Cooper, and the drama-comedy American Hustle (2013), reuniting with David O. Russell.
Bale will re-team with The New World (2005) director Terrence Malick for two upcoming projects: Knight of Cups (2015) and an as-yet-untitled drama.
In his personal life, he devotes time to charities including Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Foundation. He lives with his wife, Sibi Blazic, and their two children.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Tenoch Huerta Mejía is a Mexican actor of Aztec and Purépecha origin. He has appeared in a number of movies in Latin America and Spain, starring in both feature films and short films. He is one of the actors featured in Mónica Maristain's book 30 Actors Made in Mexico.- Chuk Iwuji was born in Nigeria in 1975. When he was ten his parents began working for the United Nations Organization and moved to Ethiopia, sending their son to a boarding school in England. He got in to Yale University to major in Economics but was interested in acting and joined the university's drama society. Whilst he was appearing in their production of 'Murder in the Cathedral' he was offered an acting scholarship. He went to a drama school in Wisconsin then moved back to the United Kingdom, successfully auditioning for the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he has joined the ever-growing number of black actors, including David Oyelowo and Adrian Lester, who have played leading roles with no reference to their colour, replacing David Oyelowo in the role of Henry VI as well as playing Buckingham to Kevin Spacey's Richard III at the Old Vic.
- Actress
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Cate Blanchett was born on May 14, 1969 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, to June (Gamble), an Australian teacher and property developer, and Robert DeWitt Blanchett, Jr., an American advertising executive, originally from Texas. She has an older brother and a younger sister. When she was ten years old, her 40-year-old father died of a sudden heart attack. Her mother never remarried, and her grandmother moved in to help her mother.
Cate graduated from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1992 and, in a little over a year, had won both critical and popular acclaim. On graduating from NIDA, she joined the Sydney Theatre Company's production of Caryl Churchill's "Top Girls", then played Felice Bauer, the bride, in Tim Daly's "Kafka Dances", winning the 1993 Newcomer Award from the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle for her performance. From there, Blanchett moved to the role of Carol in David Mamet's searing polemic "Oleanna", also for the Sydney Theatre Company, and won the Rosemont Best Actress Award, her second award that year. She then co-starred in the ABC Television's prime time drama Heartland (1994), again winning critical acclaim. In 1995, she was nominated for Best Female Performance for her role as Ophelia in the Belvoir Street Theatre Company's production of "Hamlet". Other theatre credits include Helen in the Sydney Theatre Company's "Sweet Phoebe", Miranda in "The Tempest" and Rose in "The Blind Giant is Dancing", both for the Belvoir Street Theatre Company. In other television roles, Blanchett starred as Bianca in ABC's Bordertown (1995), as Janie Morris in G.P. (1989) and in ABC's popular series Police Rescue (1994). She made her feature film debut in Paradise Road (1997).
Cate married writer Andrew Upton in 1997. She had met him a year earlier on a movie set, and they didn't like each other at first. He thought she was aloof, and she thought he was arrogant, but then they connected over a poker game at a party, and she went home with him that night. Three weeks later he proposed marriage and they quickly married before she went off to England to play her breakthrough role in films: the title character in Elizabeth (1998) for which she won numerous awards for her performance, including the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama. Cate was also nominated for an Academy Award for the role but lost out to Gwyneth Paltrow. 2001 was a particularly busy year, with starring roles in Bandits (2001), The Shipping News (2001), Charlotte Gray (2001) and playing Elf Queen Galadriel in the "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy. She also gave birth to her first child, son Dashiell, in 2001. In 2004, she gave birth to her second son Roman.
