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Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy (born 16 April 1996) is a British-American actress. She is best known for her roles as Beth Harmon in The Queen's Gambit (2020), Thomasin in the period horror film The Witch (2015), as Casey Cooke in the horror-thriller Split (2016), and as Lily in the black comedy thriller Thoroughbreds (2017). She has been the recipient of the Cannes Film Festival's Trophée Chopard and was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award.
Anya was born in Miami, the youngest of six children. Her father is Scottish who was born in South America, and her mother is Spanish-English who was born in Zambia in Africa, to an English diplomat father and a Spanish mother from Barcelona. Anya lived her childhood between Argentina and England. Her father was a banker and a powerboat racer, and her mother is a psychologist. Anya was raised in Argentina until the age of six, then moved to London, where the family lived in Victoria. She attended Northlands School in Buenos Aires, then preparatory school Hill House and Queen's Gate School in London, and is also a former ballet dancer. Anya's dream of becoming an actress came when she was very young and it finally became possible when she was offered a modeling job. It wasn't long until Taylor-Joy received her first part in the Show Business. When she was fourteen, she used her savings to move to New York, and at 16, she left school to pursue acting.
Anya's outstanding performance as Thomasin in Robert Eggers' period horror film The Witch (2015), and the positive reviews it got at the Sundance festival revealed her incredible potential to the world; it was widely released and viewed in 2016. She then starred as the title character in the thriller Morgan (2016), directed Luke Scott and also starring Kate Mara. She also starred in Vikram Gandhi's film Barry, which focused on a young Barack Obama in 1981 New York City. Taylor-Joy played one of Obama's close friends. In 2017, she headlined M. Night Shyamalan's horror-thriller film Split (2016), playing Casey Cooke, a girl abducted by a mysterious man with split personalities. In 2019, she reprised her role as Casey in the film Glass. Anya was also the lead actress in the music video for Skrillex's remix of GTA's song Red Lips. She was nominated for the 2017 BAFTA Rising Star Award.
Taylor-Joy is attached to star in Nosferatu, a remake of the film of the same name, to be directed by Eggers in her third collaboration with him. She will also star in The Sea Change.- Actress
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Having been named one of Variety's 10 Actors to Watch, Kaitlyn Dever has become one of Hollywood's top emerging young actresses.
Dever has showcased her versatility, appearing in movies such as Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar (2011), James Ponsoldt's The Spectacular Now (2013), Destin Daniel Cretton's Short Term 12 (2008), and Jason Reitman's Men, Women & Children (2014), and was one of the female leads in Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit (2017).
She truly shone in the dark drama Short Term 12 (2013) alongside Brie Larson, LaKeith Stanfield, John Gallagher Jr., and Rami Malek. The film premiered at SXSW 2013, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative as well as the Audience Award. Kaitlyn was named Summer 2013's indie "It" girl and was highlighted as a SXSW breakout.
In addition to her film career, she recently wrapped her memorable four-season-long arc playing Loretta McCready on the FX drama Justified (2010), for which she received critical acclaim. She also played a role in the award-winning video game Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (2016), voicing Cassie Drake, daughter of the game's lead, Nathan Drake.- Actress
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Eliza Dushku was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Judith (Rasmussen), a political science professor, and Philip R. Dushku, a teacher and administrator. Her father is Albanian and her mother is American (of Danish, Irish, English, and German descent). She was discovered at the end of a five-month search throughout the United States for the perfect girl to play the lead role of Alice opposite Juliette Lewis in the film That Night (1992). Since then, she has been in several films and has worked with actors such as Robert De Niro, Ellen Barkin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Paul Reiser, and Jim Belushi. Born in Boston on December 30, 1980, she has studied the piano, drums, and several types of dance (jazz, tap, and ballet). Her previous acting experience includes numerous amateur presentations at the Watertown Children's Theater where she was part of the company since she was in the first grade. In addition to acting, she is sometimes seen on stage at the Children's Theater signing for the deaf.- Actress
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Amy Lou Adams was born in Vicenza, Veneto, Italy, to American parents, Kathryn (Hicken) and Richard Kent Adams, a U.S. serviceman who was stationed at Caserma Ederle in Italy at the time. She was raised in a Mormon family of seven children in Castle Rock, Colorado, and has English, as well as smaller amounts of Danish, Swiss-German, and Norwegian, ancestry.
Adams sang in the school choir at Douglas County High School and was an apprentice dancer at a local dance company, with the ambition of becoming a ballerina. However, she worked as a greeter at The Gap and as a Hooters hostess to support herself before finding work as a dancer at Boulder's Dinner Theatre and Country Dinner Playhouse in such productions as "Brigadoon" and "A Chorus Line". It was there that she was spotted by a Minneapolis dinner-theater director who asked her to move to Chanhassen, Minnesota for more regional dinner theatre work.
Nursing a pulled muscle that kept her from dancing, she was free to audition for a part in Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), which was filming nearby in Minnesota. During the filming, Kirstie Alley encouraged her to move to Los Angeles, where she soon won a part in the Fox television version of the film, Cruel Intentions (1999), in the part played in the film by Sarah Michelle Gellar, "Kathryn Merteuil". Although three episodes were filmed, the troubled series never aired. Instead, parts of the episodes were cobbled together and released as the direct-to-video Cruel Intentions 2 (2000). After more failed television spots, she landed a major role in Catch Me If You Can (2002), playing opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. But this did not provide the break-through she might have hoped for, with no work being offered for about a year. She eventually returned to television, and joined the short-lived series, Dr. Vegas (2004).
Her role in the low-budget independent film Junebug (2005) (which was shot in 21 days) got her real attention, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress as well as other awards. The following year, her ability to look like a wide-eyed Disney animated heroine helped her to be chosen from about 300 actresses auditioning for the role of "Giselle" in the animated/live-action feature film, Enchanted (2007), which would prove to be her major break-through role. Her vivacious yet innocent portrayal allowed her to use her singing and dancing talents. Her performance garnered a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
Adams next appeared in the major production, Charlie Wilson's War (2007), and went on to act in the independent film, Sunshine Cleaning (2008), which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Her role as "Sister James" in Doubt (2008) brought her a second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, as well as nominations for a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild award, and a British Academy Film award. She appeared as Amelia Earhart in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and as a post-9/11 hot line counselor, aspiring writer, amateur cook and blogger in Julie & Julia (2009). In the early 2010s, she starred with Jason Segel in The Muppets (2011), with Philip Seymour Hoffman in Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master (2012), and alongside Clint Eastwood and Justin Timberlake in Trouble with the Curve (2012). She played reporter Lois Lane in Man of Steel (2013) and con artist Sydney Prosser in American Hustle (2013), before portraying real-life artist Margaret Keane in Tim Burton's biopic Big Eyes (2014).
In 2016, she reprised her role as Lane in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and headlined Denis Villeneuve's science fiction drama Arrival (2016) and Tom Ford's dark thriller Nocturnal Animals (2016). In 2018, she received another Oscar nomination, her sixth, for starring as Lynne Cheney in the biographical drama Vice (2018), opposite Christian Bale as Dick Cheney.- Actress
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Jaicy Elliot was born on 9 April 1993 in Grenoble, Isère, Rhône-Alpes, France. She is an actress, known for Station 19 (2018), Grey's Anatomy (2005) and Grey's Anatomy: The Webisodes (2009).- Actress
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Deborah Anne Mazar Corcos (born August 13, 1964) is an American actress and television personality, known for playing sharp-tongued women. She began her career with supporting roles in Goodfellas (1990), Little Man Tate (1991) and Singles (1992), followed by lead roles on the legal drama series Civil Wars and L.A. Law.
Beginning in 2014, she has had a starring role in the Cooking Channel series, Extra Virgin, along with her husband Gabriele Corcos. She is also known for her role as press agent Shauna Roberts on the HBO series Entourage and stars as Maggie Amato on TV Land's Younger.
Mazar was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York City, the daughter of Nancy and Harry Mazar. Her father was born in the Latvian SSR, Soviet Union, to a Jewish family, but raised Roman Catholic. She had no knowledge of her father's ancestry until her twenties. Mazar's parents annulled their marriage shortly after she was born, and she spent her early life in the country in upstate New York with her mother. As a teenager, she relocated to Long Island, where she lived with her godparents.
Mazar worked various odd jobs, including selling jewelry at Fiorucci with Linda Ramone and Joey Arias, later as a dental assistant, and at a nightclub.
While working at Danceteria, Mazar met Madonna. She hired Mazar to do her makeup for the music video for "Everybody". She also originated the hair and makeup for the play Speed-the-Plow.
Mazar began her career as a hip hop b-girl in New York City. Her first television appearance was on the pilot for a hip hop television dance show, Graffiti Rock in 1984. She appeared in five of Madonna's music videos - "Papa Don't Preach", "True Blue" (both 1986), "Justify My Love" (1990), "Deeper and Deeper" (1992) and "Music" (2000).
Mazar has played a number of minor supporting roles in a variety of films, including Sandy, a friend of Henry Hill's mistress in Goodfellas (1990); The Doors (1991); a small role in Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992); Bullets Over Broadway (1994); and as Spice (of Sugar and Spice, with Drew Barrymore as Sugar) in Batman Forever (1995). She gained her first real following from playing a character on Civil Wars in the early 1990s. When that series was can-celled her character was brought over as a recurring role between 1993 and 1994 season of the TV drama L.A. Law.
