Tag Archives: role

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The Many Faces of… Vin Diesel

It’s Friday and time for a new installment of this weekly series. This time I decided to take a look at action star Vin Diesel. He was born as Mark Sinclair Vincent on July 18, 1967 in New York. He first appeared in a play at the age of seven. The reason he was in that play was because him, his brother and several friends had broken into the theater planning to vandalize it, but were offered parts by the artisitc director when he found them.

When he went to Hunter college he remained interested in acting and as he loved writing he started writing screenplays and making films. His first (uncredited) movie role was in Awakenings and the next movie was Multi-Facial, which he wrote, directed and starred in. He also did so for his next movie, Strays. Saving Private Ryan was the first big movie he starred in and he also did voice work for the giant in The Iron Giant. Next up were the Boiler Room and Pitch Black, but it was when The Fast and Furious came out he really became famous. He has since starred in a lot of action movies, but also tried different types of roles in both comedies and dramas. Continue reading →

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The Many Faces of… Emma Stone

overview roles and movies of actress Emma Stone

Welcome to a new installment of this weekly series. This week I decided to shine the light on an actress who might not have a very long filmography, but Emma Stone has impressed me since the first time I saw her in Paper Man.

She was born on November 6, 1988 in Arizona. When growing up she was part of the Valley Youth Theatre and appeared in a play when she was 11 and many followed. She was mostly home schooled and convinced her parents to move to Hollywood to pursue an acting career.

They moved when she was 15 and she won the part of Laurie in a reality tv competition looking for actor for a new series called The New Partridge Family. Apart from a pilot episode the show didn’t go anywhere, but it meant more TV work for her as she appeared on several shows. She had her movie debut in Superbad as the girl Jonah Hill’s falls in love with. Stone has since appeared in several movies including Zombieland, Easy A, The Help and The Amazing Spider-Man. Continue reading →

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The Many Faces of… Cillian Murphy

Overview of the roles and movies of actor Cillian Murphy

So with the weekend about to start it is time to give you another installment of “The Many Faces of…”. This week’s choice is Cillian Murphy. He was born in Douglas in 1976. He went to a catholic school where he performed in a drama. It is something he really liked. He first tried to become a rock star as he played guitar. He later became interested in acting again and acted in a play at University College Cork. He started acting professionally in 1996 in a play called Disco Pigs. He started appearing in small movies in 1997 and also the BBC television miniseries The Way We Live Now. His first big movie was Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later and this he appeared in Hollywood movies like Cold Mountain and GIrl with a Pearl Earring. With his role in the Batman movies as Dr. Jonathan Crane a wider audience noticed him (he originally was asked to audition for the role of Bruce Wayne). Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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The Many Faces of… Mark Wahlberg

Overview of the many roles and movies of actor Mark Wahlberg

It’s that time of the week again, the thing some of you are craving for, the one, the only new installment of the Friday Faces (which also happens to be my 700th(!) post on my blog).

This week’s star is Mark Wahlberg. He was born June 5, 1971 in Boston. He lived in a busy house as he has 8 brothers and sisters. Growing up he had various run ins with the police, including use of cocaine (at the age of 13), assaulting various people and eventually was charged with attempted murder. He ended up in jail for 45 days and after that he slowly started changing. His brother was very succesfull as part of New Kids on the Block (he himself was even part of the group but quit) and Mark started his own recording career. He had a hit as Marky Mark with Good Vibrations. After this he also started doing advertisements for Calvin Klein.

In 1993 he appeared in a TV episode of Out all Night and his first movie was the TV version of The Substitute. He showed a lot of promise and when he starred in Boogie Nights he made a name for himself as a serious actor. He has since starred in big movies like The Perfect Storm, Three Kings and The Departed and also proved he is a great comedic actor in The Other Guys and Date Night. Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →