Actress of the Day: EVAN RACHEL WOOD
EVAN RACHEL WOOD
Next in: The Wrestler coming out Wed Dec 17, 2008.
Her Character: Stephanie Robinson, the Daughter of Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke).
The Buzz: Known more for her relationship with Marilyn Manson, Evan Rachel Wood is a talented young actress who even though has proved again and again that she is one talented actress, has yet to become a household name. Maybe 2009 will be her year to shine.
Biography:
Wood was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, the daughter of Sara Lynn Moore, an actress, director and acting coach, and Ira David Wood III, an actor, singer, theater director and playwright.
Wood began her career appearing in several made-for-television films from 1994 and onwards, also playing an occasional role in the television series American Gothic. In 1996, Wood's parents separated and later divorced, and Wood moved with her mother to her mother's native Los Angeles County, California. After a one-season role on the television drama, Profiler, Wood was cast in the supporting role of Jessie Sammler on the television show Once and Again.
Wood's first major screen role was in the low-budget 1998 film Digging to China, which also starred Kevin Bacon and Mary Stuart Masterson. The film won the Children's Jury Award at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival. She also had a role in Practical Magic, a 1998 family fantasy film directed by Griffin Dunne and starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, that same year.
She made her teenage debut as a leading film actress in 2002's Little Secrets directed by Blair Treu, playing aspiring 14-year-old concert violinist Emily Lindstrom where she was nominated for Best Leading Young Actress at the Young Artist Awards. That same year, Wood played a supporting role in the Andrew Niccol-directed science fiction satirical drama film,S1m0ne, which starred Al Pacino.
Wood's breakthrough movie role followed with the somewhat controversial 2003 independent film Thirteen. She played the role of Tracy Louise Freeland, one of two young teens who sink into a downward spiral of hard drugs, sex, lies, piercings and petty crime. Her performance was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Actress - Drama and for a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for Best Actress. During the time of Thirteen's release, Vanity Fair named Wood as one of the It Girls of Hollywood, and she appeared, along with the other actresses, on the magazine's July 2003 cover.
A supporting role opposite Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones, in Ron Howard's The Missing, in which she plays the kidnapped daughter, Lilly Gilkeson, in a Searchers-style western, followed the same year.
In 2005, she appeared in the Mike Binder-directed by The Upside of Anger, opposite Kevin Costner and Joan Allen, a well-reviewed film in which Wood played Lavender "Popeye" Wolfmeyer, one of four sisters dealing with their father's absence. She also narrates.
Her next two starring roles were in the dark independent films, the 2005 Grand Jury Prize Sundance Film Festival nominee, Pretty Persuasion,a black comedy/satirical film focusing on themes of sexual harassment and discrimination in schools, and attitudes about females in media and society, in which she played, Kimberly Joyce, a villainous, sexually active high-schooler.
Down in the Valley, was directed by David Jacobson, where her character, Tobe, falls in love with an older man posing as a cowboy at odds with modern society (Edward Norton).
In 2005, Wood starred in the music videos for Bright Eyes' "At the Bottom of Everything" and Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends."
In September of 2006, she received Premiere magazine's "Spotlight Award for Emerging Talent."Also in 2006, she was described by The Guardian as being "wise beyond her years" and as "one of the best actresses of her generation."
Later that year, Wood appeared with an all-star ensemble cast as Natalie Finch in the Golden Globe-nominated 2006 comedy-drama film Running With Scissors. Directed by Ryan Murphy and starring , Annette Bening, it is based on the memoir by Augusten Burroughs, a semi-autobiographical account of Burroughs' childhood in an excentric dysfunctional family. Wood was awarded the 2007 Cannes Film Festival Chopard Trophy for Female Revelation for her performance.
Wood had roles in two films released in September, 2007: Sundance Film Festival - premiered [18] , King of California, a story of a bipolar jazz musician (Michael Douglas) and his long-suffering teenage daughter, Miranda (played by Wood) who are reunited after his two-year stay in a mental institution and embark on a Quixotic search for Spanish treasure.
Across the Universe, a Golden Globe and Academy Award-nominated musical directed by Julie Taymor and set in Liverpool, United Kingdom, New York City, and Vietnam about the tribulations of several characters during the counter-culture revolution of the 60's, set to the songs of The Beatles; Wood played Lucy, who develops a relationship with Jude (Jim Sturgess). The film features her singing musical numbers.
Wood provided the voice of an alien named Mala, a mechanically-inclined free-thinker in Terra, a 2008 computer animated science fiction film about a peaceful alien planet which faces destruction from colonization by the displaced remainder of the human race, winner of the 2008 Grand Prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
Starring in 2008's Vadim Perelman-directed The Life Before Her Eyes, based on the Laura Kasischke novel of the same name, about the friendship of two teens of opposite character who are involved in a Columbine-like shooting incident at their school and are forced to make an impossible choice. Wood played the younger version of Uma Thurman's character, Diana.