She played the villain Regina, a modern-day Cruella de Vil, in the family film Beethoven's 2nd (1993). She has appeared in independent films Inside Monkey Zetterland and Nowhere and her short-lived sitcom, Temporarily Yours. She appeared as the genie in the Space Monkeys' music video, "Sugarcane".
Mazar appeared on a Friends episode in its eighth season ("The One Where Rachel Has a Baby, Part One"). Mazar played "Doreen, the Evil Bitch," a crazed pregnant woman who shares a hospital room with Rachel. In the 1999 docudrama film The Insider she played character Lowell Bergman's assistant Debi. From 2000-02 she played Jackie on the television drama That's Life. She provided the voice of Maria Latore in the video games Grand Theft Auto III (2001) and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004).
From 2004 to 2011, she had a supporting role on Entourage as press agent Shauna Roberts. She also had a recurring role on the sitcom Living with Fran, playing Fran Drescher's character's cousin, Merrill. She did a two-episode stint on the television series Ugly Betty as fraudster Leah Stillman.
Mazar was a contestant on the ninth season of Dancing With the Stars. She was partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy and finished in twelfth place. She was eliminated in the third week (October 6, 2009). In 2012, Mazar played Jessica, a glamorous, leather-clad villainies in Home Alone: The Holiday Heist.
Mazar began appearing on a Cooking Channel cooking/reality show television series in January 2011. She, her husband Gabriele Corcos, and their two daughters star in the series, which depicts their lives, and showcases their own recipes. The show is scripted. The show has had four seasons as of June 2014. In 2015, Mazar and her husband started another series on the Cooking Channel entitled Extra Virgin Americana where they travel the U.S., road trip style, with their children and family friend searching for great food.
Beginning in 2015, Mazar has starred in Younger with Sutton Foster and Hilary Duff as Maggie. The series met critical acclaim and began filming its fifth season in February 2018.
Mazar appeared in the 2nd season of The $100,000 Pyramid reboot on ABC on August 6, 2017. In the main game, she helped her contestant get 7 clues in only 15 seconds causing host Michael Strahan to say, "I think that's the quickest round we've ever had, 15 seconds!"
In 2018 she played Ava Gardner in the Spanish period comedy-drama television series Arde Madrid, telling the story of the period which the American actress spent in Madrid during Francoist Spain.- Born in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and raised in Portland, Brenda Bakke moved to Los Angeles to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She began to work in the mid-1980s on episodes of television series and playing minor characters in low budget comedies. She appeared in the Charlie Sheen film Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993).
During the 1990s, she appeared in such mainstream Hollywood films as Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995) and L.A. Confidential (1997). The latter received nine Academy Award nominations, winning two Oscars. She landed a role on American Gothic (1995). In the 2000s, she appeared in such films as The Quickie (2001) and Moving August (2002). She had guest roles on episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), NYPD Blue (1993), The Mentalist (2008), and Supernatural (2005). In 2015, she began appearing in the recurring role of Virginia on If Loving You Is Wrong (2014). In 2016-17, she appeared in guest star roles on Heartbeat (2016), Grey's Anatomy (2005), and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (2016). - Actress
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Amy Sloan was born on 12 May 1978 in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. She is an actress and writer, known for The Day After Tomorrow (2004), The Aviator (2004) and The Heartbreak Kid (2007).- Actress
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Katherine Langford (born 29 April 1996) is an Australian actress. She is known for starring as Hannah Baker in the 2017 Netflix series 13 Reasons Why (2017), based on the novel of the same name, for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination. In 2018, she appeared as Leah Burke in the romantic comedy-drama film Love, Simon (2018).
Langford was born in Perth and raised in Perth, Western Australia. She is the eldest daughter of Elizabeth Langford, a pediatrician, and Stephen Langford, a flying doctor and director of medical services at the Royal Flying Doctor Service Western Operations. She began voice lessons in 2005, and received classical, jazz, and contemporary vocal training. She was offered a place at Perth Modern School for her senior high years, where she studied music and drama, and was sports captain and a nationally ranked swimmer.
Initially during her time at high school, Langford was interested in medicine and politics, in addition to musical theatre. However, in 2012, when Langford was 16, she attended Lady Gaga's concert, the Born This Way Ball, which inspired her to learn how to play the piano. She shared video of herself singing three original songs she wrote: "I've Got a Crush on Zoe Bosch," "Young and Stupid," and "3 Words." "Young and Stupid" is an anti-suicide song she wrote in 2013 after three Perth teens took their lives. For her final year at Perth Modern, Langford stopped swimming and switched her focus to music and performance. She was successful in a number of musical eisteddfods and drama competitions. Langford appeared in the school's production of Hotel Sorrento in 2013 and graduated that same year.
After graduating high school, Langford was determined to become an actor. However, she was rejected from every acting school she applied to, on the grounds she was too young and did not have enough life experience. This led her to begin enrolling in acting classes and workshops in Perth, juggling three part-time jobs, and later finding herself an agent. From 2014 to 2015, Langford studied at the Principal Academy of Dance & Theatre Arts, majoring in Music Theatre, and appeared in a production of Godspell. She was then one of five selected to participate in the National Institute of Dramatic Arts Advanced Actors Residency in 2015. In the same year, she trained at Nicholson's Academy of Screen Acting and portrayed the role of Juan Perón's mistress in the 2015 production of Evita. Langford was offered a position in the Bachelor of Arts program in Acting at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and intended to begin studies in 2016. However, she never enrolled and instead pursued professional roles.
Langford appeared as the lead character in a small independent short film, Daughter (2016) which debuted at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. At the end of 2016, after declining the offer from Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Langford auditioned and was asked to test for Riverdale, and Will, a television series centered on the young life of William Shakespeare. She did not get either role, which were instead given to Lili Reinhart, and Olivia DeJonge.
Langford auditioned for the role in the mystery teen drama TV series 13 Reasons Why over Skype and had only 10 days to get an O-1 visa as she had not worked in the United States before. She has received critical acclaim for her portrayal of the American high school student Hannah Baker in 13 Reasons Why. Langford researched the role, speaking with a representative of the sexual assault awareness campaign "It's On Us" and a psychiatrist who specializes in adolescence. In December 2016, she signed with the William Morris Endeavor agency.
In 2018 Langford appeared in her first feature film, Love, Simon, an adaptation of the coming-of-age novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, by Becky Albertalli.- Actress
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Caitlin Muelder is known for Hail, Caesar! (2016), History of the World... For Now (2016) and Franklin & Bash (2011).- Actress
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Linda Edna Cardellini was born in Redwood City, California, to Lorraine (Hernan) and Wayne David Cardellini, a businessman. She is of Italian (from her paternal grandfather), Irish (from her mother), German, English, and Scottish descent. Linda grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, California, the youngest of four children. She became interested in acting at age ten, when she performed a singing role in a school Christmas play. She continued to do school productions and community theater.
Linda attended Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California. After graduating, she had to decide whether to go to New York to pursue theater or Los Angeles to pursue film and television. She chose LA. Linda was cast in her first role, on the series Bone Chillers (1996). Her breakthrough part came when she was cast in Freaks and Geeks (1999). She played academic decathlete Lindsay Weir on the celebrated series, which won an Emmy Award in the Category of "Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series".
Cardellini captured the hearts of young girls, boys and teenagers, worldwide, for her portrayal of Velma in Warner Bros.'s Scooby-Doo (2002). She also co-starred in 'Brian Robbins'' Good Burger (1997), Legally Blonde (2001), with Reese Witherspoon, and Tom McLoughlin's The Unsaid (2001) with Andy Garcia, as well as in the Adam Sandler-produced comedy, Grandma's Boy (2006).
In 2005, Cardellini starred in the ensemble film, American Gun (2005), for IFC Films, alongside Donald Sutherland, Forest Whitaker and Marcia Gay Harden. "American Gun" was the debut feature of director/co-writer Aric Avelino, which has earned a Best Picture nomination at the Independent Spirit Awards in 2007. In the same year, Cardellini delivered a heartfelt performance as a jilted lover in Ang Lee's highly-acclaimed drama, Brokeback Mountain (2005), which garnered major accolades from critics, including an Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe win for Best Picture and Outstanding Ensemble in a Motion Picture Drama by the Screen Actor's Guild.
It was upon working with Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana on this film, that they later cast her in CBS's Hallmark Hall of Fame mini-series Comanche Moon (2008), a testament to their trust in Cardellini's talent and presence on screen. Cardellini starred alongside Val Kilmer and Steve Zahn in the six-hour, epic mini-series in 2008, written by McMurtry (based on McMurtry's novel of the same name), directed by Simon Wincer and executive-produced by Ossana. This western, which was the prequel to "Lonesome Dove," (the television series created in 1989 by McMurtry) aired on three consecutive evenings for two hours each night.
In 2008, Cardellini portrayed the lead role of 'Julie Ingram' in the feature film "The Lazarus Project" starring alongside 'Paul Walker'. Directed by John Glenn, this thriller tells the story of a former criminal who is drawn into an illicit endeavor and subsequently finds himself living an inexplicable new life working at a psychiatric facility.
