0

Bridget Fonda Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

Bridget Fonda.jpg

Lithe, graceful Bridget Fonda represents the third generation of the Fonda acting dynasty. Granddaughter of Henry and daughter of Peter, she succumbed to the acting bug after appearing in a high school production of “Harvey”. After studying theater at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (where she played the lead in Andrew Fleming’s student short “P.P.T.”), Fonda made her professional screen debut in Franc Roddam’s “Tristan and Isolde” segment of “Aria” (1987), in a role requiring nudity and little else. A year later, she did a sexy dance with a Confederate flag in “Shag” which caught the eye of writer-director David Hare, who cast her as Blair Brown’s flighty younger sister in “Strapless” (1989). By then she had already gained widespread attention in “Scandal” (released two months earlier in 1989), playing Mandy Rice-Davies, one of the young women involved in the notorious English government-sex scandal of the 1960s.

The roommate-from-hell thriller “Single White Female” (1992) paired Fonda with another young star, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and she contributed some nice work to the ensemble acting of the twentysomething comedy “Singles” (1992), as the character planning to have her breasts enlarged. Given the chance to carry a film, she starred as a fairly credible (if whining) assassin in “Point of No Return” (1993), the American remake of Luc Besson’s “La Femme Nikita” (1990), but the movie did not make her a superstar as some had hoped. Fonda put down the gun to play an appealing mother in “Little Buddha” (1993), an aspiring musician in “Camilla” (1994) and a down-to-earth waitress who shares a winning lottery ticket with Nicolas Cage in the Capraesque fable, “It Could Happen To You” (1994). She also essayed the female lead in Harold Becker’s “City Hall” (1996), a drama about politics and corruption in Manhattan, co-starring Al Pacino (as the mayor) and John Cusack (as a deputy mayor).

Fonda has an elusive, quirky and offbeat quality that few directors have captured, which may explain why that single defining catapulting role to call her very own has remained out of reach. Unable to fully realize her potential, directors have often seriously underused her, and though she’s a sexy little thing, she’s more than that as her early work in “Strapless” and “Scandal” attest. Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown” (1997) featured her as a conniving, overtanned blonde bimbo surfer “pot-head” who wears cutoff shorts and a bikini top as the kept girl of Samuel L Jackson, reinforcing her image as a so-called sex symbol but also giving her some first-rate, foul-mouthed dialogue to spout. That year also saw her contribute a neat, surprisingly touching cameo as Chris Eigeman’s stuttering girlfriend in David Winkler’s feature directing debut, “Mr. Jealousy”, and earn an Emmy nomination as a yuppie pool of angst in Christopher Reeve’s highly-acclaimed “In the Gloaming” (HBO).

Though she was the top-billed female in Sam Raimi’s “A Simple Plan” (1998), the director’s first departure from genre fare to concentrate on character development gave her nowhere near as much to sink her teeth as it did Bill Paxton and particularly Billy Bob Thornton. That said, she acquitted herself admirably as the sensible and loving new mom who nevertheless has the chilly heart of Lady Macbeth. She delivered a memorably sexy turn in “Finding Graceland” (1998), dressed in full regalia as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator. “Lake Placid” (1999), a drama penned by David E Kelley, offered her a juicy part as a paleontologist investigating a mysterious death while “The Break Up” (aired on Cinemax in 1999) cast her as a hearing-impaired woman accused of murdering her abusive husband. While still chasing that illusive star-making role, Fonda must remain content with being an actress who works constantly, which isn’t so bad, after all.

Family
Significant Others
Education
Milestones

Celebrity Biography
0

Drea de Matteo Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

Drea de Matteo.jpg

A cigarette-smoking, trash talking girl from Queens, Drea de Matteo looks the way her name sounds, hard hitting and full of Italian attitude. As a young girl, Drea (pronounced “Dray”) often attended rehearsals with her playwright mother at New York City’s prestigious HB Studio. But this early exposure to the world of theater served only to convince Drea that she did not want a career in acting. She kept this view through adolescence and applied to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with the intention of becoming a director. Although Drea scored only a combined 800 on her SAT (she describes herself as “wasted out of her head” while taking them), a completed screenplay granted her admission to the elite film program. While at NYU, Drea took acting classes solely to gain perspective as a director. But she received overwhelmingly positive feedback in these classes and by the time she graduated, she had herself a manager.

