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- Actor
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Timothy Allen Dick was born on June 13, 1953, in Denver, Colorado, to Martha Katherine (Fox) and Gerald M. Dick. His father, a real estate salesman, was killed in a collision with a drunk driver while driving his family home from a University of Colorado football game, when Tim was eleven years old. His mother, a community service worker, remarried her high school sweetheart, an Episcopalian deacon, two years after Tim's father's death. He was raised with his many siblings and step-siblings. When Tim was young, his family moved to Birmingham, Michigan.
In high school, his favorite subject was shop, of course, and after high school, he attended Western Michigan University and graduated with a degree in Television Production in 1975. In 1978, he was arrested on drug charges and spent two years in jail. Upon his release, he had a new outlook on life and on a dare from a friend, started his comedy career at the Comedy Castle in Detroit. Later, he went on to do several cable specials, including, Comedy's Dirtiest Dozen (1988) and Tim Allen: Men Are Pigs (1990). In 1991, he became the star of his own hit television series on ABC called Home Improvement (1991). While continuing to film his television series throughout most of the 1990s, he starred in a string of blockbuster movies, including The Santa Clause (1994), Toy Story (1995), Toy Story 2 (1999) and Galaxy Quest (1999). In August 1996, he developed and unveiled his own signature line of power tools, manufactured by Ryobi. On top of all that, he has his own racing team, Tim Allen/Saleen RRRRacing. In May 1999, he ended his series Home Improvement (1991) after eight seasons and in 2001, he filmed such movies as Big Trouble (2002) and Joe Somebody (2001).- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Peter Stormare was born in Arbrå, Gävleborgs län, Sweden, to Gunhild (Holm) and Karl Ingvar Storm. He began his acting career at the Royal National Theatre of Sweden, performing for eleven years. In 1990 he became the Associate Artistic Director at the Tokyo Globe Theatre and directed productions of many Shakespeare plays, including "Hamlet". In 1993 he moved to New York, where he appeared in English productions. He continues to work in both the United States and his his homeland of Sweden. He resides in Los Angeles, California, USA, with his wife.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Ciarán Hinds was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland on February 9, 1953. He was one of five children and the only son. His father was a doctor who hoped to have Ciarán follow in his footsteps, but that was not to be. It was his mother Moya, an amateur actress, who was the real influence behind his decision to become an actor. Though he did enroll in Law at Queens' University of Belfast, he left that in order to train in acting at RADA. He began his stage career at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre as a pantomime horse in the production of "Cinderella". Staying with the company for several years, he starred in a number of productions, including playing the lead roles in "Arsenic and Old Lace" and "Faust". His stage career has included working with The Field Day Company and a number of world tours. He has starred in a number of productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company, including a world tour in the title role of "Richard III". Hinds' film career began in 1981 in the movie Excalibur (1981), which boasted a cast rich in talented actors including Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne and Patrick Stewart. In-between his movie work, he's amassed a large number of television credits. Playing such classic characters as "Mr. Rochester" in Jane Eyre (1997), and "Captain Wentworth" in Persuasion (1995) has increased his popularity and most definitely given him much increased recognition. As for his personal life, you won't be likely to see his name in the weekly tabloids. He likes to keep his private life private. It is known that he is in a long-term, committed relationship with a French-Vietnamese actress named Hélène Patarot and they have a daughter together and live in Paris. He is in very high demand and his reputation as a quality, professional actor is sure to keep him busy for as long as he chooses.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
William James Pullman was born in Hornell, New York, one of seven children of Johanna (Blaas), a nurse, and James Pullman, a doctor. He is of Dutch (mother) and English, Northern Irish, and Scottish (father) descent. After high school, Bill went into a building construction program at SUNY Delhi in New York. He transferred to State University of New York College at Oneonta where he received his BA in Theater. He received both his MFA in Theater/Directing and an honorary PHD from University of Massachusetts at Amherst. While teaching Directing at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, one of Bill's students was the soon-to-be film director John Dahl, who later cast Mr. Pullman in "The Last Seduction".
