1.
British Academy Film Awards
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The British Academy Film Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to honour the best British and international contributions to film. Between 2008 and 2016, the ceremony was held in central London at the Royal Opera House, the 70th British Academy Film Awards were held on 12 February 2017 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. British Academy of Film and Television Arts was founded in 1947 as The British Film Academy, by David Lean, Alexander Korda, Carol Reed, Charles Laughton, Roger Manvell and others. BAFTA stated charitable purpose is to support, develop and promote the art forms of the image, by identifying and rewarding excellence, inspiring practitioners. In addition to awards ceremonies BAFTA runs a year-round programme of educational events including film screenings. BAFTA is supported by a membership of about 6,000 people from the film, television, the Academys awards are in the form of a theatrical mask designed by American sculptor Mitzi Cunliffe, which was commissioned by the Guild of Television Producers in 1955. The ceremony previously took place in April or May and since 2002 it takes place in February in order to precede the Oscars. The awards are open to all nationalities, though there is an award for Outstanding British Film. Only UK films are eligible for the categories of The British Short Film, the Awards ceremony is delayed broadcast on British television the same evening, and across the world for example its shown on BBC America in the United States. It has been broadcast in colour since 1970, the award ceremony is held in London. From 2000 to 2007 the ceremonies took place at the flagship Odeon cinema in Leicester Square, between 2008 and 2016, the ceremonies took place at the Royal Opera House. The 70th Awards in 2017 were held at the Royal Albert Hall, until 2012, the mobile network Orange sponsored the awards and starting in 2013 Oranges parent company, EE, began sponsorship. British Academy of Film and Television Arts British Academy Television Awards Official website BAFTA Awards database Museum of Broadcast Communications, BAFTA IMDB, BAFTA
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United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
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British Academy of Film and Television Arts
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The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is an independent charity that supports, develops and promotes the art forms of the moving image – film, television and game in the United Kingdom. David Lean was the founding Chairman of the Academy, the first Film Awards ceremony took place in May 1949 and honouring the films The Best Years of Our Lives, Odd Man Out and The World Is Rich. In 2005, it placed a cap on worldwide voting membership which now stands at approximately 6,500. BAFTA has offices in Scotland and Wales in the UK, in Los Angeles and New York in the United States and runs events in Hong Kong, amanda Berry OBE has been chief executive of the organisation since December 2000. Many of these events are free to online at BAFTA Guru. BAFTA runs a number of programmes across the UK, US. Launched in 2012, the UK programme enables talented British citizens who are in need of support to take an industry-recognised course in film. Each BAFTA Scholar receives up to £12,000 towards their annual course fees, since 2013, three students every year have received one of the Prince William Scholarships in Film, Television and Games, supported by BAFTA and Warner Bros. These scholarships are awarded in the name of in his role as President of BAFTA, since 2015, BAFTA has been offering scholarships for British citizens to study in China, vice versa. BAFTA presents awards for film, television and games, including entertainment, at a number of annual ceremonies across the UK and in Los Angeles. The BAFTA award trophy is a mask, designed by American sculptor Mitzi Cunliffe. Todays BAFTA award – including the mask and marble base – weighs 3.7 kg and measures 27 cm x 14 cm x 8 cm. BAFTAs annual film awards ceremony is known as the British Academy Film Awards, or the BAFTAs, in 1949 the British Film Academy, as it was then known, presented the first awards for films made in 1947 and 1948. Since 2008 the ceremony has held at the Royal Opera House in Londons Covent Garden. It had been held in the Odeon cinema on Leicester Square since 2000, the ceremony had been performed during April or May of each year, but since 2002 it has been held in February to precede the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy Awards, or Oscars. They have been awarded annually since 1954, the first ever ceremony consisted of six categories. Until 1958, they were awarded by the Guild of Television Producers and Directors, from 1968 until 1997, BAFTAs Film and Television Awards were presented together, but from 1998 onwards they were presented at two separate ceremonies. The Television Craft Awards celebrate the talent behind the programmes, such as working in visual effects, production
4.
Allison Janney
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Allison Brooks Janney is an American actress. A seven-time Primetime Emmy Award winner for her work, her first four Emmy wins were for her role as C. J. Cregg on the NBC drama The West Wing. In 2014, she won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Margaret Scully on the Showtime series Masters of Sex. In 2014 and 2015, she won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Bonnie Plunkett on the CBS sitcom Mom. Janney, who won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the summer of 1984 and she won Drama Desk Awards for the 1997 Broadway revival of A View From the Bridge, and the 2009 original Broadway production of the musical 9 to 5. She also received Tony Award nominations for both, Janney was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Dayton, Ohio. She is the daughter of Macy Brooks, an actress and homemaker. She is one of three siblings, Janney attended The Miami Valley School in Dayton, where she was named a distinguished alumna in 2004, and the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. She then attended Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, at Kenyon, she studied with Paul Newman, an alumnus of Kenyon. He directed her in a play as the event of the schools newly dedicated Bolton Theater. Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward encouraged Janney to continue acting and she then went on to train at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and did summer programs at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She attended The Neighborhood Playhouse the same years as actor Dylan McDermott, Janneys first role on television was in the short-lived black-and-white faux-1940s comedy Morton & Hayes, she appeared in two episodes of the 1991 CBS series as Eddie Hayes wife. She then moved on to soap operas, she first played Vi Kaminski for a time on As the World Turns, following up with a two-year role as Ginger, one of the Spaulding maids. In the spring of 1994, she appeared in the finale of Law & Order. She was also a cast member on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion, in 2006, she had roles in the feature films Margaret and Over the Hedge. In 1999, she was cast in the role of press secretary C. J. Cregg on the television drama The West Wing. She was also nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in the 2003 and 2006 Primetime Emmys, Janney won two Screen Actors Guild awards for Best Actress in a dramatic series, in 2001 and 2002. The cast of The West Wing won the Screen Actors Guild award for Best Ensemble in a series the same two years
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Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
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The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered a performance in a supporting role while working within the film industry. At the 9th Academy Awards ceremony held in 1937, Gale Sondergaard was the first winner of award for her role in Anthony Adverse. Initially, winners in both supporting acting categories were awarded instead of statuettes. Beginning with the 16th ceremony held in 1944, however, winners received full-sized statuettes, currently, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. Since its inception, the award has given to 78 actresses. Dianne Wiest and Shelley Winters have received the most awards in this category with two awards each, despite winning no awards, Thelma Ritter was nominated on six occasions, more than any other actress. As of the 2017 ceremony, Viola Davis is the most recent winner in category for her role as Rose Maxson in Fences. In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of release in Los Angeles County. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, University of Toronto Press, inside Oscar, The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. New York, United States, Ballantine Books, oscars. org Oscar. com The Academy Awards Database
6.
Jodie Foster
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Alicia Christian Jodie Foster is an American actress and filmmaker who has worked in films and on television. She has often cited as one of the best actresses of her generation. Foster began her career at the age of three as a model in 1965, and two years later moved to acting in television series, with the sitcom Mayberry R. F. D. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, she worked in several television series. Fosters breakthrough came in Martin Scorseses Taxi Driver, in which she played a teenage prostitute, the role garnered her a nomination for an Academy Award. She won her second Academy Award three years later for her role in the sleeper hit The Silence of the Lambs, where she played Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee investigating a serial murder case. Foster made her debut as a director the same year with the moderately successful Little Man Tate. The companys first production was Nell, in which she played the title role. Her other films in the 1990s included period drama Sommersby, Western comedy Maverick, science fiction film Contact, and period drama Anna and her second film direction, Home for the Holidays, was not well-received commercially, while critical reviews were mixed. She has focused on directing in the 2010s, directing the films The Beaver and Money Monster, as well as episodes for Netflix television series Orange is the New Black and she also starred in the film Elysium. In addition to her two Academy Awards, Foster has won three BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and the Cecil B DeMille Award. Foster was born on November 19,1962 in Los Angeles, as the youngest child of Evelyn Ella Brandy and her father came from a wealthy Chicago family, whose forebears included John Alden, who had arrived in North America on the Mayflower in 1620. He was a Yale University graduate and a decorated U. S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and he had already been married once and had three sons from the union before marrying Brandy in Las Vegas in 1953. Brandy Foster was of German heritage and grew up in Rockford, Foster also has Irish roots, with ancestry that can be traced back to County Cork. Before Fosters birth, she and Lucius had three children, daughters Lucinda Cindy Foster and Constance Connie Foster, and son Lucius Fisher Buddy Foster. Their marriage ended before Foster was born, and she never established a relationship with her father, following the divorce, Brandy raised the children with her partner in Los Angeles. She worked as a publicist for film producer Arthur P. Jacobs, until focusing on managing the careers of Buddy. Although Foster was officially named Alicia, her siblings began calling her Jodie, Foster was a gifted child, and learned to read at the age of three
7.
Bugsy Malone
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Bugsy Malone is a 1976 British musical gangster film, directed by Alan Parker and featuring only child actors. Parker lightened the subject matter considerably for the market, in the U. S. the film received a G rating. The film was Parkers feature-length directorial debut, introduced actor Scott Baio, a mobster named Roxy Robinson is splurged by members of a gang, using rapid-fire cream-shooting splurge guns. Once splurged, a kid is all washed up, speakeasy boss Fat Sam introduces himself and Bugsy Malone, a boxing promoter with no money. At Fat Sams speakeasy, there is dancing and singing. Fat Sam is worried that his rival Dandy Dan will try to control of the speakeasy. Blousey Brown, a singer, has come for an audition. Bugsy meets Blousey when he trips over her luggage and he is smitten and flirts with her. Fat Sams is raided by Dandy Dans men, who shoot up the place, Dandy Dans men continue to attack Fat Sams empire, eventually taking away rackets and splurging members of Fat Sams gang. Fat Sam sends all his men to see if they can track down the guns. They are trapped at a laundry and all are splurged by Dandy Dans gang, Bugsy returns to Fat Sams to arrange a new audition for Blousey. Fat Sams girlfriend, the chanteuse Tallulah, makes a pass at him, although Bugsy rejects her flirtation, Tallulah plants a big kiss on Bugsys forehead when Blousey enters, Blousey is jealous. Fat Sam hires Blousey after her audition, but she refuses to speak to Bugsy, Fat Sam hires Bugsy to accompany him to a meeting with Dandy Dan. The meeting is a trap, but Bugsy helps Fat Sam escape, gratefully, Fat Sam pays him $200. Bugsy and Blousey reconcile and have an outing on a lake. When he returns Sams car to the garage, he is attacked, Bugsy is saved by Leroy Smith, who assaults the attackers and drives them away. Bugsy realizes that Leroy has the potential to be a great boxer, Bugsy introduces Leroy to Cagey Joe and helps him train. Fat Sam again seeks Bugsys aid after his assistant Knuckles is unintentionally killed, Bugsy resists, but Fat Sam offers $400, enough money to keep his promise to Blousey
8.
Taxi Driver
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Taxi Driver is a 1976 American vigilante film with neo-noir and psychological thriller elements, directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. Set in New York City following the Vietnam War, the film stars Robert De Niro, and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Cybill Shepherd, Peter Boyle, and Albert Brooks. Nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Taxi Driver won the Palme dOr at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival and it is regularly cited by critics, film directors, and audiences alike as one of the greatest films of all time. In 2012, Sight & Sound named it the 31st-best film ever in its critics poll, ranked with The Godfather Part II. The film was considered culturally, historically or aesthetically significant by the US Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1994. Travis Bickle, a 26-year-old honorably discharged U. S. Marine, is a lonely and he becomes a taxi driver to cope with his chronic insomnia, driving passengers every night around the citys boroughs. He also spends time in seedy porn theaters and keeps a diary, Travis becomes infatuated with Betsy, a campaign volunteer for Senator and presidential candidate Charles Palantine. After watching her interact with fellow worker Tom through her window, Travis enters to volunteer as a pretext to talk to her, on a later date, he takes her to see a Swedish sex education film, which offends her, and she goes home alone. His attempts at reconciliation by sending flowers are rebuffed, so he berates her at the campaign office, before being kicked out by Tom. Travis confides in fellow taxi driver Wizard about his thoughts, which are beginning to turn violent, a fellow taxi driver refers Travis to illegal gun dealer Easy Andy, from whom he buys a number of handguns. At home, Travis practices drawing his weapons and constructs a sleeve gun to hide, one night, Travis enters a convenience store moments before an attempted armed robbery and he shoots and kills the robber. The shop owner takes responsibility for the shooting, taking Travis handgun, earlier, child prostitute Iris had entered Traviss cab, attempting to escape her pimp Matthew Sport Higgins. Sport dragged Iris from the cab and threw Travis a crumpled twenty-dollar bill, which reminds him of her. Some time later, Travis hires Iris, but instead of having sex with her and he fails to completely turn her from her course, but she does agree to meet with him for breakfast the next day. Travis leaves a letter to Iris at his apartment saying he will soon be dead, with money for her to return home. After shaving his head into a mohawk, Travis attends a rally, where he plans to assassinate Senator Palantine. He flees and later goes to the East Village to invade Sports brothel, a violent gunfight ensues and Travis kills Sport, a bouncer, and a mafioso. Travis is severely injured with gunshot wounds
9.
