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Wanda Jakubowska was born on 10 October 1907 in Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire [now Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland]. She was a director and writer, known for The Last Stage (1948), Król Macius I (1958) and Pozegnanie z diablem (1957). She died on 24 February 1998 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.- Writer
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María Luisa Bemberg was born on 14 April 1922 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was a writer and director, known for I Don't Want to Talk About It (1993), I, the Worst of All (1990) and Miss Mary (1986). She was married to Carlos Maria Miguens y Zumarán. She died on 7 May 1995 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.- Director
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Ada Neretniece was born on 2 June 1924 in Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia]. She was a director and assistant director, known for Rita (1958), Gadanie na baraney lopatke (1988) and Chuzhaya v posyolke (1959). She died on 29 December 2008.- Director
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Annelie Thorndike was born on 17 April 1925 in Klützow, Germany. She was a director and writer, known for Die alte neue Welt (1977), Unternehmen Teutonenschwert (1958) and Die Sieben vom Rhein (1954). She was married to Andrew Thorndike. She died on 26 December 2012 in Wolgast, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.- Lucia Ochrimenko is known for Unterwegs zu Lenin (1969).
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Astrid Henning-Jensen was born on 10 December 1914 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She was a director and writer, known for Winterborn (1978), Early Spring (1986) and Øjeblikket (1980). She was married to Bjarne Henning-Jensen. She died on 5 January 2002 in Copenhagen, Denmark.- Director
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Ewa Petelska was born on 24 December 1920 in Pyzdry, Wielkopolskie, Poland. She was a director and writer, known for Black Wings (1963), The Artillery Sergeant Kalen (1961) and Kopernik (1973). She was married to Czeslaw Petelski. She died on 20 August 2013 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.- Director
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Binka Zhelyazkova was born on July 15, 1923 in the town of Svilengrad, Bulgaria. She studied theater at the National Theater Institute in Sofia. Her career as a film director began in 1957 when she co-directed her first feature film Life Goes Quietly By... with her husband Hristo Ganev.
At the end of the 1950s Binka Zhelyazkova was one of the few women in the world making feature films. Her style was influenced by Italian Neo-Realism and the French New Wave, as well as Russian Cinema.
During her career she directed seven feature and two documentary films. Four of her nine films were banned from distribution and reached audiences only after the end of communism. She was the director of the Bulgarian section of Women in Film, an organization created in 1989 after the international women in film conference, KIWI, in Tbilisi, Georgia. She stopped making films after 1989, which coincided with the fall of the communist regime in Bulgaria. For some time after that she remained active in the women in film organization but soon completely withdrew from public life.- Director
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Emile Degelin was born in 1926 in Diest, Belgium. Degelin spent his younger years doing photography. He went to the Ecole Nationale de Cinématographie in Paris to study. He achieved great distinction. Then he did internship in London at Arthur Elton and John Greerson, making Documentary films. Also, he was assistant at J. Guillermin and P. Leecock in Long feature films. Degelin did later internship at Actors Studio in New York and at Barrandow Studios in Prague. Since 1952, Degelin was a film director, scenarios, mechanic and producer. In 1962, he founded (and became co-coordinator of) the film department at the Rijksinstituut voor Toneel- en Cultuurpreidingstechnieken (RITCS) in Brussels, where he studied film and film director until 1992. He represented the RITCS at the International Congresses of the Cilect (Center International of the Cinoles of Cinema and the Télévision) in Tokyo and Mexico.
From 1981 to 1991 he was also a film actor at the Studio Herman Teirlinck in Antwerp. He has written novels since 1982.
In 1953 he married the French-speaking romance Jacqueline Harpman. This marriage ended in 1962, after which he married in 1963 with Angela Schlottke, with whom he has three children (Philippe, Muriel and David).
In May, 2017, Degelin died peacefully.- Director
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Giga Lortkipanidze was born on 19 October 1927 in Tiflis, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR [now Tbilisi, Georgia]. He was a director and writer, known for Tetri bairagebi (1990), Tsinaparta mitsa (1979) and Ert patara qalaqshi (1985). He died on 13 June 2013 in Tbilisi, Georgia.- Director
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Ky Nam Pham was born on 27 June 1928 in Hanoi, French Indochina [now Hanoi, Vietnam]. He was a director and writer, known for Mrs. Tu Hau (1963), Chung mot dòng sông (1959) and The Front Is Calling (1968). He was married to Tu Thanh and Phuong Nghi Nguyen. He died on 3 March 1984 in Vietnam.- Writer
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During the 1970s, Lina Wertmüller emblazoned her name into the pantheon of Italian cinema with a series of intensely polemical, deeply controversial and wonderfully entertaining films. Among the most politically outspoken and iconoclastic members of the second generation of postwar directors - the direct heirs to the neo-realists - Wertmüller was also one of the first woman directors to be internationally recognized and acclaimed. Armed with a keenly satiric and Rabelaisian humor, Wertmüller reinvented the narrative forms and character types of Italian comedy to create one of the rare examples of a radical, politically galvanized cinema that managed to achieve widespread popularity. Indeed, the fierce invectives against social, cultural and historical inequities at the heart of Wertmüller's mid-1970s masterworks Love and Anarchy, Seven Beauties and Swept Away seemed only to help the films find an appreciative audience, especially in the United States, where they broke box office records for foreign films and even secured Wertmüller an Oscar nomination for Best Director - the very first woman named for this category. Although Wertmüller remains a well-known name, her remarkable films are strangely overlooked and only selectively revisited. And yet, the incredible energy and daring of her most popular works is equally present in lesser-known masterpieces such as All Screwed Up and The Seduction of Mimi, films that are both extremely topical and yet still totally relevant today.- Director
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Vera Chytilová was born on February 2, 1929, in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic). She studied philosophy and architecture in Brno for two years, then worked as a technical draftsman, a designer, a fashion model, a photo re-toucher, then worked as a clapper girl for Barrandov Film Studios in Prague. There she continued as a writer, actress, and assistant director.
She was denied a scholarship, or even a recommendation from Barrandov, but she took the admissions tests at FAMU and was accepted. From 1957-1962 she studied film directing under Otakar Vávra, who also taught Jirí Menzel, Milos Forman, Jan Nemec, and Ivan Passer. In 1962 she graduated as director from Film Academy (FAMU) in Prague. Her graduation film 'Strop' (Ceiling 1962) and the following film 'Pytel blech' (A Bagful of Fleas 1963) were "staged" improvisations with non-actors. In 1966 Chytilova and her husband, 'Jaroslav Kucera', made a witty surrealist comedy Daisies (1966), which was immediately banned, but then was released in 1967, and won the Grand Prix at the Bergamo Film Festival. She remained in Czechoslovakia after the events of 1968, when her colleagues Milos Forman, Jan Nemec, and Ivan Passer emigrated. Her films were often "shelved" for reasons of political censorship. For six years Chytilova was banned from making films. In 1976 she wrote a letter of complaint to President Gustav Husak, describing her artistic position. After some behind-the-scenes influence by her supporters, Chytilova was allowed to make a low-budget Hra o jablko (1977), which won a Silver Hugo at Chicago Film Festival.
