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Melina Kanakaredes Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

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With her wavy brunette hair, piercing green eyes and expressive personality, Melina Kanakaredes has been winning fans since her 1991 breakout role as Greek immigrant Eleni Andros on CBS’ daytime serial “Guiding Light”. The Ohio-born former beauty contestant spent nearly five years playing the character who moved from wide-eyed innocent to more mature wife and mother, earning a Daytime Emmy nod along the way. Her talent and abilities transcended the genre and like others who began their days in daytime (e.g., Meg Ryan, Marisa Tomei), it seemed only a matter of time before she would make the leap to primetime and features. Kanakaredes made her feature debut in Gregory Hines’ uneven portrait of an interracial romance “Bleeding Hearts” (1994) and went on to small roles in “The Long Kiss Goodnight” (1996), “Dangerous Beauty” and “Rounders” (both 1998) and “15 Minutes” (2001).

But that one role which would propel her to the ranks of A-list screen actresses remained elusive. Instead, Kanakaredes has made strong impressions in a number of small screen parts. She first caught the attention of primetime viewers in the recurring role of the journalist girlfriend of Jimmy Smits’ Bobby Simone on “NYPD Blue” (1995) and as a mysterious woman from the past of Royal Canadian Mountie Benton Fraser on the two-part finale of CBS’ “Due South”. The actress had her first regular role in primetime as tabloid reporter Angela Villanova on the short-lived “New York News” (CBS. 1995). In 1999, Kanakaredes finally achieved small screen stardom as Dr. Sydney Hansen, a California-based plastic surgeon who returns to her New England home in the soapy but highly watchable “Providence” (NBC, 1999-2002). While critics carped over the show’s maudlin plotlines and dream sequences (in which Sydney communicates with her dead mother) and pronounced the show “awful”, “Providence” proved a winner, debuting as the highest-rated new drama since “ER” and catapulting its lead to stardom.

After the series folded, the actress took to the stage as Sally Bowles in a revival of the Broadway play “Cabaret” and shot the indie film “Into the Fire” (2004) before making her return to primtime network TV with a smart choice, joining the thrid instalment of the popular forensic-oriented police drama franchise “CSI: New York” (CBS, 2004 - ) as Det. Stella Bonasera.

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Bonnie Hunt Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

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Described by Entertainment Weekly as “the hands-down best (talk show) guest in America,” Chicago-born Bonnie Hunt began pursuing her acting career while working as a nurse at that city’s Northwestern University Hospital. (Reportedly as late as the early 1990s, she returned to that profession for a month or so each year.) The smart, pixie-like writer-performer co-founded the Chicago improvisational troupe An Impulsive Thing before joining the famed Second City improv group, appearing in their productions “Bright Lights, Night Baseball,” “Jean Paul Sartre and Ringo” and “How Green Were My Values.” After making her feature debut as the waitress who spills toothpicks before a calculating Dustin Hoffman in Barry Levinson’s Oscar-winning Best Picture “Rain Man” (1988), she moved to Los Angeles with a short-lived West Coast offshoot of Second City and turned down three offers from “Saturday Night Live” while working to get her own show on the air.

Hunt’s first leading role cast her as second fiddle to both Charles Grodin and the galumphing Saint Bernard “Beethoven” (1992), with whom she reunited for “Beethoven’s 2nd” (1993). She also had a memorable 30-second cameo as a fanatical tour guide in “Dave” (also 1993) but had less luck as Marisa Tomei’s best pal in the uneven “Only You” (1994), despite savoring the three-month shoot in Italy. Though critics were indifferent to her portrayal of Robin Williams’ love interest in “Jumanji” (1995), her years at Second City had prepared her well for the Williams whirlwind, and the film earned over $100 million at the box office. No such fate awaited the reception of “Getting Away With Murder” (1996), an embarrassment for Jack Lemmon, Lily Tomlin and Dan Aykroyd, from which Hunt emerged relatively unscathed as Aykroyd’s cast off girlfriend. After a small role in the coming-of-age drama “Now and Then” (1995), she impressed reviewers as the bitter older sister of Renee Zellweger in Cameron Crowe’s romantic/sports comedy “Jerry Maguire” (1996).

