as Hamlet, ca. early 1880s]]

Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play. Most early sources in the West that examine the art of acting () discuss it as part of rhetoric.

Definition and history

One of the first actors is believed to be an ancient Greek called Thespis of Icaria. An apocryphal story says that Thespis stepped out of the dithyrambic chorus and spoke to them as a separate character. Before Thespis, the chorus narrated (for example, "Dionysus did this, Dionysus said that"). When Thespis stepped out from the chorus, he spoke as if he was the character (for example, "I am Dionysus. I did this"). From Thespis' name derives the word thespian.

Acting requires a wide-range of skills, including vocal projection, clarity of speech, physical expressivity, emotional facility, a well-developed imagination, and the ability to interpret drama. Acting also often demands an ability to employ dialects, accents and body language, improvisation, observation and emulation, mime, and stage combat. Many actors train at length in special programs or colleges to develop these skills, and today the vast majority of professional actors have undergone extensive training. Even though one actor may have years of training, they always strive for more lessons, this is because the cinematic and theatrical world is always changing and because of this, the actor must stay as up to date as possible. Actors and actresses will often have many instructors and teachers for a full range of training involving but not limited to; singing, scene-work, monologue techniques, audition techniques and partner work.

Professional actors

Not all people working as actors in film, television or theatre are professionally trained. Conservatories typically offer two to four year training on all aspects of acting. Universities will offer three to four year programs, where a student is often able to choose to focus on acting, while still learning about other aspects of theatre. Schools will vary in their approach, but in North America the most popular method taught derives from the 'system' of Constantin Stanislavski, which was developed and popularized in America by Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, and others. Other approaches may include a more physical approach, following the teachings of Jerzy Grotowski and others, or may be based on the training developed by other theatre practitioners including Sanford Meisner. Other classes may include mask work, improvisation, and acting for the camera. Regardless of a school's approach, students should expect intensive training in textual interpretation, voice and movement. Although there are some teachers who will encourage the improvisation as technique in order to free the actor of limitations in rehearsal. Harold Guskin's approach or "taking it off the page" as he calls it is steeped in this philosophy. Applications to drama programs and conservatories are through auditions in the United States. Anybody over the age of 18 can usually apply to drama school.

Training may also start at a very young age. Acting classes and professional schools targeted at the under-eighteen crowd are offered in many locations. These classes introduce young actors to different aspects of acting and theatre from scene study to musical theatre.

References

Sources

External links

Acting in BOLLYWOOD – Acting training and Find acting auditions.

TAKEHOLLYWOOD! – Educational, Entertaining, Inspiring.

Ace Your Audition – Online resource for aspiring actors.

Actingbiz – Find acting auditions and free acting advice.

Backstage Magazine – Large website and subscription service for actors.

Category:Role-playing

Name	Uta Hagen
Caption	Hagen with Paul Robeson in the 1943–1945 Theatre Guild production of Othello
Birth date	June 12, 1919
Birth place	Göttingen, Germany
Death date	January 14, 2004
Death place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Spouse	Herbert Berghof (1957–1990)José Ferrer (1938–1948)}}

Uta Thyra Hagen (12 June 1919 – 14 January 2004) was a German-born American actress. She originated the role of Martha in the 1963 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee (who called her "a profoundly truthful actress"). Hagen was on the Hollywood blacklist, in part because of her association with Paul Robeson, and this curtailed film opportunities, focusing her to perform in New York theaters. She won the Tony Award three times. She later became a highly influential acting teacher at New York's Herbert Berghof Studio and authored best-selling acting texts, Respect for Acting and A Challenge for the Actor. She was elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981.

Life and career

Early life

Born in Göttingen, Germany, Hagen and her family emigrated to the United States in 1924, when her father received a position at Cornell University. She was raised in Madison, Wisconsin. She appeared in productions of the University of Wisconsin High School and in summer stock productions of the Wisconsin Players. She studied acting briefly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1936. After spending one semester at the University of Wisconsin, where her father was the head of the department of art history, she left for New York City in 1937. Her first professional role was as Ophelia opposite Eva Le Gallienne in the title role of Hamlet in Dennis, Massachusetts in 1937.

Career

Hagen was cast, early on, as Ophelia by the actress-manager Eva LeGallienne. From there, Hagen went on to play the leading ingenue role of Nina in a Broadway production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull which featured Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. It was 1938; Hagen was just 18. The New York Times' critic Brooks Atkinson hailed her Nina as "grace and aspiration incarnate". She would go on to play George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan (1951) on Broadway, and Desdemona in a production which toured and played Broadway, featuring Paul Robeson as Shakespeare's Othello and her then-husband Jose Ferrer as Iago. She took over the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire for the national tour, which was directed not by Elia Kazan who had directed the Broadway production but by Harold Clurman. Hagen had had a revelatory experience when she first worked with Clurman in 1947. In Respect for Acting, she credited her discoveries with Clurman as the springboard for what she would later explore with her husband Herbert Berghof: "how to find a true technique of acting, how to make a character flow through me". She played Blanche (on the road and on Broadway) opposite at least four different Stanley Kowalskis, including Anthony Quinn and Marlon Brando. Through interviews with her and contemporary criticism, the report is that Hagen's Blanche refocused the audience's sympathies with Blanche rather than with Stanley (where the Brando/Kazan production had leaned). Primarily noted for stage roles, Hagen won her first Tony Award in 1951 for her performance as the self-sacrificing wife Georgie in Clifford Odets' The Country Girl. She won again in 1963 for originating the role of the "I-wear-the-pants-in-this-family-because-somebody's-got-to" Martha in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. (An original cast recording was made of this show.) In 1981 she was elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame and in 1999 received a "Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award".

Although she appeared in some movies, because of the Hollywood blacklist she had more limited output in film and on television, not making her cinematic debut until 1972. She would later comment about being blacklisted, "that fact kept me pure".

Although Hagen played characters with German accents in both of her best-known Hollywood films, The Boys from Brazil, in which her scene is with Laurence Olivier, and The Other, she had simply assumed the accent for those roles (Hagen was raised in Wisconsin). She was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award as "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" for her performance on the television soap opera One Life to Live.

She taught at HB Studio, a well-known New York City acting school on a cobblestone, tree-shaded street in the West Village. She began there in 1947, and married its co-founder, Herbert Berghof, on January 25, 1957. Later in her life, Hagen undertook a return to the stage, earning accolades for leading roles in Mrs. Warren's Profession (1985), Collected Stories, and Mrs. Klein. After Berghof's death in 1990 she became the school's chairperson.

Hagen was an influential acting teacher who taught, among others, Matthew Broderick, Christine Lahti, Jason Robards, Sigourney Weaver, Liza Minnelli, Whoopi Goldberg, Jack Lemmon, Charles Nelson Reilly, Manu Tupou, Debbie Allen and Al Pacino. She was a voice coach to Judy Garland, teaching a German accent, for the picture Judgment at Nuremberg. Garland's performance earned her an Academy Award nomination.

She also wrote Respect for Acting (1973) and A Challenge for the Actor (1991), which advocate realistic acting (as opposed to pre-determined "formalistic" acting). In her mode of realism, the actor puts his own psyche to use in finding identification with the role," trusting that a form will result. In Respect for Acting, Hagen credited director Harold Clurman with a turn-around in her perspective on acting:

"In 1947, I worked in a play under the direction of Harold Clurman. He opened a new world in the professional theatre for me. He took away my 'tricks'. He imposed no line readings, no gestures, no positions on the actors. At first I floundered badly because for many years I had become accustomed to using specific outer directions as the material from which to construct the mask for my character, the mask behind which I would hide throughout the performance. Mr Clurman refused to accept a mask. He demanded ME in the role. My love of acting was slowly reawakened as I began to deal with a strange new technique of evolving in the character. I was not allowed to begin with, or concern myself at any time with, a preconceived form. I was assured that a form would result from the work we were doing."

Hagen later "disassociated" herself from her first book, Respect for Acting. In Challenge for the Actor she redefined a term which she had initially called "substitution", an esoteric technique for alchemizing elements of an actor's life with his/her character work, calling it "transference" instead. Though Hagen wrote that the actor should identify the character they play with feelings and circumstances from their (the actor's) own life, she also makes clear that

"Thoughts and feelings are suspended in a vacuum unless they instigate and feed the selected actions, and it is the characters' actions which reveal the character in the play."

Respect for Acting is used as a textbook for many college acting classes. She also wrote a 1976 cookbook, Love for Cooking. In 2002, she was awarded the National Medal of the Arts by President George W. Bush at a ceremony held at the White House.

Personal life

She married José Ferrer in 1938, with whom she had a daughter, Leticia (Lettie) Ferrer, an actor in New York City. They divorced in 1948 partially because of her affair with her Othello co-star Paul Robeson, an affair which was long concealed. She was married to the actor and teacher and director Herbert Berghof from 1957 until his death in 1990. At his death, she said, "You know, we were partners in our work, in everything. We did everything together. Very few people understand what that kind of a loss is like."

Work

Stage

The Seagull - 1938

The Happiest Days - 1939

Key Largo - 1939

Vickie - 1942

Othello - 1943

The Whole World Over - 1947

A Streetcar Named Desire - 1947

The Country Girl - 1950

Saint Joan - 1951

In Any Language - 1952

The Magic and The Loss - 1954

Island of Goats - 1955

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - 1962

The Cherry Orchard - 1968

You Never Can Tell - 1986

Charlotte - 1980

Mrs. Klein - 1995

Collected Stories - 1998

Film

The Other - 1972

The Boys from Brazil - 1978

A Doctor's Story - 1984

Reversal of Fortune - 1990

- 2001

Television

Victory - 1945

A Month in the Country - 1959

The Day Before Sunday - 1970

Seasonal Differences - 1987

The Sunset Gang - 1991

Oz - 1999

See also

Stanislavski

Mikhail Chekhov

Lee Strasberg

Stella Adler

References

External links

Category:Acting theorists Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Category:American film actors Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:Deaths from stroke Category:Drama teachers Category:German immigrants to the United States Category:American actors of German descent Category:Hollywood blacklist Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:People from Göttingen Category:People from Madison, Wisconsin Category:People from New York City Category:Tony Award winners Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Category:1919 births Category:2004 deaths

Caption	Perlman at the 2010 Comic Con in San Diego
Birthname	Ronald N. Perlman
Birthdate	April 13, 1950
Birthplace	New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor/Voice actor
Yearsactive	1981 – present
Spouse

Ronald N. "Ron" Perlman (born April 13, 1950) is an American television, film and voice over actor. He is known for having played "Vincent" in the TV series Beauty and the Beast, "Slade" in the animated series Teen Titans, Clay Morrow in Sons of Anarchy, the comic book character Hellboy in the film of the same name and its sequel, , and the role of the intro and ending narrator of the popular post-apocalyptic game series, Fallout. He is currently the narrator of the popular television series 1000 Ways to Die on Spike.

