Contemporary Actors Archives - Page 25 of 49

Lauren Tom

Kieu Chinh

Lauren Tom was born in 1961 in Chicago. Her films include “When A Man Loves AWoman” in 1994, “Mr Jones” and “The Joy Luck Club” as France Nuyen’s daughter. She had a recurring role on television’s “Friends”.

TCM overview:

Alluring stage-trained actress of Asian heritage, active in stage, TV and film. Tom studied acting and music in her native Illinois, and her first professional credit was as an addition to the national tour of “A Chorus Line”, which led her to Broadway. She appeared in the Broadway production of “Hurlyburly” and, as the intrepid Honey (sidekick to Duke), in the Broadway musical adaptation of the comic strip “Doonesbury” (1983-84). Tom earned an OBIE Award for her performance in “American Notes” while with the New York Shakespeare Festival; she also appeared in such shows as “Volpone”, “Tiger on the Right” and “Family Devotions”.

Tom’s TV work has included a recurring role during the early years of “The Facts of Life” as well as guest spots on “The Cosby Show” (1985), “thirtysomething” (1990), “Quantum Leap” (1991), “Anything But Love” (1991), and “Chicago Hope” (1995). In 1995 she played David Schwimmer’s girlfriend on six episodes of the hit NBC sitcom “Friends”. She also has made a handful of TV-movies, none of which are particularly memorable: “Mom’s On Strike” (ABC, 1984), “The Exchange Student” (CBS, 1985), “Angel of Death” (CBS, 1991), “In the Line of Duty: Kidnapped” (NBC, 1995), and “Escape to Witch Mountain” (ABC, 1995).

Tom’s film career began in 1982 with a lead in the comedy “Nothing Lasts Forever”, but when she returned to the medium later in the decade it was in small roles ( “Wall Street”, 1987; “Blue Steel”, 1990; “Cadillac Man”, 1990; “Man Trouble”, 1992). Tom’s largest role to date was as one of the American-born daughters of Chinese immigrants in “The Joy Luck Club” (1993). As Lena, who cares for her mentally unstable mother, Tom gave a quiet, intelligent performance which boded well for her future onscreen. Her roles grew somewhat larger–though still only supporting ones–in the Richard Gere starrer “Mr. Jones” (1993) and the Meg Ryan/Andy Garcia drama “When a Man Loves a Woman” (1994). She was one of the many performers turning in cameos in Rob Reiner’s “North” (1994).

The aboce TCM overview can also beaccessed online here.

Andrew Scott was born in Dublin in 1976. He made hismovie debut in “Korea” with Donal Donnelly in 1995. Other films include “Nora” with Susan Lynch and “The American” with Diana Rigg. He is currently to be seen as Moriarty in the hit television series “Sherlock”.

2013 interview by James Rampton in “The Independent”:

At the start of our interview, Andrew Scott and I are squeezing into a booth in the restaurant at the British Film Institute. It is very similar to the one occupied by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan’s characters in When Harry Met Sally. Quick as a flash, the actor smiles at me and says, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

Scott goes on to remark that he often dreads reading interviews with actors and hopes this won’t be another that he recoils from. “Sometimes talking about acting can be reductive and a bit boring. Of course,” he adds, breaking into a wry, self-mocking grin, “I’m not like that. I’m completely fascinating. Everything I say is a bon mot. It’s epigram after epigram. It’s like sitting with Oscar Wilde… Although I have better hair!”

Witty. Mischievous. Charming.

These are precisely the qualities that catapulted Scott to stardom as Moriarty in BBC1’s worldwide hit drama, Sherlock. People were already talking about him as a striking new talent after his first brief, if completely scene-stealing, 10-minute appearance in Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’s compelling modern-day reworking of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective stories.

His performance as Holmes’s dastardly foe – by turns mesmerising and menacing – won Scott the best supporting actor Bafta award last year, beating his co-star Martin Freeman (who plays John Watson in Sherlock) in the process.

It was not exactly an overnight success for Scott – the 37-year-old Irishman had for many years been turning in very creditable, if not such conspicuous performances in dramas such as Lennon Naked (in which he gave a memorable Paul McCartney opposite Christopher Ecclestone’s John Lennon), The Hour, John Adams and Band of Brothers.

