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Maggie Gyllenhaal Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

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A versitile and intriguing actress, whose penetrating acting and off-kilter beauty were initially relegated to supporting roles, Maggie Gyllenhaal broke out to the forefront with the edgy S&M themed drama “Secretary.” Despite this being her first starring role, she did not spend much time in the trenches, having a relatively painless decade paying dues before getting her first major role at the age of 24.

Having grown up in a family of entertainment professionals, it is no surprise Gyllenhaal decided to pursue a career in acting. Her mother is successful screenwriter Naomi Foner (Oscar nominated for her 1988 screenplay for “Running on Empty,” starring River Phoenix) and her father is accomplished film and television director Stephen Gyllenhaal (nominated for an Emmy for 1990 telepic “A Killing in a Small Town” and directed feature “Losing Isaiah” in 1995). Adding a healthy dose of sibling rivalry to go along with these parental expectations, her brother is successful actor Jake Gyllenhaal (”Moonlight Mile” 2002).

Gyllenhaal was born in New York City but grew up in Los Angeles where she and her brother attended the prestigious Harvard-Wakeland prep school, known as a “who’s who among who’s whose kids” in the Hollywood circle. Here Gyllenhaal was an excellent student and active in the drama program. At the age of 15, Gyllenhaal had her feature debut in the nostalgic drama “Waterland” (1992), directed by her father and starring Jeremy Irons and Ethan Hawke. She next had another small role in “A Dangerous Woman” (1993), also directed by her father. In 1995, Gyllenhaal moved to New York to attend Columbia University. While she was busy studying Eastern religion and literature in school, she also found the time to further her professional acting career. She appeared in two more television movies directed by her father as well as the feature “Homegrown” (1998), also written and directed by her father.

After graduating from Columbia in 1999, Gyllenhaal certainly had ample exposure to the film and television world. However, in order to really break into the business, Gyllenhaal would need a stand-out role to get her in the running for the high-profile parts. That break came in the form of her role as Raven, a Satanic make-up artist in the eccentric John Waters film “Cecil B. Demented.” (2000). This gave Gyllenhaal enough recognition that she landed a string of supporting roles the following year. She played her brother’s sister in the far-out sci-fi movie “Donnie Darko” (2001), appeared in “Riding in Cars with Boys” (2001) and was featured in the teen romance “40 Days and 40 Nights.”

Not the kind of actress meant to lay wait in obscurity for very long, Gyllenhaal had a breakout performance with “Secretary” in 2002. Playing a timid young woman recovering from a mental breakdown who engages in a S&M relationship with her boss, Gyllenhaal brought the depth and delicacy called for in the role. The movie won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance and was promptly picked up for theatrical distribution. Gyllenhaal’s indie actress, star-on-the-rise status was solidified with awards nominations–including a Golden Globe– and her next projects, Charlie Kaufman’s mind-bending film-about-writing-a-film “Adaptation” (2002) and the John Sayles directed “Casa de Los Babys” (2003). She also joined fellow up-and-comers Julia Stiles and Kirsten Dunst as students of a liberal-minded instructor (Julia Roberts) at 1950s Wellesley College, nearly stealing the entertaining but routine movie as Giselle Levy, the wised-up class rebel who sleeps around and almost loses her bearings. Quickly gaining a reputation as a cerebral actress, often compared to the likes of Cate Blanchett, Emily Watson or a young Diane Keaton, Maggie Gyllenhaal has stepped out from the shadow of her parents and her brother and to shine alone in the spotlight.

The actress continued to deliver a string of unflinching, unselfconscious performances, including Sidney Lumet’s harrowing HBO telepic “Strip Search” (2004), in which two parallel plotline exploring post-9/11 issues of civil liberties and personal freedoms. Gyllenhaal played an American woman detained in China on suspicion of terrorisim, forced to defend her own rights to an interrogator (Ken Leung) in a sweltering basement prison, stripped bare both physically and emotionally. After compellingly playing a hustling con artist in the otherwise middling crime drama “Criminal” (2004), Gyllenhaal turned in one her most winning performances to date in director Don Roos’ seriocomic “Happy Endings” (2005). As the morally ambiguous singer Jude, who seduces a closeted gay youth (Jason Ritter) then turns her sights on his lonely, wealthy father (Tom Arnold) Gyllenhaal dazzled with her subtle, shifting behaviors, creating a compelling, fully realized character than was neither fully good or fully bad.

