Tag Archives: overview

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The Many Faces of… George Clooney

Overview of the roles and movies of actor George Clooney

George Clooney was born on May 6, 1961 in Kentucky. He went to the Blessed Sacrament School in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. In Ohio he attended St. Michael’s School in Columbus, and St. Susanna School in Mason. In middle school he had a condition which partially paralyzed his face. After a year this went away. When his parents moved to Augusta, Kentucky, he went to Augusta High School. He was a good student with high grades and played baseball and basketball. He even tried to become part of the Cincinnati Reds but wasn’t hired. He attended Northern Kentucky University and chose Broadcast Journalism. In 1978 he landed his first role in the TV series Centennial. His first big role was in a sitcom called E/R (which isn’t the same as the show which really made him famous) and had roles in Golden Girls and Roseanne. When he got a role in ER he really had his big break and received various nominations for the role. His first movie role was together with Quentin Tarantino in From Dusk Till Dawn. He has since managed to build an impressive career starring in movies like Out of Sight, Three Kings, O Brother Where Art Thou?, The Perfect Storm and Ocean’s Eleven. He made his directorial debut with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Other movies he starred in were The Men Who Stare at Goats, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Up in the Air and The Descendants among many others. He won two Oscars. Continue reading →

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The Many Faces of… Tom Hiddleston

Tom Hiddleston was born in London on the 9th of February 1981. As he was growing up he saw acting as a way to being away from home where his parents were seperating. He acted in a stage play of A Streetcar Named Desire and discovered. He started appearing in TV Shows like The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (2001), Conspiracy (2001) and Armadillo. He also kept acting on stage and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. His big breakthrough came when he starred as Loki in Thor. He has since been in movies like The Deep Blue Sea, Midnight in Paris, War Horse, The Avengers and Out of Time. Continue reading →

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The Many Faces of… Sean Penn

Overview of the roles and movies of actor Sean Penn

Sean Penn was born in Los Angeles County on August 17, 1960. As he was growing up he lived close to Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen and he made short films together with them. His first acting appearance was in 1974, in an episode of Little House of the prairie (which his father directed). His first movie was Taps in 1981, his next movie was Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which made the term “dude” popular. He has since acted in a lot of movies including At Close Range, Colors, We’re No Angels, State of Grace, Carlito’s Way, Dead Man Walking, The Game, The Thin Red Line, I Am Sam, Mystic River, 21 Grams, The Assasination of Richard Nixon, The Tree of Life and Gangster Squad. Sean Penn was nominated for an Oscar a total of 5 times and won 2 for his roles in Mystic River and Milk. Continue reading →

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The Many Faces of… James Gandolfini

Overview of the career and movies of actor James Gandolfini

This morning I was shocked when I read the news that James Gandolfini had died at the age of 51. I always enjoyed watching his work. The Sopranos is one of my favorite TV shows ever and he had many roles I really loved (The Mexican, In the Loop and Killing Them Softly immediately jump to mind).

James Gandolfini was born on September 18, 1961 in Westwood, New Jersey. He grew up in Park Ridge in an Italian speaking home. In 1979 he graduated from Park Ridge High School where he was in school plays. He went to Rutgers University and got a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication studies. He started pursuing an acting career and his first movie was in Shock! Shock! Shock! as an orderly in 1987. He appeared in movies like True Romance, Terminal Velocity, Crimson Tide, Get Shorty and The Juror before he became a star when he starred in the TV series The Sopranos as Tony Soprano. The show would run for 6 seasons and received a lot of awards, including Screen Actors Guild Awards for Gandolfini. After the show ended he acted in various movies. He died on June 19, 2013 while visiting Italy. Continue reading →

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The Many Faces of… Mila Kunis

Overview of the roles and movies of actress Mila Kunis

Mila Kunis was born on born August 14, 1983 in Chernivtsi in Ukraine. She grew up there until her family moved to Los Angeles when she was seven. One of the reason of the movie was antisemitism (Kunis is Jewish). She went to Rosewood Elementary School, not able to talk a word of English, which made it very hard for her. When she was nine her father brought her to acting classes after school. She first did some commercials (for Barbie and Lisa Frank). Her first television apperance was on Days of Our Lives. She also appeared in Baywatch and 7th Heaven. In 1998 Kunis got a role in That ’70s Show, which ran for eight seasons. She also did voice work on Family Guy. She has since appeared in several movies including Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Max Payne, The Book of Eli, Date Night, Black Swan, Friends with Benefits, Ted and Oz the Great and Powerful. Continue reading →