But Moriarty, who appeared to come to a sticky end at the end of the last series on Sherlock, transformed Scott’s profile. Moriarty is the archetypal baddie who has all the best lines, and his popularity meant that the actor was soon being offered leading roles in ITV1 dramas such as The Town and The Scapegoat.

Scott, who was raised in Dublin, where his father worked in an employment agency and his mother was an art teacher, has the volume turned down in real life and has no need to turn the dial up to 11 in the way that Moriarty does. But you can see that he still possesses the same razor-sharp instincts as Sherlock’s arch-enemy.

Adversaries: Benedict Cumberbatch (left) as Sherlock Holmes and Andrew Scott as Jim Moriarty in the ‘Sherlock’ series-two finale ‘The Reichenbach Fall’The actor is the first to acknowledge that playing the role of Moriarty has moved his career up several notches. Picking at a croissant, he reflects that: “Sherlock has changed all our careers, and I’m really pleased about that. It gives you the benefit of the doubt because executives like to see recognisable faces.

“It was overwhelming to be on a TV show that is quite so popular. That took me totally by surprise. People had an instant affection for it from the first episode. The reaction was extraordinary. People still come up to me in the street all the time, wanting to talk about it.”

Sherlock fans are known as some of the most passionate in the business, but Scott says they are generally delightful. “There is this impression that the fans are crazy, but they’re not – they’re very respectful. They don’t overstep the mark. I get a lot of fan mail. Of course, some of it is a bit creepy, but mostly it’s very moving and creative. People send me drawings and their own versions of Sherlock stories. It’s a source of escapism for people and that’s great.

“I’m an enthusiast for people, and I don’t want them to become the enemy. I’ve seen that happen to colleagues who are disturbed the whole time, but there’s a certain degree of control you can have if you keep yourself to yourself. The kind of actors I admire move through different characters and genres. That’s the kind of actor I try to be. If you want that, you have to be circumspect about your private life.”

Scott thinks the character made such an impact because, “Moriarty came as a real surprise to people”. He adds: “He doesn’t have to do the conventional villain thing. He is witty, and people like that. He is also a proper match for Sherlock. He’s very mercurial, too. I have since been offered to play a lot of different characters, and that’s because Moriarty is a lot of different characters. He changes all the time.”

The next legacy of the “Sherlock Effect” is that Scott is starring in a one-off BBC2 drama entitled Legacy. An adaptation by Paula Milne of Alan Judd’s bestselling 2001 espionage novel, this is an absorbing contribution to the BBC’s “Cold War” season. In this film, set at the height of the conflict between the UK and the USSR in 1974, which goes out on Thursday 28 November, Scott plays Viktor Koslov, a KGB spy.

Charles Thoroughgood (Charlie Cox), a trainee MI6 agent, tries to reconnect with Viktor, an old friend from their Oxford days, in an attempt to “turn” him. However, Victor adroitly turns the tables on Charles with a shocking revelation about the British spy’s family. Deliberately shot in Stygian gloom, Legacy captures the murky world of the secret services where cynicism and duplicity are part of the job description. Its tagline could well have been: “Trust no one.”

The film convincingly conjures up the drabness of the 1970s, all three-day weeks, petrol rationing and power cuts. Scott says: “Characters in those days called from phone boxes – whoever does that now? The film fits the era. It has a melancholic tone. It’s very brown and downbeat.”

Scott particularly enjoyed playing the ambiguity of Viktor’s character. “I like the idea that you don’t know who he is. It’s important that you feel for Viktor and his predicament. You have to feel he’s a human being with a family. But both he and Charles are elusive figures – it’s not clear whose side they’re on. It’s not at all black-and-white, and that’s why the film is so shadowy.”

Life after death: Sherlock Holmes killed his character (or did he?) But Andrew Scott returns as Viktor Koslov in ‘Legacy’The actor boasts a terrific Russian accent in Legacy. Where did it come from? “There isn’t a huge amount of footage of Russians speaking English as a second language, so I started looking at Vladimir Putin videos on YouTube. But then Putin introduced anti-gay legislation this summer – so, being a gay person, I switched to Rudolf Nureyev videos instead. It was another Nureyev defection of sorts!”

