Film

A film, also called a movie, motion picture or photoplay, is a series of still images which, when shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images due to the phi phenomenon. This optical illusion causes the audience to perceive continuous motion between separate objects viewed rapidly in succession. A film is created by photographing actual scenes with a motion picture camera; by photographing drawings or miniature models using traditional animation techniques; by means of CGI and computer animation; or by a combination of some or all of these techniques and other visual effects. The word "cinema", short for cinematography, is often used to refer to the industry of films and filmmaking or to the art of filmmaking itself. The contemporary definition of cinema is the art of simulating experiences to communicate ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty or atmosphere by the means of recorded or programmed moving images along with other sensory stimulations.

The process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry.

Emma Stone

Emily Jean "Emma" Stone (born November 6, 1988) is an American actress. She convinced her parents to let her move to Hollywood at the age of fifteen and she made her screen debut in the VHI reality show In Search of the New Partridge Family. (2004), followed by appearances on television series such as Medium, Malcolm in the Middle, and Drive. She made her feature film debut in the comedy Superbad (2007) and had supporting roles in The House Bunny (2008) and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009). She received further mainstream attention for her role in the comedy Zombieland (2009). She garnered recognition for her leading debut role in the comedy Easy A (2010), for which she received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy.

Following her breakthrough, Stone starred in the romantic comedy-drama Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) and the drama The Help (2011). She had a commercially successful role as Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man film series, and voiced the main character in the animated comedy The Croods (2013). In 2014 and 2015, she co-starred in two Woody Allen films: the romantic comedy Magic in the Moonlight and the mystery drama Irrational Man, respectively. She received critical acclaim for her supporting performance in the comedy-drama Birdman (2014), for which she was nominated for the SAG, BAFTA, Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In November 2014, she made her Broadway debut as a replacement in the role of Sally Bowles in the musical Cabaret, which she performed until February 2015.

Felicity Jones

Felicity Rose Hadley Jones (born 17 October 1983) is an English actress. She started her professional acting career as a child, appearing at age 12 in The Treasure Seekers (1996). She went on to play Ethel Hallow for one season in the television series The Worst Witch and its sequel Weirdsister College. She took time off from acting to attend school during her formative years, and has worked steadily since she graduated from Wadham College, Oxford in 2006. On radio, she is known for playing the long-running role of Emma Grundy in The Archers. In 2008, she appeared in the Donmar Warehouse production of The Chalk Garden.

Since 2006 Jones has appeared in numerous films, including Northanger Abbey (2007), Brideshead Revisited (2008), Chéri (2009), and The Tempest (2010).

Her performance in the 2011 film Like Crazy was met with critical acclaim garnering her numerous awards, including a special jury prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In 2014, her performance as Jane Hawking in The Theory of Everything was also met with critical acclaim, garnering her nominations for the Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA, and Academy Award for Best Actress.

Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry (born Emmitt Perry Jr.; September 13, 1969) is an American actor, producer, director, screenwriter, playwright, author, and songwriter, specializing in the gospel genre. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2011, Forbes named him the highest paid man in entertainment; he earned US$130 million between May 2010 and 2011.

Perry is known for both creating and performing as the Madea character, a tough elderly woman. Perry also creates films, some produced as live recordings of stage plays, and others professionally filmed using full sets and locations with full editing. Perry is estimated to have earned around US$75 million by 2008. Many of Perry's stage-play films have been subsequently adapted as professional films.

Perry has also created several television shows, his most successful of which is Tyler Perry's House of Payne, a show that ran for eight seasons on TBS from June 21, 2006, to August 10, 2012. On October 2, 2012, Perry struck an exclusive multi-year partnership with Oprah Winfrey and her Oprah Winfrey Network. The partnership was largely for the purposes of bringing scripted television to the OWN network, Perry having had previous success in this department. Perry has created multiple scripted series for the network, the most successful being The Haves and the Have Nots. As of 2014, The Haves and the Have Nots has given OWN its highest ratings to date. The series has also been critically acclaimed as being "one of OWN's biggest success stories with its weekly dose of soapy fun, filled with the typical betrayals, affairs, manipulations and a bitch slap or two."

Sigourney Weaver

Sigourney Weaver (born Susan Alexandra Weaver; October 8, 1949) is an American actress and film producer. Following her film debut as a minor character in Annie Hall (1977), she quickly came to prominence in 1979 with her first lead role as Ellen Ripley in Alien. She reprised the role in three sequels: Aliens (1986), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award Best Actress; Alien 3 (1992), and Alien: Resurrection (1997). She is also known for her starring roles in the box-office hits Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989), and Avatar (2009).

Weaver was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for the 1980 Off-Broadway play Das Lusitania Songspiel, and received a Tony Award nomination for the 1984 Broadway play Hurlyburly. A seven-time Golden Globe Award nominee, she won both Best Actress in Drama and Best Supporting Actress for her work in the 1988 films Gorillas in the Mist and Working Girl, becoming the first person to win two acting Golden Globes in the same year. She also received Academy Award nominations for both films. For her role in the 1997 film The Ice Storm, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Additionally, she has received three Emmy Award nominations and won two Saturn Awards.