Alex Pettyfer

 

Birthday: 10 April 1990, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Height: 5' 11¼" (1.81 m)

 

Biography

Alex was born in Hertfordshire and raised in Windsor. His mother, Lee, is an interior designer. His father, Richard Pettyfer, is a fellow actor. His parents divorced and Alex now has a younger half-brother, James, from his mother's re-marriage to a property developer, Michael Ireland. James is a junior tennis player.

At age 7, Alex started modeling for Gap's children range. He also appeared in TV commercials for other brands. When he was older, he modeled for Burberry to fund his traveling adventures.

Alex attended various private schools. During this time, he enjoyed performing in school plays. At age 13, he auditioned and won a role in the TV movie Tom Brown's Schooldays (2005) (TV). At age 15, he went to Los Angeles and was cast as "Alex Rider", the main character in Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker (2006) (aka "Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker"). This was his breakthrough role and he was nominated for a Young Artist Award and an Empire Award for this role 

Pettyfer was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, the son of Lee Ireland (born Lee Robinson), an interior decorator, and Richard Pettyfer, an actor.^[4][5] He has a younger half-brother, James Ireland, a junior tennis player, from his mother's re-marriage to Michael Ireland, a property developer.^[4][6]

Pettyfer was brought up in Slough, Berkshire, and began his career as a child fashion model at the age of seven, for Gap, after meeting Ralph Lauren in a toy store in New York.^[4] He also did advertisements for some yogurt brands. His first commercial was at age six.

As a schoolboy, he performed in plays, including in the role of Willy Wonka in a production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Jack in his school play "Jack and the Beanstalk" and Robin Hood in the adaptation of The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Pettyfer was educated at two junior independent schools: The Mall School, a small school in Twickenham, followed by the Lambrook Haileybury school in Berkshire.^[7] He subsequently attended two other independent boarding schools: Millfield School in Street, Somerset and Shiplake College near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.^[4] After his GCSEs, he left Shiplake College to attend the independent Sylvia Young Theatre School in London.^[8]

Career

In 2005, after a modelling career,^[4] Pettyfer made his professional acting début in the British television production of Tom Brown's Schooldays, playing the lead character, Tom Brown; he received positive reviews for the role.^[9] In June 2005, he was cast in his most prominent role so far, that of teenage MI6 spy Alex Rider in the film Stormbreaker, based on the novel by Anthony Horowitz. He was one of 500 who auditioned for the role.^[6] Pettyfer chose to appear in the film over a role in the film Eragon, noting that he preferred Stormbreaker because it would be filmed in Britain, in the Isle of Man, while Eragon would film in Hungary; Pettyfer is afraid of flying, and he liked the looks of the cast for Stormbreaker.^[4] Stormbreaker was released on 21 July 2006 in the United Kingdom, on 6 October 2006 in the United States and on 21 September 2006 in Australia.

One review of Pettyfer's performance described him as playing the role with an "earnest intensity",^[10] although another noted that he "isn't quite at ease as an actor".^[11] Media reports specified that the film was expected to make Pettyfer a "teen idol".^[9] Pettyfer will not reprise the role if there is another Alex Rider film because he is now too mature for the role.^[12]

He next appeared in Wild Child, a film set in California, Kent and Yorkshire part of which took place at Cobham Hall Girls' School in Kent. He played school boy Freddie Kingsley and he co-starred with Emma Roberts. In 2009, he played the callous ringleader of a group of cool but cruel teenagers who are picked off one by one by the ghost of one of their former victims, in the horror-comedy, Tormented.

He starred in the film, Beastly, based on the novel by Alex Flinn, alongside Mary-Kate Olsen, Vanessa Hudgens, and Neil Patrick Harris. He finished filming on 13 August 2009,^[13] and the film was released on 4 March 2011.^[14] Pettyfer portrayed the main character in I Am Number Four, released in February 2011. The film co-starred Timothy Olyphant, Dianna Agron and Teresa Palmer,^[15] and was directed by D.J. Caruso, produced by Michael Bay, and executive produced by Steven Spielberg.^[16]

It has also been announced that he will portray racing car driver James Hunt in the formula 1 biopic Shunt. He will also serve as producer on the film.^[17]

He was offered the part of Jace Wayland in the upcoming portrayal of Cassandra Clare's best selling book, City of Bones. Jamie Campbell Bower was later cast as Jace Wayland.^[18][19] Pettyfer had also been offered a part in an upcoming film adaption of Joseph Delaney's The Wardstone Chronicles, and has declined the role.^[20] He was in line to star in The Paperboy, based on the Pete Dexter novel of the same name, but turned down the role (later filled by Zac Efron).^[21]

In mid 2012, it was announced that Pettyfer would star in The Butler, alongside Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, Alan Rickman, Cuba Gooding Jnr and Forest Whitaker. Also, he has been cast in Diamond Dogs, although nothing is yet known about the movie, which is based on a book by Alan Watt. He is set to star in Nick Cassavetes' upcoming thriller Cali opposite Amber Heard who is in talks to replace Kristen Stewart who abruptly dropped out of the film.

Personal life

In June 2009, Pettyfer was voted number 35 on British women's magazine Company's list of the top 50 most eligible bachelors.^[22] In August 2009, the British magazine Glamour ranked him number 21 on their list of the sexiest men on the planet.^[23]

After Pettyfer completed filming Stormbreaker, he did not discuss the film with anyone at his school, citing the advice of his Stormbreaker co-star, Ewan McGregor, who told him to keep his personal and professional lives separate. Pettyfer has since decided to leave school and concentrate on his film career,^[24] while studying drama at college,^[9] saying that "When you have already experienced going out and working in the real world, and you come back to school, you just see it as a playground and you don't want to be there any more".^[25]

Pettyfer has seven tattoos, including a Celtic cross on his chest, Tibetan script on the inside of his right arm, the words "What Goes Around Comes Around" on his right shoulder, a Katakana script on his lower waist,^[26] and the letters "ER," the initials of ex-girlfriend Emma Roberts inside interlinking hearts on his right wrist. When Contactmusic asked him about the "ER" tattoo he said "I don't know how to say it, she's a lovely, lovely girl, we had a spell of something that is over now, but we're on good terms. She's beautiful, she's great; we're really good friends." The actor had gotten Roberts' name tattooed on his wrist while the two were dating. "I'm going to get asked about this, aren't I? I thought it was just between me and her," he said when asked about the tattoo.^[27]

Pettyfer and actress Dianna Agron had a relationship which ended in February 2011.^[28][29]He is reportedly engaged to actress Riley Keough, Elvis Presley's granddaughter , whom he met on the set of their movie Magic Mike.^[30]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role
2005	Tom Brown's Schooldays	Tom Brown
2006	Stormbreaker	Alex Rider
2008	Wild Child	Freddie Kingsley
2009	Tormented	Bradley White
2011	I Am Number Four	John Smith/Number Four/Daniel Jones
2011	Beastly	Kyle Kingson/Hunter
2011	In Time	Fortis
2012	Magic Mike	Adam/"The Kid"
2013	The Butler	Thomas Westphall

Modelling

• 2008: Burberry – Spring/Summer
• 2008: Burberry – The Beat For Men eau de cologne
• 2009: Burberry – Spring/Summer

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
2007	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in an International Feature Film Leading Young Actor or Actress[31]	Stormbreaker	Nominated
	Empire Award	Best Male Newcomer[32]		Nominated
2010	ShoWest Award	Male Star of Tomorrow[33]		Won
2011	MTV Movie Awards	Biggest Badass Star[34]	I Am Number Four	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	"Choice Movie: Liplock" (shared with Vanessa Hudgens)	Beastly	Nominated
		"Choice Movie: Breakout Male"[35]	Beastly and I Am Number Four	Won

Alex Esmail

Alexander "Alex" Nazir Esmail^[2] is a British actor who is best known for his role in the award winning film Attack the Block

 

Career

After making his debut in multi-award winning science fiction film Attack the Block in 2011,^[8] Alex Esmail was nominated for Best Ensemble at the 2012 Black Reel Awards along with the rest of the cast, but lost to The Help.^[9][10][11] In 2012 he went on to star in films Payback Season and Strippers vs Werewolves.^[12][13][14] He also had roles in television shows Casualty and Switch.^[15] Popcorn n Roses named him number 2, behind Lucas Cruikshank, on their list of rising stars of 2012.^[16] He is starring alongside Steve Coogan in Northern Soul, which is currently in post-production and has a 2013 release date.^[17]

Wrestling

Alex is also a member of the tag team wrestling duo "The Velocity Vipers".

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2011	Attack the Block	Pest	Nominated for Best Ensemble at 2012 Black Reel Awards with Simon Howard, John Boyega, Franz Drameh, Nick Frost, Leeon Jones, Luke Treadaway, Jodie Whittaker and Jumayn Hunter
2012	Payback Season	Leon
	Strippers vs Werewolves	Sean
	Casualty	Clint Jackson	(TV series) 2 episodes
	My Brother's Keeper (Or How Not To Survive The Apocalypse)	Jo	short film
	Switch	Hoodie	(TV series) 1 episode
2013	Northern Soul	Stee

 

Albert Salmi

Birthday: 11 March 1928, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Height: 6' 2" (1.88 m) 

Biography

Albert Salmi was born on March 11, 1928, in Brooklyn, New York, to Finnish parents. After serving in the Army during WWII, he used the GI Bill to study at the Dramatic Workshop of the American Theater Wing and the prestigious Actors Studio. He became a stage actor, very soon landing on Broadway, where his role as Bo Decker in "Bus Stop" was his biggest stage success. A compromise between the stage and screen was live TV drama, in which he was cast regularly. His portrayal of Bruce Pearson in the "The United States Steel Hour" (1953)'s live 1956 broadcast of "Bang the Drum Slowly" was heart-tuggingly poignant. Salmi's very first film appearance was a choice role in The Brothers Karamazov (1958), for which he turned down an Oscar nomination. The National Board of Review succeeded in presenting him with its award for the same picture, however. Salmi came to enjoy film work and actively sought out parts in westerns. He became a very familiar presence, especially on the TV screen, where he guest starred in many of the westerns and other series of the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1967 he was presented with the Western Heritage (Wrangler) Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame for his role in the "Gunsmoke" (1955) episode entitled "Death Watch". This bronze cowboy on horseback became his most cherished award. Salmi demonstrated his versatility, however, as years went on. Tall, brawny and sometimes quite intimidating, he was often cast as the bad guy or the authority figure. He was equally convincing, though, as a wronged or misunderstood good guy or a good-natured sidekick. A method actor, Salmi had the ability to make you love or hate his character.

He was, in real life, quite different from most of the characters he played. A quiet-natured family man, he was an oddity by glitzy Hollywood standards. Many of his friends and co-stars have commented on his sense of humor and his lack of pretense. In semi-retirement, he shared his knowledge of theatre by teaching drama classes in Spokane, Washington, where he and his wife settled

Alan Arkin

Alan Wolf Arkin (born March 26, 1934) is an American actor, director, musician and singer. He is known for starring in such films as Wait Until Dark, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Catch-22, The In-Laws, Edward Scissorhands, Glengarry Glen Ross, Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, Little Miss Sunshine, and Argo, the last two of which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is the father of actors Adam Arkin, Anthony Arkin, and Matthew Arkin.

Arkin was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Beatrice (née Wortis), a teacher, and David I. Arkin, a painter and writer who mostly worked as a teacher.^[1] Arkin was raised in a Jewish family with "no emphasis on religion"; his grandparents were immigrants from Odessa, Ukraine, Russia, and Germany.^[2][3] The family moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles when Arkin was 11 years old,^[2] but an eight-month Hollywood strike cost Arkin's father a set designer job he had wanted to keep. During the 1950s Red Scare, Arkin's parents were accused of being Communists, which led to David Arkin losing his job when he refused to answer questions about his political affiliation. David challenged the dismissal and was ultimately vindicated, but only after his death.^[4] Arkin attended Bennington College in Vermont.