In 2011, Cardellini co-starred in Jonathan Hensleigh's independent feature film "Kill the Irishman," alongside Christopher Walken, Ray Stevenson and Val Kilmer. The film was based on the true story of Danny Greene, a tough Irish thug working for mobsters in Cleveland during the 1970s. In February 2012, Cardellini starred as 'Kelli' in the independent film "Return," opposite Michael Shannon and John Slattery which earned Cardellini an Independent Spirit Award nomination for "Best Female Lead." "Return" was featured in the Director's Fortnight section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and was an official entry at The Deauville, London and Palm Springs International Film Festivals. "Return" follows 'Kelli' as she returns home from war and learns how to adjust to a slower, normal life.
In 2013, Cardellini was almost unrecognizable, but turned heads, for her provocative portrayal of 'Sylvia Rosen,' 'Don Draper's' married mistress, in a guest arc in the sixth season of the critically acclaimed AMC series, "Mad Men." She received her first Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Guest Actress in A Drama Series" for her portrayal.
Working in both film and television, Linda is well-known for her portrayal of 'Nurse Samantha Taggart' on NBC's highly-rated, critically acclaimed series, "ER". She will next be seen as 'Meg Rayburn' in Netflix's new untitled family drama series created by Glenn Kessler, Daniel Zelman and Todd Kessler. Cardellini also has a co-starring role in the indie comedy Welcome to Me (2014), opposite an all-star cast that includes Kristen Wiig, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, James Marsden and Wes Bentley. The film is directed by Shira Piven. "Welcome to Me" was produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
On the small screen, Cardellini was a guest star, playing 'Dr. Megan Tillman', in CBS' Person of Interest (2011). The crime drama show was created by Jonathan Nolan and stars Jim Caviezel, Taraji P. Henson and Michael Emerson. Cardellini also lends her voice to a diverse group of animated series including Nickelodeon's "Sanjay & Craig" wherein she plays 'Megan,' IFC's "Out There" wherein she voices 'Starla,' and Disney's "Gravity Falls," in which she is 'Wendy.' Cardellini's past voiceover work includes the role of 'Bliss,' the family daughter in the ABC animated television program, The Goode Family (2009).
Linda has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre from Loyola Marymount University, and completed a summer study program at the National Theatre in London. She resides in Los Angeles.- Actress
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Multi-talented, multi-award-winning actress Kathleen (Doyle) Bates was born on June 28, 1948, and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. She is the youngest of three girls born to Bertye Kathleen (Talbot), a homemaker, and Langdon Doyle Bates, a mechanical engineer. Her grandfather was author Finis L. Bates. Kathy has English, as well as Irish, Scottish, and German, ancestry, and one of her ancestors, an Irish emigrant to New Orleans, once served as President Andrew Jackson's doctor.
Kathy discovered acting appearing in high school plays and studied drama at Southern Methodist University, graduating in 1969. With her mind firmly set, she moved to New York City in 1970 and paid her dues by working everything from a cash register to taking lunch orders. Things started moving quickly up the ladder after giving a tour-de-force performance alongside Christopher Walken at Buffalo's Studio Arena Theatre in Lanford Wilson's world premiere of "Lemon Sky" in 1970, but she also had a foreshadowing of the heartbreak to come after the successful show relocated to New York's off-Broadway Playhouse Theatre without her and Walken wound up winning a Drama Desk award.
By the mid-to-late 1970s, Kathy was treading the boards frequently as a rising young actress of the New York and regional theater scene. She appeared in "Casserole" and "A Quality of Mercy" (both 1975) before earning exceptional reviews for her role of Joanne in "Vanities". She took her first Broadway curtain call in 1980's "Goodbye Fidel," which lasted only six performances. She then went directly into replacement mode when she joined the cast of the already-established and highly successful "Fifth of July" in 1981.
Kathy made a false start in films with Taking Off (1971), in which she was billed as "Bobo Bates". She didn't film again until Straight Time (1978), starring Dustin Hoffman, and that part was not substantial enough to cause a stir. Things turned hopeful, however, when Kathy and the rest of the female ensemble were given the chance to play their respective Broadway parts in the film version of Robert Altman's Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982). It was a juicy role for Kathy and film audiences finally started noticing the now 34-year-old.
Still and all, it was the New York stage that continued to earn Kathy awards and acclaim. She was pure textbook to any actor studying how to disappear into a role. Her characters ranged from free and life-affirming to downright pitiable. Despite winning a Tony Award nomination and Outer Critic's Circle Award for her stark, touchingly sad portrait of a suicidal daughter in 1983's "'night, Mother" and the Obie and Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for her powerhouse job as a romantic misfit in "Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune," Kathy had no box-office pull, however, and was never a strong consideration when the roles transferred to the screen. Her award-winning stage went to established film stars. First Sissy Spacek took over her potent role as the suicidal Jessie Cates in 'night, Mother (1986), then Michelle Pfeiffer seized the moment to play her dumpy lover character in Frankie and Johnny (1991). It would take Oscar glory to finally rectify the injustice.
It was Kathy's fanatical turn as the drab, chunky, porcine-looking psychopath Annie Wilkes, who kidnaps her favorite author (James Caan) and subjects him to a series of horrific tortures, that finally turned the tide for her in Hollywood. With the 1990 shocker Misery (1990), based on the popular Stephen King novel, Bates and Caan were box office magic. Moreover, Kathy captured the "Best Actress" Oscar and Golden Globe award, a first in that genre (horror) for that category. To add to her happiness she married Tony Campisi, also an actor, in 1991.
Quality film scripts now started coming her way and the 1990s proved to be a rich and rewarding time for her. First, she and another older "overnight" film star, fellow Oscar winner Jessica Tandy, starred together in the modern portion of the beautifully nuanced, flashback period piece Fried Green Tomatoes (1991). She then outdid herself as the detached and depressed housekeeper accused of murdering her abusive husband (David Strathairn) in Dolores Claiborne (1995). Surprisingly, she was left out of the Oscar race for these two excellent performances. Not so, however, for her flashy political advisor Libby Holden in the movie Primary Colors (1998), receiving praise and a "Best Supporting Actress" nomination.
Kathy has continued to work prolifically on TV as a 14-time Emmy winner or nominee thus far. She has also taken to directing a couple of TV-movies on the sly. As most actors, she has been in hit and miss TV shows. On the hit side, she has earned a Golden Globe and Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Jay Leno's manager playing tough politics in The Late Shift (1996) and played to the hilt the cruel-minded orphanage operator, Miss Hannigan, in Annie (1999) for which she also earned an Emmy nom. She has done some eye-catching, offbeat turns on regular series such as Six Feet Under (2001) (for which she also earned a DGA award for helming an episode), The Office (2005), Harry's Law (2011) and especially American Horror Story (2011) for which she won an Emmy as Ethel Darling. She also won an Emmy for a guest episode on the hit sitcom Two and a Half Men (2003).
Interesting millennium filming have included a Catholic school's Mother Superior in the comic drama Bruno (2000); Jesse James' mother in American Outlaws (2001); a quirky, liberal mom in About Schmidt (2002) for which she earned another "Best Supporting Actress" Oscar nomination; a brief but potent turn as Gertrude Stein in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris (2011); Queen Victoria in the adventurous remake of Around the World in 80 Days (2004); wacky parent types in the comedies Failure to Launch (2006) and Relative Strangers (2006); Mother Claus in the seasonal farce Fred Claus (2007); an over-gushy foster mother in the dramedy The Great Gilly Hopkins (2015); and a wrenching performance as the mother of a suspected terrorist in Richard Jewell (2019) for which she earned her third "Best Supporting Actress" Oscar nomination.
Divorced from husband Campisi since 1997, Kathy has been the Executive Committee Chair of the Actors Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors.- Actress
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Award Winning Actress Alysia Reiner just originated the role of #DODC Agent Sadie Deever in the much anticipated and critically acclaimed Disney+/Marvel TV series, Ms. Marvel, and is best known as "FIG" on all 7 seasons of Orange Is the New Black, for which she won a SAG AWARD, Additionally, she just finished her 5th season as Sunny on Peabody Award-winning Better Things on F/X x HULU, and is about to start her second season playing Katharyn in STARZ's Shining Vale with Courteney Cox and Greg Kinnear, after finishing 2 seasons as KIKI on HBO's THE DUECE.
As a producer, Alysia produced and stars in the motherhood dark comedy EGG with Christina Hendricks and Anna Camp. It premiered at Tribeca film festival, is 100% FRESH on Rotten tomatoes and available on iTunes, Amazon & VOD Now. Additionally, Alysia conceived of, developed, produced and starred in the feature film EQUITY, bought/distributed by Sony Pictures Classics at Sundance 2016.
A few other filmed adventures include getting married in the Oscar winning film Sideways, getting naked in an Emmy Award winning episode of Broad City, and going head to head against Viola Davis on How To Get Away with Murder, and she just starred in Stampede Ventures' feature film, Going Places, and wrapped The Independent with John Cena, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Brian Cox.
Equity was Alysia's first feature as both actress and producer, but she has acted in countless critically acclaimed and award winning films and shows, working with film masters like "Sideways" director Alexander Payne, Jodie Foster, Richard Loncraine, Matt Weiner, and of course Jenji Kohan and Pamela Adlon. You may also know her from feature films like Sideways, 5 Flights up, Kelly and Cal, Shine, Fort Tilden, Kissing Jessica Stein, or countless other indie films and TV shows (and yes you have seen her on all of the Law & Orders multiple times).