Also, in 2004, she played actress Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's film The Aviator (2004), for which she received an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress. Two years later, she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress for playing a teacher having an affair with an underage student in Notes on a Scandal (2006). In 2007, she returned to the role that made her a star in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). It earned her an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. She was nominated for another Oscar that same year as Best Supporting Actress for playing Bob Dylan in I'm Not There (2007). In 2008, she gave birth to her third child, son Ignatius. She and her husband became artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company, choosing to spend more time in Australia raising their three sons. She also purchased a multi-million dollar home in Sydney, Australia and named it Bulwarra and made extensive renovations to it. Because of her life in Australia, her film work became sporadic, until Woody Allen cast her in the title role in Blue Jasmine (2013), which won her the Academy Award as Best Actress. She ended her job as artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company, while her husband continued there for two more years before he too resigned.
In 2015, she adopted her daughter Edith in her father's homeland of the United States. That same year, she and her husband sold their multi-million dollar home in Australia at a profit and moved to America. Reasons varied from her wanting to work more in America to wanting to familiarize herself with her late father's American heritage. She played the title role of Carol (2015), a 1950s American housewife in a lesbian affair with a younger woman, for which she received an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. While most actresses might slow down in their forties, Blanchett did the opposite by stretching her boundaries even further, such as when she played 13 different characters in Manifesto (2015) and then making her Broadway debut in 2017 in "The Present", which is her husband's adaptation of Chekhov's play "Platonov" for which she earned a Tony nomination as Best Actress in a Play. Also in 2017, she was selected for the highest honor in her birth country: the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).- Actor
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James Todd Spader was born on February 7, 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of teachers Jean (Fraser) and Stoddard Greenwood "Todd" Spader. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover with director Peter Sellars; he dropped out in eleventh grade. He bused tables, shoveled manure, and taught yoga before landing his first roles. Spader's first major film role was as Brooke Shields' brother in the romance drama Endless Love (1981). Spader graduated from television movies to Brat Pack films, playing the scoundrel. In Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), he played a sexual voyeur who complicates the lives of three Baton Rouge residents. This performance earned him the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival and led to bigger and more varied roles. His best known role is the colorful attorney Alan Shore on the David E. Kelley television series The Practice (1997) and its spin-off Boston Legal (2004).
He won 3 prime time Emmy Awards in the Best Actor, Drama category for playing the same character Alan Shore in two different television series 'The Practice' and 'Boston Legal' out of the 4 nominations he received for the same between the years 2004-2008. He also received a Golden Globe and several Screen Actor Guild Award Best Actor nominations for reprising this role.- Actor
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Jonathan graduated from the Yale School of Drama with an MFA in acting. Jonathan is a recipient of the National Society of Arts and Letters (NSAL) National Drama Competition. Jonathan made his screen debut starring in the ABC miniseries "When We Rise" and has since landed strong roles, cementing him as a Hollywood actor to watch.- Actor
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Michael B. Jordan, the middle of three children, was born in Santa Ana, California and raised in Newark, New Jersey. He is the son of Donna (Davis), a high school counselor, and Michael A. Jordan. His middle name, Bakari, means "noble promise" in Swahili. (He is not related to, or named after, basketball legend Michael Jordan.)
Jordan has starred in three of the most critically acclaimed television dramas of the past decade. First, Jordan played the hard-shelled but softhearted Wallace in HBO's dramatic hit series The Wire (2002). He then went on to star as quarterback Vince Howard on Friday Night Lights (2006) (NBC), before playing a recovering alcoholic, Alex, on NBC's Parenthood (2010).
Jordan successfully took on his first major leading film role when he starred as Oscar Grant in Fruitvale Station (2013). The film is an account of Oscar's controversial slaying by police officers on a San Francisco train platform. The cast includes Octavia Spencer and Melonie Diaz, and was produced by Forest Whitaker (Significant Films). It premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival where it received the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for U.S. Dramatic Film. It also screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard category. The has garnered many awards including Best First Feature at the 2014 Independent Spirit Awards, Outstanding Independent Motion Picture at the 2014 NAACP Image Awards and the 2014 Stanley Kramer Award from the Producer's Guild of America. The 2013 New York Film Critics Circle honored it with Best First Film and the picture was also chosen as one of the Top Ten Films at the 2013 National Board of Review Awards, where Jordan took home the award for Breakthrough Actor. Jordan also won the 2013 Gotham Award for Breakthrough Actor and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Actor.
