Aidan Quinn (born March 8, 1959) is an Irish–American actor.

Early life

Career

In 1988 Quinn lost the role of Jesus Christ when Paramount Pictures dropped the controversial Martin Scorsese movie ''The Last Temptation of Christ''. When Universal Pictures picked up the film, the role went to Willem Dafoe. In the meantime, Quinn starred as protagonist in the film Crusoe, finished in 1989.

During the 1990s Quinn's career grew immensely. He found work alongside such Hollywood stars as Brad Pitt in ''Legends of the Fall'', Johnny Depp in ''Benny & Joon'', Robert Duvall in ''The Handmaid's Tale'' and John Gielgud in ''Haunted''. He continually starred in films that allowed him to return to his Irish roots, such as ''Michael Collins'', ''Song for a Raggy Boy'', ''This Is My Father'', and ''Evelyn''.

In 2000, Quinn portrayed Paul McCartney in the VH1 television drama, ''Two of Us''. He later met McCartney at a hotel, and they became good friends. Quinn was able to gain his first regular television role as the lead in the short lived and controversial NBC drama ''The Book of Daniel'', in 2006. The show was cancelled after the first three weeks of its run, and its last five episodes never aired. In 2007, Quinn received his second Emmy nomination for the television movie ''Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee''.

Personal life

Filmography

Film

References

External links

Category:1959 births Category:American film actors Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American television actors Category:Living people Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:People from Rockford, Illinois Category:People from Winnebago County, Illinois Category:People from Birr, County Offaly

Daryl Christine Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is an American film actress. After making her screen debut in 1978, Hannah starred in a number of Hollywood films throughout the 1980s, notably ''Blade Runner'', ''Splash'', ''Wall Street'', ''Roxanne''. Her most recent notable film role was Elle Driver in Quentin Tarantino's ''Kill Bill'' films.

Early life

Hannah became interested in movies at a young age, partly due to insomnia. She says she was very shy and may have had Asperger Syndrome. Hannah attended the progressive Francis W. Parker School (where she played on the soccer team) before enrolling at the University of Southern California.

Career

Hannah's successes in the remainder of the 1980s ranged from ''Steel Magnolias'' and the Academy Award-winning ''Wall Street'' (for which she received her Razzie Award) to the 1986 film version of the best-seller ''The Clan of the Cave Bear''. Also in 1986 Hannah co-starred with Robert Redford and Debra Winger in ''Legal Eagles''. She starred in the title role of Fred Schepisi's 1987 film ''Roxanne'', a modern retelling of Edmond Rostand's play ''Cyrano de Bergerac'', a performance described as "sweet" and "gentle" by film critic Roger Ebert.

She also appeared in ''The Pope of Greenwich Village'' with co-stars Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts and played the daughter of Jack Lemmon's character in both of the ''Grumpy Old Men'' comedies. In 1995, Hannah was chosen by Empire magazine as #96 of the "100 Stars in Film History." That year she appeared as homicidal sociopath Leann Netherwood in ''The Tie That Binds''.

Of her most recent roles the most memorable may be that of the one-eyed assassin, Elle Driver, in ''Kill Bill'', directed by Quentin Tarantino. Her performance in this film and her appearances in ''Speedway Junky'', ''Northfork'', Michael Radford's ''Dancing at the Blue Iguana'', John Sayles' ''Casa de los Babys'' and ''Silver City'', have been described by some as a comeback.

Hannah wrote, directed and produced a short film, ''The Last Supper'', which won an award at the Berlin Film Festival. She directed, produced and was cinematographer for the documentary ''Strip Notes''. It aired on Channel 4 in the UK and on HBO and was about the research Hannah did for her role as a stripper in ''Dancing at the Blue Iguana''. Hannah currently has several projects in post-production, including ''Shannon's Rainbow'' and ''A Closed Book''.

She appeared in Robbie Williams' video for the song "Feel", portraying Williams' love interest.

Daryl Hannah also is an accomplished theatre actress, reprising Marilyn Monroe's starring role in Seven Year Itch in 2000 at London's West End. Reviews of the play commended Daryl Hannah's performance, with Lizzie Loveridge of ''Curtain Up!'' saying that the play was the "perfect vehicle" for Hannah to "show her talents as a comedienne." She was also in the plays ''Cord'' and ''First Target'' in the same year.

Personal life

Hannah, an active environmentalist, has her own weekly video blog called DHLoveLife on sustainable solutions. She is often the sound recordist, camera person and on-screen host for the blog. Her home runs on solar power and is built with green materials. She drives a car that runs on biodiesel. In late 2006, she volunteered to act as a judge for Treehugger.com's "Convenient Truths" contest. On December 4, 2008, Hannah joined Sea Shepherd's crew aboard the MV Steve Irwin, as part of Operation Musashi. Hannah has never married, although she had long-term relationships with singer, Jackson Browne, and John F. Kennedy, Jr. She is the sister-in-law of music producer, Lou Adler, who is married to Hannah's sister, Page.

Hannah is a strict vegan.

On June 13, 2006, Hannah was arrested, along with actor, Taran Noah Smith, for her involvement with over 350 farmers, their families and supporters, confronting authorities trying to bulldoze the nation's largest urban farm in South Central Los Angeles. She chained herself to a walnut tree at the South Central Farm for three weeks to protest the farmers' eviction by the property's new owner. The farm had been established in the wake of the 1992 LA riots to allow people in the city to grow food for themselves. However, the land's new owner, who had paid $5 million for it, sought to evict the farmers to build a warehouse. He had asked for $16 million to sell it but turned down the offer when the activists raised that amount. Hannah was interviewed via cell phone shortly before she was arrested, along with 44 other protesters, and said that she and the others are doing the "morally right thing". She spent some time in jail.