She has a role in director Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, winner of the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, about Randy "Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke), a professional wrestler from the 1980s who is forced to retire after a heart attack threatens to kill him the next time he wrestles. She plays Stephanie, Randy "Ram" Robinson's estranged daughter.
She has a role in Woody Allen's Whatever Works, to be released in 2009. Next, will play writer Anne Brontë in the film Brontë, and will be involved in the film Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll. Wood has stated that she prefers music to movies and is planning to launch a singing career. Wood and Across the Universe co-star Jim Sturgess are reported to be involved in the upcoming Julie Taymor Broadway production of a Spider-Man musical adaptation. Music for the show will be composed and written by Bono and The Edge of the band U2.
(Source:Wikipedia )
Actress Of The Day: ZOOEY DESCHANEL
ZOOEY DESCHANEL
Next in: Yes Man coming out 19 December 2008.
Her Character: Renee Allison, a singer of a band called Munchausen By Proxy. Four of the songs sung by this group will actually be on the soundtrack: "Sweet Ballad," "Uh Huh," "Keystar" and "Yes Man."
The Buzz: Zooey is a talented and intruiging actress. She often plays the wacky but lovable characters who end up getting their due at the end of the movie.
Movies She Should Be In: I would love to see Zooey play a cold blooded serial killer. It could be a breakthrough part for her.
Biography:
Zooey Deschanel was born in Los Angeles, California
Deschanel lived in Los Angeles, but spent much of her childhood traveling because her father shot films on location. She attended Crossroads, a private preparatory school in Santa Monica, California. She also attended the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts summer camp and sang throughout high school, planning to pursue a career in musical theatre. She attended Northwestern University for seven months before dropping out to work as an actress.
Deschanel appeared in a guest role on the television series Veronica's Closet before making her film debut in Lawrence Kasdan’s 1999 comedy Mumford, and later in the year she appeared in the music video for The Offspring's single "She's Got Issues". In her second film, director Cameron Crowe's autobiographical Almost Famous (2000), Deschanel played Anita Miller, the protagonist's rebellious older sister. The film received critical praise,but was not a box office success. Deschanel continued to sing, and in 2001 formed If All the Stars Were Pretty Babies, a jazz cabaret act with fellow actress Samantha Shelton.The pair perform around Los Angeles.
Deschanel played supporting roles in a series of films that included Manic (2001), Big Trouble (2002), Abandon (2002), and The Good Girl (2002).
Deschanel turned down several supporting roles and played her first lead role in All the Real Girls (2003). Deschanel's performance as Noel, a sexually curious 18-year-old virgin who has a life-changing romance with an aimless 22-year-old, received critical praise, and she received an Independent Spirit nomination for Best Actress. Later in 2003, Deschanel played a deadpan department store elf opposite Will Ferrell in the comedy Elf, which became a box office hit.
In 2002, Deschanel appeared in The New Guy as Nora, the guitar player in the lead character's band, Suburban Funk. The New Guy was the first of Deschanel's films in which she sang onscreen; in Elf she duetted with Ferrell in the bathroom shower scene on "Baby, It's Cold Outside", and was also heard singing it on the soundtrack with Leon Redbone. Subsequently, Deschanel has sung in Winter Passing ("My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean"), the 2005 television musical Once Upon a Mattress ("An Opening For a Princess," "In a Little While," "Normandy," and "Yesterday I Loved You"), an old cabaret song in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and the 2007 short film Raving ("Hello, Dolly!"). Her piano composition "Bittersuite" was used thematically in the dark, off-beat 2004 dramedy Winter Passing, in which she starred alongside Ferrell and Ed Harris.
In 2004, Deschanel starred in Eulogy, and in 2005 as Trillian in the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' science fiction novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Deschanel then played Sarah Jessica Parker's neurotic roommate in Failure to Launch (2006), and appeared on four episodes of the Showtime television series Weeds from 2006 to 2007, playing Andy Botwin's quirky ex-girlfriend, Kat. In September 2006, Variety announced that Deschanel would play 1960s singer Janis Joplin in the film The Gospel According to Janis, to be co-written and directed by Penelope Spheeris. Deschanel planned to sing all of Joplin's songs, and took four months of singing lessons "to approximate Joplin's gritty vocals." The film, scheduled to begin shooting on November 13, 2006,[8] was postponed indefinitely.
In 2007, Deschanel appeared in two children's films, Bridge to Terabithia and the animated film Surf's Up, in which she voiced a penguin named Lani Aliikai. In December 2007, she played DG, the lead in the new Sci Fi Channel miniseries Tin Man, a re-imagined future of L. Frank Baum's children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
In March 2007, Deschanel contributed vocals to two songs ("Slowly" and "Ask Her To Dance") on the album Nighttiming by Jason Schwartzman's band Coconut Records. In May 2007, singer-songwriter M. Ward, who had previously performed with Deschanel onstage, said that he was "just finishing work" on her debut album, which will feature songs written by Deschanel and produced by Ward. Fox reported that Deschanel and Ward were recording under the moniker She & Him, and that the album, titled Volume One, would be released by Merge Records on March 18, 2008.
