Contemporary Actors
Benedict Taylor was born in 1960 in London. He is the eldest of six children. He lived in Nigeria for the first few years of his life. He made his debut in “The Turn of the Screw” on television in 1974. His movies include “The Watcher in the Woods” with Bette Davis and Carroll Baker, “Every Time We Say Goodbye” with Tom Hanks and “Monk Dawson” with John Michie.
Linda Hunt won an Oscar for her astonishing performance as the male ‘Billy Kwan’ in 1982’s “The Year of Living Dangerously”. She was born in 1945 in Morristown, New Jersey. Her other movies include “The Bostonians” “Dune” and “Silverado”.
TCM overview:
Despite her diminutive 4-foot, 9-inch frame, actress Linda Hunt emerged as a prominent, Oscar-winning performer in only her second film, playing doomed Chinese-Australian photojournalist Billy Kwan in Peter Weir’s “The Year of Living Dangerously” (1982), which marked the first time in Academy Award history that an actor won for playing a character of the opposite sex. Her triumphant win led to a Tony-nominated performance in Arthur Kopit’s “End of the World” (1983) and a supporting role as a saloon keep in the revisionist Western, “Silverado” (1985), though opportunities later became few and far between. While she logged numerous film and television roles over the years, including a long-running recurring role as a judge on “The Practice” (ABC, 1996-2004), Hunt developed a second career as a busy voiceover artist. She lent her surprising baritone as a narrator on environmental specials, while voicing characters in both video games – most notably on the “God of War” series – and various animated projects like Disney’s “Pocahontas” (1995). By the time she was seen with regularity on such hit procedurals as “Without a Trace” (CBS, 2002-09) and “NCIS: Los Angeles” (2009- ), Hunt was a familiar presence in several different mediums; a testament to both her talent and her ability to overcome the odds.
Born on April 2, 1945, in Morristown, NJ, Hunt moved to Westport, CT with her family while still an infant. Burdened with a host of health problems since birth, Hunt was misdiagnosed with cretinism at six months of age. While in her teens, she was correctly diagnosed with hypo-pituitary dwarfism, a condition in which the pituitary gland fails to release enough growth hormone. Ironically, or perhaps consequently, Hunt grew up an unusual overachiever, undaunted by her condition. She took her first stab at acting at age 12 while performing in a production of “Flibbertigibbet” at Westport’s famed Silver Nutmeg Theater. Hunt moved to New York in the mid-1960s, where she found consistent work in summer stock theater. Concerned that her unusual physical type would limit her future as an actress, Hunt initially focused on becoming a stage director. But the lure of acting proved too powerful to resist, so in 1969, Hunt returned to Westport to study acting under dramatic coach, Robert Lewis.
In the early 1970s, Hunt began a longtime association with the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven. Her one-woman show based on the life of Joan of Arc won the actress rave reviews and even flickers of interest from Broadway. A year later, Hunt went to New York City and made her off-Broadway debut as the Player Queen in the New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of “Hamlet” in Central Park. This led to Hunt’s first major role as the Irish maid Nora in a 1973 production of Eugene O’Neill’s play, “Ah, Wilderness!” Originally directed by Arvin Brown for the Long Wharf Theatre, the play eventually moved to the Circle-in-the-Square Theatre along the Great White Way in New York, where it was taped for airing as a PBS special, “Theater In America” (1976). Hunt’s screen career began in the late 1970s, when she made her television debut in a “Hallmark Hall of Fame” presentation of Arthur Miller’s “Fame” (CBS, 1979). Adapted for the screen by the playwright himself, it was noteworthy that Miller specifically created Hunt’s role of Mona with the actress in mind.
The following year, Hunt made her official big screen debut in Robert Altman’s bloated and ultimately failed musical, “Popeye” (1980). Cast in a small supporting role as the feisty Mrs. Oxheart, Hunt’s appearance was a fortunately forgettable cameo lost in an even more forgettable film that dogged stars Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall for years to come. Her next film, however, permanently changed her career. Tapped to co-star in the controversial drama “The Year of Living Dangerously,” Hunt joined burgeoning young actors Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver in director Peter Weir’s complex drama. Based on a novel of the same name by Christopher Koch, the film told the complicated tale of an Australian journalist caught at the center of a foreign country’s political overthrow. Based on the real-life events of the attempted 1965 coup of Jakarta by Indonesia’s Communist party, “Dangerously” earned Hunt an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Eurasian photographer, Billy Kwan. The first actor to ever win an Oscar for playing a role of the opposite gender, Hunt’s record stood untouched until 1999, when Hilary Swank won an Oscar for “Boys Don’t Cry.”
Despite her formidable talent, however, Hunt hit the proverbial glass ceiling. Though she remained consistently employed on stage – even winning two Obies and a Tony nomination in the 1980s and 1990s – the pedigree of her film work had slipped. Still, Hunt’s presence in movies managed to endure throughout this period. Among her higher profile roles were supporting turns in such critical favorites as “Silverado” (1985), in which she played Stella, a genial saloon proprietor, and the blockbuster comedy, “Kindergarten Cop” (1990), portraying a school principle disapproving of a rough-and-tumble cop (Arnold Schwarzenegger) going undercover as a kindergarten teacher to capture a wanted fugitive. In 1993, Hunt briefly returned to television, starring in the ill-fated space opera, “Space Rangers” (CBS, 1993), which was cancelled after just six episodes. After a brief dormancy in the mid-to late 1990s, during which time she only appeared in the horror dud, “The Relic” (1997), Hunt’s career underwent something of a renaissance when she turned to television. In 1997, Hunt created the role of Judge Zoey Hiller on David E. Kelly’s long-running legal dramedy, “The Practice.” A favorite recurring character for the show’s fans, Hunt reprised the role more than two dozen times before the show finally adjourned its run.