Moving to New York City, he worked with Kathy Bates in the acclaimed stage production of "Curse of the Starving Class". However, it was his first work in three strikingly diverse films that brought him to the attention of his audience: "Ruthless People" with Danny DeVito and Bette Milder, the Mel Brooks hit "Spaceballs" and the Oscar-nominated (and winner for Best Supporting Actress Geena Davis) "The Accidental Tourist". Still attracted to the art and study of building construction, Bill has designed and/or restored three "barns": In Montana, he converted a 1933 barn at his ranch into his family home. In Los Angeles, he built a Truss barn in the style of LA's 1910 fruit storage barns. In western New York State, he restored a '3-bay' barn that sometimes serves as a community center near his hometown of Hornell, New York. Focused more on neighborhoods than show business-based charities and societies, Pullman has defined himself by his work with his local communities. He works to bridge communities of Los Angeles through his board work with Cornerstone Theater. Pullman continues to work with his neighbors who formed "Concerned Citizens Montana" to secure a place at the table regarding the national need for a smart grid for energy transmission. He also works with the local university (Alfred University, New York) as well as supports local health services ("The Pullman Women's Health and Birthing Center" at St James Hospital, Hornell, NY).
Pullman is also an MS Society Ambassador. Based in Los Angeles, New York City and Western Montana, Pullman is married to dancer Tamara Hurwitz Pullman, and they have three children, daughter singer/songwriter Maesa Rae and multi-talented sons Jack and Lewis Pullman, who is now also an actor.- Actor
- Producer
- Executive
Pierce Brendan Brosnan was born in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland, to May (Smith), a nurse, and Thomas Brosnan, a carpenter. He lived in Navan, County Meath, until he moved to England, UK, at an early age (thus explaining his ability to play men from both backgrounds convincingly). His father left the household when Pierce was a child and although reunited later in life, the two have never had a close relationship. His most popular role is that of British secret agent James Bond. The death, in 1991, of Cassandra Harris, his wife of eleven years, left him with three children - Christopher and Charlotte from Cassandra's first marriage and Sean from their marriage. Since her death, he has had two children with his second wife, Keely Shaye Brosnan.
Brosnan is most famous for starring in the TV series Remington Steele (1982) as the title character, as well as portraying famous movie character James Bond in GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002).- Actor
- Soundtrack
James is a rugged, intense character player with leading man good looks. Having first gained recognition in 1979 as Ajax, in his second film, The Warriors (1979). That same year he garnered acclaim on Broadway with Richard Gere in the concentration camp drama "Bent".
In a career spanning nearly four decades, James has run the gamut of roles and solid career choices. Ranging from the psychopaths, Dutch Schultz in 'Francis Copolla''s The Cotton Club (1984) and 'Albert Ganz' in Walter Hill's 48 Hrs. (1982) to Samantha's lover, the billionaire playboy, Richard Wright, in the HBO series Sex and the City (1998)." James has also garnered roles which highlight a more vulnerable side, such as his guitarist who gets a break in the Oscar-winning short, Session Man (1991) or his artist who falls in love with a gargoyle come to life in the best segment of the horror anthology, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990) and as Mary Louise Parker's lover in Boys on the Side.
In the hit Showtime series Dexter (2006). James starred alongside Michael C. Hall where he played Dexter's wise, compassionate, adoptive father, Harry Morgan. Grey's Anatomy fans have recently enjoyed seeing James as Karev's long-lost Dad. While remaining active with top feature films James enjoys the distinction of being the only actor to die twice, as two different characters in Quentin Tarintino's smash hit Django Unchained.
James won the 8th annual SAG award as a member of the Outstanding Comedy Ensemble for his work in Sex and the City. As a member of the ensemble cast of Dexter, James has been nominated for the SAG award and the Emmy. In recognition for his work in Sci-Fi Fantasy and Horror James was honored with the Saturn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.
