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==Best Actor==
==Best Actress==
Category:Italian film awards Category:Lists of films by award Category:Venice Film Festival
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| Name | Colin Firth |
|---|---|
| Caption | Firth at the 2009 Venice Film Festival |
| Birth name | Colin Andrew Firth |
| Birth date | September 10, 1960 |
| Birth place | Grayshott, Hampshire, United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Spouse | Livia Giuggioli (1997–present) |
Colin Andrew Firth (born 10 September 1960) is an English film, television, and stage actor. Firth first gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaption of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. He subsequently achieved film stardom with the international box office success of Bridget Jones's Diary, Mamma Mia!, A Single Man, and The King's Speech.
It was through the 1995 BBC television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice that Firth gained wider renown. The serial was a major international success, and Firth gained heartthrob status because of his role as Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. This performance also made him the object of affection for fictional journalist Bridget Jones (created by Helen Fielding), an interest which carried on into the two novels featuring the Jones character. In the second novel, , the character even meets Firth in Rome. As something of an in-joke, when the novels were adapted for the cinema, Firth was cast as Jones's love interest, Mark Darcy. Continuing this in-joke there was a dog called Mr Darcy in the film St. Trinian's which Firth's character accidentally kills.
Firth had a supporting role in The English Patient (1996) and since then has starred in films such as Fever Pitch (1997), Shakespeare in Love (1998), Relative Values (2000), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), Love Actually (2003), What a Girl Wants (2003), Hope Springs (2003), Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003), (2004), Nanny McPhee (2005), Then She Found Me (2007) with Helen Hunt, The Last Legion (2007) with Aishwarya Rai, When Did You Last See Your Father? (2008), the film adaptation of Mamma Mia! (2008), and Easy Virtue, which screened at the Rome Film Festival to excellent reviews. In 2009, he starred in A Christmas Carol, an adaptation of Charles Dickens's novel A Christmas Carol using the performance capture procedure, playing Scrooge's optimistic nephew Fred, alongside Jim Carrey, who played Scrooge.
He has also appeared in several television productions, including Donovan Quick (an updated version of Don Quixote) (1999) and Conspiracy (2001), for which he received an Emmy nomination. Colin Firth's most recent role is in the Toronto International Film Festival debuted film, Genova.
At the 66th Venice International Film Festival in 2009, Colin Firth was awarded the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his role in Tom Ford's A Single Man as a college professor grappling with solitude after his longtime partner dies. Fashion designer Tom Ford made his director's debut with this movie. This role has earned Firth career best reviews and Academy Award, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA, and BFCA nominations; he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in February 2010.
Firth starred in the 2010 film The King's Speech. At the Toronto Film Festival, the film was met with a standing ovation. The TIFF release of The King's Speech fell on Colin's 50th birthday and was called the "best 50th birthday gift". On 15 December 2010, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance in "The King's Speech." He fell under the category of Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama.
Firth will appear in the 2012 adaptation of the John Le Carré novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, directed by Tomas Alfredson, also starring Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman, and Tom Hardy.
He was a guest host of Saturday Night Live in 2004 alongside musical guest Norah Jones.
Colin performed in theatre frequently between 1983 and 2000. He starred in Three Days of Rain as lead character Ned/Walker, as well as The Caretaker, Desire Under the Elms, and Chatsky.
He served as executive producer for the 2007 documentary produced by his wife, Livia Giuggioli, In Prison My Whole Life. The film questions the trial proceedings and evidence used against political activist and former Black Panther member, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is on death row for the 1981 killing of a Philadelphia police officer, Daniel Faulkner.
Firth is also a Jury Member for the digital studio Filmaka, a platform for undiscovered filmmakers to show their work to industry professionals. On 2 February 2010, Firth was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in A Single Man. He lost to Jeff Bridges for his performance in Crazy Heart.
On January 13, 2011, he was presented with the 2,429th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Firth has been involved in a campaign to stop the deportation of a group of asylum seekers, because he believed that they might be murdered on their return to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Firth argued that "To me it's just basic civilization to help people. I find this incredibly painful to see how we dismiss the most desperate people in our society. It's easily done. It plays to the tabloids, to the Middle-England xenophobes. It just makes me furious. And all from a government we once had such high hopes for". As a result of the campaign, a Congolese nurse was given a last-minute reprieve from deportation.
Firth has been a long-standing supporter of Survival International, a non-governmental organization that defends the rights of tribal peoples. Speaking in 2001, he said, "My interest in tribal peoples goes back many years... and I have supported [Survival] ever since." In 2003, during the promotion of the movie Love Actually, he spoke in defense of the tribal people of Botswana, condemning the Botswana government's eviction of the Gana and Gwi Bushmen from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. He says of the Bushmen, "These people are not the remnants of a past era who need to be brought up to date. Those who are able to continue to live on the land that is rightfully theirs are facing the 21st century with a confidence that many of us in the so-called developed world can only envy."
Firth has also been involved in the Oxfam global campaign Make Trade Fair, in which several other celebrities participated as well in order to bring more attention to the issues involved. The campaign has focused on several trade practices seen as unfair to third world producers especially, including dumping, high import tariffs, and labour rights such as fair wages. Firth remains deeply committed to this cause, making efforts such as supporting fair trade coffee in his daily life, as he believes "[i]f you're going to sustain commitment to any of this, ... [y]ou've got to get involved on an ordinary every day basis." He has further contributed to this cause by opening (with a few collaborators) an eco-friendly shop in West London, Eco. The shop offers fair trade and eco-friendly goods, as well as expert advice on making spaces more energy efficient.
