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Taryn Manning Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

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A petite, pretty actress, Taryn Manning alternately appears as a blonde and a brunette and possesses both a tough girl air and a childlike vulnerability that has helped her win some interesting roles early in her career. An Arizona native who relocated to Southern California at age 12, Manning spent her early years filled with competitive karate, roller-skating and dance. The multitalented teen was also a talented singer and attended the Orange County High School of the Arts. Making her breakthrough in 1999, Manning was featured in the film drama “Speedway Junky” and landed a recurring role on the Fox drama series “Get Real”, which suffered an early cancellation. Guest shots on “The Practice” (ABC) and “Ryan Caulfield: Year One” (Fox) rounded out the year for the up and comer. Continuing to work in television, the actress appeared in the Fox TV-movie “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” (2000) and 2001 episodes of “NYPD Blue” (ABC) and “Boston Public”, the latter a role tailor-made for her and BoomK.A.T., her musical collaboration with brother Kellin.

In 2001, Manning had a high-profile role in the teen romance “crazy/beautiful”, stealing scenes from talented co-stars Kirsten Dunst and Jay Hernandez with her energetic and charming performance as a party girl. One of the few highlights of the film (which was driven by an uninspired middle-of-the-road soundtrack) was Manning’s moment in the sun, ditching school and singing the appropriate “Bein’ Bad”, a song co-written by the actress and her brother.

Much of Manning’s career has revolved around music, from a cameo as a groupie in the 1999 ABC movie “Come On, Get Happy: The Partridge Family Story” to supporting roles opposite Britney Spears and Eminem in their feature debuts (2002’s “Crossroads” and “8 Mile”, respectively). 2002 also saw the actress take on a role alongside such luminaries as Michelle Pfeiffer, Robin Wright Penn and Renee Zellweger in “White Oleander,” Peter Kominsky’s feature adaptation of Janet Fitch’s bestseller.

Manning was center stage, alongside co-star Vincent Kartheiser, in the indie drama “Dandelion” (2004), as a pair of star-crossed small town lovers. Along with supporting roles in the minor films “Lucky 13″ (2004) and “Debating Robert Lee” (2004), Manning had notable appearances in A-list productions as well: she appeared briefly in Anthony Minghella’s acclaimed Civil War melodrama “Cold Mountain” (2003) as part of a family of would-be seductresses, and had an amusing reappearing role in the Ashton Kutcher, Amanda Peet romantic comedy “A Lot Life Love” (2005) as Kutcher’s annoying sister who makes the most out of the line “You’re a dick, Oliver.” In “Hustle & Flow” (2005), she delivered her most appealing performance yet when she played a tough-as-nails hooker whose pimp (Terrance Howard) decides to become a rap star. The movie won the Audience Award for Best Dramatic Feature at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and emerged with enough buzz to make one swoon.

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Lucy Lawless Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

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Standing almost 6′ tall, with her natural honey brown hair dyed black and exhibiting a distinctive flair for martial arts, Lucy Lawless went from being an obscure New Zealand actor to international fame as “Xena: Warrior Princess” (syndicated, 1995-2001).

As a college student, Lawless (born Lucy Ryan) decided she did not have the passion for opera she had thought and dropped out of school to travel throughout Europe. Joined by her high school sweetheart Garth Lawless, she landed in Australia where she found herself pregnant. After a hasty marriage, Lawless and the family (which now included a daughter) moved to British Columbia for a short spell so she could study acting. Returning to New Zealand, she landed bit parts in international co-productions. In 1994, Lawless made two guest appearances on the internationally syndicated series “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”, as a renegade Amazon lieutenant and an unrepentant villain who gives birth to a baby centaur. American actress Vanessa Angel had been cast as Xena, the female counterpart to Hercules, in three episodes of the series. When she fell ill, the producers turned to Lawless to make additional “Hercules” guest shots. A three-part storyline turned into the “Xena: Warrior Princess” spin-off series, which became the international syndication hit of the 1995-96 season, and garnered a devoted fan following on par with fans of “Star Trek.” Lawless not only convincingly embodied Xena’s combative, tough-as-nails demeanor, she was also extremely potent in the series’ more emotional scenes and had fun with the are-they-or-aren’t-they? relationship between Xena and her sidekick Gabrielle (Renee O’Connor). Her marriage to Garth Lawless was a casualty of her burgeoning career, ending in divorce in 1995, but she married “Xena” producer Rob Tapert in 1998.

