1.
John Woo
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John Woo SBS is a Chinese-born Hong Kong film director, writer, and producer. He is the owner of Lion Rock Productions and he is considered a major influence on the action genre, known for his highly chaotic action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and frequent use of slow motion. Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard Boiled and his Hollywood films include the action films Hard Target and Broken Arrow, the sci-fi action thriller Face/Off and the action spy film Mission, Impossible II. He also created the comic series Seven Brothers, published by Virgin Comics, Woo cites his three favorite films as David Leans Lawrence of Arabia, Akira Kurosawas Seven Samurai and Jean-Pierre Melvilles Le Samouraï. Woo was born Wu Yu-Seng in Guangzhou, China, amidst the chaos of the Chinese Civil War at the end of October,1946, because of school age restrictions, his mother changed his birth date to 22 September 1948, which is what remains on his passport. The Christian Woo family, faced persecution during Mao Zedongs early anti-bourgeois purges after the communist revolution in China. Impoverished, the Woo family lived in the slums at Shek Kip Mei and his father was a teacher, though rendered unable to work by tuberculosis, and his mother was a manual laborer on construction sites. The family was rendered homeless by the big Shek Kip Mei fire of 1953, charitable donations from disaster relief efforts enabled the family to relocate, however, violent crime had by then become commonplace in Hong Kong housing projects. At age three he was diagnosed with a medical condition. Following surgery on his spine, he was unable to walk correctly until eight years old and his Christian background shows influences in his films. As a young boy, Woo had wanted to be a Christian minister and he later found a passion for movies influenced by the French New Wave especially Jean-Pierre Melville. Woo has said he was shy and had difficulty speaking, but found making movies a way to explore his feelings and thinking, the local cinema would prove a haven of retreat. Woo found respite in musical films, such as The Wizard of Oz, Woo married Annie Woo Ngau Chun-lung in 1976 and has three children. He has lived in the United States since 1993, in 1969, Woo was hired as a script supervisor at Cathay Studios. In 1971, he became an assistant director at Shaw Studios and his directorial debut in 1974 was the feature film The Young Dragons. In the Kung fu action genre, it was choreographed by Jackie Chan and featured dynamic camera-work, the film was picked up by Golden Harvest Studio where he went on to direct more martial arts films. He later had success as a director with Money Crazy. By the mid-1980s, Woo was experiencing occupational burnout, several of his films were commercial disappointments, and he felt a distinct lack of creative control
2.
Nicolas Cage
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Nicolas Kim Coppola, known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and producer. He has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and he earned his second Academy Award nomination for his performance as Charlie and Donald Kaufman in Adaptation. In 2002, he directed the film Sonny, for which he was nominated for Grand Special Prize at Deauville Film Festival, Cage owns the production company Saturn Films and has produced films such as Shadow of the Vampire and The Life of David Gale. He has also appeared in National Treasure, Lord of War, Bad Lieutenant, Port of Call New Orleans, Films such as Ghost Rider and Knowing were box office successes. Cage has been criticized in recent years for his choice of roles. However, he starred in The Croods and Joe, both of which were warmly received by critics. Cage was born in Long Beach, California, to August Coppola, a professor of literature, and Joy Vogelsang and he was raised in a Catholic family. His father was of Italian descent and his mothers ancestry was German and his paternal grandparents were composer Carmine Coppola and actress Italia Pennino, and his paternal great-grandparents were immigrants from Bernalda, Basilicata. Cages two brothers are New York radio personality Marc The Cope Coppola and director Christopher Coppola and he attended Beverly Hills High School, which is known for its many alumni who became entertainers. He aspired to act from an age and also attended UCLA School of Theater, Film. His first non-cinematic acting experience was in a production of Golden Boy. He cites James Dean as the key inspiration for his career, saying, I saw him in Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden. Nothing affected me—no rock song, no classical music—the way Dean affected me in Eden, I was like, Thats what I want to do. To avoid the appearance of nepotism as the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, he changed his name early in his career to Nicolas Cage, inspired in part by the Marvel Comics superhero Luke Cage. Since his film debut with a role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, opposite Judge Reinhold and Sean Penn, Cage has appeared in a wide range of films. He auditioned for the role of Dallas Winston in his uncles film The Outsiders, hintons novel, but lost to Matt Dillon. He was also in Coppolas films Rumble Fish and Peggy Sue Got Married, Cage has been nominated twice for an Academy Award, winning once for his performance as a suicidal alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas. His other nomination was for his portrayal of real-life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, despite these successes, most of his lower-profile films have performed poorly at the box office compared to his mainstream action/adventure roles
3.
