Carmen Ejogo

 

Birthday: 1974, London, England, UK

Height: Height Not Available

Biography

Carmen Ejogo grew up in London. She began her acting career in the UK working with directors such as Micheal Winterbottom and Kenneth Brannagh. She broke through to international acclaim in 1997, as Eddie Murphy's on screen paramour in the the movie Metro. Later, Ejogo disclosed the full extent of her dramatic range with a skilled portrayal of Sally Hemings - Thomas Jefferson's mistress - in the acclaimed television miniseries Sally Hemings: An American Scandal (2000). She has since worked on numerous movies the US, and has done exemplary supporting work in such pictures as 

Born and raised in London, Ejogo is the daughter of Charles and Elizabeth Ejogo née Douglas.^[3] Her father was Nigerian and her mother was Scottish.^[4] During her childhood, Ejogo remembers her mother as being "a bit of a hippie".^[5] Her younger brother is also named Charles Ejogo.^[6][7] She attended the Oratory Primary Roman Catholic primary school in Chelsea until 1984.

Ejogo's television career began in the UK in the early 1990s, where she presented the children's series Saturday Disney. Subsequently, she has had an acting career in the US. She has appeared in Metro with Eddie Murphy, What's the Worst That Could Happen? with Martin Lawrence, and Love's Labour's Lost with Kenneth Branagh, among other films, and also presented The Carmen Ejogo Video Show — her own video show on BSB's Power Station channel. She starred as Thomas Jefferson's slave mistress in the television drama Sally Hemmings: An American Scandal and also as Sister Anderson in the remake version of the cult classic original film Sparkle. Although the film has received mixed reviews, Ejogo has received significant acclaim for her performance, being cited by many critics as the breakout star of the film. Liz Smith, of the Huffington Post wrote: "As for Carmen Ejogo, as the cynical Sister, she is mind-blowing. "What a performance! Carmen has been around for a while, and has a fanatical fan base. Now I know why. If this turn doesn't cop her an Oscar nomination, there is no justice"; Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle also went as far as to suggest in his review that Ejogo's performance might place her under serious consideration for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. LaSalle comments: "...very few people will walk out of Sparkle talking about either Sparks or Houston, at least not at first. Instead they will be saying, "Who was that?" And they'll be referring to Carmen Ejogo...If there is any justice, Ejogo will become very famous very soon. As in, maybe today...It's rare to see someone become a movie star right before your eyes, but that's what happens with Ejogo in Sparkle....For an actress, this was the opportunity of a lifetime, and Ejogo plays it that way. She leaves nothing out, holds nothing back."

Music

Ejogo is also a vocalist, having collaborated with several artists in the 1990s. She wrote and sang lead vocals on the song "Candles" by English drum 'n' bass DJ Alex Reece — she appeared in the music video and is listed in the production credits as 'Carmen'.

Aside from "Candles", Ejogo appears on four songs of the Sparkle original soundtrack album from the movie of the same name, singing lead on "Yes I Do" (as a solo), and co-lead vocals with Jordin Sparks and Tika Sumpter on "Jump", "Hooked On Your Love" and "Something He Can Feel".

Personal life

Ejogo has been married since August 2000 to American actor Jeffrey Wright, whom she met while they were making the HBO film Boycott. They live in Brooklyn, New York,^[5] and have two children.^[8]