In 2015, Jordan starred in Josh Trank's Fantastic Four (2015), playing the role of 'Johnny Storm' aka 'The Human Torch', opposite Miles Teller, Jamie Bell, and Kate Mara for 20th Century Fox. The film was released on August 7th 2015. Jordan previously starred in 20th Century Fox's box office hit Chronicle (2012) (which was also directed by Trank), a supernatural thriller that follows three Portland teens (MBJ, Dane Dehaan, and Alex Russell) as they develop incredible powers after exposure to a mysterious substance; That Awkward Moment (2015) opposite Zac Efron and Miles Teller for Focus Films; and the George Lucas produced film Red Tails (2012), the story of the first African American pilots to fly in a combat squadron during WWII aka The Tuskegee Airmen.
Jordan reunited with Ryan Coogler for Creed (2015), starring alongside Sylvester Stallone and Tessa Thompson. The film was released on Thanksgiving 2015 by MGM and Warner Brothers. A devoted fan of comic books growing up, Jordan starred as the villain, Eric Killmonger, in the 2018 box office smash Black Panther (2018). In 2018, he is also starring as Guy Montag in the HBO adaptation of Ray Bradbury's science fiction classic Fahrenheit 451 (2018).
He resides in Los Angeles, where he supports the charity Lupus LA.- Producer
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Ryan Kyle Coogler is an African-American filmmaker and producer who is from Oakland, California. He is known for directing the Black Panther film series, Creed, a Rocky spin-off and Fruitvale Station. He frequently casts Michael B. Jordan in his works. He produced the Creed sequels, Judas and the Black Messiah and Space Jam: A New Legacy. He is married to Zinzi since 2016.- Actor
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Tony Leung Chiu Wai was born in Hong Kong on 27 June 1962. He and his younger sister were raised by their mother after his father left them. In 1982, after passing the training courses of TVB, Tony became a TV actor and became famous for his comedy style in such TV shows as Tales of a Eunuch (1983) or The Proud Twins (1979). However, he didn't limit himself to television and began showing his versatility in films like My Heart Is That Eternal Rose (1989) and A City of Sadness (1989). After he starred in several movies directed by 'Kar wai Wong'; such as Chungking Express (1994) and Happy Together (1997), he gained more respect as an actor and finally received the Best Actor Award at the Cannes International Film Festival for his outstanding performance in In the Mood for Love (2000). In addition to his acting career, he is also known as a singer.- Actor
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Quirky, inventive and handsome American actor Michael Keaton first achieved major fame with his door-busting performance as fast-talking ideas man Bill Blazejowski, alongside a nerdish morgue attendant (Henry Winkler), in Night Shift (1982). He played further comedic roles in Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984), and Beetlejuice (1988), earned further acclaim for his dramatic portrayal of Bruce Wayne / Batman in Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), and since then, has moved easily between film genres, ranging from drama and romantic comedy to thriller and action.
Keaton was born Michael John Douglas on September 5, 1951 in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, to Leona Elizabeth (Loftus), a homemaker, and George A. Douglas, a civil engineer and surveyor. He is of Irish, as well as English, Scottish, and German, descent. Michael studied speech for two years at Kent State, before dropping out and moving to Pittsburgh. An unsuccessful attempt at stand-up comedy led Keaton to working as a TV cameraman in a cable station, and he came to realize he wanted to work in front of the cameras. Keaton first appeared on TV in several episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968).