In 2003, Hunt joined the cast of the HBO drama “Carnivale” (HBO, 2003-05) for a 10-episode run as the mysterious voice of Management. In 2005, actress Hunt added an unlikely new credit to her resume: video game icon. As the resonant, authoritative voice of the Narrator for the award-winning “God of War” video game series, Hunt gained a whole new generation of fans unfamiliar with her acting work. Hunt reprised the voiceover role for the game’s sequel, “God of War 2.” Following a long vacation away from features, Hunt finally returned to the big screen with the blended family comedy “Yours, Mine, and Ours” (2005), starring Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo. While her role was hardly much of a challenge for the actress, the movie did at least allow Hunt a rare opportunity to flex her comedic muscles. Her next project continued in the same vein, as Dr. Mittag-Leffler in director Marc Forster’s twisted comedy, “Stranger than Fiction” (2006) starring Will Ferrell and Emma Thompson. After building a second career voicing narration for numerous PBS specials, including “Secrets of the Ocean Realm” (1997), “Woodrow Wilson” (2002) and “Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State” (2004), Hunt joined the cast of the successful spin-off series, “NCIS: Los Angeles” (CBS, 2009- ), playing OSP Operations Manager Henrietta Lange.
Jeremy Northam was born in 1961 in Cambridge. He made his U.S. movie debut opposite
Sandra Bullock in “The Net”. His other films include “Carrington” and “Gosford Park” where he played ‘Ivor Novello’.
TCM overview:
Tall and slender with dark good looks and a rich, plummy voice, Jeremy Northam was already established as a stage and television performer in his native Britain when he landed his breakthrough screen role as the suavely seductive villain stalking Sandra Bullock in the cyber thriller “The Net” (1995). The son of a professor and a potter, he spent his formative years in Bristol and Cambridge. After completing his college education, Northam enrolled at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School but left before completing the three-year program when he began landing TV roles like the soldier in the WWI drama “Journey’s End” (1988). The following year, the limelight shone on him briefly when he understudied and then replaced Daniel Day-Lewis in the National Theatre production of “Hamlet”. Additional stage roles followed, including an award-winning turn in “The Voysey Inheritance” and a supporting role in “The Gift of the Gorgon” (1992), starring married couple Judi Dench and Michael Williams as well as additional work at the Royal Shakespeare Festival. As his stage presence increased, Northam lent his presence to other small screen roles before landing his first major feature role, as Hindley Earnshaw in the uneven remake of “Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights” (1992). That film met with a derisive critical reaction in England and was relegated to TV in America (it aired on TNT in 1994).
After his strong performance in “The Net”, Northam seemed on the verge of being typecast as cads when he portrayed Beacus Penrose who beds and abandons the titular artist played by Emma Thompson in the biopic “Carrington” (1995). Switching gears, however, he excelled in the real-life role of a man with dual personalities, the reclusive composer Peter Warlock and his bete noir, the dyspeptic music critic Philip Heseltine in “Voices/Voices From a Locked Room” (also 1995). Further demonstrating his range, Northam cut a dashing romantic figure as Mr. Knightly to Gwyneth Paltrow’s “Emma” (1996) before stumbling a bit in both “Mimic” (1997), as a scientist, and Sidney Lumet’s remake of “Gloria” (1999), as a gangster. While his onscreen roles offered little challenges to the actor, he found success as a buttoned-up real estate agent who falls in with some free spirits in the British telefilm “The Tribe” (1998) and in his return to the London stage playing a gay obstetrician in “Certain Young Men” (1999). In fact, 1999 would prove to be a key year for the actor, with high profile, critically-praised performances in three films. The Sundance favorite “Happy, Texas” cast him opposite Steve Zahn as a pair of escaped convicts who seek refuge in the titular town where they are mistaken for a gay couple. In David Mamet’s remake of “The Winslow Boy”, Northam anchored the film as the wily barrister defending the boy accused of theft who also harbored unexpressed romantic yearnings for the Winslow daughter (Rebecca Pidgeon). Rounding out the trio of movies was Oliver Parker’s period adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband”, with the actor as a married politician who is haunted by a youthful indiscretion. Continuing to corner the market in period films, Northam joined the cast of the Merchant Ivory production “The Golden Bowl” (2000), playing an Italian prince. He followed up with a fine turn as actor-composer Ivor Novello in the Robert Altman-directed period mystery “Gosford Park” (2001) and as an 19th-century poet in Neil LaBute’s adapation of A S Byatt’s novel “Possession” (2002). After a much discussed stint playing Dean Martin opposite Sean Hayes as Jerry Lewis in the CBS biopic “Martin & Lewis” (2002) in which Northam ably captured the singer-actor’s suave charisma if not his naughty-boy appeal, Notham appeared in the Mel Gibson-produced adaptation of “The Singing Detective” (2003) and played a French army officer hounding Michael Caine in “The Statement” (2003). He next played Walter Hagen in the biopic “Bobby Jones, Stroke of Genius” (2004), which told the story of the iconic golf champion (Jim Caviezel) who quit the sport on top at age 28.