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Bryce Dallas Howard Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

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As the daughter of Oscar-winning director Ron Howard (“Beautiful Mind”, “Apollo 13”), it would have been easy for Bryce Dallas Howard to become a successful actress. Her father would no doubt have done all he could to assure his daughter’s success. Determined to make it on her own, however, Howard opted not to use her father’s influence in her rise to stardom and instead chose to pursue acting on her own terms. For Howard, success—or failure—rested squarely on her own shoulders.

Born to Ron and Cheryl Howard, the actress spent her youth growing up in scenic, but stodgy Connecticut. At 17, she was accepted into the drama program at the esteemed Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. In keeping with her conviction to pursue acting on her own, Howard enrolled as Bryce Dallas, dropping her famed last name to eschew special treatment. Her first play, House Garden, by accomplished director Alan Ayckbourn, challenged the young actress. As two plays—one House, the other Garden—performed simultaneously on adjacent stages, the actors had to move between sets in the telling of two different, yet similarly-themed stories. Though the play received mixed reviews, Howard was noted for her ‘shining’ performance.

Subsequent theater work helped Howard hone her already exceptional talents, including roles in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and Tartuffe, French dramatist Molière’s masterpiece. Howard then made her film debut in the independent drama “Book of Love” (2004), by director Alan Brown. Though never released, “Book of Love” premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Meanwhile, she returned to the stage, playing Rosalind in Shakespeare’s As You Like It. It was during this critically acclaimed performance that Howard’s career took a giant leap, as she was discovered by one of Hollywood’s most prominent directors.

On the advice of big time producer Scott Rudin, director M. Night Shyamalan (“Sixth Sense”, “Unbreakable”) went to see Howard in As You Like It and was immediately taken by her performance. When Kirsten Dunst, who was previously attached to star in “The Village” (2004), dropped out, Shyamalan offered the unknown Howard the part. She starred alongside such Hollywood heavyweights as Joaquin Phoenix, William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver in the period thriller about an isolated 19th Century village cut off from the rest of the world. Once again, Howard was lauded for her performance as Ivy Walker, a mesmerizing young blind woman with an unusual wisdom beyond her years. To bolster her Hollywood arrival, Howard was cast in Lars Von Trier’s “Manderlay” (2004), the second in the director’s trilogy “U, S and A”. As with “The Village”, Howard was cast to replace a previously attached star—in this case, she took over for Nicole Kidman. In a short time, Howard has gone from virtual unknown to hot commodity entirely on her own terms.

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Leslie Bibb Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

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Leslie Louise Bibb was born in Bismark, North Dakota on November 17, 1973 and raised in rural Nelson County, Virginia, the youngest of four sisters. After her father’s death when she was three, she grew up in a single-parent home. The family later relocated to Richmond, Virginia, where Leslie excelled at St. Gertrude’s, an all-girls school. When Leslie was 16, her sister entered her photo on the spur of the moment in a nationally televised model search sponsored by Oprah Winfrey. Out of a field of 6,000 applicants, she was one of 20 chosen to appear on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” before a panel of judges including Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Iman. Leslie walked away the winner.

After gaining such major recognition, Bibb’s modeling career was launched. She briefly attended the University of Virginia, but by the age of 18 was working full time in New York, appearing in numerous magazines such as YM and Seventeen. While modeling brought Leslie to New York, it was acting that kept her there. After studying in a three-year drama program in New York and traveling through Europe for six months, she then set her sights on Los Angeles.

Bibb soon started accumulating film and television credits. Among her feature film roles are “Private Parts,” “The Space Between Us” and “Touch Me.” She stars opposite Joshua Jackson (”Dawson’s Creek”) in the thriller “The Skulls” from Universal, and recently completed an independent feature, “The Young Unknowns,” with Devon Gummersall. For television, she has guest starred on “Just Shoot Me,” “Home Improvement,” “Fired Up” and “Early Edition.”

Bibb reflected on her character, Brooke, as someone who “is flailing on the inside. She’s stuck with maintaining this image because that’s how she thinks she’ll be loved and fit in. But it’s stifling. After all,” Leslie pointed out, “what 16-year-old knows herself well enough to understand all the contradictions?” Leslie currently resides in Los Angeles with her dog, Jack, whom she rescued from a shelter while living in New York City. A voracious reader, she also enjoys biking, hiking, and scouring flea markets for antiques.

Today Leslie is greatful to Oprah and recently told her she would not be where she is today without her.

Celebrity Biography