Paul Giamatti was born on June 6th, 1967 in New Haven, Connecticut. As he was growing up he attended Yale University and was already acting in theater. He got his bachelor’s degree in English and decided to go to the Yale School of Drama where he got a Master of Fine Arts degree. He started his career in a lot of theatrical productions (also on Broadway) and made the move to TV and film in the nineties. He became well known through his roles in American Splendor and Sideways. Continue reading
Jake Gyllenhaal has been born on December 19, 1980 in Los Angeles. His father is a film director and his mother film producer and screenwriter. This meant when he was growing up he saw a lot of the movie industry and first appeared on screen in the movie City Slickers as the son of Billy Crystal’s character in 1991. He went to the Harvard-Westlake School and Columbia University where he studied Eastern religions and philosophy. He didn’t finish his studies though as he wanted to do more acting. The movie which really helped him was Donnie Darko, a movie which quickly became popular through word of mouth. He has since starred in movies like The Day After Tomorrow, Brokeback Mountain, Jarhead, Zodiac, Prince of Persiea: The Sands of Time, Source Code and End of Watch. Continue reading
Gerard Butler was born on November 13, 1969 in Paisley, Scotland. He also went to high school there and eventually went to Glasgow University to study law. In his teens he also went to the Scottisch Youth Theatre. He finished his law study and became a trainee at a law firm in Edinburgh. Unfortunately his partying lifestyle caused him to miss work and ultimately got him fired when he was 25.
His new goal was to become famous and he headed to London to realise his dream. He did several jobs to pay his bills and met up with someone he knew from the Scottish Youth Theate. He was selected for a role in the play of Coriolanus. His next role would be in a theater version of Trainspotting. He moved to Los Angeles at age 30 and started getting cast in bigger movies, mostly in small roles. The role which put him in the spotlight was that of King Leonidas in the movie 300. He since appeared in both action movies like Gamer and Law Abiding Citizen and romantic comedies like P.S. I Love you and The Ugly Truth. Continue reading
Welcome to another installment of the Friday Faces, this time with actor Russell Crowe. He was born on the 7th of April 1964 in Wellington, New Zealand. His parents and grandmother had jobs in the entertainment industry. They moved to Sydney, Australia when he was four. When he was about five he had his first role in the Australian TV series Spyforce.
At the age of 16 he decided to quit school to pursue an acting career. He first made music under the name “Russ Le Roq”. As for acting, he appeared on stage in a production of The Rocky Horror Show for 2 years. He was also a street performer. He eventually appeared in the soap show Neighbours and his first movie role was in The Crossing. He was succesful in Australia, but eventual made the move to the United States. He has won an Oscar for his role in Gladiator and was nominated three times. He has appeared in movies like L.A. Confidential, The Insider, A Beuatiful Mind, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, American Gangster and may more. Continue reading
Liam Neeson was born on 7 June 1952 in Northern Ireland. When he was growing up he started boxing at the age of nine and eventually became an amateur senior boxing champion. His acting started when he was given the lead role in a school play at age eleven. He liked it and kept acting. He eventually went to Queen’s University Belfast to study physics and computer science, but left and worked for the Guinness Brewery.
He joined a theater in 1976 and had his first movie role in 1977 in Pilgrim’s Progress. He moved to Hollywood in 1987 where he appeared in Suspect. His first big starring role was in Darkman, he since appeared in movies which had a lot of success like Schindler’s List, The Phantom Menace, Taken and the Batman movies. Continue reading
With the recent release of Skyfall I thought it would be a nice moment to look at the career of Daniel Craig and the many roles he has played through the years. He was born on the second of March 1968 in Chester. When growing up he already started acting at the age of 6. He remained interested in acting and joined the National Youth Theatre when he was sixteen. He continued to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he graduated in 1991.
He appeared on stage and made his first televion appearance in The Power of One. He appeared in several TV shows and small films. His first bigger role which people noticed was that opposite of Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider where he played Alex West. He has since appeared in various big productions like Road to Perdition, Munich, Cowboys and Aliens, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Golden Compass. Of course he’s best known for being cast as the most famous British spy 007, but has appeared in over 60 productions. Continue reading
Michael Douglas was born on September 25, 1944 in New Brunswick, New Jersey and is the son of actor Kirk Douglas. His parents broke up when he was six and he started living with his mother. He attended Eaglebrook school in Deerfield, Massachusetts and decided he wanted to be an actor when he was in his teens. Although his father didn’t want him to go into acting, but Michael persisted and had to prove that he was a different actor compared to his father.
He started his career in the sixties, appearing in movies and TV shows. He starred in The Streets of San Francisco (1972-1976) as Inspector Steve Keller. His big breakthrough came when he appeared in Romancing the Stone after which he starred in movies like Fatal Attraction, Wall Street, Falling Down and Basic Instinct. Continue reading
Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942 in Chicago. When he was growing up he was an active boy scout and earned the rank of Life Scout, which is the second-highest one. In high school he did the first student broadcast on the school’s radio station and also was a sportscaster. In 1960 he graduated and in college he took drama and became interested in acting. He moved to L.A. in 1964 to try to get a job doing voice-overs, but didn’t manage to get it. He signed up for a contract with Columbia Pictures earning $150 a week and he made very small appearances in movies. He also did some TV shows for Universal. Since his career wasn’t really taking off he decided to become a carpenter and became stagehand for The Doors and built a recording studio for Sérgio Mendes.
He eventually was hired to build cabinets at the home of George Lucas, who gave him a supporting role in American Graffiti. Francis Ford Coppola hired him to expand his office and also gave him roles in The Conversation and Apocalypse Now. His big breakthrough came when he was cast as Han Solo in Star Wars and since then he has appeared in a lot of movies including the Indiana Jones series, Blade Runner, Presumed Innocent, Patriot Games and The Fugitive. Continue reading
Paul Bettany was born on 27th of May 1971 in London. After he started living on his own he made money playing guitar on the streets. He studied at the Drama Centre London and appeared on stage in a production of An Inspector Calls. He appeared in several Shakespeare plays with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He made the move to TV and appeared in various TV series. His first leading role was in the movie Gangster No.1, which made people take notice. His first big Hollywood production was A Knight’s Tale. He has since appeared in various big productions like A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander and The Da Vinci Code and as the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. in the Iron Man movies. Continue reading
Eva Mendes was born on March 5, 1974 in Miami. She grew up in Los Angeles and as she was growing up was aspiring to become a nun. At California State University she studied marketing, but dropped out to pursue acting. She studied acting under Ivana Chubbuck (who’s students also included Brad Pitt, Halle Berry and Terrence Howard amongst many others).
Her first movie role was in Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror, a straight to video release. She acted in several small movies, but had her big break when she appeared in Training Day. She has since starred in a lot of movies including 2 Fast 2 Furious, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Out of Time, Hitch, Ghostrider and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Continue reading