Scott is low-key on the subject of his sexuality. “Mercifully, these days people don’t see being gay as a character flaw. But nor is it a virtue, like kindness. Or a talent, like playing the banjo. It’s just a fact. Of course, it’s part of my make-up, but I don’t want to trade on it. I am a private person; I think that’s important if you’re an actor. But there’s a difference between privacy and secrecy, and I’m not a secretive person. Really I just want to get on with my job, which is to pretend to be lots of different people. Simple as that.”

Scott is very much getting on with the job at present. He has many intriguing projects in the pipeline, including starring in Jimmy’s Hall, the new Ken Loach movie about a political activist expelled from Ireland during the “Red Scare” of the 1930s. He is also appearing with Tom Hardy and Ruth Wilson in Locke, a film about a man whose life is falling apart, and in The Stag, a movie about a stag weekend that goes horribly wrong. In addition, he is headlining alongside Bill Nighy, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton in Matthew Warchus’s movie Pride, a true story about an alliance between the mine workers and the lesbian and gay community during the 1984 miners’ strike.

If he can possibly find any spare time, Scott is also open to comedy offers. “Everything in life has to have an element of comedy about it. I did Design for Living at the Old Vic in 2010 – Noël Coward was a master of comedy. The audience were convulsing every night. It’s such a joyous feeling to hold a pause and wait for the laughter. There is no better high. Forget about drugs!”

But despite the fact that producers are now cold-calling him like overeager mis-sold PPI salesmen, Scott won’t be rushing into the first role he’s offered. One positive by-product of his success is his ability to be choosy about what he does. He observes: “You have to be brave to turn things down, but there is a certain power to that. I’ve had offers to do more regular TV series, but I don’t regret rejecting them. If money and fame are not your goals, then it becomes easier. American agents use the expression, ‘this could be a game-changer’. The implication is that you want the game to change. But I don’t. I don’t have a plan. I like unpredictability and randomness.

“People get distracted by box-office figures and take jobs because they think it will advance their careers. Of course, it’s nice to get a big cheque and be able to buy a massive house, but my view is that we’re not here long, so why not do something of value?”

So Scott is very happy with where he’s at. “To do all these different things is a dream for me. My idea of a successful actor is not the most recognisable or the richest – it’s someone who is able to do a huge amount of different stuff. I don’t want to be known for just one thing.”

It’s true that Scott is now broadening his career far beyond Moriarty. But I can’t resist one final question on the subject: Is there any chance that Moriarty will, like his nemesis, be making a Lazarus-like comeback in the new series of Sherlock? Scott has, after all, been photographed filming scenes for the upcoming third season.

“People ask me that every day. It’s a small price to pay for having been in such a wonderful show,” he teases. But he is forbidden from spilling the beans about Moriarty’s fate in Sherlock even to close family members.

So has Moriarty played one more dastardly trick on us by faking his own suicide? Or are the scenes the actor has been shooting merely flashbacks? Scott could tell us, but then – like some ruthless Cold War spy – he would have to kill us…

The above “Independent” interview can also be accessed online here.

Oliver Platt & Brian F. O'Byrne — Oliver Platt & Brian F. O’Byrne

Oliver Platt was born in 1960 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

TCM overview:

The definitive scene-stealing supporting player, Oliver Platt built a steady acting career with his knack for taking unappealing characters, like Russell Tupper on “Huff” (Showtime, 2004-06) and making them funny and unexpectedly empathetic. Platt’s large frame, expressive face, and booming, gravelly voice were leveraged to great effect in countless roles as attorneys and other educated professionals, with the actor earning acclaim for guest stints on TV’s “The West Wing” (NBC, 1999-2006) and “Nip/Tuck” (FX, 2003-10). On the movie screen, he made pompous, amoral scoundrels his calling card in “A Time to Kill” (1996), “Bulworth,”(1999) and “Frost/Nixon” (2008), while occasionally getting the chance to steal the spotlight in the madcap comedy “Impostors” (1997) and on Broadway with his Tony-nominated performance in “Shining City.” Platt’s unique talent for balancing imposing physical presence with subtle wit, while hinting at the vulnerable side of the over-confident blowhard made him one of the most interesting, craft-oriented actors on stage and screen.