A classically trained theatre actor, Alysia has appeared on stages around the world; from the Sundance Filmmakers Lab in Utah to The Royal Court Theatre in London; from the famed Apollo Theatre in Harlem NYC to The Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. She starred in the NY premiere of "Pentecost" by Tony-winning playwright David Edgar, and the provocative two character play "An Oak Tree" with Tim Crouch, which won a Special Obie Award. Her portrayal of June Miller in "Anais Nin: One Of Her Lives" was critically acclaimed, as was her turn in "Wasps in Bed" of which The New York Times wrote "Alysia Reiner is priceless."
As a voice actress, Alysia just finished her second season as the voice of Ms. Marmalady on Butterbean's Cafe on Nickelodeon, has voiced other cartoons as well as many books on tape, video games, podcasts for audible, as well as many national commercial campaigns, including the award winning brand change for Campbell's Soup.
She loves working as a change maker for women and an advocate for women's rights & climate change initiatives. Along with being on the board and an ambassador for Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, on the board of EARTH DAY INITIATIVE, on the advisory board for AIR PROTEIN, Alysia is the face and zero waste eco-emissary for IZZY BEAUTY and started eco-fashion zero waste initiative, Livari. As a champion of all things eco-friendly, she and her husband used their home as a way to share information about building green. Their brownstone eco-renovation in Harlem was featured on television's "World's Greenest Homes'' and "Renovation Nation"; in various magazines like Dwell, Gotham, Origin and The Nest; and they allowed the environmentally friendly construction process to be chronicled on websites such as Dwell.com and Kohler.com. Alysia has been invited to speak and keynote at The White House, The United Nations, Google, Cannes Lion, Women's Media Summit, Collision, and countless film festivals and events about breaking barriers for women in all fields, specifically the entertainment industry.
Alysia received the Acclaimed Collaborator Award from Women in Arts and Media, is an ambassador and on the board of the Geena Davis Institute for Gender Equality, recently received a MUSE "MADE IN NY" AWARD from The Mayor's office and New York Women in Film and Television, and has been invited to THE WHITE HOUSE, THE UNITED NATIONS, S.H.E. SUMMIT, GOOGLE, CANNES LION and countless film festivals and events to speak about breaking barriers for women in all fields. Additionally, she was awarded the SARAH POWELL HUNTINGTON LEADERSHIP AWARD by the Women's Prison Association, and was honored with the VOICE OF A WOMAN AWARD, the PIONEER IN FILMMAKING AWARD, and the FOUNDERS AWARD FOR SUPPORT.
She works regularly with Bard Prison Association, Sanctuary Neighborhood, This is about Humanity, Vote plus 10, is an ambassador for The Geena Davis Institute for Gender Equality, the Women's Prison Association, who gave her the Sarah Powell Huntington Leadership Award; The Cancer Support Community, Actors for Autism, The Young Women's Leadership Network, SAY: The Stuttering Association for the Young, and Bent on Learning.
"Speed Grieving," the award winning short film that Alysia created, produced and stars in, had it's world premiere at The Hamptons International Film Festival, went on to dozens of festivals winning awards and is now used as a grief counseling tool in every Cancer Support Community center in the country.- Actress
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Janeane, the petite woman with the acerbic wit, was born in Newton, New Jersey, in 1964, to Joan, a secretary, and Carmine Garofalo, an Exxon executive. She is of Italian and Irish descent. Janeane had many jobs before breaking into show biz. She worked as a bike messenger, a shoe saleswoman, waitress and temp secretary. Watching David Letterman on TV inspired her to write comedy, and by 1985 she was doing stand up comedy. As such, Janeane has become a cult figure, giving a voice to a generation, venting her frustration at T.V., romance, life in general and anything that ticks her off in particular. Janeane did sketches on The Ben Stiller Show (1992) (an Emmy-winning, but canceled show). She would continue to collaborate with Ben Stiller in future projects. Janeane received 2 Emmy nominations for her work on The Larry Sanders Show (1992), developing her signature character: a smart, cynical woman with a razor wit. She was not happy with her Saturday Night Live (1975) stint in 1994, and was vocal about it (of course). Transferring her persona from TV to the big screen, she moved on to movies, basically playing the character she had defined for herself. In Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997) she portrayed a smart, cynical, successful businesswomen with a razor wit, and this time with swear words (in the movie she had developed a brand of cigarettes with fast-burning paper, for the gal on the go; in real life it is alleged she smokes Marlboros). Janeane continues to work in TV and movies, often collaborating with Ben Stiller in a number of movies like Mystery Men (1999), his easygoing style being a counterpoint to her caustic nature.- Pretty and charming brunette actress Marilyn Louise Brown was born on March 9, 1953 in San Jose, California. Her parents were Donald Bernard Brown and Vivian Brown. Marilyn was of mixed Engish, Irish, Sicilian, and Scottish descent. Her father named her after his favorite actress Marilyn Monroe. She was the sister of actor Barry Brown and writer James Brown. Brown had a very high near genius IQ. She started studying tap dancing, modern dance, and acting at an early age. Marilyn and her brother Barry both made their film debuts in uncredited bit roles in the 1958 motion picture "In Love and War." Brown had small roles in the lowbrow mid 70s drive-in exploitation comedies "Chesty Anderson U.S. Navy" and "The Amorous Adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza." Outside of her sparse movie credits, Marilyn also acted in a few off-off-Broadway stage productions. Alas, Brown was a painfully shy and troubled woman who had problems with drug abuse and alcoholism throughout most of her life. Marilyn committed suicide at age 45 on July 22, 1998 by jumping off a Los Angeles freeway overpass; she was married and had one child at the time of her tragic death.
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Parker Posey was born two months premature in Baltimore, Maryland, to Lynda (Patton) and Chris Posey. The family moved to Monroe, La. and then Laurel, Mississippi, where Chris became owner of Laurel's own Posey Chevrolet. Parker attended high school at R. H. Watkins High School in Laurel, and college at the prestigious SUNY Purchase. While at SUNY she roomed with Sherry Stringfield of TV's ER (1994).- Actress
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Elizabeth Rodriguez is a Manhattan born and raised native New Yorker and a graduate of Lehman College in the Bronx. After graduation from Lehman, Rodriguez studied for two years under acclaimed acting teacher Maggie Flanigan at William Esper Studios in NYC. While still at the studio she began working professionally with appearances in the feature films Fresh (1994), Dead Presidents (1995) and I Think I Do (1997), as well as in TV shows such as Law & Order (1990), and recurring roles on both Oz (1997) and New York Undercover (1994).
Rodriguez has since appeared in numerous shows, including a recent recurring role as Aleida Diaz on the upcoming Netflix Original Series Orange Is the New Black (2013). Other TV credits include roles as series regulars on both NBC's Prime Suspect (2011), opposite Maria Bello, and ABC's All My Children (1970), in addition to recurring roles on The Shield (2002) and ER (1994). Other credits include Six Feet Under (2001), Flashforward (2009), Cold Case (2003), Just Shoot Me! (1997), NYPD Blue (1993) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999). Her made-for-TV movies include Inflammable (1995) and P.O.W.E.R.: The Eddie Matos Story (1994). Some of her feature films include Return to Paradise (1998), Four Lane Highway (2005), Acts of Worship (2001), Blow (2001), All Things Fall Apart (2011), Pound of Flesh (2010), Tonight at Noon, A Line in the Sand (2008), Jack Goes Boating (2010), directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Michael Mann's Miami Vice (2006), opposite Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx. Other notable films include Tio Papi (2013), Glass Chin (2014) and The Drop (2014), with Tom Hardy and James Gandolfini.
In addition to her work on screen, Rodriguez remains extremely active in the theater. She has starred in "Beauty of the Father" (Manhattan Theatre Club), "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot" (NY's Public Theater), "Roger and Vanessa" (Actors' Gang), "Den of Thieves" (Black Dahlia), "Robbers" (American Place Theater), "A View From 151st Street" (NY's Public Theater) and "Unconditional" (NY's Public Theater). Rodriguez is a longtime member of NY's acclaimed Labyrinth Theater Company.- Born in Bedford, Texas, on March 4, 1993, the multi-talented Jenna Boyd has been "on the go" in her life since the age of 2. Her mother, Debbie, entered Jenna into a modeling search when she was two years old. Her enthusiasm and sweet nature captured the hearts of agents who informed her mother to send Jenna to agencies. Soon enough, Jenna was appearing in commercials and print ads, and was cast as one of the young kids in The Barney Show.
A few years later, the family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, because of work commitments involving Jenna's father, Mike, who now flies for Delta Air. Jenna's agent in Atlanta urged Debbie to temporarily move to Los Angeles, California, to audition. It worked, and Jenna was quickly cast in the TV shows CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Just Shoot Me! (1997), Titus (1999), and Six Feet Under (2001). Jenna also appeared in the feature TV-movie Mary Christmas (2002) where she played the lead character, Felice. Jenna's first foray into film was a small part in The Exorcist (1973) director William Friedkin's The Hunted (2003) where she played daughter to Benicio Del Toro's character; the film also stars Tommy Lee Jones. She then appeared in Sam Weisman's Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003) playing star David Spade's "adopted" daughter Sally. Jenna's biggest breakthrough came in Ron Howard's (Night Shift (1982), Apollo 13 (1995)) 2003 film The Missing (2003), where she received critical acclaim for her haunting portrayal of Dot Gilkenson, daughter of Cate Blanchett's character. (This was Jenna's second time working with Tommy Lee Jones.) Besides acting, Jenna Boyd is also an award-winning skater.