Arkin, who had been taking acting lessons since age 10, became a scholarship student at various drama academies, including one run by the Stanislavsky student Benjamin Zemach, who taught Arkin a psychological approach to acting.^[5] Arkin attended Los Angeles City College from 1951 to 1953. He also attended Bennington College. With two friends, he formed the folk music group The Tarriers, in which Arkin sang and played guitar. The band members co-composed the group's 1956 hit "The Banana Boat Song", a reworking, with some new lyrics, of a traditional, Jamaican calypso folk song of the same name, combined with another titled "Hill and Gully Rider".^[6] It reached #4 on the Billboard magazine chart the same year as Harry Belafonte's better-known hit version.^[7] The group appeared in the 1957 Calypso-exploitation film Calypso Heat Wave, singing "Banana Boat Song" and "Choucoune".^{[citation needed]}

From 1958 to 1968, Arkin performed and recorded with the children's folk group, The Baby Sitters.^[8] He also performed the role of Dr. Pangloss in a concert staging of Leonard Bernstein's operetta Candide, alongside Madeline Kahn's Cunegonde. Arkin was an early member of The Second City comedy troupe in the 1960s.^[9] Arkin and his second wife, Barbara Dana, appeared together on the 1970–71 season of Sesame Street as a comical couple named Larry and Phyllis who resolve their conflicts when they remember how to pronounce the word "cooperate." In 1985, he sang two selections by Jones & Schmidt on Ben Bagley's album Contemporary Broadway Revisited.

Acting

with Shirley Knight in TV special, The Defection of Simas Kudirka (1978)

Arkin is one of only six^[10] actors to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his first screen appearance (for The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming in 1966). Two years later, he was again nominated, for The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.

In 1968, he appeared in the title role of Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers had disassociated himself from the signature role), which was not well received.

The films for which he has garnered the most favorable critical attention include his Oscar-nominated turns above; Wait Until Dark, as the erudite killer stalking Audrey Hepburn; The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter; Catch-22; The Seven-Per-Cent Solution; Little Murders; The In-Laws; Glengarry Glen Ross; and Little Miss Sunshine, for which he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar; and Argo. His portrayal of Dr. Oatman, a scared and emotionally conflicted psychiatrist treating John Cusack's hit man character Martin Q. Blank in Grosse Point Blank was also well received.

His role in Little Miss Sunshine, as the foul-mouthed Grandfather Edwin with a taste for heroin, won him the BAFTA Film Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. On receiving his Academy Award on February 25, 2007, Arkin said, "More than anything, I'm deeply moved by the open-hearted appreciation our small film has received, which in these fragmented times speaks so openly of the possibility of innocence, growth and connection".^[11] At 72 years old, Arkin was the sixth oldest winner of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

In 2006–07, Arkin was cast in supporting roles in Rendition as a US senator and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause as Bud Newman (Carol's Dad), starring with Tim Allen, Martin Short, Elizabeth Mitchell, Judge Reinhold and Wendy Crewson.

On Broadway, Arkin starred in Enter Laughing, for which he won a Tony Award, and Luv. He also directed The Sunshine Boys, among others.

Directing

Arkin's directorial debut, in 1969, was a 12-minute children's film, People Soup, starring his sons Adam Arkin and Matthew Arkin. Based on a story he had published in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in the 1950s, People Soup is a fantasy about two boys who experiment with various kitchen ingredients until they concoct a magical soup which transforms them into different animals and objects.