As for TV, she made her debut as a regular on the short-lived, soap-like sitcom “Grand” (CBS, 1990), followed by a stint on the elementary school sitcom “Davis Rules” (ABC, 1991; CBS, 1992), co-starring with Randy Quaid and Jonathan Winters and displaying her considerable comic talents, which included holding her own opposite the exuberant Winters. Her friendship with talk show host David Letterman led to her becoming the first woman to create, write, co-executive produce (with Letterman) and star in her own short-lived series, “The Building” (CBS, 1993). The ensemble comedy featuring Hunt’s Second City colleagues attempted to recreate the feel of an improvisational troupe with its rich characterizations and overlapping dialogue. Again with Letterman’s backing, she created and produced the “The Bonnie Hunt Show/Bonnie” (CBS, 1995-1996), on which she played a Chicago TV station reporter. Taped in real time without retakes, each episode combined scripted and improvisational material, including a “man-in-the-street” report by Hunt, but in spite of sterling reviews and a small but loyal following, the show died after one season.

Though there were no more stabs at series TV, Hunt remained busy with a starring turn as a woman trapped overnight in a locked subway exit in the “Fern’s Heart of Darkness” segment of HBO’s “Subway Stories: Tales From the Underground” (1997) and small roles in “Kissing a Fool” (1998) and Sydney Pollack’s anachronistic “Random Hearts” (1999), in which she played an old friend of Kristin Scott Thomas. She also voiced the character of Rosie the black widow spider in the delightful, animated adventure comedy “A Bug’s Life” (also 1998) and played Tom Hanks’ plain-speaking, ever-warm wife in “The Green Mile” (also 1999). Hunt signed to direct her first feature, “Convenience”, in 1997, but with it on hold, she made her directorial debut at the helm of “Return to Me” (2000), co-scripted by longtime collaborator Don Lake, a regular on both her TV series. Shot almost entirely in her hometown of Chicago, the romance starred David Duchovny as a man who falls in love with Minnie Driver, the recipient of his deceased wife’s transplanted heart.

In 2002, Hunt got the chance to become the hands-down best TV talk show host—fictionally, anyway—playing local Chicago morning show personality Bonnie Molloy, who finds it hard to separate her professional and personal lives in the ABC television sit-com “Life With Bonnie” (2002-2004). The show—with scripts that were largely improvised and benefited from guest spots by many of Hunt’s showbiz colleagues such as Duchovny—was not on the air long before Hunt took near-total control, removing many of the writers and handling many of the production details herself. With Hunt at the helm, the show was renewed for an even more successful second season as part of ABC’s “TGiF” lineup, and the actress received Golden Globe nominations for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy in both 2003 and 2004. She also continued her successful career in film, teaming with Steve Martin as the parents of a dozen demanding kids in the mild but commercially successful remake of “Cheaper by the Dozen” (2003).

She next starred in a little known indie feature, “Loggerheads” (2005), a family drama about a mother (Hunt) who makes a last ditch effort to find the son (Kip Pardue) she was forced to give up for adoption as a teenager. Hunt then reprised her role as the overburdened mother in “Cheaper By the Dozen 2” (2005), costarring Steven Martin as the patriarch of a family of twelve. Meanwhile, she crossed over to animation, providing the voice of Sally in “Cars” (2006), the latest soon-to-be animated classic from Pixar Studios about a hotshot race car (Owen Wilson) stuck in a sleepy Route 66 town populated by an eccentric array of characters who help steer him right.