The son of a U.S. diplomat, Platt was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada on Jan. 12, 1960, and spent his early years shuttling between the Middle East, Asia and Washington, D.C. Early on he discovered acting as a useful survival mechanism for his rootless life, but so many relocations eventually took a toll on Platt. After the troublemaker was kicked out of a number of schools, he finally landed in boarding school at the Colorado Rocky Mountain School, where three years of a stable, progressive environment reined him in. From there he headed to Tufts University in Boston where he met longtime friend and collaborator Hank Azaria and earned a drama degree. Platt stayed in Boston for several years after college, finding steady work in regional productions. Despite some anxiety about the failure rate of the New York actor, Platt’s stage career blossomed almost immediately after he made the move, and he spent the next several years appearing in productions at the Playwright’s Horizons, the Manhattan Theater Club, and the Manhattan Punch Line Theatre Group, where show biz rumor had it that he caught the eye of comic actor Bill Murray, who recommended him to his friend, director Jonathan Demme. Demme subsequently gave Platt his first film role in the sharp-witted comedy “Married to the Mob” (1988), where he played the wisecracking partner of an FBI agent (Matthew Modine) infiltrating the mob.

Platt followed up with a small role as Melanie Griffith’s sexist boss in Mike Nichols’ blockbuster “Working Girl” (1988), and in 1990 landed a co-starring role as one of the death-defying medical students in J l Schumacher’s “Flatliners” (1990). He built up his resume with solid performances in “Postcards from the Edge” (1990), the madcap family comedy “Beethoven” (1992), and “Diggstown” (1992), where he played a con man alongside James Woods. Platt continued to establish his persona as educated, professional jerks with appearances as Timothy Hutton’s associate in “The Temp” (1993) and Woody Harrelson’s sneaky lawyer (the first of many attorneys the actor would play) in the saucy hit, “Indecent Proposal” (1993). After a rare working class role in “Benny & Joon” (1993), Platt gave a memorable performance as Porthos in Stephen Herek’s “The Three Musketeers” (1993), and at nearly 6’4″, was well-cast as Paul Bunyan in the fantasy “Tall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventures of Pecos Bill” (1995). The same year, the relative screen newcomer was cast opposite comedy legend Jerry Lewis in the indie film “Funny Bones” (1995), where he played the aspiring stand-up comic and belligerent son of comedy icon (Lewis). During that busy year Platt also starred in the HBO Original Movie, “The Infiltrator” (1995), as a journalist who exposes a group of neo-Nazis.

In a pair of big budget outings in 1996, Platt had a supporting role as a weapons designer assisting in the rescue of a hijacked plane in the actioner, “Executive Decision” (1996) and essayed the shifty, alcoholic mentor of a young attorney (Matthew McConaughey) in the courtroom drama, “A Time to Kill” (1996). In the independent film world, Platt made his producing debut with the acclaimed “Big Night” (1996), co-directed by actors Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott. He went on to team with Tucci as Depression-era actors who stow away aboard a luxury cruise liner in the delightful madcap comedy, “The Impostors” (1998) – one of five films he appeared in that year. While the costume drama “Dangerous Beauty” and the literary adaptation “Simon Birch” received little fanfare, Platt hit a home run as Warren Beatty’s coke-snorting campaign manager and spin doctor in “Bulworth,” and as Eddie Murphy’s medical partner in the mega family hit, “Dr. Dolittle.” In 1999 he had a scene-stealing turn as a hilariously pompous mythology professor in the David E. Kelly-scripted satire “Lake Placid” (1999), and continued to make a huge impression from the wings playing a robot mechanic in “Bicentennial Man” (1999) and a caustic gay architect in “Three to Tango” (1999).