Arkin with his wife Suzanne at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival

Arkin's most acclaimed directorial effort is Little Murders, released in 1971. Written by cartoonist Jules Feiffer, Little Murders is a black comedy film starring Elliott Gould and Marcia Rodd about a girl, Patsy (Rodd), who brings home her boyfriend, Alfred (Gould), to meet her severely dysfunctional family amidst a series of random shootings, garbage strikes and electrical outages ravaging the neighborhood. The film opened to a lukewarm review by Roger Greenspan,^[12] and a more positive one by Vincent Canby^[13] in the New York Times. Roger Ebert's review in the Chicago Sun Times was more enthusiastic, saying, "One of the reasons it works, and is indeed a definitive reflection of America's darker moods, is that it breaks audiences down into isolated individuals, vulnerable and uncertain."^[14]

Arkin also directed Fire Sale (1977), Samuel Beckett Is Coming Soon (1993) and Arigo (2000).

Writing

Arkin is the author of many books, including the children's stories Tony's Hard Work Day (illustrated by James Stevenson, 1972), The Lemming Condition (illustrated by Joan Sandin, 1976), Halfway Through the Door: An Actor's Journey Toward Self (1979) and The Clearing (1986 continuation of Lemming). In March 2011, he released his memoir, An Improvised Life.^[15]