Chytilova belongs among the foremost directors of the 1960's Czech New Wave, which was influenced by both the French New Wave and Italian Neo-Realism. Her films were acclaimed for visual experimentation and for bold unmasking of the moral problems of contemporary society. Her art belongs to what Sergei Eisenstein described as "intellectual cinema", that embraces the mix of "avant-garde", "cinema verite", "formalism", "feminism", or "happening" and, with a good deal of humor, it spreads beyond definitions. Chytilova's films often present a multi-layered plethora of visual associations that encourages the viewer to make active interpretations. She survived through the political turbulences in Czechoslovakia and has been a highly original and uncompromising filmmaker.- Director
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Born to a military family. Attends law studies before starting a newspaper career. In 1960 starts on TV. Joins the Socialist Party in 1976 and conducts the electoral campaign in 1982 and in the same year she is designated General Director of Cinema. Resigning in 1985, the next year she joins the State Television (RTE). The last work was the coverage of the Royal Wedding of Infanta Cristina in Barcelona (October 1997 ).- Director
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Marianne Ahrne was born on 25 May 1940 in Lund, Skåne län, Sweden. She is a director and writer, known for Långt borta och nära (1976), Frihetens murar (1978) and A Matter of Life and Death (1986).- Director
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Mady Saks was born on 28 November 1941 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. She was a director and writer, known for Ademloos (1982), Iris (1987) and De gulle minnaar (1990). She died on 29 August 2006 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.- Director
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Heikki Partanen was born on 29 January 1942 in Helsinki, Finland. He was a director and writer, known for Antti Puuhaara (1976), Pessi and Illusia (1984) and Ramses ja unet (1982). He was married to Riitta Rautoma. He died on 26 November 1990 in Helsinki, Finland.- Director
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Darmasena Pathiraja was born on 28 March 1943 in Kandy, British Ceylon. He was a director and writer, known for Metamophorsis (2014), Eya Dan Loku Lamayek (1975) and Mathu Yam Dawasa (2002). He was married to Malani Kusumalatha Pathiraja. He died on 28 January 2018 in Kandy, Sri Lanka.- Director
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Riitta Rautoma was born on 13 June 1944 in Turku, Finland. She was a director and writer, known for Antti Puuhaara (1976), Ramses ja unet (1982) and Kukunor (1989). She was married to Heikki Partanen. She died on 31 March 1994 in Helsinki, Finland.- Director
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Jin Wang was born on 18 July 1947 in Hebei, China. He is a director and writer, known for Chujia nu (1990), Nuren hua (1994) and Qing man zhu jiang (1993).- Director
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Christina Olofson was born on 13 June 1948 in Kristinehamn, Värmlands län, Sweden. She is a director and producer, known for Sanning eller konsekvens (1997), I rollerna tre (1996) and Jacob smitaren (1983).- Director
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Katariina Lahti was born on 13 October 1949 in Savonlinna, Finland. She is a director and writer, known for Antti Puuhaara (1976), Teatterituokio (1962) and Käthe Kollwitz tässä ajassa (1978).- Director
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Teresa Kotlarczyk was born on 10 October 1955 in Oswiecim, Malopolskie, Poland. She is a director and writer, known for Zaklad (1990), Prymas. Trzy lata z tysiaca (2000) and Ukryta prawda (2012).- Director
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Maria Knilli was born on 19 April 1959 in Graz, Styria, Austria. She is a director and writer, known for Dear Karl (1984), Follow Me (1989) and Spätvorstellung (1982).- Writer
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Francesca Archibugi was born on 16 May 1960 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is a writer and director, known for Mignon è partita (1988), Questione di cuore (2009) and Il grande cocomero (1993). She is married to Battista Lena. They have three children.- Director
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Hai Ninh was born in 1931. He is a director and writer, known for The Little Girl of Hanoi (1974), Vi tuyen 17 ngày và dem (1972) and Nguoi chien si tre (1964).- Director
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Pat Murphy was born in 1951 in Dublin, Ireland. She is a director and writer, known for Nora (2000), Anne Devlin (1984) and Born in Flames (1983).- Director
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Alanis Obomsawin was born on 31 August 1932 in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA. She is a director and producer, known for Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993), Waban-aki: People from Where the Sun Rises (2006) and Is the Crown at War with Us? (2002).- Director
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Nadine Trintignant was born on 11 November 1934 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France. She is a director and writer, known for Mon amour Mon amour (1967), Rififi (1955) and Crime Thief (1969). She was previously married to Alain Corneau and Jean-Louis Trintignant.- Actress
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Liv Ullmann's father was a Norwegian engineer who used to work abroad, so as a child she lived in Tokyo, Canada, New York and Oslo. In the mid-1950s she made her stage debut and in 1957 made her film debut. She really became successful, however, when she began to work for Swedish director Ingmar Bergman in such films as Persona (1966), The Passion of Anna (1969) and Face to Face (1976). She also had a successful film career away from Bergman (The Abdication (1974), Dangerous Moves (1984).- Director
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Helma Sanders-Brahms was born on 20 November 1940 in Emden, Province of Hanover, Prussia [now Lower Saxony], Germany. She was a director and writer, known for Germany Pale Mother (1980), No Mercy, No Future (1981) and Laputa (1986). She died on 27 May 2014 in Berlin, Germany.- Director
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Sarah Moon was born on 17 November 1941 in Vernon, Eure, France. She is a director and writer, known for Mississipi One (1991), Le fil rouge (2006) and Lumière and Company (1995). She was previously married to Robert Delpire.- Actress
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Margarethe von Trotta was born in Berlin in 1942. In the 1960s she moved to Paris where she worked for film collectives, collaborating on scripts and co-directing short films. She also pursued an acclaimed acting career, starring in films by well known German directors such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Volker Schlöndorff. In 1971, von Trotta divorced her first husband Juergen Moeller (with whom she had a child) and married Schlöndorff. She co-wrote many of the scripts for his films, and in 1975 the two of them co-directed The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975). In 1977, von Trotta directed her first solo feature The Second Awakening of Christa Klages (1978). With her third film, Marianne & Juliane (1981), von Trotta's position as New German Cinema's most prominent and successful female filmmaker was fully secured.
Her films feature strong female protagonists, and are usually set against an important political background. Themes in her work include the effect of the political on the personal, and vice versa, as well as the relationships between female characters, often sisters.- Director
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Maj Wechselmann was born on 1 April 1942 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She is a director and writer, known for Tala med mig systrar (1998), Du skall älska din nästa såsom dig själv (2002) and Ewa Rudling (2011).- Director
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Ulrike Ottinger was born on 6 June 1942 in Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. She is a director and writer, known for Joan of Arc of Mongolia (1989), China. Die Künste - der Alltag. Eine filmische Reisebeschreibung (1986) and Prater (2007).- Actress
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Nicole Garcia was born on 22 April 1946 in Oran, France [now Algeria]. She is an actress and writer, known for From the Land of the Moon (2016), My American Uncle (1980) and Alias Betty (2001).- Producer
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Barbara Kopple was born on 30 July 1946 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a producer and director, known for Harlan County U.S.A. (1976), American Dream (1990) and Shut Up & Sing (2006).- Actress
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Coline Serreau was born on 29 October 1947 in Paris, France. She is an actress and writer, known for Three Men and a Cradle (1985), Why Not! (1977) and Chaos (2001). She was previously married to Benno Besson.- Writer
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Catherine Breillat is a Paris based filmmaker and writer who became famous for her distinctively personal films on sexuality, gender trouble and sibling rivalry. Accused of being a "porno auteuriste", Breillat allowed for an unbiased view of sexuality and extended the language of mainstream movies. She is also a best-selling novelist and wrote her first novel, L'Homme Facile, at the age of 17. Breillat acted in Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris (1972) and wrote the screenplay for Maurice Pialat's movie Police (1985) . Since her first own film A Real Young Girl (1976), which was released 23 years after its shooting, Breillat explored critically as well as in an innovative way the perceptions imposed on female sexuality, related family and coming of age issues.- Producer
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Robin Anderson was born on 11 September 1948 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. Robin was a producer and director, known for Joe Leahy's Neighbours (1989), Facing the Music (2001) and Black Harvest (1992). Robin was married to Bob Connolly. Robin died on 8 March 2002 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.- Director
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Marleen Gorris was born on 9 December 1948 in Roermond, Limburg, Netherlands. She is a director and writer, known for Antonia's Line (1995), A Question of Silence (1982) and Broken Mirrors (1984).- Director
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Deepa Mehta is a transnational artist and a screenwriter, director, and producer whose work has been called "courageous", "provocative" and "breathtaking". Her visually lush and emotionally resonating films have played at every major international film festival; receiving numerous awards and accolades, and have been distributed around the world. Deepa was born in India and received a degree in philosophy from the University of New Delhi before immigrating to Canada. She began her career making documentaries in India.
In 1991, Deepa's first feature film Sam & Me, which stars Om Puri, won a Special Jury Mention in the Camera D'Or section at the Cannes Film Festival. Between 1992-1994 she directed two episodes of The Young Indiana Jones, produced by George Lucas for ABC. In 1993, Deepa directed her second feature film Camilla, a Canada-UK co-pro starring Jessica Tandy, Bridget Fonda, Elias Koteas, Maury Chaykin, Graham Greene, and Hume Cronyn. Fire, which Deepa wrote and directed, is the first film in her Elemental Trilogy (Fire, Earth, Water). Fire opened Perspective Canada at the 1996 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was runner-up for the People's Choice Most Popular Film Award. It played at the New York Film Festival and won many awards worldwide, including the Audience Award for Best Canadian Film at the Vancouver International Festival, the Special Jury Prize at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival and Silver Hugo Awards for Best Direction and Best Actress in Chicago.
Earth, based on Bapsi Sidhwa's acclaimed novel about Partition, Cracking India, is the second film in the Elemental Trilogy. It premiered as a Special Presentation at the 1998 Toronto International Film Festival, and won the Prix Premiere du Public at the Festival du Film Asiatique de Deauville and the Critics' Award at the Verona Schermi d'Amore International Film Festival. Bollywood/Hollywood was a change of pace. Written and directed by Deepa, it is a lighthearted, affectionate comedy about two mismatched lovers. It opened Perspective Canada at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival and was a tremendous crossover box office success. It remains one of the top 10 grossing English language Canadian movies. In 2003 Deepa co-wrote and directed the Canada-UK co-pro The Republic of Love, based on a Carol Shields novel.
After a disrupted and hazardous production history Deepa's final film in the Elemental Trilogy Water opened the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival, and was the first Canadian film acquired by US distributor Fox Searchlight. Water is a powerful, hauntingly tragic story, set in Benares (Varanasi) about a child widow who at the age of eight is forced to enter a house of widows where she has to live for the rest of her life. The movie was to have been shot in India in 2000, but Hindu fundamentalists fomented riots, burnt sets, and issued death threats against the director and actors, forcing production to shut down and the filmmakers to leave the country. Water was successfully remounted in Sri Lanka and completed shooting in June 2004, and features many of India's most renowned actors.
Water was an enormous success. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 79th Annual Academy Awards, and has screened at festivals around the world, winning many awards, and remains an audience favourite. The Vancouver Film Critics Circle named Deepa Mehta the Best Canadian Director of 2006. This fall (2015) is the 10th anniversary of Water's launch.
In 2006 Deepa made a documentary about domestic violence in Toronto's immigrant families called Let's Talk About It, which continues to be used in community outreach programs. She then thematically segued into the feature film Heaven On Earth, which explores arranged marriages and isolation. Starring Preity Zinta, the film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008. It was awarded a Silver Hugo for Best Actress at the Chicago International Film Festival, and received the Best Screenplay Award at the Dubai International Film Festival. It also won the Youth Jury Award at the Schermi d'Amore Film Festival in Verona and the Audience Award at the River to River Florence Indian Film Festival.
In 2012, Deepa completed her epic cinematic adaptation of Salman Rushdie's famous novel about the history of India in the 20th century, Midnight's Children. A novel that won three Booker prizes. The movie, with 127 speaking parts, and covering five distinct time periods from 1917-1977, was a vast, ambitious undertaking and has screened all over the world, including the Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, and the BFI London Film Festival. Midnight's Children was chosen as the Best Feature Film of 2013 at the Directors Guild of Canada's Awards.