Adam Beach
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Adam Beach is a Saulteaux actor. He starred in the Canadian 2012-2014 series Arctic Air, and played Slipknot in the 2016 film Suicide Squad, adam Beach was born in Ashern, Manitoba. His ancestry is mainly First Nations but he also has some Icelandic roots through his great-grandmother, as a member of the Saulteaux First Nations, Beach lived in his early years with his parents and two brothers on the Lake Manitoba/Dog Creek First Nation Reserve at Lake Manitoba. When Beach was eight years old, his mother, Sally Beach, eight weeks after his mothers death, the family discovered Adams father, Dennis, drowned near the community. It is unclear whether Denniss death was an accident or if he committed suicide, adam and his two brothers initially lived with their grandmother, he was with her from ages 8 to 12. Five years after their parents deaths, the three brothers were taken to Winnipeg to live with an aunt and paternal uncle, Agnes, adam refers to his Uncle Chris as Dad. Beach attended a class at Gordon Bell High School. He began performing in theatre productions, and eventually dropped out of school to take a lead role at the Manitoba Theatre for Young People. At age 18, Beach won a role in the miniseries Lost in the Barrens. In the following years, he continued to work in theatre and guest-starred on television shows like Walker, Texas Ranger. Shortly afterwards, Beach was cast as a regular on the television shows North of 60, after his performance in Dance Me Outside, he starred in Smoke Signals, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. He took a role in Disneys Mystery, Alaska in 1999 and in 2000 accepted a role in the thriller. Beach appeared in Helen Lees The Art of Woo and the 2001 hit Joe Dirt as Kickin Wing, the producers of Joe Dirt had originally wanted to hire Evan Adams for the parody of his character in Smoke Signals, but accidentally called Beach instead. In 2002, Windtalkers, starring Beach, was released in theatres, to prepare for this role, Beach spent six months learning the Navajo language. He used this language in his project, Skinwalkers, directed by Chris Eyre. Between large-scale projects, Beach made small appearances on such shows as JAG. Also, in 2003, he returned to the character that he first portrayed in Skinwalkers in the movie Coyote Waits and he also made a guest appearance in the hit show The Dead Zone as a Native shaman. In 2006, Beach portrayed Ira Hayes in Clint Eastwoods feature film Flags of Our Fathers, during the filming of this movie, both Beachs grandmother and his best friend died
4.
Peter Stormare
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Rolf Peter Ingvar Storm, known professionally as Peter Stormare, is a Swedish actor, voice actor, theatre director, playwright, and musician. He played Gaear Grimsrud in the 1996 film Fargo, John Abruzzi in the Fox series Prison Break, Stormare was born in Kumla, Sweden and grew up in Arbrå. He changed his surname when he discovered that he shared it with a student at an acting academy. Like storm, stormare is a Swedish word, meaning stormer, before settling on Stormare, he briefly contemplated changing his name to Mrots Retep, which is simply Peter Storm backwards. Stormare began his career with the Royal Dramatic Theatre, to which he belonged for 11 years, in 1990, he took a leading position as Associate Artistic Director at the Tokyo Globe Theatre and made a name for himself through various Shakespeare performances, including Hamlet. Three years later, he moved to New York City and mainly took part there in English language productions and he played Carl Hamilton, a fictional Swedish secret agent. He was discovered by international audiences for his acclaimed role as one of the kidnappers in Fargo. He portrayed Dieter Stark in the 1997 film The Lost World, Jurassic Park and later played sleazy, in 1998, he appeared in The Frogger, a Seinfeld episode where he played a rogue electrician known as Slippery Pete. He portrayed Uli Kunkel in the 1998 film The Big Lebowski, as well as playing Lev Andropov, in 1999, he appeared as a villainous producer and director of hardcore porn in the film 8mm. He also portrayed Gunny in the 2002 film Windtalkers and Alexei in the 2003 film Bad Boys II, in 2003, he played Ernst Röhm in Hitler, The Rise of Evil. In the 2005 film Constantine, he played Lucifer and he played the torturer Cavaldi in the 2005 film The Brothers Grimm. His first major character in television was on the Fox series Prison Break in 2005 for the first two seasons, where he played the inmate mob boss John Abruzzi and he was originally cast in Fido, but opted out of the film upon being cast in Prison Break. Stormare voiced Mattias Nilsson in the video games Mercenaries, Playground of Destruction and Mercenaries 2, World in Flames, Isair in the computer game Icewind Dale 2, in February 2006, he starred as Wolfgang in Volkswagens VDub series of television commercials. He played the character in the film Svartvattnet, which was filmed in Sweden. He was offered a role in the ABC television series Lost for a period of one year, in the 2007 film Premonition, he played Dr. Roth. In April 2007, he appeared in the CSI, Crime Scene Investigation episode Ending Happy, in December 2007, Stormare participated in the Swedish reality show Stjärnorna på slottet. He appears in the video game Command & Conquer, Red Alert 3 as Dr. Zelinsky and he starred as Walter in the Canadian independent crime thriller Small Town Murder Songs. He appeared in the video of the song Uprising by the Swedish power metal band Sabaton
5.