Personal life

Arkin has been married three times. He and Jeremy Yaffe, to whom he was married from 1955 to 1961, have two sons: Adam Arkin, born August 19, 1956, and Matthew Arkin, born March 21, 1959. In 1967, Arkin had son Anthony (Tony) Dana Arkin with actress-screenwriter Barbara Dana (born 1940), to whom he was married from June 16, 1964 to the mid-1990s. In 1996, Arkin married a psychotherapist, Suzanne Newlander.^[4] As of 2007, they live in New Mexico.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1957	Calypso Heat Wave[citation needed]	Tarriers lead singer	uncredited
1963	That's Me
1966	The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming	Lt. Rozanov	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer Nominated – Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor
1966	The Last Mohican	Pretzel Peddler	short film
1967	Woman Times Seven	Fred (segment "The Suicides")	released June 1967
1967	Wait Until Dark	Harry Roat	released October 1967
1968	Inspector Clouseau	Inspector Jacques Clouseau	released July 1968
1968	The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter	John Singer	New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1969	Popi	Abraham Rodriguez	Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1969	The Monitors	Cameo appearance	released October
1969	People Soup		writer and director
1970	Catch-22	Capt. John Yossarian
1971	Little Murders	Lt. Practice	also director
1972	Last of the Red Hot Lovers	Barney Cashman	released August
1972	Deadhead Miles	Cooper
1974	It Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy		November 1974 Television film
1974	Freebie and the Bean	Bean	released December 1974
1975	Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins	Gunny Rafferty	a.k.a. Rafferty and the Highway Hustlers
1975	Hearts of the West	Burt Kessler	released October 1975 NYFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor
1976	The Seven-Per-Cent Solution	Dr. Sigmund Freud
1977	Fire Sale	Ezra Fikus	also director
1978	The Other Side of Hell	Frank Dole	January 17, 1978 Television film
1978	The Defection of Simas Kudirka	Simas Kudirka	January 23, 1978 Television film
1979	The In-Laws	Sheldon S. Kornpett, D.D.S.	released June 1979
1979	The Magician of Lublin	Yasha Mazur	released November 1979
1980	Simon	Prof. Simon Mendelssohn	Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actor
1981	Full Moon High	Dr. Brand
1981	Improper Channels	Jeffrey Martley	released May 1981 Genie Award for Best Performance by a Foreign Actor
1981	Chu Chu and the Philly Flash	Flash	released August 1981
1982	The Last Unicorn	Schmendrick	voice
1983	The Return of Captain Invincible	Captain Invincible
1984	A Matter of Principle	Flagg Purdy	Television film
1984	Terror in the Aisles		archival footage
1985	The Fourth Wise Man	Orontes	March 1985 Television film
1985	Joshua Then and Now	Reuben Shapiro	released September 1985 Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
1985	Bad Medicine	Dr. Ramón Madera	released November 1985
1986	A Deadly Business	Harold Kaufman	TV
1986	Big Trouble	Leonard Hoffman	released May 1986
1987	Escape from Sobibor	Leon Feldhendler	Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
1988	Necessary Parties	Archie Corelli	TV
1990	Coupe de Ville	Fred Libner	released March 1990
1990	Edward Scissorhands	Bill	released December 7, 1990 Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1990	Havana	Joe Volpi	released December 12, 1990
1991	The Rocketeer	A. "Peevy" Peabody
1992	Glengarry Glen Ross	George Aaronow
1993	Cooperstown	Harry Willette	Jan. 1993 Television film
1993	Indian Summer	Unca Lou Handler	released April 1993
1993	Taking the Heat	Tommy Canard	June 1993 Television film
1993	So I Married an Axe Murderer	Police Captain (uncredited)	released July 1993
1993	Samuel Beckett is Coming Soon	The Director (character)	short film; also director
1994	North	Judge Buckle	released July 22, 1994
1994	Doomsday Gun	Col. Yossi	July 23, 1994 Television film
1994	Picture Windows	Tully, in segment "Soir Bleu"	October 1994 Television film
1995	The Jerky Boys: The Movie	Ernie Lazarro	released February 1995
1995	Steal Big Steal Little	Lou Perilli	released September 1995
1996	Heck's Way Home	Dogcatcher	March 1996 – TV
1996	Mother Night	George Kraft	released November 1996
1997	Grosse Pointe Blank	Dr. Oatman	released April 1997
1997	Four Days in September	Charles Burke Elbrick	Brazil-U.S May 1997; U.S. Jan. 1998
1997	Gattaca	Det. Hugo	released October 1997
1998	Slums of Beverly Hills	Murray Samuel Abromowitz
1999	Jakob the Liar	Max Frankfurter	released September 1999
1999	Blood Money	Willy "The Hammer" Canzaro	Television film
2000	Arigo		writer and director
2000	Magicians	Milo	direct-to-video
2001	Varian's War	Freier	April 2001 Television film
2001	America's Sweethearts	Wellness Guide	released July 2001
2001	Thirteen Conversations About One Thing	Gene	wide theatrical release 2002 Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
2003	The Pentagon Papers	Harry Rowen	March 2003 Television film Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
2003	And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself	Sam Drebben	September 2003 Television film
2004	The Novice	Father Benkhe	released September 2004
2004	Noel	Artie Venzuela	November 2004 Television film
2004	Eros	Dr. Pearl / Hal in segment "Equilibrium"
2006	Firewall	Arlin Forester	released February 2006
2006	Little Miss Sunshine	Edwin Hoover	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture
2006	The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause	Bud Newman	released December 2006
2007	Raising Flagg	Flagg Purdy	released February 2007
2007	Rendition	Senator Hawkins	released October. 2007
2008	Sunshine Cleaning	Joe
2008	Get Smart	The Chief	released June 2008
2008	Marley & Me	Arnie Klein	released December 2008
2009	The Private Lives of Pippa Lee	Herb
2010	City Island	Michael Malakov (drama coach)
2011	Thin Ice	Gorvy Hauer
2011	The Change-Up	Mitch's Dad
2011	The Muppets		Cameo appearance
2012	Argo	Lester Siegel	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated — London Film Critics' Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
2013	Stand Up Guys	Richard Hirsch
	The Incredible Burt Wonderstone	Rance Holloway

 

Television

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1964	East Side/West Side	Ted Miller	"The Beatnik and the Politician"
1966	ABC Stage 67	Barney Kempinski	"The Love Song of Barney Kempinski" Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama
1970–71	Sesame Street	Larry	unknown episodes
1979	Carol Burnett & Company	Himself	Episode 1, Season 2
1980	The Muppet Show	Himself	Episode 20, Season 4
1983	St. Elsewhere	Jerry Singleton	3 episodes: "Ties That Bind", "Lust En Veritas", "Newheart"
1985	Faerie Tale Theatre	Bo	"The Emperor's New Clothes"
1987	Harry	Harry Porschak	March 4–25, ABC TV series
1997	Chicago Hope	Zoltan Karpathein	"The Son Also Rises" Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series
2001–02	100 Centre Street	Joe Rifkind	A&E TV series
2005	Will & Grace	Marty Adler	"It's a Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad World"
2006–07	Boston Legal	Prosecutor	Two episodes in Season 3