Jamie Lee Curtis
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Jamie Lee Curtis, Lady Haden-Guest is an American actress and author. She made her debut in 1978 by starring as Laurie Strode in John Carpenters Halloween. Curtis other notable films include Blue Steel and Freaky Friday, for which she received her third Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress - Musical or Comedy. For her role in the television series Anything But Love, Curtis received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. Curtis received her first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie for her performance in the television film, Curtis currently stars in the comedy horror series Scream Queens on FOX. Curtis is the daughter of the actress Janet Leigh and actor Tony Curtis and she is married to actor, screenwriter, and director Christopher Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest. Her 1998 book Today I Feel Silly, and Other Moods That Make My Day made the best-seller list in The New York Times and she has appeared in advertisements and is a blogger for The Huffington Post. Curtis was born in Santa Monica, California, to actor Tony Curtis and her paternal grandparents were Hungarian Jewish immigrants and two of her maternal great-grandparents were Danish. Curtiss parents divorced in 1962, after which her mother married Robert Brandt, Curtis has an older sister, Kelly Curtis, who is also an actress, and several half-siblings, Alexandra, Allegra, Benjamin, and Nicholas Curtis. Curtis attended Westlake School in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills High School, returning to California in 1976, she attended the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. She considered majoring in social work, but quit after one semester to pursue an acting career, curtiss film debut occurred in the 1978 horror film Halloween, in which she played the role of Laurie Strode. The film was a success and was considered the highest grossing independent film of its time. Curtis was subsequently cast in several films, garnering her the title. Her next film was the horror film The Fog, which was helmed by Halloween director John Carpenter, the film opened in February 1980 to mixed reviews but strong box office, starting Curtis as a horror film starlet. Her next film, Prom Night, was a low-budget Canadian slasher film released in July 1980 and that year, Curtis also starred in Terror Train, which opened in October and was met with negative reviews akin to Prom Night. Both films performed well at the box office. Curtis had a function in both films - the main character whose friends are murdered, and is practically the only protagonist to survive. Curtis later appeared in Halloween II, Halloween H20,20 Years Later and Halloween, Resurrection, as well as giving a voice role in Halloween III
10.
Trading Places
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Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film directed by John Landis, starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. It tells the story of a commodities broker and a homeless street hustler whose lives cross paths when they are unknowingly made part of an elaborate bet. Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, and Jamie Lee Curtis also star, the storyline is often called a modern take on Mark Twains classic 19th-century novel The Prince and the Pauper. The film was written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod and was produced by Aaron Russo and it was released to theaters in North America on June 10,1983, where it was distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film earned over US $90 million during its run in the United States, finishing as the fourth highest earning film of the year. Denholm Elliott and Jamie Lee Curtis won the awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Actress in a Supporting Role, respectively, the film was nominated for several additional awards including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 41st Golden Globe Awards. Brothers Randolph and Mortimer Duke own a successful commodities brokerage in Philadelphia, Winthorpe is publicly framed as a thief, drug dealer, and philanderer by Clarence Beeks, who works for a security company hired by the Dukes. Winthorpe is fired from Duke & Duke, his accounts are frozen, he is denied entry to his Duke-owned home. He befriends prostitute Ophelia, who agrees to him in exchange for a financial reward once he is exonerated. Meanwhile, the Dukes bail Valentine out of jail, install him in Winthorpes former job, Valentine learns the business quickly, using his street smarts to achieve success, and begins to act well-mannered. During the firms Christmas party, Winthorpe is caught planting drugs in Valentines desk in a attempt to get his job back. The Dukes discuss their experiment in the bathroom, and settle their wager of the usual amount. They plot to return Valentine to the streets, Valentine overhears the conversation and seeks out Winthorpe. Winthorpe attempts suicide by overdosing on pills, Valentine, Ophelia and Coleman nurse him back to health, and inform him of the Dukes experiment. On television, they learn that Beeks is transporting a secret USDA report on orange crop forecasts, Winthorpe and Valentine recall large payments made to Beeks by the Dukes, and realize that the Dukes plan to obtain the report to corner the market on frozen orange juice. On New Years Eve, the four board Beeks Philadelphia-bound train, Beeks uncovers their scheme and attempts to kill them, but he is knocked unconscious by a gorilla who is being transported on the train. The four disguise Beeks with a costume and lock him up with the real gorilla. The fake report, which says the years orange crop will be low, is delivered to the Dukes, Valentine and Winthorpe travel to New York City with Colemans and Ophelias life savings to carry out their part of the plan
11.
Judi Dench
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Dame Judith Olivia Dench CH DBE FRSA, known as Judi Dench, is an English actress and author. Dench made her debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she performed in several of Shakespeares plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. Although most of her work during this period was in theatre, she branched into film work. She drew strong reviews for her role in the musical Cabaret in 1968. Over the next two decades, Dench established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. She achieved success in television during this period, in the series A Fine Romance from 1981 until 1984 and she has also received the BAFTA Fellowship and the Special Olivier Award. In June 2011, she received a fellowship from the British Film Institute, Dench is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Dench was born in Heworth, North Riding of Yorkshire and her mother, Eleanora Olive, was born in Dublin, Ireland. Her father, Reginald Arthur Dench, a doctor, was born in Dorset, England, and later moved to Dublin and he met Denchs mother while he was studying medicine at Trinity College, Dublin. Dench attended The Mount School, a Quaker independent secondary school in York and her brothers, one of whom was actor Jeffery Dench, were born in Tyldesley, Lancashire. Her niece, Emma Dench, is a Roman historian and professor previously at Birkbeck, University of London, and currently at Harvard University. In Britain, Dench has developed a reputation as one of the greatest actresses of the period, primarily through her work in theatre. She has more than once been named one in polls for Britains best actor. Through her parents, Dench had regular contact with the theatre and her father, a physician, was also the GP for the York theatre, and her mother was its wardrobe mistress. Actors often stayed in the Dench household, during these years, Judi Dench was involved on a non-professional basis in the first three productions of the modern revival of the York Mystery Plays in the 1950s. In 1957, in one of the last productions in which she appeared during this period, she played the role of the Virgin Mary, performed on a fixed stage in the Museum Gardens. Though she initially trained as a set designer, she became interested in school as her brother Jeff attended the Central School of Speech
12.
Shakespeare in Love
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For the theatre adaptation, see Shakespeare in Love. Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 British-American romantic comedy-drama film directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman, the film depicts an imaginary love affair involving Viola de Lesseps and playwright William Shakespeare while he was writing Romeo and Juliet. Several characters are based on figures, and many of the characters, lines. Shakespeare in Love won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress, in 1593 London, William Shakespeare is a sometime player in the Lord Chamberlains Men and poor playwright for Philip Henslowe, owner of The Rose Theatre. Shakespeare is working on a new comedy, Romeo and Ethel, suffering from writers block, he has barely begun the play, but starts auditioning players. Viola de Lesseps, the daughter of a merchant, who has seen Shakespeares plays at court, disguises herself as Thomas Kent to audition. Shakespeare pursues Kent to Violas house and leaves a note with the nurse and he sneaks into the house with the minstrels playing that night at the ball, where her parents are arranging her betrothal to Lord Wessex, an impoverished aristocrat. While dancing with Viola, Shakespeare is struck speechless, and after being ejected by Wessex. Wessex also asks Wills name, to which he replies that he is Christopher Marlowe, when he discovers her true identity, they begin a secret affair. Inspired by her, Shakespeare writes quickly, with help from his friend and rival playwright Christopher Kit Marlowe, completely transforming the play into what will become Romeo, then, Viola is summoned to court to receive approval for her proposed marriage to Lord Wessex. Shakespeare accompanies her, disguised as her female cousin, there, he persuades Wessex to wager £50 that a play can capture the true nature of love, the exact amount Shakespeare requires to buy a share in the Chamberlains Men. Queen Elizabeth I declares that she will judge the matter when the occasion arises. When Richard Burbage, owner of the Curtain, finds out that Shakespeare has cheated him out of money and the play, he goes to the Rose Theatre with his Curtain Theatre Company. The Rose Theatre company drives Burbage and his out and then celebrate at the local pub. Viola is appalled when she learns Shakespeare is married, albeit separated from his wife, will discovers that Marlowe is dead, and thinks he is to blame. Lord Wessex suspects an affair between Shakespeare and his bride-to-be, because Wessex thinks that Will is Kit Marlowe, he approves of Kits death, and tells Viola the news. It is later learned that Marlowe had been killed in an accident, Viola finds out that Will is still alive, and declares her love for him. When Edmund Tilney, the Master of the Revels, is informed there is a player at The Rose
13.
Whoopi Goldberg
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Caryn Elaine Johnson, known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg, is an American actress, comedian, author and television host. She has been nominated for 13 Emmy Awards for her work in television and is one of the few entertainers who has won an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Oscar, and a Tony Award. She was the black woman in the history of the Academy Awards to win an acting Oscar. In the period drama film The Color Purple, her role was playing Celie. In the romantic fantasy film Ghost, Goldberg played Oda Mae Brown, in 1992, she starred as a pretend nun in the comedy Sister Act. From 1998 to 2002, she was co-producer of the game show Hollywood Squares. Since 2007, she has been the moderator of the television talk show The View. Caryn Elaine Johnson was born in Manhattan, New York City on November 13,1955, the daughter of Robert James Johnson, Jr. a clergyman, and Emma Johnson and she was raised in the Chelsea-Elliot Houses. Goldberg has described her mother as a stern, strong, and wise woman who raised her as a mother with her brother Clyde. She went to a local Catholic school, St Columbas when she was younger and her more recent forebears migrated north from Faceville, Georgia, Palatka, Florida, and Virginia. She dropped out of Washington Irving High School and she has stated that her stage forename was taken from a whoopee cushion, If you get a little gassy, youve got to let it go. So people used to say to me, Youre like a whoopee cushion, and thats where the name came from. According to the Jewish Chronicle, one suggests that her mother thought that the familys original surname was not Jewish enough for her daughter to become a star. According to an anecdote told by Nichelle Nichols in Trekkies, a young Goldberg was watching Star Trek, theres a black lady on TV and she aint no maid. This spawned lifelong fandom of Star Trek for Goldberg, who would ask for and receive a recurring guest-starring role on Star Trek. Between 1979 and 1981, she lived in East Germany, working in a number of theater productions, during her travels, she would smuggle various items into the country for the artists she stayed with. Goldberg trained under acting teacher Uta Hagen at the HB Studio in New York City and she first appeared onscreen in 1982 in Citizen, Im Not Losing My Mind, Im Giving It Away, an avant-garde ensemble feature by San Francisco filmmaker William Farley. Goldberg created The Spook Show, a show composed of different character monologues in 1983
14.