In October 2009 at the London Film Festival, Firth launched a film and political activism website, Brightwide.com, along with his wife Livia and a team headed by Paola De Leo, a former Director of Deutsche Bank and Head of the Global Major Donor Programme for Amnesty. In a 2006 interview with French magazine Madame Figaro, Firth was asked "Quelles sont les femmes de votre vie?" (Who are the women of your life?). Firth replied: "Ma mère, ma femme et Jane Austen" (My mother, my wife and Jane Austen). He was awarded an honorary degree on 19 October 2007 from the University of Winchester.
In early 2010, Firth announced his support for the Liberal Democrats, having formerly been a Labour supporter, citing asylum and refugees' rights as a key reason for his change in affiliation. In December 2010, Firth retracted his support of the Liberal Democrats, citing their U-turn on tuition fees as one of the key reasons for his disillusionment. He clarified that while he no longer supports the Liberal Democrats, he is currently without affiliation.
Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Alumni of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design Category:Alumni of the Drama Centre London Category:Audio book narrators Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:English film actors Category:English radio actors Category:English stage actors Category:English television actors Category:European Film Awards winners (people) Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from East Hampshire (district) Category:People from Winchester Category:Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama alumni
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| Name | Wesley Snipes |
|---|---|
| Caption | Snipes in September 2009 |
| Birth date | July 31, 1962 |
| Birth name | Wesley Trent Snipes |
| Birth place | Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, martial artist, film producer |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Spouse | April Dubois (1985–1990) Nikki Park (2003–present) |
Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist. He has starred in numerous action-adventures, thrillers, and dramatic feature films and is well known for his role as Blade in the Blade trilogy. Snipes formed a production company titled Amen-Ra Films in 1991 and a subsidiary, Black Dot Media, to develop projects for film and television. Snipes has been training in martial arts since age twelve, earning a high ranking 5th dan black belt in Shotokan Karate and 2nd dan black belt in Hapkido. under Mestre Jelon Vieira and in a number of other disciplines including various styles of kung fu and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Snipes' performance in the music video "Bad" caught the eye of director Spike Lee. Snipes turned down a small role in Lee's Do the Right Thing for the larger part of Willie Mays Hayes in Major League, beginning a succession of box-office hits for Snipes. Lee would later cast Snipes as the jazz saxophonist Shadow Henderson in Mo' Better Blues and as the lead in the interracial romance drama Jungle Fever. Another important role for Snipes was the powerful drug lord Nino Brown in New Jack City, which was written specifically for him by Barry Michael Cooper. Another film in which his character was involved in drugs was the somber movie Sugar Hill.
Although Snipes is more known for his roles in action films like Passenger 57, Demolition Man (with Sylvester Stallone), Money Train, U.S. Marshals (a sequel of The Fugitive) and Rising Sun (with Sean Connery), he has also had success in comedies like White Men Can't Jump, and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar where he played a drag queen together with Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo. Snipes has also been critically acclaimed for his roles in dramas like The Waterdance and Disappearing Acts.
In 1997, he won the Best Actor Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival for his performance in New Line Cinema's One Night Stand. 1998 marked Snipes's largest commercial success with the opening of Blade, for New Line Cinema, which has grossed over $150 million worldwide. The film turned into a successful series. He also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, SUNY/Purchase, for his outstanding achievements in film.
Most of his latest films have been released straight-to-DVD. His latest films are The Shooter (also known as The Contractor), filmed in Bulgaria and the UK, with Charles Dance, Lena Heady, Eliza Bennett, Gallowwalker, released in 2009 and Game Of Death with Ernie Hudson, Robert Davi, Zoe Bell, Gary Daniels, directed by Giorgio Serafini.
Snipes was originally slated to play one of the four leads in Spike Lee's 2008 war film, Miracle at St. Anna but had to leave the film due to his widely-publicized tax problems, and his role eventually went to Derek Luke.
Snipes made a comeback performance in Brooklyn's Finest as Caz, a supporting character. He also had to turn down the part of 'Hale Caesar' in The Expendables due to not being allowed to leave the United States without the court's approval. He was also offered the role of Nick Curran in Basic Instinct, but turned it down due to commitments on another film. He is currently being talked to by Sylvester Stallone about a part in a sequel to The Expendables.
In 2000, the business was investigated for alleged ties to a group called the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors. It turns out that Snipes had spotted of land with the intention to buy and use for his business academy, which were close to the aforesaid compound in Putnam County, Georgia. Both Snipes's business and the groups had Egyptian motifs as their symbols, which prompted people to hypothesize ties between them.
Snipes converted from Christianity to Islam in 1978. His current beliefs are unknown. Snipes's apartment was destroyed by the collapse of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers during the September 11 attacks in 2001. He was on the west coast at the time.
Snipes contends that Goyer, his fellow producers, and New Line kept him out of the project's decision process, which ended up harming the film's performance (it made just $52 million, compared to the previous installments that had made $70 million and $82 million respectively). He says that a portion of his salary - $3.6 million - was withheld as punishment. Neither Goyer nor New Line has commented on these allegations. The suit is still pending.
Snipes was a client with American Rights Litigators, which Kahn operated. As a client, Snipes gave a percentage of his tax refunds to Kahn's organization.The government also charged that Snipes failed to file tax returns for the years 1999 through 2004.