Early life

Perlman was born in Washington Heights, New York to a Jewish family. His mother, Dorothy, was a municipal employee, and his father was a jazz drummer and repairman. Perlman stated in a 1988 interview that "It was not a bad childhood but...I had a perception of myself that was, I was terribly overweight as a young kid, and it was sort of a low self image." Perlman continued to say that this experience is one thing that attracts him to "playing these sorts of deformed people who are very endearing".

He attended George Washington High School and later Lehman College in New York City in 1971, which did not have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre at that time. He has said that he and his father were "very close", and that it was his father, after seeing Perlman in a college production of Guys and Dolls, who told Perlman, "You have to do this...You understand this? You gotta do this." Perlman says, "So, he gave me permission to be an actor...wow." Perlman attended the University of Minnesota, where he graduated with a master's degree in theater arts in 1973.

He went on to play roles in many films and television series throughout the 1980s and 1990s as well as the 2000s. His most notable film appearances were in films such as The Name of the Rose (1986), Romeo is Bleeding (1993), The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993), (1994), The Last Supper (1995), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), Alien Resurrection (1997), Enemy at the Gates (2001), Blade II and Star Trek Nemesis (both 2002) and two Stephen King story-to-movie adaptations, Sleepwalkers and Desperation. His appearances in television series include , The Outer Limits and The Magnificent Seven.

He played his first leading film role in 1995, when he played the gargantuan oaf "One" in Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro's The City of Lost Children. In 2003, Perlman starred in a commercial for Stella Artois beer. This commercial, which was called "Devil's Island," won a Silver Award at the 2003 British Advertising Awards. He got another leading film role in 2004 when he played the title role in the comic book adaptation Hellboy. Perlman reprised his role as Hellboy in , released on July 11, 2008.

In 2008, Perlman joined the cast of the TV show Sons of Anarchy on FX. He plays Clay Morrow, the president of the motorcycle club and the protagonist's stepfather.

Roles that required make-up

He is known for playing roles which require make-up, some to the point where his entire body is covered or his face requires full facial prosthetics. Some examples include his first film role in Quest for Fire (film), where he played a neanderthal, The Name of the Rose where he plays a disfigured hunchback, Beauty and The Beast, where he played Vincent, a man with the face of a half-man half-lion-like beast, The Island of Dr. Moreau where he plays a half man/half animal and the Hellboy films where he plays a demon. He even gave his Beauty and The Beast co-star Armin Shimerman advice when Shimerman was going to be in full-facial prosthetics as Quark for .

Voice-over work

Perlman also has a successful career as a voice actor in addition to his onscreen acting, having portrayed characters in numerous video games and animated series. These include Vice Principal Lancer in Danny Phantom, Kurtis Stryker in , Justice in Afro Samurai and various characters in DC Comics based series such as the villainous Slade, a version of DC character Deathstroke the Terminator, in the Teen Titans animated series, Clayface in , Jax-Ur in , Orion in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, Killer Croc, Rumor, Bane in The Batman and Doctor Double X in .

His video game credits include Lord Terrence Hood, Fleet Admiral in command of Earth's space defences against the Covenant in the games Halo 2 and Halo 3, Jagger Valance in , and Batman in Justice League Heroes. He is well-known by Fallout fans for narrating the introductory movies in the series, including uttering the famous phrase "War. War never changes." in each installment. He also voices "Slade" in the 2008 Turok game, and Emil Blonsky/Abomination in .

Personal life

He has been married to Opal Perlman since February 14, 1981; they have two children, a daughter, Blake Amanda (born 1984), and a son, Brandon Avery (born 1990). Perlman has volunteered as an actor with the Young Storytellers Program.

Filmography

Film

Quest for Fire (1981) — Amoukar

The Ice Pirates (1984) — Zeno

The Name of the Rose (1986) — Salvatore

Sleepwalkers (1992) — Captain Soames

Cronos (1993) — Angel De La Guardia

Romeo Is Bleeding (1993) — Jack's attorney

Double Exposure (1993) — John McClure

The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993) — Pap Finn

(1994) — Konstantine Konali

The City of Lost Children (1995) — One

The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space (1995) (TV) — Lord Vox

The Last Supper (1995) — Norman Arbuthnot

Fluke (1995) — Sylvester

The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) — Sayer of the Law

The Second Civil War (1997) (TV) — Alan Manieski

Prince Valiant (1997) — Boltar

Alien Resurrection (1997) — Johner

I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998) — Cemetery Caretaker

Happy, Texas (1999) — Marshal Nalhober

Primal Force (1999) — Frank Brodie

''"The Trial of Old Drum" (2000) — Charles (Donny's Dad)

Operation Sandman (2000) — Dr. Harlan Jessup

Price of Glory (2000) — Nick Everson

Down (aka The Shaft) (2001) — Mitchell

Enemy at the Gates (2001) — Koulikov

Blade II (2002) — Dieter Reinhardt

Crime and Punishment (2002) — Dusharo

Star Trek Nemesis (2002) — Reman Viceroy

Hoodlum & Son (2003) — 'Ugly' Jim McCrae

Absolon (2003) — Murchison

Two Soldiers (2003) — Colonel McKellog

(2003) — VP for Never Learning

Hellboy (2004) — Hellboy

Missing in America (2005) — Red

Local Color (2006) — Curtis Sunday

The Last Winter (2006) — Ed Pollack

Desperation (2006) (TV) — Deputy Collie Entragian

5ive Girls (2006) — Father Drake

(2007) — Norick

(2007) — Dwayne Burcell

(2008) — Hellboy

Mutant Chronicles (2008) — Brother Samuel

Outlander (2008) — Gunnar

Uncross the Stars (2008) — Bobby Walden

The Devil's Tomb (2009) — Wesley

Dark Country (2009) — Deputy Thompson

I Sell The Dead (2009) — Father Duffy

The Job (2009) — Jim

Bunraku (2010) — Nicola

Crave (2010) — Pete

Season of the Witch (2011) — Felson

Conan the Barbarian (2011) — Corin

Television

Our Family Honor (1985) — Bausch

Miami Vice (1987) — Episode "Walk-alone"

Beauty and the Beast (1987–1990) — Vincent

Arly Hanks (1993) — Jim-Bob Buchanan

(1996) — The Messenger (one episode)

A Town Has Turned to Dust (1998) — Jerry Paul

The Outer Limits (1998) — Lt. Col. Brandon Grace (one episode)

The Magnificent Seven (1998–2000) — Josiah Sanchez

Charmed (2000) — Mr Kellerman (one episode)

The Tick (2001) — Fiery Blaze (one episode)

Masters of Horror (2006) — Dwayne Burcell (one episode)

Sons of Anarchy (2008–present) — Clarence "Clay" Morrow

1000 Ways to Die (2009–present) — Narrator

Voice work

(1992–1993) (TV series) — Clayface

Animaniacs (1993) (TV series) — Satan, Sgt. Sweete

Phantom 2040 (1994) (TV series) — Graft

(1995) (TV series) — Kurtis Stryker

Fantastic Four (1995) (TV series) — Wizard, Hulk

Aladdin (1994) (TV series) — Arbutus

Iron Man (1995) (TV series) — Dr. Bruce Banner/The Hulk

Chronomaster (1995) (video game) — Rene Korda

Hey Arnold! (1996) (TV series) — Mickey Kaline

Duckman (1996) (TV series) Roland Thompson

Fallout (1997) (video game) — Butch Harris, narrator

(1998) — Grasping

The New Batman Adventures (1997–1998) (TV series) — Clayface

Fallout 2 (1998) (video game) — Narrator

(1999) (TV series) — Jax-Ur

Titan A.E. (2000) — Professor Sam Tucker

(2001) (video game) — Narrator

(2001) (video game) — Wylfdene

(2003) (video game) — Clayface

(2003) (video game) — Misha

Lords of EverQuest (2003) (video game) — Lord Skass

Justice League Unlimited (2004–2006) (TV series) — Clayface, Orion

Teen Titans (2004–2006) (TV series) — Slade

(2004) (video game) — Jagger Valance

Danny Phantom (2004–2007) (TV series) — Mr. Lancer

Halo 2 (2004) (video game) — Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood

Gun (2005) (video game) — Mayor Hoodoo Brown

Tarzan II (2005) — Kago

(2005) (video game) — Emil Blonsky/The Abomination

Teen Titans (2005) (video game) — Slade

The Batman (2005) Killer Croc

Scooby-Doo! in Where's My Mummy? (2005) — Hotep/Ancient One #2

The Outfit (2005) (video game) — Tommy Mac

Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! (2006) — Captain Skunkbeard/Biff Wellington

Justice League Heroes (2006) (video game) — Bruce Wayne/Batman

(2006) (TV) — Hellboy

Afro Samurai (2007) (TV) — Justice

Kim Possible (2007) (TV) — Worhok

(2007) (TV) — Hellboy

Battle for Terra (2007) — Elder Vorin

Halo 3 (2007) (video game) — Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood

Conan (2007) (video game) — Conan of Cimmeria

(2007) (TV series) — Fire Lord Sozin

(2008) (video game) — Hellboy

Fallout 3 (2008) (video game) — Narrator

Turok (2008) (video game) — Slade

Spirit of the Forest (2008) — Oak

(2008) (TV series) — Gha Nachkt

Afro Samurai (2009) (video game) — Justice

The Strain (2009) (audio book) — Narrator

(2010) (video game) — Narrator

Archer (2010) (TV series) — Ramon Limon

(2010) (TV series) — Doctor Double X

Tangled (2010) Stabbington Brothers (voice)

(2010) Bi-Beast and The Mandarin (voice)

References

External links

Ron Perlman interview

Ron Perlman at Rotten Tomatoes

Category:1950 births Category:Actors from New York Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:American Jews Category:Jewish actors Category:American voice actors Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (television) winners Category:Lehman College alumni Category:Living people Category:People from Manhattan Category:University of Minnesota alumni

Caption	Michael Cera, 2007
Birthname	Michael Austin Cera
Birth date	June 07, 1988
Birth place	Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, Hurdy-Gurdy, mandolin
Occupation	Actor, occasional musician
Yearsactive	1998–present

Michael Austin Cera (; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor best known for his roles in Arrested Development, Superbad, and Juno. Cera received the 2008 Canadian Comedy Award for best male performance for his work in Superbad. Since 2008, Cera has starred in Year One, Youth in Revolt, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Paper Heart, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Early life

Cera was born in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. He is the son of Linda, a native of Quebec, and Luigi Cera, a technician who is originally from Sicily. His parents both worked for Xerox. Cera has an older sister, Jordan, and a younger sister, Molly. He was interested in acting after viewing Ghostbusters repeatedly when sick with the chicken pox at the age of three. He memorized all the dialogue, and idolized Bill Murray. He enrolled in The Second City Toronto and took improvisation classes.