He left Pittsburgh and moved to Los Angeles to begin auditioning for TV. He began cropping up in popular TV shows including Maude (1972) and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979). Around this time, Keaton decided to use an alternative surname to remove confusion with better-known actor Michael Douglas. He looked into the "K"'s for surnames and thought it was inoffensive to chose 'Keaton'. His next break was scoring a co-starring role alongside Jim Belushi in the short-lived comedy series Working Stiffs (1979), which showcased his comedic talent and led to his co-starring role in Night Shift (1982). Keaton next scored the lead in the comedy hits Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984) , Gung Ho (1986), the Tim Burton horror-comedy Beetlejuice (1988), and The Dream Team (1989).
Keaton's career was given another major boost when he was again cast by Tim Burton, this time as the title comic book superhero, millionaire playboy/crime-fighter Bruce Wayne, in Batman (1989). Burton cast him because he thought that Keaton was the only actor who could portray someone who has the kind of darkly obsessive personality that the character demands. To say there were howls of protest by fans of the caped crusader comic strip is an understatement! Warner Bros. was deluged with thousands of letters of complaint commenting that comedian Keaton was the wrong choice for the Caped Crusader, given his prior work and the fact that he lacked the suave, handsome features and tall, muscular physicality often attributed to the character in the comic books. However, their fears were proven wrong when Keaton turned in a sensational performance, and he held his own on screen with opponent Jack Nicholson, playing the lunatic villain, "The Joker". Keaton's dramatic work earned widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike, and Batman (1989) became one of the most successful films of the year.
Keaton remained active during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films. Keen to diversify his work, Keaton starred as a psychotic tenant in Pacific Heights (1990), as a hard-working cop in One Good Cop (1991), and then donned the black cape and cowl once more for Batman Returns (1992). He remained in demand during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films, including the star-studded Shakespearian Much Ado About Nothing (1993), the drama My Life (1993), another Ron Howard comedy The Paper (1994), with sexy Andie MacDowell in Multiplicity (1996), twice in the same role, dogged Elmore Leonard character Agent Ray Nicolette, in Jackie Brown (1997) and Out of Sight (1998). He also played a killer in the mediocre thriller Desperate Measures (1998).
In the 2000s, Keaton appeared in several productions with mixed success, including Live from Baghdad (2002), First Daughter (2004), and Herbie Fully Loaded (2005). He also provided voices for characters in the animated films Cars (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Minions (2015).
He returned to major film roles in the 2010s, co-starring in The Other Guys (2010), RoboCop (2014) and Need for Speed (2014). Also that year, Keaton starred alongside Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), a film by 21 Grams (2003) and Biutiful (2010) director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. In the film, Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, a screen actor, famous for playing the iconic titular superhero, who puts on a Broadway play based on a Raymond Carver short story, to regain his former glory. Keaton's critically praised lead performance earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, the Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor and Best Actor in a Comedy, and nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award, British Academy Film Award, and Academy Award for Best Actor.
In 2015, he played a journalist in Spotlight (2015), which, like Birdman, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2016, he starred as Ray Kroc, the developer of McDonald's, in the drama The Founder (2016).
He is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University.- Actress
- Music Department
Sasha Calle was born on 7 August 1995 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress, known for The Flash (2023), In the Summers (2024) and On Swift Horses.- Producer
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Andy Muschietti was born on 26 August 1973 in Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina. He is a producer and director, known for Mama (2013), It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019).- Actor
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- Camera and Electrical Department
Jake Gyllenhaal was born on December 19, 1980 in Los Angeles, California as Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal, the son of producer/screenwriter Naomi Foner and director Stephen Gyllenhaal, and the younger brother of actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. He is of Ashkenazi Jewish (mother) and Swedish, English, and German (father) descent.
He made his movie debut at 11 in City Slickers (1991). From the late 1990s through the early 2000s, he starred in October Sky (1999) & Donnie Darko (2001), receiving an Independent Spirit Award Best Actor nomination for the latter. He followed up w/ roles in Bubble Boy (2001), The Good Girl (2002), Moonlight Mile (2002) & The Day After Tomorrow (2004).