Hannah has also worked to help end sexual slavery and has been traveling around the world to make a documentary.

Hannah was among 31 people arrested on June 23, 2009, in a protest against mountaintop removal in southern West Virginia, part of a wider campaign to stop the practice in the region. The protesters, who also included NASA climate scientist James E. Hansen, were charged with obstructing officers and impeding traffic after they sat in the middle of State Route 3 outside Massey Energy's Goals Coal preparation plant on Tuesday, the ''The Charleston Gazette'' reported. In a Democracy Now! phone interview on June 24, 2009, Hannah spoke briefly on why she went to West Virginia and risked arrest.

She was arrested on August 30, 2011 in front of The White House as part of a sit-in to protest the proposed Keystone oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Filmography

As Director

In the theatre

Awards

References

External links

Category:1960 births Category:Actors from Illinois Category:American environmentalists Category:American film actors Category:American vegans Category:Living people Category:People from Chicago, Illinois

Background

Career

Early work

Fassbender played the part of Jonathan Harker in a 10-part radio serialization of ''Dracula'' produced by BBC Northern Ireland and broadcast in the Book at Bedtime series between 24 November and 5 December 2003. He was also seen in early 2004 in a Guinness television commercial, ''The Quarrel'', playing a man who swims across the ocean from Ireland to apologize personally to his brother in New York.

During the 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Fassbender played Michael Collins in ''Allegiance'', a play by Mary Kenny based on the meeting between Winston Churchill and Collins, of whom Fassbender's mother is a great-niece. In addition, he produced, directed and starred in the stage version of Quentin Tarantino's ''Reservoir Dogs'', along with his production company.

He appeared in ''Angel'' (UK title: ''The Real Life of Angel Deverell''), about the rise and fall of an eccentric young British writer (played by Romola Garai) in the early 20th century. Fassbender plays her love interest and average painter Esmé. The drama – the first English-language effort by French director François Ozon and based on the novel by Elizabeth Taylor – was premiered on 17 February 2007 at the Berlin International Film Festival and on 14 March 2007 in Paris. He then made a brief appearance in ''Wedding Belles'' as Barney, speaking with a Scottish accent.

Mainstream success

In preparation for his role as Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoner Bobby Sands in Steve McQueen's 2008 film ''Hunger'', Fassbender underwent a crash diet that restricted him to 600 calories a day. He received the British Independent Film Award for his performance.

One year after his success at the Cannes Film Festival with ''Hunger'', he appeared in two films. First was Quentin Tarantino's ''Inglourious Basterds'', in which he played the British officer Lieutenant Archie Hicox. The other film was ''Fish Tank'' directed by Andrea Arnold. Both were critically acclaimed and Fassbender's work in them also well received.

Starting a period when his "star status has risen exponentially" according to one observer, in 2010, Fassbender appeared in ''Jonah Hex'' and filmed ''Haywire'', (previously titled ''Knockout''.). He also portrayed Quintus Dias in Neil Marshall's War-Thriller-Drama film ''Centurion''. and was cast as 'Richard Wirth' in the Joel Schumacher film ''Blood Creek'' alongside Dominic Purcell. Joel Schumacher signed to direct ''Blood Creek'', the horror movie for Gold Circle and Lionsgate. The story centers on a West Virginia man who comes to terms with his moral qualms and helps his brother wipe out a family that had been protecting a Nazi occultist and who had kept his brother captive for him to feed off for years.

Fassbender played Edward Rochester in the 2011 film ''Jane Eyre'', featuring Mia Wasikowska in the title role, with Cary Fukunaga directing.

Fassbender portrayed Magneto in the superhero blockbuster ''X-Men: First Class'', the prequel to ''X-Men''. Set in 1962, it focused on the friendship between Charles Xavier (played by James McAvoy) and Magneto and the origin of their groups, the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants. The film was released on 3 June 2011 to general acclaim and financial success and promoted Fassbender to being more of a popular movie star.

In 2011, Fassbender starred in ''A Dangerous Method'' by director David Cronenberg, playing Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist Carl Jung, and in ''Shame'', as a man in his '30s struggling with his sex addiction. ''Shame'' reunited him with director Steve McQueen, and premiered at the 2011 Venice Film Festival, where Fassbender won a Volpi Cup best actor award for his portrayal of Brandon. ''A Dangerous Method'' was also shown at Venice. Fassbender was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2012 for his portrayal of Brandon in Shame, but eventually lost out to George Clooney.

Future projects

Due to a schedule conflict, Fassbender had to pull out of negotiations to work with Oscar-winning director, Danny Boyle, in his new film, ''Trance''.

In early 2012, he will be seen in movie theatres playing Paul in Haywire by Steven Soderbergh, an international action/thriller film.

Adding to what appears to be another busy year in 2012, Fassbender has just signed on to star in actor Brendan Gleeson's directorial debut of ''At Swim-Two-Birds'', a film adaptation of Irish author Flann O'Brien's novel. Another project has been announced to add to Michael's developing filming schedule for 2012, he will team up for a third time with Hunger and Shame director Steve McQueen, to co-star in a yet to be determined role, with Chiwetel Ejiofor, portraying Solomon Northup, in ''Twelve Years A Slave''.

In 2013, Fassbender is set to take on the role of Harry Flashman in a film adaptation of the books by George MacDonald Fraser.

Filmography