Marthe Keller (born 28 January 1945; Basel, Switzerland) is a Swiss actress and opera director. She studied ballet as a child, but stopped after a skiing accident at age 16. She changed to acting, and worked in Berlin at the Schiller Theatre and the Berliner Ensemble.^[1]

Keller's earliest film appearances were in Funeral in Berlin (1966, uncredited) and the German film Wilder Reiter GmbH (1967). She appeared in a series of French films in the 1970s, including Un cave (1971), La raison du plus fou (1973) and Toute une vie (And Now My Love, 1974). Her most famous American film appearances are her Golden Globe-nominated performance as Dustin Hoffman's girlfriend in Marathon Man and her performance as a femme fatale Arab terrorist who leads an attack on the Super Bowl in Black Sunday, both of them were ill-fated characters at the climax of each film. Keller also acted with William Holden in the 1978 Billy Wilder film Fedora. She appeared alongside Al Pacino in the auto racing film Bobby Deerfield, and subsequently the two of them were involved in a relationship. Since then, Keller has worked more steadily in European cinema compared to American movies. Her later films include Dark Eyes, with Marcello Mastroianni.^[2]

In 2001, Keller appeared in a Broadway adaptation of Abby Mann's play Judgment at Nuremberg as Mrs. Bertholt (the role played by Marlene Dietrich in the 1961 Stanley Kramer film version).^[3][4] She was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress for this performance.

In addition to her work in film and theatre, Keller has developed a career in classical music as a speaker and opera director. She has performed the speaking role of Joan of Arc in the oratorio Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher of Arthur Honegger on several occasions, with conductors such as Seiji Ozawa^[5][6] and Kurt Masur.^[7] She has recorded the role for Deutsche Grammophon with Ozawa (DG 429 412-2). Keller has also recited the spoken part in Igor Stravinsky's Perséphone.^[8][9] She has performed classical music melodramas for speaker and piano in recital.^[10] The Swiss composer Michael Jarrell wrote the melodrama Cassandre, after the novel of Christa Wolf, for Keller, who gave the world premiere in 1994.

Keller's first production as an opera director was Dialogues des Carmélites, for Opéra National du Rhin, in 1999. This production subsequently received a semi-staged performance in London that year.^[11] She has also directed Lucia di Lammermoor for Washington National Opera and for Los Angeles Opera.^[12] Her directorial debut at the Metropolitan Opera was in a 2004 production of Don Giovanni.^[13][14][15]

Keller has a son, Alexandre (born 1971), from her relationship with Philippe de Broca.

Selected filmography[link]

• Devil by the Tail (1969)
• Marathon Man (1976)
• Le guêpier (1976)
• Bobby Deerfield (1977)
• Fedora (1978)
• The Amateur (1981)
• Time of the Wolf (2002)
• Les géants (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Marthe Keller at the Internet Movie Database
• Yahoo! Movies biography of Marthe Keller

Al Pacino
Al Pacino attending the Venice Film Festival in September 2004
Born	Alfredo James Pacino (1940-04-25) April 25, 1940 (age 72) New York City
Occupation	Actor, director, screenwriter, producer
Years active	1968–present
Children	2 daughters, 1 son

Alfredo James "Al" Pacino (/pəˈtʃiːnɵ/; born April 25, 1940) is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy and Tony Montana in Scarface, though he has also appeared several times on the other side of the law — as a police officer, a detective and a lawyer. His role as Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman won him the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1993 after receiving seven previous Oscar nominations, one of them being in the same year.

He made his feature film debut in the 1969 film Me, Natalie in a minor supporting role, before playing the leading role in the 1971 drama The Panic in Needle Park. Pacino made his major breakthrough when he was given the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather in 1972, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Other Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor were for Dick Tracy and Glengarry Glen Ross. Oscar nominations for Best Actor include The Godfather Part II, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, ...And Justice for All and Scent of a Woman.

In addition to a career in film, he has also enjoyed a successful career on stage, winning Tony Awards for Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. A longtime fan of Shakespeare, he made his directorial debut with Looking for Richard, a quasi-documentary on the play Richard III. Pacino has received numerous lifetime achievement awards, including one from the American Film Institute. He is a method actor, taught mainly by Lee Strasberg and Charles Laughton at the Actors Studio in New York.

Although he has never married, Pacino has had several relationships with actresses and has three children.