Adrien Brody

 

Birthday: 14 April 1973, New York City, New York, USA

Height: 6' 1" (1.85 m)

Biography

The son of Hungarian-born photographer Sylvia Plachy and retired history professor Elliot Brody, Adrien Brody grew up an only child in the Woodhaven section of Queens, New York, where he accompanied his mother on assignments for the Village Voice. He credits her with making him feel comfortable in front of the camera. He attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts in New York.

Despite a strong performance in The Thin Red Line (1998), time constraints forced the director to edit out much of Adrien's part. In spite of his later work with Spike Lee and Barry Levinson, he never became the star many expected he would become until Roman Polanski called on him to play a celebrated Jewish pianist in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. He pulled off a brilliant performance in The Pianist (2002), drawing on the heritage and rare dialect of his Polish grandmother, as well as his father, who lost family members during the Holocaust, and his mother, who fled Communist Hungary as a child during the 1956 uprising against the Soviet Union 

Career

Taking acting classes as a youth, by age thirteen, he appeared in an Off-Broadway play and a PBS television film.^[9] Brody hovered on the brink of stardom, receiving an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his role in the 1998 film Restaurant and later praise for his roles in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam and Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line. He received widespread recognition when he was cast as the lead in Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002). To prepare for the role, Brody withdrew for months, gave up his apartment and his car, was left by his then-girlfriend,^[9] learned how to play Chopin on the piano, and lost 29 lbs (13 kg). The role won him an Academy Award for Best Actor, making him, at 29, the youngest actor ever to win the award, and to date the only winner under the age of 30. He also won a César Award for his performance.

Brody appeared on Saturday Night Live on May 10, 2003, his first TV work, but he was banned from the show after giving an improvised introduction while wearing faux dreadlocks for Jamaican reggae musical guest Sean Paul (the show's producer, Lorne Michaels, is notorious for hating unscripted performances). However, the unscripted intro remains in reruns of the episode. Other TV appearances include NBC's The Today Show and on MTV's Punk'd after being tricked by Ashton Kutcher.

Brody at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival

After The Pianist Brody appeared in four very different films. In Dummy (released in 2003 but originally shot in 2000, just prior to his work in The Pianist) he portrayed Steven Schoichet, a socially awkward aspiring ventriloquist in pursuit of a love interest (his employment counsellor). He learned ventriloquism and puppetry for the role (under the tutelage of actor/ventriloquist Alan Semok) convincingly enough to perform all of the voice stunts and puppet manipulation live on set in real time, with no subsequent post dubbing. He played Noah Percy, a mentally disabled young man, in the film The Village, by M. Night Shyamalan, shell-shocked war veteran Jack Starks in The Jacket, writer Jack Driscoll in the 2005 King Kong remake, and father-to-be Peter Whitman in The Darjeeling Limited by Wes Anderson. King Kong was both a critical and box office success; it grossed $550 million worldwide and is Brody's most successful film to date in monetary terms. Additionally, Brody played a detective in Hollywoodland. He has also appeared in Diet Coke and Schweppes commercials as well as Tori Amos' music video for "A Sorta Fairytale".

On January 5, 2006, Brody confirmed speculation that he was interested in playing the role of The Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight. However, Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. decided instead to cast Heath Ledger in the role.^[10] He was also in talks with Paramount to play Spock in J. J. Abrams Star Trek XI, but it ultimately went to Zachary Quinto.^[11][12] Brody starred with Mark Ruffalo as gentleman con men in Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom, released in May 2009.^[13] In 2010, he starred in Splice, a science fiction film written and directed by Vincenzo Natali. Originally a Sundance film, Splice was adopted by Dark Castle Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Most recently, he played the star role of Royce in Predators (a sequel to the original Predator), directed by Nimród Antal and produced by Robert Rodriguez.^[14]

In 2011, Brody starred in a Stella Artois beer ad called "Crying Beans[Heinz]," that premiered right after half-time of the Super Bowl XLV as part of Stella's "She Is a Thing of Beauty” campaign.