Ghost (1990 film)
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Ghost is a 1990 American romantic fantasy thriller film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn, and Rick Aviles. It was written by Bruce Joel Rubin and directed by Jerry Zucker, the plot centers on a young woman in jeopardy, the ghost of her murdered lover and a reluctant psychic who assists him in saving her although the psychic had previously been faking her powers. The film was an commercial success, grossing over $505.7 million at the box office on a budget of $22 million. It was the film of 1990. Adjusted for inflation, as of 2015 Ghost was the 93rd-highest-grossing film of all time domestically, the film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Score and Best Film Editing. It won the awards for Best Supporting Actress for Goldberg and Best Original Screenplay, Swayze and Moore both received Golden Globe Award nominations for their performances, while Goldberg won the BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Saturn Awards in addition to the Oscar. Sam Wheat, a banker, and his girlfriend Molly Jensen, one afternoon, Sam confides in Carl his discovery of unusually high balances in obscure bank accounts. He decides to investigate the matter himself, declining Carls offer of assistance and that night, Sam and Molly are attacked by a mugger who kills Sam in a scuffle before stealing his wallet. Sam sees Molly crying over his body and discovers he is now a ghost, Molly remains distraught in the days after Sams death, as Sam remains close to her. Carl comes over and suggests Molly take a walk with him, moments later, the mugger enters the apartment in search of something. When Molly returns, Sam scares their cat into attacking the thug, Sam follows the mugger to his Brooklyn apartment and learns that the man, Willie Lopez, was sent by an unknown party. After leaving Willies residence, Sam happens upon the parlor of psychic medium Oda Mae Brown, Sam convinces her to warn Molly that she is in danger. To allay Mollys skepticism, Oda Mae relays information that only Sam could know, Molly gives Willies address to Carl, then goes to the police, who inform her that Willie has no criminal record, whereas Oda Mae has a lengthy one as a forger and con artist. Meanwhile, Sam follows Carl and is devastated to learn he, Sam learns from a violent poltergeist haunting the subway system how to manipulate objects with his mind. Sam then persuades Oda Mae to help him thwart Carl, before Carl can transfer the money for his clients, Oda Mae impersonates Rita Miller, closes the account, and gives the $4 million cashiers check to charity. As Carl desperately searches for the money, Sam reveals his presence by typing his name on the computer keyboard, Carl goes to Molly, who reveals she spotted Oda Mae closing an account at the bank. Carl and Willie go to Oda Maes place but Sam warns her to take shelter, when Willie arrives, Sam tosses objects at him until Willie flees into the street in a panic and is killed by an oncoming car. Shadowy creatures emerge from the darkness to drag Willies ghost down to Hell, Sam and Oda Mae return to the apartment where—by levitating a penny into Mollys hand—he convinces Molly that Oda Mae is telling the truth about him
15.
Kristin Scott Thomas
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Dame Kristin Ann Scott Thomas, DBE is an English actress. She won the Best Supporting Actress BAFTA Award for Four Weddings, for her work in the theatre, she has been nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actress five times, winning in 2008 for the Royal Court revival of The Seagull. Scott Thomas made her debut in the Prince-directed Under the Cherry Moon in 1986, Further film roles include Bitter Moon, Mission, Impossible, The Horse Whisperer, Gosford Park. She has also worked in French cinema, winning the European Film Award for Best Actress for Philippe Claudels Ive Loved You So Long and her other French films include The Valet, Tell No One, Leaving and Sarahs Key. Scott Thomas was born in Redruth, Cornwall, Scott Thomas was brought up as a Roman Catholic. Her childhood home was in Trent, Dorset, England and her mother remarried, to another Royal Navy pilot, who also died in a flying accident, six years after the death of her father. Scott Thomas was educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and St Antonys Leweston in Sherborne, Dorset, on leaving school she moved to Hampstead, London, and worked in a department store. She then began training to be a teacher at the Central School of Speech. On being told she would never be a good enough actress and her breakthrough role was in a 1988 adaptation of Evelyn Waughs A Handful of Dust, where she won an Evening Standard British Film Award for most promising newcomer. This was followed by roles opposite Hugh Grant in Bitter Moon and Four Weddings,1996 saw the release of her most famous role as Katharine Clifton in The English Patient, which gained her Golden Globe and Oscar nominations as well as critical acclaim. This was followed by a period working in Hollywood on films such as The Horse Whisperer with Robert Redford. However, growing disillusioned with Hollywood, she took a year off to give birth to her third child and she reprised the role in New York in September 2008. In summer 2011 Scott Thomas returned to Londons West End to star as Emma in Harold Pinters Betrayal at the Comedy Theatre, the revival was directed by Ian Rickson. Her husband was played by Ben Miles and the triangle was completed by Douglas Henshall. In January 2013, she starred in another Pinter play, Old Times, in 2014 she appeared at The Old Vic in the title role of Sophocless Electra. Scott Thomas also has acted in French films, in 2006, she played the role of Hélène, in French, in Ne le dis à personne, by French director Guillaume Canet. In 2008, Scott Thomas received many accolades for her performance in Il y a longtemps que je taime, including BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2003 Birthday Honours and she was named a Chevalier of the Légion dhonneur by the French Government in 2005
16.
Four Weddings and a Funeral
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Four Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British romantic comedy film directed by Mike Newell. The first wedding is that of Angus and Laura, at which Charles is the best man, Charles and his single friends wonder whether they will ever get married. Charles meets Carrie and spends the night with her, Carrie pretends that, now they have slept together, they will have to get married, to which Charles endeavours to respond before realising she is joking. Carrie observes that they may have missed an opportunity and then returns to America, the second wedding is that of Bernard and Lydia, a couple who became romantically involved at the previous wedding. Charles encounters Carrie again, but she introduces him to her fiancé, Sir Hamish Banks, Charles retreats to an empty hotel suite, seeing Carrie and Hamish leave in a taxicab, only to be trapped in a cupboard after the newlyweds stumble into the room to have sex. After Charles awkwardly exits the room, Henrietta confronts him about his habit of serial monogamy, Charles then runs into Carrie, and they end up spending another night together. A month later, Charles receives an invitation to Carries wedding, while shopping for a present, he coincidentally encounters Carrie and ends up helping her select her wedding dress. Carrie lists her more than thirty sexual partners, Charles later awkwardly tries confessing his love to her and hinting that he would like to have a relationship with her, to no avail. The third wedding is that of Carrie and Hamish, Charles attends, depressed at the prospect of Carrie marrying Hamish. As Charles watches Carrie and Hamish dance, Fiona deduces his feelings about Carrie, when Charles asks why Fiona is not married, she confesses that she has loved Charles since they first met years earlier. Charles is appreciative and empathetic but does not requite her love, during the grooms toast, Gareth dies of a heart attack. At Gareths funeral, his partner Matthew recites the poem Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden, the fourth wedding is ten months later. Charles has decided to marry Henrietta, however, shortly before the ceremony, Carrie arrives, revealing to Charles that she and Hamish are separated. Charles has a crisis of confidence, which he reveals to his deaf brother David, the vicar asks whether Charles does love someone else, and Charles replies, I do. Henrietta punches Charles and the wedding is halted, Carrie visits Charles to apologise for attending the wedding. Charles confesses that, while standing at the altar, he realised that for the first time in his life he totally and utterly loved one person, Charles makes a proposal of lifelong commitment without marriage to Carrie, who accepts. The original score was composed by British composer Richard Rodney Bennett and this song would later be adapted into Christmas Is All Around and sung by the character of Billy Mack in Richard Curtis 2003 film Love Actually, in which Grant also stars. Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it delightful and sly and he praised Grants performance, describing it as a kind of endearing awkwardness
17.
Kate Winslet
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Kate Elizabeth Winslet, CBE, is an English actress and singer. Winslet is the recipient of an Academy Award, an AACTA Award, three BAFTA Awards, a BIFA Award, four Golden Globe Awards, a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. She is the youngest person to receive six Academy Award nominations, with seven nominations in total, in addition, she has won awards from the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts and European Film Academy, among others, and the Honorary César Award in 2012. Brought up in Berkshire, Winslet studied drama from childhood and began her career in British television in 1991 and she made her film debut in Heavenly Creatures, for which she received praise. She garnered recognition for her role in Sense and Sensibility before achieving global stardom with the epic romance Titanic. Winslets performances in Iris, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Finding Neverland, Little Children, Revolutionary Road, The Dressmaker, in 2008, film critic David Edelstein described her as the best English-speaking film actress of her generation. Winslets greatest commercial successes since Titanic include the romantic comedy The Holiday, the animated film Flushed Away, in addition to acting, Winslet has narrated documentaries and childrens books. She was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 2000 for narrating Listen to the Storyteller and she has also provided her vocals to soundtracks of her films, including the single What If from Christmas Carol, The Movie. Divorced from two directors, Jim Threapleton and Sam Mendes, Winslet is currently married to businessman Ned Rocknroll. Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born in Reading, Berkshire, England to Sally Anne, a barmaid, and Roger John Winslet and she has two sisters, Beth and Anna, and one brother, Joss Winslet. Winslet began studying drama at the age of 11 at the Redroofs Theatre School, a independent school in Maidenhead, Berkshire. At the age of 12, Winslet appeared in an advertisement directed by filmmaker Tim Pope for Sugar Puffs cereal. Pope said her naturalism was there from the start, Winslet made her television debut with a co-starring role in the BBC childrens science fiction serial Dark Season. This role was followed by appearances in the made-for-TV film Anglo-Saxon Attitudes in 1992, the sitcom Get Back, in 1992, Winslet attended a casting call for Peter Jacksons Heavenly Creatures in London. Winslet auditioned for the role of Juliet Hulme, a teenager who assists in the murder of the mother of her best friend, Pauline Parker. The film included Winslets singing debut, and her a version of Sono Andati. The film was released to reviews in 1994 and won Jackson. Winslet was awarded the Empire Award and London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year for her performance, the Washington Post writer Desson Thomson commented, As Juliet, Winslet is a bright-eyed ball of fire, lighting up every scene she’s in
18.
Sense and Sensibility (film)
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Sense and Sensibility is a 1995 British-American period drama film directed by Ang Lee and based on Jane Austens 1811 novel of the same name. Actress Emma Thompson wrote the script and stars as Elinor Dashwood, the story follows the Dashwood sisters, members of a wealthy English family of landed gentry, as they must deal with circumstances of sudden destitution. They are forced to seek security through marriage. Actors Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman play their respective suitors, the film was released on 13 December 1995 in the United States and on 23 February 1996 in the United Kingdom. Producer Lindsay Doran, an admirer of Austens novel, hired Thompson to write the screenplay. The actress spent five years drafting numerous revisions, continually working on the script between other films as well as production of the film itself. Studios were nervous that Thompson – a first-time screenwriter – was the credited writer, though initially intending to have another actress portray Elinor, Thompson was persuaded to take the role. Thompsons screenplay exaggerated the Dashwood familys wealth to make their later scenes of poverty more apparent to modern audiences and it also altered the traits of the male leads to make them more appealing to contemporary viewers. Elinor and Mariannes different characteristics were emphasised through imagery and invented scenes, Ang Lee was selected as director, both due to his work in the 1993 film The Wedding Banquet and because Doran believed he would help the film appeal to a wider audience. Lee was given a budget of $16 million and it earned seven Academy Awards nominations, including for Best Picture and Best Actress. Thompson received the Best Adapted Screenplay, becoming the person to have won Academy Awards for both acting and screenwriting. Sense and Sensibility contributed to a resurgence in popularity for Austens works and it persists in being recognised as one of the best Austen adaptations of all time. On his deathbed, Mr. Dashwood tells his son from his first marriage, John, to care of his second wife. Fanny invites her brother Edward Ferrars to stay with them, Elinor and Edward soon form a close friendship, but Fanny haughtily tells Mrs. Dashwood that Edward would be disinherited if he married someone of no importance with no money. Mrs. Dashwood understands her meaning completely, sir John Middleton, a cousin of the widowed Mrs. Dashwood, offers her a small cottage house on his estate, Barton Park in Devonshire. She and her daughters move in, and are frequent guests at Barton Park, the Dashwoods meet the older Colonel Brandon, who falls in love with Marianne at first sight. However, Marianne considers him an old bachelor, incapable of feeling love or inspiring it in another, one afternoon, Marianne takes a walk with Margaret and slips and falls in the rain. She is carried home by the dashing John Willoughby, with whom Marianne falls in love and they spend a great deal of time together, but on the morning she expects him to propose marriage to her, he instead leaves hurriedly for London
19.