Early life and education[link]

Pacino was born in East Harlem, New York City to Italian American parents Rose and Salvatore Pacino, who divorced when he was two years old.^[1] When he was two, his mother moved to the South Bronx near the Bronx Zoo, to live with her parents, Kate and James Gerardi, who originated from Corleone, Sicily.^[2] His father moved to Covina, California, and worked as an insurance salesman and restaurateur.^[1] Pacino attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in New York.^[2] During his teenage years 'Sonny', as he was known to his friends, aimed to become a baseball player, though he was also nicknamed 'The Actor'.^[3] Pacino flunked nearly all of his classes except English and dropped out of school at 17. His mother disagreed with his decision; they had an argument and he left home. He worked at a string of low-paying jobs, including messenger boy, busboy, janitor, and postal clerk, in order to finance his acting studies.^[1]

He started smoking at age nine, drinking and casual marijuana use at age thirteen, but never took hard drugs.^[4] His two closest friends died young of drug abuse at the ages of 19 and 30.^[5] Growing up in the Bronx, he got into occasional fights and was something of a troublemaker at school.^[6]

He acted in basement plays in New York's theatrical underground but was rejected for the Actors Studio while still a teenager.^[3] Pacino then joined the Herbert Berghof Studio (HB Studio), where he met acting teacher Charlie Laughton, who became his mentor and best friend.^[3] During this period, he was frequently unemployed and homeless, and sometimes had to sleep on the street, in theaters, or at friends' houses.^[2][7] In 1962, his mother died at the age of 43.^[8] The following year, his grandfather, James Gerardi, one of the most influential people in his life, also died.^[1]

Actors Studio training[link]

After having spent four years at HB Studio, Pacino successfully auditioned for the Actors Studio.^[3] The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.^[9] Pacino studied "method acting"^[1] under acting coach Lee Strasberg, who later appeared with Pacino in the films The Godfather Part II and in ...And Justice for All.^[2] During later interviews he spoke about Strasberg and the Studio's effect on his career. "The Actors Studio meant so much to me in my life. Lee Strasberg hasn’t been given the credit he deserves ... Next to Charlie, it sort of launched me. It really did. That was a remarkable turning point in my life. It was directly responsible for getting me to quit all those jobs and just stay acting."^[10] During another interview he added, "It was exciting to work for him [Lee Strasberg] because he was so interesting when he talked about a scene or talked about people. One would just want to hear him talk, because things he would say, you’d never heard before ... He had such a great understanding... he loved actors so much."^[11]

Pacino is currently co-president, along with Ellen Burstyn and Harvey Keitel, of the Actors Studio.^[9]

Stage career[link]

In 1967, Pacino spent a season at the Charles Playhouse in Boston, performing in Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing! (his first major paycheck: $125 a week); and in Jean-Claude Van Itallie's America, Hurrah, where he met actress Jill Clayburgh while working on this play. They went on to have a five-year romance and moved together back to New York City.^[12]

In 1968, Pacino starred in Israel Horovitz's The Indian Wants the Bronx at the Astor Place Theater, playing Murph, a street punk. The play opened January 17, 1968, and ran for 177 performances; it was staged in a double bill with Horovitz's It's Called the Sugar Plum, starring Clayburgh. Pacino won an Obie Award for Best Actor for his role, with John Cazale winning for Best Supporting actor and Horowitz for Best New Play.^[13] Martin Bregman saw the play and offered to be Pacino's manager, a partnership that became fruitful in the years to come, as Bregman encouraged Pacino to do The Godfather, Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon.^[14] Pacino and this production of The Indian Wants the Bronx traveled to Italy for a performance at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto. It was Pacino's first journey to Italy; he later recalled that "performing for an Italian audience was a marvelous experience".^[12] Pacino and Clayburgh were cast in "Deadly Circle of Violence", an episode of the ABC television series N.Y.P.D., premiering November 12, 1968. Clayburgh at the time was also appearing on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow, playing the role of Grace Bolton. Her father would send the couple money each month to help.^[15]

On February 25, 1969, Pacino made his Broadway debut in Don Petersen's Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? at the Belasco Theater. It closed after 39 performances on March 29, 1969, but Pacino received rave reviews and won the Tony Award on April 20, 1969.^[12] Pacino continued performing onstage in the 1970s, winning a second Tony Award for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and performing the title role in Richard III.^[1] In 1980s Pacino again achieved critical success on the stage while appearing in David Mamet's American Buffalo, for which Pacino was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.^[1] Since 1990 Pacino's stage work has included revivals of Eugene O'Neill's Hughie, Oscar Wilde's Salome and in 2005 Lyle Kessler's Orphans.^[16]