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1986	Absolute Beginners	Carmen	Director: Julien Temple
1997	Metro	Ronnie Tate	Director: Thomas Carter
1998	I Want You	Amber	Director: Michael Winterbottom
	The Avengers	Brenda	Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
2000	Love's Labour's Lost	Maria	Director: Kenneth Branagh
2001	Perfume	Chloe	Directors: Michael Rymer & Hunter Carson
	What's the Worst That Could Happen?	Amber Belhaven	Director: Sam Weisman
2004	Noel	Dr. Matthew Batiste	Director: Chazz Palminteri
2007	The Brave One	Jackie	Director: Neil Jordan
2008	Pride and Glory	Tasha	Director: Gavin O'Connor
2009	Away We Go	Grace De Tessant	Director: Sam Mendes
2012	Sparkle	Tammy "Sister" Anderson	Director: Salim Akil
	Alex Cross	Maria Cross	Director: Rob Cohen
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Cold Lazarus	Blinda	Director: Renny Rye
1998	Catherine Cookson's Colour Blind	Rose Angela	Director: Alan Grint
	Tube Tales	Girl in "Steal Away"	Director: Charles McDougall
2000	Sally Hemings: An American Scandal	Sally Hemings	Director: Charles Haid
2001	Boycott	Coretta Scott King	Director: Clark Johnson
2005	Lackawanna Blues	Alean	Director: George C. Wolfe
2006–2007	Kidnapped	Turner	Directors: Various
2007	M.O.N.Y.	Francine Tyson	Director: Spike Lee
2008	Law & Order (Episode: "Burn Card")	April Lannen	Director: Mario Van Peebles
2011	CHAOS	Fay Carson	Directors: Various
2013	Zero Hour	Rebecca 'Beck' Riley	Director: Pierre Morel

 

Carla Gugino

Birthday: 29 August 1971, Sarasota, Florida, USA

Height: 5' 5" (1.65 m)

 

Biography

Carla was born in Sarasota, Florida. Moved with her mother to Paradise, California, when Carla was just five years old. During her childhood, they moved many times within the state. But she remained a straight-A student throughout high school and graduated as valedictorian. A major modeling agency discovered Carla in San Diego and sent her to New York to begin a new career when she was 15. New York was more than she could handle at that young age, so she returned to LA in the summer, modeling and enrolling in an acting class at the suggestion of her aunt, Carol Merrill, known from "Let's Make a Deal" (1963). During her free 

Gugino was born in Sarasota, Florida, to Carl Gugino, an orthodontist of Italian descent,^[1] and a mother of English-Irish descent^[2] described as "Bohemian".^[3] Her parents separated when she was two,^[4] after which she traveled between her father and half-brother Carl Jr.'s home in Sarasota, and her Paradise, California home, to which her mother moved her when she was four. She has described her bicoastal childhood, saying, "I lived in a tepee in Northern California and a van in Big Sur. With my dad, I lived in a beautiful house with a swimming pool and a tennis court and went to Europe for the summers. So I feel like I lived two childhoods." She worked as a teenage fashion model, and took acting classes at the suggestion of her aunt, former Let's Make a Deal spokesmodel Carol Merrill.^[3] She eventually came to support herself, and with her parents' support, was legally emancipated by the time she was 16

Gugino's television work during the late 1980s and early 1990s included appearances on Saved by the Bell, Who's the Boss?, ALF, Doogie Howser, M.D., The Wonder Years and a recurring role on Falcon Crest.

In film, Gugino appeared the Shelley Long film, Troop Beverly Hills and co-starred with Pauly Shore in the 1993 romantic comedy Son in Law. She later appeared in the video to Bon Jovi's 1994 song "Always".

After playing Michael J. Fox's love interest, Ashley Schaeffer, during the first season of the sitcom Spin City in 1996, Gugino starred with Nicolas Cage in Brian De Palma's Snake Eyes, and in Judas Kiss, which she also co-produced. She appeared as Dr. Gina Simon during the 1999–2000 final season of Chicago Hope.

Gugino Giving an Interview to CNN 2011

In 2001, she appeared as family matriarch Ingrid Cortez in the first Spy Kids film (as well as the film's two sequels in 2002 and 2003). That same year she appeared as Jet Li's love interest in the martial arts action thriller The One.

She starred in two short-lived TV series: ABC's Elmore Leonard crime drama Karen Sisco in 2003, and CBS's science fiction series Threshold in 2005. That same year, Gugino appeared as Lucille in the feature film adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel, Sin City. The following year, she appeared in the movie Night at the Museum.

Gugino appeared in the Roundabout Theatre Company play After the Fall opposite Six Feet Under's Peter Krause. In late 2006, she appeared in an Off-Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer opposite Blythe Danner.^[5]

Gugino appeared as Amanda, Vincent Chase's agent, in a dozen episodes of the cable television series Entourage.^[6] Gugino appeared nude in the May 2007 issue of Allure.^[7] That same year she appeared in the feature film American Gangster. The following year, she played the female lead in the thriller Righteous Kill, opposite Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.