Steve Jobs (film)
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Steve Jobs is a 2015 American biographical drama film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Aaron Sorkin. Co-founder Steve Jobs, with each act taking place prior to the launch of a key product – the Apple Macintosh, the NeXT Computer. Jobs is portrayed by Michael Fassbender, with Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Katherine Waterston, Michael Stuhlbarg, development on the project began in 2011 after the rights to Isaacsons book were acquired. Sorkin wrote the screenplay with filming beginning in January 2015, a variety of actors were considered and cast before Fassbender eventually took the role. Editing was extensive on the project, with editor Elliot Graham noting that he was working on existing footage while the film was still shooting, daniel Pemberton served as the films composer, with a focus dedicated to dividing the score into three distinguishable sections. Steve Jobs premiered at the 2015 Telluride Film Festival on September 5,2015 and it opened nationwide in the U. S. on October 23,2015 to critical acclaim. Individuals close to Jobs such as Steve Wozniak and John Sculley would praise the performances, but the film also received criticisms for its structure. In 1984, the Apple Macintosh 128Ks voice demo fails less than an hour before its unveiling at Flint Center, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs demands engineer Andy Hertzfeld fix it, threatening to publicly implicate him in the presentations credits if he does not. Hertzfeld finally suggests faking the demo using the prototype Macintosh 512K computer, Brennan arrives with Lisa to confront him – she is bitter over his denials and his refusal to support her despite his wealth. Jobs bonds with Lisa over her MacPaint art and agrees to more money. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak asks Jobs to acknowledge the Apple II team in his presentation, by 1988, following the apparent failure of the Macintosh, Jobs has founded a new company, NeXT. Wozniak arrives and predicts the NeXT will be another failure, Jobs confronts him about his public criticism of him, and Wozniak questions Jobs contributions to computing history. Jobs defends his role as that of a conductor, who directs musicians like Wozniak, Jobs lambasted the decision and dared them to cast a final vote on his tenure, despite Sculleys warnings. After Hoffman and Jobs discuss NeXTs unclear direction, she realizes that Jobs has designed the computer to entice Apple to buy the company and reinstate him. By 1998, Apple has fired Sculley, purchased NeXT, and named Jobs CEO and he is delighted by Hoffmans strong commercial forecasts, but furious that Lisa has allowed her mother to sell the house Jobs bought for them. Hoffman reminds Jobs that he threatened to withhold Lisas college tuition – Hertzfeld admits that he paid Lisas tuition, Wozniak again asks that Jobs credit the Apple II team during the presentation, and again he refuses. Sculley arrives in secret and the two make amends, Jobs and Sculley discuss Jobs life as an adopted child, and Jobs admits that his need for control stems from his feelings of powerlessness in being given up. At the behest of Hoffman, Jobs apologizes to Lisa for his mistakes, Lisa watches her father take the stage to introduce the iMac
20.
Juliette Binoche
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Juliette Binoche is a French actress, artist and dancer. She has appeared in more than 60 feature films, been recipient of international awards. Coming from a background, she began taking acting lessons during adolescence. Her sensual performance in her English-language debut The Unbearable Lightness of Being, directed by Philip Kaufman, for her performance in Lasse Hallströms romantic comedy Chocolat, Binoche was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. During the 2000s she maintained a career, alternating between French and English language roles in both mainstream and art-house productions. In 2010, she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in Abbas Kiarostamis Certified Copy making her the first actress to win the European Best Actress Triple Crown. In 2008 she began a tour with a modern dance production in-i devised in collaboration with Akram Khan. Binoche was born in Paris, the daughter of Jean-Marie Binoche, a director, actor, and sculptor, and Monique Yvette Stalens, a teacher, director, and actress. Her father, who is French, also has one eighth Portuguese-Brazilian ancestry, juliettes mother was born in Częstochowa, Poland. Binoches maternal grandfather, Andre Stalens, was born in Poland, of Belgian and French descent, both of them were actors who were born in Częstochowa, the German Nazi occupiers imprisoned them at Auschwitz as intellectuals. When Binoches parents divorced in 1968, four-year-old Binoche and her sister Marion were sent to a boarding school. During their teens, the Binoche sisters spent their holidays with their maternal grandmother. Binoche has stated that this perceived parental abandonment had an effect on her. She was not particularly academic and in her years began acting at school in amateur stage-productions. At 17 she directed and starred in a student production of the Eugène Ionesco play and she studied acting at the Conservatoire National Supérieur dArt Dramatique, but quit after a short time as she disliked the curriculum. In the early 1980s, she found an agent through a friend and joined a troupe, touring France, Belgium. Around this time she began lessons with acting coach Vera Gregh, after this Binoche secured her first feature-film appearance with a minor role in Pascal Kanés Liberty Belle. Her role required just two days on–set, but was enough to inspire Binoche to pursue a career in film, Binoches early films established her as a French star of some renown
21.
The English Patient (film)
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He questions the patient, who gradually reveals his past. The patient tells Hana and Caravaggio that, in the late 1930s and their expedition is joined by a British couple, Geoffrey and Katharine Clifton. Katharine and Almásy have an affair, which she abruptly ends, the explorers find and document the Cave of Swimmers and the surrounding area until they are stopped due to the onset of the war. Madox leaves his Tiger Moth plane at Kufra oasis before returning to England, while Almásy is packing up their base camp, Geoffrey, in attempted murder-suicide, deliberately crashes his plane, narrowly missing Almásy. Geoffrey is killed instantly, Katharine is seriously injured, Almásy carries her to the cave, leaving her with provisions, and begins a three-day walk to get help. At British-held El Tag he attempts to explain the situation, but is detained as a possible German spy and he escapes from the train and trades the Geographical Society maps to the Germans for gasoline. He finds Madoxs Tiger Moth and flies back to the cave, as he flies himself and Katharines body away, they are shot down by German anti-aircraft guns. Katharines body is not recovered, Almásy is badly burned but is rescued by a Bedouin, after he has related the story, Almásy asks Hana for a lethal dose of morphine, she complies and reads Katharines final journal entries to him as he dies. She and Caravaggio leave the monastery for Florence, saul Zaentz was interested in working with Anthony Minghella after he saw the directors film Truly, Madly, Deeply, Minghella brought this project to the producers attention. Michael Ondaatje, the Sri Lankan-born Canadian author of the novel, during the development of the project with 20th Century Fox, according to Minghella, the studio wanted the insurance policy of so-called bigger actors. Zaentz recalled, they’d look at you and say, ‘Could we cast Demi Moore in the role, not until Miramax Films took over was the directors preference for Scott Thomas accepted. The film was shot on location in Tunisia and Italy, with a production budget of $31 million. The Conversations, Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film by Michael Ondaatje is based on the conversations between the author and film editor, once he began, the possibilities became apparent, some of which took him away from the order of the original script. A reel without sound was made so scene change visuals would be consistent with the quality of the aural aspect between the two, the final cut features over 40 temporal transitions. It was during this time that Murch met Ondaatje and they were able to exchange thoughts about editing the film, two types of aircraft are used in the film, a De Havilland D. H.82 Tiger Moth and a Boeing-Stearman Model 75. The camp crash scene was made with a scale model. The film has a Certified Fresh rating of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 75 reviews, though it suffers from excessive length and ambition, director Minghellas adaptation of the Michael Ondaatje novel is complex, powerful, and moving. The film also has a rating of 87% on Metacritic, indicating universal acclaim, chicago Sun Times critic Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 rating, saying its the kind of movie you can see twice – first for the questions, the second time for the answers
22.
Catherine Zeta-Jones
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Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE is a Welsh actress. Born and raised in Swansea, Zeta-Jones aspired to be an actress from a young age, in her early teens, she played roles in the West End productions of the musicals Annie and Bugsy Malone. She studied musical theatre at the Arts Educational Schools, London and her screen debut came in the unsuccessful French-Italian film 1001 Nights, and she went on to find greater success as a regular in the British television series The Darling Buds of May. Dismayed at being typecast as the pretty girl in British films. Zeta-Jones initially established herself in Hollywood with roles that highlighted her sex appeal such as in the action film The Mask of Zorro, critics praised her portrayal of a vengeful pregnant woman in Traffic and a murderous singer in the musical Chicago. The latter won her Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Supporting Actress, parts in smaller-scale features were followed by a decrease in workload, during which she returned to stage and portrayed an ageing actress in A Little Night Music, winning a Tony Award. Zeta-Jones continued to work intermittently in the 2010s, starring in the psychological thriller Side Effects and she supports various charities and causes, and is a prominent celebrity endorser of brands. Her struggle with depression and bipolar II disorder has been well-documented by the media and she is married to the actor Michael Douglas with whom she has two children. Zeta-Jones was born in Swansea, Wales, on 25 September 1969 to David Jones, the owner of a factory, and his wife Patricia. Her father is Welsh and her mother is of Irish Catholic descent and she was named after her grandmothers, Zeta Jones and Catherine Fair. She has a brother, David, and a younger brother, Lyndon. Zeta-Jones was raised in the area of Mumbles. Because Zeta-Jones was a child, her mother sent her to the Hazel Johnson School of Dance when she was four years old. She was educated at the Dumbarton House School, a school in Swansea. The family came from a modest background, but their fortunes improved when they won £100,000 in a competition, allowing them to pay for Zeta-Jones dance. Zeta-Jones participated in stage shows from a young age and gained local media attention when her rendition of a Shirley Bassey song won a Junior Star Trail talent competition. As part of a troupe, she routinely took trips to London. At the age of nine, she was selected to one of the orphan girls in a West End production of the musical Annie
23.
Chicago (2002 film)
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Chicago is a 2002 American musical crime comedy film based on the musical of the same name, exploring the themes of celebrity, scandal, and corruption in Chicago during the Jazz Age. The film stars Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger and Richard Gere, Chicago centers on Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart, two murderesses who find themselves in jail together awaiting trial in 1920s Chicago. Velma, a vaudevillian, and Roxie, a housewife, fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows. Directed and choreographed by Rob Marshall, and adapted by screenwriter Bill Condon, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, Chicago won six Academy Awards in 2003, the film was critically lauded, and was the first musical to win Best Picture since Oliver. In 1924, Roxie Hart sees star Velma Kelly perform at a Chicago theater, wanting stardom for herself, she begins an affair with Fred Casely, who claims to know the manager. After the show, Velma is arrested for killing her husband Charlie and sister Veronica, a month later, Casely admits to Roxie that he has no showbiz connections and just wanted her body. She convinces her husband, Amos, to take the blame, as Amos confesses to the detective, Roxie fantasizes that she is singing a song devoted to her husband. However, when the detective brings up evidence that Roxie and Casely were having an affair, Amos recants, ambitious District Attorney Harrison announces he will seek the death penalty. At Cook County Jail, Roxie is sent to Murderess Row, Roxie meets her idol Velma, but her friendship is rudely rebuffed. She learns the backstories of the women there, including Velma Kelly. On Mortons advice, Roxie engages Velmas lawyer, the brilliant Billy Flynn, the press believe the story, praised by the public as a tragic heroine, Roxie becomes an overnight sensation. Meanwhile, Kitty Baxter, a heiress, is arrested for murdering her husband. To Velmas surprise, Roxie quickly steals back the fame by claiming to be pregnant. Amos is ignored by the press, and Flynn, to create sympathy for Roxie, convinces him that the child is Caselys. Roxie over-confidently fires Flynn, believing she can now win on her own, however, when Katalin Helinszki, a Hungarian woman from Murderess Row is hanged, she realizes the gravity of the situation and rehires Flynn. Roxies trial begins, and Billy turns it into a spectacle with the help of the sensationalist newspaper reporters. Billy discredits witnesses, manipulates evidence, and even stages a public reconciliation between Amos and Roxie when she says the child is his. The trial seems to be going Roxies way until Velma appears with Roxies diary, Billy discredits the diary, implying that Harrison was the one who planted the evidence
24.