Deepa's work as an artist, as a progressive voice about social issues, and her generous mentorship have often been recognized. She has received numerous honorary degrees and many awards and honours, among them: The Life of Distinction Award from the Canadian Centre of Diversity, The Excellence in the Arts Award from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and the Woman of Distinction, President's Award from the YMCA. She is a recipient of the Governor General's Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award for Film. Most recently, in 2013, Deepa was appointed as an officer to the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour, for her work as a "groundbreaking screenwriter, director, and producer." She is also a recipient of the province of Ontario's highest honour, the Order of Ontario.- Director
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Gillian Armstrong was born on 18 December 1950 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is a director and producer, known for My Brilliant Career (1979), Not Fourteen Again (1996) and Little Women (1994). She is married to John Pleffer. They have two children.- Director
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Heddy Honigmann was born on 1 October 1951 in Lima, Peru. She was a director and writer, known for Forever (2006), Oblivion (2008) and Crazy (1999). She was married to Frans van de Staak, Henk Timmermans and Gustavo Riofrio . She died on 21 May 2022 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.- Director
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Nettie Wild was born on 18 May 1952 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a director and writer, known for A Place Called Chiapas (1998), A Rustling of Leaves: Inside the Philippine Revolution (1988) and FIX: The Story of an Addicted City (2002).- Director
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Susan Seidelman was born on 11 December 1952 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She is a director and producer, known for Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Sex and the City (1998) and Smithereens (1982).- Director
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Award-winning writer/director, Jan Eliasberg, is making her debut as a novelist with Hannah's War, bought by Little, Brown in a bidding war, publication date: March 3, 2020.
For readers of The Nightingale and The Alice Network, Hannah's War is a "mesmerizing" historical debut: "I flew through Hannah's War, a gripping true story of a brilliant woman physicist working to develop the first atomic bomb and the secrets she fights to protect as a military investigator ruthlessly uncovers her mysterious past." Martha Hall Kelly (The Lilac Girls; Lost Roses)
A ceiling-shattering writer/director, Jan's film and television career began when she was hand-picked by Michael Mann to be the first female director on Miami Vice and Crime Story. Wiseguy, and 21 Jump Street soon followed, establishing her at the top of the field. Michael Mann remains Jan's mentor and collaborator to this day. . Jan has directed drama pilots for CBS, ABC and NBC, as well as films and theatre with some of the greatest actors of her generation: Frances McDormand; Michael B. Jordan; Tony Shalhoub; Michelle Williams; Paul Giamatti; Stanley Tucci, and John Turturro. She has directed hundreds of hours of award-winning television including Netflix's Thirteen Reasons Why; The Magicians; Bull; Blue Bloods, N.C.I.S.: Los Angeles, Criminal Minds, Parenthood; Nashville; Supernatural and countless others.
A prolific screenwriter, Eliasberg wrote W.A.S.P. the story of the Women Air Service Pilots in WWII with Nicole Kidman and Cameron Diaz attached to produce and star; Mi Corazon with Jennifer Lopez attached to produce and star; Before I Sleep with Sophia Lillis (IT, IT2) attached to star; The Gemcutter, a YA magical Christmas movie for Sony Pictures, and a "hip-hop" Pygmalion for Warner Brothers. Jan is attached to direct all of her original screenplays.
For television, she wrote the pilot, Salem, for FX, and Spirit of St. Louis for CBS. She has also been a writer/producer on television series such as Sisters for NBC/Warner Brothers.
Jan received a B.A. from Wesleyan University (magna cum laude); M.F.A. degrees from the Yale School of Drama (directing) and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson (fiction). She is a graduate of the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women.- Writer
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Dörrie completed her schooling at a humanistic high school, from which she graduated in 1973 with her Abitur. In the same year he spent two years in the USA. There she studied film and acting at the Drama Department at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. This was followed by studies at the New School of Social Research in New York. She also worked in cafés and as a projectionist in the Goethe House in New York. In 1975 she returned to Germany. She then studied at the University of Television and Film in Munich. At the same time, she worked as a film critic journalist for the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Her final film is entitled "The First Waltz" and was broadcast on Bavarian television as "Max and Sandie". Doris Dörrie made various documentaries until 1982. In 1983 she made her first feature film in Munich called "Mitten ins Herz". Three years later she had a cinema hit with the title "Men". The well-known actors Uwe Ochsenknecht and Heiner Lauterbach star in the chaotic relationship comedy. The play became the most successful German film of 1986. Doris Dörrie was married to Helge Weindler from 1988 to 1996. Their daughter Carla was born in 1990.
In 1991 she had another cinema success with the title "Happy Birthday, Turk". She filmed the novel by the German writer Jakob Arjouni, a novel in the Kayankaya series. The witty film is in the tradition of classic detective films and tells the story of the search for a missing person in the Frankfurt milieu. The Turkish private detective Kayankaya, played by Hansa Czypionka, experiences police corruption. In 1994, Doris Dörrie shot the comedy film "Nobody Loves Me" with Maria Schrader. This production is about personal happiness. The work was honored with the silver film ribbon, the leading actress Maria Schrader with the gold film ribbon.
Her other film works include "No Trace of Romanticism" from 1980, "Between" from 1981, "Love in Germany" from 1989 and "Enlightenment Guaranteed" from 1999. Among all her film works The director also wrote the script herself. The films were often cast with well-known actors such as Senta Berger, Gottfried John or Uwe Ochsenknecht. She also shot the documentary entitled "What can it be?" In addition to her role behind the camera, she also performed guest roles in front of the camera. For example, she played in the film "The Leading Man" from 1977 or in "King Kong's Fist" and in "Back to Go" from 2000.
In addition to her film work, Doris Dörrie realized literary projects. This is how the short stories entitled "Love, Pain and All the Damned Stuff" and "What Do You Want from Me?" were created. She also wrote the short story "The Man of My Dreams" and the novel "What Do We Do Now?" In 1991 her collection of short stories entitled "Forever and Ever" was created. The 300-page work was well received by critics. In 2002 her film work entitled "Naked" and her novel "Happy" followed. In 2005 she staged Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto" at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich under the musical direction of Zubin Mehta.
In the same year, 2005, she directed Giacomo Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" at the Gärtnerplatztheater. At the Salzburg Festival in 2006 she staged Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "La finta Giardiniera".- Director
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She entered the Directing Department of the Beijing Film Academy when it reopened in 1978 and graduated in 1982. Her second and third feature films, _The Bloody Morning_ and _Family Portrait_, won the Grand Prix at the Festival of Three Continents and the Jury Award at Locarno Film Festival respectively.- Actress
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Kei Fujiwara was born on 12 March 1957 in Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan. She is an actress and cinematographer, known for Organ (1996), Ido (2005) and The Neptune Factor (1973).- Director
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Alison Maclean was born on 31 July 1958 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She is a director and writer, known for Jesus' Son (1999), Kitchen Sink (1989) and Crush (1992).- Director
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Ana Kokkinos graduated from Melbourne's Monash University law school in 1982 and worked for nine years as an industrial lawyer. In 1991 she applied to film school and was accepted in the graduate film and TV programme at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne. Her graduation short film, Antamasi (1992), won several awards and played at a number of international film festivals.- Writer
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Gurinder Chadha was born in Kenya, and grew up in Southall, London, England. She began her career as a news reporter with BBC Radio, directed several award winning documentaries for the BBC, and began an alliance with the British Film Institute (BFI) and Channel Four. In 2001, Chadha set up her own production company: Bend It Films.- Director
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Though Academy Award®, Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award winning writer and director Susanne Bier's work often plays out against a wide-reaching global backdrop, its focus is intimate, carefully exploring the explosive emotions and complexities of familial bonds. This unique combination is part of the formula that has made her Denmark's leading female filmmaker and a powerhouse worldwide.
Bier's 2010 film In a Better World won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2011, as well as an Italian Golden Globe Award® for Best European Film and Best Director at the European Film Awards. She previously helmed the multi-award-winning After the Wedding (2006), which was also an Academy Award® nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, and was remade as an English-language film in 2019 starring Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, and Billy Crudup.
Bier won an Emmy Award in 2016 for directing the six-part AMC mini-series The Night Manager, based on the 1993 novel of the same name by John le Carré, with stars Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, and Olivia Colman all winning Golden Globes for their work.
Bier followed this with the 2018 Netflix film Bird Box, starring Sandra Bullock, which went on to become the most-watched film in Netflix history. In 2020, she directed the six-part HBO series The Undoing, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, the network's first original series to grow its audience each week.
Prior to this, Bier co-wrote and directed the romantic comedy The One and Only (1999), which won Best Film at the Danish Robert Awards and was the most watched domestic film in Denmark in 20 years, with one-fifth of the country's population having seen it at the cinema.
In 2002, she directed Open Hearts, shot in accordance with the Dogme '95 filmmaking aesthetic. The film won numerous awards, including the Audience Award at the Robert Festival (Danish Academy Award) and the International Film Critics' Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Bier followed this with Brothers (2004), which won, among others, the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
In 2007, Bier directed the award-winning Things We Lost in the Fire, starring Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro, her first English-language film.
