Entertainment Magazine

About The Cast

ANJELICA HUSTON

(Eleanor Zissou) is an Academy Award ®-winning actress and critically acclaimed director who is part of the third generation of a renowned cinematic legacy. She was recently Emmy ®-nominated for her role in HBO’s original movie “Iron Jawed Angels” in which she starred with Hilary Swank and Julia Ormond; and is currently filming “Art School Confidential” directed by Terry Zwigoff and starring John Malkovich and Jim Broadbent. She recently directed Rosie O’Donnell and Andie MacDowell in the Hallmark/CBS television movie “Riding on the Bus with My Sister,” set to air in May 2005.

Huston received an Academy Award ®for Best Supporting Actress, as well as Los Angeles and New York Film Critics Awards, for her role as “Maerose Prizzi” in the black comedy “Prizzi’s Honor” directed by her father, John Huston. Additionally, Huston has made extraordinary characters come to life with her memorable performances in films such as Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums,” “The Addams Family,” “Addams Family Values” and Nicholas Roeg’s “The Witches.”

Huston made her directorial debut in 1996 with an unflinching adaptation of Dorothy Allison’s best-selling memoir, “Bastard Out of Carolina,” for which she was nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award and an Emmy ®Award. Huston also directed, produced and starred in “Agnes Browne,” which was presented at the Directors’ Fortnight at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.

Other feature film credits include “Ever After” with Drew Barrymore, for which she won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Best Supporting Actress, and “The Crossing Guard,” directed by Sean Penn, with Jack Nicholson, for which she received a Golden Globe ® nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Huston has been honored with Academy Award ® nominations for her roles in Paul Mazursky’s “Enemies: A Love Story” and Stephen Fears’ “The Grifters.” Additional film credits include “Daddy Day Care,” Clint Eastwood’s “Bloodwork,” Woody Allen’s “Manhattan Murder Mystery” and “Crimes and Misdemeanors”; Frances Ford Coppola’s “Gardens of Stone”; “Buffalo ’66,” “The Golden Bowl,” “Handful of Dust,” “Mr. North” directed by Danny Huston, “The Perez Family” directed by Mira Nair, and her father’s last film, “The Dead.”

In television, she received an Emmy ®nomination for Best Supporting Actress, as well as a SAG Award nomination for TNT’s miniseries “The Mists of Avalon.”She received Emmy ® nominations for her performance as “Calamity Jane” in the miniseries “Buffalo Girls” and for her performance opposite Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones in the mini-series “Lonesome Dove.”

She was also nominated for a Golden Globe ®Award for her performance opposite Sam Neill in the television film “Family Pictures.”

WILLEM DAFOE

(Klaus Daimler) adds to a startling array of characters he has brought to life with the comical Klaus Daimler in THE LIFE AQUATIC with Steve Zissou.

Dafoe has also recently completed work on “Manderlay,” the second installment of Lars von Trier’s “USA: Land of Opportunities” trilogy, joining an eclectic cast that includes Lauren Bacall, Jeremy Davies, Danny Glover, Udo Kier and Chloe Sevigny. Currently, Dafoe is shooting Revolution Studios’sequel “XXX: State of the Union,” directed by Lee Tamahori.

Dafoe most recently starred with Robert Redford and Helen Mirren in the thriller “The Clearing” and as the leader of the troupe of thespians who discover a murder in Paul McGuigan’s “The Reckoning” starring with Paul Bettany. He also makes a cameo appearance in Martin Scorsese’s Howard Hughes biopic, “The Aviator.”

His other recent films include Tim Hunter’s “Control,” opposite Ray Liotta; Roger Spottiswoode’s “Mr. Ripley’s Return”; voicing the character of Gill, the fearless leader of the fish tank, in the animated blockbuster “Finding Nemo”; Robert Rodriguez’s “Once Upon a Time in Mexico,” with Johnny Depp and Antonio Banderas, and Paul Schrader’s daring “Auto Focus” with Greg Kinnear.

In the summer of 2002, he starred in Sam Raimi’s record-breaking “Spider-Man” as Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin, rival to the iconic web-spinning hero, played by Tobey Maguire. In 2001, Dafoe was nominated for Academy ®, Golden Globe®and SAG Awards and received the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor for his transformational performance as Max Shreck in “Shadow of the Vampire.”

He was also named Best Supporting Actor by the Los Angeles Film Critics and runner-up by the New York Film Critics. Dafoe’s portrayal also received critical acclaim at the Cannes, Telluride, Toronto and Boston Film Festivals.

Dafoe has made a name for himself working with some of the most critically acclaimed directors in the world: with his turn as ‘Caravaggio’ the thumb-less thief in Anthony Minghella’s Academy Award ®-winning “The English Patient,” his Academy Award®nominated performance as ‘Sergeant Elias’in Oliver Stone’s “Platoon,” his starring role in Martin Scorcese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ,” his memorable turn as low life ‘Bobby Peru’in David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart,” his performance in Wim Wender’s multicultural “Far Away, So Close” and his role as a civil rights activist in Alan Parker’s “Mississippi Burning.”