Cold Mountain (film)
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Cold Mountain is a 2003 American epic war drama film written and directed by Anthony Minghella. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Charles Frazier. The film tells the story of a deserter from the Confederate army close to the end of the American Civil War. Cold Mountain opened to reviews from critics and won several major awards. Renée Zellweger won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award and it was also a success at the box office and became a sleeper hit grossing more than double its budget worldwide. The film makes numerous allusions to Homers The Odyssey, when North Carolina secedes from the Union on May 20,1861, the young men of a rural North Carolina town on Cold Mountain hurry to enlist in the Confederate States Army. Inman, a carpenter who has fallen in love with Ada, a preachers daughter, three years later, Inman finds himself at the Battle of the Crater. Union soldiers tunnel beneath Confederate fortifications and detonate kegs of gunpowder prior to an attack against the rebels. Oakley, Inmans acquaintance from Cold Mountain, is seriously wounded, Inman gets him to a field hospital, where Oakley dies with Inman beside him and friend Stobrod Thewes playing him a song on his fiddle. Inman and his Cherokee friend Swimmer are sent, with other Cold Mountain men, during the raid, friendly fire kills Swimmer and seriously wounds Inman. As Inman lies in the hospital near death, he reads a letter from Ada in which she pleads him to stop fighting, stop marching. Inman recovers, and–with the war drawing closer to an inevitable Confederate defeat–deserts to return to Cold Mountain. Inman meets the corrupt preacher Reverend A. Veasey, who is about to drown his pregnant slave lover, Inman stops Veasey and leaves him tied up to face the towns justice. Exiled from his parish, Veasey later joins Inman on his journey and they help a young man named Junior butcher his cow, and join him and his family for dinner. When Junior goes out to his trapline, the women in his family seduce Veasey and it is a ploy, as Junior soon returns with the Confederate Home Guard, and both Inman and Veasey are led away with other deserters. During a skirmish with Union cavalry, Veasey is killed and Inman left for dead, an elderly hermit living in the woods finds him and nurses him back to health. Inman meets a young widow named Sara, who is raising her infant child Ethan alone. The next morning, a party of Union foragers arrive demanding food, Sara orders Inman away for his protection, but he hides close by
25.
Cate Blanchett
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Catherine Elise Cate Blanchett is an Australian actress and theatre director. She has received acclaim and many accolades, including six AACTA Awards. In 2013, she starred as Jasmine Francis in Woody Allens Blue Jasmine, Blanchett is one of only six actors, and the only actress, to receive Academy Award nominations for portraying the same role in two films, accomplished in her case by portraying Queen Elizabeth I. She is additionally the only Australian to win two acting Oscars, a seven-time Oscar nominee, she has also received nominations for Notes on a Scandal, Elizabeth, The Golden Age, Im Not There and Carol. Blanchett has also had a career on stage and is a four-time Helpmann Award winner for Best Female Actor in a Play. From 2008 to 2013, she and her husband Andrew Upton were co-CEOs, Blanchett has been awarded the Centenary Medal for Service to Australian Society by the Australian government. She was appointed Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 2012, in 2015, she was honoured by the Museum of Modern Art and received the British Film Institute Fellowship in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the industry. Blanchett was born on 14 May 1969 in the Melbourne suburb of Ivanhoe and she is the middle of three children, her older brother is a computer systems engineer, and her younger sister is a theatrical designer. The two met when Blanchetts fathers ship broke down in Melbourne, when Blanchett was 10, her father died of a heart attack, leaving her mother to raise the family on her own. Blanchetts ancestry includes English, some Scottish, and remote French roots, Blanchett has described herself as being part extrovert, part wallflower during childhood. She had a penchant for dressing in traditionally masculine clothing, and went through goth and punk phases during her teenage years and she studied economics and fine arts at the University of Melbourne but dropped out after one year to travel overseas. While in Egypt, Blanchett was asked to play an American cheerleader, as an extra in the Egyptian boxing movie, Kaboria, in need of money, she accepted. Upon her return to Australia, she moved to Sydney and enrolled in the National Institute of Dramatic Art to pursue an acting career and she graduated from NIDA in 1992. Blanchetts first major role was opposite Geoffrey Rush, in the 1992 David Mamet play Oleanna for the Sydney Theatre Company. That year, she was also cast as Clytemnestra in a production of Sophocles’ Electra, a couple of weeks after rehearsals, the actress playing the title role pulled out, and director Lindy Davies cast Blanchett in the role. Her performance as Electra became one of her most acclaimed at NIDA, Blanchett played the role of Ophelia in an acclaimed 1994–95 Company B production of Hamlet directed by Neil Armfield, starring Rush and Richard Roxburgh, and was nominated for a Green Room Award. She appeared in the 1994 TV miniseries Heartland opposite Ernie Dingo, the miniseries Bordertown with Hugo Weaving and she also appeared in the 50-minute drama short Parklands, which received an Australian Film Institute nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Her first leading role was as Lucinda Leplastrier in Gillian Armstrongs romantic drama Oscar and Lucinda, Blanchett received wide acclaim for her performance, and earned her first AFI Award nomination as Best Leading Actress, she lost to Deborah Mailman in Radiance
26.
Katharine Hepburn
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Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress. Known for her independence and spirited personality, Hepburn was a leading lady in Hollywood for more than 60 years. She appeared in a range of genres, from comedy to literary drama. In 1999, Hepburn was named by the American Film Institute as the greatest female star of Classic Hollywood Cinema, raised in Connecticut by wealthy, progressive parents, Hepburn began to act while studying at Bryn Mawr College. After four years in the theatre, favorable reviews of her work on Broadway brought her to the attention of Hollywood. Hepburn masterminded her own comeback, buying out her contract with RKO Radio Pictures and acquiring the rights to The Philadelphia Story. In the 1940s, she was contracted to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where her career focused on an alliance with Spencer Tracy, the screen-partnership spanned 25 years and produced nine movies. Hepburn challenged herself in the half of her life, as she regularly appeared in Shakespearean stage productions. She found a niche playing middle-aged spinsters, such as in The African Queen, three more Oscars came for her work in Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter, and On Golden Pond. In the 1970s, she began appearing in films, which became the focus of her career in later life. She remained active into old age, making her screen appearance in 1994 at the age of 87. After a period of inactivity and ill health, Hepburn died in 2003 at the age of 96, Hepburn famously shunned the Hollywood publicity machine and refused to conform to societys expectations of women. She was outspoken, assertive, athletic, and wore trousers before it was fashionable for women to do so and she married once, as a young woman, but thereafter lived independently. A 26-year affair with her co-star Spencer Tracy was hidden from the public, Hepburn was born on May 12,1907 in Hartford, Connecticut, the second of six children. Her parents were Thomas Norval Hepburn, a urologist at Hartford Hospital, and Katharine Martha Houghton, as a child, Hepburn joined her mother on several Votes For Women demonstrations. The Hepburn children were raised to exercise freedom of speech and encouraged to think and her parents were criticized by the community for their progressive views, which stimulated Hepburn to fight against barriers she encountered. Hepburn said she realized from an age that she was the product of two very remarkable parents, and credited her enormously lucky upbringing with providing the foundation for her success. She remained close to her throughout her life
27.
The Aviator (2004 film)
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The Aviator is a 2004 American biographical epic drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by John Logan. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes, Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn, the supporting cast features Ian Holm, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law as Errol Flynn, Gwen Stefani as Jean Harlow, Kelli Garner as Faith Domergue, Willem Dafoe, Alan Alda, and Edward Herrmann. Based on the 1993 non-fiction book Howard Hughes, The Secret Life by Charles Higham, the film depicts the life of Howard Hughes, the Aviator was released in the United States on December 25,2004. The film grossed $214 million at the box office, the movie is considered among Scorseses finest films and DiCaprios portrayal of Howard Hughes is regarded as one of the greatest performances of his career. In 1913 Houston, nine-year-old Howard Hughes mother gives him a bath and warns him about the recent cholera outbreak in Houston, fourteen years later, he begins to direct the film Hells Angels, and hires Noah Dietrich to manage the day-to-day operations of his business empire. After the release of The Jazz Singer, the first partially talking film, Hughes becomes obsessed with shooting his film realistically, despite the film being a hit, Hughes remains unsatisfied with the end result and orders the film to be recut after its Hollywood premiere. He becomes romantically involved with actress Katharine Hepburn, who helps to ease the symptoms of his worsening obsessive-compulsive disorder, in 1935, Hughes test flies the H-1 Racer, pushing it to a new speed record. Three years later, he breaks the record by flying around the world in four days. He subsequently purchases majority interest in Transcontinental & Western Air, Hepburn grows tired of Hughes eccentricity, and leaves him for fellow actor Spencer Tracy. Hughes quickly finds a new love interest with 15-year-old Faith Domergue, however, he still has feelings for Hepburn, and blackmails a reporter to keep reports about her and the married Tracy out of the press. Hughes secures a contract with the Army Air Forces for two projects, a spy aircraft and a transport unit. In 1946, with the Spruce Goose flying boat still in construction, Hughes finishes the XF-11 reconnaissance aircraft, however, one of the engines fails midflight, and the aircraft crashes in Beverly Hills, with Hughes getting severely injured. With the end of World War II, the army cancels its order for the H-4 Hercules, when he is discharged, he is informed that he must choose between funding the airlines or his flying boat. Hughes orders Dietrich to mortgage the TWA assets so he can continue the development, as his OCD worsens, Hughes becomes increasingly paranoid, planting microphones and tapping Gardners phone lines to keep track of her. The FBI searches his home for incriminating evidence of war profiteering, searching his possessions and, to his horror, Brewster privately offers to drop the charges if Hughes sells TWA to Trippe, but Hughes refuses. Hughes OCD symptoms become extreme, and he retreats into an isolated germ-free zone for three months, Trippe has Brewster summon him for a Senate investigation, certain that Hughes will not show up. Gardner visits him and personally grooms and dresses him in preparation for the hearing, an invigorated Hughes defends himself against Brewsters charges and accuses the senator of taking bribes from Trippe
28.
Jennifer Hudson
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Jennifer Kate Hudson is an American singer, actress and spokesperson. She rose to fame in 2004 as a finalist on the season of American Idol. She has also appeared in films as Sex and the City, The Secret Life of Bees. She has made television appearances, including guest roles on Smash, Empire. In 2015 she made her Broadway debut in the role of Shug Avery in the 2015 revival of The Color Purple, as a singer, Hudson has released three studio albums. Her debut album Jennifer Hudson, released in 2008, debuted at two on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the RIAA, with sales exceeding a million copies worldwide. The record was nominated for four Grammy Awards, winning the 2009 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album and her second album I Remember Me, released in 2011, also debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the RIAA. Her third and most recent album JHUD peaked in the top ten, in October 2008, after Hudsons mother, brother and nephew were killed in a shooting, Hudson stepped out of the public eye for three months. Hudson resumed her appearances in 2009, with high-profile performances at Super Bowl XLIII, the Grammy Awards, American Idol. Hudson has been described as a friend of former President Barack Obama and she also performed at the White House at the Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement event. In 2013, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in 2016, Hudson was announced as a coach on the 2017 Series of The Voice UK. Hudson was born on September 12,1981, in Chicago and she is the third and youngest child of Darnell Donnerson and Samuel Simpson. She was raised as a Baptist in Englewood and attended Dunbar Vocational High School and she cites Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Patti LaBelle as her overall biggest influences and inspiration. At the age of 7, she got her start in performing by singing with the choir and doing community theater with the help of her late maternal grandmother. She enrolled at Langston University but she left after a due to homesickness and unhappiness with the weather. In January 2002, Hudson signed her first recording contract with Righteous Records and she was released from her five-year contract with Righteous Records so that she could appear on American Idol in 2004. The bottom three consisting of three African-American females led to controversy, in May 2009, MTV listed Hudson as the sixth greatest American Idol and noted her exit was the most shocking of all time. In one of her first appearances on a record, Hudson is featured in a duet, The Future Aint What It Used to Be, on Meat Loafs Bat Out of Hell III, The Monster Is Loose
29.