Acting

His first role was an unpaid appearance in a Tim Hortons summer camp commercial. That eventually led to a Pillsbury commercial in which he poked the Pillsbury Doughboy, his first role with lines.

Rise

Cera's career began when he was cast as Larrabe Hicks in the Canadian television series I Was a Sixth Grade Alien in 1999. In 2002, Cera played the young Chuck Barris in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and he also provided the voice for Brother Bear in The Berenstain Bears animated series. Also in 2002, he was cast in The Grubbs, a new Fox TV series. It received a poor critical response, including an E! Online review that called it "the worst sitcom ever produced". He also voiced Josh Spitz in the cartoon Braceface. He played George Michael Bluth in the award-winning television series Arrested Development for three seasons before it was cancelled. He also guest-starred in an episode of teen noir drama Veronica Mars – in the episode "The Rapes of Graff", which also featured Arrested Development co-star Alia Shawkat – and also in the Adult Swim series Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!

Cera, along with best friend Clark Duke, wrote and starred in a series of short videos released on their website. In 2007, they signed a deal with CBS Television to write, produce, direct, and act in a short-form comedy series entitled Clark and Michael. The show featured guest stars such as David Cross, Andy Richter and Patton Oswalt, and was distributed via CBS's new internet channel, CBS Innertube. Duke and Cera are both members of the band The Long Goodbye.

Cera also appeared in a staged comedy video that shows him being fired from the lead role of the film Knocked Up after belittling and arguing with the director, in a scene that mocks the David O. Russell blow up on the set of I Heart Huckabees. Also in 2007, Cera co-starred in Juno as Paulie Bleeker, a teenager who accidentally impregnates his long-time school-friend Juno (Ellen Page). Arrested Development star Jason Bateman co-starred in the movie, but they did not share any scenes together. For Superbad and Juno, Cera won Breakthrough Artist in the Austin Film Critics Association Awards 2007.

In 2007, Cera appeared in the comedy short "Drunk History", playing Alexander Hamilton in a comedic retelling of Hamilton's duel with Aaron Burr.

Cera stars in the independent film Paper Heart, released August 7, 2009. It was written by and co-stars Charlyne Yi, and premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival where it won a screenwriting award. Cera and Yi composed the movie's soundtrack. He also starred alongside Jack Black in the 2009 comedy Year One, which received overwhelmingly negative reviews.

In 2009, Cera's first published short story, "Pinecone", appeared in McSweeney's Quarterly. In January 2010, Cera starred in a film adaptation of the novel Youth in Revolt, in the role of the lead character, Nick Twisp.

On the August 3, 2010 David Letterman Show, Cera described getting lost in Red Rocks Park, and his relief when found by other hikers.

, in promotion of Scott Pilgrim, and parody of , at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con]] Cera played the titular character in the film adaptation of the graphic novel Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, released in August 2010.

Upcoming projects

According to press reports, Cera will appear in the Arrested Development film.

Sherwood Schwartz is on the record as saying he would like to see Cera play Gilligan in the film remake of Gilligan's Island.

Cera was being considered for the voice of the new Muppet, Walter, for The Muppets, but the role was again given to Jack Black.

Music

In 2010 Cera contributed mandolin and backing vocals to the Weezer song "Hang On" from their album Hurley. Cera has also established himself as a bass player in "Mister Heavenly" an indie/rock group originating in the American northwest. Cera also played bass and sang back up during songs in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Filmography

Film

Television

See also

List of current child actors from Canada

List of former child actors from Canada

References

External links

Clark and Michael official site

Michael Cera's Crew Profile on The 1 Second Film

Category:1988 births Category:Canadian child actors Category:Canadian expatriate actors in the United States Category:Canadian film actors Category:Canadian people of Sicilian descent Category:Canadian television actors Category:Living people Category:People from Brampton

Birth name	Maurice Joseph Micklewhite
Caption	Caine in 2008
Birth date	March 14, 1933
Birth place	Southwark, London, England, United Kingdom
Occupation	Actor, author
Years active	1950–present
Spouse	Patricia Haines(m. 1955–1962; divorced)Shakira Baksh(m. 1973–present)
Children	2 daughters

Sir Michael Caine, CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English film actor and author. Caine has appeared in over one hundred films and is one of Britain's most recognisable and respected actors.

He became well known for a number of popular and notable critically acclaimed performances, particularly in films such as Zulu (1964); The Ipcress File (1965); Alfie (1966); The Italian Job (1969); The Battle Of Britain (1969); Get Carter (1971); The Man Who Would Be King (1975); Educating Rita (1983); Without a Clue (1988); Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988); The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992); Secondhand Lions (2003); Academy Award–winning performances for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and The Cider House Rules (1999); as Nigel Powers in the parody Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002); and more recently as Alfred Pennyworth, the butler from Batman Begins (2005), and The Dark Knight (2008), and the protagonist in Harry Brown (2009). Most recently, he appeared as Miles, a supporting character in the film Inception (2010). He has provided his voice for two upcoming animated films in 2011, which include Gnomeo and Juliet and Cars 2.

Caine is one of only two actors nominated for an Academy Award for acting (either lead or supporting) in every decade from the 1960s to 2000s (the other one being Jack Nicholson). In 2000, Caine was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, in recognition of his contribution to cinema.

Early life

Caine was born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in Southwark, South East London, the son of Ellen Frances Marie (née Burchell), a cook and charlady, and Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, a fish market porter. His father was of part Romani (Gypsy) ancestry and a Catholic, though Caine was brought up in his Protestant mother's religion.

Caine grew up in Camberwell, South London, and during the Second World War he was evacuated to North Runcton, in Norfolk. In 1944, he passed his eleven plus exam, winning a scholarship to Hackney Downs Grocers School. After a year there he moved to Wilson's Grammar School in Camberwell (now Wilson's School in Wallington South London), which he left at sixteen after gaining a School Certificate in six subjects. He then worked briefly as a filing clerk and messenger for a film company in Victoria Street and the film producer Jay Lewis in Wardour Street. From 1952, when he was called up to do his National Service, until 1954, he served in the British Army's Royal Fusiliers, first at the BAOR HQ in Iserlohn, Germany and then on active service during the Korean War. Caine has said he would like to see the return of National Service to help combat youth violence, stating: "I'm just saying, put them in the Army for six months. You're there to learn how to defend your country. You belong to the country. Then when you come out, you have a sense of belonging rather than a sense of violence."

Career

When Micklewhite first became an actor, he adopted the stage name "Michael Scott". His agent soon informed him, however, that another actor was already using the same name, and that he had to come up with a new name immediately. Speaking to his agent from a telephone box in Leicester Square, London, he looked around for inspiration, noted that The Caine Mutiny was being shown at the Odeon Cinema, and decided to change his name to "Michael Caine". He has joked in interviews that had he looked the other way, he would have ended up as "Michael One Hundred and One Dalmatians".

1960s

Caine's acting career began in Horsham, Sussex. He responded to an advertisement for an assistant stage manager for the Horsham-based Westminster Repertory Company. This led to walk-on roles at the Carfax Theatre. After dozens of minor TV roles, Caine entered the public eye as the upper class British Army officer Gonville Bromhead VC in the 1964 film Zulu. This proved paradoxical, as Caine was to become notable for using a regional accent, rather than the Received Pronunciation hitherto considered proper for film actors. At the time, Caine's working class Cockney, just as with The Beatles' Liverpudlian accents, stood out to American and British audiences alike. Zulu was closely followed by two of his best-known roles: the spy Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File (1965), and the womanising title character in Alfie (1966). He went on to play Palmer in a further four films, Funeral in Berlin (1966), Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Bullet to Beijing (1995) and Midnight in Saint Petersburg (1995). Caine made his first film in the United States in 1966, after an invitation from Shirley MacLaine to play opposite her in Gambit. During the first two weeks, whilst staying at The Beverly Hills Hotel, he met long term friends John Wayne and agent "Swifty" Lazar.

1970s

After working on The Italian Job, with Noël Coward, and a solid role as an RAF fighter pilot, Squadron Leader Canfield, in the all-star cast of Battle of Britain (both 1969), Caine played the lead in Get Carter (1971), a British gangster film. Caine was busy with successes including Sleuth (1972), opposite Laurence Olivier and The Man Who Would Be King (1975), co-starring Sean Connery and directed by John Huston (which he has stated will be the film he wishes to be remembered for after his death). In 1976, he appeared in the screen adaptation by Tom Mankiewicz of the Jack Higgins novel, The Eagle Has Landed, as Oberst (Colonel) Kurt Steiner, the commander of a Luftwaffe paratroop brigade disguised as Polish paratroopers, whose mission was to kidnap or kill the then-British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, alongside co-stars Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall, Jenny Agutter and Donald Pleasence. Subsequently, in 1978, he starred in The Silver Bears, an adaptation of Paul Erdman's (1974) novel of the same name. Caine also was part of an all-star cast in A Bridge Too Far (1977).