Gugino starred in Chicago's Goodman Theater production of Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms from January 17 to February 17, 2009, in the role of Abby. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times praised Gugino's performance, saying, "Ms. Gugino displays a depth and range of expression that I cannot imagine any other actress achieving with such blazing honesty and wrenching truth. She is simply magnificent."^[8] During the first three months of 2009, three feature films premiered featuring Gugino: the thriller The Unborn, the film Watchmen, in which she played Sally Jupiter,^[9] and the adventure remake Race to Witch Mountain, in which she starred opposite Dwayne Johnson. That April, she received an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination^[10] for Outstanding Actress In a Play for her performance in Desire Under the Elms. Later in November of that year, she appeared as a pornographic actress in the comedy film Women in Trouble, which spawned a sequel in 2010, Elektra Luxx, titled after her character.

In 2011, Gugino appeared as Madame Vera Gorsky in Zack Snyder's action-fantasy film Sucker Punch alongside Abbie Cornish and Emily Browning. Gugino sang a duet with co-star Oscar Isaac, which appeared in the end credits and in the film's soundtrack. She also played Henry "Hank" Moody's attorney and love-interest for the 4th season of Californication on Showtime.

In the summer of 2012 Gugino had a lead role as Susan Berg, a Washington D.C. investigative reporter, on the USA Network's miniseries Political Animals.

Personal life

Gugino is a life and film partner with American film director, screenwriter and film producer Josh Adams. They met as actors in the 1996 film Wedding Bell Blues, and she has appeared in ten other films and television series that he has written or directed since then.

 

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1989	Troop Beverly Hills	Chica Barnfell
1990	Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael	Young Roxy
1993	This Boy's Life	Norma Hansen
	Red Hot	Valentina
	Son in Law	Rebecca ' Becca' Warner
1995	Miami Rhapsody	Leslie Marcus
1996	Jaded	Megan 'Meg' Harris
	Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco	Delilah	Voice Role
	The War at Home	Melissa
	Wedding Bell Blues	Violet
	Michael	Bride
1997	Lovelife	Amy
1998	Snake Eyes	Julia Costello
	Judas Kiss	Coco Chavez
2001	Spy Kids	Ingrid Cortez
	The Center of the World	Jerri
	The Jimmy Show	Annie
	The One	T. K. Law/Massie Walsh
2002	Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams	Ingrid Cortez
2003	The Singing Detective	Betty Dark/Hooker
	Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over	Ingrid Cortez
2005	The Life Coach	Carla
	Sin City	Lucille
2006	Even Money	Veronica
	Night at the Museum	Rebecca Hutman
2007	The Lookout	Janet
	Rise: Blood Hunter	Eve
	American Gangster	Laurie Roberts
2008	Righteous Kill	Det. Karen Corelli
2009	The Unborn	Janet Beldon
	Sparks	Robin	Short film
	Watchmen	Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre
	Race to Witch Mountain	Dr. Alex Friedman
	Women in Trouble	Elektra Luxx
	Under the Hood	Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre	Direct-to-Video Release
2010	The Mighty Macs	Cathy Rush
	Elektra Luxx	Elektra Luxx
	Every Day	Robin
	Faster	Cicero
2011	I Melt With You	Laura
	Girl Walks Into a Bar	Francine Driver
	Sucker Punch	Dr. Vera Gorski
	Mr. Popper's Penguins	Amanda
	New Year's Eve	Dr. Morriset
2012	Hotel Noir	Hanna Click
2013	By Virtue Fall	Actress
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Who's the Boss?	Jane	Episode: "Prom Night II"
	Good Morning, Miss Bliss	Karen	Episode: "Summer Love"
1989	ALF	Laura	Episode: "Standing in the Shadows of Love"
	Saved by the Bell	Karen	Episode: 1.1 Pilot
1989 – 1990	Falcon Crest	Sydney St. James	11 episodes
1990	Ferris Bueller	Ann Peyson	Episode: "Stand-In Deliver"
1991	Doogie Howser, M.D.	Sara Newman	Episode: "Planet of the Dateless"
	The Wonder Years	Sandy Tyler	Episode: "Triangle"
1992	Murder Without Motive: The Edmund Perry Story	Allison Connors	TV-Movie Alternative title: "Best Intentions"
	Quantum Leap	Michelle Temple Cutter	Episode: "Ghost Ship"
	Davis Rules	Kathi	Episode: "A Father Makes All the Difference", Episode: "Someone to Watch Over Them"
	A Private Matter	Mary Beth	TV-Movie Alternative title: "Miss Sherri"
1994	Motorcycle Gang	Leann	TV-Movie
1995	The Buccaneers	Nan St. George	Miniseries
1996, 1998	Spin City	Ashley Schaeffer	12 episodes
1998	Alexandria Hotel
1999	A Season for Miracles	Emilie Thompson	Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie
1999 – 2000	Chicago Hope	Dr. Gina Simon	23 episodes
2001	Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature	Lily	TV-Movie Alternative title: "She Creature"
2003 – 2004	Karen Sisco	Karen Sisco	10 episodes
2005 – 2006	Threshold	Dr. Molly Anne Caffrey	13 episodes
2007 – 2010	Entourage	Amanda Daniels	10 episodes
2010	Californication	Abby	Season 4 Episodes 1 – 12
2011	Hide	Warren	TV-Movie
2012	Justified	Karen Goodall	Season 3 Episode 2
	Political Animals	Susan Berg	6 episodes
	New Girl[11]	Emma	3 episodes