Pacino made his return to the stage in summer 2010, as Shylock in a Shakespeare in the Park production of The Merchant of Venice.^[17] The acclaimed production transferred to Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre in October, earning US$1 million at the box office in its first week.^[18][19] The performance also garnered him a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Play.^[20]

Film career[link]

Early film career[link]

Pacino found acting to be enjoyable and realized he had a gift for it while studying at The Actors Studio. However, his early work was not financially rewarding.^[2] After his success on stage, Pacino made his movie debut in 1969 with a brief screen appearance in Me, Natalie, an independent film starring Patty Duke.^[21] In 1970, Pacino signed with the talent agency Creative Management Associates (CMA).^[12]

1970s[link]

It was the 1971 film The Panic in Needle Park, in which he played a heroin addict, that brought Pacino to the attention of director Francis Ford Coppola, who cast him as Michael Corleone in the blockbuster Mafia film The Godfather (1972). Although several established actors – including Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, and then little-known Robert De Niro – also tried out for the part, Coppola selected the relatively unknown Pacino, much to the dismay of studio executives.^[2] Pacino was even teased on the set because of his short stature. Pacino's performance earned him an Academy Award nomination, and offered a prime example of his early acting style, described by Halliwell's Film Guide as "intense" and "tightly clenched". Pacino boycotted the Academy Award ceremony, as he was insulted at being nominated for the Supporting Acting award, noting that he had more screen time than costar and Best Actor winner Marlon Brando – who was himself boycotting the awards.^[22]

In 1973, he co-starred in Scarecrow, with Gene Hackman, and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. That same year Pacino was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor after starring in Serpico, based on the true story of New York City policeman Frank Serpico, who went undercover to expose the corruption of fellow officers.^[22] In 1974, Pacino reprised his role as Michael Corleone in the sequel The Godfather Part II, which became the first sequel to win the Best Picture Oscar; Pacino, meanwhile, was nominated for his third Oscar.^[22] Newsweek has described his performance in the film as "arguably cinema's greatest portrayal of the hardening of a heart".^[23] In 1975, he enjoyed further success with the release of Dog Day Afternoon, based on the true story of bank robber John Wojtowicz.^[2] It was directed by Sidney Lumet, who also directed him in Serpico a few years earlier, and Pacino was again nominated for Best Actor.^[24]

In 1977, Pacino starred as a race-car driver in Bobby Deerfield, directed by Sydney Pollack, and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama for his portrayal of the title role, losing out to Richard Burton, who won for Equus. His next film was the courtroom drama ...And Justice for All, which again saw Pacino lauded by critics for his wide range of acting abilities, and nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for a fourth time.^[24] However he lost out that year to Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer — a role that Pacino had declined.^[24]

During the 1970s, Pacino had four Oscar nominations for Best Actor, for his performances in Serpico, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and ...And Justice for All.^[2]

1980s[link]

Pacino's career slumped in the early 1980s; his appearances in the controversial Cruising, a film which provoked protests from New York's gay community,^[25] and the comedy-drama Author! Author! were critically panned.^[1] However, 1983's Scarface, directed by Brian De Palma, proved to be a career highlight and a defining role.^[2] Upon its initial release, the film was critically panned,^[26] but did fairly well at the box office, grossing over US$45 million domestically.^[27] Pacino earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role as Cuban drug lord Tony Montana.^[28]

In 1985, Pacino worked on his personal project, The Local Stigmatic, a 1969 Off Broadway play by the English writer Heathcote Williams. He starred in the play, remounting it with director David Wheeler and the Theater Company of Boston in a 50-minute film version. The film was never released theatrically but was later released as part of the Pacino: An Actor's Vision box set in 2007.^[2]

His 1985 film Revolution about a fur trapper during the American Revolutionary War, was a commercial and critical failure, which Pacino blamed on a rushed production,^[29] resulting in a four-year hiatus from films. During this time Pacino returned to the stage. He mounted workshop productions of Crystal Clear, National Anthems and other plays; he appeared in Julius Caesar in 1988 in producer Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival. Pacino remarked on his hiatus from film: "I remember back when everything was happening, '74, '75, doing The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui on stage and reading that the reason I'd gone back to the stage was that my movie career was waning! That's been the kind of ethos, the way in which theater's perceived, unfortunately."^[30] Pacino returned to film in 1989's Sea of Love,^[2] in which he portrayed a detective hunting a serial killer who finds victims through the singles column in a newspaper. The film earned solid reviews.^[31]

1990s[link]

Al Pacino at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.