1980s

By the end of the decade, he had moved to the United States, but his choice of roles was often criticisedhe admitted to and has since made many self-deprecating comments about taking parts in numerous films he knew to be bad strictly for the money, despite working with Hollywood's highly regarded directors such as Irwin Allen, Richard Fleischer, Michael Ritchie and Oliver Stone. Caine was averaging two films a year, but these included such failures as the BAFTA Award-nominated The Magus (1968), the Academy Award-nominated The Swarm (1978), Ashanti (1979) (which he claimed were the worst three films of all the other worst films he ever made), Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979), The Island (1980), The Hand (1981) and a reunion with his Sleuth co-star Laurence Olivier in The Jigsaw Man (1982). Although Caine also took better roles, including a BAFTA-winning turn in Educating Rita (1983), and an Oscar-winning one in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and a Golden Globe-nominated one in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), he continued to appear in notorious duds like the thinly-veiled skin flick Blame It on Rio and the critical-commercial flop (1987) (in which he had mixed feelings about the production and the final cut) and Bullseye! (1990); his appearing in so many films that did not meet with critical or box office acclaim made him the butt of numerous jokes on the subject. Of the former, Caine famously said (primarily about Jaws: The Revenge) "I have never seen the film, but by all accounts it was terrible. However I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific." All these film failures later became cult films among his fans today. His other successful films (either critically and/or financially) were the 1978 Academy Award-winning California Suite, the 1980 Golden Globe-nominated slasher film Dressed to Kill, the 1981 war film Escape to Victory, the 1982 film Deathtrap, and the 1986 Academy Award-nominated Mona Lisa. He also starred in Without a Clue, portraying Sherlock Holmes.

1990s

The 1990s were a lean time for Caine, as he found good parts harder to come by. A high point came when he played Ebenezer Scrooge in the critically-acclaimed Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), which he considers to be one of his most memorable roles. He played the beleaguered stage director Lloyd Dallas in the film adaptation of Noises Off (1992). He also played a villain in the Steven Seagal film On Deadly Ground (1994). He was in two straight to video Harry Palmer sequels and a few television movies. However, Caine's reputation as a pop icon was still intact, thanks to his roles in films such as The Italian Job and Get Carter. His performance in 1998's Little Voice was seen as something of a return to form, and won him a Golden Globe Award. Better parts followed, including The Cider House Rules (1999), for which he won his second Oscar.

2000s

In the 2000s, Caine appeared in Miss Congeniality (2000), Last Orders (2001), The Quiet American (2002) and others that helped rehabilitate his reputation. Several of Caine's classic films have been remade, including The Italian Job, Get Carter, Alfie and Sleuth. In the 2007 remake of Sleuth, Caine took over the role Laurence Olivier played in the 1972 version and Jude Law played Caine's original role. Caine also starred in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) as Austin's father and in 2003 he co-starred with Robert Duvall in Secondhand Lions. In 2005, he was cast as Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred Pennyworth in the first production of the new Batman film series. In 2006, he appeared in the films Children of Men and The Prestige. In 2007 he appeared in Flawless, while in 2008 he reprised his role as Alfred in Christopher Nolan's critically acclaimed Batman sequel, The Dark Knight as well as starring in the British drama Is Anybody There?, which explores the final days of life.

It was reported by Empire magazine that Caine had said that Harry Brown (released on 13 November 2009) would be his last lead role. Caine later declared (in the Daily Mirror) that he had been misquoted by the magazine.

2010s

Caine appeared alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Christopher Nolan's science fiction thriller, Inception.

He has been confirmed as voicing Finn McMissile in Pixar's upcoming 2011 film Cars 2 and will also voice a supporting role in the upcoming animation, Gnomeo and Juliet.

He is also set to star in the upcoming 2011 film alongside Josh Hutcherson and Dwayne Johnson.

Awards and honours

Caine has been Oscar-nominated six times, winning his first Academy Award for the 1986 film Hannah and Her Sisters, and his second in 1999 for The Cider House Rules, in both cases as a supporting actor. Caine is one of only two actors to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting (either lead or supporting) in every decade since the 1960s. The other is Jack Nicholson. The two actors starred together in the 1996 movie Blood and Wine.

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1992 Queen's Birthday Honours, and in the 2000 New Year Honours he was knighted as Sir Maurice Micklewhite CBE. On January 5, 2011, he was made a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France's culture minister, Frédéric Mitterrand.

In 2008, he was awarded the prize for Outstanding Contribution to Showbusiness at the Variety Club Awards.

In popular culture

Caine is a popular subject for impressionists and mimics, having a voice and manner of speaking that are distinctive, yet fairly easy to imitate. Most Caine impressions include the catchphrase "Not a lot of people know that." Peter Sellers initiated this when he appeared on BBC1's Parkinson show on 28 October 1972 and said: The line had been used earlier in Spike Milligan's script for The Last Goon Show of All, performed on 5 October 1972. In 1983, Caine was given the line to say as an in-joke in the film Educating Rita. The line has also been parodied, along with its impression, in the British sketch comedy show, Harry Enfield's Television Programme, with Paul Whitehouse as a stalking neighbourhood character called Michael Paine, who introduced himself with the line "My name is Michael Paine, and I am a nosey neighbour." On 16 December 2007, Caine was the second guest on Michael Parkinson's Final Conversation.

Personal life

at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert 2008]]

Caine lives near Leatherhead, Surrey, and is patron to the Leatherhead Drama Festival. He has also lived in North Stoke, Oxfordshire, Clewer near Windsor, Berkshire, Lowestoft in Suffolk and Chelsea Harbour in London. In addition, Caine owns a unit at The Apogee in Miami Beach, Florida. He still keeps a small flat near where he grew up in South East London. Caine published a volume of memoirs, What's It All About? in 1992 and told BBC Radio in 2010 he was preparing another, especially for aspiring actors.

He was married to actress Patricia Haines from 1955 to 1958. They had a daughter, Dominique (who was named after the heroine of the novel The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand). He dated Bianca Jagger in 1968. Caine has been married to actress and model Shakira Baksh since 8 January 1973. They met after Caine saw her appearing in a Maxwell House coffee commercial and a friend gave him her telephone number. They have a daughter, Natasha Haleema.

Some time after his mother died, Caine and his younger brother, Stanley, learned they had an elder half-brother, named David. He suffered from severe epilepsy and had been kept in Cane Hill Mental Hospital his entire life. Although their mother regularly visited her first son in the hospital, even her husband did not know the child existed. David died in 1992.

Trivia books written by Caine include Not Many People Know That!, And Not Many People Know This Either!, Michael Caine's Moving Picture Show and Not A Lot of People Know This is 1988. Proceeds from the books went to the National Playing Fields Association (now Fields In Trust) of which Caine was a prominent supporter.

Unlike many actors who adopt their stage name for everyday use, Caine still uses his real name when he is not working.

In the 2010 UK general election, Caine showed support for David Cameron and the Conservative Party, appearing alongside him at a press conference.

Caine was called up for national service in the British Army in 1951 when he was aged 18 and was deployed to South Korea to help in the aftermath of the North Korean invasion. He served as part of the Royal Fusiliers. He said he had gone into it feeling sympathetic to communism, coming as he did from a poor family. But he has said the experience left him permanently repelled.

He is a fan of Chelsea F.C.

Politics

Caine has been open about his political views. He left Britain in the 1970s, citing the 82% tax levied on top earners by the Labour government of the time, but returned to Britain several years later when taxes were lowered:

"I decided not to become a tax exile, so I stayed in Britain, but they kept putting the tax up, so I'd do any old thing every now and then to pay the tax, that was my tax exile money. I realised that's not a socialist country, it's a communist country without a dictator, so I left and I was never going to come back. Maggie Thatcher came in and put the taxes back down and in the end, you know, you don't mind paying tax. What am I going to do? Not pay tax and drive around in a Rolls Royce, with cripples begging on the street like you see in some countries?"

"I voted for Maggie Thatcher because I thought we needed a change from that long period of socialism; I voted for Tony Blair because we had a great long period of Conservatism."

In 2009, Caine openly criticised the Labour government's proposed new 50% tax on top earners:

"The Government has taken tax up to 50 per cent and if it goes to 51 I will be back in America. They have reached their limit with me and that's what will happen to a lot of people. You know how much they made out of that high taxation all those years ago? Nothing. But they sent a mass of incredible brains to America. We've got 3.5 million layabouts laying about on benefits, and I'm 76, getting up at 6am to go to work to keep them. Let's get everybody back to work so we can save a couple of billion and cut tax, not keep sticking it on."

"You're saying to poor people, 'let's tax those rich gits' and I understand that. You slice up the cake, give everyone a chance, but don't destroy the people that are making the bloody cake! I really believe about taking care of people, I don't mind paying tax. It's how the government spends my tax that I detest, really detest, because I see the waste. More money than all our income tax is spent on benefits. Now you tell me there is nothing wrong with that system."

Caine also stated in 2009 that he was likely to vote for the Conservatives again:

"I'll probably vote Conservative. I mean, we're in a terrible state whichever way you look at it, socially, financially and politically, so just give the other guy a chance. I don't know what Cameron's going to do, but in the end you vote out of desperation. You just have to have someone new and see what happens."

During the run up to the 2010 General Election, Caine publicly endorsed Conservative Party policy regarding social exclusion.

Musical career

Caine is a fan of chill-out music and has compiled a mix CD called Cained, which was released in 2007 by UMTV. According to Michael Caine, he met Elton John and was discussing musical tastes, when Caine claimed that he had been creating chillout mix tapes as an amateur for years. Also in music, Caine provided vocal samples for the band Madness for their 1984 hit "Michael Caine" as his daughter was a fan. He has sung in movie roles as well, including for the musical movie, The Muppet Christmas Carol.