After the series went off the air in 2001, Lawless had a key role in a two-part episode of the even bigger cult hit “The X-Files” titled “Nothing Important Happened Today: Part 1 and Part 2,” playing a “super solider” who claims to have driven the missing Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) into hiding. Demonstrating a knack for snappy one-liners and physical comedy, Lawless was next seen in a cameo as a Punk Rock Girl commenting on “Spider-Man” in the superhero blockbuster (directed by her friend and “Xena” executive producer Sam Raimi) and as the sexy/scary dominatrix Madame Vandersexxx in the funny frat-mentality comedy “EuroTrip” (2004), bolstered by especially amusing guest stints on the sitcoms “Less Than Perfect” and “Two and a Half Men” in 2004 and 2005, respectively. She returned to genre fare with turns in the horror feature “Boogeyman” (2004) as the mother of a traumatized young man (Barry Watson), and the telepic “Locusts” (2005), a less-than-impressive insect invasion-fest that cast her as an investigator for the Department of Agriculture struggling to protect America from a deadly breed of bioengineered locusts. Much better was her recurring stint–complete with her natural accent–on SciFi’s high-quality reimagination of the cult series “Battlestar Galactica” as D’anna Biers, a journalist allowed unprecedented access to the starship who is also secretly a Cylon spy.

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Salma Hayek Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

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Touted by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez as the first Mexican star to play the female lead in an American movie since Dolores Del Rio, the stunningly beautiful and charismatic Salma Hayek scorched stateside cineplexes as the fiery border town bookseller who romances Antonio Banderas’ vengeful “mariachi” in “Desperado” (1995). She had previously won the hearts of her countrymen with two TV roles in the late 1980s, first as an innocent schoolgirl in “Nuevo Amancer” and subsequently as the comely bad girl protagonist of “Teresa” in the extremely popular primetime soap. Fearing that Mexican audiences valued her looks more than her thespian skills–despite several acting awards–Hayek left Mexico at the height of her vogue and headed for L.A. She then took a year-and-a-half off from acting to learn English.

By 1992, Hayek was landing TV guest shots and appeared as a recurring character on a family sitcom, “The Sinbad Show” (Fox, 1993-94), before winning a supporting role in Alison Anders’ well-regarded indie feature “Mi Vida Loca/My Crazy Life” (1993). Hayek’s English skills had blossomed but roles remained elusive. Writer-director Rodriguez heard her lament on comic Paul Rodriguez’s talk show and cast her as the female lead in his first 35mm project, “Roadracers” (Showtime, 1994), the hyper-stylized premiere installment of the “Rebel Highway” TV-movie series. His ultimate goal was to cast her as the female lead in his studio-produced sequel to 1992’s low-budget marvel “El Mariachi;” the ploy worked, allowing Hayek to beat out all the standard Anglos that the studio attempted to impose upon the production.

Additional Hollywood assignments followed including further collaborations with Rodriguez on two other projects–a cameo with Banderas in the ill-conceived feature “Four Rooms” (also 1995) and as a blood-sucking snake-dancer in the Quentin Tarantino-scripted vampire outing, “From Dusk Till Dawn” (1996). Hayek has stated her intention to alternate between working in Hollywood genre fare and Mexican art films (e.g., 1995’s “Midaq Alley/El Callejon de los Milagros”). She idled for awhile in Hollywood, though, with unremarkable supporting roles in Cindy Crawford’s debut outing, “Fair Game” (1995), and the convicts on the run actioner “Fled” (1996).

