Laura Benanti

Laura Ilene Benanti (born July 15, 1979) is an American stage and screen actress. She played "Louise" in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy, winning the Tony Award, and appeared in the stage musical Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown in 2010, winning the Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She played Baroness Elsa Schräder in the 2013 NBC television production of The Sound of Music Live!.

Early years

Benanti was born in New York City, daughter of Linda Wonneberger, a vocal coach and former actress, and Martin Vidnovic, a Broadway actor and singer. She is of Croatian, German, Irish, and Native American heritage. When quite young, her parents divorced and she moved to Kinnelon, New Jersey, with her mother and her stepfather Salvatore Benanti, a psychotherapist, whose name she took and whom she has referred to as her father.

Benanti remembers being "very serious" and "a bit of an ugly duckling" as a child, and was intensely interested in musical theatre, which distanced her from other children. (In 2008, Benanti told The New York Times that she drew on this loneliness in her portrayal of the neglected Louise in Gypsy.) Though her parents refused to let Laura audition for professional theatre, Laura appeared in several high school and community productions, including Evita (as Peron's mistress), Follies (as Young Heidi), and Into the Woods (as Cinderella). At 16, Benanti played the title role in her high school production of Hello, Dolly! and won a Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award for Outstanding Actress in a high school production. She graduated from Kinnelon High School in 1997.

Amber Heard

Amber Laura Heard (born April 22, 1986) is an American actress. Heard made her film debut in the sports drama Friday Night Lights, starring Billy Bob Thornton. After small roles in North Country and Alpha Dog, Heard played her first leading role in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane and appeared in The CW television show Hidden Palms.

Her breakthrough came in 2008 with roles in Never Back Down and Pineapple Express. She received the Breakthrough Award at Young Hollywood Awards. She got widespread attention after her appearance in films such as The Informers, The Stepfather, Zombieland and The Joneses. She next starred in John Carpenter's The Ward, alongside Nicolas Cage in Drive Angry, and alongside Johnny Depp in The Rum Diary, for which she won a Spotlight Award at Hollywood Film Festival. Recently she appeared in films 3 Days to Kill, Magic Mike XXL and The Danish Girl.

Heard has appeared in magazines' Most Beautiful and Sexiest lists. She is also involved in social activism for causes such as LGBT rights and abolishing slavery, and is a supporter of Habitat for Humanity, Girl Up United Nations Foundation, The Art of Elysium and Amnesty International.

Jenna Dewan

Jenna Dewan Tatum (/dəˈwɑːn ˈteɪtəm/; born Jenna Lee Dewan; December 3, 1980) is an American actress and dancer. She began her career as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, and later worked with artists including Pink, Missy Elliott, and Christina Aguilera. She is known for her role as Nora in the 2006 film Step Up. She has also starred on the short-lived NBC series The Playboy Club and had a recurring role on the FX series American Horror Story: Asylum. She was Freya Beauchamp on the Lifetime series Witches of East End. Dewan has been married to actor Channing Tatum since 2009.

Early life

Dewan was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of Nancy Smith (née Bursch) and Darryll Dewan, who was a running back on the 1972 Notre Dame football team. Her father is of Lebanese and Polish descent and her mother is of German and English ancestry. Her parents divorced when she was young and her mother remarried Claude Brooks Smith. While attending high school at Notre Dame Prep in Towson, Maryland, Dewan was a varsity cheerleader. She graduated in 1999 and was voted prom queen during her senior year. She went to University of Southern California and was a member of the California Gamma Chapter of Pi Beta Phi.

The Playboy Club

The Playboy Club is an American television series that ran on NBC from September 19 to October 3, 2011. Set in 1961, the series centers on the employees (known as Bunnies) of the original Playboy Club operating in Chicago.

The Playboy Club was canceled on October 4, 2011, after three episodes aired, due to its low ratings. It was the first cancellation of the 2011–12 television season. NBC continued to film the series until October 10, 2011, hoping to sell the series to another network. Both Playboy magnate Hugh Hefner and show creator Chad Hodge have expressed hope that the series will be picked up by Bravo.

When production wrapped on October 10, 2011, Hodge and Laura Benanti both confirmed that they had finished seven episodes, including the pilot. Benanti further stated that the seventh episode has two endings, one of which is more final to the series.

Production

Crew

Eddie Cibrian

Edward Carl "Eddie" Cibrian (/ˈsɪbriən/ SIB-ree-ən; born June 18, 1973) is an American actor. He is best known for his television role as Cole Deschanel on Sunset Beach, which gained popularity for the actor in the 1990s. He has also appeared in multiple films and as a cast member in several other television series, filling such roles as Russell Varon in Invasion, Jimmy Doherty on Third Watch and Jesse Cardoza in CSI: Miami.

Early life and career

Cibrian, an only child, was born in Burbank, California. His mother, Hortensia (née Balaguer), is an office manager, and his father, Carl Cibrian, a banker. He is of Cuban and Armenian descent.

Cibrian starred in The Young and the Restless as Matt Clark, Baywatch Nights as Griff Walker, Sunset Beach as Cole Deschanel, Third Watch as womanizing New York City firefighter Jimmy Doherty, Tilt as rising poker star Eddie Towne, and Invasion as Everglades park ranger Russell Varon. He also guest-starred in Saved by the Bell: The College Years, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Criminal Minds, and Beverly Hills, 90210. His movie credits include Living Out Loud (1998), But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), and The Cave (2005).