In early 2019 James completed Season Two of CW's Black Lightning (2018) where he co-stars as Peter Gambi. Reunited with Quentin Tarantino James appears in the highly anticipated Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Kim Basinger was born December 8, 1953, in Athens, Georgia, the third of five children. Both her parents had been in entertainment, her dad had played big-band jazz, and her mother had performed water ballet in several Esther Williams movies. Kim was introspective, from her father's side. As a schoolgirl, she was very shy. To help her overcome this, her parents had Kim study ballet from an early age. By the time she reached sweet sixteen, the once-shy Kim entered the Athens Junior Miss contest. From there, she went on to win the Junior Miss Georgia title, and traveled to New York to compete in the national Junior Miss pageant. Kim, who had blossomed to a 5' 7" beauty, was offered a contract on the spot with the Ford Modeling Agency. At the age of 20, Kim was a top model commanding $1,000 a day. Throughout the early 1970s, she appeared on dozens of magazine covers and in hundreds of ads, most notably as the Breck girl. Kim took acting classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse, performed in various Greenwich Village clubs, and she sang under the stage name Chelsea. Kim moved to Los Angeles in 1976, ready to conquer Hollywood. Kim broke into television doing episodes of such hit series as Charlie's Angels (1976). In 1980, she married Ron Snyder (they divorced in 1989). In movies, she had roles like being a Bond girl in Never Say Never Again (1983) and playing a small-town Texan beauty in Nadine (1987). Her breakout role was as photojournalist Vicki Vale in the blockbuster hit Batman (1989). There was no long-orchestrated campaign on her part to snag this plum role, Kim was a last-minute replacement for Sean Young. This took her to a career high.
With perhaps too much disposable income, Kim headed up an investment group that purchased the entire town of Braselton, in her native Georgia, for $20 million (she would later have to sell it). In 1993, Kim married Alec Baldwin, and in 1995 they had a daughter, Ireland Eliesse. Kim took some time off to stay at home with her child. Kim, who loves animals and is a strict vegetarian, devoted energy to animal rights issues, and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), even posing for some ads. In 1997, Kim gave an Oscar-winning performance in the film noir classic L.A. Confidential (1997). Kim's salary for I Dreamed of Africa (2000) was $5,000,000, putting her firmly in the category of big-name movie star. And no doubt there are still many great things ahead, in the career of cover girl turned Oscar-winning actress Kim Basinger.- Actress
- Producer
- Art Director
Kate Capshaw was born Kathleen Sue Nail in Fort Worth, Texas, to Beverley Sue (Simon), a beautician and travel agent, and Edwin Leon Nail, an airline employee. Capshaw worked as a teacher with an MA in Learning Disabilities. Her desire to be an actress led her to New York where she landed a role on the soap The Edge of Night (1956). She met her future husband, Steven Spielberg while beating out 120 actresses for the female lead in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).- Actress
- Producer
- Music Department
Mary Steenburgen is an Academy Award-winning American actress.
She was born in Newport, Arkansas, USA. Her mother, Nellie May (Wall) Steenburgen, was a school-board secretary, and her father, Maurice H. Steenburgen, was a freight-train conductor. Her surname comes from distant Dutch ancestry, and her roots also include English, Scottish, and Welsh.
Young Steenburgen was fond of arts and literature. Mary grew up tap-dancing her way through talent shows and school functions. She was active in her school drama class. After appearing in a number of high school plays, she enrolled at Hendrix College, a highly progressive Southern School located in Conway, Arkansas. Upon the recommendation of her drama professor, she left college in 1972 and moved to New York to study acting professionally. In the past several years, Mary Steenburgen has emerged as one of the most accomplished and sought-after screen actresses. Ever since Jack Nicholson discovered her and cast her as a sassy adventuress in his rollicking western, Goin' South (1978), her career has skyrocketed and she has won acclaim for exceptional performances in each of her diverse film roles. In Nicholas Meyer's Time After Time (1979), Steenburgen was afforded critical praise for her portrayal of a somewhat dippy but liberated young bank clerk in San Francisco who crosses paths, via time machine, with English author H.G. Wells (played by Malcolm McDowell, who later became her husband). In 1980 she shot to fame with her role as Lynda Dummar in Melvin and Howard (1980) for which she won Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Steenburgen again impressed audiences and critics alike with her stunning performance as the strong-willed turn-of-the-century mother in Ragtime (1981).