He made his theater debut in a revival of This Is Our Youth in London. The play was well-received & played for 8 weeks on West End. He then starred in Jarhead (2005) & Proof (2005). However, it was his performance in Brokeback Mountain (2005) that won him critical acclaim. He won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role while also being nominated for the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role SAG Award, the Best Supporting Actor-Motion Picture Satellite Award & the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. Afterwards, he starred in Zodiac (2007), Brothers (2009), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) & Love & Other Drugs (2010). For Love & Other Drugs (2010), he was nominated for the Best Actor-Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Golden Globe Award.
In the 2010s, he starred in Source Code (2011), End of Watch (2012), Prisoners (2013), Nightcrawler (2014), Southpaw (2015) & Demolition (2015). For Nightcrawler (2014), he was nominated for the Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama Golden Globe, the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role SAG & the Best Actor in a Leading Role BAFTA Award. Leading Role BAFTA Award.- Actor
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Christopher Kirby is known for Iron Sky (2012), Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) and Daybreakers (2009).- Actress
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Emma Roberts was born in Rhinebeck, New York. She was a baby when her parents separated, and she grew up living with her mother, Kelly Cunningham. She was educated at Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles, California.
Emma is the daughter of Oscar-nominated actor Eric Roberts, and the niece of Oscar-winner Julia Roberts. As a child she spent some time on the sets of movies with her aunt Julia. This helped Emma decide that she wanted to follow a career in acting. Her first movie role came in Blow (2001), where she played the daughter of Johnny Depp's character. Various small parts followed, until she was cast in the lead role of Addie Singer in Nickelodeon's "Unfabulous" (2004). Her performance lead to many award nominations as well as a foray into the music industry, including the release of an album, "Unfabulous and More".
More roles followed in various projects, including the eponymous heroine in Nancy Drew (2007), Hotel for Dogs (2009), 4.3.2.1. (2010) and Scream 4 (2011). In 2011, Emma began attending Sarah Lawrence College in New York, studying English Literature.- Actor
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David Harbour is an American actor who has performed in film, television, and the theater.
He is known for his role as CIA agent Gregg Beam in Quantum of Solace (2008), Shep Campbell in Revolutionary Road (2008), Van Hauser in End of Watch (2012) and Dexter Tolliver in Suicide Squad (2016). He also plays Chief Jim Hopper on the Netflix original series, Stranger Things (2016).- Actor
- Producer
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Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Copeland Bloom was born on January 13, 1977 in Canterbury, Kent, England. His mother, Sonia Constance Josephine Bloom (née Copeland), was born in Kolkata, India, to an English family then-resident there. The man he first knew as his father, Harry Bloom, was a legendary political activist who fought for civil rights in South Africa. But Harry died of a stroke when Orlando was only four years old. After that, Orlando and his older sister, Samantha Bloom, were raised by their mother and family friend, Colin Stone. When Orlando was 13, Sonia revealed to him that Colin is actually the biological father of Orlando and his sister; the two were conceived after an agreement by his parents, since Harry, who suffered a stroke in 1975, was unable to have children.
Orlando attended St. Edmund's School in Canterbury but struggled in many courses because of dyslexia. He did embrace the arts, however, and enjoyed pottery, photography and sculpturing. He also participated in school plays and was active at his local theater. As a teen, Orlando landed his first job: he was a clay trapper at a pigeon shooting range. Encouraged by his mother, he and his sister began studying poetry and prose, eventually giving readings at Kent Festival. Orlando and Samantha won many poetry and Bible reciting competitions. Then Orlando, who always idolized larger-than-life characters, gravitated towards serious acting. At the age of 16, he moved to London and joined the National Youth Theatre, spending two seasons there and gaining a scholarship to train with the British American Drama Academy. Like many young actors, he also auditioned for a number of television roles to further his career, landing bit parts in British television shows Casualty (1986), Midsomer Murders (1997) and Smack the Pony (1999). He also appeared in the critically acclaimed movie Wilde (1997).