The above TCM overview can be accessed online here.
Susan Sarandon has had a terrific career since her movie debut in 1969 in “Joe”. She won the Academy Award in 1996 for “Dead Man Walking” with Sean Penn. Her other major movies include “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, “The Other Side of Midnight”, “The Last of the Cowboys”, “Pretty Baby”, “The Hunger”, “Thelma & Louise”, “The Client” and “Little Women”.
IMDB entry:
It was after the 1968 Democratic convention and there was a casting call for a film with several roles for the kind of young people who had disrupted the convention. Two recent graduates of Catholic University in Washington DC, went to the audition in New York forJoe (1970). Chris Sarandon, who had studied to be an actor, was passed over. His wife Susan got a major role.
That role was as Susan Compton, the daughter of ad executive Bill Compton (Dennis Patrick). In the movie Dad Bill kills Susan’s drug dealer boyfriend and next befriends Joe (Peter Boyle)– a bigot who works on an assembly line and who collects guns.
Five years later, Sarandon made the film where fans of cult classics have come to know her as “Janet”, who gets entangled with transvestite “Dr. Frank ‘n’ Furter” in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). More than 15 years after beginning her career Sarandon at last actively campaigned for a great role, Annie in Bull Durham (1988), flying at her own expense from Rome to Los Angeles. “It was such a wonderful script … and did away with a lot of myths and challenged the American definition of success”, she said. “When I got there, I spent some time with Kevin Costner, kissed some ass at the studio and got back on a plane”. Her romance with the Bull Durham (1988) supporting actor, Tim Robbins, had produced two sons by 1992 and put Sarandon in the position of leaving her domestic paradise only to accept roles that really challenged her. The result was four Academy Award nominations in the 1990s and best actress for Dead Man Walking (1995). Her first Academy Award nomination was for Louis Malle‘s Atlantic City (1980).
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Dale O’Connor
The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.
Paul Nicholls was born in 1979 in Bolton, Lancashire. His movies include “The Trench”, “The Clandestine Bridge. He was seen in “Law & Order UK up to this year.
IMDB entry:
Born to a roofer and a psychiatric nurse, Paul was born on April 12, 1979, joining his sister, Kelly who was born in 1978. Paul started acting at an early age of 10, when he joined the Oldham Theatre Workshop, but had acted before that at Church Road Primary School, Bolton and then Smithhills Dean High School. Still at the age of 10, Paul had his first television role, in “Childrens Ward” on ITV, though only saying 3 lines.
Later, he started appearing in TV shows like The Biz (1995) and became UK teenage girls’ favourite pin-up when he joined the EastEnders (1985) cast as Joe Wicks. 12 record companies have reportedly offered Paul the opportunity to record a single but they have all been turned down. Paul has publicly stated that he will never record a single, adding that his cat, Gizmo, is better at singing than him.
Martin McCann was born in 1982 in Belfast. His movies include “Closing the Ring” in 2007 ,”Clash of the Titans”. “Killing Bono” and “Shadow Dancer”.
IFTN interview:
In what could propel him to international stardom, movie screens are getting a double dose of McCann this year, with his latest offerings ‘Shadow Dancer’, released in cinemas on August 24, and ‘Jump’ screening at the Toronto International Film Festival next month.
Ahead of both screenings McCann spoke to IFTN about why James Marsh is the “nicest man on the planet”, why wearing a shell tracksuit brought him back to his childhood, and reveals what one of the best nights of his life was.
‘Shadow Dancer’ is released in cinemas August 24. You play Brendan in the film which sees an IRA member turns MI5 informant. Would you say this is your grittiest role yet?
Grittiest, I don’t know. I didn’t have a particularly large role in ‘Shadow Dancer’, I had a small role but an important role. I just pretty much based it on a lot of people I kind of grew up with, you know Northern Irish men from Belfast, that had too much time on their hands and got roped into the wrong things at the wrong time. Through no fault of their own, I really do believe that, monkey see monkey do. I tried to basically play this young man that is not a bad person, but is someone who really is the victim of their own circumstances.
Young men think they’re doing right, this is the problem, they think that they’re doing the right thing, and the world sees it as a wrong thing, and it is a wrong thing, nobody should kill anybody in the name of anything, no man made line, no man made water should be a reason for anyone to be killed, and I truly believe that. But I do also believe that these young men are not bad people, they were just a victim of the circumstances in which they were in.
When you’re preparing for a role do you always try to find the good in the character?
Yeah, unless the character thinks that he is a bad person, you have to find reasons why the character is doing what they’re doing, what they believe in, what they want. Usually when one character is doing bad it’s because they think that that’s doing good in another end of the spectrum, so you’ve got to believe in what you’re doing. If you do that then the audience will believe in what you’re doing, even if it is a bad thing. I mean Hannibal Lecter for example, you can’t really understand why you like him, but you do. I mean he eats people! That’s an extreme example of an actor making the right choices and believing in what they’re doing. I’m not comparing myself to Anthony Hopkins whatsoever, he’s a much better actor than me!
’Shadow Dancer’ is set in 1990s Belfast, where you grew up. Was it easy for you to relate to the surroundings and the 90s clothing?