In a December 4, 2006 letter from Snipes in response to his indictment, he declared himself "a non-resident alien" of the United States (in reality Snipes is a US born citizen). Snipes said he was being made an example of and unfairly targeted by prosecutors because of his fame in connection with the federal tax fraud investigation. He attempted unsuccessfully to get the trial moved away from Ocala, Florida on the ground that racist attitudes in that town would prejudice his chance for a fair trial. Snipes faced the possibility of up to sixteen years in prison and substantial fines if convicted on all the charges. The trial began on January 14, 2008, in Ocala, Florida, with opening statements beginning on January 16, 2008. On February 1, 2008, Snipes was acquitted on the felony count of conspiracy to defraud the government and on the felony count of filing a false claim with the government. He was, however, found guilty on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file Federal income tax returns (and acquitted on three other "failure to file" charges). His co-defendants, Douglas P. Rosile and Eddie Ray Kahn, were convicted on the conspiracy and false claim charges in connection with the income tax refund claims filed for Snipes.
On April 24, 2008, Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison for willful failure to file federal income tax returns under . While defense lawyers urged leniency, prosecutors argued that Snipes should be made an example of because of his fame. Until December 9, 2010, Snipes remained free on bail to work, even traveling internationally, while he appealed his conviction. In April 2009, the Los Angeles Wave reported that Snipes has refused to answer certain questions in connection with a talent agency lawsuit in which the agency claims that Snipes owes over $1.4 million in commissions. Snipes is reported to have taken the position that his answers could incriminate him in a federal tax investigation. Lawyers for the talent agency stated that Snipes' lawyer advised the lawyers for the talent agency that "Snipes and his [ . . . ] companies are under an additional investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and Snipes would be asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and would not answer any questions at his deposition." On May 22, 2008, the trial court ruled that Snipes could remain free while his appeal is being considered.
On July 16, 2010, in a 35-page decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed Snipes' convictions. At the conclusion of its decision, the Court of Appeals stated:
On November 19, 2010, the United States District Court in Ocala, Florida denied motions for permission to interview jurors and motions for a new trial which had been filed by attorneys for Snipes. The Court ordered that the judgment of commitment be enforced. In the seventeen page Order, the Court also granted the prosecution's motion to revoke the bail for Snipes.
Snipes' projected date of release is on July 19, 2013.
Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:African American film actors Category:African American converts to Islam Category:People from Alpine, New Jersey Category:Actors from New York Category:People from the Bronx Category:People from Orlando, Florida Category:American people convicted of tax crimes Category:American prisoners and detainees Category:American tax resisters Category:American television actors Category:State University of New York at Purchase alumni Category:American former Muslims Category:American wushu practitioners Category:American hapkido practitioners Category:American karateka Category:American capoeira practitioners Category:American practitioners of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government
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| Birth name | Robin Jessica Tunney |
|---|---|
| Birth date | June 19, 1972 |
| Birth place | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Spouse | Bob Gosse (1997–2002) (divorced) |
Robin Tunney (born June 19, 1972) is an American actress. She is best known for her lead roles in the movie The Craft and the television series Prison Break and The Mentalist.
In 1997, Tunney starred in Bob Gosse's Niagara, Niagara with Henry Thomas in a performance which garnered her the Best Actress award Volpi Cup at the 1997 Venice International Film Festival. Tunney also was featured opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1999 action film End of Days.
She starred in the pilot episode of House as a kindergarten teacher who collapses before her class and descends into dysphasia. She was credited as 'special guest star,'
She portrayed Veronica Donovan on the first season of Prison Break, credited third after two main characters. Her only appearance outside of the first season was in the premiere episode of season two in which her character was brutally killed.
She had a minor role in the film August released on July 11, 2008.
Tunney is currently starring opposite Simon Baker in the CBS drama series The Mentalist. She appeared on the February 11, 2009 edition of The Ellen DeGeneres Show to discuss Baker and the show.
On June 28, 2006, Tunney won the fifth table of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown
Category:1972 births Category:Actors from Chicago, Illinois Category:American film actors Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American television actors Category:Living people Category:People from Chicago, Illinois
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| Caption | At the 61st Academy Awards; Governor's House, March 29, 1989 |
|---|---|
| Birth name | River Jude Bottom |
| Birth date | August 23, 1970 |
| Birth place | Metolius, Oregon, United States |
| Death date | October 31, 1993 |
| Death place | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Occupation | Actor, musician, activist |
| Years active | 1982–1993 |
Phoenix began acting at age 10. He appeared in diverse roles, making his first notable appearance in the 1986 film Stand by Me, a well-received coming-of-age film based on a novella by Stephen King. Phoenix made a transition into more adult-oriented roles with Running on Empty (1988), playing the son of fugitive parents in a well-received performance that earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and My Own Private Idaho (1991), playing a gay hustler in search for his estranged mother. For his performance in the latter, Phoenix garnered enormous praise and won a Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival, along with Best Actor from the National Society of Film Critics. He was listed by John Willis as one of twelve "promising new actors of 1986" and was hailed as highly talented by such critics as Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel.
On October 31, 1993, Phoenix died of a drug overdose on the sidewalk outside the West Hollywood nightclub the Viper Room.
In an interview with People, Phoenix described his parents as "hippieish". His father was a lapsed Catholic from Fontana, California, and had a daughter from a previous relationship, Jodene, who later changed her name to Trust. In 1968, Phoenix's mother left her family in New York City and travelled across the United States, meeting John Lee Bottom while hitchhiking in northern California. They married on September 13, 1969, less than one year after meeting. In 1973, the family joined a religious cult called the Children of God as missionaries. While living in Crockett, Texas, their second child Rain Joan of Arc Bottom was born on November 21, 1972. Their third child was born on October 28, 1974, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as Joaquin Rafael Bottom.