Platt began the new millennium playing a hotheaded Mafia chieftain in the well-reviewed comedy “Gun Shy” (2000), another crime comedy exploring the vulnerabilities of tough guys, then put his imposing size to use playing a bitter, drunken professional wrestler in “Ready to Rumble” (2000). Platt landed his first regular television role that fall, starring as a tabloid journalist who teams with students to solve crimes in Dick Wolf’s “Deadline” (NBC, 2000). The show failed to capture viewers and was cancelled after only five airings, but Platt returned to prime time the following year in a recurring role as shrewd and sardonic White House counsel Oliver Babish on the NBC political drama, “The West Wing” (NBC, 1999-2006), a performance that netted him an Emmy nomination. Following a nicely etched supporting turn as a therapist in the thriller “Don’t Say a Word” (2001), Platt appeared in one of his most subtle and appealing performances, playing Katie Holmes’ compassionate, put-upon father struggling to reconcile his splintered family in “Pieces of April” (2003). Following a standout supporting turn as a small town New England mayor in the otherwise unremarkable romantic comedy “Hope Springs” (2003), Platt appeared opposite Liam Neeson as the nervous university president of a controversial sexuality researcher in the critically acclaimed biopic, “Kinsey” (2004).

Finally teaming onscreen with longtime pal Hank Azaria, Platt returned to television in the fall of 2004 in the Showtime comedy series “Huff,” playing the indulgent, womanizing, attorney best friend of a significantly less joyful psychiatrist (Azaria). The pair’s great chemistry was key to the show’s status as a critical darling, and Platt earned one Golden Globe and two Emmy nominations for Best Supporting Actor. During the two season-run of “Huff,” Platt maintained a big screen presence as well with Harold Ramis’ pitch-black comedic film noir, “The Ice Harvest” (2005), in which he delivered one of the funniest and most realistic portrayals of a man on a bender ever shot on film, and “Casanova” (2005), Lasse Hallstrom’s fictionalized account of the legendary lothario (Heath Ledger) that was easily one of the most ill-conceived and disappointing films of the year, despite a game performance by Platt as an obese pork magnate. Platt returned to the stage in 2006 with a Tony Award-nominated Broadway debut as a grieving widower in Conor McPherson’s “Shining City,” which itself earned a Tony nod for Best Play. Television came calling again, and Platt was cast in a recurring role as an uptight reality show producer on the FX drama “Nip/Tuck” in 2007, earning an Emmy nomination for Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

The same year Platt gave a triumphant performance as charismatic New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in ESPN’s miniseries “The Bronx is Burning,” and was recognized with an Outstanding Male Actor in a Miniseries nomination from the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The following year, Platt was tapped to portray another real-life figure, journalistic investigator Bob Zelnick, in the Oscar nominee for Best Picture, “Frost/Nixon” (2008), based on Peter Morgan’s stage play about Richard Nixon’s infamous television interviews with British TV presenter David Frost in 1977. In the spring of 2009, Platt was surprised when he was called upon to play Nathan Detroit in a Broadway revival of “Guys and Dolls.” While Platt was certainly not known for musicals, directors sought the actor’s talent for making shady characters into likable, forgivable charmers, for the role of the gambling impresario. From the glamour of that role, Platt turned around to portray a caveman in “Year One” (2009), the prehistoric comedy starring Jack Black and Michael Cera, and returned to a White House set once again to play the White House Chief of Staff in Roland Emmerich’s big budget sci-fi thriller, “2012” (2009).

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

Assaf Dayan

Assi Dayan was born in 1945 and is the third son of the Israeli politican Moshe Dayan. In 1967 he won critical praise for his performance in the film “He Walked Through the Fields”. In 1969 he starred with Anjelica Huston in “A Walk with Love and Death” which was directed by John Huston. He has directed on film and television, He died in 2014.

“Jersusalem Post” tribute:

Assi Dayan, one of the most celebrated actor/directors in the Israeli entertainment industry, and also one of its most troubled souls, died in Tel Aviv on Thursday at the age of 68.

The son of the late defense minister and general, Moshe Dayan, Assi starred in dozens of movies, directed a handful of classic films, and was the lead, playing a psychologist, in one of the most successful Israeli television series of all time, BeTipul, which was adapted by HBO into the American show In Treatment.