On the ice as early as 5:15 in the morning, Jenna's determination in her skating has already led her to master the double jump move, which is very successful for the 11-year old (her favorite skater is Tara Lipinski). Despite the hectic schedule of juggling skating, school (she's a straight-A student) and acting, Jenna is gifted and strong enough to handle it all.
Jenna's other hobbies include running a spy club with her friends, horseback riding, attending church, making homemade perfumes and spending time with her brother, Cayden, who is also an up-and-coming actor (last seen in Clint Eastwood's 2003 film Mystic River (2003) as the son to the Tim Robbins character). Jenna Boyd currently resides in Los Angeles. - Actress
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Angela Trimbur was born on 19 July 1981 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Search Party (2016), The Final Girls (2015) and The Good Place (2016).- Rachel DiPillo was born on 26 January 1991 in Flint, Michigan, USA. She is an actress, known for Hello, My Name Is Frank (2015), Cuckoo (2015) and Chicago Med (2015).
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Linda Hunt is a veteran character actress who had only just begun acting in motion pictures when director Peter Weir required her peculiarities to animate one of cinema's most esoteric characters, Billy Kwan, the intellectual and virtuous Chinese-Australian dwarf and photographer, in the Australian romantic drama, The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Hunt's work in the film earned an Oscar, among many critic awards, all for Best Supporting Actress.- Actress
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Andree Vermeulen was born on 4 November 1982 in the USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Angie Tribeca (2016), Dragons: Race to the Edge (2015) and NTSF:SD:SUV (2011).- Actress
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Em Haine is from Vancouver British Columbia. Em is the only offspring from an Austrian immigrated father and French-Canadian mother. Em was home schooled as a teenager then catapulted themselves to London, England to study the Meisner technique at The Actors Temple while taking fine-art at Central Saint Martins.
After graduation Em moved back to 'Hollywood North,' was scouted by an agent and joined local punk band The Dirt singing backing vocals and playing bass. Em's first break was the role of oddball Noreen Vanderslice in critically acclaimed FX mini-series Fargo (2014). Since then Em has appeared on the big screen in the Marvel superhero hit Deadpool (2016), the Jason Reitman comedy Tully (2018) , and on the small screen as Elspeth in Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018) , or as Sarah Owen in SyFy's Reginald the Vampire (2022) , tune in they're just getting started!- Emily Tosta was born on 26 March 1998 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She is an actress, known for Mayans M.C. (2018), Party of Five (2020) and Willy's Wonderland (2021).
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Amy Frederica Brenneman was born in New London, Connecticut, to Frederica (Shoenfield), a judge in the Connecticut State Superior Court, and Russell Langdon Brenneman, Jr., an environmental lawyer. Amy's mother was one of the first women to graduate from Harvard. Amy is also a graduate of Harvard, where she majored in comparative religion. She spent one semester studying sacred dances in Nepal. While in college, she formed the Cornerstone Theater Company, a touring production company that takes classics to small towns and encourages locals to participate in them. After touring for five years, she moved to New York, where she became a teacher in Brooklyn. She landed her first TV role in 1992.- Robin McLeavy was born on 19 June 1981 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She is an actress, known for The Loved Ones (2009), Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) and Hell on Wheels (2011).
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Michelle McLeod is a Toronto based Actor originally from Peterborough Ontario. She has BA in theatre studies and film and is a graduate of the Second City Conservatory Program in Toronto and of the (CFC) Canadian Film Centre Actors Residency.
She has been acting in since the age of 11 both in film and in theatre. Her first role was when she was 11 years old as the "lolly pop girl" in a community theatre production of The Music Man. Her passion for acting only grew from there.
Coming from a family of cinephiles, Michelle has always been driven by her dream to tell stories through acting.
Her most notable roles include Irene in Pat Mill's Don't Talk to Irene (2017) starring opposite Geena Davis and Mejal in Sarah Polley's Women Talking (2022) alongside Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, Sheila McCarthy, Judith Ivey, Ben Whishaw and Frances McDormand.
Other credits include Honey Bee alongside Julia Sarah Stone, Martha Plimpton and Peter Outerbridge, My Spy with Dave Bautista, "Tin Star" opposite Tim Roth, and BBC's "Creeped Out", and a recurring role in the upcoming season of Catherine Reitman's "Workin' Moms".
She is represented by Adam Stutt at The Gary Goddard Agency in Toronto.- Actress
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Lyndon Smith was born in Pensacola, Florida, USA. She is an actress, known for National Treasure: Edge of History (2022), Parenthood (2010) and Step Sisters (2018). She was previously married to Steve Talley.- Actress
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Olivia Cooke was born and raised in Oldham, a former textile manufacturing town in Greater Manchester, North West England. She comes from a family of non-actors; her father, John, is a retired police officer, and her mother is a sales representative. Cooke attended Royton and Crompton Secondary School and studied drama at Oldham Sixth Form College, leaving before the end of her A-levels to star in Blackout.
At a young age, Cooke practiced ballet and gymnastics. She started acting when she was 8 years old at an after-school drama programme in her hometown, called the Oldham Theatre Workshop. For years, Cooke performed only as part of the ensemble, until she was 17, when she starred as Maria in Oldham Sixth Form College's production of West Side Story. Soon after, Cooke landed her first and last leading role for the Oldham Theatre, in Prom: The Musical, a remake of Cinderella.- Actress
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Danielle Macdonald was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. At the age of 18, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting full-time.
Audiences know Danielle for her breakout role as 'Patti' in Fox Searchlight's Patti Cake$ as well as the title character opposite Jennifer Aniston in Dumplin'. Macdonald also appeared opposite Sandra Bullock in Netflix's runaway hit, Bird Box. Additionally, she appeared in Fox Searchlight's Oscar-winning short film, Skin, opposite Jonathan Tucker. She also appears in the feature version of A24's Skin, with Jamie Bell, as well as Paradise Hills with Emma Roberts and Awkwafina.
She starred in Netflix's Unbelievable which has garnered critical acclaim and a Golden Globe nomination.
The Savannah Film Festival honored her in 2019 where she received the Rising Star Award.
Macdonald recently played the iconic role of Lillian Roxon in the film I Am Woman which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2019. She next stars in the romantic comedy Falling For Figaro from director Ben Lewin which just premiered at the 2020 Toronto Film Festival in the Industry Selects section. Macdonald also appears in the Sony Pictures Classics' film French Exit, where she stars alongside Michelle Pfeiffer, Lucas Hedges, and Tracy Letts. The film debuts closing night of the 2020 New York Film Festival and will be released in theaters February 12, 2021.- Actress
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Maria Bello was born on 18 April, 1967 in Norristown, Pennsylvania, to Kathy, a nurse and teacher, and Joe Bello, a contractor. She is of Italian and Polish descent. Maria went to Villanova University, majoring in political science. She had every intention of becoming a lawyer, but she took an acting class during her senior year, just for fun. She discovered she was very good at it, and she was soon cast in small off-Broadway plays, such as "The Killer Inside Me", "Small Town Gals With Big Problems" and "Urban Planning". She later guest-starred on episodes of The Commish (1991), Nowhere Man (1995), Misery Loves Company (1995), and Due South (1994). She got her big break when producers Kenny Lenhart and John J. Sakmar cast her in the spy show Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1996) as "Mrs. Smith" (they remembered her from her performance in a failed pilot that was a remake of the classic TV series 77 Sunset Strip (1958)). The show was canceled after eight weeks on the air. Then came a spot on ER (1994) as "Dr. Anna Del Amico", in which she guest-starred on the final three episodes of the third season. The show's producers were so impressed with her that they asked her back as a regular on the series.- Actress
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Taissa Farmiga is an American actress, and the younger sister of Academy Award nominee Vera Farmiga, who is 21 years her senior. She was born in Readington Township, New Jersey, USA, to Ukrainian-born parents Michael and Lubomyra (Spas) Farmiga.
Unlike her older sister, Taissa initially had no interest in becoming an actor. However, she was persuaded to make her acting debut in Vera's directorial debut film Higher Ground (2011). Also playing the lead, Vera wanted to cast someone who was physically similar to play the younger version of her character. Taissa was 15 years old and, apart from a second grade school play, had no previous acting experience. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and Taissa's performance received critical acclaim. It was after Sundance that Taissa officially decided to pursue acting. At age 16, she landed a leading role as Violet Harmon in the Fox horror series American Horror Story (2011).
Farmiga has since starred in films from a range of genres, including Sofia Coppola's crime film The Bling Ring (2013), Jorge Dorado's psychological thriller Anna (2013), Todd Strauss-Schulson's horror comedy The Final Girls (2015), Hannah Fidell's romantic drama 6 Years (2015), Ti West's western In a Valley of Violence (2016), and Warren Beatty's comedy-drama Rules Don't Apply (2016).- Actress
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Zazie Beetz (born c. 1991) is a German-American actress known for the role of Vanessa on Atlanta (2016), as well as for starring in Deadpool 2 (2018), Joker (2019), and Nine Days (2020).