Filmography, awards and nominations

References

External links

The official Michael Caine website

in 2010

PLAY DIRTY/Caine Special on Location in Spain

The Times, 17 November 2007">Martyn Palmer, "Double act: Michael Caine and Jude Law (lunch and discussion)", The Times, 17 November 2007

Charlie Rose video interview 3 February 2003

IGN.com interview 18 March 2003

200 years of Michael Caine's family tree

Category:1933 births Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors awarded British knighthoods Category:Actors from London Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actor BAFTA Award winners Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actor Golden Globe winners Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners Category:British Army personnel of the Korean War Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:English expatriates in the United States Category:English film actors Category:English television actors Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Living people Category:Old Wilsonians Category:People from Camberwell Category:People from Leatherhead Category:People from South Oxfordshire (district) Category:People from Southwark Category:Royal Fusiliers soldiers

Name	Larry Moss
Caption	Larry Moss
Birthdate	September 25, 1970
Birthplace	New York, USA
Nationality	American
Field	Sculpture, Performance
Works	Fantastic Flying Octopus (2003)Balloon Manor (2004-)

Lawrence “Larry” Charles Moss (born September 25, 1970) is an American artist who works mainly with latex balloons. Renowned in his field for his large and technically challenging sculptures, he has orchestrated the creation of several large scale installations in North America and Asia, including a successful Guinness World Record attempt (with fellow artist Royal Sorell) for largest, non-round balloon sculpture, the world's first piloted flying balloon sculpture, and Balloon Manor, a large-scale haunted house made entirely from balloons. Moss is also the founder of one of the first 50 non-academic web sites established on the internet, BalloonHQ.com, a community resource for balloon enthusiasts.

Background

Moss grew up in Queens, NY, and attended LaGuardia High School (featured in the movie “Fame”) as a musician. During that time he also learned to juggle and perform magic tricks. He attended the University of Rochester, graduating with degrees in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Education. Moss has worked as a programmer and also performs a science show at elementary schools in Western New York State.

Major works

World Record

Moss & Sorell were commissioned to create a world-record sized balloon sculpture in Belgium in 2000. They designed a scene with two soccer players kicking a ball into a goal. At the time, the sculpture was the largest non-round balloon sculpture in the world. It was constructed with over 40,750 inflated latex balloons. The installation was built without framing, line, or glue using traditional balloon twisting methods. In addition to Moss and Sorell, 42 additional crew members were required to construct the piece. Construction of the sculpture took over 640 man hours. The sculpture stood tall and was about wide. Each of the soccer players was approximately tall.

World’s First Piloted Balloon Sculpture

In July 2003, Moss orchestrated the creation of the “Fantastic Flying Octopus” a large balloon sculpture piloted by John Ninomiya. A 23-member team of balloon artists, an eight-member flight crew, and countless community members were utilized to build and launch the first ever piloted latex balloon sculpture. Nearly 20,000 twisting balloons were assembled by artists from around the US and Canada to create the Fantastic Flying Octopus. Several thousand people showed up to watch the construction and launch of the cluster balloon craft, in Sodus Bay, NY, which was powered solely by wind and of helium. Approximately 700 man hours went into the construction of the octopus over a span of 5 days.

Balloon Manor

Beginning in 2004 and continuing to present day, Moss’s focus became “Balloon Manor” a working haunted house made entirely of balloons. Moss organized professional balloon artists as designers, and community volunteers, to build, promote, and run the haunted house. Each haunted house requires over 100,000 balloons and at least fifty crew members. About 10,000 people visit the house each year.

Balloon HQ

In 1992, Moss began a small email discussion list for balloon twisters. The list was archived online, and visual content was added in 1994, marking the beginning of BalloonHQ. As internet usage exploded in the late 1990s nearly every serious balloon artist joined the “BalloonHQ Community” prompting Moss to partner with Sheena Beaverson and Mark Balzer to administer the site. Discussions on the site lead to the first balloon twisting convention (T-Jam in 1999), the first international photo contest, and the free dissemination of balloon ideas and designs. Today, in addition to remaining an important industry dialogue, BalloonHQ covers important industry events and offers its members custom portfolios and access to specialized educational material.

Educator

Larry Moss is also a popular industry educator. He has taught balloon art in Europe, Asia, and America. He is the author of several books and balloon kits.

Publications

Climb Inside (paperback, 2007)

Balloon Architecture (paperback and kit 2007)

Flying an Octopus: Raising Balloon Art to New Heights (DVD, 2003)

Balloonicature: The Many Faces of Balloon Art (CD-ROM, 2000)

Attack of the Demon: Large Scale Balloon Art (CD-ROM, 1999)

Twisting History: Lessons in Balloon Sculpting (paperback, 1995)

BalloonHQ.com - founder and lead maintainer of largest balloon art resource on Internet, providing information to 25,000 people weekly (1992–present)

See also

Balloon twisting

External links

airigami.com

BalloonManor.com

BalloonHQ.com

howtocatchamouse.com

The Fantastic Flying Octopus

Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:University of Rochester alumni Category:People from Queens Category:American performance artists

Birth name	Jeffrey Michael Tambor
Birth date	July 08, 1944
Birth place	San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1976–present
Spouse	Kathryn Mitchell (1991–1999) Kasia Ostlun (2001–present) 4 children

Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American actor, perhaps most known for his roles as George Bluth Sr. on the television series Arrested Development and Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show.

Personal life

Tambor was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Eileen (née Salzberg), a housewife, and Michael R. "Mike" Tambor, a flooring contractor. He grew up in a Conservative Jewish family with roots in Hungary. Tambor is a graduate of San Francisco State University, where he studied acting and then went on to receive a master's degree from Wayne State University.

In 2007, Tambor was reported to be a Scientologist. However, in February 2008, Tambor expressed concern about "internet reports" about his alleged involvement with the religion and stated that he "took some Scientology classes at one time, studied Scientology for a while, but no more. I have nothing against it, but I am no longer a Scientologist."

In 1991, Tambor married Kathryn Mitchell. They divorced in 1999. He married Kasia Ostlun in October 2001. They have four children.

He became a father and grandfather in December 2004. His wife Kasia gave birth to son Gabriel Kasper on December 10 and his daughter Molly Tambor gave birth to son Mason Jay Moore on December 14. His daughter Molly Tambor was born in 1975, she is the oldest of his children

On The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on June 3, 2009, Tambor announced his wife was pregnant with twin boys due in October 2009. The boys, Hugo Bernard and Eli Nicholas, were born on October 4.

Tambor is often noted for his resemblance to television psychologist Dr. Phil; however, Dr. Phil at 6 foot 5 is several inches taller than the 6'1" Tambor. This is most famously noted when a giant Homer Simpson eats Dr. Phil in The Simpsons episode Treehouse of Horror XVII and says "He tastes just like Jeffrey Tambor."

Career

Early career

Tambor first moved to repertory theater, later making his Broadway debut in the comedy Sly Fox (1976), appearing with George C. Scott and directed by Arthur Penn. He appeared in Measure For Measure in the same year. In 1979 he starred in ...And Justice For All, as a lawyer friend of the protagonist, Arthur Kirkland Al Pacino. In an early TV job, an ad for Avis rent-a-car, he was seen running (huffing and puffing) through an airport, mocking O.J. Simpson's "Go, O.J., go!" ads for Hertz. He has had a significant career in episodic TV, where he made numerous guest appearances on different shows, including Taxi, Kojak, M*A*S*H, The Golden Girls, and Three's Company. In 1979 Tambor got his first role as a main character in television in the short lived show The Ropers. Throughout the 1980s Tambor had a recurring role on Hill Street Blues. In 1987–88, Tambor appeared as a regular on the prime time ABC series Max Headroom as Murray, Edison's editor. Later on in his career, he would have success starring in The Larry Sanders Show as egocentric side kick Hank Kingsley.

The Larry Sanders Show

Tambor is often remembered as Hank Kingsley, the sidekick of fictional talk show host Larry Sanders on The Larry Sanders Show. Tambor received four Emmy nominations for his performance on the show - all of which he would lose to Michael Richards for Seinfeld, David Hyde Pierce for Frasier, and his co-star, Rip Torn. He is also often remembered for his then famous catch phrase "Hey now."

Arrested Development

In 2003, he starred in the television comedy Arrested Development in a dual role as twin brothers, George Bluth Sr. and Oscar Bluth. In 2004, Tambor was nominated for his fifth Emmy award, but lost to David Hyde Pierce for the final season of the sitcom Frasier. In 2005, Tambor received his sixth Emmy nomination for his work on the show. He lost to Brad Garrett for his performance in the final season of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Later career

Tambor served as the announcer for the game show Hollywood Squares in 2002 and 2003 and also made an appearance as well. He was also the voice of King Neptune in 2004's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. In the spring of 2005, he starred as George Aaronow in the Broadway revival of Glengarry Glen Ross.

After the cancellation of Arrested Development in April 2006, Tambor signed on to a series with John Lithgow called Twenty Good Years about two men who ponder the last 20 years of their life. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 2006, but was taken off the air after only a few episodes. Also in 2006, he portrayed George Washington on The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd. He also starred as "Uncle" Saul in the CBS comedy Welcome to The Captain until its cancellation in March 2008. He made a cameo appearance in Entourage Season 5, Episode 7, as himself. He appeared again in Season 6 Episode 5 as well as season 7 episode 8.

For several years, based on his availability, Tambor has also taught a popular class for actors. He was formerly a longtime teaching associate of famed acting coach Milton Katselas.

In 2009, Tambor appeared in the animation film Monsters vs. Aliens and in the comedy The Hangover.

TVGuide.com has reported that Tambor will star in a new indie comedy, Lucky.

Awards and nominations

Tambor has been nominated for two Emmy Awards on Arrested Development and four for The Larry Sanders Show. He has won a Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He has been nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Award along with the cast of Arrested Development, for Best Cast in a Comedy Series. He has also been nominated for a Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Comedy Series.

Filmography

References

External links

Category:1944 births Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American actors of Hungarian descent Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Game show announcers Category:Jewish actors Category:Living people Category:People from San Francisco, California Category:San Francisco State University alumni Category:Wayne State University alumni

Caption	Franco at the Spider-Man 3 premiere, April 2007
Birthname	James Edward Franco
Birth date	April 19, 1978
Birth place	Palo Alto, California, United States
Occupation	Actor, director, screenwriter, producer, painter
Yearsactive	1997–present

James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer, author, and painter. He began acting during the late 1990s, appearing on the short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and starring in several teen films. In 2001 he played the title role in Mark Rydell's television biographical film James Dean, which earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film.

Franco achieved international fame with his portrayal of Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man trilogy. Since then, his films have included the war film The Great Raid (2005), the 2006 romantic drama Tristan & Isolde, and Justin Lin's drama Annapolis (2006). In 2008, Franco starred in the comedy stoner film Pineapple Express and received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. He played a prominent role in the 2008 biographical film Milk. In 2010, he played the lead role in Howl as Allen Ginsberg, and 127 Hours, a film about Aron Ralston, an American mountaineer who cut off his own arm to free himself after he was trapped beneath a boulder. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance.