Pacino received an Academy Award nomination for playing Big Boy Caprice in the box office hit Dick Tracy in 1990, in which critic Roger Ebert wrote that Pacino is "the scene-stealer".^[32] Later in the year he followed this up by a return to one of his most famous characters, Michael Corleone, in The Godfather Part III (1990).^[2] The film received mixed reviews, and had problems during pre-production due to script rewrites and the withdrawal of actors shortly before production. In 1991, Pacino starred in Frankie and Johnny with Michelle Pfeiffer, who co-starred with Pacino in Scarface. Pacino portrays a recently paroled cook who begins a relationship with a waitress (Pfeiffer) in the diner he works in. It was adapted by Terrence McNally from his own Off-Broadway play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (1987), which featured Kenneth Welsh and Kathy Bates. The film received mixed reviews, although Pacino later said he enjoyed playing the part.^[33] Janet Maslin in The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Pacino has not been this uncomplicatedly appealing since his "Dog Day Afternoon" days, and he makes Johnny's endless enterprise in wooing Frankie a delight. His scenes alone with Ms. Pfeiffer have a precision and honesty that keep the film's maudlin aspects at bay."^[34]

In 1992, Pacino won the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his portrayal of the blind U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in Martin Brest's Scent of a Woman.^[2] That year, he was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Glengarry Glen Ross, making Pacino the first male actor ever to receive two acting nominations for two different movies in the same year, and to win for the lead role.^[2]

Pacino starred alongside Sean Penn in the crime drama Carlito's Way in 1993, in which he portrayed a gangster who is released from prison with the help of his lawyer (Penn) and vows to go straight. Pacino starred in Michael Mann's Heat (1995), in which he and Robert De Niro appeared on-screen together for the first time (though both Pacino and De Niro starred in The Godfather Part II, they did not share any scenes).^[2]

In 1996, Pacino starred in his theatrical docudrama Looking for Richard, which is both a performance of selected scenes of William Shakespeare's Richard III and a broader examination of Shakespeare's continuing role and relevance in popular culture. The cast brought together for the performance included Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey and Winona Ryder. Pacino played Satan in the supernatural thriller The Devil's Advocate (1997) which co-starred Keanu Reaves. The film was a success at the box office, taking US$150 million worldwide.^[35] Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times, ‘The satanic character is played by Pacino with relish bordering on glee.’^[36] In Donnie Brasco Pacino played mafia gangster "Lefty", in the true story of undercover FBI agent Donnie Brasco (Johnny Depp) and his work in bringing down the mafia from the inside. Pacino also starred as real life 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman in the multi-Oscar nominated The Insider opposite Russell Crowe, before starring in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday in 1999.

2000s[link]

Al Pacino at the Rome Film Festival in 2008.

Pacino has not received another nomination from the Academy since Scent of a Woman, but won two Golden Globes since the year 2000, the first being the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2001 for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.^[37]

In 2000, Pacino released a low budget film adaptation of Ira Lewis' play Chinese Coffee to film festivals.^[38] Shot almost exclusively as a one-on-one conversation between the two main characters, the project took almost three years to complete and it was funded entirely by Pacino.^[38] Chinese Coffee was included along with Pacino's two other rare films he has been involved in producing, The Local Stigmatic and Looking for Richard, on a special DVD boxset titled Pacino: An Actor's Vision which was released in 2007. Pacino produced prologues and epilogues for the discs containing the films.^[39]

Pacino turned down an offer to reprise his role as Michael Corleone in the computer game version of The Godfather. As a result, Electronic Arts was not permitted to use Pacino's likeness or voice in the game, although his character does appear in it. He did allow his likeness to appear in the video game adaptation of the remake of 1983's Scarface, titled Scarface: The World is Yours.^[40]

Director Christopher Nolan worked with Pacino for Insomnia, a remake of the Norwegian film of the same name, co-starring Robin Williams. Newsweek stated that "he [Pacino] can play small as rivetingly as he can play big, that he can implode as well as explode".^[41] The film and Pacino's performance were well-received, gaining a favorable rating of 92 percent on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.^[42] The film did moderately well at the box office, taking in $113 million dollars worldwide.^[43] His next film, S1m0ne, was one that Pacino liked, but which did not gain much critical praise or box office success.^[44]