Born in Berlin to a German father and an African-American mother, Beetz was raised in New York speaking both German and English at home. Performing in community theaters and local stages since childhood, Zazie found her joy in grade school and grew up acting. She attended LaGuardia Arts High school, where she continued to engage her love for performing arts, but decided to not pursue a conservatory program afterward. Instead, she went to Skidmore College, where she received a bachelor's degree in French. Beetz currently resides in her hometown, New York.- Actress
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Sosie Bacon was born on 15 March 1992. She is an actress and producer, known for Smile (2022), Mare of Easttown (2021) and Loverboy (2005).- Actress
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Angela Lansbury was born in 1925 into a prominent family of the upper middle class living in the Regent's Park neighborhood of London. Her father was socialist politician Edgar Isaac Lansbury (1887-1935), a member of both the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Labour Party. Edgar served as Honorary Treasurer of the East London Federation of Suffragettes (term 1915), and Mayor of Poplar (term 1924-1925). He was the second Communist mayor in British history, the first being Joe Vaughan (1878-1938). Lansbury's mother was Irish film actress Moyna Macgill (1895-1975), originally from Belfast. During the first five years of Angela's life, the Lansbury family lived in a flat located in Poplar. In 1930, they moved to a house located in the Mill Hill neighborhood of north London. They spend their weekends vacationing in a farm located in Berrick Salome, a village in South Oxfordshire.
In 1935, Edgar Lansbury died from stomach cancer. Angela reportedly retreated into "playing characters", as a coping mechanism to deal with the loss. The widowed Moyna Macgill soon became engaged to Leckie Forbes, a Scottish colonel. Moyna moved into his house in Hampstead.
From 1934 to 1939, Angela was a student at South Hampstead High School. During these years, she became interested in films.. She regularly visited the local cinema, and imagined herself in various roles. Angela learned how to play the piano, and received a musical education at the Ritman School of Dancing.
In 1940, Lansbury started her acting education at the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art, located in Kensington, West London. She made her theatrical debut in the school's production of the play "Mary of Scotland" (1933) by Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959). The play depicted the life of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587, reigned 1542-1567), and Lansbury played one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting.
Also in 1940, Lansbury's paternal grandfather, George Lansbury, died from stomach cancer. When the Blitz started, Moyna Macgill had reasons to fear for the safety of her family and few remaining ties to England. Macgill moved to the United States to escape the Blitz, taking her three youngest children with her. Isolde was already a married adult, and was left behind in England.
Macgill secured financial sponsorship from American businessman Charles T. Smith. She and her children (including Angela) moved into Smith's house in Mahopac, New York, a hamlet in Putnam County. Lansbury was interested in continuing her studies, and secured a scholarship from the American Theatre Wing. From 1940 to 1942, Lansbury studied acting at the Feagin School of Dramatic Art, located in New York City. She appeared in performances organized by the school.
In 1942, Lansbury moved with her family to a flat located in Morton Street, Greenwich Village. She soon followed her mother in her theatrical tour of Canada. Lansbury secured her first paying job in Montreal, singing at the nightclub Samovar Club for a payment of 60 dollars per week. Lansbury was 16 years old at the time, but lied about her age and claimed to be 19 in order to be hired.
Lansbury returned to New York City in August, 1942, but Moyna Macgill soon moved herself and her family again. The family moved to Los Angeles, where Moyna was interested in resurrecting her film career. Their first home there was a bungalow in Laurel Canyon, a neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills.
Lansbury helped financially support her family by working for the Bullocks Wilshire department store in Los Angeles. Her weekly wages were only 28 dollars, but she had a secure income while her mother was unemployed. Through her mother, Lansbury was introduced to screenwriter John Van Druten (1901-1957), who had recently completed his script of "Gaslight" (1944). He suggested that young Lansbury would be perfect for the role of Nancy Oliver, the film's conniving cockney maid. This helped secure Lansbury's first film role at the age of 17, and a seven-year contract with the film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She earned 500 dollars per week, and chose to continue using her own name instead of a stage name.
In 1945, Lansbury married actor Richard Cromwell (1910-1960), who was 15 years older than she. The troubled marriage ended in a divorce in 1946. The former spouses remained friends until Cromwell's death.
In 1946, Lansbury started a romantic relationship with aspiring actor Peter Shaw (1918-2003), who was 7 years older than her. Shaw had recently ended his relationship with actress Joan Crawford (c. 1908-1977). The new couple started living together, while planning marriage. They wanted to be married in the United Kingdom, but the Church of England refused to marry two divorcees. They were married in 1949, in a Church of Scotland ceremony at St. Columba's Church, located in Knightsbridge, London. After their return to the United States, they settled into Lansbury's home in Rustic Canyon, Malibu. In 1951, both Lansbury and Shaw became naturalized citizens of the United States, while retaining their British citizenship.
Meanwhile, Lansbury continued appearing in MGM films. She appeared in 11 MGM films between 1945 and 1952. MGM at times loaned Lansbury to other film studios. She appeared in United Artists' "The Private Affairs of Bel Ami" (1947), and Paramount Pictures' "Samson and Delilah" (1949). In 1948, Lansbury made her debut in radio roles, followed by her television debut in 1950.
In 1952, Lansbury requested the termination of her contract with MGM, instead of its renewal. She felt unsatisfied with her film career as an MGM contract player. She then joined the East Coast touring productions of two former Broadway plays. By 1953, Lansbury had two children of her own and was also raising a stepson. She and her family moved into a larger house, located on San Vincente Boulevard in Santa Monica. In 1959, she and her family moved into a house in Malibu. The married couple were able to send their children to a local public school.
Meanwhile she continued her film career as a freelance actress, but continued to be cast in middle-aged roles. She regained her A-picture actress through well-received roles in the drama film "The Long, Hot Summer" (1958) and the comedy film "The Reluctant Debutante" (1958). She also appeared regularly in television roles, and became a regular on game show "Pantomime Quiz" (1947-1959).
In 1957, Lansbury made her Broadway debut in a performance of "Hotel Paradiso". The play was an adaptation of the 1894 "L'Hôtel du libre échange" ("Free Exchange Hotel"), written by Maurice Desvallières (1857-1926) and Georges Feydeau (1862-1921). Lansbury's role as "Marcel Cat" was critically well received. She continued appearing in Broadway over the next several years, most notably cast as the verbally abusive mother in "A Taste of Honey". She was cast as the mother of co-star Joan Plowright (1929-), who was only four years younger.
In the early 1960s, Lansbury was cast as an overbearing mother in "Blue Hawaii" (1961). The role of her son was played by Elvis Presley (1935-1977), who was only 10 years than her. The film was a box office hit, it finished as the 10th-top-grossing film of 1961 and 14th for 1962 on the "Variety" national box office survey. It gained Lansbury renewed fame, at a difficult point of her career.
Lansbury gained critical praise for a sympathetic role in the drama film "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" (1960), and the role of a manipulative mother in the drama film "All Fall Down" (1962). Based on her success in "All Fall Down", she was cast in a similar role in the Cold War-themed thriller "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962). She was cast as Eleanor Iselin, the mother of her co-star Laurence Harvey (1928-1973), who was only 3 years younger than she. This turned out to be one of the most memorable roles in her career. She received critical acclaim and was nominated for a third time for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The award was instead won by Patty Duke (1946-2016).
Lansbury made a comeback in the starring role of Mame Dennis in the musical "Mame" (1966), by Jerome Lawrence (1915-2004) and Robert Edwin Lee (1918-1994). The play was an adaptation of the novel "Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade" (1955) by Patrick Dennis (1921-1976), and focused on the life and ideas of eccentric bohemian Mame Dennis. The musical received critical and popular praise, and Lansbury won her first Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. Lansbury gained significant fame from her success, becoming a "superstar".
Her newfound fame led to other high-profile appearances by Lansbury. She starred in a musical performance at the 1968 Academy Awards ceremony, and co-hosted the 1968 Tony Awards. The Hasty Pudding Club, a social club for Harvard students. elected her "Woman of the Year" in 1968.
Lansbury's next theatrical success was in 1969 "The Madwoman of Chaillot" (1945) by Jean Giraudoux (1882-1944). The play concerns an eccentric Parisian woman's struggles with authority figures. Lansbury was cast in the starring role of 75-year-old Countess Aurelia, despite her actual age of 44. The show was well received and lasted for 132 performances. Lansbury won her second Tony Award for this role.
In 1970, Lansbury's Malibu home was destroyed in a brush fire. Lansbury and her husband decided to buy Knockmourne Glebe, an 1820s Irish farmhouse, located near the village of Conna in rural County Cork.
Her film career reached a new height. She was cast in the starring role of benevolent witch Eglantine Price in Disney's fantasy film "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (1971). The film was a box-office hit; it was critically well received, and introduced Lansbury to a wider audience of children and families.
In 1972, Lansbury returned to the British stage, performing in London's West End with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1973, Lansbury appeared in the role of Rose in London performances of the musical "Gypsy" (1959) by Arthur Laurents. It was quite successful. In 1974, "Gypsy" went on tour in the United States. with the same cast. For her role, Lanbury won the Sarah Siddons Award and her third Tony Award. The musical had its second tour in 1975.
Tired from musicals. Lansbury next sought Shakespearean roles in the United Kingdom. From 1975 to 1976, she appeared as Queen Gertrude in the National Theatre Company's production of Hamlet. In November 1975, Lansbury's mother Moyna Macgill died at the age of 79. Lansbury arranged for her mother's remains to be cremated, and the ashes scattered near her own County Cork home.