On July 5, 1976, Libertad Mariposa Bottom was born, while the family had settled in Caracas, Venezuela, where the Children of God had stationed them to work as missionaries and fruit gatherers. Although John Bottom was later designated the cult's "Archbishop of Venezuela and the Caribbean", their family received no financial support from the group and lived in poverty. Phoenix often played guitar while he and Rain sang on street corners for money and food to support their ever-growing family.
Arlyn and John eventually grew disillusioned with the Children of God; Arlyn would later tell a journalist that she and her husband were opposed to the cult's practice of Flirty Fishing, stating: "The group was being distorted by the leader, David Berg, who was getting powerful and wealthy. He sought to attract rich disciples through sex. No way."
Fearing the cult was moving in a negative direction, the Bottom family left the group and stayed for a period with a church in Venezuela. It was during the last years in South America that the entire Phoenix family converted to veganism, encouraged by River and Joaquin, who had witnessed local fishermen's methods of killing their catch.
The family eventually made the trip back to the United States by stowing away on a cargo ship. Upon their return, they moved in with Phoenix's maternal grandparents in Florida. On December 10, 1978, Summer Joy Bottom was born in Winter Park, Florida. On April 2, 1979, the family officially changed their name to Phoenix, after the mythical bird that rises from its own ashes, symbolizing a new beginning.
In 1980, Phoenix began to fully pursue his work as an actor, making his first appearance on a TV show called Fantasy singing with his sister Rain.
It would be almost a year after Seven Brides for Seven Brothers ended in 1983 that River would find a new role in the 1984 made-for-TV movie Celebrity, where he played the part of young Jeffie Crawford. Although he was only on screen for about ten minutes, his character was a central role. Less than a month after Celebrity came the after school show Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia. River starred as a young boy who discovers he has dyslexia. Joaquin starred in a small role alongside his brother.
In September, the pilot episode of the short-lived TV series It's Your Move aired. River was cast as Brian and only has one line of dialogue. He also starred as Robert Kennedy's son, Robert Kennedy, Jr. in the TV movie Robert Kennedy and His Times.
When River's role in Dyslexia was critically acclaimed, he was almost immediately cast as a major role in his next made-for-TV movie, Surviving: A Family in Crisis. River starred as Philip Brogan alongside Molly Ringwald and the late Heather O'Rourke. This would be his last TV performance before he began starring in films. It would be halfway during the filming of Surviving that Iris Burton would contact him about a possible role in the film Explorers.
In October 1984, River was informed that he had been cast as the geeky boy-scientist Wolfgang Müller in Joe Dante's large-budget science-fiction film Explorers and production began soon after. This was River's first major motion picture role.
He had significant juvenile roles in Rob Reiner's coming of age picture Stand By Me (1986) which first brought Phoenix to public prominence; Peter Weir's The Mosquito Coast (1986), where Phoenix played the son of Harrison Ford's character; A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988); and Little Nikita (1988) alongside Sidney Poitier.
During this time, the Phoenix family would continue to move on a regular basis and would notch up over forty moves by the time Phoenix was 18. After completing his sixth feature film, Sidney Lumet's Running on Empty (1988) the family made their last move to Micanopy, near Gainesville, Florida in 1987.
In early 1989, Phoenix was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (as well as for a Golden Globe) and received the Best Supporting Actor honor from the National Board of Review for his role in Running on Empty. That year he also portrayed a young Indiana Jones in the box-office hit Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Phoenix met actor Keanu Reeves while Reeves was filming Parenthood with Phoenix's brother, Joaquin. The two would star together for the first time (along with Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman and Joan Plowright) in 1990's I Love You to Death and again in Gus Van Sant's avant-garde film My Own Private Idaho. In his review for Newsweek, David Ansen praised Phoenix's performance: "The campfire scene in which Mike awkwardly declares his unrequited love for Scott is a marvel of delicacy. In this, and every scene, Phoenix immerses himself so deeply inside his character you almost forget you've seen him before: it's a stunningly sensitive performance, poignant and comic at once". For his role in My Own Private Idaho, Phoenix won Best Actor honors at the Venice Film Festival, the National Society of Film Critics and the Independent Spirit Awards. The film and its success solidified Phoenix's image as an actor with edgy, leading man potential. Just prior to My Own Private Idaho, he filmed an acclaimed independent picture called Dogfight co-starring Lili Taylor and directed by Nancy Savoca, in which Phoenix portrayed a young U.S. Marine on the night prior to his being shipped off to Vietnam in November 1963.
Phoenix teamed up with Redford and again with Sidney Poitier for the conspiracy/espionage thriller Sneakers (1992). A month later he would begin production on Sam Shepard's art-house, ghost western Silent Tongue (which would be released in 1994). He then appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's country music-themed film, The Thing Called Love (1993), the last completed picture before his death.
Regarded by critics at the time as one of the most promising young actors on the cusp of the '80s and '90s, River and younger brother Joaquin would later go on to become the first brothers in Hollywood history to be nominated for an Oscar in the acting categories.