In 2012, Bier made her triumphant return to the genre with the 2013 winner of the European Film Award for Best Comedy, Love Is All You Need, starring Pierce Brosnan and Trine Dyrholm. In 2014, Bier directed A Second Chance, starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Most recently, Susanne Bier directed the Showtime limited series The First Lady, starring Viola Davis, Michelle Pfieffer, and Gillian Anderson.- Director
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Tracey Moffatt was born on 12 November 1960 in Brisbane, Australia. She is a director and writer, known for Bedevil (1993), Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy (1990) and Nice Coloured Girls (1987).- Director
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Sanna Lenken was born on 15 August 1978. She is a director and writer, known for My Skinny Sister (2015), Comedy Queen (2022) and Äta lunch (2013).- Director
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Born in Alberta, to a doctor father and musician mother, Anne earned degrees in mathematics and music, putting her way through university as a performer. She came to film-making after working and traveling around the world for a couple of years, exploring Europe, Asia and Africa. She returned home to join a collective focused on making political documentaries. Here she had the opportunity to shoot, edit, produce, write, direct and instigate dozens of short movies before flying solo and being a free-lance artist. In 1979 she married Garth Hendren and a year later gave birth to a identical twin boys, Quincy and Morgan - who today both work in film. By the nineties she had moved to Salt Spring island on the west coast of Canada and was known for making Canadian classics that won numerous national and international awards. Known as a master story-teller, her work to date has garnered seven honorary doctorates and an Order of Canada. She lives now in White Rock B.C. with her husband, Luben Izov, and continues to write and direct and mentoring film-makers in the art of story-telling.- Director
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Daniela Thomas is a multimedia artist. She directs and writes films, creates opera and theater sets, writes and directs plays, designs and curates exhibitions. She was born and is based in Brazil, but her work has been seen, exhibited and played around the world. It all started in the early 80s at La MaMa Experimental Theater in New York. She then moved back to Brazil, where she partnered with Walter Salles, writing and co-directing three features, Foreign Land (1996), Midnight (1998) and Linha de Passe (Palm D'Or for Best Actress to Sandra Corvelloni at the 2008 Cannes Festival), and many shorts, including the Paris, Je T'aime segment Loin du 16e (2006) and the Half the Sky segment Back (2018). Thomas also directed the features Sunstroke, with Felipe Hirsch (2009), Vazante (2015) and O Banquete (2016). She was one of the directors of the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics and the Flaghandover Ceremony in the 2012 London Olympics.- Director
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Simone Bitton was born in 1955 in Morocco. She is a director and writer, known for Mur (2004), L'attentat (2000) and Palestine: Story of A Land (1996).- Director
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Carine Adler was born in 1948 in Brazil. She is a director and writer, known for Under the Skin (1997), Fever (1994) and Shooting Gallery (1995). She has been married to John Reid since 2002. She was previously married to ? Vogel.- Coky Giedroyc was born in 1962 in Hong Kong. She is a director, known for Save Me (2018), The Hour (2011) and How to Build a Girl (2019). She has been married to Tom Bowyer since 28 July 1998. They have three children.
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Holly Dale is one of Canada's premiere directors recognized globally for her outstanding, award-winning television and cinema work crafted over the past twenty-five years. Ms Dale has directed movies, entire mini series, pilots and episodic. She has worked in all genres.
Recently, Ms Dale was taped to be the Producer Director for showrunner Nick Santora's upcoming Netflix/Skydance series FUBAR starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Monica Barbaro and Fortune Feimster. The series will start streaming on Netflix in the Summer of 2023.
Previously Ms Dale was the Producer Director on the Warner Bros/Berlanti Productions series Batwoman for three seasons where she directed 13 episodes.
Ms Dale was also Producer Director of the international sensation Transplant. She block shot the pilot and first 3 episodes of Transplant, creating its stunning visual template. Transplant focuses on a Syrian trauma surgeon who himself is the transplant. The series holds the distinction of becoming the #1 drama series of the year in both its Canadian run and US network run on NBC.
Among many prestigious awards Ms Dale has earned is the Canadian Screen Award for Best Picture and Best Director for the groundbreaking hard edged serial killer miniseries Durham County. She was also honoured with a Canadian Screen Award for Best Director for Mary Kills People, a limited series delving into the murky waters of euthanasia which she directed/co-executive produced the entire first season of six hours. Variety selected Mary Kills People as one of their top ten series of the year.
The Directors Guild of Canada has recognized Ms Dale as their Best Director of Drama series on four [4] separate occasions for her work on the acclaimed one hour shows Flashpoint, Durham County, Mary Kills People and most recently for Transplant.
Highlights of the many extraordinary series Holly has guest directed include Dexter, The Americans, Chris Carter's X-Files, Joan Allen's The Family, Dick Wolf's Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Law & Order:SVU, Halle Berry's Extant, Bradley Cooper's Limitless, Marvel's Agents of the S.H.I.E.L.D, Steven Spielberg's Falling Skies as well as 12 individual hours of the Jerry Bruckheimer anthological series Cold Case, to name just a few.- Producer
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Gaylene Preston is one of New Zealand's most valued filmmakers, with a screen career spanning four decades with writer, director and producer credits covering feature films, documentaries and TV drama series. Many, including War Stories, Bread And Roses, Mr Wrong and Home By Christmas, are classics of NZ cinema, notable for the strength of Preston's human connections and her deep commitment to telling New Zealand stories.
Preston's films have been in official selection for Venice, Sundance, Toronto, London, Sydney, Melbourne and NZ film festivals and have won awards in USA, Canada, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Australia and NZ.
She is an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit and NZ Arts Foundation Filmmaker Laureate. She received the WIFT Lifetime Achievement Award, the Women of Influence Award for Arts and Culture, the SPADA Industry Champion Award and the 2017 NZ Film Awards' Services to Cinema Award.- Producer
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Carine Bijlsma (1983) is an award-winning documentary filmmaker specialized in music documentaries. As the child of two classical musicians she grew up backstage with the camera as her instrument and music as her daily bread. She graduated from the Dutch Film and Television Academy in 2008, winning both the Wildcard Award and the Prins Bernard Culture Fund Award for her graduate film The Secret of Boccherini (2008), an intimate portrait of her father, the cellist Anner Bylsma. Since then she has been working back to back on music documentaries which have been shown at festivals around the globe. Her documentary about D'Angelo: Devil's Pie: D'Angelo (2019), premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2019, garnering rave reviews.
Due to her background, her films give a true insight in a musicians life, with a rare intimacy that feels as if there is no camera present, giving a sincere look in the lives of the musician, their music, their struggles and their creative process.
Apart from her work as a Documentary filmmaker, she works as a photographer. Her photographs have been printed in both magazines and album booklets, among which D'Angelo's "Black Messiah" (2014).- Director
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Canadian filmmaker, Mina Shum has written and directed five award-winning feature films which all had World Premieres at TIFF, and two films with US premieres at Sundance. Mina's first feature DOUBLE HAPPINESS won Best First Feature at the Berlin Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Torino Film Festival. Her most recent film, MEDITATION PARK premiered at TIFF, and was acquired by Netflix. Mina's work also includes art installations, essays, lectures and short films, and she has also directed episodic television in all lengths for a variety of networks including Netflix, Nickelodeon, Oxygen, W and MTV/Logo.- Director
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Zorz Skrigin was born on 4 July 1910 in Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. She was a director and writer, known for Potraga (1956), Velika turneja (1961) and Tito - zapisi filmskog snimatelja (1965). She died on 31 October 1997 in Belgrade, Serbia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.- Writer
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Jill Craigie was born on March 7, 1911 in Fulham, London, England as Noreen Joan Craigie. Her father, Arthur Charles Craigie, worked as a clerk in a theatre box office. Her mother, Sonia Elkind, was born in Russia. She married first the sculptor Claude Begbie-Clench, but this marriage did not last long: he was said to be an alcoholic. They had one daughter together. In 1938 she married the author John E F (Jeffrey) Dell, again this marriage ended in divorce. In 1949 she married the MP and author Michael Foot. He was deputy-leader (under James Callaghan) of the Labour Party from 1976-1980 and leader from 1980-1983. They were married for 50 years.- Actress
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Paulina Andreeva was born on 12 October 1988 in Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia]. She is an actress and writer, known for Plachu s vami (2019), The Method (2015) and Better Than Us (2018). She has been married to Fedor Bondarchuk since 17 September 2019. They have one child.- Actress
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Gillian Jacobs was born on October 19, 1982 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US. Her father, William F. Jacobs Jr., was an investment banker and her mother, Martina Magenau Jacobs, was an alumni relations officer at Carnegie Mellon University.
Gillian is an alumnus of Mt. Lebanon High School, Pennsylvania, and Juilliard School, New York. She holds a bachelor's degree in fine arts and began acting at a young age by attending acting classes at the Pittsburgh Playhouse on weekends.
Jacobs made her acting debut portraying the role of Titania in Pittsburgh Public Theater's stage adaptation of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the age of 16. Years later, she made her debut in a feature film with the Building Girl (2005) then, made her television debut with the role of Adele Congreve in three episodes of The Book of Daniel (2006).
In 2006, Gillian appeared in "Cagelove", an off-Broadway production. The play received negative reviews from all quarters yet, all reviews appreciated Gillian's acting talent.
Jacobs' performance as CJ in the Nonames (2010) remains the most memorable role in the pre-breakout of her career, which brought huge laurels for her acting as well as the Special Jury Award and Copper Wing Award in Phoenix Film Festival.
Her big break came in the form of Community (2009), wherein she played the role of Britta Perry for six seasons until curtains came down on the show. In 2015, she also appeared in the HBO series Girls (2012) with a recurring role as Mimi-Rose Howard.
In 2016, she joined the Love (2016) to play the role of Mickey Dobbs for three consecutive seasons on Netflix. Her other streaming platform collaboration for a TV series came in 2021 with Invincible (2021) on Amazon Prime where she plays the role of Atom Eve. She will feature as Chris Riley, wife of legendary basketball coach Pat Riley, in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022) and Maggie in Minx (2022) for a recurring role. Both shows will debut on HBO and HBO Max respectively in 2022.
Gillian's other prominent film appearances include Choke (2008), Gardens of the Night (2008), The Box (2009), Life Partners (2014), Walk of Shame (2014), Don't Think Twice (2016), Life of the Party (2018) and I Used to Go Here (2020) while her future projects are The Contractor (2022) and Any Other Night.
