August 10, 2012 by Nostra - 31 Comments

The Many Faces of… 50 actors & actresses

Last week was the 50th installment of “The Many Faces of…”. For those who don’t know the series, it’s a weekly post on Friday where I make an overview of all the roles of a specific actor or actress.

As I’m currently taking a small break (to enjoy a well deserved holiday) I thought it would be a nice moment to create an overview of the 50 actors and actresses I’ve looked at during the past 50 weeks. Each picture links to the installment of that specific actor/actress. I hope it eases the “pain” of not having a new entry and I hope you enjoy it!

August 3, 2012 by Nostra - 22 Comments

The Many Faces of… Denzel Washington

Welcome to a new installment of the Friday Faces, but before we get into it let me state that I will have a small break the coming two weeks. Don’t worry though as I have scheduled some posts for you to enjoy while I am away. Now back to the regular program:

Denzel Washington was born on December 28, 1954 in Mount Vernon. When he was 14 he was sent to a military academy after his parents divorced. He got a bachelors degree in drama and journalism from University in 1977. He tried his hand at acting when someone at a summer camp suggested it to him. He decided he would and after acting in several plays and made his movie debut in a very small role in Death Wish. He appeared in several other movies and played Dr. Philip Chandler in St. Elsewhere. He became a large name in Hollywood after he teamed up with Spike Lee. He has played the inconic role of Malcolm X and has since had a steady career. He won 2 Oscars, one for Best Actor in Training Day and Best Actor in a Supporting Role in Glory and has been nominated 3 other times. Continue reading →

July 27, 2012 by Nostra - 37 Comments

The Many Faces of… Joe Pesci

It’s almost weekend and as you have come to expect from me it means a new installment of “The Many Faces of…”, this week starring Joe Pesci. He was born February 9, 1943 in Newark, New Jersey. He went to Belleville High School and started acting at a young age. He appeared in plays when he was five and when he was ten he appeared on the TV show Startime Kids.

He stopped acting though and became a barber in the sixties. At the same time he played in several bands and released a record under the name “Joe Ritchie” (he would release another one in 1998 on which he even rapped on the track Wise Guy). He even did a comedy act, but allegedly wasn’t very successful.

He made some small appearances on TV, but it was his small role in the movie The Death Collector which was noticed by Robert de Niro, who convinced Martin Scorcese to cast him in Raging Bull. Through the years Pesci has appeared in a lot of movies, but is best known for his roles in various gangster movies and successful franchises as the Lethal Weapon and Home Alone series. He retired from acting in 1999, but did appear in The Good Shepherd and Love Ranch. Continue reading →

July 20, 2012 by Nostra - 19 Comments

The Many Faces of… Will Smith

Overview of the roles and movies of actor Will Smith

Welcome to a new installment of the “Friday Faces”, with this week’s choice, Will Smith. He was born on September 25 1968 in West Philadelphia and was raised there as well (which will come as not surprise if you are familiar with the lyrics of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme). He went to the Overbrook High School and was named Prince because of his charm. He received good grades, but was very interested in making music. Together with Jeffrey A. Townes he formed the group DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince and was very succesful with hits like “Parents Just Don’t Understand” and “Summertime”. He made a lot of money with his music, but spent so much and underpayed his taxes, which nearly meant bankruptcy.

Luckily NBC was interested in creating a show about a kid from Philadelphia who went to live with his family in Beverly Hills. “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” aired in 1990 and lasted six years. During this period he slowly started expanding his acting to movies as well, impressing with his role in Six Degrees of Separation. His big breakthrough though were his roles in Bad Boys and Independence Day and he has managed to stay in the spotlight, being one of the best paid actors around. Continue reading →

July 6, 2012 by Nostra - 20 Comments

The Many Faces of… Rosario Dawson

Overview of the roles and movies of actress Rosario Dawson

This week in “The Many Faces of…”, one of my favorite actresses, Rosario Dawson. She has an amazing screen presence and always seems like a cool person to hang around with.