He then attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. It was there, in 1998, that Orlando fell three stories from a rooftop terrace and broke his back. Despite fears that he would be permanently paralyzed, he quickly recovered and returned to the stage. As fate would have it, seated in the audience one night in 1999 was a director named Peter Jackson. After the show, he met with Orlando and asked him to audition for his new set of movies. After graduating from Guildhall, Orlando began work on the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, spending 18 months in New Zealand bringing to life "Legolas", a part which made him a household name. Today, he is one of the busiest and most sought-after actors in the industry.- Actor
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Archie Madekwe was born on 10 February 1995 in Lambeth, London, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for Gran Turismo (2023), Midsommar (2019) and Saltburn (2023).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Djimon Hounsou was born in Cotonou, Benin, in west Africa to Albertine and Pierre Hounsou, a cook. He moved to Lyon, France, when he was 13. Hounsou has graced the catwalks of Paris and London as a popular male model. He has since left his modeling career and has worked on Gladiator (2000) by Ridley Scott and Amistad (1997) by Steven Spielberg.- Actress
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Rachel Zegler is a singer and songwriter, raised in New Jersey by her American father and Colombian mother. Having been one of 30,000 people to audition, she was selected to play the role of Maria in Steven Spielberg's remake of the classic West Side Story (2021), opposite Ansel Elgort as Tony. She first played the role in a Performing Arts School presentation at Bergen Performing Arts Center. She reached a large audience with her cover of Lady Gaga's song "Shallow", known from the movie A Star Is Born (2018).- Writer
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Nia DaCosta was born on 8 November 1989 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She is a writer and producer, known for Candyman (2021), Little Woods (2018) and The Marvels (2023).- Iman Vellani is a Canadian actress of Pakistani origin. She is known for portraying Kamala Khan, the protagonist of the Disney+ miniseries Ms. Marvel (2022). Vellani is set to reprise the role in the film The Marvels (2023). Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Vellani moved to Canada when she was a year old, and was raised in the Ismaili faith, a branch of Shia Islam. She graduated from Unionville High School in Markham, Ontario. Vellani was selected as a member of the TIFF Next Wave Committee at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. Before being cast in Ms. Marvel at the end of her last year of high school, Vellani had planned to attend the Ontario College of Art & Design University with a focus on integrated media.
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Emma Corrin was born on 13 December 1995 in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK. Emma is an actor, known for Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022), My Policeman (2022) and The Crown (2016).- Actress
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Alexandra C. Echavarri Lecároz is a Puerto Rican, Cuban Actress/Singer of Spanish Caribbean Descent born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her most recent roles are Maria Nuñez, Co-Star on the CBS TV Series, FBI; voiced characters on known video games; starred as Carmen in Attraction to Paris on Amazon Prime, narrated the documentary "El Arrecife, Mi Abuelo y Yo" on GeoNat Spanish, audiobooks for Loqueleo in Spain and more. She attended Savannah College of Art and design where she studied Media and Performing Arts and minor in Music. Soon after she moved to Los Angeles, CA, studied Sketch Comedy and Improv at The Groundlings School, landed an agent and her first big Commercial gig with Payless Shoes in which she became their spokes person for a span of 10yrs. In between she worked on commercials for known brands such as Nissan and continued collaborating with brands like Tampax, Geico, Mercedes to name a few. Thanks to these experiences and some hosting, she found a passion for Voice Overs and when she moved to NYC after signing with CESD she continued to pursue it. In NYC she continued to study Sketch Comedy and Improv at The Peoples Comedy Club, UCB, the Meisner Technique at Terry Knickerbocker Studios and the Adler Technique with Marjorie Ballentine. She also performed in several sketch comedy shows and comedic musicals across known venues in NYC, continued booking commercials and starred in some Features and Short films. Now Alexandra is signed with A3 Artists Agency, BMG Talent and Encore Talent. Since then she's been auditioning for known TV series, movies and is truly thankful for the many animated auditions she's been invited to. This is a passion, because she is able to mix both her singing and acting talents and loves bringing these amazing characters to life.