 

Awards and nominations

 

In 2009, Gugino was honored by the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). During the Foundation's 34th Anniversary Gala in Washington, D.C., she received NIAF's Special Achievement Award for Entertainment, presented by her close friend, actress Connie Britton.^[12]

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1999	Blockbuster Entertainment Award	Favorite Supporting Actress in a Suspense	Snake Eyes	Nominated[13]
2008	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	American Gangster	Nominated[14]

Cara Santa Maria

Birthday: 19 October 1982, Texas, USA

Cara Louise Santa Maria (born October 19, 1983)^[1] is an American neuroscience enthusiast and science educator. She is the senior science correspondent and host of the "Talk Nerdy to Me" series for The Huffington Post.^[2][3]

Santa Maria is a native of North Texas and is a 2001 graduate of Plano East Senior High School. She is from a Mormon family although she is atheist herself ^[4] and of mixed Italian and Puerto Rican descent.^{[5] [6]}

From 2009 to 2011, Cara Santa Maria dated television host and political commentator Bill Maher.^[7]

Santa Maria has been a frequent panelist on The Point, a spin-off talk show of The Young Turks^[8] and an occasional host of The Young Turks itself.^[9]

 

After graduating with her masters degree in neuroscience, Cara enrolled in a doctoral program but dropped out shortly thereafter.

 

Candace Kroslak

 

Birthday: 22 July 1978, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Height: 5' 9" (1.75 m) 

 

Candace Kaye Kroslak (born Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, July 22, 1978) is an American actress of Slovak descent, probably best known for her role as Lindy Maddock in the Swedish-American soap opera Ocean Ave.

Before Ocean Ave., Candace appeared in the movies Demonicus, Planet of the Apes and Soul Survivors. In the last few years she has had guest roles on such television series as CSI: Miami, What About Brian, Shark, Las Vegas, How I Met Your Mother and Scrubs.

Most recently, she played Brandy in the 2006 direct to video movie American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile.

She also appeared on the cover of the April 2011 issue of Runner's World magazine.

