Marisa Tomei
It feels like a barbell.
— Marisa Tomei, when asked what she thought of her newly acquired Oscar statuette
MARISA TOMEI began her career with a bit part in The Flamingo Kid with Matt Dillon. Her one line—”You’re so drunk”—convinced her to try acting full-time. She dropped out of college and found work in daytime soaps and as Lisa Bonet’s roommate in A Different World. Read the rest of this entry »
Emily Watson
I just think it would be a real gas to stand there in a spandex tunic and go “warp speed.”
— Emily Watson, explaining the appeal of science fiction or comedy to Mr. Showbiz
When Emily Watson was 8 years old, her father and mother — an architect and a teacher, respectively — took her to see Judi Dench perform in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Much Ado About Nothing. Read the rest of this entry »
Hattie McDaniel
(born June 10, 1895, Wichita, Kan., U.S.—died Oct. 26, 1952, Hollywood, Calif.) American actress and singer who became the first African American to be honoured with an Academy Award.
McDaniel was raised in Denver, Colorado, where she early exhibited her musical and dramatic talent.
John Ford
Film director. Born on February 1, 1895, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. An Academy Award-winning director, John is considered to be one of the best filmmakers of all time. He left Maine for Hollywood in 1913 and worked as a stagehand and prop man. Four years later, Ford directed his first film—a western called The Tornado. [...]
Vivien Leigh
(born November 5, 1913, Darjeeling, India—died July 8, 1967, London, England) British actress who achieved motion picture immortality by playing two of American literature’s most celebrated Southern belles, Scarlett O’Hara and Blanche DuBois.
The daughter of a Yorkshire stockbroker, she was born in India and convent-educated in England and throughout Europe. Inspired by the example of [...]
Claude Rains
Claude Rains (November 10, 1889 - May 30, 1967) was an English actor.
Rains was born in London. Gassed during World War I, he was almost blind in one eye for the rest of his life.
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, founder of The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, recognized Rains’ acting talent and paid for the elocution [...]
Piper Laurie
Rosetta Jacobs, better known as Piper Laurie (born January 22, 1932), is an American actress of stage and screen noted for her roles in the television series Twin Peaks and the film Carrie.
Early life
Laurie was born Rosetta Jacobs in Detroit, Michigan, to Jewish parents, Charlotte Sadie Alperin and Alfred Jacobs, a furniture dealer.
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian Foster, better known as Jodie Foster (born November 19, 1962), is an American actor, film director and producer.
Foster began acting in commercials at 3 years old, and her first significant role came in the 1976 film Taxi Driver as the preteen prostitute, Iris, for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award [...]
Rod Steiger
Rodney Stephen “Rod” Steiger (April 14, 1925 – July 9, 2002) was an American actor known for his performances in such films as In the Heat of the Night, Waterloo, On the Waterfront, and Doctor Zhivago.
Early life: Steiger was born in Westhampton, New York, the son of Lorraine and Frederick Steiger, of French, Scottish, and [...]
Karl Malden
Karl Malden was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he featured in classic Marlon Brando films such as A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks. Among other notable film roles were Archie Lee Meighan in Baby Doll, Zebulon Prescott in How the West Was Won and [...]
« Previous Entries