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Katie Holmes Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

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A brunette natural beauty from a close-knit family in Toledo, Ohio, Katie Holmes landed the first two professional auditions of her career, resulting in her feature debut in the acclaimed “The Ice Storm” (1997) and a regular series role on the popular teen drama “Dawson’s Creek” (The WB, 1998-2003). While such accomplishments are virtually unheard of in Hollywood, and may easily be written off as amazing luck, those who have witnessed her work are not likely to discount her formidable talent and ease on camera.

With a promising turn as Libbets Casey, Tobey Maguire’s love interest in Ang Lee’s swinging 1970s set “The Ice Storm”, Holmes made the most of her supporting role, proving a compelling screen performer. While this big screen debut won the actress acclaim, television would soon make Katie Holmes a household name. Interestingly, the young actress’ refreshing grounding in homespun values almost caused her to miss her auspicious small screen debut. Asked to audition for Kevin Williamson’s smart teen drama “Dawson’s Creek” on the same day she was to debut as Lola in her high school production of “Damn Yankees”, Holmes politely declined, citing that her commitment to fellow castmates and friends was more important. Casting agents wisely rescheduled, and Holmes won the role on the new series. As Joey Potter, Dawson’s proverbial girl-next-door, she played the injured innocent, sweet, but with an edge, the product of a background far removed from the Holmes’ own traditional and happy home. Faced with an imprisoned father, dead mother, and an overworked sister who is not only Joey’s guardian, but has a new baby of her own, the character’s everyday traumas were handled with grace by the actress. Holmes weekly gave a standout performance on the popular series, even among a cast of palpably gifted and more experienced young actors.

Her skillful performance in the disappointing thriller “Disturbing Behavior” (1998) couldn’t elevate that film above its uninspired predictability, and while Williamson’s “Teaching Mrs. Tingle” (1999) showcased Holmes’ glowing presence and unmatched watchability, it became apparent that it was high time she moved past the tired teen scream genre. A move in that direction came with her turn as a supermarket checkout girl caught up in a drug-related hostage situation in Doug Liman’s indie ensemble film “Go” (1999). She was reunited with Tobey Maguire in “Wonder Boys” (2000), the Curtis Hanson-directed adaptation of Michael Chabon’s novel chronicling a middle-aged author (Michael Douglas) plagued by writer’s block.

With “Go” and “Wonder Boys,” in which she played a student pursuing her much-older professor, Holmes smartly chose feature film roles that played against her well-established “Dawson’s Creek” persona, a challenge she continued to accept as more films came her way. In Sam Raimi’s thriller “The Gift” (2000) she played a bitchy, maneating Southern beauty who is brutally murdered, essaying a grown-up nude scene designed more to put the character of sweet-faced Joey behind her than to titillate. She took the lead in screenwriter-turned-director Stephen Gaghan’s woman-in-jeopardy outing “Abandon” (2002), her first turn at carrying a picture in a mature leading role, and also joined the cast of director Joel Schumacher’s 2003 action fest “The Phone Booth.”

Further honing her post-TV craft as her series entered its last season, Holmes took the lead in the indie “Pieces of April” (2003) playing a headstrong young woman trying to reconcile with her dying mother–a role than earned her much critical acclaim–and appeared in a supporting role in “The Singing Detective” (2003), an adaptation of the Dennis Potter book starring Mel Gibson and Robert Downey, Jr. After that it was on to a role she had probably outgrown, “First Daughter” (2004), in which she was cast as an independent-minded Presidential offspring off to college who falls for the Secret Service agent assigned to protect her by posing as a dorm advisor.