Steenburgen is a notable patron of arts. She is also an active supporter of humanitarian causes. She has two children from her previous marriage to actor Malcolm McDowell. Since 1995 she has been married to actor Ted Danson, and the couple is living in the Los Angeles area.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
John Gavin Malkovich was born in Christopher, Illinois, to Joe Anne (Choisser), who owned a local newspaper, and Daniel Leon Malkovich, a state conservation director. His paternal grandparents were Croatian. In 1976, Malkovich joined Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, newly founded by his friend Gary Sinise. After that, it would take seven years before Malkovich would show up in New York and win an Obie in Sam Shepard's play "True West". In 1984, Malkovich would appear with Dustin Hoffman in the Broadway revival of "Death of a Salesman", which would earn him an Emmy when it was made into a made-for-TV movie the next year. His big-screen debut would be as the blind lodger in Places in the Heart (1984), which earned him an Academy Award Nomination for best supporting actor. Other films would follow, including The Killing Fields (1984) and The Glass Menagerie (1987), but he would be well remembered as Vicomte de Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons (1988). Playing against Michelle Pfeiffer and Glenn Close in a costume picture helped raise his standing in the industry. He would be cast as the psychotic political assassin in Clint Eastwood's In the Line of Fire (1993), for which he would be nominated for both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe. In 1994, Malkovich would portray the sinister Kurtz in the made-for-TV movie Heart of Darkness (1993), taking the story to Africa as it was originally written. Malkovich has periodically returned to Chicago to both act and direct.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Gil Birmingham is an American actor of Comanche ancestry, best known for his portrayal of Billy Black in the The Twilight Saga film series. Birmingham was born in San Antonio, Texas. His family moved frequently during his childhood, due to his father's career in the military. He learned to play the guitar at an early age and considers music his "first love". After obtaining a Bachelor of Science from the University of Southern California, he worked as a petrochemical engineer before becoming an actor. In the early 1980s, a talent scout spotted Birmingham at a local gym, where he had been bodybuilding and entering bodybuilding contests. This led to his first acting experience, in a music video for Diana Ross, for her 1982 hit song "Muscles". After appearing in Ross' music video, Birmingham began to pursue acting as his primary career. He studied acting with Larry Moss and Charles Conrad. In 1986, Birmingham made his television debut on an episode of the series Riptide. By 2002, he had a recurring role as the character Oz in the medical drama Body & Soul, starring Peter Strauss. In 2005, he was cast as the older Dogstar in the Steven Spielberg six-part miniseries Into the West. He recently played a Texas ranger a ranger, in Hell or High Water, opposite Jeff Bridges.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Anthony Marc Shalhoub was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. His father, Joseph Shalhoub, who owned a grocery chain, emigrated from Lebanon to the United States as an orphan at age ten, later marrying Shalhoub's mother, Helen (Seroogy), who herself was born in Wisconsin, to Lebanese parents. When Tony was six, he was introduced to the theater, in a school production of "The King and I". He graduated from Green Bay East High, and then graduated with a Bachelor's degree in drama from the University of Southern Maine before progressing to the Yale School of Drama, which he left with a Master's degree in Fine Arts.
After a time in the American Repertory Theatre, he moved to Broadway where he met his future wife, Brooke Adams, whom he married in 1992. She had an adopted daughter, Josie, who was three years old at the time that Tony and Brooke married. Tony adopted Brooke's own adopted child, Josie Lynn (born 1989) when she was eight. In 1994, the couple adopted another daughter, Sophie (born 1993). Tony's first audition after arriving in Los Angeles was for Italian cabdriver Antonio Scarpacci in the long-running sitcom Wings (1990), which also starred Tim Daly and Steven Weber.
