- published: 08 Apr 2014
- views: 16710
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE (born 8 November 1956) is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, music producer, actor and film director, known primarily for romantic comedy films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Girl in the Café, as well as the hit sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Vicar of Dibley. He is also the founder of the British charity Comic Relief.
Curtis was born in Wellington, New Zealand, the son of Glyness S. and Anthony J. Curtis, who was an executive at Unilever. Curtis and his family lived in several different countries during his childhood, including Sweden and the Philippines. Part of the family still lives in Sydney. Curtis has lived in England since he was 11. He began school at Papplewick School, Ascot (as did his younger brother Jamie). For a short period in the 1970s Curtis lived in Warrington, where he attended Appleton Grammar School, before he won a scholarship to the prestigious Harrow School in London. He achieved a first-class degree in English Language and Literature at Christ Church, Oxford, and it was at Oxford that he met, and began working with, Rowan Atkinson.
Mark Kermode (born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons. He also co-presents the BBC Two arts programme The Culture Show and discusses other branches of the arts for the BBC Two programme Newsnight Review. Kermode writes and presents a film-related video blog for the BBC.
Kermode, born Mark Fairey in Barnet, North London, England, attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, an independent boys' school in Elstree, a few years ahead of comedians Sacha Baron Cohen, Matt Lucas and David Baddiel and in the same year as actor Jason Isaacs. He was raised as a Methodist, and is now a member of the Church of England.
Mark Fairey's parents divorced when he was in his early 20s and he subsequently changed his surname to his GP mother's maiden name by deed poll. (Neither of them is related to the literary critic Frank Kermode.)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (born July 23, 1967) is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films. He gradually gained recognition for his supporting work in a series of notable films, including Scent of a Woman (1992), Twister (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), The Big Lebowski (1998), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Almost Famous (2000), 25th Hour (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), and Mission: Impossible III (2006).
In 2005, Hoffman played the title role in the biographical film Capote (2005), for which he won multiple acting awards including an Academy Award for Best Actor. He received another two Academy Award nominations for his supporting work in Charlie Wilson's War (2007) and Doubt (2008). Other critically acclaimed films in recent years have included Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), The Savages (2007) and Synecdoche, New York (2008). In 2010, Hoffman made his feature film directorial debut with Jack Goes Boating.
Actors: Juliette Lewis (actress), James Cromwell (actor), Susan Strasberg (actress), Joel Bender (editor), Kenneth Tigar (actor), Guy Moon (composer), Phil Rubenstein (actor), David Packer (actor), John Carter (actor), Steven Eckholdt (actor), Harry Knapp (producer), Rodney Bingenheimer (actor), Pleasant Gehman (actress), Julie Cobb (actress), Pleasant Gehman (writer),
Genres: Comedy, Drama,