Whilst working on A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon in 1986, Phoenix had written and recorded a song, "Heart to Get," specifically for the end credits of the movie. 20th Century Fox cut it from the completed film, but director William Richert put it back into place for his director's cut some years later. It was during filming that Phoenix met Chris Blackwell of Island Records, this meeting would later secure Phoenix a two-year development deal with the label. Phoenix disliked the idea of being a solo artist and relished collaboration and so focused on putting together a band. Aleka's Attic were formed in 1987 and the line up included his sister Rain. Phoenix was committed to gaining credibility by his own merit and so he maintained that the band would not use his name when securing performances that were not benefits for charitable organizations. Phoenix's first release was 'Across the Way,' co-written with band mate Josh McKay, which was released in 1989 on a benefit album for PETA titled "Tame Yourself." In 1991 River wrote and recorded a spoken word piece called "Curi Curi" for Milton Nascimento's album TXAI. Also in 1991 the Aleka's Attic track "Too Many Colors" was lent to the soundtrack of Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho a film which included Phoenix in a starring role. In 1996 the Aleka's Attic track Note To A Friend was released on the 1996 benefit album In Defense Of Animals; Volume II and featured Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers on bass.
Phoenix had collaborated with friend John Frusciante after his first departure from Red Hot Chili Peppers and the songs "Height Down" and "Well I've Been" were released on Frusciantes second solo album Smile From The Streets You Hold in 1997. The title track may also be an ode to Phoenix.
Phoenix was an investor in the original House of Blues (founded by his good friend and Sneakers co-star Dan Aykroyd) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which opened its doors to the public after serving a group of homeless people on Thanksgiving Day 1992.
As well as giving speeches at rallies for various groups, he and his band often played environmental benefits for well known charities and also that of local ones around Gainesville, Florida.
on Sunset Strip]] On the evening of October 30, 1993, Phoenix was to perform with his close friend Michael "Flea" Balzary from the Red Hot Chili Peppers onstage at the Viper Room, a Hollywood night club partly owned at the time by actor Johnny Depp. Phoenix had returned to Los Angeles early that week from Utah to complete the three weeks of interior shots left on his last (and, uncompleted) project Dark Blood. His younger sister Rain and brother Joaquin had flown out to join him at his hotel. Phoenix's girlfriend Samantha Mathis had also come to meet him, and all would be present at the scene of Phoenix's death.
At some point in the evening, Phoenix went to the bathroom to take drugs with various friends and dealers. It is frequently reported that an acquaintance or dealer offered him Persian Brown (a powerful form of heroin mixed with methamphetamine, which is commonly snorted); his autopsy report revealed lethal doses of cocaine, morphine (heroin metabolizes to morphine and shows up as such in the blood), as well as diazepam, ephedrine and marijuana. Soon after consuming a combination of heroin and cocaine he became ill, and somebody reportedly gave him diazepam, as it is commonly used to counter-act the effects of a stimulant overdose. However, because he had consumed heroin the treatment is thought to have been counter productive, as diazepam further enhances the effects of heroin. When the news filtered through the club, Flea left the stage and rushed outside. Paramedics had arrived on the scene and found Phoenix in a flatline state, and they administered drugs in an attempt to restart his heart. He was rushed to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, accompanied by Flea, via an ambulance. Further attempts to resuscitate Phoenix (including the insertion of a pacemaker) were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at 1:51 a.m. PST on the morning of October 31, 1993.
The following day the club became a makeshift shrine with fans and mourners leaving flowers, pictures and candles on the sidewalk and graffiti messages on the walls of the venue. A sign was placed in the window that read, "With much respect and love to River and his family, The Viper Room is temporarily closed. Our heartfelt condolences to all his family, friends and loved ones. He will be missed". The club remained closed for a week. Depp continued to close the club every year on October 31 until selling his share in 2004.
Category:1970 births Category:1993 deaths Category:Actors from Florida Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:Actors from Oregon Category:American buskers Category:American child actors Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American vegans Category:Cocaine-related deaths in California Category:Deaths by heroin overdose in California Category:Deaths from heart failure Category:Independent Spirit Award winners Category:Jewish actors Category:People from Gainesville, Florida Category:People from Jefferson County, Oregon Category:People raised as children in the Children of God
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| Name | Xenia Rappoport |
|---|---|
| Other names | Xenia Alexandrovna Rappoport |
| Birth date | 25 March 1974 |
| Birth place | Leningrad, USSR (now Saint Petersburg, Russia) |
| Occupation | Actress |
Kseniya Aleksandrovna Rappoport (; born 25 March 1974 in Leningrad) is a Russian actress. She graduated in 2000 from Saint Petersburg's Academy of Theatrical Arts. Immediately invited to join the Maly Drama Theatre. She played Nina Zarechnaya in The Seagull, Elena in Uncle Vania, and Sofia in A Play Without a Title.
She has appeared in such films as Streets of Broken Lamps, Baron, Anna Karenina, Nicholas II (Germany), The Russian Bride, National Security Agent, Empire Under Fire, Calendula Flowers, Prokofiev (Germany), Get Thee From Me, Criminal Petersburg, Homicide, and I Pay Up Front. She starred in the Italian film La sconosciuta (2006) and in the Golden Lion nominated movie La doppia ora (2009), for which she won Best Actress at the 66th Venice Film Festival.
Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from Saint Petersburg Category:Russian film actors
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| Caption | Blanchett at the press conference for The Good German in Berlin, February 2007. |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Catherine Élise Blanchett |
| Birth date | May 14, 1969 |
| Birth place | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Spouse | Andrew Upton (m. 1997-present; 3 children) |
| Occupation | Actress Theatre director |
| Years active | 1993–present |
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett (born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actress and theatre director. She has won multiple acting awards, most notably two SAGs, two Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTAs, and an Academy Award, as well as the Volpi Cup at the 64th Venice International Film Festival. Blanchett earned five Academy Award nominations between 1998 and 2010.