On April 27, 2008, she appeared on The Simpsons, playing the role of Mary, Cletus's daughter.
In June 2008, Deschanel starred opposite Mark Wahlberg in M. Night Shyamalan's environmental thriller The Happening. Deschanel stars and sings in the 2008 comedy Yes Man, opposite Jim Carrey.
(Source:Wikipedia )
Read all our Yes Man coverage here.
Actress of the Day: CAMILLA BELLE
CAMILLA BELLE
Next in: Push coming out February 6 2009.
Her Character: Alyssa English
The Buzz: Now famous for dating a Jonas brother, Camilla Belle is in the spotlight in a big way. Her upcoming movie, Push, looks pretty cool so we look forward to see what she can do in it.
Biography:
She was born Camilla Belle Routh in Los Angeles, California. Belle attended St. Paul the Apostle Catholic School in West Los Angeles and, later, the Marlborough School, an all-girls school in Los Angeles. She is currently a student of Columbia University.
She began appearing in print ads at the age of nine months. Camilla Belle progressed into commercials and began working in movies for network and cable television. Throughout the 1990s, she appeared in several made for television and direct to video movies including Trapped Beneath the Earth, Annie: A Royal Adventure!, Poison Ivy II: Lily and Marshal Law. She had minor roles in several widely-released films including A Little Princess, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Practical Magic, as well as the lead role as Lizzie in Back to the Secret Garden. She was also in a commercial for America's Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) during the late 1990s. The Disney channel original movie, Rip Girls, earned Belle a Young Artist acting nomination.
In 2005, Belle starred in the film The Ballad of Jack and Rose, playing the daughter of Daniel Day-Lewis' character. The film only received a limited theatrical release but Belle was labeled an "impressive newcomer" by film critic James Berardinelli. The film was her first in nearly four years. Her role as Rose also earned her the Gotham Award nomination for the Breakthrough Award. The same year, Belle also had a major role in The Chumscrubber, which received only a brief and limited theatrical release.
Belle was subsequently cast in the lead role in Screen Gems' horror film remake, When a Stranger Calls. The film was released on February 3, 2006 and was considered successful at the United States box office, grossing over $45 million after an opening of over $21 million. A sequel to When A Stranger Calls has been confirmed but according to rumors Camilla Belle has been replaced by Heroes actress Hayden Panettiere. The sequel is expected to be released sometime in 2009 or 2010. Later in 2006, she acted opposite Elisha Cuthbert and Edie Falco in The Quiet.
In the spring of 2006 the Warner Bros. film 10,000 BC, a prehistoric epic directed by Roland Emmerich, began production with Belle as the lead female role. Filmed in New Zealand, South Africa and Namibia, the film was released on March 7, 2008. Also in 2008, Belle starred alongside actors Chris Evans and Djimoun Hounsou in the thriller Push. Recently, Camilla Belle was been cast in a lead role in actor Bruce Willis's directorial debut on the indie film Three Stories About Joan. The psychological drama follows a young woman at three points in her life and the family tragedies that cause her to lose her grip on reality. Shooting was expected to start in early October in Shreveport, Louisiana as a production of Willis Brothers Films.
(Source:Wikipedia)
Read all our Push coverage here.
Actress of the Day: SARAH PAULSON
SARAH PAULSON
What she's in: THE SPIRIT coming out December 25, 2008.
Her Character: Ellen Dolan
Why we like her: I have been a fan of Sarah Paulson ever since her first seeing her on the short lived TV show, Jack & Jill. Since then Sarah Paulson has continued to show off her talent on TV and in movies. With The Spirit, I think she will shine once more and show everybody what a great actress she is.
Biography:
Paulson was a series regular on the cult television show American Gothic and the WB series Jack & Jill (1999), playing the character "Elisa Cronkite". In addition, she had a minor role in the HBO series Deadwood, and was a focal character in an episode of the critically acclaimed FX series Nip/Tuck.
Paulson briefly appeared on the NBC series Leap of Faith (2002) as the main character, but the show was short-lived. In 2004, she had a supporting role in the ABC series The D.A., but that show also ended after a few episodes.
Paulson starred in a revival of The Glass Menagerie on Broadway, and has appeared Off-Broadway in Killer Joe, Talking Pictures, and Colder Than Here. Paulson's movie credits include Down with Love, What Women Want, The Other Sister, Levitation, and Serenity.
In the 2006-2007 television season, Paulson co-starred in NBC's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip playing Harriet Hayes, one of the stars of the show-within-a-show. To date, this is her most notable role, earning her a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress in a TV series.
In December 2008, Paulson will be in the screen adaptation of Will Eisner's comic book The Spirit, playing an updated version of the character Ellen Dolan.
On August 25, ABC ordered her pilot Cupid to series. It is a remake of the 1998 program starring Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall, and it will co-star Bobby Cannavale. Original series creator Rob Thomas is currently overseeing script development. ABC will most likely air it late 2008 or early 2009.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read all our coverage of The Spirit.