She also appeared on the back of the camera as well. In 2015, Gillian directed a short documentary titled The Queen of Code (2015) about Grace Hopper, a rear admiral in the US Navy and a computer scientist, who ushered in the digital era.
Later, she directed a short film Curated (2018) in the form of Shatterbox, a film series from TNT and Refinery29. Her latest as a director came with Higher, Further, Faster (2020) for Marvel 616 (2020).
In 2022, she will have her directing and acting credit together on a feature film with The Seven Faces of Jane (2022) for the first time.
In-person Jacobs is a teetotaler. She says she made a choice while young to never have an alcoholic beverage or do drugs. She says her father is an addict, and together with reading the cautionary tale in the young adult novel "Go Ask Alice", about a 15-year-old drug addict, made an impact on her life in this regard.
Another book that shaped Gillian's perspective of life is "No Turn Unstoned" by Diana Rigg, a collection of terrible reviews that undeniably great actors received over the years. It was given to her by an acting teacher after she received a very bad review in a local paper for her initial performance in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Thanks to this experience, she started to see these performances as an opportunity, a chance to improve instead of a burden.- Actress
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Nicole was born in Suva, Fiji and raised in New Zealand. She holds a Bachelor Of Performing and Screen Arts and is well known for her work as a Theatre and Screen Actor. Nicole is the Founder and Acting Coach at Point Chevalier Drama Club, acting school for youth, and she is a director on 'The Feijoa Club' a children's series for the TVNZ/NZOA 'Hei Hei' platform. Nicole is passionate about exploring stories from the Fijian/NZ perspective. Vai is Nicole's film directorial debut.- Actress
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Ziyi Zhang is a Chinese actress and model. She is best known for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Rush Hour 2 (2001), Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004), and Memoirs of a Geisha (2005).
She made her feature film debut in The Road Home (1999).
For her work in Memoirs of a Geisha she was nominated for an Golden Globe for Best Actress.- Actress
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Milena Govich is a director, actor, and musician who has helmed many episodes of TV, including The Equalizer (2021), Chicago Med (2015), FBI: Most Wanted (2020), Chicago Fire (2012), among others. She also served as Co-EP/Producing Director on Dick Wolf's CBS series FBI (2018), and is attached to direct two pilots in development. Milena was one of eight filmmakers selected for AFI's prestigious Directing Workshop for Women, as well as the exclusive Sony Pictures Television Diverse Directors Program. Her short film and TV series proof-of-concept called Unspeakable, starring Laura Vandervoort and Jeff Kober, had its World Premiere at SXSW and won Best Episodic at Seattle International Film Festival and Best Pilot at SoHo International Film Festival. Her short film Temporary (2017) has played all over the country, winning Best Narrative Short at Anthem Film Festival, Best Dark Comedy at Atlanta ShortsFest, and the Director's Choice Award at Sedona International Film Festival.
As an actor, Milena has appeared in close to 100 episodes of television. She first gained national attention in CBS's Love Monkey (2006), then as the prostitute/con-artist Candy on three seasons of Rescue Me (2004) (Denis Leary/FX). She also starred in the Dick Wolf series Conviction (2006), which led to her role as the first and only female detective on the Emmy-winning series Law & Order (1990). She has been featured or recurred on numerous other shows: K-Ville (2007) (Fox); The Defenders (2010) (CBS); Make It or Break It (2009) (ABC Family); and as Lori Stevens on the MTV drama Finding Carter (2014). Milena has also appeared in several movies, including Sordid Things (2009); A Novel Romance (2011), starring opposite Steve Guttenberg; Pass the Light (2015); #Lucky Number (2015), starring opposite Method Man; and the features Closure (2018), Be the Light (2020), and The Cleaner (2021).
A native of Norman, Oklahoma, Milena was valedictorian of her high school before completing a double major in vocal performance and pre-med, with minors in dance and violin at the University of Central Oklahoma, also graduating valedictorian. Soon after, she capitalized on her classical ballet training to appear on Broadway in the Sam Mendes/Rob Marshall production of 'Cabaret' at Studio 54. She began in the role of Lulu, featuring her singing, dancing, and playing violin, and was the understudy and eventual replacement for the lead role, Sally Bowles. Milena also danced on Broadway in the musical revival of 'The Boys From Syracuse' (choreographed by Tony winner Rob Ashford), and the Beach Boys musical 'Good Vibrations.' She starred as Millie in the first regional production of 'Thoroughly Modern Millie,' and starred in the title role of 'Sweet Charity' at the Lyric Theatre in NYC.
Milena resides in Los Angeles and is actively developing TV/film projects with her husband and producing partner, writer David Cornue.
www.milenagovich.com- Writer
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Director, writer, and producer Lilly Wachowski was born in 1967 in Chicago, the daughter of Lynne, a nurse and painter, and Ron, a businessman. Lilly was educated at Kellogg Elementary School in Chicago, before moving on to Whitney M. Young High School. After graduating from high school, she attended Emerson College in Boston but dropped out.
Lilly teamed up with her older sibling, Lana Wachowski, and began working on films. Their first script was optioned and formed the basis for the film Assassins (1995). The Wachowskis went on to make their directorial debut with the self-written Bound (1996), which was well-received. They followed this with the smash hit The Matrix (1999) and went on to produce two successful sequels, The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003).
Other projects include scripting and producing the cult hit V for Vendetta (2005), a live-action version of a Japanese anime series; Speed Racer (2008); Cloud Atlas (2012); and the ambitious epic Jupiter Ascending (2015).- Director
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A very talented painter, Kathryn spent two years at the San Francisco Art Institute. At 20, she won a scholarship to the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program. She was given a studio in a former Offtrack Betting building, literally in an old bank vault, where she made art and waited to be critiqued by people like Richard Serra, Robert Rauschenberg and Susan Sontag. Later she earned a scholarship to study film at Columbia University School of Arts, graduating in 1979. She was also a member of the British avant garde cultural group, Art and Language. Kathryn is the only child of the manager of a paint factory and a librarian.- Actress
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On January 30, 1937, renowned theatre actor Michael Redgrave was performing in a production of Hamlet in London. During the curtain call, the show's lead, Laurence Olivier, announced to the audience: "tonight a great actress was born". This was in reference to his co-star's newborn daughter, Vanessa Redgrave.
Vanessa was born in Greenwich, London, to Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, both thespians. Three quarters of a century after her birth (despite numerous ups and down) this rather forward expectation has definitely been lived up to with an acclaimed actress that has won (among many others) an Academy Award, two Emmys, two Golden Globes, two Cannes Best Actress awards, a Tony, a Screen Actors Guild award, a Laurence Olivier theatre award and a BAFTA fellowship.
Growing up with such celebrated theatrical parents, great expectations were put on both herself, her brother Corin Redgrave and sister Lynn Redgrave at an early age. Shooting up early and finally reaching a height just short of 6 foot, Redgrave initially had plans to dance and perform ballet as a profession. However she settled on acting and entered the Central School of Speech and Drama in 1954 and four years later made her West End debut. In the decade of the 1960s she developed and progressed to become one of the most noted young stars of the English stage and then film. Performances on the London stage included the classics: 'A Touch of Sun', 'Coriolanus', 'A Midsummer's Night Dream', 'All's Well that Ends Well', 'As You Like It', 'The Lady from the Sea', 'The Seagull' and many others. By the mid 1960s, she had booked various film roles and matured into a striking beauty with a slim, tall frame and attractive face. In 1966 she made her big screen debut as the beautiful ex-wife of a madman in an Oscar nominated performance in the oddball comedy Morgan! (1966), as well as the enigmatic woman in a public park in desperate need of a photographer's negatives in the iconic Blow-Up (1966) and briefly appeared in an unspoken part of Anne Boleyn in the Best Picture winner of the year A Man for All Seasons (1966).
She managed to originate the title role in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" the same year on the London stage (which was then adapted for the big screen a few years later, but Maggie Smith was cast instead and managed to win an Oscar for her performance). Her follow up work saw her play the lead in the box office hit adaptation Camelot (1967), a film popular with audiences but dismissed by critics, and her second Academy Award nominated performance as Isadora Duncan in the critically praised Isadora (1968).
Her rise in popularity on film also coincided with her public political involvement, she was one of the lead faces in protesting against the Vietnam war and lead a famous march on the US embassy, was arrested during a Ban-the-Bomb demonstration, publicly supported Yasar Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and fought for various other human rights and particularly left wing causes. Despite her admirably independent qualities, most of her political beliefs weren't largely supported by the public. In 1971 after 3 films back to back, Redgrave suffered a miscarriage (it would have been her fourth, after Natasha Richardson, Joely Richardson and Carlo Gabriel Nero) and a break up with her then partner and father of her son, Franco Nero. This was around the same time her equally political brother Corin introduced her to the Workers Revolutionary Party, a group who aimed to destroy capitalism and abolish the monarchy. Her film career began to suffer and take the back seat as she became more involved with the party, twice unsuccessfully attempting to run as a party member for parliament, only obtaining a very small percentage of votes.
In terms of her film career at the time, she was given probably the smallest part in the huge ensemble who-dunnit hit, Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and given another thankless small part as Lola Deveraux in the Sherlock Holmes adventure The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976).
After a celebrated Broadway debut, she created further controversy in 1977 with her involvement in two films, firstly in Julia (1977) where she acted opposite Jane Fonda as a woman fighting Nazi oppression and narrated and featured in the documentary The Palestinian (1977) where she famously danced holding a Kalashnikov rifle. She publicly stated her condemnation of what she termed "Zionist hudlums", which outraged Jewish groups and as a result a screening of her documentary was bombed and Redgrave was personally threatened by the Jewish Defense League (JDL). Julia (1977) happened to be a huge critical success and Redgrave herself was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, but Jewish support groups demanded her nomination to be dropped and at the event of the Academy Awards burned effigies of Redgrave and protested and picketed. Redgrave was forced to enter the event via a rear entrance to avoid harm and when she won the award she famously remarked on the frenzy causes as "Zionist hoodlums" which caused the audience to audibly gasp and boo. The speech reached newspapers the next morning and her reputation was further damaged.