Rosario Dawson was born on May 9, 1979 in New York. Her first TV appearance was a short one on Sesame Street. When she was young she wanted to become a marine biologist, but things turned out differently. She attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. She was discovered by Larry Clark while she was sitting on her porch and it landed her a role in the controversial movie Kids. She kept doing smaller movies, but slowly started appearing in bigger movies like Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Clerks II and many others. Continue reading →

June 29, 2012 by Nostra - 20 Comments

The Many Faces of… Dwayne Johnson

overview roles Dwayne Johnson The Rock

Dwayne Johnson was born on May 2, 1972 in Hayward, California. When he was growing up he lived in New Zealand for a short period, but also in Honolulu, Hawaii and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In high school he played football and also competed in track and field and wrestling teams. His football skills got noticed and he received a full scholarship from the University of Miami and became part of the national championship team, the Miami Hurricanes. He graduated in 1995 and has a degree in physiology and criminology. He continued playing football for a while. Some of his family members were professional wrestlers and he also wanted to become one and started fighting in the WWF in 1996. He became known as The Rock and still enters the ring on a regular basis. He also started a movie career, first appearing in TV shows like Star Trek: Voyager and That 70’s Show. His first appearance in movies was in The Mummy Returns as a small character, but his popularity and succes of the movie earned him a leading role in The Scorpion King. He continued his career and starred in both action movies and more family oriented Disney movies. Continue reading →

June 22, 2012 by Nostra - 24 Comments

The Many Faces of… Charlize Theron

overview roles Charlize Theron

The weekend is almost here, so you know it’s time for a new installment of this weekly series. The choice this week is South African actress Charlize Theron. She was born on the 7th of August 1975 in Benoni (near Johannesburg), South Africa. Her father was an alcoholic who one day attacked her mother, who shot him in self defense. She went to a boarding school and studied at the National School of the Arts. When she was 16 she did modelling for a year after she and her mother moved to the US. She went to the Joffrey Ballet School in New York, but she had to give up that career because of a knee injury. She moved to L.A. to pursue acting. In 1995 she had landed her first role in Children of the Corn 3. She slowly started to appear in bigger movies eventually leading to her Oscar winning performance in 2003’s Monster. She also got an Oscar nomination for her role in North Country. Continue reading →

June 15, 2012 by Nostra - 37 Comments

The Many Faces of… Michael Fassbender

overview roles Michael Fassbender movies Prometheus

Despite all the love/hate Prometheus is getting, most reviewers agree on one thing: Michael Fassbender was awesome in it. Enough reason for me to shine a light on his career in this new installment of “The Many Faces of…”.

Fassbender was born in Heidelberg, Germany (his father is German, his mother Irish). He speaks German fluently. His parents moved to Ireland when he was 2 where his father was a chef. Fassbender served as an altar boy and had the keys to the church. He had a fascination with Star Wars and collected the toys when growing up.

He attended St. Brendan’s College. When he was 17 he still didn’t know what he wanted to do. He thought about being a guitarist, an architect or a journalist, but ended up acting. He was in a school play as one of Cinderella’s stepsisters. He followed some drama classes and got into contact with the guy running it who started a company where he acted. He later was inspired by Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and performed in a stage version of it. He was recommended to the Drama Centre London. After finishing it he went on tour with the Oxford Stage Company.

His first work on TV was in Hearts and Bones and the Spielberg produced Band of Brothers series. He kept doing a lot of TV shows and slowly started doing movies as well. He appeared in 300, starred in Hunger, X-Men and worked with Tarantino in Inglourious Basterds and has shown he’s a very talented actor. Continue reading →

June 8, 2012 by Nostra - 34 Comments

The Many Faces of… Jason Statham

Another Friday and if you are a regular visitor you know what that means, a new installment in “The Many Faces of…”. This week’s choice is an actor who I will watch in almost any movie he is in. He has only been acting since 1998, but already has 35 titles to his name (3 in production).

Statham was born in 1967 in Shirebrook, UK and grew up with football player Vinnie Jones and played for his school. Unlike other actors and actresses that have appeared here he did not seem to act from a young age. He actually had a passion for diving. He worked so hard on it that he was part of the national team for 12 years. Because that didn’t earn much he worked the street corners selling perfume and jewelry. He left his high diving career behind him and became a model for French Connection. He came into contact with Guy Ritchie who cast him in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and through the years he has become known as an action star, appearing in the Transporter and Crank series and among action star giants like Stallone and Jet Li. Continue reading →

June 1, 2012 by Nostra - 28 Comments

The Many Faces of… Joseph Gordon-Levitt

roles, movies, overview, characters

This week I thought it would be nice to look at another actor that we will also see this summer in one the most anticipated movies of the year, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. When I saw his IMDB page I was surprised that he had 62 titles to his name and he has been acting since he was very young.
He was born in 1981 in California. He started his acting at age 4 by doing a musical and was discovered by an agent and starred in several commercials. He did his first movie roles at the age of six. He gained fame in the 3rd Rock from the Sun series, about aliens trying to live on earth. He kept doing movies as well and has managed to make a name for himself. Continue reading →