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Jessica Lange Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

Jessica Lange.jpg

Jessica Lange is a blonde, fine-featured leading lady who has transcended the bimbo image established by her notorious screen debut—as the scantily-clad playmate in the embarrassingly bad 1976 “King Kong” remake—to become one of Hollywood’s most respected actresses in the 1980s and ’90s. Shifting easily from mainstream genre fare to worthy little independent films, Lange has maintained the ability to surprise audiences with the unexpected depth of her resources. Born into a close but “wacky” (her phrase) Minnesota family, Lange spent time living as a hippie in Paris and New York in the ’60s before settling down to an acting career. She was already 27 when she made her film debut.

It took Lange several years after her debut to find another screen role. Her then boyfriend Bob Fosse cast her as the Angel of Death in “All That Jazz” (1979) and she co-starred with TV refugees Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin in the comedy “How to Beat the High Cost of Living” (1980). But it was her turn in the Lana Turner role of a sultry femme fatale opposite Jack Nicholson in Bob Rafelson’s remake of “The Postman Always Rings Twice” (1981) that made critics and audiences realize her abilities, despite its less than stellar box office.

Lange finally proved her versatility and attained star status with two 1982 roles, as 1930s actress Frances Farmer in the biopic “Frances” and as Dustin Hoffman’s love interest in “Tootsie”; the first won her a Best Actress Oscar nomination and the second, the award for Best Supporting Actress. She racked up three more nominations by the end of the decade: as a stalwart farm wife opposite her real life companion Sam Shepard in “Country” (1984), which she also co-produced; as country music legend Patsy Cline in the biopic “Sweet Dreams” (1985); and for her searching, intelligent performance as the unsuspecting daughter of an alleged war criminal in Costa-Gavras’ “Music Box” (1989).

In 1992, Lange made her Broadway debut in the celebrated role of Blanche DuBois opposite Alec Baldwin’s Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire”. Both she and Baldwin reprised their roles on a 1995 CBS movie. Lange’s earlier TV work included another Williams heroine, Maggie, in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (Showtime, 1984) and as a Minnesota farmer in the “Hallmark Hall of Fame” adaptation of Willa Cather’s “O Pioneers!” (CBS, 1992).

Devoting more time to child-rearing, Lange worked less frequently in the late 1980s and early 90s. She worked with Robert De Niro in two high profile noir remakes, Martin Scorsese’s “Cape Fear” (1991) and Irwin Winkler’s “Night and the City” (1992). Lange was widely acclaimed and received a second Oscar, as Best Actress, for her performance in Tony Richardson’s “Blue Sky” (completed in 1990; released 1994). She was Carly, the sensuous “woman-child” wife of a military nuclear engineer, whose tendency to act out her frustrations lead to domestic and professional complications for her family. Lange had two more successes with “Losing Isaiah” (1995), as a social worker who adopts a crack baby, and “Rob Roy” (also 1995), as the great love of the 18th-century Scottish freedom fighter (Liam Neeson). Lange frequently appeared opposite female co-stars that would push and challenge, such her roles in “A Thousand Acres” (1997) playing sister to Michelle Pfieffer and Jennifer Jason Leigh in a modern King Lear allegory; bedeviling unwanted daughter-in-law Gwyneth Paltrow in the thriller “Hush” (1998); and as the lonely spinster seamstress to courtesan Elizabeth Shue who slowly destroys the lives of those who’ve scorned her in the film adaptation of novelist Honoré de Balzac’s “Cousin Bette” (1998).

Returning to Shakespeare, Lange made for a truly ferocious Tamora in “Titus” (1999), Julie Taymor’s mind-bending, ultra-violent adaptation of Titus Andronicus, but was miscast in the long-delayed “Prozac Nation” (2001) as Elizabeth Wurtzell’s (Christina Ricci) neurotic Jewish mother. The actress was far more effective in the HBO telepic “Normal” (2003) as a wife whose husband of 25 years (Tom Wilkinson) suddenly reveals that he wants a sex change operation; Lange was rewarded with Emmy, Golden Globe and Golden Satellite nominations for her performance. Next she essayed the role of the older Sandra Bloom, who husband was given to fanciful self-mythologizing, in director Tim Burton’s “Big Fish” (2003). She next appeared in Jim Jarmush’s “Broken Flowers” (2005), playing one of four ex-girlfriends of a man (Bill Murray) who tracks down his former lovers after receiving an anonymous letter from the mother of his heretofore unknown son.

From 1970 to 1982, Lange was married to photographer Paco Grande. She was romantically involved with dancer-actor Mikhail Baryshnikov from 1976 to 1982. Since 1982, Lange has lived with playwright-actor Sam Shepard with whom she acted with in “Frances” (1982), “Country” (1984) and “Crimes of the Heart” (1986) and who directed her in “Far North” (1988).

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Brooke Langton Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

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Best known for her ingenue work as Samantha Reilly on Fox’s “Melrose Place” from 1995 to 1998, the attractive Brooke Langton has begun to carve out a feature film career with role as a jilted lesbian in “Listen” and the object of the eyes of one of the “Swingers” (both 1996). Born in Arizona and raised in Texas, the brunette beauty began her career as a model, working primarily in Japan. Like many before her, she made the transition to acting beginning on TV in 1992 episodes of such series as “Freshman Dorm” and “Beverly Hills, 90210″. But her first real break came two years later when she was chosen to be leading lady to William McNamara in “The Wyatts”, an unsold Fox pilot which did run as a TV-movie. That same year, she played daughter to Joan Van Ark and Stephen Macht in “Moment of Truth: A Mother’s Deception” (NBC), in which Van Ark stuns her family by joining a cult. Langton had her first regular series role in “Extreme” (ABC, 1995), as Sarah Bowen, a waitress turned rescue team member working for James Brolin. She continued in TV-movies with the lead as a woman harassed by a deranged man but whose judge father can do nothing to help her in “Eyes of the Stalker” (NBC, 1995). Langton also played the girlfriend to Jonathan Silverman’s “The Single Guy” in several 1995 episodes.

Although a buzz was created around her based on her role in “Swingers”, Langton had made her film debut as a junkie in “Terminal Velocity” (1994). She went on to play a woman in the life of a young movie star in Matthew Harrison’s “Project 61″ (lensed in 1996) and was the object of single night’s competition between a young man and a cop in “Reach the Rock” (1998). Following her stint on “Melrose”, she inherited Sandra Bullock’s big screen role of Angela Bennett in the USA Network spin-off series “The Net” (1998-99). Langton offered fine support to Alicia Witt in the festival-screened comedy “Playing Mona Lisa” and tackled the romantic lead opposite Keanu Reeves in “The Replacements” (both 2000).

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Diane Kruger Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

Diane Kruger Biography.jpg

Plucked from relative obscurity to play the most beautiful woman in history, it’s no wonder that actress Diane Kruger was unsure of what to make of her celebrity. Though not a household name, Kruger managed to beat out the likes of Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman to play the woman whose face launched a thousand ships in the blockbuster epic, “Troy” (2004). After four months of interviews and screen tests, the virtually untested Kruger got a rare opportunity, even by Hollywood standards: to become a movie star overnight.

Born Diane Heidkrueger in Hildesheim, Germany, the 5’ 7” blonde-haired, blue-eyed Kruger never dreamt of becoming an actress. Though her mom wanted her to be an accountant—if only because it had a certain future—Kruger chose instead to pursue ballet. Kruger moved to London at 11 years-old to study with the Royal Ballet, but a devastating knee injury at age 13 forced her to retire young. In 1992, Kruger won a national modeling competition and a contract with Elite, a top modeling agency. Kruger soon became a top fashion model in Germany, working for such industry heavies as Armani and Christian Dior. Then director Luc Besson convinced the young Kruger to move to Paris to pursue acting, which she did.

Kruger made her film debut in “The Piano Player” (2002), starring Christopher Lambert and Dennis Hopper, and directed by Jean-Pierre Roux. The movie never saw a theatrical release, but did manage to find itself on video store shelves. Kruger then starred in “Mon Idole” (2002), helmed by her husband, French director Guillaume Canet (“The Beach”). In the black comedy about a Jerry Springer-like talk show host, Kruger played Clara, the wife of the show’s producer who gets romantically involved with the host. Kruger then appeared in “Ni Pour Ni Contra” (“Not For or Against”, 2003), directed by NYU grad Cedric Klapisch. Next Kruger had a starring role in “Michel Vaillant” (2003), a live-action take on a popular French comic strip from the 1950’s.

It wasn’t until being cast in “Troy” that Kruger got an opportunity to be exposed to American audiences. Though she was unknown to Hollywood, director Wolfgang Petersen knew that Kruger would be able to pull off the role. “Diane is not only a stunning beauty but a gifted actress with tremendous depth and presence,” he was quoted at the time she was cast. Petersen saw in her an ethereal, slightly melancholy quality that none of the other actresses possessed, which was perfect for her character, Helena, who is married off against her wishes to Menelaus, the king of Sparta, and spends much of her time brooding and weeping. At the time of the film’s release, Kruger was fast becoming a hot commodity. She was quickly signed to several new projects, including the steamy thriller “Wicker Park” (2004), a remake of the 1996 French film “L’Appartement,” opposite Josh Hartnett and her “Troy” co-star Rose Byrne; and “National Treasure” (2004), co-starring Nicolas Cage and Harvey Keitel. In a few short months, Kruger went from virtual unknown to the industry’s most sought-after actress.

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Eva Green Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

Eva Green.jpg

Eva Green (born July 5, 1980 in Paris) is a French actress and composer.

Green is the daughter of French actress Marlène Jobert and Walter Green, a Swedish dentist. She has one sibling, a fraternal twin (non-identical) sister, Joy. Eva studied in Paris and London and performed on stage before making her film debut as the female lead in the Bernardo Bertolucci’s 2003 NC-17-rated film The Dreamers with Michael Pitt and Louis Garrel. In addition to her acting, Green composed original music for the film. The Dreamers brought her some notoriety for her explicit, extensive full frontal nudity. While filming Dreamers, Green was said to have found Bertolucci manipulative, though in a creative way that wasn’t pushy. In comparison to her previous stage acting, she has said that acting in front of the camera makes you its “plaything.”

Described by Bertolucci as “so beautiful it’s indecent”, her performance brought her critical acclaim. In 2004 she co-starred alongside of Romain Duris and Kristin Scott Thomas in Arsène Lupin, directed by Jean-Paul Salomé. In 2005 she starred in her first Hollywood blockbuster as Sibylla of Jerusalem in the film Kingdom of Heaven with Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson and directed by Ridley Scott. She has recently been cast as Bond girl Vesper Lynd in the upcoming James Bond film Casino Royale with new 007 actor Daniel Craig. Casino Royale will be released in theaters worldwide on November 17, 2006.

Green has been in a relationship with Yann Claasen since the late-1990s. The multi-lingual Green’s name in Swedish is pronounced “grain” and comes from the Swedish word gren, which means (tree) branch.

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