It was funny putting [the clothing] on. When I talk to people my age I always have a thing in the back of my mind where I automatically assume they’re older than me because for some reason I always feel 19 or 20, I’m 29 now. For the first time in my life when I was putting on the 90s attire in ‘Shadow Dancer’ I can remember wearing that stuff when I was a kid, and I was like ‘Oh my goodness I’m getting a little bit older here, I’m not a teenager more!”
Were there some shell tracksuits on set?
Kappa tracksuits and shell tracksuits and the bomber jackets and the jeans and that was Belfast, bomber jacket, t-shirt, jeans and a pair of black shoes maybe. We weren’t the height of fashion I can tell you that!
What was working with Oscar-winner James Marsh like?
He is literally the nicest man on the planet, and I don’t say that loosely because I’ve worked with some pretty nice people. Richard Attenborough is famous for being nice and he is super amazing nice, but James Marsh is literally the nicest man on the planet. He’s just so sweet and so gentle, so caring and appreciative of the actor’s craft and the process, and I would walk over fire to work with that man again, I really would.
Do you put that down to his vast experience working in the industry?
Well he’s predominantly a documentary maker and a well-established and Oscar-winning documentary maker, so I think he has a real sense of reality, a true sort of barometer that you see on real life situations and how people really react. He tries to make things as real as he can. He’s just a really nice person, he gives you the time and gives you the space to do that and he totally trusts you and makes you feel as an actor that you’re doing it right, which is a very important trait of a director. A director has to instil confidence, the moment that any actor gets a little inkling of self-doubt from a director it’s really damaging.
A director has to instil confidence, the moment that any actor gets a little inkling of self-doubt from a director it’s really damaging. “
When you’re working on set, do you like to work closely with the director and get feedback as you work?
I do like to work closely with the director, and some directors don’t like actors watching the scenes back on the monitor, but I do like to watch the scenes back. It never puts me off if anything, it’s nice to watch yourself back and get a gauge of what you’re doing and what direction you’re going in. It might put some actors off, but I find that generally working close with the director and watching the stuff back and maybe talking about it is beneficial for my style of acting.
You filmed ‘Shadow Dancer’ and Kieron J Walsh’s ‘Jump’ pretty much back to back. Tell me about your character in ‘Jump’.
Yeah pretty much back to back. My character’s name is Pearse Kelly and he’s just basically a young man in extraordinary circumstances. His brother went missing and he’s trying to get to the bottom of where his brother is, is his brother safe, is his brother hurt, and why is his brother missing? He kind of slowly uncovers a few things and realises it’s not a good situation, and in searching for his brother he meets this young girl whose life’s turned upside down and is contemplating suicide and it really kicks off from there, so I’d say my character’s just an ordinary young man.
Is that what attracted you to the role?
I like the fact that it was set in Derry, there’s not many films made in Derry or about Derry and the town and I just tried to bring as much as me to the character as I could. I spent nearly 29 years being me so I’m well scripted in being me, and let the circumstances and the situations just tell the story.
‘Jump’ was shot in Belfast. Do you prefer to work closer to home?
It’s got pros and cons really. As an actor it’s always nice to get away and be abroad to do a job. I was abroad last month and that was really nice but you know as an actor it sounds all glamorous, but when you’re sitting by yourself in a restaurant alone you might think, ‘well it’s really nice but you know, you’re alone’. So it’s kind of like a nomad lifestyle in many respects. When you’re working at home you can go and visit your family and you’ve people you love, and when you’re abroad you’re travelling so I suppose it’s good to have both, but both have their pros and cons.
There’s a lot of buzz surrounding ‘Jump’, it received rave reviews at the Galway Film Fleadh and has now been officially selected for the Toronto International Film Festival.
What makes it so special?
To be honest, I’ve done quite a few projects now, and any projects that I have done, a lot of them you kind of watch back and you go ‘Mmm, I wish I could have been better or that could have been funnier or I would have done this different or I would have done that different’, but the first time I watched ‘Jump’ back I really was taken aback at how good it was. It’s a really well made film and I think it’s above and beyond the standard of a lot of films in the cinema at the minute, and that’s a rare thing to say. Making a film sometimes gets lost in translation it’s not easy to make a film, and it’s certainly not easy to make a good film, and these guys have genuinely made a really brilliant film, entertaining from start to finish, it doesn’t drag, every character is well developed and it’s just a really well made film. I’d go as far to say one of the best films made in Ireland in the last few years certainly.
Looking back at some of the projects you’ve done, are there any that stick out where you feel you would have tweaked parts given the chance?
You look back at them and say ‘Mmm can that be a little better or it could have been funnier or it could have been quicker’, because obviously as an actor when you’re in a project you’ll critique yourself quite harshly. I don’t really like to watch myself back, and anything that I do I watch it once and that’s it gone, I don’t know why but that’s just the way I am as an actor. I’ve never regretted anything that I’ve done, but certainly with ‘Jump’, I couldn’t wok out ways to make it better, it was as good as it could be.
You filmed in Canada a few weeks ago, what was the project you’re working on over there?
I’m filming a television show, it’s one of my best friend’s television shows called ‘Republic of Doyle’. My friend is Alan Hawco, I did ‘Closing the Ring’ in 2006 with Alan, and Alan went on along to CDC, it’s basically Canada’s BBC, and said ‘I’m in this Richard Attenborough movie, here’s some of my scripts do you fancy working with me’ and they gave him a pilot. Five years later he’s executive producer, writes, directs, stars in his own show in his hometown beside his family. I take my hat off to anybody who would do that, he got Russell Crowe on as a guest star and the lovely Irish Sean McGinley plays his father on his show.