Tony next had roles in Men in Black (1997), Men in Black II (2002), Galaxy Quest (1999) and Thir13en Ghosts (2001). However, his biggest break came, playing the obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk in Monk (2002). The series made him a star and earned him four straight Emmy Award nominations between 2003 and 2006, for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Tony won the award in 2003, 2005 and 2006, proving how popular he has become after the success of "Monk", which has been both brilliant and popular work during all its seasons.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Colleen Camp was born in San Francisco, California. She began working as a juvenile actress at the age of 3 and was eventually 'discovered' while working as a bird trainer at Busch Gardens. She appeared on The Dean Martin Show (1965) and made her film debut in Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). She has since gone on to appear in over 100 major motion pictures and television productions.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Sergio Castellitto was born in Rome in 1953. After graduating from the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art in 1978, he began his theatrical career in Italian public theater with "Shakespeare's Measure for Measure" at the Teatro di Roma and with roles in other plays such as "La Madre by Brecht", "Merchant of Venice", and "Candelaio" by Giordano Bruno. At the Teatro di Genova he starred in the roles of Tuzenbach in "Chekhov's Three Sisters" and "Jean in Strindberg's Miss Julie", both under the direction of Otomar Krejka. In the coming years, he also starred in such theatrical productions as "L'infelicità senza desideri" and "Piccoli equivoci" at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto. He also appeared in "Barefoot in the Park" by Neil Simon. During his years in the theatre, he worked alongside many famous actors, including Luigi Squarzina, Aldo Trionfo, and Enzo Muzii. Castellitto began his film career in 1983 beside Marcello Mastroianni and Michel Piccoli in "The General of the Dead Army" by Luciano Tovoli. He interpreted many films like "Sembra morto...ma è solo svenuto" directed by Felice Farina, "Piccoli equivoci" by Ricky Tognazzi and "Stasera a casa di Alice" by Carlo Verdone. He became more famous with the films "The Great Pumpkin" by Francesca Archibugi and "The Star Maker" by Giuseppe Tornatore. In the late 1980s, Castellitto appeared in several Italian television miniseries, including "Un siciliano in Sicilia" (1987), "Cinque storie inquietanti" (1987), "Piazza Navona" (1988), "Cinéma" (1988), and "Come stanno bene insieme" (1989). He also appeared in the miniseries "Victoire, ou la douleur des femmes" (2000). Success arrived with the films "La famiglia", "L'ultimo bacio", "Caterina in the Big City", "My Mother's Smile", "Mostly Martha", and especially with "Don't Move", written by his wife Margaret Mazzantini. Other films that he interpreted include "Il regista di matrimoni" by Marco Bellocchio and La stella che non c'è by Gianni Amelio. In France Castellitto played the male lead opposite Jeanne Balibar in Jacques Rivette's Va savoir (2001). His most recent accomplishment as actor has been in his role as "Padre Pio: Miracle Man", arguably the defining role of his career. The first film that he directed is "Libero Burro", followed by "Don't Move". He played the role of the antagonist, King Miraz, in the film "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian". His most recent film as director was "Twice Born", which played at the Toronto Film Festival (2012), where it was not well received by much of the English speaking press. Most recently, Castellitto appeared in the television series "In Treatment" in the role of Giovanni. Castellitto is married to Margaret Mazzantini with four children.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Rick began his career as a radio DJ while he was still at high school which led to him writing, producing and being on air in his own show. He joined the Canadian TV series, SCTV (1976), winning an Emmy for writing and portraying the character, Bob McKenzie, which became the basis for the film, Strange Brew (1983), which he co-wrote, co-directed and made his film acting debut. The character he played in Ghostbusters (1984) was based on a similar character he played on SCTV (1976).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Alfred Molina was born in 1953 in London, England. His mother, Giovanna (Bonelli), was an Italian-born cook and cleaner, and his father, Esteban Molina, was a Spanish-born waiter and chauffeur. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. His stage work includes two major Royal National Theatre productions, Tennessee Williams' "The Night of the Iguana" (as Shannon) and David Mamet's "Speed the Plow" (as Fox), plus a splendid performance in Yasmina Reza's "Art" (his Broadway debut), for which he received a Tony Award nomination in 1998. He made his film debut in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and got a good part in Letter to Brezhnev (1985) (as a Soviet sailor who spends a night in Liverpool), but his movie breakthrough came two years later when he played--superbly--Kenneth Halliwell, the tragic lover of playwright Joe Orton, in Stephen Frears' Prick Up Your Ears (1987). He was also outstanding in Enchanted April (1991), The Perez Family (1995) (as a Cuban immigrant), Anna Karenina (1997) (as Levin) and Chocolat (2000) (as the narrow-minded mayor of a small French town circa 1950s, who tries to shut down a chocolate shop).- Actor
- Writer
- Art Department
Jeff Kober was born in Billings, Montana, on 18 December 1953. Not satisfied with being a rancher, Kober relocated to the L.A. area in his twenties with the desire to become an actor. His first appearance on the small screen was a non-billed role in the 1980s series V (1984). Kober went on to supporting roles in the highly acclaimed Vietnam War drama China Beach (1988) and the short-lived, but now-cult horror series Kindred: The Embraced (1996). Following these series, Kober has guested on some of the most popular television series of the day. They include Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), ER (1994), 24 (2001), The Closer (2005), and Criminal Minds (2005).