He played the part of a publicist in People I Know, a small film that received little attention despite Pacino's well-received performance.^[45] Rarely taking a supporting role since his commercial breakthrough, he accepted a small part in the box office flop Gigli in 2003 as a favor to director Martin Brest.^[45] The Recruit, released in 2003, featured Pacino as a CIA recruiter and co-stars Colin Farrell. The film received mostly negative reviews,^[46] and was described by Pacino as something he "personally couldn't follow".^[45] Pacino next starred as lawyer Roy Cohn in the 2003 HBO miniseries Angels in America, an adaptation of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same name.^[2] For this performance, Pacino won his third Golden Globe, for Best Performance by an Actor, in 2004.^[47]

Pacino starred as Shylock in Michael Radford's 2004 film adaptation of The Merchant of Venice, choosing to bring compassion and depth to a character traditionally played as a villainous caricature.^[48] In Two for the Money, Pacino portrays a sports gambling agent and mentor for Matthew McConaughey, alongside Rene Russo. The film was released on October 8, 2005 and received mixed reviews.^[49] Desson Thomson wrote in The Washington Post, "Al Pacino has played the mentor so many times, he ought to get a kingmaker's award (...) the fight between good and evil feels fixed in favor of Hollywood redemption."^[50]

On October 20, 2006, the American Film Institute named Pacino the recipient of the 35th AFI Life Achievement Award.^[51] On November 22, 2006, the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin awarded Pacino the Honorary Patronage of the Society.^[52]

Pacino starred in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean's Thirteen alongside George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Elliott Gould and Andy García as the villain Willy Bank, a casino tycoon targeted by Danny Ocean and his crew. The film received generally favorable reviews.^[53]

88 Minutes was released on April 18, 2008 in the United States, having already been released in various other countries in 2007. The film co-starred Alicia Witt and was critically panned,^[54] although critics found the fault to be in the plot instead of Pacino's acting.^[55] In Righteous Kill, Pacino and Robert De Niro co-star as New York detectives searching for a serial killer; rapper 50 Cent also stars in it. The film was released to theaters on September 12, 2008. Although it was an anticipated return for the two stars, it was not well received by critics.^[56] Lou Lumenick of The New York Post gave Righteous Kill one star out of four, saying: "Al Pacino and Robert De Niro collect bloated paychecks with intent to bore in Righteous Kill, a slow-moving, ridiculous police thriller that would have been shipped straight to the remainder bin at Blockbuster if it starred anyone else."^[57]

2010s[link]

Pacino played Dr. Jack Kevorkian in an HBO Films biopic entitled You Don't Know Jack, which premiered April 2010. The film is about the life and work of the physician-assisted suicide advocate. The performance earned Pacino his second Emmy Award^[58] for lead actor^[59] and his fourth Golden Globe award.^[28]

Pacino and Robert De Niro are reportedly set to star in the upcoming project The Irishman, that will be directed by Martin Scorsese and co-star Joe Pesci.^[60] He's also filming a biographical picture about Phil Spector.^[61]

It was announced in May 2011 that Pacino was to be honored with the "Glory to the Film-maker" award at the 68th Venice International Film Festival.^[62] The award will be presented ahead of the premier of his film Wilde Salome, which is the third film Pacino has directed.^[62] Pacino, who plays the role of Herod in the film, describes it as his "most personal project ever".^[62]

The United States premiere of Wilde Salomé took place on the evening of March 21, 2012, before a full house at the 1,400-seat Castro Theatre in San Francisco's Castro District. Marking the 130th anniversary of Oscar Wilde's visit to San Francisco, the event was a benefit for the GLBT Historical Society.^[63][64][65]

Personal life[link]

Although he has never married, Pacino has three children. The eldest, Julie Marie (born 1989), is his daughter with acting coach Jan Tarrant. He also has twins, son Anton James and daughter Olivia Rose (born 2001), with actress Beverly D'Angelo, with whom he had a relationship from 1996 until 2003.^[66][67] Pacino had a relationship with Diane Keaton, his co-star in the Godfather Trilogy. The on-again, off-again relationship ended following the filming of The Godfather Part III. ^[68] Other women he has had relationships with include Tuesday Weld, Marthe Keller, Kathleen Quinlan and Lyndall Hobbs.^[39]

The Internal Revenue Service filed a tax lien against Pacino claiming he owes the government $169,143.06 in 2008 and $19,140.44 in 2009 for a total of $188,283.50. A representative for Pacino blamed his former business manager Kenneth Starr for the discrepancy.^[69]

Filmography[link]

Video game[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

Pacino has been nominated and has won many awards during his acting career including eight Oscar nominations (winning one), 15 Golden Globe nominations (winning four), five BAFTA nominations (winning two), two Emmy Awards for his work on Television and two Tony Awards for his work on the Stage. In 2007 the American Film Institute awarded Pacino with a lifetime achievement award and in 2003 British television viewers voted Pacino as the greatest film star of all time in a poll for Channel 4.^[80]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Grobel, Lawrence (2006). Al Pacino: The Authorized Biography. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-9497-1. 