Drea had only appeared in a couple of guest spots on unmentionable TV shows when she landed the part of the hostess in David Chase’s experimental, cutting-edge, modern day mob pilot, “The Sopranos” (HBO 99-). Originally, Drea was going for the role of an “Italian bimbo. ” But David didn’t think Drea seemed Italian enough so he stuck her in the tiny role of the hostess at the Italian restaurant frequented by the mobsters and their families. As the hostess, she performed her two lines sans the now famous gritty Jersey/New York accent. To her surprise, Drea was called back to take the role of Adriana La Cerva, the uber-moll girlfriend of young mobster Christopher Molesanti. The role was meant to not last more than a few episodes but Drea played the part with such memorable flair that she was soon written in as a fixture on the show. In the following seasons, her influence as Christopher’s fiancee continued to grow. Drea also continued to gain fans and secured a bit of a cult following as the quintessential straight-talking, long-nailed tough girl. Her 5′6″ lithe tattoo-covered body is a favorite for upscale male magazines as well as local auto body shops. Drea’s sharp featured face and leather attire offer an appealing alternative to the wholesome blonde ingenues currently filling the screens. With an attitude to match this razor sharp image, yet a palpable soft side to her demeanor, Drea has carved out the niche of the sexy bad girl with a heart of gold.

While garnering praise and ever increasing notoriety for her role as Adriana on “The Sopranos,” Drea also made some impressive ventures into the film world. She appeared in several indie films in 1999 and 2000 including “The Gentleman from Boston” and in 2001 landed the role of a Puerto Rican drug lord in the film “R Xmas,” directed by noted indie director Abel Ferrara, which premiered at Cannes. Drea’s brief appearance as a New York club girl in the Jon Favreau’s directorial debut “Made” was hailed as one of the film’s best moments. Her brief role in 2001’s “Swordfish” similarly showcased Drea’s talents; she played the alcoholic ex-wife of a convicted computer hacker. She next appeared as a gang leader’s girlfriend in “Deuces Wild,” (2002) a 1950’s mob drama featuring several noted actors such as Debbie Harry, Norman Reedus, Balthazhar Ghetty, Brad Renfro, Frankie Muniz and Fairuza Balk. She also received strong notices for her turn in 2003’s “Prey for Rock & Roll,” as the tough, self-destructive bassist Tracy, a trust-fund baby fighting a losing battle with drugs and alcohol, in Gina Gershon’s all band the Clam Dandys. As her role in “The Sopranos” became increasingly pivitol to the mob drama in 2004–earning her an Emmy in the Best Supporting Actress in a Drama category during her final season on the show–she also landed the plum role of Matt Le Blanc’s tough single-mom sister Gina in the highly anticipated “Friends” spin-off “Joey” (NBC, 2004- ).

Besides her acting career, De Matteo maintains a clothing boutique and designs fashions. She and onetime boyfriend Michael Sportes, whom she met when he moved into her apartment as a roommate, own a rock and roll clothing store in Manhattan’s East Village. The actress had been designing rhinestone t-shirts (a craze which would sweep the nation and Hollywood) and Michael had been a vintage clothes buyer when they opened Filth Mart in 1997 — though they split as a couple, they remained business partners. De Matteo also shares her home with her former nanny, a Nicaraguan woman who helped raise De Matteo from birth. The caretaking roles reversed after Drea took the woman in after she had a heart transplant several years ago.

Family
Significant Others
Education
Milestones
Celebrity Biography
0

Heather Burns Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

Heather Burns.jpg

Heather Burns a Chicago native, started out studying at Chicago’s famed Second City, spent a summer at Yale Drama school and earned a B.F.A. at New York University. After three years studying with the Atlantic Theater Company and several independent films, Burns appeared in two television pilots - Nearly Yours, directed by famed television director James Burrows for Dreamworks SKG/NBC and Chicks, written by Carol Leifer for the Greenblatt-Joanollari company and the Fox network. Other television appearances have included Law & Order and as a series regular on the Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson’s cop show, The Beat. Burns burst on to the scene in Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail and has been busy ever since. With her first feature film, Burns set a trend - those who work with her almost always work with her again. She was recently seen in Ephron’s Bewitched, starring opposite Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell.

Burns graduated from the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School, through TISCH School of the Arts NYU, and has since returned with All Things Considered, directed by David Pittu; and Writer’s Block, directed by Woody Allen. Burns has twice worked with writer Kenneth Lonergan: in Lobby Hero, directed by Marc Brokaw at Playwrights Horizons and John Houseman Theatre; and in London’s West End production of This is our Youth at the Garrick Theatre, directed by Lawrence Boswell and opposite Freddie Prinze Jr. and Chris Klein.

In the independent world, she can be seen in Kill the Poor, produced by John Malkovich and directed by Alan Taylor; in Lobster Farm, with Jane Curtin and Danny Aiello; and Perception, with Piper Perabo, Seth Meyers and Ajay Naidu.

Celebrity Biography
0

Bryce Dallas Howard Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

bryce-dallas-howard.jpg

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.

Education
Milestones
Celebrity Biography
Next Page