Kober's big screen career began with the film Out of Bounds (1986), in which he played the first of his signature nefarious characters - Roy Gaddis, a small-time drug dealer with murderous inclinations. This role led to more film opportunities in The First Power (1990), Tank Girl (1995) (a comedic turn), Defining Maggie (2002), World Without Waves (2004), and the remake of The Hills Have Eyes 2 (2007), among others. Never one to balk at taking a chance in the acting field, Kober has also appeared in several short independent films - the Academy Award-winning Session Man (1991) and, most recently, Lucid (2006), another film that has garnered a number of awards at independent film festivals across the country. He has done extensive stage work, most prominently, as "the father" in Jenny Sullivan's autobiographical work "J For J" and "Defying Gravity". Being a creature of diverse talents, Kober is also a noted artist (he was responsible for the paintings attributed to his character Daedalus on Kindred: The Embraced (1996) and is the c/o author of "Art That Pays: The Emerging Artist's Guide to Making a Living" along with Adele Slaughter. On the personal front, Kober is twice divorced (Rhonda Talbot, Kelly Cutrone) and the father of one son. He has, at present, finished work on The Hills Have Eyes 2 (2007) (set for release in March 2007) in the role of Colonel Lincoln Redding. Kober's next film was Multiple (2008).- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Colm Meaney was born on 30 May 1953 in Dublin, Ireland. He is an actor and producer, known for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), Under Siege (1992) and Layer Cake (2004). He has been married to Ines Glorian since 15 March 2007. They have one child. He was previously married to Bairbre Dowling.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Moved to New York City at the age of seventeen from Akron, Ohio. Graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in English, class of '75. Without any prior film experience, he was accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts, New York.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Phil Davis was born on 30 July 1953 in Grays, Essex, England, UK. He is an actor and director, known for Vera Drake (2004), Alien³ (1992) and Bleak House (2005). He has been married to Eve Matheson since 2002. They have one child.- Producer
- Editor
- Writer
Mary Sweeney is a feature film director, producer, writer, and editor. She has a long history of creative collaboration with David Lynch, beginning with Blue Velvet in 1986. She edited Twin Peaks Television (1990), Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me (1992), Hotel Room, HBO, (1993), Lost Highway (1996), The Straight Story (2000) and Mulholland Drive (2001.) She was awarded a British Academy Award for Best Editing in 2001 Mulholland Drive. Sweeney wrote the screenplay for The Straight Story for which Richard Farnsworth received an Academy Award nomination. Her producing credits date to 1995 with Nadja, and include Lost Highway, The Straight Story, Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire (2006), directed by Lynch, and Baraboo (2009) her directorial debut based on her original screenplay.
Sweeney is the Dino and Martha De Laurentiis Endowed Professor of film at USC, where she teaches Graduate Screenwriting Thesis and "Dreams, The Brain and Storytelling."
She is the Chair of the Board Board of Trustees of Film Independent, sponsor of the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
David Morse, a 6' 4" tall blue-eyed blond who performed on stage for 10 years before breaking into film, has become established as a respected supporting, character actor and second lead.
He was born the first of four children of Charles, a sales manager, and Jacquelyn Morse, a schoolteacher, on October 11, 1953, in Beverly, Massachusetts. He grew up with three younger sisters. After graduating from high school, Morse studied acting at the William Esper Studio. In 1971, he began his professional acting career appearing in over 30 productions with the Boston Repertory Company from 1971 to 1977. In the late 1970s, Morse continued his stage career with the Circle Repertory Company in New York before moving into television and film. In the late 1990s, he returned to the Off-Broadway stage starring in Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize winning drama, "How I Learned to Drive" (1997), for which he won the Drama Desk Award and the Obie.