Noah Emmerich
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Noah Nicholas Emmerich is an American film actor who first broke out in the film Beautiful Girls. He was later seen in the movies The Truman Show, Cop Land, Frequency, Love & Sex, Windtalkers, Miracle, Super 8 and he currently stars as FBI Agent Stan Beeman on the FX series The Americans. Emmerich was born to a Jewish family, on February 27,1965 in New York City and his mother, Constance, is a concert pianist, and his father, André Emmerich, was a gallery owner and art dealer, who was born in Frankfurt, Germany. He studied the Meisner technique of acting privately under Ron Stetston and he is a graduate of Yale University, where he majored in History. He sang in the Yale Spizzwinks an a cappella singing group, Emmerich starred in the film Beautiful Girls, which was his first starring role and earned him positive reviews from audiences and critics. He then went on to have supporting roles in movies as The Truman Show, Life. In the 2000s, Emmerich began to star in dramatic films, such as Julie Johnson, Beyond Borders, Little Children, Pride and Glory. He played the main antagonist, Colonel Nelec, in J. J, abramss film Super 8, which earned positive reviews from critics and was a box office success. In 2016 Emmerich portrayed Bill Hammond in the western Jane Got a Gun, Emmerich started his career doing guest roles in television series such as NYPD Blue and Melrose Place. Beginning in the 2000s Emmerich began to more prominent guest roles on television series such as Monk, White Collar and The Walking Dead. His most notable role in a series, is as FBI Agent Stan Beeman, on the FX series. The series has earned positive reviews critics and Emmerich earned a Critics Choice Award nomination for his performance. The series was renewed for a sixth and final season, Emmerich made his directorial debut on the season 3 episode of the series, entitled Walter Taffet. He again directed episode 5 of season four, Emmerich was married to actress Melissa Fitzgerald from 1998 to 2003. On April 26,2014, Emmerich married actress and producer Mary Regency Boies at the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York and he lives in Greenwich Village in New York City. Noah Emmerich at the Internet Movie Database @NoahEmmerich at Twitter
6.
Mark Ruffalo
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Mark Alan Ruffalo is an American actor, humanitarian, social activist and film producer. He made his debut in an episode of CBS Summer Playhouse. He was part of the original cast of This Is Our Youth, following were his roles in 13 Going on 30, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Zodiac, and What Doesnt Kill You. In 2010, he starred in the psychological thriller Shutter Island, for the latter, he received nominations for the SAG Award, BAFTA Award, and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also co-starred in the mystery films Now You See Me, Ruffalo gained international prominence by portraying the Marvel Comics character the Hulk in The Avengers and Avengers, Age of Ultron. The same year, he portrayed Dave Schultz in Foxcatcher, for which he was nominated for awards, including a Golden Globe, Ruffalo was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His mother, Marie Rose, is a hairdresser and stylist and he has two sisters, Tania and Nicole, and a brother, Scott. His father is of Italian descent, from Girifalco, and his mother is of half French Canadian, Ruffalo attended both Catholic school and progressive schools. Ruffalo has described himself as having been a kid, although he struggled from undiagnosed dyslexia and ADD as a child. Ruffalo spent his teen years in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where his father worked and he competed in wrestling in junior high and high school in Wisconsin and Virginia. With the Orpheus Theatre Company, he wrote, directed, and starred in a number of plays, Ruffalo had minor roles in films like The Dentist, the low-key crime comedy Safe Men and Ang Lees Civil War Western Ride with the Devil. He appeared opposite Tom Cruise as a detective in Michael Manns crime-thriller Collateral. In the mid 2000s, Ruffalo appeared as a lead in View From the Top,13 Going on 30, Just Like Heaven. In 2006, Ruffalo starred in Clifford Odets Awake and Sing. at the Belasco Theatre in New York, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. In March 2007, he appeared in Zodiac as SFPD homicide inspector Dave Toschi, in 2007, Ruffalo played divorced lawyer Dwight Arno, who accidentally kills a child and speeds away, in Terry Georges film Reservation Road, based on the novel by John Burnham Schwartz. In 2008, Ruffalo starred as a con man in The Brothers Bloom with Adrien Brody and Rachel Weisz,2008 also saw Ruffalo in Brian Goodmans What Doesnt Kill You with Ethan Hawke and Amanda Peet, which was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2009, he played a role in the film Where The Wild Things Are as Maxs mothers boyfriend. In 2010, he co-starred in the Martin Scorsese thriller Shutter Island as U. S, marshal Chuck Aule, the partner of Leonardo DiCaprios character Teddy Daniels
7.