It came as a surprise when CBS hired her for the part of real life Nazi camp survivor Fania Fenelon in Playing for Time (1980), despite more controversy and protesting (Fenelon herself didn't even want Redgrave to portray her) she won an Emmy for the part and the film was one of the highest rating programs of the year. Her follow up film work to her Oscar had been mostly low key but successful, performances in films such as Yanks (1979), Agatha (1979), The Bostonians (1984), Wetherby (1985) and Prick Up Your Ears (1987) further cemented her reputation as a fine actress and she received various accolades and nominations.
However mainly in the 1980s, she focused on TV films and high budget mini-series as well as theatre in both London and New York. She made headlines in 1984 when she sued the Boston Symphony Orchestra for $5 million for wrongful cancellation of her contract because of her politics (she also stated her salary was significantly reduced in Agatha (1979) for the same reason). She became more mainstream in the 1990s where she appeared in a string of high profile films but the parts often underused Redgrave's abilities or they were small cameos/5-minute parts. Highlights included Howards End (1992), Little Odessa (1994), Mission: Impossible (1996) and Cradle Will Rock (1999), as well as her leading lady parts in A Month by the Lake (1995) and Mrs Dalloway (1997).
In 2003 she finally won the coveted Tony award for her performance in 'The Long Day's Journey Into Night' and followed up with another two Tony nominated performances on Broadway, her one woman show 'The Year of Magical Thinking' in 2007 and 'Driving Miss Daisy' in 2010 which not only was extended due to high demand, but was also transferred to the West End for an additional three months in 2011.
Vanessa continues to lend her name to causes and has been notable for donating huge amounts of her own money for her various beliefs. She has publicly opposed the war in Iraq, campaigned for the closure of Guantanamo Bay, supported the rights of gays and lesbians as well as AIDs research and many other issues. She released her autobiography in 1993 and a few years later she was elected to serve as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. She also famously declined the invitation to be made a Dame for her services as an actress. Many have wondered the possible heights her career could have reached if it wasn't for her outspoken views, but being a celebrity and the artificial lifestyle usually attached doesn't seem to interest Redgrave in the slightest.
Vanessa has worked with all three of her children professionally on numerous occasions (her eldest daughter, Natasha Richardson tragically died at the age of 45 due to a skiing accident) and in her mid 70s she still works regularly on television, film and theatre, delivering time and time again great performances.- Actress
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Samantha Morton has established herself as one of the finest actors of her generation, winning Oscar nominations for her turns in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and Jim Sheridan's In America (2002). She has the talent to become one of the major performers in the cinema of this young century.
Samantha Morton was born on May 13, 1977 in Nottingham, England to parents who divorced when she was three years old. Peter and Pamela Morton took other spouses and made Samantha part of a mixed family of 13; she has eight brothers and sisters. She turned to play-acting early in her life, while she was a school-girl.
At 13, she left regular school to train as an actress at the Central Junior Television Workshop, where she learned her craft for three years. It was at the end of her training then that she decided that a life as a professional actress was for her.
She honed her skills in television roles, working her way up from series television to TV-movies and prestigious mini-series, such as Emma (1996) and Jane Eyre (1997). Her first major film role, Under the Skin (1997), won her the Best Actress Award from the Boston Film Critics Society. Woody Allen cast her as Hattie, the "dumb" (unspeaking) lover of Sean Penn's caddish jazz guitarist in Sweet and Lowdown (1999), a beautiful performance in a role that could have flummoxed a less-talented performer. Penn was Oscar-nominated for his performance, but it was Morton's Hattie that was central to the success of the film, Allen's last unqualified success. She provided the moral and narrative center of the film. It was quite a remarkable performance for a 21-year old as she had to do all her acting with her face, having been shorn of her voice. The role of Hattie won Morton a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination.
Ironically, Morton had never seen a Woody Allen movie before. (She grew up watching the TV and listening to the radio.) She agreed to do the film after reading the script (as she says, well-written roles for women are hard to find), and the movie made her a hot commodity in Hollywood after she won the Oscar nomination. (She lost out to Angelina Jolie). Morton was offered many roles, but was very choosy as she was not in acting as a game with a payoff of stardom and money.
She had consolidated her reputation by following up the Allen film with work in indie features that showed that she was not only talented, but quite courageous as a performer. She played a heroin addict in the underrated Jesus' Son (1999) and gave a brilliant performance in Morvern Callar (2002), the story of a Scottish supermarket clerk coping with her boyfriend's suicide.
Steven Spielberg cast her, opposite superstar Tom Cruise, as the clairvoyant in Minority Report (2002), in which she more than held her own opposite Cruise and the special effects. (She took the role as Cruise and Steven Spielberg are favorites of hers). As good as she was, Morton was better served by Irish director Jim Sheridan, Sheridan cast her as a character modeled after his wife in an autobiographical picture more in line with persona and that made better use of her talents. Her performance as the young Irish mother coping with life in New York City in In America (2002) won her numerous critics' awards and another Oscar nod, this time as Best Actress.
At this point, one feels that the odds of her winning the Oscar are even or better. Samantha Morton continues to deliver fine work in provocative films such as Michael Winterbottom's Code 46 (2003), though she is branching out towards the mainstream, taking a role in the remake of that perennial family favorite, Lassie (2005).- Actress
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Although born in an acting family, she wanted work that included animals when she was young. At the age of 5, she was in a production of the play 'Klas Klättermus'. When she was a 15 she received a scholarship for studying in USA and moved to Mississippi for a year. During this year she became interested in acting and decided that this was her future. Back in Sweden, she got a role in a TV-series but her first application to become a student at the Royal Dramatic Theatre was rejected. Acting lessons for 'Margreth Weivers' made the third attempt successful. After her studies she worked both at the Royal Dramatic Theatre and Stockholm's City Theatre. She made her breakthrough with 1939 (1989). Colin Nutley saw her face on a poster for The Women on the Roof (1989) and cast her for his movie BlackJack (1990). She was also the obvious choice for his next movie, House of Angels (1992). Critics have called her 'the new Ingrid Bergman'- Writer
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Nora Ephron was educated at Wellesley College, Massachusetts. She was an acclaimed essayist (Crazy Salad 1975), novelist (Heartburn 1983), and had written screenplays for several popular films, all featuring strong female characters, such as anti-nuclear activist Karen Silkwood (Silkwood (1983), co-written with Alice Arlen) and a mobster's feisty independent daughter Cookie Voltecki (Cookie (1989), also co-written with Arlen). Ephron's hard-headed sensibilities helped make Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally... (1989) a clear-eyed view of modern romance, and she earned an Oscar nomination for her original screenplay.
Ephron made her directorial debut with the comedy This Is My Life (1992), co-scripted by her sister Delia Ephron, which starred Julie Kavner as a single mother who struggles to establish herself as a stand-up comedienne. Ephron followed up by helming and co-writing Sleepless in Seattle (1993), a romantic comedy in which lovers Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are separated for most of the film. Less about love than about love in the movies, the film drew inspiration from the beloved shipboard romance An Affair to Remember (1957), starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.