Blanchett came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 film Elizabeth, directed by Shekhar Kapur. She is also well-known for her portrayals of the elf queen Galadriel in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the upcoming The Hobbit, Colonel-Doctor Irina Spalko in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, a role which brought her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She and her husband Andrew Upton are currently artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company.
Blanchett has described herself during childhood as "part extrovert, part wallflower". She studied Economics and Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne before leaving Australia to travel overseas.
When she was 18, Blanchett went on a vacation to Egypt. A fellow guest at a hotel in Cairo asked if she wanted to be an extra in a movie, and the next day she found herself in a crowd scene cheering for an American boxer losing to an Egyptian in the film Kaboria, starring the Egyptian actor Ahmad Zaki. Blanchett returned to Australia and later moved to Sydney to study at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1992 and beginning her career in the theatre.
Blanchett appeared in the TV miniseries Heartland opposite Ernie Dingo, the miniseries Bordertown, with Hugo Weaving, and in an episode of Police Rescue entitled "The Loaded Boy". She also appeared in the 1994 telemovie of Police Rescue as a teacher taken hostage by armed bandits, and in the 50-minute drama Parklands (1996), which received a limited release in Australian cinemas.
Blanchett made her international film debut with a supporting role as an Australian nurse captured by the Japanese Army during World War II in Bruce Beresford's 1997 film Paradise Road, which co-starred Glenn Close and Frances McDormand. Her first leading role, also in 1997, was as Lucinda Leplastrier in Gillian Armstrong's production of Oscar and Lucinda opposite Ralph Fiennes. Coincidentally, Peter Carey, the Booker Prize-winning Australian author of Oscar and Lucinda, had known Blanchett's father, Bob, when both worked in the advertising industry in Melbourne. Blanchett was nominated for her first Australian Film Institute Award as Best Leading Actress for this role but lost out to Pamela Rabe in The Well. She did, however, win an AFI Award as Supporting Actress in the same year for her role as Lizzie in the romantic-comedy Thank God He Met Lizzie, co-starring Richard Roxburgh and Frances O'Connor.
Her first high-profile international role was as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 movie Elizabeth, which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Blanchett lost out to Gwyneth Paltrow for her role in Shakespeare in Love, but won a British Academy Award (BAFTA) and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama. The following year, Blanchett was nominated for another BAFTA Award for her supporting role in The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Already an acclaimed actress, Blanchett received a host of new fans when she appeared in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings. She played the role of Galadriel in all three films. The trilogy holds the record as the highest grossing film trilogy of all time.
In 2005, she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator. This made Blanchett the first person to garner an Academy Award for playing a previous Oscar-winning actor/actress.
, 2007.]] In 2006, she starred in Babel opposite Brad Pitt, The Good German with George Clooney and Notes on a Scandal opposite Dame Judi Dench. Blanchett received her third Academy Award nomination for her performance in the film (Dench was also Oscar nominated).
In 2007, Blanchett was named as one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People In The World and also one of the most successful actresses by Forbes magazine.
In 2007, she won the Volpi Cup Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Award for portraying one of six incarnations of Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes' feature film I'm Not There and reprised her role as Elizabeth I in the sequel, . At the 80th Academy Awards Blanchett received two Academy Award nominations; Best Actress for Elizabeth: the Golden Age and Best Supporting Actress for I'm Not There, becoming the eleventh actor to receive two acting nominations in the same year and the first female actor to receive another nomination for the reprisal of a role.
Blanchett and her husband started three-year contracts as artistic co-directors of the Sydney Theatre Company in January 2008, with Giorgio Armani as its patron.
She next starred in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as the villainous KGB agent Col. Dr. Irina Spalko, and in David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, appearing on screen with Brad Pitt for a second time.
On 5 December 2008 Blanchett was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard in front of Grauman's Egyptian Theatre.
As of 2010, Blanchett has featured in eight films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: Elizabeth (1998), The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001, 2002 and 2003), The Aviator (2004), Babel (2006), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008).
Blanchett provided a voice for the film Ponyo , and appeared opposite Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, released on 14 May 2010.
It was announced that Blanchett will reprise her role as Galadriel in the Jackson's upcoming films of The Hobbit in 2012 and 2013.
Blanchett's husband is playwright and screenwriter Andrew Upton, whom she met in 1996 while she was performing in a production of The Seagull. It was not love at first sight, however; "He thought I was aloof and I thought he was arrogant", Blanchett later remarked. "It just shows you how wrong you can be, but once he kissed me that was that." They were married on 29 December 1997 and have three sons: Dashiell John (born 3 December 2001), Roman Robert (born 23 April 2004), and Ignatius Martin (born 13 April 2008).
After making Brighton, England, their main family home for much of the early 2000s, she and her husband returned to their native Australia. In November 2006, Blanchett stated that this was due to a desire to decide on a permanent home for her children, and to be closer to her family as well as a sense of belonging to the Australian (theatrical) community. She and her family live in "Bulwarra", an 1877 sandstone mansion in the harbourside Sydney suburb of Hunters Hill. It was purchased for $10.2 million Australian dollars in 2004 and underwent extensive renovations in 2007 in order to be made more "eco-friendly".
In 2006, a portrait of Cate Blanchett and family painted by McLean Edwards was a finalist in the Archibald Prize, which is awarded the "best portrait painting preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, Science or Politics".