Christian Slater
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Christian Michael Leonard Slater is an American actor and producer. He made his debut with a leading role in the 1985 film The Legend of Billie Jean. He played an apprentice alongside Sean Connery in The Name of the Rose. In the 1990s, Slater starred in big budget films, including Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, Interview with the Vampire, FernGully, The Last Rainforest, Broken Arrow. He was also featured in the cult film True Romance, since 2000, Slater has combined work in the film business with television, including appearances in The West Wing and Alias and starring in Breaking In and Mind Games. Slater was born in New York City, the son of Michael Hawkins, an actor known as Michael Gainsborough, and Mary Jo Slater. Slater has a maternal half-brother, Ryan Slater, who is also an actor and his great-uncle was radio personality Bill Slater. Although he played her characters brother in the movie The Legend of Billie Jean. He attended the Dalton School, the Professional Childrens School and the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, Slaters first television role was on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live when he was 8 years old. Following a run on Ryans Hope, he made his Broadway debut as the lisping Winthrop Paroo opposite Dick Van Dyke in the 1980 revival of The Music Man, additional Broadway credits include Copperfield, Merlin, Macbeth, Side Man, and The Glass Menagerie. In addition he has performed in Londons West End in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Slater made his big screen debut in 1985s The Legend of Billie Jean playing Billie Jean’s brother Binx. Though expected to be a big hit, the film fell short at the box office and his career improved with his role in The Name of the Rose alongside Sean Connery. Slater played Connerys apprentice monk while they investigated a series of murders at a Benedictine abbey, Slater followed this by playing Junior Tucker in Francis Ford Coppolas Tucker, The Man and His Dream, Gleaming the Cube and Beyond the Stars. Slaters career rose to new heights when he played the dark character J. D. in the 1989 film Heathers alongside Winona Ryder, Heathers was billed as the teen film of the late 1980s. Slater beat out other actors such as Brad Pitt for the part. In 1991, Slater was cast as Will Scarlett in the Hollywood big budget production of Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves alongside Kevin Costner, the film was a commercial success, taking US$390 million worldwide, and Slater became one of the major A-list stars of the 1990s. With Slater being a big Star Trek fan, he accepted a role in Star Trek VI, The Undiscovered Country. The following year he starred in Kuffs, in his review of True Romance Roger Ebert awarded the movie 3 stars out of 4 and commented, the energy and style of the movie are exhilarating
8.
James Horner
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James Roy Horner was an American composer, conductor and orchestrator of film scores. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for his frequent use of motifs associated with Celtic music. His first major film score was for the 1979 film The Lady in Red, but did not establish himself as a mainstream composer until he worked on the 1982 film Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan. Horner composed music for over 100 films, he won two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, three Satellite Awards, and three Saturn Awards, and was nominated for three British Academy Film Awards. Horner was killed in a single-fatality crash of his Short Tucano turboprop aircraft at the age of 61, Horner was born in 1953 in Los Angeles, California, to Jewish immigrants. His father, Harry Horner, was born in Holíč, then a part of Austria-Hungary and he immigrated to the United States in 1935 and worked as a set designer and art director. His mother, Joan Ruth, was born into a prominent Canadian family, Horners brother Christopher is a writer and documentary filmmaker. James Horner started playing piano at the age of five and his early years were spent in London, where he attended the Royal College of Music. He returned to America, where he attended Verde Valley School in Sedona, Arizona, after he earned a masters degree, he started work on his doctorate at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied with Paul Chihara, among others. After several scoring assignments with the American Film Institute in the 1970s, he finished teaching a course in theory at UCLA. Horner was also a pilot, and owned several small airplanes. Horner began his career scoring films by working for B film director, Horners first composer credit was for Cormans Battle Beyond the Stars. From there, his works gained notice in Hollywood, which enabled him to take on larger projects, One of his first major film scores was for the 1979 film The Lady in Red. Horners major breakthrough came in 1982, when he had the chance to score the music to Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan, Horner continued composing music for high-profile releases during the 1980s, including 48 Hrs. Krull, Star Trek III, The Search for Spock, Commando, Cocoon, Aliens, *batteries not included, Willow, Glory and he frequently collaborated with film director Ron Howard, a partnership that began with Cocoon in 1985. Aliens earned Horner his first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score in 1987, somewhere Out There, which he co-composed and co-wrote with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil for An American Tail, was also nominated that year for Best Original Song. A Dinosaurs Story, The Pagemaster, and Casper, Jumanji, and Balto, Mighty Joe Young, Horners biggest financial and critical success would come with the score to the 1997 film Titanic. The album became the best-selling primarily orchestral soundtrack in history, selling over 27 million copies worldwide, at the 70th Academy Awards, Horner won Oscars for Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Original Song for My Heart Will Go On