Early life and family

Franco was born in Palo Alto, California. His mother, Betsy Lou (née Verne), is a poet, author, and editor, and his father, Douglas Eugene Franco, runs a non-profit agency and a shipping container company; the two met as students at Stanford University. Franco's father is of Portuguese and Swedish descent and Franco's mother is Jewish, a descendant of immigrants from Russia. his maternal grandmother, Mitzi Levine Verne, owns the Verne Art Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Cleveland, and was an active member in the National Council of Jewish Women.

Franco grew up in California with his two younger brothers, Tom and Dave, who is also an actor. Talented at mathematics, he interned at Lockheed Martin. Franco graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1996, where he acted in plays. He enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as an English major, but dropped out after his freshman year against his parents' wishes to pursue a career as an actor, taking acting lessons with Robert Carnegie at Playhouse West. Franco has since described the series as "one of the most fun" work experiences that he has had. In another interview, Franco said: "When we were doing Freaks and Geeks, I didn’t quite understand how movies and TV worked, and I would improvise even if the camera wasn’t on me ... So I was improvising a little bit back then, but not in a productive way."

His first major film was the romantic comedy Whatever It Takes (2000), in which he co-starred with his then-girlfriend, Marla Sokoloff. He was subsequently cast as the title role in director Mark Rydell's 2001 TV biopic James Dean. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Franco could have walked through the role and done a passable Dean, but instead gets under the skin of this insecure, rootless young man." He received a Golden Globe Award and nominations for an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

2002 - present

and Franco discuss their roles in the 2008 Gus Van Sant film Milk, and its subject, Harvey Milk.]] In the 2002 superhero film Spider-Man, the most successful film of his career to date, Franco played Harry Osborn, the son of the villainous Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and best friend of the title character (Tobey Maguire). Originally, Franco was considered for the lead role of Spider-Man/Peter Parker in the film, though the lead went to Tobey Maguire. Todd McCarthy of Variety noted that there are "good moments" between Maguire and Franco in the film. Spider-Man was a commercial and critical success. The movie grossed $114 million during its opening weekend in North America and went on to earn $822 million worldwide. In this same year, Franco was cast in the drama City by the Sea (2002) alongside Robert De Niro. The following year he co-starred alongside Neve Campbell in Robert Altman's The Company (2003).

The success of the first Spider-Man film led Franco to reprise the role in the 2004 sequel, Spider-Man 2. The movie was well received by critics, and it proved to be a big financial success, setting a new opening weekend box office record for North America. With revenue of $783 million worldwide, it became the second highest grossing film in 2004.

In 2006, Franco co-starred with Tyrese Gibson in Annapolis and played legendary hero Tristan in Tristan & Isolde, a dramatization of the Tristan and Iseult story also starring English actress Sophia Myles. He then rode with the Navy's precision flying team, the Blue Angels, and completed training for his Private Pilot License in preparation for his role in Flyboys, which was released in September 2006; the same month, Franco appeared briefly in The Wicker Man, the remake of the seminal horror film. He appeared in the film alongside Nicolas Cage, who directed him in Sonny. Also in 2006, he made a cameo appearance in the romantic comedy The Holiday.

In 2007 he again played Harry Osborn in Spider-Man 3. In contrast to the previous two films' positive reviews, Nonetheless, with a total worldwide gross of $891 million, it stands as the most successful film in the series, and Franco's highest grossing film to the end of 2008.

He starred in the film Pineapple Express (2008), a comedy co-starring and co-written by Seth Rogen and produced by Judd Apatow, both of whom worked with Franco on Freaks and Geeks. In the New York Times review of the film, critic Manohla Dargis wrote: "He’s delightful as Saul, loosey-goosey and goofy yet irrepressibly sexy, despite that greasy curtain of hair and a crash pad with a zero WAF (Woman Acceptance Factor). It’s an unshowy, generous performance and it greatly humanizes a movie that, as it shifts genre gears and cranks up the noise, becomes disappointingly sober and self-serious." Franco's performance in the film earned him a Golden Globe nomination in the category for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy In 2008 he also appeared in two films by American artist Carter exhibited at the Yvon Lambert gallery in Paris. On September 20, 2008, James hosted the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL), and a second time on December 19, 2009.

Franco starred opposite Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, and Emile Hirsch in Gus Van Sant's Milk (2008). In the film, he played Scott Smith, the boyfriend of Harvey Milk (Penn). Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, in review of the film, wrote: "Franco is a nice match for him [Penn] as the lover who finally has enough of political life." For his performance in the film, Franco won the 2008 Independent Spirit Award in the category for Best Supporting Actor.

In late 2009, Franco joined the cast of the daytime soap opera General Hospital on a recurring basis. He plays Franco, Franco calls his General Hospital role performance art; in summer 2010 the fictional Franco held an exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, while the real Franco held an exhibit at the museum based on his experiences on the soap opera.

Franco made an appearance on the situation comedy show 30 Rock where he played himself and carried on a fake romance with Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) in a scheme concocted by their respective agents. In May 2010, he was cast to star in Rupert Wyatt's Rise of the Apes. Franco produced and directed a documentary titled Saturday Night documenting a week in the production of an episode of SNL. The film began as a short for an NYU class but grew due to his two episodes as host, while short stories he wrote for other classes appeared in Esquire and McSweeney's.

In 2010, Franco played poet Allen Ginsberg in the drama Howl, and has received acclaim for portraying mountain climber Aron Ralston in 127 Hours. His 2011 roles include the comedy Your Highness, opposite Natalie Portman, and Rise of the Apes, a science fiction film co-starring Freida Pinto.

On November 29, 2010, it was announced that Franco and Anne Hathaway will host the 83rd Academy Awards.

In 2011, Franco will direct a film version of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and appear in two episodes of ABC's General Hospital.

Writing

In 2010, Franco published a collection of short stories called Palo Alto. The book is named after the California city where Franco grew up and is dedicated to many of the writers he worked with at Brooklyn College. The book has received mixed reviews; Los Angeles Times called it "the work of an ambitious young man who clearly loves to read, who has a good eye for detail, but who has spent way too much time on style and virtually none on substance".

Personal life

Franco reportedly has "an unusually high metabolism for productivity...a superhuman ability to focus". Dissatisfied with his career's direction, Franco reenrolled at UCLA in the fall of 2006 as an English major with a creative writing concentration. Having received permission to take as many as 62 course credits per quarter compared to the normal limit of 19 while continuing to act, he received his undergraduate degree in June 2008 with a GPA over 3.5. For his degree, Franco prepared his departmental honors thesis as a novel under the supervision of Mona Simpson. He moved to New York to simultaneously attend graduate school at Columbia University's MFA writing program, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts for filmmaking, and Brooklyn College for fiction writing, while occasionally commuting to North Carolina's Warren Wilson College for poetry. As of 2010, Franco is a PhD student in English at Yale University and will also attend the Rhode Island School of Design.

Art—painting in particular—is a talent Franco developed during his high school years while attending the California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA). His paintings were displayed publicly for the first time at the Glü Gallery in Los Angeles, California from January 7, 2006 through to February 11, 2006. Franco can also be seen painting in a scene in Spider-Man 3.

Franco enjoys reading on the set of his films. Pineapple Express producer Judd Apatow has said of him: "He's a very education-minded person. We used to laugh because in between takes he'd be reading The Iliad on set. We still haven't read The Iliad. It was a very difficult book. With him, it was always James Joyce or something."

Since April 2006, Franco has been in a relationship with actress Ahna O'Reilly. In 2008, Franco was named as the new face of Gucci's men's fragrance line. Viewed as a sex symbol, Franco was named the Sexiest Man Living in 2009 by Salon.com.

In response to questions regarding his sexuality now that he has portrayed three gay characters during his acting career, he insists he finds plenty more dimensions to the characters than their bedroom proclivities. "Or, you know what," he concluded, "maybe I’m just gay."

He was selected as the commencement speaker, the youngest, at his alma mater, UCLA, on Friday, June 12, 2009. On June 3, 2009, a press release announced Franco's cancellation as UCLA's commencement speaker due to a scheduling conflict, making it the second year in a row, after Bill Clinton, that the commencement speaker had canceled the appearance. On July 8, 2009, Franco and the Harvard Lampoon released a satirical video on prominent comedy website Funny or Die mocking his last-minute cancellation.

In the December 27, 2010 issue of Time Magazine, Franco was named by Joel Stein as "The Coolest Person of the Year."

Filmography

{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1998 | 1973 | Greg | TV Film |- | 1999 | To Serve and Protect | Matt Carr | TV Film |- | 1999 | Never Been Kissed | Jason Way | |- | 1999-2000 | Freaks and Geeks | Daniel Desario | TV Series: 18 Episodes |- | 2000 | Whatever It Takes | Chris Campbell | |- | 2001 | James Dean | James Dean | TV FilmBroadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor in Television FilmGolden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or TV FilmNominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a MovieNominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie |- | 2002 | Sonny | Sonny Phillips | limited release |- | 2002 | City by the Sea | Joey |Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor |- | 2002 | Spider-Man | Harry Osborn | |- | 2002 | Deuces Wild | Tino | |- | 2003 | The Company | Josh | |- | 2004 | Spider-Man 2 | Harry Osborn | |- | 2005 | The Ape | Harry Walker | Direct-to-Video |- | 2005 | The Great Raid | Captain Prince | |- | 2005 | Fool's Gold | Brent | Also Writer/Director |- | 2006 | Tristan & Isolde | Tristan | |- | 2006 | Annapolis | Jake Huard | |- | 2006 | The Wicker Man | Bar guy #1 | |- | 2006 | Flyboys | Blaine Rawlings | |- | 2006 | The Dead Girl | Derek | |- | 2006 | The Holiday | Himself | Uncredited |- | 2007 | Spider-Man 3 | Harry Osborn / New Goblin |Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Fight |- | 2007 | Knocked Up | Himself | Uncredited |- | 2007 | In the Valley of Elah | Sergeant Dan Carnelli | |- | 2007 | Finishing the Game | Dean Silo/"Rob Force" | |- | 2007 | An American Crime | Andy | |- | 2007 | Camille | Silias | |- | 2007 | Good Time Max | Max Verbinski | Also Writer/Director |- | 2008 | Pineapple Express | Saul Silver | Nominated — Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic PerformanceNominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Fight |- | 2008 | Nights in Rodanthe | Dr. Mark Flanner | Uncredited |- | 2008 | Milk | Scott Smith |Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best CastIndependent Spirit Award for Best Supporting MaleNominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — MTV Movie Award for Best KissNominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion PictureNominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |- | 2009 | General Hospital | Franco | scheduled to appear in more than 10 episodes November 19, 2009 - June 30, 2011; Feb. 25, 2011 |- | 2010 | 30 Rock | Himself | TV SeriesEpisode: "Klaus and Greta" |- | 2010 | Date Night | Thomas Felton | |- | 2010 | Eat Pray Love | David | |- | 2010 | Howl | Allen Ginsberg | |- | 2010 | 127 Hours | Aron Ralston | Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorIndiana Film Journalists Association Award for Best ActorLas Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNew York Film Critics Online Award for Best ActorSanta Barbara International Film Festival Award for Outstanding PerformanceUtah Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated — Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorPending — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaNominated — Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorPending — Independent Spirit Award for Best Male LeadNominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated — San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture DramaPending — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading RoleNominated — St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated — Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor |- | 2011 | Your Highness | Fabious | post-production |- | 2011 | Rise of the Apes | | post-production |- | 2011 | In Praise of Shadows | William Vincent | post-production |}

Selected works

Franco, James. "A Star, a Soap and the Meaning of Art." Wall Street Journal, December 4, 2009.