Blanchett is a Patron of the Sydney Film Festival. She works as the face of SK-II, the luxury skin care brand owned by Procter & Gamble. In 2007, Blanchett became the ambassador for the Australian Conservation Foundation's online campaign www.whoonearthcares.com – trying to persuade Australians to express their concerns about climate change. She is also the Patron of the development charity SolarAid. Opening the 2008 9th World Congress of Metropolis in Sydney, Blanchett said: "The one thing that all great cities have in common is that they are all different."
In early 2009, Blanchett appeared in a series of special edition postage stamps called "Australian Legends of the Screen", featuring Australian actors acknowledged for the "outstanding contribution they have made to Australian entertainment and culture". She, Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe, and Nicole Kidman each appear twice in the series: once as themselves and once in character; Blanchett is depicted in character from .
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Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:Australian film actors Category:Australian stage actors Category:Australian television actors Category:Australian people of American descent Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners Category:Actors from Melbourne Category:Independent Spirit Award winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Former students of the National Institute of Dramatic Art
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| Caption | Ben Affleck speaking at a rally for in 2009 |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt |
| Birth date | August 15, 1972 |
| Birth place | Berkeley, California, |
| Occupation | Actor, director, screenwriter, producer |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Spouse | Jennifer Garner (2005–present; 2 children) |
Ben Affleck (born Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt; August 15, 1972) is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known in the mid-1990s after his involvement in the film Mallrats (1995), and later played the lead role in Chasing Amy in 1997. Affleck has since become an Academy Award winner along with Matt Damon for their collaborative screenplay in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting. He has established himself as a Hollywood leading man, having starred in several big budget films, such as Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), Changing Lanes (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002), and Daredevil (2003). Affleck recently has drawn critical acclaim for his work as a filmmaker in Gone Baby Gone (2007) and The Town (2010). In the latter of which he played the main role. He has collaborated on occasion with his younger brother, actor Casey Affleck.
After a high profile relationship with actress Gwyneth Paltrow in 1998, his relationship with actress/singer Jennifer Lopez attracted worldwide media attention in which Affleck and Lopez were dubbed as "Bennifer". Following their breakup in 2004, he began dating Jennifer Garner. The two married in June 2005 and have two daughters, Violet Anne, born December 2005, and Seraphina Rose Elizabeth, born January 2009. Affleck has been actively involved in politics, along with a non-profit organization called the A-T Children's Project. He and Matt Damon also founded the production company LivePlanet.
Following Good Will Hunting, Affleck starred in Armageddon (1998) as A. J. Frost, opposite Bruce Willis. The film generated mostly mixed to negative critical reviews, but was a box office success earning $553 million worldwide. In 1999, he co-starred with Sandra Bullock in the romantic comedy Forces of Nature. In 2001, Affleck collaborated with Armageddon director Michael Bay in the war film Pearl Harbor. The film generated mixed reception, but was a box office success, earning $449 million worldwide.
In 2002 he was cast as Jack Ryan in the action film The Sum of All Fears. The movie also starred Morgan Freeman. The Sum of All Fears is based on the book of the same name by Tom Clancy. Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post wrote, Affleck and Freeman "create a believable chemistry". In the same year, Affleck starred opposite Samuel L. Jackson in the thriller Changing Lanes.
The following year he starred as the titular character Matt Murdock/Daredevil in Mark Steven Johnson's Daredevil (2003). Affleck said Daredevil was his favorite comic book as a kid, and explained why he took the role by saying "Everybody has that one thing from childhood that they remember and that sticks with them. This story was that for me." He also stated another reason, being "I didn't want someone else to do it, because I was afraid that they would go out and do it different from the comic and screw it up." Roger Ebert, in review of Daredevil, wrote that both Affleck and co-star Jennifer Garner, were suitable for their roles. Daredevil grossed over $179 million worldwide. Claudia Puig of USA Today wrote that Affleck gives a "strong performance". For his performance, he was awarded the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival and won the Supporting Actor of the Year award at the Hollywood Film Festival, and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.
Following the success of Hollywoodland, he appeared in the 2007 action film Smokin' Aces. In the film, Affleck plays Jack Dupree, a bounty hunter. Smokin' Aces received mixed reviews from critics, and was a box office failure. Based on the book by Dennis Lehane, it opened to rave reviews in October 2007. When asked why he decided to direct the film, Affleck said: "Directing a movie was really instructive for me. I think I learned a lot about writing, and a lot about acting, and I learned how all the pieces fit together from the inside. That was really valuable. It was a good thing." The film received critical acclaim. Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly noted that Affleck "shows excellent instincts" as a director. Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com wrote, "As a director, Ben Affleck may turn out to be quite good with actors [...] But he may need to work harder at shaping material, and at making his characters emerge as rounded, believable people."
on the set of ]]
In 2009, Affleck returned to film, starring in three features, He's Just Not That into You, State of Play, and Extract. In He's Just Not That into You, a romantic comedy, he was part of an ensemble cast that included Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Scarlett Johansson, Justin Long, and Jennifer Connelly. The film generated mostly mixed reviews, but was a box office success, earning $165 million worldwide. In the comedy film Extract, Affleck played Dean, a bartender, and the best friend to Jason Bateman's character. His performance in the film was well-received, with Barbara Vancheri of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporting that "Affleck is a hoot as a long-haired fount of bad advice and drugs he keeps in a little tin behind the bar. After playing a square-jawed crimefighter, an actor turned Superman and a congressman, he is actually loose and funny."