His other feature credits include Mary Harron’s “American Psycho,” Troy Duffy’s “Boondock Saints,” Steve Buscemi’s “Animal Factory,” Yim Ho’s “Pavillion of Women,” Yurek Bogayevicz’s “The Edges of the Lord,” David Cronenburg’s “Existenz,” novelist Paul Auster’s directorial debut, “Lulu on the Bridge,” Abel Ferrara’s “New Rose Hotel,” Jan De Bont’s “Speed 2: Cruise Control,” Brian Gilbert’s “Tom & Viv,” Phillip Noyce’s “Clear and Present Danger,” Paul Schrader’s “Affliction” and “Light Sleeper,” Oliver Stone’s “Born on the Fourth of July,”William Friedkin’s “To Live and Die in L.A.,”Robert M. Young’s “Triumph of the Spirit,” Roger Donaldson’s “White Sands,” Uli Edel’s “Body of Evidence” and Christopher Crowe’s “Off Limits.”

On stage for the Wooster Group, Dafoe most recently starred Off-Broadway in “Brace Up”; and throughout Europe, the U.S. and Off-Broadway in “To You, The Birdie!” with Frances McDormand. He also costarred with Steve Buscemi in the October 2001 premiere of “North Atlantic.”Dafoe has been a member of the groundbreaking theater company for more than twenty years, helping to define a theatrical language that incorporates influences as diverse as vaudeville and Noh.

JEFF GOLDBLUM

(Hennessey) has starred in two of the fifteen highest grossing films of all time. These roles include his performance as the unconventional scientist in Steven Spielberg’s worldwide box-office success “Jurassic Park” and his starring role in the thriller “Independence Day” in 1996.

Goldblum most recently starred in Showtime’s “Spinning Boris,” directed by Roger Spottiswoode (“Tomorrow Never Dies”).

The film, based on a true story, takes a behind-the-scenes look at the orchestration of Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s 1996 political comeback by a trio of U.S. political consultants, played by Goldblum, Anthony LaPaglia and Liev Schreiber.

Last year, Goldblum starred in “War Stories,” a compelling television movie in which Goldblum portrayed a conflicted newspaper war correspondent assigned to cover a civil war that has broken out in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S. campaign against the region.

The movie was originally shot as a drama pilot and was later expanded into a two-hour television movie. Goldblum also received critical attention for his role in “Igby Goes Down” opposite Susan Sarandon, Ryan Philippe and Claire Danes. The film was written and directed by Burr Steers, a former student in Goldblum’s acting class that he has been teaching at The Playhouse West for several years. At the age of seventeen, Goldblum moved to New York to study acting with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse. In less than a year, Joe Papp cast him in the Broadway hit, “Two Gentlemen of Verona.”

While in New York, Goldblum had his first film audition and was cast as the terrifying rapist in “Death Wish.” In contrast to that role, the very next week Robert Altman cast Goldblum as the twenty-year-old boy wonder in “California Split,” and also asked him to play the mysterious biker/magician in “Nashville.” Thus begun his feature film acting career.

Goldblum’s long list of feature credits include “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” “Holy Man,” the voice of ‘Aaron’in “The Prince of Egypt,” “Nine Months,” Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall,” Lawrence Kasdan’s “The Big Chill,” “Silverado,” “The Fly,” “Deep Cover,” Paul Mazursky’s “Next Stop Greenwich Village,” “Remember My Name,” “The Right Stuff,” “Threshold,” “Between the Lines,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “Mr. Frost,” “The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai,” “Into the Night,” “The Tall Guy,” “ Twisted Obsession” and “Fathers and Sons.”

On television, Goldblum starred in the Showtime original film “Lush Life,” set in the contemporary New York jazz scene, with Forest Whitaker and Kathy Baker. Aside from acting, Goldblum takes pride in his abilities as a director. He was nominated for an Academy Award ®for his Live Action Short Film, “Little Surprises.” He also served as a member of the jury at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.

MICHAEL GAMBON

(Drakoulious) most recently starred as Dumbledore in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azbakan”—a role he will reprise in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”; starred as Lyndon Johnson in HBO’s “Path to War” and appeared in the acclaimed miniseries “Angels in America.”

Other recent roles include “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” and “Being Julia.” His films include “Turtle Diary,” David Hare’s “Paris by Night,” “A Dry White Season,” “The Rachel Papers,” Peter Greenaway’s “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover,” “The Gambler,” “Mobsters,” “Clean Slate,” “Toys,” “Indian Warrior,” “Wings of the Dove,” “The Innocent Sleep,” “Dancing at Lunghasa,” “Sleepy Hollow,” “The Insider,” “Gosford Park” and “Open Range.” Gambon started his career with the Edwards/Macliammoir Gate Theatre in Dublin.

He joined the National Theatre for its inaugural season under Laurence Olivier at the Old Vic in 1963 and appeared there in “Hamlet,” “Saint Joan,” “The Recruiting Officer,” “Andorra,” “Philoctetes,” “Othello,” “The Royal Hunt of the Sun,” “The Crucible,” “Mother Courage,” “Love for Love,” “Juno and the Paycock” and “The Storm.”