Dreamgirls (film)
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Dreamgirls is a 2006 American musical drama film, directed by Bill Condon and jointly produced and released by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures. The film debuted in three special road show engagements starting in December 15,2006 before its release on December 25,2006. The film was released in the United States on December 25,2006, the film adaptation of Dreamgirls stars Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles, Eddie Murphy, and Jennifer Hudson, and also features Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose and Keith Robinson. Produced by Laurence Mark, the screenplay was adapted by director Condon from the original Broadway book by Tom Eyen. In addition to the original Kreiger Eyen compositions, four new songs, Dreamgirls features the acting debut of Hudson, a former American Idol contestant and singer. With a production cost of $80 million, Dreamgirls is the most expensive film to feature an all African-American starring cast in American cinema history, upon its release, the film garnered positive reviews from critics, and earned $154 million at the international box office. Curtis presents himself as The Dreamettes new manager and arranges for the girls to become singers for popular R&B singer Jimmy Thunder Early. Curtis soon starts his own label, Rainbow Records, out of his Detroit car dealership. When their first single fails after another pop group releases a cover version, Curtis, C. C, offstage, Effie becomes infatuated with Curtis, while the married Jimmy begins an affair with Lorrell. However, Jimmys manager Marty grows weary of Curtis plans to make his client more pop-friendly, when Jimmy bombs in front of a white Miami Beach audience, Curtis sends Jimmy out on the road alone, keeping The Dreamettes behind to headline in his place. Feeling that Effies curvy figure and distinctive voice will not attract audiences, Curtis appoints the slimmer and higher-voiced Deena lead singer. With the aid of new songs and a new more glamorous image, Curtis, however, Effie begins acting out, particularly when Curtis affections also turn towards Deena. Curtis eventually drops Effie from the group, hiring Michelle Morris, his secretary, despite Effies defiance and desperate appeal to Curtis, he, C. C. and The Dreams leave her behind and forge ahead to stardom. By 1975, Effie has become an impoverished welfare mother, living in inner-city Detroit with her daughter, struggling to restart her career in music, Effie goes to Marty Madison for management. Meanwhile, Deena Jones & the Dreams have become superstars, with Rainbow the biggest pop business in the country, Curtis is now attempting to produce a film about Cleopatra starring an unwilling Deena, who is now his wife. Meanwhile, Jimmy Early has descended into drug addiction, his career neglected due to Curtis preoccupation with Deena, when Jimmy has a breakdown onstage at Rainbows tenth anniversary TV special the following year, Curtis drops him from the label, and Lorrell ends their long affair. A short time later, C. C. quits after a fight with Curtis and their fight is interrupted by the breaking news that Jimmy has been found dead in a hotel room from a heroin overdose. Disillusioned by Jimmys death and Curtis cold reaction to the news, the two siblings reconcile and C. C. writes and produces Effies comeback single, One Night Only
30.
Tilda Swinton
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Katherine Matilda Tilda Swinton is a British actress, performance artist, model, and fashion muse, known for her roles in independent and Hollywood films. She is the recipient of two BAFTA Awards, one BIFA Award, an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and has received three nominations for a Golden Globe Award. She began her career in films directed by Derek Jarman, starting with Caravaggio, followed by The Last of England, War Requiem, Swinton won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her performance as Isabella of France in Edward II. She next starred in Sally Potters Orlando, and was nominated for the European Film Award for Best Actress, Swinton was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in The Deep End. She followed this with appearances in Vanilla Sky, Adaptation, Young Adam and she then starred in the crime drama Julia, I Am Love, and the psychological thriller We Need to Talk About Kevin. Swinton later starred in the romantic fantasy drama, Only Lovers Left Alive. She is also known for her performances as the White Witch in the Chronicles of Narnia series, Swinton won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as lawyer Karen Crowder in Michael Clayton. In 2005, Swinton was given the Richard Harris Award by the British Independent Film Awards in recognition of her contributions to the British film industry, in 2013 she was given a special tribute by the Museum of Modern Art. Swinton was born in London, the daughter of Judith Balfour and her father is a retired major general in the British Army, and was Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire from 1989 to 2000. Her paternal great-grandfather was a Scottish politician and herald, George Swinton, the Swinton family is an ancient Anglo-Scots family that can trace its lineage to the Middle Ages. The family is one of three families that can trace their unbroken land ownership and lineage to before the Norman Conquest. Swinton attended three independent schools, Queens Gate School in London, the West Heath Girls School and also Fettes College for a brief period, West Heath was an expensive boarding school where she was a classmate and friend of Princess Diana. Children need their parents and the parents can provide. Swinton went to volunteer in Kenya during a break from college with a charity called Project Trust. In 1983, Swinton graduated from New Hall at the University of Cambridge with a degree in Social and Political Sciences, while at Cambridge, she joined the Communist Party, she later joined the Scottish Socialist Party. It was in college that Swinton began performing on stage, Swinton joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1984, appearing in Measure for Measure. She also worked with the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, starring in Mann ist Mann by Manfred Karge in 1987, on television, she appeared as Julia in the 1986 mini-series Zastrozzi, A Romance based on the Gothic novel by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her first film was Caravaggio in 1986, directed by Derek Jarman, Swinton also played the title role in Orlando, Sally Potters film version of the novel by Virginia Woolf
31.
Michael Clayton (film)
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Michael Clayton is a 2007 American legal thriller film written and directed by Tony Gilroy and starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack. Michael Clayton is a fixer for a prestigious New York City law firm, using his connections, although he is paid well enough, he is divorced, is addicted to gambling, and his personal life is in a shambles. After leaving a clandestine poker game and dealing with a wealthy clients hit and run case, Michael drives despondently and stops at a remote field. As he climbs the hill to look at them, his car explodes, the narrative moves back to four days earlier. Michael is $75,000 in debt from a restaurant investment he entered with his brother Timmy, which collapsed when Timmy used the restaurants funds to fuel his drug habits. Michael, having gone to a shark to raise the money, refuses to give up on his brother and is held responsible for the debt. Michael arrives in Milwaukee and bails Arthur out of jail, after finding out hes no longer taking his medication, Karen brings this to the attention of U-Norths CEO Don Jeffries, who puts her in contact with two hit men secretly on retainer. She contracts them to follow Arthur and bug his apartment and phone, when they report that Arthur is building a case to expose his own client, Karen approves of their taking drastic measures. The men murder Arthur in such a way as to make it look like a drug overdose or suicide. She tells him no one knew of her conversations with Arthur, not even her attorney. There is also a copy of Realm and Conquest, a novel which Michaels son Henry had recommended to Arthur. He finds a receipt from a copy store being used as a bookmark, Michael is caught in the apartment and arrested for trespassing, but Gene bails him out. Using the receipt, Michael discovers that Arthur had ordered 3000 copies of the confidential U-North document, Michael takes one copy with him, the two hit men inform Karen. Michael is about to show his boss Marty Bach what he has discovered, an additional confidentiality agreement allows Michael to realize that his boss already knows about U-Norths cover-up. One of the hit men rigs Michaels car with a bomb, while at a poker game, Michael receives a phone call summoning him to meet the hit-and-run client in a remote part of Westchester County, as seen at the start of the movie. He is being followed by the two men, who have trouble trailing him, but eventually get close enough to detonate the radio-controlled bomb. However, Michael had left the car to admire the horses in the field, after the hit men drive off, Michael approaches the fire, throws his personal effects into the burning car, and escapes into the woods. Later, at a U-North board meeting at a Manhattan hotel and she leaves the room to let the board of directors deliberate
32.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
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Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a 2008 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. The film was shot in Spain in Barcelona, Avilés and Oviedo, Cruz won both the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Altogether, the film won 25 out of 56 nominations, Vicky and Cristina visit Barcelona for the summer, staying with Vickys distant relative Judy and her husband Mark. At an art exhibition, Cristina is intrigued by artist Juan Antonio, Cristina is won over by the offer almost at once, but Vicky is unimpressed and reluctant, she however eventually decides to accompany her friend anyway, mainly to watch over her. At the end of their first day, Vicky refuses to join Juan Antonio in his room, citing her fidelity to Doug. Before the love-making starts, Cristina suddenly falls ill with digestive complaints, Vicky and Juan Antonio proceed to spend the weekend together alone while they wait for Cristina to recuperate. Vicky gradually changes her opinion of Juan Antonio as he tells her about his tumultuous relationship with his former wife, Vicky accompanies him to visit his father, an old poet, and then becomes deeply moved by a Spanish guitar performance later that evening. She finally succumbs to Juan Antonios advances as they walk through a grove of trees in the dark, the next day, with Cristina recovered, the three of them fly back to Barcelona. Feeling guilty, Vicky does not mention the incident to Cristina, Vicky starts throwing herself into her studies while Cristina and Juan Antonio take up a relationship. Cristina then moves in with Juan Antonio and begins to more about his past. After learning that María Elena attempted to kill herself, Juan Antonio brings her to his home, after some defiance, the two women grow fond of each other. Cristina realizes that the ex-spouses are still in love, and María Elena suggests that Cristina may be the element that can give balance, all three become romantically involved with one another. In the meantime, Vicky is joined in Spain by an enthusiastic Doug, learning that Judy is similarly unhappy in her marriage, she confides to her, and Judy, who sees her younger self in Vicky, decides to bring Juan Antonio and Vicky together. Meanwhile, Cristina becomes restless and at some point decides to leave Juan Antonio and María Elena, without her, as the summer winds to a close, Judy arranges for Juan Antonio and Vicky to meet at a party. Juan Antonio begs Vicky to meet him again privately before leaving Spain, at his home, Juan Antonio seduces and wins Vicky over again, but they are interrupted by María Elena who bursts in with a gun, firing wildly as Juan Antonio tries to calm her. Vicky gets shot in the hand in the process, and leaves, shouting they are insane and she confesses the entire story to Cristina, who never realized how Vicky felt about Juan Antonio, and wishes she could have helped her. This was the third time Johansson and Allen worked together, following Match Point and this film also marked the second time Johansson and Hall worked together, the first time being in The Prestige. The movie featured several paintings by the Catalan artist Agustí Puig, as of July 2009, the film grossed $96 million worldwide, in relation to its $15 million budget, it is one of Allens most profitable films
33.
Mo'Nique
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Monique Angela Hicks, known professionally as MoNique, is an American comedian and actress. She first gained fame for her role as Nicole Nikki Parker in the UPN series The Parkers while making a name as a stand-up comedian hosting a variety of venues, MoNique transitioned to film with roles in such films as Phat Girlz, and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. In 2002, she with other female comedians earned a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album, in 2009, she received critical praise for her role as the abusive Mary Lee Johnston in the film Precious and won numerous awards including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She hosted The MoNique Show, a talk show that premiered in 2009 on BET. In 2015, she received rave reviews for her performance as Ma Rainey in the HBO biopic Bessie, MoNique was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of engineer Alice Imes and drug counselor Steven Imes, Jr. She is the youngest of four children, sister Millicent is her personal assistant, MoNique graduated from Milford Mill High School in Baltimore County in 1985 and attended Morgan State University. She is a 1987 graduate of the Broadcasting Institute of Maryland, before she was an actress, Monique worked as a customer service representative at the phone company MCI in Hunt Valley, Maryland. She got her start in comedy at the downtown Baltimore Comedy Factory Outlet, after her twin boys were born in 2005, MoNique cut off all contact with Gerald. On April 19,2010, he admitted on Oprah to sexually abusing her over several years and he himself was abused by family members and struggled with substance abuse. MoNique portrayed Nicole Nikki Parker on the UPN television series The Parkers from 1999 to 2004 and she was featured on many leading stand-up venues such as Showtime at the Apollo, Russell Simmons Def Comedy Jam, and Thank God Youre Here. Its the Chinese people we need to watch out for” and she was also named hostess of Showtime at the Apollo. She is currently the hostess and executive producer of MoNiques Fat Chance and she hosted the first season of Flavor of Love Girls, Charm School on VH1, where she crowned Saaphyri as the winner. MoNiques 2007 documentary I Coulda Been Your Cellmate, in interviews with individual women, she touches on the common factors that bring many women into the penal system. The documentary was related to her filming a special at the Ohio Reformatory for Women. In 2007, MoNique had a role on the hit television series Ugly Betty as LAmanda. MoNique starred in The MoNique Show, her own talk show. Taped in Atlanta, the show premiered October 5,2009, MoNique has had a number of supporting roles in film. She appeared in the 2008 comedy film, Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins with Martin Lawrence
34.