External links[link]

	Book: Al Pacino
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Al Pacino

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Al Pacino

• Al Pacino discography at Discogs
• Al Pacino at the Internet Movie Database
• Al Pacino at the Internet Broadway Database
• Al Pacino at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Al Pacino at the TCM Movie Database
• Al Pacino at Emmys.com

Bryce Dallas Howard
Howard at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Bryce Dallas Howard (1981-03-02) March 2, 1981 (age 31) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, writer, director
Years active	1989–present
Spouse	Seth Gabel (m. 2006–present; 2 children)

Bryce Dallas Howard (born March 2, 1981) is an American film actress, writer, director, and daughter of director Ron Howard. She made her acting debut in her father's 1989 film Parenthood and went on to have small roles in films and make stage appearances for the next several years. During this time she also attended New York University's (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts, later getting a BFA, and went to drama schools. After gaining the attention of M. Night Shyamalan, he cast her in what would be her breakout film, The Village (2004), and 2006's Lady in the Water, which was a commercial and critical failure. Her performance in As You Like It (2006) earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination in 2008.

Howard became more recognizable to audiences as Gwen Stacy in 2007's Spider-Man 3 and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), playing Victoria, a villainous vampire seeking revenge. Those two projects, as well as the 2009 Terminator Salvation release, are among her most financially successful movies, but all three garnered mixed reviews from the press. She also starred in The Help, alongside Emma Stone and Viola Davis. The film became a critical and box office success.

Early life[link]

Conceived in Dallas, Texas – the source of her middle name^[1] – Howard was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of writer Cheryl Alley and actor-director Ron Howard, on March 2, 1981.^[2] Her paternal grandparents are actors Rance Howard and the late Jean Speegle Howard; her uncle is actor Clint Howard;^[2] and her godfather is actor Henry Winkler,^[3] who co-starred on Happy Days with her father.^[1] Howard and her younger sisters, twins Jocelyn Carlyle Howard and Paige Carlyle Howard (born 1985), and their younger brother, Reed Cross Howard (born 1987), were named after the places they were conceived.^[2] All of the Howard children were raised away from the world of show business. Their parents did not allow them access to television^[1] and instead encouraged outdoor activities and hobbies. At the age of 7, however, she was allowed to be an extra in her father's movies.^[4] In an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Howard mentioned that she and her siblings were babysat by family friend Tom Cruise on several occasions.^[5] She was raised in Westchester, New York and on a farm in Greenwich, Connecticut.^[1][4][6]

Howard attended Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts camp in upstate New York, with actress Natalie Portman.^[2] After graduating from high school, she studied at New York University's (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts for three years, during which time she also attended the Stella Adler Conservatory, The Experimental Wing, and International Theatre Wing in Amsterdam.^[7] During her schooling, she took part in the concept recording of the Broadway-bound musical A Tale of Two Cities.^[8] She graduated with her BFA in Drama in 2003.^[2] Howard is also an alumna of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's School at Steppenwolf in Chicago, and of The Actors Center in New York City.^[7] During her time in New York, Howard was also a member of downtown theater company Theater Mitu, in residence at New York Theatre Workshop, who are known for their exploration of theatrical forms.^[7][9] When she had applied to drama schools she dropped her last name to avoid special treatment because of her father. She later had second thoughts because her first and middle name combined made her sound like a porn star.^[2]

Career[link]

1989–2006[link]

Howard with Shyamalan in 2006

Howard made her acting debut as an uncredited extra in her father's 1989 comedy-drama feature Parenthood.^[4] She was also an extra in her father's critically lauded Apollo 13 (1995) and the 2000 holiday live action Universal Studios production How the Grinch Stole Christmas.^[10] While on her father's film sets, she would often socialize with the crew rather than the actors.^[1] For the next several years, Howard appeared in New York plays. Among these were House and Garden, a 2002 Alan Ayckbourn production held at the Manhattan Theatre Club, in which she portrayed a disdainful, flirtatious teen.^[10] While performing as Rosalind in the critically acclaimed 2003 William Shakespeare comedy production As You Like It, Howard caught the eye of director M. Night Shyamalan.^[10] Howard was not familiar with the play and was cast just one day before it started.^[11] She then starred in the Alan Brown-directed 2004 drama Book of Love, about a young woman having an affair with a lonely teenage boy, destroying her marriage. It was generally ignored by critics and movie goers alike.^[12]