In repertory, principally at Birmingham Rep, he played title roles in “Othello,” “Macbeth” and “Coriolanus.” In the West End, he has appeared in Simon Gray’s “Otherwise Engaged,” Alan Ayckbourn’s “The Norman Conquest,” “Just Between Ourselves,” “Alice’s Boys” with Ralph Richardson, Harold Pinter’s “Old Times,” the title role in “Uncle Vanya” and “Tom and Clem.” With the Royal Shakespeare Company, he spent a season at the Aldwych and later played the title part in “King Lear” and ‘Antony’ in “Antony and Cleopatra” opposite Helen Mirren, both at Stratford and the Barbican.

For the National Theatre, he has appeared in the premieres of Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal,” Simon Gray’s “Close of Play,” Christopher Hampton’s “Tales from Hollywood,” Alan Ayckbourn’s “Sisterly Feelings,” “A Chorus of Disapproval,” for which he won an Olivier Award, “A Small Family Business,” “Richard III,” “Othello,” “Tons of Money,” the title role in “The Life of Galileo,” “Volpone” and “Skylight.”

He recreated his starring role in the latter on Broadway in 1996 for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. Also for the National Theatre, he played ‘Eddie Carbone’ in Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge,” which transferred to the Aldwych Theatre and for which he won all the major drama awards of 1987. Most recently, he was in Harold Pinter’s “Mountain Language,” “Cressida” at the Almeida and Harold Pinter’s “The Caretaker” (Olivier Award nomination). He directed the Platford Performance of Richard Harris’“Visiting Hour.”

His television appearances include the Dennis Potter series “The Singing Detective,” for which he won a British Academy Award, a Broadcasting Press Guild Award and a Royal Television Society Award, “The Heat of the Day,” scripted by Harold Pinter from Elizabeth Bowen’s novel and Archie Rece in John Osborne’s “The Entertainer.” In 1998, Gambon was awarded a KBE in the Queen’s Honour List.

BUD CORT

(Bill Ubell) is probably best known for his award-winning performance as ‘Harold’in the Hal Ashby classic, “Harold and Maude,” opposite Ruth Gordon, but he has also appeared in over fifty films from Bob Fosse’s “Sweet Charity” and Robert Altman’s “M*A*S*H,” two of his first roles, to the lead role in Altman’s dark fantasy “Brewster McCloud.”

Other title roles include Silvio (“Georgy Girl”) Narizzano’s “Why Shoot the Teacher,” “The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud” with Klaus Kinski and “Ted and Venus” with Gena Rowlands.

He has appeared in Michael Mann’s “Heat” with Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, “Pollack” with Ed Harris, Robert Dornhelm’s “She Dances Alone” opposite Kyra Nijnsky and Max Von Sydow, “Maria’s Lovers” with Robert Mitchum and “Pumpin Iron, the 30th Anniversary Edition” with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

He has also played leading roles in the television films “Brave New World,” “Bates Motel,” the ground-breaking A.I.D.S. drama “And the Band Played On” and the Robert Altman anthology “Gun.” Born in Rye, New York, Cort attended N.Y.U.’s School of the Arts and later studied with Stella Adler, William Hickey, Joan Darling, David Craig and Del Close. He made his Broadway debut opposite Donald Pleasance in Simon Grey’s “Wise Child” at the Helen Hayes Theatre.

He has appeared in countless off and off-off Broadway plays including Samuel Beckett’s “Endgame” at the Cherry Lane Theatre, Peter Nichol’s “Forget Me Not Lane” at the Mark Taper Forum, Beth Henley’s “Re-Design” with Holly Hunter at Town Hall, Thomas Babe’s “Demon Wine” with Bill Pullman and Tom Waits at the Los Angeles Theatre Center and “An Evening of Ionesco” at the James Doolittle Theatre.

As a founding member of the L.A. Classic Theatre Works, Cort performed in many plays on the radio from Chekov and Arthur Miller, to Sinclair Lewis and Arthur Kopit. He has recorded the entire J.D. Salinger novel, “The Catcher in the Rye” for California’s KPFK. He also recorded “An Evening with Truman Capote” by Lawrence Grobel for KCRW and the BBC.

His vocal work in the film “Electric Dreams” as the computer ‘Edgar’won him rave reviews. As a singer and comedian, Cort has performed in New York at the Improv, the Bitter End, the Village Gate, Upstairs at the Downstairs and Carnegie Hall (“By Ira, by George”); and in Los Angeles from the Roxy and the Comedy Store to the Cinegrill. He has recorded and sung in Paris at the Alcazar. Cort was the youngest actor ever given an homage at the Cinematheque by Henri Langois, an evening hosted by Jacques Tati.

His performance in “Harold and Maude” earned both Golden Globe and British Academy Award nominations and won him the French Academy of Cinema’s Best Actor Award, a distinction he shares with two other American actors, Henry Fonda and James Dean. A member of the Directors Unit of the Actors Studio, Cort resides in both New York and Los Angeles.

He enjoys working with new young directors like Jon Favreau in “Made,” Dwight Yoakum in “South of Heaven,” Steven Anderson in “The Big Empty,” and Kevin Smith in “Dogma” (in which Cort played God in human form).