It’s very big in Canada, it’s on Sky on a station called Alibi, it’s basically him playing a detective and Sean McGinley plays his father; they’re a father and son duo who solve crimes in their little home town of St John. He’s wrote an episode for me called ‘From Dublin with Love’ so I went over to play his long lost cousin, there’s been a bit of trouble and he kind of helps out and they kind of rekindle their old friendship. It’s not normally the type of job that I would do, but because he’s one of my best friends, I’m looking forward to it, it’s going to be a great experience.
How are you at doing a Dublin accent?
Ah it’s alright, we’ll see. Dublin’s tough but I’ve always been confident with accents so it’ll be fine.
You’ve dipped in and out of drama and comedy, but have stuck with the comedy more so of late. Do you prefer one genre over the other?
I did comedy for ‘Whole Lotta Sole’ and I kind of started out doing comedy strangely enough in the BBC sketch show ‘Dry Your Eyes’, maybe seven or eight years ago. It’s funny, comedy’s not easy, it’s definitely not easy and I take my hat off to anybody that’s really good at it. If you’re an actor you should find the drama a little bit more natural, but sometimes it’s good to mix a little bit of comedy with the drama, it’s good to have both strings to your bow.
You’ve been recognised for both genres, and you won an IFTA Award for Best Actor in 2011 for ‘Swansong: Story of Occi Byrne’. Where do you keep your IFTA Award?
My mother keeps my IFTA Award in her living room, she keeps it on display for everyone to see, and I gave it to her because I know it’ll be safe in her hands. That was one of the best nights of my life, and I’m eternally indebted to IFTA for recognising what we did on that film and I feel really really proud that I accomplished it.
The above IFTN interview can also be accessed online here.
David Tennant was born in 1971 in West Lothian, Scotland. He is best known for his performance as “Dr Who”. He also played ‘Barty Crouch Jnr’ in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” in 2005. His other movies include “The Decoy Bride”.
TCM overview:
To much of the world’s television viewing audience, David Tennant was the tenth and arguably most popular incarnation of England’s iconic science fiction hero “Doctor Who” (BBC One 1963-1989, 2005- ), who took audiences by storm with the venerable science fiction television series’ revival in 2005. But the Scottish actor’s c.v. also included a lengthy, award-winning string of performances in classical and modern theater as well as numerous turns in British television dramas and comedies. But it was his vigorous and frequently amusing turn as the Doctor that not only restored much of the charm and appeal of the long-running series, which had been mothballed for nearly two decades prior to 2005, but also vaulted him to international fame. Unlike many of the other actors who played the Doctor during its five decade run, Tennant was successful in finding substantive work outside of the show, including appearances in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (2005) and such highly praised small screen efforts as “Recovery” (BBC One 2007) and “Broadchurch” (ITV 2013- ).
Born David John McDonald on April 18, 1971 in the Scottish town of Bathgate, David Tennant was the son of a Presbyterian minister, the Reverend Alexander McDonald, and Essdale Helen McLeod, whose father, Archibald McLeod, was a champion footballer for Scotland in the 1930s. His fascination for acting developed at a very early age and was inspired in part by “Doctor Who,” of which he was a devoted fan. Tennant began acting in school productions during his time in primary and secondary schools, and soon added Saturday classes at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama to his training. He was admitted to the Academy at the age of 16, the same year he made his screen debut in an anti-smoking film produced by the Glasgow Health Board. At his time, he adopted the stage name of “David Tennant,” inspired by Pet Shop Boys singer Neil Tennant, because an actor named David McDonald was already registered with the Equity union. He graduated from the Academy with a Bachelor of Arts in acting and landed his first professional role in a production of Bertolt Brecht’s “The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui” for the agitprop 7:84 Theatre Company. Roles on television soon followed, most notably his 1993 turn as a transsexual barmaid well loved by the patrons of her pub on the comedy “Rab C. Nesbitt” (BBC Two 1988-1999, 2008- ). The following year, Tennant earned his breakthrough role as a young bipolar patient/DJ at a hospital radio station on “Takin’ Over the Asylum” (BBC Scotland 1994).
A critically acclaimed appearance in a 1995 production of Joe Orton’s “What the Butler Saw” at the Royal National Theater in London underscored Tennant’s growing reputation as a stage star on the rise, which he soon cemented by joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1996. By 2003, he had netted Olivier and Ian Charleson Award nominations for performances in “The Comedy of Errors” and Kenneth Lonergan’s “Lobby Hero,” which translated into regular work as a guest star on episodic television. These efforts included appearances on the revived “Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)” (BBC One 2000-2001) and the well-praised television version of “People Like Us (BBC Two 1999-2000). In 2004 and 2005, Tennant received critical praise for his comic performances in the BBC’s adaptation of Anthony Trollope’s “He Knew He Was Right” (2004) and the musical series “Blackpool” (BBC One 2004), as well as supporting turns in more dramatic fare like the live broadcast of “The Quatermass Experiment” (BBC Four 2005) and in “Casanova” (BBC Three 2005) as the legendary lover in his younger days. The last production was written by Russell T. Davies, who cast Tennant as the tenth incarnation of the Time Lord in his revival of “Doctor Who” that same year.