Her breakthrough role came in Shyamalan's fantasy thriller The Village (2004).^[13] When Kirsten Dunst could not commit to the schedule,^[9] Howard was cast without having to audition two weeks after Shyamalan first saw her onstage.^[1] Its story is about a "turn-of-the-20th-century" village whose residents live in fear of the creatures inhabiting the woods beyond it. She plays the female lead, the chief's blind daughter and love interest to Joaquin Phoenix's part. Her performance was applauded by critics and Howard was nominated for several awards, mostly in the category of "Best Breakthrough Performance".^[6] The Village did well commercially, but had a mixed reception.^[14][15] Following that, Howard was cast by Lars Von Trier to replace Nicole Kidman as Grace Mulligan in Manderlay, the 2005 sequel to Dogville (2003). Set in a plantation, the director said that it is "quite clear" his movie can be seen as an allusion to President George W. Bush's efforts to impose democracy in Iraq.^[16] Manderlay was a box office bomb, making only $674,000 of its $14.2 million production budget.^[17]

Howard reunited with Shyamalan for Lady in the Water, in which she acts as Story, a type of water nymph called a narf. Howard wore minimal clothing for the part.^[13] The 2006 fantasy film release also stars Paul Giamatti as the co-lead. Shyamalan's project follows the story of Giamatti's character rescuing what he thinks is a young woman (Howard) from his pool. Once he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to get back home, he teams up with his tenants to protect her from creatures that try to keep her in their world. It underperformed at the box office, falling short of its $75 million budget, and got largely critical reviews.^[18][19] When asked about what message she hoped viewers would get from the film, Howard said "I would say it's very simple - it's that if you have faith, all that is meant to be will happen."^[13] Next, she once again played Rosalind in Kenneth Branagh's 2006 film version of Shakespeare's As You Like It. It played in theatres in Europe before going directly to cable in the United States, premiering on HBO.^[11] Howard was nominated for a Golden Globe Award at the 2008 ceremony.^[20] The project got soundly negative reviews from the British media,^[21] while American reviewers gave it more favorable notice.^[22] Writing in USA Today, Robert Bianco observed: "As Rosalind, the show's leading lady, Bryce Dallas Howard is a bit uncontrolled, particularly compared with such more precise co-stars as Alfred Molina, David Oyelowo and Brian Blessed. But she's incredibly appealing, and that in itself sells the love story."^[23] That year, she wrote and directed a short film, Orchids, as part of Glamour magazine's "Reel Moments" series funded by Cartier and FilmAid International.^[24]

2007–present[link]

Howard at the WonderCon 2009

In 2007, Howard starred in her first blockbuster, Spider-Man 3, a superhero movie, starring opposite Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.^[25] Adapted from the Marvel Comics and the last film Sam Raimi directed for the series, Howard played Peter Parker's classmate Gwen Stacy, a fan favorite.^[25] A challenge that came with playing Gwen was reminding fans of the good-intentioned character who was Peter's first love in the comics, yet came off as "the other woman" in the movie.^[25] Howard dyed her naturally red hair blonde for the role and performed many of her own stunts, unaware that she was several months pregnant.^[26] Grossing $890 million, it is her most profitable movie and the highest grossing in the trilogy.^[27][28] Terminator Salvation, a high-budgeted 2009 science fiction movie, was her next project.^[29] Cast in June 2008, she superseded Charlotte Gainsbourg as Kate Connor.^[30] Howard was already a fan of the series.^[31] Set in 2018, the film follows a group of survivors led by John Connor struggle to prevent the machines from destroying all humanity. It grossed a total of $370 million,^[29] but was not well received, with one critic calling it "a shambolic, deafening, intelligence-insulting mess, a crushing failure on almost all counts."^[32] Howard starred as the lead character in The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2009). Based on a 1957 screenplay by Tennessee Williams, it did not play at many theaters.^[33]

A big career point for Howard was playing the role of Victoria, a vampire seeking revenge, in the Twilight series' third installment The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.^[4] The film is a romantic vampire film from Summit Entertainment that is based on the book by Stephenie Meyer. She landed the part after Rachelle Lefevre was dropped due to a scheduling conflict in July 2009.^[34] Howard had already been a huge fan of the books and considered Victoria to be an "incredible character".^[33] Eclipse was directed by David Slade and filming started in August 2009.^[34] Released to theaters on June 30, it set a new record for the biggest midnight opening domestically in box office history, making around $30 million in over 4,000 theaters^[35] and topped the weekend box office with $64 million in ticket sales. In total, Eclipse made nearly $700 million.^[36] Reviews from the media were polarized,^[37] but critics did take a liking to Howard in her role.^[38][39]