Ephron was born in New York City, the daughter of stage and screen writing team Henry Ephron and Phoebe Ephron, who used her infancy as the subject of their play "Three's a Family" and based their comedy Take Her, She's Mine (1963) on letters their daughter wrote them from college. Their screenplays include There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), Carousel (1956) and Desk Set (1957). Formerly married to novelist Dan Greenburg and investigative journalist Carl Bernstein, Ephron was wed to crime journalist and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, at the time of her passing, who wrote such films as Goodfellas (1990). She was of Russian Jewish descent.- Actress
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Radha Mitchell (born 12 November 1973) is an Australian actress. She started her career acting in various Australian TV series and movies, and later became known for her appearance in Hollywood films. Mitchell, a native of Melbourne, began acting when she was still in high school and had her professional debut on the popular Australian soap, Neighbours (1985) in 1994. Two years later, she made her film debut in the romantic comedy Love and Other Catastrophes (1996), in which she starred as a college student experiencing a messy breakup. The film proved to be fairly popular in Australia, but it wasn't until she was cast in High Art (1998) that Mitchell gained an introduction to a wider audience. The critical success of "High Art" made it possible for her to do more international work, and her increasing popularity was reflected by her subsequent casting in a number of projects. Among them were Pitch Black (2000), a sci-fi horror film in which Mitchell played a pilot whose ship crashes on a hostile planet, and Everything Put Together (2000), a drama where she plays a suburban woman shunned by her peers after the death of her baby. Her career continued with a diverse run of films, including Nobody's Baby (2001), Man on Fire (2004), Finding Neverland (2004), and landing the lead in Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda (2004). Those last three films all hit the screens in 2004, and although kept working steadily, she never quite capitalized on the buzz she generated that year. Her other credits include Silent Hill (2006), Henry Poole Is Here (2008), Surrogates (2009) and The Crazies (2010).- Director
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Hardwicke's first film as a director was the Sundance winner THIRTEEN which explored the transition into teenage years with an authenticity that still captures young audiences (1.3 billion Tik Tok engagements.) Hardwicke directed LORDS OF DOGTOWN before she became best known as the director of TWILIGHT, which launched the blockbuster franchise and has since earned over three billion dollars. Recently her indie film PRISONER'S DAUGHTER premiered at TIFF 2022 and DREAMS IN THE WITCHHOUSE dropped on Netflix October 2022 as part of Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities. MAFIA MAMMA premieres in theaters on April 14 2023.- Actress
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Born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, Amy Carlson spent most of her early life in the Chicago area. But when Amy was in junior high, she and her family also lived in the Middle East where her parents, Bob and Barb, taught at the American School. Amy has three siblings, sisters Betsy and Lori and brother Joe. Amy has backpacked all over Europe with her family and on her own. Because her parents were teachers, they were able to spend every summer together traveling and camping all over the United States. In fact, they have camped in every state except Alaska. Amy also went to Rwanda after the war in 1994 to aid relief efforts. Early on, Amy showed artistic talent acting in school productions and winning contests for writing. In high school, she was a promising athlete who placed in the first ever 3200 meter relay in Illinois girls track. In college, after an injury, she returned to the theater with many roles on stage starting with Lanford Wilson's "Fifth of July" and directing Wallace Shawn's "Aunt Dan and Lemon". Amy attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where she graduated cum laude with a B.A. in East Asian history and a concentration in Theater. She moved to Chicago afterward and studied Improv at the Improv Olympic and acting at The Actor's Center. A contract job on the now defunct soap opera Another World (1964) moved her to NYC soon after graduation. She has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in the category of "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Daytime Drama Series". Her most memorable roles have been of strong women playing Alex Taylor in Third Watch (1999), Maggie Pistone in Falcone (2000), Katie Owen alongside Tom Berenger in Peacemakers (2003) and Linda Reagan in Blue Bloods. Carlson resides in New York City with husband Syd Butler, bassist of Les Savy Fav, where she also works in the independent music business as part-owner of the independent label "Frenchkiss Records". Amy continues to write as well as seek out diverse and unique roles in the film industry.- Actress
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Bai Ling is recognized for unbridled freedom and creativity, Bai Ling has become undoubtedly one of the world's most diverse and captivating actresses! Born in the city of Cheng Du in southern China, Bai Ling began her career at age of 14. She enlisted In the Chinese People's Liberation Army, where she spent three years in a performance troupe entertaining soldiers stationed in Tibet. She first gained the attention of audiences and critics alike when she won the coveted lead role opposite Richard Gere in Jon Avnet's Red Corner (1997). She received numerous accolades including the prestigious Breakthrough Performance Award from the National Board of Review. She also garnered the Discovery Star awarded by the Hollywood Women's Press Club for their Golden Apple Awards. While developing her remarkable facility with the English language, she has worked with such prestigious filmmakers as Oliver Stone in Nixon (1995), George Lucas in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), Barry Sonnenfeld in Wild Wild West (1999), Spike Lee in She Hate Me (2004), Andy Tennant in Anna and the King (1999), Ang Lee in The Wedding Banquet (1993), Alex Proyas in The Crow (1994) and Luc Besson' in )Taxi 3 (2003)_, in which she spoke French. She also starred in Terrence Malick's Broadway production of "Sansho the Bailiff". She dazzled audiences with her portrayal of the sexy, mysterious Achara in the hit TV series Lost (2004), and intrigued viewers with her seductive yet exhilarating role in HBO's Entourage (2004).
Bai Ling was awarded the Asian Oscar for her brilliant performance in her first Hong Kong film Three... Extremes (2004). It also earned her an additional three major awards in the Far East. She received the Spirit Diversity Award by The Hollywood Motion Picture Association. Her film Southland Tales (2006), directed by Richard Kelly was in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
Bai starred in and executive-produced Shanghai Baby (2007). She has worked with Taylor Hackford in Love Ranch (2010), co-starring with Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci, and had a leading role in the Jason Statham action comedy Crank: High Voltage (2009) with costar with Jason Statham.- Actress
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Rachel Hannah Weisz was born on 7 March, 1970, in London, U.K., to Edith Ruth (Teich), a psychoanalyst, and George Weisz, an inventor. Her parents both came to England around 1938. Her father is a Hungarian Jewish immigrant, and her mother, from Vienna, was of Italian and Austrian Jewish heritage. Rachel has a sister, Minnie, a curator and photographer.
Rachel started modeling when she was 14, and began acting during her studies at Cambridge University. While there, she formed a theater company named "Talking Tongues", which won the Guardian Award, at the Edinburgh Festival, for its take on Neville Southall's "Washbag". Rachel went on to star on stage in the lauded Sean Mathias revival of Noël Coward's "Design For Living". It was a role that won her a vote for Most Promising Newcomer by the London Critics' Circle.
She has starred in many movies, including The Mummy (1999), Enemy at the Gates (2001) and Stealing Beauty (1996). Rachel can also be seen in the movies The Shape of Things (2003), About a Boy (2002), Constantine (2005) and The Constant Gardener (2005), for which she won an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Rachel has a son with her former partner, director Darren Aronofsky. In June 2011, she married "James Bond" actor Daniel Craig in a private ceremony in New York.- Actress
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Award-winning actress, director, producer, Katheryn Winnick, is best known for starring and directing the critically acclaimed, Emmy award-winning television series "Vikings." Winnick made her directorial debut in sixth and final season which earned her "Best Director" at the 2020 WIN Awards. She produced and starred in Sean Penn's "Flag Day" that premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and recently starred in David E. Kelley's critically acclaimed series "Big Sky" that was ABC's most watched and highest-rated debut since 2017. She started her production company, Kat Scratch Inc., to champion strong female-lead stories.- Director
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Spheeris is often referred to as a 'rock 'n roll anthropologist'.
In 1974 she formed the first Los Angeles music video production company, ROCK 'N REEL. She concluded her music video work with the Grammy-nominated, "Bohemian Rhapsody" video for "Wayne's World". Spheeris' feature film debut was the 1979 documentary on the Los Angeles punk scene, "The Decline of Western Civilization" which was received with stunning and unanimous critical praise. In 1983 she wrote and directed "Suburbia", produced by Roger Corman. It is a disturbing and prophetic story of rebellious, homeless kids squatting in abandoned houses, trying to make new families, and protecting one another. "Suburbia" won first place at the Chicago Film Festival. Almost 25 years later her documentary, "The Decline of Western Civilization, Part III" would eerily mirror the events she scripted in "Suburbia". In the mid-80s she directed "The Boys Next Door", starring Charlie Sheen and Maxwell Caulfield, then "Dudes" starring John Cryer, Flea, and Daniel Roebuck. Both films have attained cult classic status. "The Decline of Western Civilization, Part II: The Metal Years" was released in 1988, again to spectacular critical acclaim. Commentaries from Ozzy Osbourne, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Alice Cooper, Lemmy of Motorhead, Poison, etc. make it one of the most memorable pieces of rock film history.
In 1992, Spheeris directed her seventh feature, and first studio film, "Wayne's World" at Paramount Pictures. Subsequently she directed and produced "The Beverly Hillbillies" (Fox), wrote and directed "The Little Rascals" (Universal), then directed "Black Sheep" (Paramount), etc. In 1999, Spheeris documented The Ozzfest, America's most successful summer concert tour, and the reunion performances of the original Black Sabbath. Both as director and one of the cinematographers, Spheeris achieved a remarkable and historic film which offers the audience a unique view of life on the road: "We Sold Our Souls For Rock 'N Roll".
(2016) She is currently touring with her Producer/daughter Anna Fox, screening "The Decline" trilogy in support of the Shout Factory DVD release.- Actress
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Diane Keaton was born Diane Hall in Los Angeles, California, to Dorothy Deanne (Keaton), an amateur photographer, and John Newton Ignatius "Jack" Hall, a civil engineer and real estate broker. She studied Drama at Santa Ana College, before dropping out in favor of the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. After appearing in summer stock for several months, she got her first major stage role in the Broadway rock musical "Hair". As understudy to the lead, she gained attention by not removing any of her clothing. In 1968, Woody Allen cast her in his Broadway play "Play It Again, Sam," which had a successful run. It was during this time that she became involved with Allen and appeared in a number of his films. The first one was Play It Again, Sam (1972), the screen adaptation of the stage play. That same year Francis Ford Coppola cast her as Kay in the Oscar-winning The Godfather (1972), and she was on her way to stardom. She reprized that role in the film's first sequel, The Godfather Part II (1974). She then appeared with Allen again in Sleeper (1973) and Love and Death (1975).
In 1977, she broke away from her comedy image to appear in the chilling Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), which won her a Golden Globe nomination. It was the same year that she appeared in what many regard as her best performance, in the title role of Annie Hall (1977), which Allen wrote specifically for her (her real last name is Hall, and her nickname is Annie), and what an impact she made. She won the Oscar and the British Award for Best Actress, and Allen won the Directors Award from the DGA. She started a fashion trend with her unisex clothes and was the poster girl for a lot of young males. Her mannerisms and awkward speech became almost a national craze. The question being asked, though, was, "Is she just a lightweight playing herself, or is there more depth to her personality?" For whatever reason, she appeared in but one film a year for the next two years and those films were by Allen. When they broke up she was next involved with Warren Beatty and appeared in his film Reds (1981), as the bohemian female journalist Louise Bryant. For her performance, she received nominations for the Academy Award and the Golden Globe. For the rest of the 1980s she appeared infrequently in films but won nominations in three of them. Attempting to break the typecasting she had fallen into, she took on the role of a confused, somewhat naive woman who becomes involved with Middle Eastern terrorists in The Little Drummer Girl (1984). To offset her lack of movie work, Diane began directing. She directed the documentary Heaven (1987), as well as some music videos. For television she directed an episode of the popular, but strange, Twin Peaks (1990).
In the 1990s, she began to get more mature roles, though she reprized the role of Kay Corleone in the third "Godfather" epic, The Godfather Part III (1990). She appeared as the wife of Steve Martin in the hit Father of the Bride (1991) and again in Father of the Bride Part II (1995). In 1993 she once again teamed with Woody Allen in Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993), which was well received. In 1995 she received high marks for Unstrung Heroes (1995), her first major feature as a director.- Actress
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Vera Farmiga is an American actress who has received an Academy Award nomination for her role in Up in the Air (2009) and Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her roles in Bates Motel (2013) and When They See Us (2019).