Precious (film)
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Precious, Base on Nol by Saf, or simply Precious, is a 2009 American drama film, directed and co-produced by Lee Daniels. Precious is an adaptation by Geoffrey S. Fletcher of the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire, the film stars Gabourey Sidibe, MoNique, Paula Patton, and Mariah Carey. This film marked the debut of Sidibe. The film, then without a distributor, premiered to acclaim at both the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, under its title of Push. At Sundance, it won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best drama, Precious won the Peoples Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The films title was changed from Push to Precious, Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, Precious was also an official selection at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. Lionsgate gave the film a release in North America on November 6,2009. Precious received largely positive reviews critics, the acting, the story. In the films opening weekend in limited release, it grossed $1.8 million, as of February 2010, the film had grossed over $47 million domestically, ranking no.65 for 2009, recouping its $10 million budget, and making it a box office success. Precious received six Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture, Geoffrey Fletcher won for Best Adapted Screenplay. MoNique won the award for Best Supporting Actress, for which she received an ovation at the ceremony. In 1987, 16-year-old Claireece Precious Jones lives in the New York City ghetto of Harlem with her mother, Mary. Precious has been raped by her father, Carl, resulting in two pregnancies, the family resides in a Section 8 tenement and survives on welfare. When Precious second pregnancy is discovered, her school principal arranges for her to attend an alternative school. Precious finds a way out of her daily life by escaping into daydreams in which she is loved and appreciated. Inspired by her new teacher, Blu Rain, Precious finally learns to read and she meets sporadically with social worker Ms. Weiss, who learns about incest in the household when Precious reveals who fathered her children. While Precious is in the giving birth to her second child, Abdul, she meets John McFadden. Upon returning home, her mother carelessly drops 3-day-old Abdul and hits her, Precious fights back and runs away from her home with Abdul
35.
Octavia Spencer
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Octavia Lenora Spencer is an American actress and author. She made her debut in A Time to Kill. She had an acclaimed performance in Ryan Cooglers drama Fruitvale Station. Recently, Spencer has received acclaim for her work in the films Get on Up, Black or White, Smashed, Snowpiercer, The Divergent Series, Insurgent, and Zootopia. In 2017, she received Academy Award, Golden Globe, octavia Lenora Spencer was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and has six siblings, including sisters Rosa and Areka. Her mother, Dellsena Spencer, worked as a maid, Spencer graduated from Jefferson Davis High School in 1988. She studied drama for two years, and received a degree in Liberal Arts from Auburn University. At nineteen, Spencer worked as an intern on the set of The Long Walk Home, in 1997 she moved to to Los Angeles on the advice of her friend Tate Taylor, the future director of The Help which Spencer would star in. Spencer made her debut as a nurse in Joel Schumachers A Time to Kill. She was originally hired to work on casting, but asked Schumacher if she could audition for a part, other film credits include, Never Been Kissed, Big Mommas House, Bad Santa, Spider-Man, Coach Carter, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton. She is best known for her roles as Serenity Johnson on Comedy Centrals Halfway Home, and Constance Grady. In 2003, Spencer made her debut in Los Angeles, in Del Shores play, The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife. It was her first and only play, as, she once explained, later that year, she starred opposite Allison Janney in Tate Taylors critically lauded short feature Chicken Party. In 2008, Spencers brief appearance in Seven Pounds as Kate, Rosario Dawsons home care nurse, garnered her high praise, in April 2009, Entertainment Weekly listed Spencer as among its 25 Funniest Actresses in Hollywood. In August 2009, Spencer appeared in Rob Zombies Halloween II and she also had a role in the American remake of the Danish classic Love at First Hiccup, opposite Scout Taylor-Compton. Spencer starred in the feature film Herpes Boy, alongside Beth Grant, Ahna OReilly and she played the voice of Minny on the audio version of novel The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. Later that year, Spencers short film The Captain was honored by the CICFF as a finalist for the coveted REEL Poetry Award, in August 2010, Spencer joined Viola Davis, Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard in The Help, an adaptation of the novel. She played the feisty and unflappable Minny Jackson, the film was written, produced and directed by Tate Taylor, and produced by Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan, and Mark Radcliffe
36.
The Help
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The Help is a 2009 novel by American author Kathryn Stockett. The story is about black maids working in households in Jackson, Mississippi. A USA Today article called it one of the sleeper hits. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said of the book, This heartbreaking story is a stunning début from a gifted talent and it took her five years to complete and was rejected by 60 literary agents before agent Susan Ramer agreed to represent Stockett. The Help has since been published in 35 countries and three languages, as of August 2011, it had sold seven million copies in print and audiobook editions, and spent more than 100 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. The Helps audiobook version is narrated by Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer, Spencer was Stocketts original inspiration for the character of Minny, and also plays her in the film adaptation. The Help is set in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi, Aibileen is a maid who takes care of children and cleans. Her first job since her own 24-year-old son, Treelore, died from an accident on his job, is tending the Leefolt household and caring for their toddler, Mae Mobley. Minny is Aibileens friend who tells her employers what she thinks of them. Minnys most recent employer was Mrs. Walters, mother of Hilly Holbrook, Skeeter is the daughter of a white family who owns a cotton farm outside Jackson. Many of the hands and household help are African Americans. Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from the University of Mississippi, skeeters mother wants her to get married, and thinks her degree is just a pretty piece of paper. Skeeter is curious about the disappearance of Constantine, her maid who brought her up, Constantine had written to Skeeter while she was away from home in college saying what a great surprise she had awaiting her when she came home. Skeeters mother tells her that Constantine quit and went to live with relatives in Chicago, Skeeter does not believe that Constantine would leave her like this, she knows something is wrong and believes that information will eventually come out. Everyone Skeeter asks about the disappearance of Constantine pretends it never happened. The life Constantine led while being the help to the Phelan family leads Skeeter to the realization that her friends maids are treated differently from the way the white employees are treated. She decides that she wants to reveal the truth about being a maid in Mississippi. Skeeter struggles to communicate with the maids and gain their trust, the dangers of writing a book about African Americans speaking out in the South during the early 1960s hover constantly over the three women
37.
Anne Hathaway
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Anne Jacqueline Hathaway is an American actress and singer. Hathaway went on to become a widely praised role model for children for her roles in Nicholas Nickleby, Ella Enchanted, The Princess Diaries 2, Royal Engagement, and Hoodwinked. In 2011, Hathaway voiced Jewel in the animated film Rio and hosted the 83rd Academy Awards with James Franco, in 2012, she portrayed Catwoman in Christopher Nolans The Dark Knight Rises, for which she won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. The same year, she starred as Fantine in Tom Hoopers Les Misérables, which earned her acclaim and she won the Academy, Golden Globe, BAFTA. Hathaway has since gone on to appear in Rio 2, Interstellar, The Intern, People magazine named Hathaway one of its breakthrough stars of 2001, and she appeared on its list of the worlds 50 Most Beautiful People in 2006. Following a four-year relationship with real estate developer Raffaello Follieri, Hathaway married Adam Shulman in 2012, with whom she has one son, Hathaway was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, Gerald Thomas Hathaway, is a lawyer, and her mother, Kathleen played Fantine in the first U. S. tour of Les Misérables. When Hathaway was six years old, her moved to Millburn, New Jersey. Hathaway is the middle of three children with her brother, Michael and younger brother, Thomas. Kathleen is of Irish descent, and Gerald is of Irish, French, English, at the age of fifteen, her relationship with the Catholic Church changed, after learning that Michael was gay. She said, I realized my older brother was gay, and I couldnt support a religion that didnt support my brother, now I call myself a non-denominational Christian, because I havent found the religion for me. In 2009, she stated that her religious beliefs are a work in progress, Hathaway attended Brooklyn Heights Montessori School and Wyoming Elementary School in Millburn. Later, she appeared in plays, including Jane Eyre and Gigi at New Jerseys Paper Mill Playhouse, Hathaway studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and was the first teenager admitted into The Barrow Group Theater Companys acting program. Between 1998 and 1999, she sang soprano with the All-Eastern U. S, high School Honors Chorus at Carnegie Hall and in plays at Seton Hall Preparatory School in West Orange, New Jersey. She is a stage actress and stated that she prefers performing from stage to film roles. Her acting style has been compared to those of Judy Garland and she cites Garland as one of her favorite actresses and Meryl Streep as her idol. At the age of sixteen, three days after her performance at Carnegie Hall, Hathaway was cast in the short-lived Fox television series Get Real. She made her film debut The Princess Diaries, which is based on Meg Cabots 2000 novel of the same name, Hathaway auditioned for the role of a princess-to-be during a flight layover on the way to New Zealand and was cast on the strength of this one audition
38.
Fantine
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Fantine is a fictional character in Victor Hugos 1862 novel Les Misérables. She is a young orphaned grisette in Paris who becomes pregnant by a rich student, after he abandons her, she is forced to look after their child, Cosette, on her own. Originally a pretty and naïve girl, Fantine is eventually forced by circumstances to become a prostitute, selling her hair and front teeth, losing her beauty, the money she earns is sent to support her daughter. Fantine became an archetype of self-abnegation and devoted motherhood, possibly due to her status as an orphan, Hugo never labels her with a surname. She has been portrayed by actresses in stage and screen versions of the story and has been depicted in works of art. Hugo introduces Fantine as one of four beautiful girls attached to young and she was called Fantine because she had never been known by any other name. Hugo describes her as having gold and pearls for her dowry, but the gold was on her head and he elaborates, Fantine was beautiful, without being too conscious of it. She was beautiful in the two ways—style and rhythm, style is the form of the ideal, rhythm is its movement. Fantine is passionately in love with Félix Tholomyès, one of a quartet of students, one day, the four men invite their four lovers on an outing. They finish the day at a restaurant, only for the women to be abandoned by the men with a goodbye note, while the other three girls take it in good humor and laugh it off, Fantine later feels heartbroken. Tholomyès had fathered their illegitimate daughter Cosette, and Fantine is left to care for her alone, by the time Cosette is approximately three, Fantine arrives at Montfermeil and meets the Thénardiers who are owners of an inn. She asks them to care for Cosette when she sees their daughters Éponine and they agree to do so as long as she sends them money to provide for her. Fantines only will to live is keeping Cosette alive and she becomes a worker in Mayor Madeleines factory in her hometown of Montreuil-sur-Mer, and has a public letter-writer compose her letters to the Thénardiers for her because she is illiterate. However, she is unaware that the Thénardiers severely abuse Cosette and have forced her to be a slave for their inn and she is also unaware that the letters they send to her requesting financial help for Cosette are their own fraudulent way to extort money from her for themselves. Fantine is fired by a supervisor, Madame Victurnien, without the knowledge of the mayor. Fantine begins to work at home, earning twelve sous a day while Cosette’s lodging costs ten and her overworking causes her to become sick with a cough and fever. She also rarely goes out, fearing the disgrace she would face from the townspeople, the Thénardiers then send a letter stating they need ten francs so they can buy a woolen skirt for Cosette. To buy the skirt herself, Fantine has her hair cut off and she then says to herself My child is no longer cold, I have clothed her with my hair
39.
Jennifer Lawrence
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Jennifer Shrader Lawrence is an American actress. Since 2015, Lawrence has been the actress in the world. She appeared in Times 100 most influential people in the world in 2013 and Forbes Celebrity 100 the following year, during her childhood, Lawrence performed in church plays and school musicals. When she was 14, a talent scout spotted her in New York and she then moved to Los Angeles and began her acting career by playing guest roles in television shows. Her first major role came as a main cast member on the sitcom The Bill Engvall Show, Lawrence made her film debut with a supporting role in Garden Party, and had her breakthrough playing a poverty-stricken teenager in the independent drama Winters Bone. She achieved wider recognition for playing the mutant Mystique in X-Men, First Class, Lawrences fame continued to grow with her starring role as Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games film series, which established her as the highest-grossing action heroine of all time. She went on to earn various accolades from her collaborations with director David O. Russell and her performance as a depressed widow in the romance film Silver Linings Playbook received an Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the second youngest Best Actress Oscar winner. Lawrence subsequently won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for playing a wife in the black comedy American Hustle. She also received Golden Globe Awards for her roles in both of these films and for playing the eponymous inventor in the biopic Joy. Jennifer Shrader Lawrence was born on August 15,1990, in Indian Hills, Kentucky, to Gary, a worker, and Karen. She has two brothers, Ben and Blaine, and her mother brought her up to be tough like them. Lawrences mother did not allow her to play other girls in preschool as she deemed her too rough with them. The actress was educated at the Kammerer Middle School in Louisville and she did not enjoy her childhood due to hyperactivity and social anxiety, and considered herself a misfit among her peers. Lawrence says that her anxieties vanished when she performed on stage, a cheerleader at school, Lawrence also played softball, field hockey and basketball, which she played on a boys team that her father coached. She was fond of riding while growing up and frequently visited a local horse farm. She has a damaged coccyx from being thrown off a horse, the actress has said that she knew she would be famous from an early age. When her father worked from home, she performed for him, for the next few years, she continued to take parts in church plays and school musicals. During a family vacation to New York, when Lawrence was 14, Lawrences mother was not keen on allowing her to pursue an acting career, but briefly moved to the city to let her read for roles
40.