In 1976, Lansbury returned to the American stage. In 1978, Lansbury temporarily replaced Constance Towers (1933-) in the starring role of Anna Leonowens (1831-1915) in The King and I. While Towers was on a break from the role, Lansbury appeared in 24 performances.
In 1978, Lansbury appeared in her first film role in seven years, as the novelist and murder victim Salome Otterbourne in the mystery film "Death on the Nile" (1978). The film was an adaptation of the 1937 novel by Agatha Christie (1890-1976); Otterbourne was loosely based on real-life novelist Elinor Glyn (1864-1943). The film was a modest box-office hit, and Lansbury befriended her co-star Bette Davis (1908-1989).
In 1979, Lansbury was cast in the role of meat pie seller Mrs. Lovett in the musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (1979), by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler (1912-1987). The musical was loosely based on the penny dreadful serial novel "The String of Pearls: A Domestic Romance" (1846-1847), which first depicted fictional serial killer Sweeney Todd. Lansbury remained in the role for 14 months, and was then replaced by Dorothy Loudon (1925-2003). Lansbury won her fourth Tony Award for this role. She returned to the role for 10 months in 1980.
Lansbury's next prominent film role was that of Miss Froy in "The Lady Vanishes" (1979), a remake of the 1938 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980). She was next cast in the role of amateur sleuth Miss Jane Marple in the mystery film "The Mirror Crack'd" (1980), an adaptation of the novel "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side" (1962) by Agatha Christie. The novel was loosely inspired by the life of Gene Tierney (1920-1991). The film was a modest commercial success. There were plans for at least two sequels, but they ended in development hell.
In 1982, Lansbury was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame, She appeared at the time in the new play "A Little Family Business" and a revival of "Mame", but both shows were commercial failures. In film, Lansbury voiced the witch Mommy Fortuna in the animated fantasy film "The Last Unicorn" (1982). The film was critically well received, but was not a box-office hit.
Lansbury played Ruth in the musical comedy "The Pirates of Penzance" (1983), a film adaptation of the 1879 comic opera by William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911) and Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900). The film was a box office bomb, earning about 695,000 dollars.
Lansbury's next film role was that of Granny in the gothic fantasy film "The Company of Wolves" (1984), based on a 1979 short story by Angela Carter (1940-1992). Lansbury was cast as the grandmother of protagonist Rosaleen (played by Sarah Patterson), in a tale featuring werewolves and shape-shifting. The film was critically well received, but barely broke even at the box office.
At about that time, Lansbury appeared regularly in television films and mini-series. Her most prominent television role was that of Jessica Fletcher in the detective series "Murder, She Wrote" (1984-1996). Jessica was depicted as a successful mystery novelist from Maine who encounters and solves many murders. The character was considered an American counterpart to Miss Marple. The series followed the "whodunit" format and mostly avoided depictions of violence or gore.
The series was considered a television landmark for having an older female character as the protagonist. It was aimed primarily at middle-aged audiences, but also attracted both younger viewers and senior citizen viewers. Ratings remained high for most of its run. Lansbury rejected pressure from network executives to put her character in a relationship, as she believed that Fletcher should remain a strong single female.
In 1989, Lansbury co-founded the production company Corymore Productions, which started co-producing the television series with Universal Television. This allowed Lansbury to have more creative input on the series. She was appointed an executive producer. By the time the series ended in 1996, it tied with the original "Hawaii Five-O" (1968-1980) as the longest-running detective drama series in television history.
Her popularity from "Murder, She Wrote" made Lansbury a much-sought figure for advertisers. She appeared in advertisements and infomercials for Bufferin, MasterCard and the Beatrix Potter Company.
Lansbury's highest-profile film role in decades was voicing the character of singing teapot Mrs. Potts in Disney's animated fantasy film "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). Lansbury performed the film's title song, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.
During the late 1980s and 1990s, Lansbury lived most of the year in California. In 1991, she had Corymore House, a farmhouse at Ballywilliam, County Cork, built as her new family home. She spend Christmases and summers there.
Following the end of "Murder, She Wrote", Lansbury returned to a career as a theatrical actress. She temporarily retired from the stage in 2001, to take care of her husband Peter Shaw, whose health was failing. Shaw died in 2003, from congestive heart failure at the couple's Brentwood, California home. Their marriage had lasted for 54 years (1949-2003).
Lansbury felt at the time that she could not take on any more major acting roles, but that she could still make cameos. She moved back to New York City in 2006, buying a condominium in Manhattan. Her first prominent film role in years was that of Aunt Adelaide in the fantasy film "Nanny McPhee" (2005). She credits her performance in the film with pulling her out of depression, a state of mind which had lasted since her husband's death.
Lansbury returned to performing on the Broadway stage in 2007, after an absence of 23 years. In 2009, she won her fifth Tony Award. She shared the record for most Tony Award victories with Julie Harris (1925-2013). In the 2010s, she continued regularly appearing in theatrical performances. In 2014, she returned to the London stage, after an absence of nearly 40 years.
In 2015, Lansbury received her first Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress. At age 89, she was among the oldest first-time winners. Also in 2015, November 2015 was awarded the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.
In 2017, she was cast as Aunt March in the mini-series "Little Women". The mini-series was an adaptation of the 1868-1869 novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888). The series lasted for 3 episodes, and was critically well received.
In 2018, Lansbury gained her next film role in Disney's fantasy film "Mary Poppins Returns" (2018), a sequel to "Mary Poppins". Lansbury was cast in the role of the Balloon Lady, a kindly old woman who sells balloons at the park. The films was a commercial hit, earning about 350 million dollars at the worldwide box office.
In 2019, Lansbury performed at a one-night benefit staging of Oscar Wilde's play "The Importance of Being Earnest" (1895). a farce satirizing Victorian morals. She was cast in the role of society lady Lady Bracknell, mother to Gwendolen Fairfax.
By 2020, Lansbury was 95 years old, one of the oldest-living actresses. She has never retired from acting, and remains a popular icon.- Actress
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Gloria Stuart was born on a dining room table on 4th Street in Santa Monica, California on July 4, 1910. Her early roles as a performing artist were in plays she produced in her home as a young girl. She was the star of her senior class play at Santa Monica High School in 1927. Attending the University of California, at Berkeley, she continued to perform on the stage. Stuart married and move to Carmel, where she performed in a production of "The Seagull" which was transferred to the Pasadena Playhouse in 1932. It was there that talent scouts for both Paramount and Universal saw her. In a famous dispute, the heads of the two studios flipped a coin and Universal won. She played lead roles for director James Whale, including (The Old Dark House (1932), The Invisible Man (1933) and The Kiss Before the Mirror (1933)). The hard work at the studio estranged her from her first husband (Stuart helped create the Screen Actors Guild). She played the leading lady in Roman Scandals (1933), on the set of which she met her husband Arthur Sheekman. She was dissatisfied with the roles in which she was cast at Universal and played roles in films for other studios. Ultimately, a few years after having her daughter Sylvia (named after the role she was playing when she met Sheekman), she left the cinema and sought roles on the stage in New York. In the 1940s, she opened an art furniture shop where she created decoupage lamps, tables and trays, many of which sold to stars like Judy Garland and others. Later, Stuart took up oil painting and was very prolific, showing and selling her work in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere. Her landscapes of The Watts Towers are on permanent collection at The Los Angeles County Museum. She also took up and mastered the art of bonsai and some of her trees are on permanent collection in the Huntington Library Japanese Garden. When her husband fell ill in the 1970s (he died in 1978), she returned to acting doing a range of television series. In 1982, she returned to the screen appearing in a brief dance scene with Peter O'Toole in My Favorite Year (1982).
About this time a friend, she knew half a century earlier in Carmel, who was a master printer, re-entered her life and from him, Stuart learned the craft of fine printing. She established a printing press in her home studio called Imprenta Glorias. where she created a body of fine artist's books. Her greatest book, "Flight of Butterfly Kites" is in permanent collection at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Gloria Stuart won a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Oscar-nomination for her performance as the Old Rose in Titanic (1997). In July 2010, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences honored Gloria Stuart with a Centennial Celebration. She was the first such honoree to be living for a centennial. At 100 years of age, she had completed her greatest artist's book with her great-granddaughter working as her apprentice and also her final appearance on film in her grandson's documentary about her, entitled Secret Life of Old Rose: The Art of Gloria Stuart (2012) when she died at home at the age of 100 on September 26, 2010.- Lily LaTorre is a delightful young actor who has already worked with the likes of directors Jeffery Walker in "The Clearing" alongside Kate Mulvaney and Miranda Otto, as well as Daina Reid in "Run Rabbit Run", playing a leading role, Mia, opposite Sarah Snook. She was the face of a major Telstra campaign for a number of years and has appeared in countless high-profile commercials in Australia and the US. Brands have included Fox Sports, Myer, Big W, Woolies, Banana Boat, Queensland Health and Breville, to name just a few. Lily's short films include "You and Me, Before and After" (dir. Madeleine Gottlieb) and "Jake's 7th Birthday" (dir. Ariel Martin). Having started in the industry at a very young age, Lily has an excellent Standard American and English accent. Lily loves working alongside her brother Jack and spending time with her family and dog in coastal country Australia, dancing, playing piano and singing.