On January 16, 2012, Brody made his runway debut as a model for Prada Men Fall/Winter 2012 show.^[15] Also in January, he was named ambassador for the Gillette Fusion ProGuide Styler which the company began marketing the following month.^[16]

Personal life

In 1992, Brody was seriously hurt in a motorcycle accident in which he flew over a car and crashed head-first into a crosswalk.^[17] He spent months recuperating. He has broken his nose three times doing stunts; the most recent was during the filming of Summer of Sam.^[18]

Brody began dating Spanish actress Elsa Pataky in 2006.^[19] For Pataky's 31st birthday in July 2007, Brody purchased her a 19th-century castle in New York state. Brody and Pataky were featured at their New York home in a 35-page spread for HELLO! magazine in October 2008.^[20] The pair broke up in 2009.^[21]

In 2010, Brody sued the "Giallo" filmmakers, alleging that they failed to pay his full salary.^[22]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	New York Stories	Mel
1991	The Boy Who Cried Bitch	Eddie
1993	King of the Hill	Lester Silverstone
1994	Angels in the Outfield	Danny Hemmerling
	Natural Born Killers	One of Gale's cameramen
1996	Nothing to Lose	Ray Diglovanni	aka Ten Benny
	Solo	Dr. Bill Stewart, Solo's Designer
	Bullet	Ruby
1997	The Last Time I Committed Suicide	Ben
	Six Ways to Sunday	Arnie Finklestein
1998	The Thin Red Line	Cpl. Fife
	The Undertaker's Wedding	Mario Bellini
	Restaurant	Chris Calloway	Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
1999	Oxygen	Harry
	Liberty Heights	Van Kurtzman
	Summer of Sam	Richie Tringale
2000	Bread and Roses	Sam Shapiro
	Harrison's Flowers	Kyle Morris
2001	The Affair of the Necklace	Count Nicolas De La Motte
	Love the Hard Way	Jack Grace	VFAA Award for Best Actor
2002	Dummy	Stevens
	The Pianist	Władysław Szpilman	Academy Award for Best Actor Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor César Award for Best Actor National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated - Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated - European Film Award for Best Actor Nominated - Polish Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated - Russian Guild of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Actor Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Nominated - Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
2003	The Singing Detective	First Hood
2004	The Village	Noah Percy
2005	The Jacket	Jack Starks
	King Kong	Jack Driscoll
2006	Hollywoodland	Louis Simo
2007	The Tehuacan Project	Narrator
	Manolete (The Passion Within)	Manuel Rodríguez Sánchez "Manolete"
	The Darjeeling Limited	Peter Whitman
2008	The Brothers Bloom	Bloom
	Cadillac Records	Leonard Chess	Black Reel Award for Best Ensemble Cast
2009	Splice	Clive Nicoli
	Giallo	Inspector Enzo Lavia	Also producer
	Fantastic Mr. Fox	Rickity	Voice
2010	High School	Psycho Ed
	The Experiment	Travis
	A Matador's Mistress	Manolete
	Predators	Royce
2011	Wrecked	Man	Also executive producer
	Midnight in Paris	Salvador Dalí	Nominated - Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Ensemble Cast Nominated - Chlotrudis Award for Best Cast Nominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble Acting Nominated - San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
	Detachment	Henry Barthes	Also executive producer
2012	Back to 1942	Theodore White
2013	InAPPropriate Comedy	Flirty Harry	Post-production
	The Third Person	N/A	Filming
	Motor City	N/A

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Home at Last	Billy	TV movie
	Annie McGuire	Lenny McGuire	Episode: "Annie and the Brooklyn Bridge"
1994	Rebel Highway	Skinny	Episode: "Jailbreakers"
1996	Bullet Hearts	Chuckie Bragg	TV movie

Video games

Year	Title	Role
2005	Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie	Jack Driscoll