American Hustle
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American Hustle is a 2013 American black comedy-crime film directed by David O. Russell. It was written by Eric Warren Singer and Russell, inspired by the FBI ABSCAM operation of the late 1970s and early 1980s. It stars Christian Bale and Amy Adams as two con artists who are forced by an FBI agent to set up a sting operation on corrupt politicians, including the mayor of Camden. Jennifer Lawrence plays the wife of Bales character. Principal photography on the film began on March 8,2013, in Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts, American Hustle had its nationwide release in the United States on December 13,2013. It opened to acclaim from critics, who praised its writing. In 1978, con artists Irving Rosenfeld and Sydney Prosser have started a relationship and are working together, Sydney has improved Rosenfelds scams, posing as English aristocrat Lady Edith Greensly. Irving loves Sydney, though is hesitant to leave his unstable and histrionic wife Rosalyn, fearing he will contact with her son Danny. Rosalyn has also threatened to report Irving to the police if he leaves her, FBI agent Richie DiMaso catches Irving and Sydney in a loan scam, but offers to release them if Irving can line up four additional arrests. Richie believes Sydney is English but has proof that her claim of aristocracy is fraudulent, Sydney tells Irving she will manipulate Richie, distancing herself from Irving. Irving has a friend pretending to be a wealthy Arab sheikh looking for investments in America. Carmine seems to have a desire to help the areas economy. Richie devises a plan to make mayor Polito the target of an operation, despite the objections of Irving and of Richies boss. Sydney helps Richie manipulate an FBI secretary into making a wire transfer of $2,000,000. When Stoddards boss, Anthony Amado, hears of the operation, he praises Richies initiative, Carmine leaves their meeting when Richie presses him to accept a cash bribe. Irving convinces Carmine the sheikh is legitimate, expressing his dislike of Richie, Richie arranges for Carmine to meet the sheikh, and without consulting the others, has Mexican-American FBI agent Paco Hernandez play the sheikh, which displeases Irving. Carmine brings the sheikh to a party, explaining mobsters are there. Irving is surprised to hear that Mafia overlord Victor Tellegio, right-hand man to Meyer Lansky, is present, Mafia man Tellegio explains that the business needs the sheikh to become an American citizen and that Carmine will need to expedite the process
41.
Patricia Arquette
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Patricia Arquette is an American actress. She made her debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3. Arquettes Academy Award acceptance speech, which she used to bring female wage inequality to attention, on television, she played the character Allison DuBois—based on the author and medium Allison DuBois, who claims to have psychic abilities—in the supernatural drama series Medium. She received three Golden Globe nominations and two Emmy Award nominations, winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama in 2005, Arquette also appeared in the CSI franchise as Avery Ryan, the Deputy Director of the FBI, starring in CSI, Cyber. Arquette was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1968, the daughter of Lewis Arquette, an actor, and Brenda Olivia Mardi, through her father, Patricia is distantly related to explorer Meriwether Lewis. Arquettes father had converted from Catholicism to Islam and her fathers familys surname was originally Arcouet, and his paternal line was of French-Canadian descent. Her paternal grandfather was comedian Cliff Arquette, patricias siblings also became actors, Rosanna, Alexis, Richmond, and David Arquette. When she was a child, her parents offered to get her braces for her teeth, for a time her family lived on a commune in rural Bentonville, Virginia. She has said they became poorer the longer lived there. Their father was an alcoholic, and their mother violently abusive, when Arquette was seven, the family relocated to Chicago. They later settled in Los Angeles, California and she has described her father as a working actor, describing the range of his experience–in industrial films, commercials, voiceovers, etc. He was best known for his role as J. D. Pickett in the TV series The Waltons, before pursuing a career in acting, Arquette had wanted to be a midwife. She put this career prospect aside briefly in an attempt to gain acting jobs and she was cast to appear in the sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, The Dream Master, but she had to drop out due to pregnancy with her son Enzo. She also had to give up the role of Tralala in Last Exit to Brooklyn, in 1988, Arquette played the daughter of Tess Harper in Far North. In 1992, she won a CableACE Award for Best Lead Actress in a Mini-Series for her portrayal of a girl with epilepsy in Wildflower, directed by Diane Keaton. In her early career, Arquette received the most recognition for her role as Alabama Whitman, the film was a moderate success, although some critics were deterred by the graphic violence. In one scene, Arquette puts up a physical struggle in a fight which her character ultimately wins. Arquettes performance received unanimous praise from critics
42.
Boyhood (film)
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Boyhood is a 2014 American coming-of-age drama film, written and directed by Richard Linklater, and starring Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater, and Ethan Hawke. Filmed from 2002 to 2013, Boyhood depicts the childhood and adolescence of Mason Evans, Richard Linklaters daughter Lorelei plays Masons sister, Samantha. Production began in 2002 and finished in 2013, with Linklaters goal to make a film about growing up, the project began without a completed script, with only basic plot points and the ending written initially. Linklater developed the script throughout production, writing the next portion of the film after rewatching the previous years footage. Boyhood premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically on July 11,2014, the film also competed in the main competition section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, where Linklater won the Silver Bear for Best Director. The film was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, winning Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director and it also was nominated for five BAFTA awards, winning for Best Director and Best Film. Additionally, it was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Hawke and Best Supporting Actress for Arquette, in 2002, six-year-old Mason Evans, Jr. and his older sister Samantha live with their single mother Olivia in Texas. Mason overhears Olivia arguing with her boyfriend, saying she has no time due to parenting. In 2003, Olivia moves the family to Houston, so she can attend the University of Houston, complete her degree, in 2004, Masons father, Mason Sr. visits Houston and takes the children bowling. He promises to spend time with them. When he drops the kids off at home, he argues with Olivia while Mason, Olivia takes Mason to one of her classes, introducing him to her professor, Bill Welbrock, Mason sees them flirt. By 2005, Olivia and Bill have married and blended their two families, including Bills children from a previous marriage and they share experiences such as playing video games and attending a midnight release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Mason and Samantha are enrolled in the school as their step-siblings, where Mason meets and befriends a girl named Nicole. In 2006, Mason and Samantha bond with their father Mason Sr. as he takes them out for a day in Houston, culminating in a Houston Astros game and a sleepover at his house with his roommate Jimmy. Olivia continues her education and is supportive of Bills strict parenting style, which includes many chores for the kids. In 2007, Bill becomes abusive as alcoholism takes over his life, after Bill assaults Olivia and endangers the kids, Olivia moves the family to a friends house and files for divorce. In 2008, Mason Sr. learns that Samantha has a boyfriend and talks to her and he and Mason go camping at Pedernales Falls State Park and bond over the music of Wilco, Star Wars, and Masons blossoming interest in girls. Mason and Samantha have grown into their new lives in San Marcos, in 2009, Mason is bullied by other students at school and teased on a camping trip but starts receiving attention from girls
43.
Viola Davis
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Viola Davis is an American actress and producer. She is the black woman to be nominated for three Academy Awards, winning one, and is the only black actress or actor to win the Triple Crown of Acting. In 2012, she was listed by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. After graduating from the Juilliard School in 1993, Davis began her career on stage, in 2001, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Tonya in the original production of August Wilsons King Hedley II. Davis film breakthrough came in 2008 when her role in the drama Doubt earned her several nominations, including the Golden Globe, SAG. Greater success came to Davis in the 2010s and she won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role as Rose Maxson in the revival of August Wilsons play Fences. For her lead role as 1960s housemaid Aibeleen Clark in the comedy-drama The Help, she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress among others and her portrayal also won her two SAG Awards in 2015 and 2016. Davis and her husband, Julius Tennon, are the founders of the production company JuVee Productions, Davis has starred in their productions Lila & Eve and Custody. Davis was born in St. Matthews, South Carolina, at her grandparents house on the Singleton Plantation and she is the daughter of Mary Alice and Dan Davis, and is the second youngest of six children. Her father was a trainer and her mother was a maid. Her mother was also an activist during the Civil Rights Movement, at the age of two, Davis was taken to jail with her mother after she was arrested during a civil rights protest. Two months after she was born, her moved to Central Falls, Rhode Island, with Davis. She has described herself as having lived in poverty and dysfunction during her childhood. Davis is the cousin of actor Mike Colter, who is known for portraying the Marvel Comics character Luke Cage. Davis attended Central Falls High School, the alma mater to which she credits her love of stage acting with her involvement in the arts. As a teen, she was involved in the federal TRIO Upward Bound, when enrolled at the Young Peoples School for the Performing Arts in West Warwick, Rhode Island, Davis talent was recognized by a director at the program, Bernard Masterson. Following graduation from school, Davis studied at Rhode Island College, majoring in theater. She was awarded a doctorate in Fine Arts from the college in 2002
44.
Fences (film)
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Fences is a 2016 American drama film directed by and starring Denzel Washington and written by August Wilson, based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. In addition to Washington, the film also stars Viola Davis, Stephen Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson, principal photography on the film began on April 25,2016, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Hill District, and wrapped in mid-June 2016. Fences was released in the United States on December 16,2016, by Paramount Pictures, received positive reviews and it also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for Washington and a Best Supporting Actress win for Davis. In 1950s Pittsburgh, Troy Maxson lives with his wife Rose and their son Cory, Gabriel has since moved out, but still lives in the neighborhood, often getting in trouble with the law for his eccentric behavior, which includes religious fixations. In his adolescence, Troy left home from his abusive father, after killing a man during a robbery led him to prison, he met Bono and revealed himself to be a talented baseball player. He then played in the professional Negro Leagues, but he never made it to Major League Baseball, when Bono says that Troy was born too soon, Troy rejects this choice of words and insists that he was passed over due to the color of his skin. Having survived a bout of pneumonia in his youth, Troy claims to have done so by defeating the Grim Reaper in a fistfight. Rose later tells Troy that Cory is being scouted by a football team. Not only is he stung by his own lack of success in baseball and he tells Cory that he will not sign the permission documents. He does not want his son to fail as he did, Rose asks Troy to build a fence around their house, and Troy demands that Cory help him as punishment for Cory not doing his chores due to football practice. Troy and Cory clash over Corys ambitions to play college football, Troy achieves a promotion to driving the garbage truck, becoming the first African-American to do so in Pittsburgh, even though he cant read and doesnt have a drivers license. Bono finds out that Troy is cheating on Rose with Alberta, a woman he met at the local bar, the two then become estranged when Troy is assigned to a different neighborhood. Cory lashes out and throws his helmet at Troy, which Troy claims is the first of Corys three permitted offenses. When called to bail Gabriel out of jail for disturbing the peace, Troy unknowingly signs papers rerouting half of Gabriels pension to a psychiatric hospital, forcing Gabriel to be institutionalized. Troy brings his baby daughter Raynell home, and Rose decides to raise her as her own, Cory is considering enlisting in the United States Marine Corps after missing his opportunity to attend college. One day, when he returns home, an intoxicated Troy blocks his path, Troy gains the upper hand, grabs the bat from Cory, and drives him out of the house. Both energized and disoriented by his victory, Troy once again challenges the Reaper to come for him, six years later, Troy has died of a heart attack, and Cory, now a USMC corporal, returns home, but informs Rose he will not attend the funeral. Rose admits to loving Troy despite his flaws and pleads that Troy is still a part of him
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