Tennant replaced Christopher Eccleston as The Doctor in the second season of the new “Doctor Who” and quickly became one of the most popular actors to personify the role in the course of its five-decade history. His Doctor combined the whimsy and eccentricity of Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor with flashes of the steely reserve seen in Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor, but was also shot through with streaks of loneliness and romantic longing that made him positively Byronic at times. Tennant was also a devotee of the series, which imbued both his performance and his promotional appearances outside the show with an infective enthusiasm that won him numerous fans. He participated in numerous related and spin-off projects, from audio plays by Big Finish Productions to the BBC’s charity holiday specials and “The Sarah Jane Adventures” (CBBC 2007-2011), which starred former Baker companion Elisabeth Sladen reprising her turn as the intrepid Sarah Jane Smith. For his performances on “Doctor Who,” Tennant won three National Television Awards and a BAFTA Cyrmu (BAFTA in Wales), but more importantly, his performance was crucial in reviving a moribund franchise and making it relevant to modern audiences. Fans would later name him the best Doctor in the history of the series by its official house organ, Doctor Who Magazine.
While appearing as the Doctor, Tennant also remained busy with numerous other projects, most notably as the villainous Barty Crouch, Jr. in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (2005) and a 2005 production of “Look Back in Anger.” In 2008, he won rave reviews for his performance as Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” for the Royal Shakespeare Company, which was subsequently filmed as a BBC Two production the following year; his work as a charming psychopath in “Secret Smile” (ITV 2005) and as a brain injury victim in “Recovery,” also drew critical acclaim. These, along with turns in numerous episodic television series, promotional appearances, recordings for audio books and radio plays and even television advertisements, made Tennant one of the busiest and most in-demand performers in the United Kingdom between 2005 and 2009. At the end of that four-year period, Tennant decided to part ways with the Doctor with a quartet of four special episodes, culminating in “The End of Time” (BBC One 2010), which was seen by over 10 million viewers. While his final episodes aired, Tennant filmed a pilot for an American series, “Rex is Not Your Lawyer” (NBC 2009), about a panic-stricken Chicago lawyer who coached his clients while representing themselves. Though it received considerable media attention, the pilot was not picked up for broadcast.
Tennant worked steadily in the post-Doctor years, picking up a Best Actor nomination from the Royal Television Society Programme Awards as a photographer raising five children after the death of his partner in “Single Father” (BBC One 2010) while enjoying critical praise for appearances in “United” (BBC Two 2011) and the semi-improvised “True Love” (BBC One 2012). His fame as the Doctor won him opportunities in the States, but these efforts, including a remake of the 1985 horror film “Fright Night” (2012) and an audition to play Hannibal Lecter in NBC’s “Hannibal” (2013- ), received either a lukewarm response or failed to come to fruition, save for his spirited vocal performance as Charles Darwin in the Aardman Animation film “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” (2012). The U.K. remained his most diverse showcase, as evidenced by his antagonistic police detective hunting a child murderer in “Broadchurch” and his gifted barrister in “The Escape Artist” (BBC One 2013). That same year, two different factors of Tennant’s vast fan base were thrilled to hear that 2013 would not only see the actor reprise the Doctor for “The Day of the Doctor” (BBC One, 2013), a 75-minute special celebrating the 50th anniversary of “Doctor Who” by teaming the Tenth Doctor with his successor, Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith, but also a return to the Royal Shakespeare Company in a production of “Richard II.” In 2014, Tennant made his debut on American TV by starring in “Gracepoint” (Fox 2014), a limited-run American adaptation of “Broadchurch,” which had garnered both strong ratings and solid reviews when it was broadcast on U.S. television in the summer of 2013.
The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.
Geraldine Chaplin came to film fame with her role as ‘Tonya Zhivago’ in “Dr Zhivago” opposite Omar Sharif in 1965. She went on to star in “Nashville”, “The Age of Innocence” and “Mother Teresa”. She was born in 1944 in Santa Monica, California. She is the daughter of Charlie Chaplin and the granddaughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill.
TCM overview:
Though she was the daughter of silent film legend Charlie Chaplin, actress Geraldine Chaplin blazed her own trail with a prominent career as a supporting actress in major films in both Hollywood and abroad. After beginning her career with a small part in her father’s film “Limelight” (1952), Chaplin made her official debut as Omar Sharif’s spurned wife in “Doctor Zhivago” (1965) before starting a long romantic and professional collaboration with Spanish director Carlos Suava in the late 1960s. In the following decade, she was Queen Anne in “The Three Musketeers” (1973), a role she reprised in the 1974 and 1989 sequels, and delivered a Golden Globe-nominated performance as the celebrity-obsessed BBC reporter in Robert Altman’s “Nashville” (1975). From there, she collaborated several times with director Alan Rudolph on “Welcome to L.A.” (1976) and “The Moderns” (1988), while playing her own mentally-disturbed grandmother in “Chaplin” (1992), starring Robert Downey, Jr. as her father. She went on to acclaimed supporting turns in Martin Scorsese’s “The Age of Innocence” (1993), Jodie Foster’s “Home for the Holidays” (1995) and Pedro Almodóvar’s “Talk to Her” (2002), while appearing in more commercial Hollywood fare like “BloodRayne” (2006) and “The Wolfman” (2010), making Chaplin one of the more prolific character actors in film.