She was born Vera Ann Farmiga, the second of seven children, on August 6, 1973, in Clifton, New Jersey, USA, to Ukrainian parents. She did not speak English until the age of six, and was raised in the Ukrainian Catholic home of her mother, Luba (Spas), a schoolteacher, and her father, Michael Farmiga, a computer systems analyst. Her younger sister is actress Taissa Farmiga, who is 21 years her junior. Young Vera was a shy, nearsighted girl, who played piano and folk danced with a Ukrainian touring company in her teens.
In 1991, she graduated from Hunterdon Central Regional High School. Farmiga initially dreamed of becoming an optometrist, but she later changed her mind and studied acting at Syracuse University's School of Performing Arts, graduating in 1995. The following year, she began her professional acting career, making her Broadway debut as an understudy in the play "Taking Sides". Her stage credits included performances in "The Tempest", "Good", "The Seagull", and in a well-reviewed off-Broadway production of "Second-Hand Smoke" (1997). That same year, she made her television debut as the female lead, opposite a then-unknown Heath Ledger, in Fox's adventure series Roar (1997).
In 1998, Farmiga made her big screen debut in the drama Return to Paradise (1998), then played the daughters of Christopher Walken in The Opportunists (1999) and Richard Gere in Autumn in New York (2000). She starred as a working-class mother struggling to keep her life and marriage together while hiding her drug addiction in Down to the Bone (2004), for which she was awarded Best Actress from the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Farmiga's acting talent shone in a range of characters, from her role as a senator's daughter in The Manchurian Candidate (2004), the wife of a mobster in Running Scared (2006), a humorous prostitute in Breaking and Entering (2006), and a police psychiatrist in The Departed (2006).
In 2010, Farmiga received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in Up in the Air (2009). In 2011, she made her directorial debut with the drama Higher Ground (2011), in which she also appeared in the leading role. Although the film had a limited release, Farmiga's direction and performance received attention at several festivals. In 2013, she began starring in the drama thriller series Bates Motel (2013), for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in the first season. In 2019, she received a second Primetime Emmy Award nomination, this time in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie category, for her role in the drama miniseries When They See Us (2019).
Farmiga was formerly married to actor Sebastian Roché, whom she met during production of Roar (1997). The two eloped to the Bahamas after the series ended in 1997. They separated and subsequently divorced in 2004. On September 13, 2008, she married musician Renn Hawkey, with whom she has two children, son Fynn McDonnell (b. 2009) and daughter Gytta Lubov Hawkey (b. 2010). Farmiga lives with her family in Hudson Valley, New York. Her other activities, outside her acting profession, include reading, playing piano, boxing, jujitsu, and spending time with her pet angora goats.- Actress
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Helen Shaver has built a lasting legacy, both behind and in front of the camera. She has directed hundreds of hours of television ranging from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) to Castle (2009), from The Unit (2006) to The Outer Limits (1995). Her film, Summer's End (1999), a Showtime feature starring James Earl Jones, won multiple Emmy awards for Outstanding Children's Special, Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special and Helen was nominated for her direction. Her producing credits include Judging Amy (1999) for CBS, Showtime's Due East (2002) starring Cybill Shepherd and Robert Forster and the independent feature We All Fall Down (2000), for which she also received a Best Supporting Actress award.
It was Martin Scorsese who first suggested Helen direct. Working with him and other such greats as Steven Spielberg, Robert Rodriguez, Sam Peckinpah, Brian De Palma, Helen amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience in the collaborative world of cinematic storytelling.
Helen first appeared on the silver screen at 22 years old, starring in a series of award-winning Canadian films; Best Supporting Actress for Who Has Seen the Wind (1977) and Best Actress for In Praise of Older Women (1978). Hollywood took note and in 1977 she co-starred in The Amityville Horror (1979) directed by Stuart Rosenberg. Larry Gelbart's United States (1980), Martin Scorsese's, The Color of Money (1986), John Schlesinger's The Believers (1987), Donna Deitch's Desert Hearts (1985), Andrew Fleming's The Craft (1996), and a trip to China with Donald Sutherland to realize Bethune: The Making of a Hero (1990) broadened her education.
MAWD (Mother Actress Wife Director), Helen's production company, has three theatrical features in development, as well as a feature-length documentary. MAWD continues to expand becoming an umbrella for young filmmakers who Helen has mentored.- Actress
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Born and raised in Sparks, Nevada, Mädchen Amick was encouraged by her parents to follow her own creative instincts where she learned the skill of playing the piano, bass, violin and guitar as well as being able to do tap, ballet, jazz and modern dancing. In 1987 at the age of 16, she traveled to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting.- Actress
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Kata Dobó was born on 25 February 1974 in Gyõr, Hungary. She is an actress and director, known for Rollerball (2002), 15 Minutes (2001) and Európa expressz (1999). She was previously married to Dávid Vermes.- Actress
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Elisabeth Rohm will next be seen in the Roger Ailes biopic FAIR AND BALANCED for Lionsgate and director Jay Roach, portraying Fox News host Martha MacCallum, as well as Ted Melfi's THE STARLING opposite Melissa McCarthy.
Elisabeth recently wrapped production on the Lifetime feature FAMILY PICTURES opposite Justina Machado and previously co-starred in David O. Russell's JOY opposite Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro. This was her second collaboration with David following the huge success of AMERICAN HUSTLE in which she had a pivotal role opposite Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale and Amy Adams (the film won numerous accolades for its ensemble cast including the coveted SAG Award and both films were nominated for Oscars.)
Elisabeth also had a key role in TRIBES OF PALOS VERDES opposite Jennifer Garner for IFC Films and Relativity Media. Other notable film credits include TRAFFICKED with Ashley Judd and GOING UNDER opposite Bruce Willis and Jason Momoa.
Elisabeth also has a rich body of work in the television space notably starring as "Serena Southerlyn" on LAW & ORDER for five seasons and "Kate Lockley" on The WB series ANGEL. More recently, Elisabeth co-starred with Dylan McDermott and Maggie Q on STALKER for CBS and starred opposite Eric Dance on THE LAST SHIP for TNT and Michael Bay. She also had memorable arcs on Will Arnett's Netflix series FLAKED and The CW hit show JANE THE VIRGIN.- Actress
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Award-winning actor Amanda Donohoe trained at the Royal Central school of Speech and Drama. In a career spanning more than 30 years, she has appeared in a variety of productions on stage, screen and television in the UK and USA. She won a Golden Globe for her role in the multi-award-winning TV series L.A. Law, co-starred in the Oscar-winning film The Madness of King George and won rave reviews for her stage work, including her portrayal of Mrs Robinson in the West End comedy hit The Graduate.- Writer
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Lana Wachowski and her sister Lilly Wachowski, also known as the Wachowskis, are the duo behind such ground-breaking movies as The Matrix (1999) and Cloud Atlas (2012). Born to mother Lynne, a nurse, and father Ron, a businessman of Polish descent, Wachowski grew up in Chicago and formed a tight creative relationship with her sister Lilly. After the siblings dropped out of college, they started a construction business and wrote screenplays. Their 1995 script, Assassins (1995), was made into a movie, leading to a Warner Bros contract. After that time, the Wachowskis devoted themselves to their movie careers. In 2012, during interviews for Cloud Atlas and in her acceptance speech for the Human Rights Campaign's Visibility Award, Lana spoke about her experience of being a transgender woman, sacrificing her much cherished anonymity out of a sense of responsibility. Lana is known to be extremely well-read, loves comic books and exploring ideas of imaginary worlds, and was inspired by Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) in creating Cloud Atlas.- Director
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Catherine Morshead is known for No Offence (2015), Downton Abbey (2010) and Playing the Field (1998).- Actress
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Born in Madrid, Iciar Bollain has worked as an actress in films such El Sur (1983), directed by Víctor Erice; Sublet (1991) directed by Chus Gutiérrez, Malaventura (1988) directed by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón; El Mejor de los Tiempos (1990) and Un Paraguas para Tres (1992) directed by Felipe Vega, Tierra y Libertad (1995) directed by Ken Loach, LEO (2000) directed by Jose Luis Borau, Nos Miran (2002) directed by Norberto Pérez, La Balsa de Piedra (2003) directed by Geogre Sluiezer and La Noche del Hermano (2005) directed by Santiago García de Leániz. As a director, Icíar has written and directed many renowned films. Flowers from Another World, her second film, was awarded at Cannes Film Festival in 1999 (Best Film in the International Critics' Week). Take my eyes (2003), her following film as writer and director, won 7 Goyas (Spanish Academy Awards), including Best Film, among many other international awards. She directed a script by Paul Laverty in 2009, Even the Rain. The film obtained national and international recognition: 13 nominations to the Goya Awards, Panorama Award at the Berlinale, Ariel Award to best Latin-American film and it was in the short list of the foreign films selected for the Academy Awards in 2010 representing Spain. In 2011 she directed and co-wrote Katmandú, un Espejo en el Cielo. The film was nominated to the Goya Awads in the categories of Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2014 it was released En Tierra Extraña, a documentary that Iciar directed about the life of young Spanish immigrants in Edinburgh, Scotland, who had to leave Spain due to recession and unemployment Iciar Bollain is currently in pre-production of his next film, The Olive Tree, a new collaboration with the writer Paul Laverty and Morena Films. The film will start principal photography in May 2015.- Producer
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Angela Robinson was born on 14 February 1971 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is a producer and writer, known for D.E.B.S. (2004), Professor Marston & the Wonder Women (2017) and D.E.B.S. (2003). She is married to Alexandra Kondracke. They have one child.