Morse made his big screen debut in 1980 co-starring as "Jerry Maxwell", a cheerful bartender turned basketball player, opposite John Savage and Diana Scarwid in Inside Moves (1980), written by Barry Levinson and directed by Richard Donner. Although Inside Moves (1980) was nominated for an Oscar, Morse had to wait a few years until his career took off. His big break came in 1982 when he was cast as Dr. Jack "Boomer" Morrison, a young doctor who struggles as a single parent after the death of his wife, in St. Elsewhere (1982), a medical drama that ran for six seasons. He co-starred as opposite Jodie Foster and young Jena Malone in the Oscar nominated Sci-Fi drama Contact (1997). In 1999, he appeared in Stephen King's The Green Mile (1999), with Tom Hanks. A year later, he played a supporting role as a kidnapped husband of Meg Ryan in Proof of Life (2000). In 2002, Morse became the first English-speaking actor nominated for the Golden Horse Award, the Chinese equivalent of the Oscars, for his superb performance as FBI expert "Kevin Richter" in Double Vision (2002). From 2002 to 2004, Morse had a regular gig starring as "Mike Olshansky", an ex-Philadelphia policeman turned cab driver, in the TV series Hack (2002) which ran three seasons and was filmed in Philadelphia, close to his home. In 2006-2007, he has a recurring role on season 3 of an Emmy award-winning medical drama House (2004).
David Morse has been married to fellow actress Susan Wheeler Duff since 1982. They have three children, one daughter and twin sons. In 1994, after the the Northridge earthquake destroyed his home in Sherman Oaks, Morse moved from LA to Philadelphia with his family, and resides in his wife's hometown.- Deirdre O'Connell was born on 29 June 1953 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress, known for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Secondhand Lions (2003) and Dragonfly (2002).
- Producer
- Actor
- Sound Department
William Petersen was born on 21 February 1953 in Evanston, Illinois, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) and Manhunter (1986). He has been married to Gina Cirone since 14 June 2003. They have two children. He was previously married to Joanne Brady.- Actor
- Producer
- Sound Department
Thomas Edward Hulce was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Plymouth, MI, where he was raised with his two sisters and older brother. He is the son of Joanna (Winkleman), who had sung professionally, and Raymond Albert Hulce, who worked for Ford. He has English, German, and Irish ancestry. Wanting to be a singer, Tom had to make a switch in plans when his voice began changing. Knowing that if he wanted to be in show business he needed to become an actor, Tom began taking the necessary steps almost immediately.
When asked once why he chose acting Tom replied, "Because someone told me I couldn't." It is determination like this that has helped him achieve his respected position in the acting community to this day. Tom set goals early on. Graduating from school at 19 years old, he gave himself a decade to succeed as an actor. Working in Ann Arbor as usher and ticket seller with a small theatrical company was a start. It was around this time he saw the first play and actor that made him realize that acting was "cool." Christopher Walken was in a play in Stratford, Ontario. The performance made quite an impression on Tom.
While Mr. and Mrs. Hulce weren't totally sold on the idea of their son becoming a thespian, Tom had determination and headed off for the training he knew he'd need if he was going to achieve his goal. He studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem; at Booth Bay Harbor, Maine; Sarasota, Florida; and spent a summer in England before heading off to New York City to try his hand at Broadway. Within a month after his arrival, Tom was chosen to understudy the role being performed by Peter Firth in the Broadway play "Equus." He had originally been hired to play one of the horses, but it was decided that his time was better spent learning the understudy role and so he never donned the horse's attire.
Tom had pangs of guilt where this role was concerned. On one hand he wanted the role ... badly. On the other hand he wondered what would happen if Peter left the role; could he fill those shoes? When the time came, nine months after being hired, Tom found out that it was up to him to play the role as his own. He wasn't expected to be another Peter Firth... he had been hired to play the role his way. "... it actually went quite well, " Tom recalled. "I realized I was a different actor and that I would tackle the part in my own way." And tackle it he did! Equus has a few "firsts" for Tom. One, it was his first big role; two, it was his first Broadway role and third, it was his first nude performance. For nine minutes Tom and his costar, Roberta Maxwell, were naked in a scene that seemed impossible for the stage a decade earlier (1960s). In a past interview Tom reflected, "It's so skillfully written and developed that it doesn't seem an unusual thing to do. There's no embarrassment, I just don't think about it at all." During the run of "Equus," Tom turned down a big television offer, to the delight of the director and cast. At that time in Tom's life the stage was all there was, and he was going to do it right! Other plays that followed "Equus" were George S. Kaufman's "Butter and Egg Man," Arthur Miller's "Memory of Two Mondays," along with such works as "Julius Caesar," "Romeo and Juliet," Shaw's "Candida," and Chekhov's "The Sea Gull," and, again on Broadway in his Tony nominated role in Aaron Sorkin's "A Few Good Men."