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Oona Laurence (born August 1, 2002) is an American actress who is best known for originating the role of Matilda Wormwood in Matilda on Broadway alongside Bailey Ryon, Milly Shapiro, and Sophia Gennusa. She is a New York City-based child actress with credits in film, theatre, and television.
After several appearances in regional theatre productions and minor roles in short films and television episodes, in 2012, Laurence auditioned for the new musical Matilda on Broadway. Laurence landed the role of Matilda, performing in the show from March 4 to December 15, 2013.
After Matilda, Laurence transitioned to film acting appearing in Tumorhead, A Little Game, The Grief of Others, I Smile Back, Damsel, Lamb, and Southpaw, portraying the daughter of Jake Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdams' characters.
She has appeared on television in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Orange Is the New Black.
In 2015, Laurence co-starred opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdams in Antoine Fuqua's Southpaw. In 2016, she co-starred as Natalie in the film Pete's Dragon, and portrayed Jane Mitchell, the daughter of Mila Kunis' character Amy Mitchell, in Bad Moms.
In 2017, Laurence co-starred opposite Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and Elle Fanning in Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled.
She is the voice of Hedgehog and additional characters in the Cartoon Network series Summer Camp Island. She also performs the theme song.
Laurence lives in New York City and has two younger sisters, Aimee and Jetè, who are also actresses.- Actress
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Joey King started acting professionally when she was four years old. A national spot for Life Cereal was Joey's first commercial. It has been said that Joey inherited the love of acting from her grandmother, who used to perform in live theater.
She has appeared in several television shows and movies of the week, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Entourage (2004), Medium (2005), R.L. Stine's the Haunting Hour (2010) and "Avenging Angel", to name a few. Also she has completed three pilots, and was a series regular on the short lived show, "Bent" were she has said, "Jeffrey Tambor made me laugh everyday".
Joey voiced the yellow fur ball Katie, for the animated feature Horton Hears a Who! (2008), and Beaver, for "Ice Age 3-D". She has also voiced the lead character Jessie, in the book series movie adaptation of "The Boxcar Children", and lastly the voice of China Girl in the much anticipated Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), a prequel to the the world famous 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz (1939). Joey said, "I think it's really neat to hear my voice come out of animal or creature that someone made from their imagination!"
Her first film Grace (2006), was shot when she was six years old. On the first day of filming Joey had to pretend to almost drown in the ice cold ocean. Joey has said she was completely hooked on making movies after that.
Joey was nine years old when she landed her first lead role in the feature Ramona and Beezus (2010). Joey played Ramona Quimby, whose character always seems to be in some sort of mischief. Joey has said that the role changed her life and she will always be grateful to, two of the most amazing, talented woman, Liz Allen and Denise DeNovi who are still good friends of Joey's.
In her short years, Joey has worked with some very prestigious directors; Christopher Nolan, who Joey describes as super involved in every detail, including being present when Joey shaved off her hair for her role in The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Sam Raimi, who captured Joey's heart with his gentle and patient demeanor and brilliant vision, while working on Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), and Roland Emmerich who Joey has said is such a gifted director, who I was so lucky to get to work for and will be my friend for life, while filming the action movie, White House Down (2013).
Joey has spoken to many schools and Boys and Girls Clubs on the importance of making a positive difference in the world, even if you are young. She attends and contributes to many charities, and you can often find her helping her grandmother deliver food to the elderly through Meals on Wheels when she is not working.
Joey's performances have earned her outstanding critical reviews from such critics as Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times, and Amy Biancolli of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Joey has said she feels like the luckiest person in the world to be able to do what she loves and be surrounded by people she loves!- Actress
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Cara Jocelyn Delevingne was born in London, England, to Pandora Anne (Stevens) and Charles Hamar Delevingne, a property developer. Her parents are both from prominent upper-class families, with her ancestors including Viscounts (Greenwood), Baronets (Hulton, Faudel-Phillips), Majors and Lord Mayors of London.
Delevingne is a fashion model, and the face of Burberry's Beauty campaign. She was previously the face of Burberry's Spring/Summer 2012 campaign and Spring/Summer 2011 campaign. She has been featured in advertising campaigns for other brands including H&M, Zara and Chanel. She also appeared on the catwalk for brands such as Moschino, Jason Wu, Oscar de la Renta, Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi and Stella McCartney. Delevingne was on the covers of Vogue UK, Vogue Korea, i-D, Love, Russh, Jalouse and Style.com's Spring 2013 issue. She also walked down the catwalk as a model at the 2012 Victoria's Secret fashion show.
Delevingne has also begun a career as an actress, starring in films such as Paper Towns (2015), Suicide Squad (2016), and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017).
Delevigne is ranked #17 on models.com's 50 Top Models (2013). She also won Model Of The Year 2012 at the British Fashion Awards.- Actress
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Shirley MacLaine was born Shirley MacLean Beaty in Richmond, Virginia. Her mother, Kathlyn Corinne (MacLean), was a drama teacher from Nova Scotia, Canada, and her father, Ira Owens Beaty, a professor of psychology and real estate agent, was from Virginia. Her brother, Warren Beatty, was born on March 30, 1937. Her ancestry includes English and Scottish.
Shirley was the tallest in her ballet classes at the Washington School of Ballet. Just after she graduated from Washington-Lee High School, she packed her bags and headed for New York. While auditioning for Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's "Me and Juliet", the producer kept mispronouncing her name. She then changed her name from Shirley MacLean Beaty to Shirley MacLaine. She later had a role in "The Pajama Game", as a member of the chorus and understudy to Carol Haney. A few months into the run, Shirley was going to leave the show for the lead role in "Can-Can" but ended up filling in for Haney, who had broken her ankle and could not perform. She would fill in for Carol, again, three months later, following another injury, the very night that movie producer Hal B. Wallis was in the audience. Wallis signed MacLaine to a five-year contract to Paramount Pictures. Three months later, she was off to shoot The Trouble with Harry (1955). She then took roles in Hot Spell (1958) and Around the World in 80 Days (1956), completed not too long before her daughter, Sachi Parker (born Stephanie), was born. With Shirley's career on track, she played one of her most challenging roles: "Ginny Moorhead" in Some Came Running (1958), for which she received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She went on to do The Sheepman (1958) and The Matchmaker (1958). In 1960, she got her second Academy Award nomination for The Apartment (1960). Three years later, she received a third nomination for Irma la Douce (1963). In 1969, she brought her friend Bob Fosse from Broadway to direct her in Sweet Charity (1969), from which she got her "signature" song, "If My Friends Could See Me Now". After a five-year hiatus, Shirley made a documentary on China called The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir (1975), for which she received an Oscar nomination for best documentary.
In 1977, she got her fourth Best Actress Oscar nomination for The Turning Point (1977). In 1979, she worked with Peter Sellers in Being There (1979), made shortly before his death. After 20 years in the film industry, she finally took home the Best Actress Oscar for Terms of Endearment (1983). After a five-year hiatus, Shirley made Madame Sousatzka (1988), a critical and financial hit that took top prize at the Venice Film Festival. In 1989, she starred with Dolly Parton, Sally Field and Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias (1989). She received rave reviews playing Meryl Streep's mother in Postcards from the Edge (1990) and for Guarding Tess (1994). In 1996, she reprised her role from "Terms of Endearment" as "Aurora Greenway" in The Evening Star (1996), which didn't repeat its predecessor's success at the box office. In mid-1998, she directed Bruno (2000), which starred Alex D. Linz. In February 2001, Shirley worked with close friends once again in These Old Broads (2001), and co-starred with Julia Stiles in Carolina (2003) and with Kirstie Alley in Salem Witch Trials (2002).
MacLaine as her own website which includes her own radio show and interviews, the Encounter Board, and Independent Expression, a members-only section of the site. In the past few years, Shirley starred in a CBS miniseries based on the life of cosmetics queen Mary Kay Ash--Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay (2002), and wrote two more books, "The Camino" in 2001, and "Out On A Leash" in 2003. After taking a slight hiatus from motion pictures, Shirley returned with roles in the movies that were small, but wonderfully scene-stealing: Bewitched (2005) with Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell, In Her Shoes (2005) with Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette, in which Shirley was nominated for a Golden Globe in the best supporting actress category, and Rumor Has It... (2005) with Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Costner. Shirley completed filming of Closing the Ring (2007), directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, in 2007. Her latest book is entitled "Sage-ing While Ag-ing"; Shirley's latest film is Valentine's Day (2010), which debuted in theaters on February 12, 2010.- Actress
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Rachelle Lefevre was born in Canada. While waiting tables, Lefevre was discovered by a Canadian film producer who, in turn, helped the aspiring actress land her first acting gig. Lefevre then moved to Los Angeles and earned a recurring role on the television show What About Brian (2006). When Lefevre was working at a Montreal sushi restaurant as a teen, a regular customer heard about her acting aspirations and put her in touch with a casting director. This eventually led to a role on a Canadian sitcom.
She appeared on several episodes of David E. Kelley's Boston Legal (2004), which led to a lead role in his 2008 U.S. adaptation of BBC hit Life on Mars (2008).
Her father's family is French, though Lefevre grew up speaking mostly English; she eventually moved to Los Angeles in 2004 due to a lack of English-speaking parts in Montreal.
Landed her biggest film role to date in Catherine Hardwicke's adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, the first in a series of popular teen novels about vampires.