Franco, James. "Just Before the Black." Esquire, March 24, 2010.

References

External links

Category:1978 births Category:Actors from California Category:American actors of Russian descent Category:American actors of Swedish descent Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American people of Portuguese descent Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:American soap opera actors Category:American television actors Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actor Golden Globe winners Category:Columbia University alumni Category:Independent Spirit Award winners Category:Jewish actors Category:Living people Category:Palo Alto High School alumni Category:People from Palo Alto, California Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni

Caption	McKellen at the premiere of in Wellington, New Zealand, 1 December 2003
Birth date	May 25, 1939
Birth place	Burnley, Lancashire, England, UK
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1959–present
Partner	Brian Taylor (1964–1972)Sean Mathias (1978–1988)
Website	http://www.mckellen.com/

Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award and two Academy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is known to many for roles such as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy and as Magneto in the X-Men films.

In 1988, McKellen came out and announced he was gay. He became a founding member of Stonewall, one of the United Kingdom's most influential LGBT rights groups, of which he remains a prominent spokesman.

He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1979, and knighted in the 1991 New Year Honours for his outstanding work and contributions to theatre. In the 2008 New Year Honours he was made a Companion of Honour (CH) for services to drama and to equality.

Early years

McKellen was born in Burnley, Lancashire, England, though he spent most of his early life in Wigan. Born shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the experience had some lasting impact on him. In response to an interview question when an interviewer remarked that he seemed quite calm in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks, he said: "Well, darling, you forget — I slept under a steel plate until I was four years old."

McKellen's father, Denis Murray McKellen, a civil engineer, was a lay preacher, and both of his grandfathers were preachers. At the time of Ian's birth, his parents already had a five-year-old daughter, Jean. His home environment was strongly Christian, but non-orthodox. "My upbringing was of low nonconformist Christians who felt that you led the Christian life in part by behaving in a Christian manner to everybody you met." of which he is still a supporter, attending regularly to talk to pupils. McKellen's acting career started at Bolton Little Theatre, of which he is now the patron. An early fascination with the theatre was encouraged by his parents, who took him on a family outing to Peter Pan at the Manchester Opera House when he was three. When he was nine, his main Christmas present was a wood and bakelite, fold-away Victorian Theatre from Pollocks Toy Theatres, with cardboard scenery and wires to push on the cut-outs of Cinderella and of Olivier's Hamlet. His sister took him to his first Shakespeare play, Twelfth Night, by the amateurs of Wigan's Little Theatre, shortly followed by their Macbeth and Wigan High School for Girls' production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with music by Mendelssohn and with the role of Bottom played by Jean McKellen. (Jean continued to act, direct, and produce amateur theatre up to her death.)

He won a scholarship to St Catharine's College, Cambridge, when he was eighteen, where he developed an attraction to Derek Jacobi. He has characterised it as "a passion that was undeclared and unrequited". began their relationship in 1964. It lasted for eight years, ending in 1972. They lived in London, where McKellen continued to pursue his career as an actor. For over a decade, he has lived in a five-story Victorian conversion in Narrow Street, Limehouse. In 1978 he met his second partner, Sean Mathias, at the Edinburgh Festival. According to Mathias, the ten-year love affair was tempestuous, with conflicts over McKellen's success in acting versus Mathias' somewhat less-successful career.

A friend of Ian Charleson and a great admirer of his work, McKellen contributed a chapter to the 1990 book, For Ian Charleson: A Tribute.

In the early 1980s, McKellen lost his appetite for meat except for fish, and so mostly precludes it from his diet.

Theatre

While at Cambridge McKellen was a member of the Marlowe Society, appearing in Henry IV (as Shallow) alongside Trevor Nunn and Jacobi (March 1959), Cymbeline (as Posthumus, opposite Margaret Drabble as Imogen) and Doctor Faustus. His first professional appearance was in 1961 at the Nottingham Playhouse, as Roper in A Man for All Seasons, although an audio recording of the Marlowe Society's Cymbeline had gone on commercial sale as part of the Argo Shakespeare series.

Sir Ian is also President and Patron of the Little Theatre Guild of Great Britain, an association of amateur theatre organisations throughout the UK.

Popular success

in The Lord of the Rings, 2001-2003]] McKellen had taken film roles throughout his career — beginning in 1969 with his role of George Matthews in A Touch of Love, but it was not until the 1990s that he became more widely recognised in this medium, through several roles in blockbuster Hollywood movies. Six Degrees of Separation, in which he starred with Stockard Channing, Donald Sutherland, and Will Smith. In the same year, he appeared in minor roles in the television miniseries Tales of the City (based on the novel by his friend Armistead Maupin) and the film Last Action Hero, in which he played Death. The same year, McKellen appeared in the TV movie And the Band Played On, about the discovery of the AIDS virus, for which McKellen won a CableACE Award for Supporting Actor in a Movie or Miniseries and was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.

In 1995, he played the title role in the critical hit Richard III, which transported the setting 400 years into the future in 1930s fascist England. McKellen co-produced and co-wrote the film, adapting the play for the screen based on a stage production of Shakespeare's play directed by Richard Eyre for the Royal National Theatre, in which McKellen had appeared. In his review of the film, Hal Hinson of The Washington Post, called McKellen's performance a "lethally flamboyant incarnation" and said his "florid mastery ... dominates everything". His performance in the title role garnered best actor nominations for the BAFTA Award and Golden Globe, and won the European Film Award for Best Actor. His screenplay was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

His breakthrough role among mainstream American audiences came with the modestly acclaimed Apt Pupil, based on a story by Stephen King. McKellen portrayed an old Nazi officer, living under a false name in the U.S., who was befriended by a curious teenager (Brad Renfro) who threatened to expose him unless he told his story in detail. His casting was based partly on his performance in Cold Comfort Farm, seen by Apt Pupil director Bryan Singer, despite the BBC's refusal to release it in cinemas. On January 10, 2011 it was officially confirmed that Mckellen would reprise the role of Gandalf in the film adaptation of The Hobbit. , 2006]] On 16 March 2002, he was the host on Saturday Night Live. In 2003, McKellen made a guest appearance as himself on the American cartoon show The Simpsons, in a special British-themed episode entitled "The Regina Monologues", along with Tony Blair and J. K. Rowling. In April and May 2005, he played the role of Mel Hutchwright in Granada Television's long running soap opera, Coronation Street, fulfilling a lifelong ambition. He is also known for his voicework, having narrated Richard Bell's film Eighteen, as a grandfather who leaves his World War II memoirs on audiocassette for his teenage grandson.

McKellen has appeared in limited release films, such as Emile (which was shot in a few days during the X2 shoot), Neverwas and Asylum. He appeared as Sir Leigh Teabing in The Da Vinci Code. During a 17 May 2006 interview on The Today Show with the Da Vinci Code cast and director, Matt Lauer posed a question to the group about how they would have felt if the film had borne a prominent disclaimer that it is a work of fiction, as some religious groups wanted. McKellen appeared in the 2006 series of Ricky Gervais' comedy series Extras, where he played himself directing Gervais' character Andy Millman in a play about gay lovers. McKellen received a 2007 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor - Comedy Series nomination for his performance. He also appeared in the 2009 remake of the 1967 The Prisoner, where he played the character Number Two.

LGBT rights campaigning

2010]]

2003 in Manchester.]] While McKellen had made his sexual orientation known to his fellow actors early on in his stage career, it was not until 1988 that he came out to the general public, in a programme on BBC Radio 3. McKellen also described Howard's junior ministers, the Conservatives David Wilshire and Dame Jill Knight, who were the architects of Section 28, as the 'ugly sisters' of a political pantomime.

Section 28, which proposed to prohibit local authorities from "promoting homosexuality" 'as a kind of pretended family relationship', was ambiguous and the actual impact of the amendment was uncertain. McKellen became active in fighting the proposed law, and declared himself gay on a BBC Radio programme where he debated the subject of Section 28 with the conservative journalist Peregrine Worsthorne.}}

McKellen is a co-founder of Stonewall, a LGB rights lobby group in the United Kingdom, named after the Stonewall riots. and FFLAG where he appears in their video Parents Talking.

In 1994, at the closing ceremony of the Gay Games, he briefly took the stage to address the crowd, saying, "I'm Sir Ian McKellen, but you can call me Serena" (This nickname, originally given to him by Stephen Fry, had been circulating within the gay community since McKellen's knighthood was conferred). In 2007 McKellen became a patron of The Albert Kennedy Trust, an organisation that provides support to young, homeless and troubled LGBT people.

In 2006, McKellen became a Patron of Oxford Pride. At the time he said:

}}

McKellen has taken his activism internationally, where it caused a major stir in Singapore. Invited to do an interview on a morning show, he shocked the interviewer by asking if they could recommend him a gay bar. The program immediately ended. In December 2008, he was named in Out's annual Out 100 list.