Tom has even directed the off-Broadway musical "Sleep Around Town" at Playwrights Horizon. Back in 1977 Tom landed his first motion picture role in the film about the day James Dean died, September 30, 1955 (1977). This was to be the first of a long line of period films. His next was National Lampoon's National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). Set in the 1960's, Tom played "Pinto" along with such comedy alumni as 'John Belushi', Tim Matheson, and Donald Sutherland.
1984 gave him the role that put him on the map. The title role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the Oscar-winner Amadeus (1984) was such a wonder that it even boosted the sales of Mozart's music by 30%! Filmed in Prague, it was eerie for Tom to actually be standing in the very spot where the original Amadeus had stood conducting the opera Tom was recreating for the film. Dressed in a purple velvet jacket, knickers, and white hose, wearing a bushy white wig and doling out a hilarious laugh (often likened to that of a hyena's) Tom's portrayal of the "man-child" musical genius was an Oscar-nominated performance.
Tom has been in many more films set in the past: Those Lips, Those Eyes (1980)(1950s), Shadowman (1988) (World War II), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) (1800s), Wings of Courage (1995)(1930's), and Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)(1500s). Tom appeared in Echo Park (1985) with Susan Dey, a film that had a struggle to get released remains one of Tom's best performances and one that he is quite proud of. Another film that Tom feels a lot of pride for is Dominick and Eugene (1988). Starring with Ray Liotta and Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom played Dominick Luciano, a mentally handicapped twin brother to Liotta's Eugene. The young man works as a garbage collector to help put his brother through medical school so he can become a "rich doctor" and they can afford to get a "house by a lake." Tom spent time studying people in a Pittsburgh neighborhood and handicapped people in an occupational training center so he could master the innocence and determination that the lead role required. He received the Best Actor award at the Seattle Fest for his performance.
Murder in Mississippi (1990) was Tom's second television movie (the first was Forget-Me-Not-Lane (1974) (aka "Neli, Neli"), a Hallmark Hall of Fame production). Playing the role of Michael Schwerner, the New York social worker and Freedom Fighter who is murdered by K.K.K. members in 1964 during Freedom Summer, Tom received an Emmy nomination and his third Golden Globe nomination.
The Inner Circle (1991) (aka "The Projectionist") took Tom to Russia where he was Ivan Sanshin, the private film projectionist to Stalin within the Kremlin walls. Based on a true story, Ivan was a perfect example of how many were blinded to the horrific conditions that men like Stalin conducted and followed in ignorant loyalty. While there, Tom was fortunate to meet and spend time with Alexander Ganshin, upon whose life the film was based.
The next three years held special items for Tom. His portrayal of Peter Patrone, in T.N.T.'s The Heidi Chronicles (1995), earned him an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Special, and 1994 and 1996 brought two of Tom's last period pieces. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) had Tom playing opposite Kenneth Branagh as Victor Frankenstein's college chum, Henry. And 1996 was a whole new experience for Tom. Disney was looking for someone special to portray their gentle Quasimodo in their newest full feature animation motion picture, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).
Tom had never done voiceover work for a full film; to sing before a microphone was one thing, but to do song and voice for someone that he couldn't watch while performing was a whole new experience for him. Herecalled that when he first auditioned he thought it strange that the producers and director stood looking at the floor while he sang...until he noticed they were looking at sketches of Quasimodo and were trying to "feel" if he sounded like their bell ringer.
1998 saw Tom returning to the stage but this time as director again, as he undertook the enormous task of bringing John Irving's 1985 novel, "The Cider House Rules", to the stage. An 8-hour production which required the audience two days to see the whole performance, it was quite an undertaking. Co-directing with Jane Jones (of "BookIt" in Seattle, Washington) Tom took the play from its Seattle opening to the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, California where it received wonderful reviews.
During the past recent years Tom has resided in Seattle, Washington where he owns his own home. He figures he could live in Los Angeles or New York - the acting hubs - but in Seattle, he's near the things he loves. "Up in Seattle people look after their lives in a way you can't do in New York or Los Angeles," he says. But no matter where he calls home, we can always count on Tom for bringing us into a world that will thrill, excite, fascinate, move and inspire us either through his films, the stage, or his beautiful singing.