Holmes got her introductory shot at a big-screen action blockbuster when she was cast as Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend and love interest Rachel Dawes, an uncorruptable Gotham City district attorney–and a character created especially for the screen–in “Batman Begins” (2005), the effective, involving relaunch of the popular film franchise focusing on the character’s shadowy origins. Just weeks before the film’s debut Holmes’ private life was catapulted into the public eye when she and actor Tom Cruise announced that they were dating, an announcement that was met with some skepticism from the media and the public given that the word came prior to both having major summer movies poised to debut. Speculation that the relationship was a pubilicty stunt ran rampant, especially after some ill-advised public appearances–including their bizarre, love-professing visit to “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in which Cruise jumped on the furniture in indulged in much fist-pumpin. Holmes also adopted Cruise’s management team and began taking courses in Scientology, which the superstar long championed. The couple’s happy ending came in June 2005 when they announced their engagement in Paris. By October she announced that she was preganant with their first child together, prompting her to drop out of her co-starring role in the drama “Shame On You” (lensed 2005).

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Regina Hall Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

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Pretty and versatile African-American actress Regina Hall made her breakthrough as Candy, a stripper in “The Best Man” (1999) and gave an unforgettable comedic performance in the “Scary Movie” series, but proved more than just a stripper or scream queen with a varied and challenging list of credits. Born and raised in Washington, DC, Hall began her career with a recurring role on the NYC-shot ABC soap “Loving”. In 1997 she had an early primetime credit on Fox’s “New York Undercover”, also filmed in New York.

Hall made her feature debut with small roles in the 1998 independents “Too Tired to Die” and “Tears of a Clown” before landing her role in “The Best Man” and launching her career. She lent grace and understanding to her portrayal as Lena, the prissy sister of basketball star Monica (Lathan) in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “Love and Basketball” in 2000, the same year she took her comedic abilities to over-the-top heights as a very vocal victim of a serial slasher in the spoof “Scary Movie”. Hall’s take on a woman getting far too involved in a screening of “Shakespeare in Love” was arguably the film’s high point, and the scene certainly resonated with audiences, making her something of a cult hero. The actress reprised the role to less notable effect in the 2001 follow-up “Scary Movie 2″ and the 2003 sequel “Scary Movie 3.”

Back on the small screen, Hall rejoined Prince-Bythewood and Lathan for the HBO adaptation of Terry McMillan’s bestseller “Disappearing Acts” (2000). In the spring of 2001, she began a recurring run on “Ally McBeal,” playing a Corretta Lipp, a law associate of Robert Downey Jr.’s Larry Paul. That fall, Hall was made a regular, in the midst of a major cast overhaul promised the actress significant storylines and onscreen exposure–however, Downey’s departure left Hall’s character with little room to grow, and she was dropped and the series was shuttered not long afterwards. Instead, Hall’s career moved significantly back into the feature film realm, with supporting roles in the comedy “The Other Brother” and the crime drama “Paid In Full” (both 2002). Hall then graduated to leading lady status with a spunky turn opposite Jaime Kennedy’s B-Rad, the wealthy white boy who fancies himself a ghetto fabulous rapper, in “Malibu’s Most Wanted” (2003).

In “King’s Ransom” (2005), she played the dumb and ditzy mistress of a millionaire (Anthony Anderson) whose plot to kidnap himself to avoid a messy divorce goes awry when his many enemies—including his soon-to-be ex-wife (Kellita Smith)—get the same idea. She then appeared as Trixie Norton in the in the rehash of the famed 1950’s sitcom, “The Honeymooners” (2005). Though promising a fresh take on an oldie-but-goodie, the movie was blasted by critics who complained about a lack of chemistry between characters, a subservient bow to political correctness—particularly with Kramden’s famous threat to send Alice to the moon—and a dearth of laughs despite overwhelming comedic talent. She next revived her sex-fiend character, Brenda Meeks, for the inevitable sequel, “Scary Movie 4” (2006). Brenda follows gal pal Cindy Campbell—who’s seeking a career in home healthcare—to a creepy old lady in a creepy old house where they encounter downright bizarre happenings—horrific plane crashes, alien sphincters, even Oprah Winfrey. “Scary Movie 4” took the number one spot on an opening weekend with little competition, taking in a whopping $40 million only to drop almost 60% the following week.

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