Affleck directed his second feature, The Town, an adaptation of Chuck Hogan's novel Prince of Thieves that was both a critical and commercial success when it was released in theaters in 2010. Along with directing and co-writing the film, he was also a part of the cast that also includes Golden Globe-winner Jon Hamm, the Oscar-nominated Jeremy Renner, the Oscar-winning actor Chris Cooper and Gossip Girl-actress Blake Lively.
Affleck will star in an upcoming romantic drama written and directed by Terrence Malick, alongside Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams and Rachel Weisz. Filming took place in fall 2010 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Filming in Pawhuska took place in two locations one a catholic church and two a building known as the triangle building (it is a three sided three story builing). In the church scene, Ben affleck was outside of the church holding a baby talking to a priest. The triangle building was staged as a restaraunt. for pictures of scenes visit . Other than those bits of information, details about the film are being kept closely guarded, with no title or plot information as of yet announced, although it has been described as a romance. There has also been talk about it having something to do with Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect of the Price Tower in Bartlesville, OK . The film will star Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem and Rachel Weisz.
On June 23, 2008, he appeared in an ABC News exclusive exploring the humanitarian crisis in Congo. Affleck travelled to Congo and interviewed refugees, warlords, and members of parliament. "I think the more painful something is, the more you want to distance yourself from it," he said. "I think the hard part is actually to let some of that go and to realize that when you see some of these images of people suffering in some way or another, to kind of remember that these are people who are in fact just in different circumstance than you are, but that are kind of dealing with [those circumstances] in a pretty brave and enduring way."
In December 2008, he teamed up with the United Nations releasing a short film highlighting the plight of refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In March 2010, Affleck announced the formation of the Eastern Congo Initiative, which he founded as "the first U.S. based advocacy and grant-making initiative wholly focused on working with and for the people of eastern Congo."
Affleck spoke diplomatically of George W. Bush as a person in an interview with Bill O'Reilly on July 27, 2004, saying, "I had the pleasure of and the honor of meeting the President of the United States at the Daytona 500. I found him to be a collegial, affable, kind guy." He went on to say Bush "is a patriot and he’s a man who believes in the country. He's trying to further an agenda he believes in. I happen to disagree with most of his policies, but I respect the man."
He subsequently began seeing his Daredevil co-star, actress Jennifer Garner, and the two were engaged after nine months of dating. They have two daughters, Violet Anne, born on December 1, 2005 and Seraphina Rose Elizabeth, born on January 6, 2009. He has a holiday home in Savannah, Georgia, and the family was in Cambridge for the summer in 2006 while Affleck was directing Gone, Baby, Gone.
Affleck describes himself as a lapsed Protestant.
An avid poker player, Affleck has regularly entered local events. He has been tutored by poker professionals Amir Vahedi and Annie Duke, and won the California State Poker Championship on June 20, 2004, taking home the first prize of $356,000, which qualified him for the 2004 World Poker Tour final tournament. He is a fan of the Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots, Boston Celtics, and Boston Bruins.
According to The Sunday Times, Affleck was apparently circumcised in adulthood, after suffering injury during the filming of a movie; a doctor decided that removing his foreskin would be easier than repairing it. He has since made it known that he is against routine infant circumcision.
Affleck got his first tattoo when he was sixteen. He now has about a half-dozen including a tattoo of a dolphin that was used to cover up a tattoo of his high school sweetheart's name. The tattoos have been done by numerous artists including Paul Timman. He quit smoking after starring in the 2007 film Smokin' Aces, in which he was required to smoke heavily, and lost his taste for it after a week of chain-smoking for his role. According to People Magazine Affleck is considered to have one of the most beautiful noses in the world.
As votes were tallied that night, Affleck told Salon.com's Amy Reiter, "I'm nervous this evening, but one of the things that's exciting to me is the number of people who voted. No matter who wins, I think it's a healthy thing for our country that so many voters have come out and participated in the process. Either way, I think the most important number will be the turnout".
In the May 2001 issue of GQ, Affleck said, "My fantasy is that someday I'm independently wealthy enough that I'm not beholden to anybody, so I can run for Congress on the grounds that everyday people should be in government". However, when he was asked about his political ambitions in an April 2009 interview to promote the 2009 film, State of Play, Affleck said, "I really like my job that I have now. Plus, unlike in Hollywood where you need one director to hire you, in politics you have to have a lot of people to vote for you. I think it's harder work. I really am happy with what I'm doing now. In fact I've never been at a place where I've felt better about going to work everyday. I'm more engaged and very, very happy."
In 2004, Affleck actively campaigned for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. During the first day of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he was featured on Larry King Live with Tucker Carlson and Al Sharpton. Larry King asked if he would consider running for office, and Affleck admitted to contemplating the proposition. Specific attention focused on whether he would run for Kerry's open Senate seat (as Affleck was from Massachusetts). He noted that the line between politics and entertainment is becoming increasingly blurred, as political figures Ronald Reagan, and Arnold Schwarzenegger both came from the entertainment business. On December 21, 2010, Ben Affleck appeared on NPR and criticized CEOs for making so much money. "And CEOs' pay shouldn't be 200 times the average worker. It used to be nine times." On November 4, 2010, Affleck was commended for returning a second check for $250,000 that was mistakenly sent to him for appearing at the opening of a casino at the Greenbriar resort.
Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:American child actors Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American film producers Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American actors of Scottish descent Category:American Episcopalians Category:American poker players Category:American screenwriters Category:American television actors Category:Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners Category:Actors from Massachusetts Category:Massachusetts Democrats Category:Occidental College alumni Category:People from Berkeley, California Category:People from Cambridge, Massachusetts Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Saturn Award winners
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