The funeral will take place Sunday in Nahalal at 4 p.m.

The public will be able to pay their last respects at Hall 3 in the Tel Aviv Cinematheque from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., where his casket will be on display.

Dayan was born Assaf Dayan in 1945 in Nahalal, the son of one of Israel’s most celebrated politicians and military heroes and Ruth Dayan, a peace activist now in her late 90s. His parents had a very public divorce in the early 1970s, and Moshe left the bulk of his estate to his second wife, Rachel. Dayan’s sister, Yael Dayan, is a politician and author who wrote a book about her troubled relationship with their father. His brother, Ehud (Udi) Dayan, is a sculptor and writer.

Dayan went into acting as a young man, starring in the romantic and patriotic drama He Walked in the Fields, directed by Yosef Milo, in 1967, an adaption of the novel and play by Moshe Shamir. With his good looks and thoughtful air, he personified the face of the sensitive sabra that Israel liked to show to the world. Not long after that, he flirted with an international career.

In 1969, he starred opposite Anjelica Huston in A Walk with Love and Death, directed by her father, John Huston.

The film was a notorious flop that made Anjelica quit acting for decades. Dayan was then cast in the Hollywood production of Fiddler on the Roof starring Chaim Topol, in the role of Perchik, one of Tevye’s sons-in-law, but he reportedly did not speak English well enough for the producers and was replaced by Paul Michael Glaser.

Back in Israel, he continued acting and starred in one of the most successful Israeli films of the ’70s, Operation Thunderbolt, a celebration of the raid on Entebbe to free the Israeli hostages in which Lt.-Col. Yoni Netanyahu, the current prime minister’s brother, was killed.

The film, directed by Menahem Golan, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. In 1984, he had a key role as a jailed political activist in Uri Barbash’s Beyond the Walls, a tense political prison drama that was also nominated for an Oscar.

In the 1970s, he turned his energy to directing and writing as well as acting, and he did so with great success. All in all, he directed 17 films. Two of the films he made with the comedy trio HaGashash HaHiver, were among the most popular Israeli comedies of the decade. He also directed Halfon Hill Doesn’t Answer (1976) and The Hit, better known as Shlager, in 1979.

His greatest triumph as a director was Life According to Agfa (1992), a black-and-white film about the alienated patrons of a Tel Aviv bar, which swept the Israeli film awards, winning eight awards, including Best Picture and Best Director and Best Screenplay for Dayan. The movie also received a special mention at the Berlin International Film Festival. He wrote and directed several more films, and in 2012 was nominated for an Ophir Award, Israel’s Oscars, for the screenplay of his last film, Dr. Pomerantz, in which he played a psychologist.

As the Israeli film industry underwent a renaissance in the past decade-and-a-half, he rode that wave and worked with some of the younger directors who emerged as the country’s new film elite. He seemed to become even more talented as he grew older, giving some of his best performances in recent years. He was the uncle of actress/director Shira Geffen and pop star Aviv Geffen, and had a role in Shira Geffen’s 2007 film, Jellyfish, which she co-directed with her husband, author Etgar Keret.

Although he was one of Israel’s best known secular, leftwing bohemians, he achieved some of his greatest success as an actor playing as ultra-Orthodox and national-religious characters.

What was most remarkable was that he seemed to disappear into these roles, never winking at the audience to show how different he was from the men he was playing, and was virtually unrecognizable.

In 2007, he played an ultra-Orthodox father taking his family on vacation in David Volach’s My Father My Lord, which won the Best Narrative Feature Prize at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. He had a key role in Joseph Cedar’s first feature, Time of Favor (2000), in which he played a West Bank rabbi who exhorted his followers to destroy the Temple Mount. In 2004, he appeared in Cedar’s second film, Campfire, in which he played the head of a West Bank settlement.

As the local television industry blossomed, he was right in the center of it, starring in the series Parshat HaShavua (Portion of the Week), as well as BeTipul.

His 1997 black comedy, Mr. Baum, has been remade in the US as The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, starring Robin Williams, and that film is set to be released later this month.