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The Many Faces of… Marlon Brando

Overview of the roles of Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando was born on the 3rd of April 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska. While growing up his mother tried to get him interested in stage acting. He regularly started mimicking the mannerisms of people around him. He was expelled from a school for riding his motorcycle through the hallways and ended up in a military school where he showed great talent on stage. He also got into trouble on that school and although he was almost voted out of it, he decided himself to drop out. He worked several jobs and decided to join the army. After examination the army found he had troubles with his knee and would not take him. Brando then headed to New York and attended the American Theatre Wing Professional School and the Actors Studio. After this he was in several plays on Broadway. His first movie role was in 1950’s The Men and also acted in A Streetcar Named Desire, Viva Zapata!, Julius Caesar, On the Waterfront, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Superman and many others (over 40 movies to his name). He is considered one of the greatest actors of the past century and was nominated for an Oscar 8 times. He won 2 of them for his roles in The Godfather and On the Waterfront. He died age 80 on July 1, 2004. Continue reading →

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The Many Faces of… James Franco

Overview in pictures of the roles and movies of actor James Franco

James Franco was born on April 19, 1978 in Palo Alto, California. He went to Palo Alto High School and appeared in several plays. During high school he got into trouble with the law for various things like graffiti and shoplifting and briefly was a ward of the state, looking at juvenile hall. He managed to change and went to university in California where he majored in English. He decided to drop out after his freshman year to pursue an acting career. He took lessons with Robert Cearnegie at the Playhouse West. His first appearance on a screen was in a Pizza Hut commercial, but he soon acted in several TV shows like Pacific Blue, 1973, To Serve and Protect and Freaks and Geeks. His first movie role was in Never Been Kissed and played James Dean in the James Dean TV movie for which he got nominations for a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award. His next role would introduce him to a world wide audience, playing Harry Osborn in Spider-Man. Looking at his filmography you can say he is a very hard working actor, acting since 1997, with 84 titles to his name. These include City by the Sea, Tristan + Isolde, Flyboys, Pineapple Express, Milk, Eat Pray Love, 127 Hours, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Spring Breakers and Oz the Great and Powerful. Continue reading →

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The Many Faces of… Jim Carrey

Overview of the roles of Jim Carrey in pictures

This past weekend I decided to try something new in regards to these posts and I’m happy to see you have been voting a lot for your favorite actor or actress to appear this week. Most votes count and Jim Carrey was the clear winner with over 47% of the votes.

He was born on January 17, 1962 in Newmarket, Canada. When growing up his father lost his job and he, together with his family lived out of a van. At age 15 he stopped school and started working as a janitor. He later attended various schools, but never finished high school. He started doing impersonations, but wasn’t having much succes with them. When his parents finally had a house again he returned to the stage and started getting paid for his performances. He started touring with Rodney Dangerfield and performed in Las Vegas. He finally moved to Los Angeles where he also did stand up work. He tried to get a job at Saturday Night Live, but wasn’t selected. He did start appearing in movies in 1983 like Rubberface and Copper Mountain. He landed a leading role in the TV show The Duck Factory, which was unfortunately cancelled. He kept appearing in various shows and movies and thanks to his role in Earth Girls Are Easy got a recurring role in the TV show In Living Color. He managed to land a leading role in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (a movie he partly rewrote) and immediately became a star. He has since starred in many comedies including Dumb and Dumber, Liar Liar, The Mask and Bruce Almighty. He also played various serious roles in movies like The Majestic, The Number 23 and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Continue reading →

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The Many Faces of… Michelle Williams

Overview of the roles of actress Michelle Williams

Michelle Williams was born on September 9, 1980 in Kalispell, Montana. She was interested in acting at the age of 9. Her first roles were in TV shows including Baywatch, Lassie, Step by Step and Home Improvement. Her first movie role was that of Young Sil in the science fiction movie Species. When she moved to L.A. she managed to get a role in Dawson’s Creek. Besides the show she also appeared in movie like Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and The Station Agent. Since 2004 she has focussed on movie roles, appearing in movie like Brokeback Mountain, I’m Not There, Synecdoche, New York, Blue Valentine, Shutter Island, Meek’s Cutoff, My Week with Marilyn and Oz the Great and Powerful. Continue reading →