As an indie singer-songwriter, most recently Alexandra has finished shooting her first music video for her single "Round and Round". Which is on all streaming platforms, on local radio and has been selected/won a few festivals such as The Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival in NYC. Stay tuned for more upcoming project still in production.- Actress
- Producer
Millicent (Millie) Simmonds is a BAFTA nominated American actress from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania best known for Wonderstruck (2017), A Quiet Place (2018), A Quiet Place Part II (2020), and Helen & Teacher. She made her Broadway debut 2023 starring opposite Laurie Metcalf in Levi Holloway's Grey House, directed by Joe Mantello. Millicent originally hails from Bountiful, Utah and at a young age began performing and telling stories in American Sign Language. At the age of nine she joined the theater and drama club at her elementary school, where she fell in love with acting, playing Puck in Midsummer Night's Dream. In 2016 her drama teacher received an email with a casting call for a Deaf actress wanted for the part of Rose in a film adaption of Brian Selznick's award winning novel Wonderstruck. She quickly thought of Millie and encouraged her to try out. Millie, then twelve, sent in a one-take audition that brought the film's director Todd Haynes to tears, winning her what would become a stunning breakout performance. Millicent and Wonderstruck made their debut at Cannes and the New York Film Festival. She was named one of the Breakthrough Entertainers of 2017 by AP, and Time Magazine listed Rose as one of the Top 10 Movie Performances of the year. Millicent landed her next major role as Regan Abbott in John Krasinski's horror-thriller A Quiet Place, working alongside Emily Blunt and Noah Jupe. Krasinski was adamant about casting a Deaf actress to play Regan and using American Sign Language authentically. Her experiences became resources and inspiration for the script, story, and sound design of the film, which would go one to receive an Oscar nomination in the latter category. A Quiet Place was a surprise critical darling, debuting at the South By Southwest Film Festival where it received a standing ovation. In 2021 she reprized her role as Regan in the sequel A Quiet Place Part II. Millie is an advocate and activist on set and off. In 2017, Millicent became the first ever Deaf actor nominated for the Critics' Choice Award for her work in Wonderstruck and was nominated a second time in 2018 for her work in A Quiet Place. Her performance in A Quiet Place's sequel outing earned her a historic BAFTA Rising Star nomination, and the coveted Chainsaw Award. It is now widely regarded as one of cinema's best child performances. In 2021 it was announced she would be executive producing and starring as Charlie Serrano in an adaptation of the New York Times Best Selling novel True Biz. Her accomplishments and visibility have served as major steps forward in positive film and media representation for the Deaf and wider disabled community. Millicent is one of five siblings and loves to spend time with her family and friends. An avid reader and writer, she has many hobbies, including rock music, spoon collecting, painting, and riding her motorcycle. She hopes to continue acting, writing, and filmmaking as long as she can.- Writer
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Olga Yakimenko is known for Cockneys vs Zombies (2012), Matter Patterns (2014) and Sacred River (2013).- Actress
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Matilda Szydagis was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. Her family immigrated from Poland and she speaks Polish. Known for playing Zelda on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel all 5 seasons. She won a SAG Award with her Maisel cast for Outstanding Ensemble for Comedy Series. She was also Yaryna on The Sopranos.
She graduated from The University of Chicago and also studied with JoAnna Beckson in NYC.- Producer
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David Malone is known for Horizon (1964), The Flow of Time (1999) and To the Ends of the Earth (1997).- Director
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- Actor
Lee Boucher is known for CinemaWins (2015) and Working Titles (2019). He has been married to Julia Boucher since 9 October 2009. They have one child.