Dayan was married and divorced several times, and had four children with his ex-wives and other women: Amalia Dayan and Avner Dayan, with ex-wife Aharona Melkind; Lior Dayan, with ex-wife Caroline Langford; and Assia Neumann Dayan, with former girlfriend Augusta Neumann. He was also married to actress Smadar Kilchinsky and sculptress Vered Tandler-Dayan. Tandler-Dayan made a movie about him, called Living, Period, in 1999.

The actor had a serious substance abuse problem that in his later years, at times, overshadowed his professional success.

In 2006, when he won the Ophir Award, the prize of the Israel Academy for Film and Television, for Best Actor for his performance in Things Behind the Sun, where he played the patriarch of a dysfunctional family, he reeled onstage and seemed to have difficulty finding the microphone, then launched into a barely coherent monologue and refused to leave the stage while the rest of the evening’s awards were announced. It was a moment that in many ways was emblematic of Dayan’s entire life. He was coming off a year that any actor would envy – in addition to Things Behind the Sun, the actor was starring in BeTipul, and had won the Best Supporting Actor Ophir the previous year for Comrade – yet was obviously so troubled. It was no secret that he had a drug problem, and because of that and his stature in the film industry, no one made a serious attempt to get him off the stage.

A tribute to Dayan on “The Jerusalem Post” can be found here.

Ed Stoppard was born in London in 1974. He is the son of playwright Tom Stoppard and physican Dr Miriam Stoppard. His films include “The Pianist” and “Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang”. He is currently starring in the hit television series “Upstairs Downstairs”.

Bill Duke was born in New York in 1943. He is known for his strong imposing persona on film. His movies include “Car Wash” in 1976, “American Gigolio” in 1980 and “Commando”.

IMDB entry:

Shaven headed, imposing looking African American actor, director, producer and writer who received his dramatic arts training at Boston University, New York University’s Tisch School of Arts and at the American Film Institute. Duke first broke into TV in the early eighties directing episodes of well known TV shows including Miami Vice (1984), Cagney & Lacey (1981) and Hill Street Blues (1981). Additionally he directed several made for TV movies that received wide critical acclaim including American Playhouse (1981) (The Killing Floor) and American Playhouse: A Raisin in the Sun (1989). Big Bill Duke’s face then became known to movie goers following his appearance in several high octane action movies of the mid 1980s including fighting (and losing) to Arnold Schwarzeneggerin Commando (1985), as unlucky mercenary “Mac”, in Predator (1987) and as Carl Weathers fiery police chief in Action Jackson (1988). After cutting his directorial teeth on the small screen, Duke directed his first feature film with the crime drama, A Rage in Harlem (1991). This was followed by another impressive crime film Deep Cover (1992), then the, The Cemetery Club (1993), and the comedy sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). Duke has since continued to divide his time between appearing both in front of the camera and behind it, and remains a dynamic, stimulating and creative talent in Hollywood.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: firehouse44

The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.

Ben Price is currently appearing as Nick Tilsey in “Coronation Street”. He was born in 1974 in Newcastle-on-Tyne. He made his television debut in “Soldier,Soldier” in 1997. Other TV roles include in “Heartbeat”,”Peak Practice” and “Wire in the Blood”. Movies include “Blood Trials” in 2006.

IMDB entry:

Ben Price (born 1 January 1974) is a British actor, known for his roles in the British television series Footballers’ Wives (2002) and Casualty (1986) and several high-profile theatre roles. He co-starred in the horror film Blood Trails (2006), which won the audience award for best feature at the Dead by Dawn International Horror Film Festival 2006 in Edinburgh. He has starred in Casualty (1986) as “Corporate Director Nathan Spencer” between 2004 and 2007, and was recently voted one of the ten actors most likely to succeed in Hollywood by “Stage and Screen” magazine. In 2009, he is due to appear in Series 4 of The Tudors (2007). He now lives between Los Angeles and London

Kevin Doyle was born in 1961 in Scunthorpe. His TV debut was in 1984 in the series “Sharing Time”. His films include “The LIbertine” in 2004 and “Good”. He is currently starring in the very popular series “Downton Abbey”.