Born on July 31, 1944 in Santa Monica, CA, Chaplin was the daughter of silent film legend Charlie Chaplin, and his fourth and final wife, Oona O’Neill, herself the daughter of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Eugene O’Neill. The first of eight children between her parents, Chaplin moved to Switzerland with her family when she was eight years old because of her father’s exile over alleged Communist activities. While there, she attended several boarding schools and became fluent in both French and Spanish. Also at that age, she made her film debut with an uncredited part in the opening scene of her father’s scandal-ridden feature, “Limelight” (1952), a tragicomic semi-autobiographical drama about a former music hall star forced to contend with his loss of popularity. The film waited 20 years to receive a theatrical release in the United States, though it was warmly received throughout Europe and was considered by later critics to be one of her father’s finest works. Meanwhile, Chaplin attended the famous Royal Ballet School in London, but decided against a dancing career and instead turned to following in her father’s footsteps.
Thirteen years after her film debut, Chaplin made her official splash into acting with a major supporting part in David Lean’s classic romantic epic, “Doctor Zhivago” (1965), starring Julie Christie and Omar Sharif. Chaplin played Tonya Gromeko, the upper-class wife of Sharif’s titular Zhivago, who is forced to immigrate to France after the fall of Russia’s Tsar, only to see her husband remain behind because he is in love with a dressmaker’s daughter (Christie). Chaplin’s performance earned the actress a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year in 1966. From there, she earned high praise for her Broadway debut in “The Little Foxes” (1967), before landing significant parts in rather forgettable films like “Stranger in the House” (1967) and “Peppermint Frappé” (1967). Chaplin next starred opposite Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren in her father’s critically maligned romantic comedy “A Countess from Hong Kong” (1967), while starting a professional and romantic relationship with Spanish director Carlos Suara in the late-1960s that led to starring roles in “Stress is Three” (1968) and “Honeycomb” (1969).
After starring opposite Charlton Heston in “The Hawaiians” (1970), Chaplin was a foreign governess taking care of a group of children in an isolated house in Suara’s drama “Ana and the Wolves” (1973). She had a supporting turn as Queen Anne of Austria in “The Three Musketeers” (1973), a role she reprised for “The Four Musketeers” (1974). Following a highly-acclaimed turn in “Raise Ravens” (1975), Chaplin was a wacky, celebrity-obsessed BBC reporter who might be just a groupie looking to cozy up to musicians in Robert Altman’s classic film, “Nashville” (1975). A standout among a top-notch ensemble cast that included Shelley Duvall, Barbara Harris, Lily Tomlin, Scott Glenn and Ned Beatty, Chaplin earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She went on to play Annie Oakley to Paul Newman’s Buffalo Bill in Altman’s revisionist Western “Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson” (1976) and earned a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as a San Fernando Valley housewife addicted to taxi rides in Alan Rudolph’s moody “Welcome to L.A.” (1976).
Chaplin continued to tackle interesting roles with a turn as a shy divorcée in James Ivory’s “Roseland” (1977) and as a woman reunited with her estranged father (Fernando Rey) after 20 years in Carlos Suara’s “Elisa, vida mía” (1977). Following more acclaim for her performance as a deranged woman determined to win back her husband (Anthony Perkins) at any cost in “Remember My Name” (1978), she was top-billed in Robert Altman’s ensemble comedy “A Wedding” (1978) before again collaborating with Suara on “Blindfolded Eyes” (1978) and “Mama Turns 100” (1979). In the following decade, Chaplin starred in a number of foreign-made films, including the French musical “Les Uns et les Autres” (1981) and Jacques Rivette’s “Love on the Ground” (1984), before co-starring alongside Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep in Mike Nichols’ comedy “Heartburn” (1986). She went on to notable supporting turns in “White Mischief” (1987) and “The Moderns” (1988), before reprising Queen Anne again for “The Return of the Musketeers” (1989). A few years later, she delivered a convincing performance as the gaunt, mentally-troubled mother of her own father (Robert Downey, Jr.) in Richard Attenborough’s acclaimed biopic, “Chaplin” (1992). The role earned her another Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Always busy, Chaplin went on to play Mrs. Welland opposite Daniel Day-Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer in Martin Scorsese’s costume drama “The Age of Innocence” (1993) and served as comic relief as Anne Bancroft’s slightly dotty sister in Jodie Foster’s “Home for the Holidays” (1995). Following a turn as Miss Scratcherd in Franco Zeffirelli’s adaptation of “Jane Eyre” (1996), Chaplin was Adeline Hulot in “Cousin Bette” (1998) and starred opposite Richard Harris in “To Walk with Lions” (1999). After a supporting role in the biblical “In the Beginning” (2000), she was the operator of a dance studio in Pedro Almodóvar’s highly-acclaimed “Talk to Her” (2002) and the wife of a wealthy man (Fernando Fernán Gómez) dying of cancer in “The City of No Limits” (2002). Chaplin next played the Ghost of Christmas Future in a musical version of “A Christmas Carol” (NBC, 2004), starring Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge, and was the Fortune Teller in the big screen adaptation of the popular video game, “BloodRayne” (2006). Chaplin went on to portray a medium in the well-received gothic horror “The Orphanage” (2007), before co-starring in foreign films like “The Island Inside” (2009) and “The Making of Plus One” (2010). From there, she starred opposite Anthony Hopkins and Benicio del Toro in “The Wolfman” (2010) and earned acclaim alongside daughter Oona Chaplin in the Spanish eco-comedy “What’s a Bear For?” (2011).