In December 2009, Howard was cast in Clint Eastwood's Hereafter (2010),^[40] as a burgeoning love interest of Matt Damon's character.^[41] When Howard first read the script to Hereafter, she was hooked on it, having been attracted to its central character (Damon) – a reclusive man with the ability to speak to the deceased. "It's personal for me because a lot of my family members actually have that ability. It's kind of wild," Howard said.^[41] In early January 2011, Howard became the first celebrity ambassador for purse designer Kate Spade.^[42] Her first film of 2011 was The Help, a movie adaption of Kathryn Stockett's 2009 best-selling novel of the same name; it also starred Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, and Jessica Chastain.^[43] It focused on African-American servants and their wealthy white employers in Mississippi prior to the civil rights era.^[44] Howard has teamed up with her father to help produce Gus Van Sant's Restless, a dark coming of age movie about a teenage boy and girl who are engrossed with death.^[45] She had a supporting role opposite Seth Rogen in the cancer dramedy 50/50, which was based on a true story. "It’s viewing that experience through a very truthful lens of humour", she stated of 50/50's take on its heavy subject matter.^[46] Both films had September releases. In 2011, she announced that she would be directing a film called The Originals. She co-wrote the screenplay with her brother-in-law Dane Charbonneau and described it as "a Breakfast Club for my generation". This would mark her feature directorial debut.^[47]

Howard has recently finished directorial duties for the short film When You Find Me, a social film developed through a collaboration with Canon. The film was developed under the premise of gathering inspiration through images selected from a photography contest. Over 96 thousand entries were accepted, while only eight final images were selected to be utilized for the production of the film.

Personal life[link]

Howard at the Spider-Man 3 premiere

On June 17, 2006, Howard married fellow actor Seth Gabel,^[25] with whom she now lives in Hollywood, California.^[48] The two met at New York University^[11] and dated for five years.^[2][25] She had only one previous boyfriend and claims to have pursued Gabel vigorously after first meeting him.^[4][49][50] They had planned to start a family together in their 30s.^[4] However, seven days after their wedding, she learned that she was expecting their first child.^[51] Howard gave birth to their child, a son named Theodore Norman Howard-Gabel, nicknamed Theo, on February 16, 2007.^[2][52] Theo's godfather is actor Josh Gad.^[53] Howard later admitted to suffering from post-partum depression. Howard had difficulty breast-feeding, which she found to be more painful than experiencing natural child birth and would often cry in the shower.^[51] Rather than refer to her son by his name, she would call him "it". Feeling overwhelmed and unable to make decisions, Howard also felt not only disconnected from her husband and baby, but herself as well.^[4] With the combination of homeopathic treatments and sessions with a physician and a therapist, she overcame the depression,^[51] which lasted for about 18 months.^[4] Howard said of the depression in 2010,

"Do I wish I had never endured post-partum depression? Absolutely. But to deny the experience is to deny who I am. I still mourn the loss of what could have been, but I also feel deep gratitude for those who stood by me, for the lesson that we must never be afraid to ask for help, and for the feeling of summer that still remains."^[51]

Howard gave birth to the couple's second child, daughter Beatrice Jean Howard-Gabel, on January 19, 2012.^[54]

Howard became a devoted vegan when Joaquin Phoenix, a co-star in The Village, showed her a documentary on animal cruelty called Earthlings.^[2] However, in August 2006, Howard announced that she had switched her diet from vegan to vegetarian in order to help boost her amino acid levels in preparation for her pregnancy. Due to a rare medical condition she developed after her pregnancy, she now eats meat.^[55] She is also slightly superstitious.^[52]

During her senior year of high school, Howard learned of and fell in love with existentialism. "I was like, 'This is it! This is my religion.' I had never felt a connection to any sort of spirituality before that. It was very basic - you're responsible for the choices that you make - but it was mind-blowing at the time."^[1] Her hobby is writing^[31] and she is good friends with Kirsten Dunst, Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal.^[2] Howard has said that she gets "freaked out" by "the Hollywood scene" and has never had a sip of alcohol in her entire life. She credits seeing the negative effects of alcoholism in her family as the reason behind the decision. "When I was in high school, I would never go to parties because I would be embarrassed to say no. Consequently, I had almost no social group," Howard recalled.^[1]

She's very close with her father.

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]