Hayek then essayed her first romantic comedy lead opposite Matthew Perry in the underperforming “Fools Rush In” (1997). Cast as a Mexican woman who hastily marries an American and then proceeds to fall in love with him, she made a valiant effort, but critics and audiences were not impressed. “Breaking Up” (1997), which paired her with Russell Crowe as a couple who constantly separate and reconcile, also failed to excite audiences. She fared somewhat better as the fiery gypsy dance Esmeralda to Mandy Patinkin’s “The Hunchback” in the 1997 TNT TV-movie but her role in the highly anticipated “54″ (1998) was abbreviated when executives demanded reshoots and a change in the storyline.

In 1999, Hayek was cast as the female lead in the western action flick, “Wild Wild West” and appeared in director Kevin Smith’s controversial comedy “Dogma.” She followed up with more serious fare, taking a small role in Steven Soderbergh’s acclaimed anti-drug ensemble drama “Traffic” and appearing as a sexually controlling actress in Mike Figgis’ experimental multi-screen drama “Timecode” (she would later reunited with Figgis for his next split-screen effort “Hotel”). She also produced and starred as the Mexican surrealist painter Frida Kahlo in the drama bio pic “Frida” (2002). For years Hayek fought to get the film made, eventually becoming the movie’s producer, and the actress powered the the project into production by the sheer force of her desire to bring the life story of her fellow countrywoman to the screen. While reaction to the film–directed by avant garde auteur Julie Taymor–was mixed, Hayek’s intense performance was roundly praised. She was able to transcend both her sex symbol status and the limits of her ethnicity when she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress for her efforts. In 2003 Hayek reunited twice with director Robert Rodriguez, first for a humorous cameo in “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over” and then to reprise her role as Carolina–if only in flashback–in the successful and entertaining third outing in the El Mariachi series “Once Upon a Time in Mexico.” She then demonstrated her highly combustible sexual chemistry with co-star Pierce Brosnan in the aimable caper comedy “After the Sunset” (2004), playing the lover/partner of Brosnan’s retired master jewel thief who finds himself tempted by the prospect of one last score, putting their relationship in jeopardy.

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Jodie Foster Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

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Exceptionally mature, talented child actor of the 1970s who made the transition to adult stardom. Initially managed by her divorced mother Brandy, the young Foster was the family’s principal breadwinner. She gradually took control of her own career, meticulously shaping her development through a careful selection of projects and expert tailoring of her public image. Her rise from child star to Oscar-winning actor to feature film director appears unprecedented and her added status as a producer has made her one of Hollywood’s exceedingly few female talents to achieve on such a high level in so many areas.

Foster began in commercials, most notably baring her buns at age three in a classic ad for Coppertone sun tanning products. She appeared as a regular and in guest shots in series TV and made several features for Disney before leaving an indelible impression with her controversial performance in “Taxi Driver” (1976), as the teenage prostitute who inspires Robert De Niro’s deranged personal crusade. Foster followed that Oscar-nominated performance with appearances in several features including the uneven gangster musical spoof “Bugsy Malone” (1976) playing Miss Tallulah, a bawdy speakeasy queen; “The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane” (1977) in the title role of a young murderer; and “Carny” (1980) as a teen runaway who joins up with a couple of carnival hustlers.

Even with her burgeoning career, Foster remained an excellent student, graduating from the Los Angeles Lycee Francais in 1980 as class valedictorian and going on to study literature at Yale. She survived a spate of unwanted publicity surrounding John Hinckley, Jr.’s assassination attempt on President Reagan in 1981, which he claimed was done to impress Foster. While studying at Yale, she squeezed in appearances in films and TV, most notably as a member of an unconventional family in the film “The Hotel New Hampshire” (1984), that provided a bridge to impressive adult acting in films like the moody and potent “Five Corners” (1987).