By Shawn Dwyer
The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.
Ron Masak was born in Chicago in 1936. He is best known for his part as ‘Sheriff Mort Mertzger” in the late 1980’s and 1990’s. he was Barbara Eden’s leading man in the movie “Harper Valley P.T.A.” in 1978.
IMDB entry:
Ron Masak (MAY-SACK) was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of a salesman/musician (Floyd L.), and a mother (Mildred), who was a merchandise buyer. Ron attended Chicago City College, and studied theater at both the CCC and the Drama Guild. He made his acting debut with the Drama Guild in Chicago in Stalag 17 in 1954.
During the course of his career, he has starred in 25 feature films and guest starred in some 350 television shows. Perhaps the most beloved character, and the one for which he is most famous, is that of Sheriff Mort Metzger on the hit television series, Murder, She Wrote. Given that he has also been seen and heard in hundred of television and radio commercials (he was named, “King of Commercials” by columnist James Bacon), it is no wonder that he is often introduced as one of America’s most familiar faces.
Trained in the classics, Ron has proved to be equally at home on stage or screen with Shakespeare or slapstick. He has played everything from Stanley in Streetcar Named Desire and Sakini in Teahouse of the August Moon to Will Stockdale in No Time For Sergeants and Antony in Julius Caesar. As more proof of his versatility, in one production of Mr. Roberts, he played Ensign Pulver and in another he portrayed Mr. Roberts himself. In his hometown of Chicago, Ron was resident leading man at The Candlelight Dinner Playhouse from 1962 to 1966, never missing a single performance. As with many performers, it was the Army that provided Ron with a platform from which to display his all-around talents for performing, writing and directing. In 1960-61, Ron toured the world doing vocal impressions in the all-Army show entitled Rolling Along. Once again, he never missed a show.
Never one to be pigeonholed, Ron continued to demonstrate his incredible range of talent in such films as Ice Station Zebra, Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Evel Knievel, A Time For Dying, Harper Valley PTA, Cops & Roberts and The Man From Clover Grove. It was during Clover Grove that Ron added credits as a lyric writer, as he wrote and sang the title song. He played his first big screen villain starring in No Code of Conduct. Among his many television roles, he starred as Charley Wilson in his own summer series, Love Thy Neighbor, Count Dracula on The Monkees and was submitted for an Emmy nomination for one of his ten starring roles on Police Story. He’s been seen on Magnum P.I., Webster and Columbo. His movies of the week include The Neighborhood, In the Glitter Palace, Pleasure Cove, Once An Eagle, The Law and Harry McGraw and Robert Altman’s Nightmare in Chicago.
Ron’s variety work includes emceeing hundreds of shows for, among others, Kenny Rogers, Diahann Carroll, Alabama, Billy Crystal, The Steve Garvey Classics, Tony Orlando, The Lennon Sisters, Trini Lopez, Connie Stevens, Billy Davis and Marilyn McCoo, The Michael Landon Classics and The Beau Bridges Classics.
Ron is also considered to be the most famous salesman since Willy Loman, as he starred in the four most successful sales motivational films of all time: Second Effort with Vince Lombardi, Time Management with James Whitmore, How to Control Your Time with Burgess Meredith and Ya Gotta Believe with Tommy Lasorda, which Ron wrote and directed. He is a sought after motivational speaker. He has traveled all over the country as spokesman for a major brewing company and for 15 years was the voice of the Vlasic Pickle stork. Ron played Lou Costello in commercials for Bran News, McDonald’s, and Tropicana Orange Juice.
Frequently seen on the talk and game show circuit, Ron has been a celebrity panelist on such game shows as Password, Tattletales, Crosswits, Liar’s Club, Showoffs and Match Game. He was a regular panelist on To Tell the Truth.
Ron’s private life is also one of varied interests and talents, devoting time and energy working with many charities. For eight years he was the LA host for the Jerry Lewis Telethon and recipient of MDA’s first Humanitarian of the Year Award. He has served as field announcer for the Special Olympics in support of retarded children, and was named Man of the Year by Volunteers Assisting Cancer Stricken Families. In addition, he contributes much time to work with Multiple Sclerosis, Cystic Fibrosis, Breast Cancer Awareness and hosts charity golf tournaments for among others, Childhelp USA, for whom he is a worldwide ambassador.
Relaxation for Ron includes time spent with friends on the golf course, tennis court, baseball diamond, ski slopes or at Dodger Stadium. A fine athlete, Ron was once offered a professional baseball contract with The Chicago White Sox.
Future projects include Ron starring as Mark Twain in the feature film, Mark Twain’s Greatest Adventure, which he will co-produce, and a one-man show he wrote on Twain called, At Home with Mark Twain. He created the role of Sam Belsky in the world premiere of Jay Kholo’s musical My Catskills Summer.
Ron’s favorite role remains that of husband to his lovely wife Kay, and father to their six children as well as grandfather to their nine grandchildren. They reside in Tarzana, California, where Ron has served for 35 years as, of course, its honorary sheriff.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Tami Zaccaro
The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.
Anyone who knows me are aware that I am a bit of a movie buff. Over the past few years I have been collecting signed photographs of my favourite actors. Since I like movies so much there are many actors whose work I like.