William Gaminara is best known for his role as Leo Dalton in the long running TV series “Silent Witness” on BBC. His films include “Comrades” in 1986 and “A Dark Adapted Eye”

“What’s On Stage” in 2014:

Actor William Gaminara, best known for playing Leo Dalton for more than a decade in Silent Witness, is currently starring in The Body of an American at the Gate Theatre, which runs until 8 February

By Rosie Bannister • 22 Jan 2014 • London

1. Where and when were you born?
I was born in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia (Northern Rhodesia at the time) in 1956.

2. What made you want to become an actor?
Playing head sheep in the Nativity Play at Nursery School. I only had one word to say… ‘Bethlehem’… which I bleated repeatedly and got a (cheap) laugh.

3. If you hadn’t become an actor, what might you have done professionally?
I work as a writer as well so maybe I would have done that full time. I like the idea of being an investigative journalist, but I suspect the reality is a lot less glamorous than I imagine.

4. First big break?
Playing one of the Tolpuddle Martyrs in Bill Douglas’ film Comrades. It was my first proper screen work and I didn’t really know what I was doing but it was a wonderful adventure which taught me a lot.

5. Career highlights to date?
A brief scene with Vanessa Redgrave in the same film; in Silent Witness doing an autopsy on a dog whose tail would not stop wagging; speaking Cantonese in a production of Macbeth knowing that if I got the intonation wrong the whole meaning would alter – all highlights in their own ways.

6. Any regrets?
That we don’t have a multiplicity of lives so we can try out different ways of living.

7. What was the first thing you saw on stage that had a big impact on you?
Being taken to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre at the age of about eight. It wasn’t just the play but the magic of that venue on a hot summer’s night in the dark.

8. And the last?
It’s not often that the production, the performances and the writing all match each other in a show. Jerusalem managed it in spades.

9. Who are your acting idols?
On screen the usual suspects… De Niro, Brando, Harvey Keitel. On stage I don’t have any idols as such but I could name any number of British actors whom I admire enormously.

10. What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
When you sit down at a poker table, the first thing you do is look round and see if you can spot the patsy. If you can’t, then the patsy is you.

11. Why did you want to get involved in The Body of an American?
A variety of reasons; I spent a long time researching and writing a film about a War Correspondent some years ago so it felt like I was returning to a familiar and fascinating subject. It’s a challenging and unconventional script which makes challenging and unconventional demands of an actor. Like all good plays, it leaves as many questions unanswered as answered. And at its heart it has two complex and intriguing central characters with whom I could immediately identify.

12. How have you prepared for the role?
My character exists in real life so apart from his autobiography (from which a lot of the play is drawn), there is video footage of him available. Otherwise the usual careful scrutiny and exploration of the text. We have also had the benefit of a dialect coach for a variety of accents/voices. Our author Dan O’Brien was also with us for the first week and having spent a lot of time with my character (in real life) was of course able to fill in any gaps.

13. Favourite line in the show?
“I’m paraphrasing now of course, but what kind of an ass-jag uses the word ‘whilst’!”

14. What do you hope people take away from the show?
I hope they have a genuinely arresting and exciting theatrical experience, that they are engrossed in and intrigued by the relationship between these two men, and that if nothing else they leave with some greater understanding of what is involved in being a reporter working on the frontline in war scenarios.

15. What’s your favourite post-show hang out?
My bath.

16. Do you often get recognised from your TV work?
Often enough to realise what a pain it must be to be recognised more often.

17. How do you unwind?
I play in a band (guitar and blues harmonica) and I play table-tennis and poker. But not all at the same time. I have also been learning Cuban salsa for a year or two.

18. If you could swap places with anyone for a day, who would it be?
David Cameron, so I could hand in my resignation.

19. What’s your favourite theatre joke?
A: What’s the secret of comedy? B: Timing.

20. What’s next?
Uncertainty as ever.

Read our five star review of The Body of an American here

The Body of an American, which is co-produced by Royal & Derngate, Northampton, continues at the Gate until 14 February

The above “What’s On Stage” article can also be accessed online here.

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