Foster finally consolidated her reputation with Oscar-winning portrayals of a rape victim in “The Accused” (1988) and a rookie FBI agent in Jonathan Demme’s psychological thriller, “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991). For her directorial debut “Little Man Tate” (1991), Foster chose a subject close to home–a child prodigy who is caught in a tug-of-war between his working-class mother (played by Foster) and his teacher (Dianne Wiest).

In 1992, Foster formed a three-year production deal with Polygram Filmed Entertainment, in which they were committed to financing three films (under her Egg Pictures banner) in the $25 million range and three in the $10 to $15 million, plus an extra $10 million in print and promotion. One proviso was that Foster could choose whether to act in, direct or simply produce these films, gaining rare control and flexibility for an actor and a woman in Hollywood.

Foster’s acting work during this time was generally in lighter fare—a turn as a prostitute in Woody Allen’s “Shadows and Fog” (1992), starring roles in the costume drama “Sommersby” (1992) opposite Richard Gere and opposite Mel Gibson in the Western spoof “Maverick” (1994), her first comedy in over a decade. In her first Egg Pictures effort, Foster turned in a luminous performance in “Nell” (1994) as a backwoods hermit who speaks in an invented tongue. Once again Foster walked away with an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Foster’s second directorial effort (in which she did not appear) was the ensemble comedy “Home for the Holidays” (1995) about a recently fired woman who returns to her childhood home to celebrate Thanksgiving with her eccentric family. The film received mixed critical reviews, but Foster’s sure handling of the actors (including Holly Hunter, Anne Bancroft and Robert Downey Jr.) was cited. She returned to acting to tackle the role of a scientist who receives signals that may be from space aliens in “Contact” (1997), a high-minded, reality-rooted sci-fi tale conceived by Carl Sagan and directed by Robert Zemeckis, and one which benefited greatly from Foster’s ability to project intelligence on the big screen. Next was an unconventional choice: “Anna and the King” (1999), a non-musical version of the same true life story that inspired the fabled stage and film production “The King and I.” The film cast Foster as widowed British schoolteacher Anna Leonowens, who engages in a romance with the King of Siam (Chow Yun-Fat) in the 1860s. Well acted and lavishly produced, the film nevertheless did not prove to be a particular triumph for Foster. She next appeared in a supporting role as the universally despised Catholic school instructor Sister Assumpta in the clever indie “The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys” (2002).

Foster continued to pick her projects judiciously, turning out only a small number of films in the early 2000s (in between, the actress labored to launch her third directorial project, “Flora Plum,” but the film was derailed by various factors, including an arm injury to actor Russell Crowe, who was to play a circus aerialist). In “Panic Room” (2002) she teamed with stylish director David Fincher for a taught, claustrophobic tale of a woman and her young daughter who hole up in their home’s high tech panic room during an apparent home invasion. Fincher’s cinematic razzle-dazzle and Foster’s always believable version of an “action heroine” combined to make for a well-crafted, entertaining thriller. Interestingly, her next project had similar thematic tones and an equally contained environment: “Flightplan” (2005) again cast Foster as an aeronautics engineer and a fiercely protective mother, this time of a six-year-old daughter who vanishes during an airplane flight. When Foster desperately tries to find her child, the airline crew insists the girl was apparently never one of the passengers. Although the film flies intensely over-the-top, Foster’s compelling performance grounded it in enough reality to make it a satisfying film.

Foster next starred in Spike Lee’s impressive genre piece, “Inside Man” (2006), playing a well-connected fixer for the rich and powerful called in to keep quiet the secrets of a bank founder (Christopher Plummer) while his employees are held hostage by a master thief (Clive Owen) who’s constantly one step ahead of a smooth-talking hostage negotiator (Denzel Washington) in an effort to pull off the perfect heist. She was next set to film “Brave One” (lensed 2006), a revenge thriller about a woman who struggles to recover from a brutal attack and sets out on a dark journey to seek justice. Meanwhile, Foster was gearing up to direct her third feature, “Sugar Kings,” a courtroom drama that follows a South Florida attorney’s crusade against a sugar-manufacturing business and its exploitation of thousands of Jamaican workers.

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