Other charity work

In April 2010, along with Brian Cox and Eleanor Bron, appeared in a series of TV advertisements to support Age UK, the charity recently formed from the merger of Age Concern and Help the Aged. All three actors gave their time free of charge.

Selected stage and screen credits

Stage

plaque.]]

Much Ado About Nothing, Royal National Theatre, Old Vic, London, 1965

Trelawny of the 'Wells', National Theatre, London & Chichester Festival, 1965

The Promise, West End; Broadway, 1967

Edward II (in title role), Edinburgh Festival & West End, 1969

Hamlet (title role), UK/European Tour, 1971

'Tis Pity She's a Whore, UK Tour, 1972

Dr Faustus (title role), Royal Shakespeare Company, Edinburgh Festival & Aldwych Theatre (London), 1974

King John, RSC, 1975

Romeo and Juliet (as Romeo), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon & London, 1976

The Winter's Tale, RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1976

Macbeth (title role), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon & Young Vic (London), 1976–1977

The Alchemist, RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon & London, 1977

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, RSC, Barbican Arts Centre (London), 1977

Three Sisters, RSC, UK Tour, 1978

Bent, (as Max) Royal Court and Criterion, London, 1979

Amadeus (as Salieri), Broadway, 1980

Coriolanus (title role), National Theatre, 1984

Wild Honey, National Theatre, 1984 (& Broadway, 1986)

The Cherry Orchard (as Lopakhin), National Theatre, 1985

The Duchess of Malfi, National Theatre, 1985

The Real Inspector Hound, National Theatre, London & Paris, 1985

Othello (as Iago), RSC, London & Stratford-upon-Avon, 1989

Richard III (title role), National Theatre, world tour, 1990 & US tour, 1992

Uncle Vanya (title role), National Theatre, 1992

Peter Pan (as Mr. Darling/Captain Hook), National Theatre, 1997

An Enemy of the People, National Theatre, 1997 & Ahmanson Theatre (Los Angeles), 1998

Present Laughter, West Yorkshire Playhouse (Leeds, England), 1998

Dance of Death, at the Broadhurst Theatre (New York) in 2001. At the Lyric Theatre (London, England) in 2003

Aladdin, (as Widow Twankie) Old Vic, 2004 & 2005

The Cut, Donmar Warehouse, 2006

King Lear by William Shakespeare, (as Lear), Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 2007

The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, (as Sorin), Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 2007; New York (Brooklyn Academy of Music), 2007 Minneapolis, 2007, New London Theatre (West End), 2007–8

King Lear by William Shakespeare, (as Lear), New Zealand, 2007; New York (Brooklyn Academy of Music), 2007, Minneapolis, 2007, New London Theatre (West End), 2007–8

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, (as Estragon), London, 2009 the Theatre Royal Haymarket

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett; revival at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2010 for a limited run

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett; Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, Australia 2010

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett; Fugard Theatre, Cape Town, South Africa 2010

Filmography

{| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1966 | David Copperfield | David Copperfield | (TV) |- |rowspan=3| 1969 | The Promise | Leonidik | |- | Alfred the Great | Roger | |- | A Touch of Love | George Matthews | |- |rowspan=2| 1981 | Priest of Love | Lawrence | |- | Pillar of Fire | Narrator | Documentary |- |rowspan=2| 1982 | The Scarlet Pimpernel | Paul Chauvelin | |- | Walter | Walter | Royal Television Society Award for Best Performance |- | 1983 | The Keep | Dr. Theodore Cuza | |- |rowspan=2| 1985 | Plenty | Sir Andrew Charleson | |- | Zina | Arthur Kronfeld | |- | 1989 | Scandal | John Profumo | |- |rowspan=4| 1993 | Six Degrees of Separation | Geoffrey Miller | |- | The Ballad of Little Jo | Percy Corcoran | |- | Last Action Hero | Death | (uncredited cameo) |- | And the Band Played On | Bill Kraus | CableACE Award for Supporting Actor in a Movie or MiniseriesNominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie |- |rowspan=3| 1994 | To Die For | Quilt Documentary Narrator | (voice) |- | The Shadow | Dr. Reinhardt Lane | |- | I'll Do Anything | John Earl McAlpine | |- |rowspan=3| 1995 | Restoration | Will Gates | |- | Richard III | Richard III | European Film Award for Best ActorEvening Standard British Film Award for Best FilmNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Adapted ScreenplayNominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best ActorNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama |- | Jack and Sarah | William | |- | 1996 | | Nicholas II | Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television FilmNominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a MovieNominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film |- |rowspan=2| 1997 | Swept from the Sea | Dr. James Kennedy | |- | Bent | Uncle Freddie | |- |rowspan=2| 1998 | Apt Pupil | Kurt Dussander | Saturn Award for Best Supporting ActorBroadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor (also for Gods and Monsters)Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor (also for Gods and Monsters) |- | Gods and Monsters | James Whale | British Independent Film Award for Best ActorBroadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor (also for Apt Pupil)Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorChlotrudis Award for Best ActorFlorida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor (also for Apt Pupil)Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead MaleKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNational Board of Review Award for Best ActorOnline Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorSan Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorSan Sebastián International Film Festival Award for Best ActorToronto Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated—Academy Award for Best ActorNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading RoleNominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama |- | 1999 | David Copperfield | Mr. Creakle | (TV) |- | 2000 | X-Men | Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto | Nominated—Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Villain |- | 2001 | | Gandalf the Grey | Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best CastSaturn Award for Best Supporting ActorScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting RoleNominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleNominated—Empire Award for Best British ActorNominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion PictureNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion PictureNominated—DVD Exclusive Awards for Best Audio Commentary (shared with Elijah Wood and Liv Tyler)Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (shared with Christopher Lee) |- |rowspan=2| 2002 | | Gandalf the White | Online Film Critics Society Award for Best CastPhoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best CastNominated—Empire Award for Best British ActorNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |- | Tusker | Tusker | |- |rowspan=4| 2003 | | Gandalf the White | Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best CastNational Board of Review Award for Best CastScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion PictureNominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting RoleNominated—Empire Award for Best British ActorNominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast |- | Emile | Emile | Nominated—Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role |- | The Simpsons | Himself |The Regina Monologues episode |- | X2 | Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto | Nominated—Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Villain |- | 2004 | ''Eighteen | Jason Anders (in voice) | |- |rowspan=4| 2005 | Neverwas | Gabriel Finch | |- | Asylum | Dr. Peter Cleave | |- | The Magic Roundabout | Zebedee | (voice) |- |Coronation Street |Mel Hutchwright |(10 episodes) |- |rowspan=4| 2006 | Extras | Ian McKellen | Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series |- | Flushed Away | The Toad | Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production |- | | Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto | Nominated—Irish Film & Television Award for Best International ActorNominated—Teen Choice Awards for Movies – Choice Sleazebag (also for The Da Vinci Code) |- | The Da Vinci Code | Sir Leigh Teabing | Nominated—Teen Choice Awards for Movies – Choice Sleazebag (also for ) |- |rowspan=2| 2007 | Stardust | Narrator | (voice) |- | The Golden Compass | Iorek Byrnison | (voice) |- | 2008 | King Lear | King Lear | Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie |- | 2009 | The Prisoner | Number Two | Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie |- | 2012 | The Hobbit: Part I | Gandalf | Pre-production |- | 2013 | The Hobbit: Part II | Gandalf | Pre-production |}

Music

Vampire in the music video "Heart" by Pet Shop Boys

The man who's "falling out of reach" in the music video "Falling Out of Reach" by Guillemots

Appears on the Scissor Sisters track "Invisible Light", from their 2010 album "Night Work", reciting a passage regarding the "Invisible Light" of the title.

Audiobooks

Audiobook narrator of Michelle Paver's Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series Wolf Brother, Spirit Walker, Soul Eater, Outcast, "Oath Breaker", "Ghost Hunter"

Awards and honours

In 2004 McKellen was conferred an honourary Doctor of Letters by Lancaster University. He was praised for his diversity of roles, his "deeply considered dramatic technique" and his Lancastrian roots.

1981: New York Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, for Amadeus

1984: London Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Revival, for Wild Honey

1984: London Evening Standard Award for Best Actor, for Coriolanus

1989: London Evening Standard Award for Best Actor, for Othello

1990: London Olivier Award for Best Actor, for Richard III

1998: Back Stage West Garland Awards, for his one-man show A Knight Out in Los Angeles

2004: Manila, Philippines Pride International Film Festival's Lifetime Achievement & Distinction Award''

2007: Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production, for Flushed Away

In May 2007, he was named, by the Independent on Sunday Pink List, the fifth most influential gay person in Britain, down from the 1st place the previous year. 2009: San Sebastián International Film Festival Donostia Award in recognition of an extensive professional career. 2010: Empire Awards 2010 : Empire Icon Award

References

External links

McKellen's home page

Interviews, blogs and clips

Good Morning (TVNZ) interview with McKellen - Waiting for Godot/The Hobbit

Interview and photoshoot factory-publishing.com

McKellen's personal pages on the Lord of the Rings movie, with a diary and answers to questions by fans

Interview at www.sci-fi-online.com

Podcast interview

Interview at AfterElton.com

Extended BBC interviews with McKellen as he prepares to play King Lear

"A conversation with Sir Ian": Interactive video interview with McKellen on Shakespeare, Richard III and Richard's opening speech

Emma Brockes, Every inch a king (interview) The Guardian, November 2007

Ian McKellen: A Free Man The Telegraph, 15 December 2008

Category:2012 Summer Olympics cultural ambassadors Category:Actors awarded British knighthoods Category:Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Category:American Theatre Hall of Fame inductees Category:Annie Award winners Category:European Film Awards winners (people) Category:Back Stage West Garland Award recipients Category:Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (television) winners Category:British atheists Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:English atheists Category:English film actors Category:English stage actors Category:English vegetarians Category:English video game actors Category:English voice actors Category:Evening Standard Award for Best Actor Category:Gay actors Category:Independent Spirit Award winners Category:Knights Bachelor Category:LGBT people from England Category:LGBT rights activists from the United Kingdom Category:Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Category:Old Boltonians Category:Olivier Award winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Burnley Category:People from Wigan Category:Royal National Theatre Company members Category:Royal Shakespeare Company members Category:Shakespearean actors Category:Tony Award winners Category:Audio book narrators Category:1939 births Category:Living people