Filmography

• Wild On! (1 episode, "Sex on South Beach", 1998) .... Host
• City Guys (1 episode, "Who Da Man?", 2000) .... Cute Girl
• Demonicus (2001) .... Theresa
• Planet of the Apes (2001) .... Friend At Leo's Party
• Soul Survivors (2001) .... Cool Blond (as Candace Kaye Kroslak)
• Ocean Ave. (122 episodes, 2002–2003) .... Lindy Madcock
• Casting Ripe Live (2005) .... Herself - Host
• Let Go (television pilot) (2006) .... Julie
• CSI: Miami (1 episode, "Skeletons", 2006) .... Nicole
• What About Brian (1 episode, "Two in Twenty-So hot Four", 2006) .... Bike Messenger
• Shark (1 episode, "Russo", 2006) .... Hot Date
• How I Met Your Mother (1 episode, "Slap Bet", 2006) .... Girl #1
• American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile (V) .... Brandy
• Las Vegas (1 episode, "White Christmas", 2006) .... Hot Chick #1
• Rules of Engagement (2 episodes, "Pilot" (uncredited) and "Young and the Restless", 2007) .... Beth
• Scrubs (1 episode, "My No Good Reason", 2007) .... Kristin Fisher
• Knight Rider (1 episode, "Knight of the Zodiac", 2008) .... Aquarius
• Take Me Home Tonight (2011) .... Ally hi cheese

Camilla Luddington

 

Birthday: 15 December 1983, UK

Height: 5' 6" (1.68 m)

Biography

Camilla Luddington was born and raised in Ascot, Berkshire, in England. She attended the American School In England, in Thorpe, Surrey. She has two brothers and a younger sister.

She has since worked mainly in the USA, and appeared in small roles in several high profile TV shows before rising to prominence as Catherine Middleton in the Lifetime TV movie, William & Kate (2011) (TV). She went on to appear in "Californication" (2007) and "True Blood" (2008). As of the 9th season, Luddington has been a guest 

Originally from Berkshire, Luddington was educated at an all-girls school in Ascot, Berkshire. She later attended the American School in England at Thorpe in Surrey. She also lived in Texas for a year when she was a child, learning to speak with an American accent. She has two brothers, Daniel and Joey, and a younger sister, Amy. As a child, she was obsessed with the Ricki Lake Show and dressed her younger brother and sister up to play a couple in an abusive relationship.^[1] Her mother died and her father's name is Martin.

When she was nineteen she entered a university in Pennsylvania. She moved to New York City, then Los Angeles.

Television

Luddington has worked mainly in the United States.^[2][3] In February 2011, the Daily Mail described her as "on the path to fame and fortune after being cast as Kate Middleton in a planned movie about the royal wedding".^[4]

Luddington joined the cast of the Showtime series Californication for its fifth season, playing a nanny.^[5] She also joined the cast of the fifth season of the HBO vampire drama True Blood, as Claudette Crane, a faerie.^[6]

In July 2012, Luddington joined the cast of the television show Grey's Anatomy as Dr. Jo Wilson in a recurring role. ^[7]

 

Tomb Raider

In June 2012, Crystal Dynamics confirmed Luddington would voice Lara Croft in the upcoming video game, Tomb Raider. ^[8] Luddington originally went into the audition for Lara thinking she was auditioning for a project called "Krypted" with a character called Sara. She had three auditions. She wore shorts and boots to her first Tomb Raider audition before she knew what it was because the character reminded her of Lara Croft. She screamed in her car when she found she got the part. She also did the motion capture for Lara over the course of three years. One day, she spent the entire day doing "death scenes" where she had to pretend to die in every possible way for the game.

 

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	A Couple of White Chicks at the Hairdresser	Receptionist
2009	Behaving Badly	Flight attendant
2010	The Forgotten	Jane Doe / Emma Clark	TV series, episode: "Train Jane"
2010	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Claire	TV series, episode: "Lost & Found"
2010	Days of our Lives	Tiffany	TV series, episode: "1.11379"
2010	Big Time Rush	Rebecca	TV series, episode: "Big Time Concert"
2010	Friends with Benefits	Woman	TV series, episode: "The Benefit of Friends"
2011	The Defenders	Talia	TV series, episode: "Nevada v. Wayne"
2011	Accidentally in Love	Sandra	TV film
2011	William & Kate	Catherine Middleton	TV film
2012	Californication	Lizzie	TV series
2012	True Blood	Claudette Crane	TV series
2012–present	Grey's Anatomy	Dr. Josephine Wilson	TV series

Video games

Year	Title	Voice	Notes
2013	Tomb Raider	Lara Croft	Also did the Motion capture for the same character