TOM HANKS
Thomas Schell
is an award-winning actor, producer and director. One of only two actors in history to win back-to-back Best Actor Academy Awards®, he won his first Oscar® in 1994 for his moving portrayal of AIDS-stricken lawyer Andrew Beckett in Jonathan Demme’s “Philadelphia.” The following year, he took home his second Oscar® for his unforgettable performance in the title role of Robert Zemeckis’ “Forrest Gump.” He also won Golden Globe Awards for both films, as well as a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award® for the latter.
Hanks has also been honored with Academy Award® nominations for his performances in Penny Marshall’s “Big,” Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” and Robert Zemeckis’ “Cast Away,” also winning Golden Globes for “Big” and “Cast Away.” In 2002, Hanks received the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
He is currently at work starring in the epic “Cloud Atlas,” being directed by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer. His other feature film credits include the animated adventure “The Polar Express,” which he also executive produced and which reunited him with director Robert Zemeckis; the Coen brothers’ “The Ladykillers”; Steven Spielberg’s “The Terminal” and “Catch Me If You Can”; Sam Mendes’ “Road to Perdition”; Frank Darabont’s “The Green Mile”; Nora Ephron’s “You’ve Got Mail” and “Sleepless in Seattle”; Penny Marshall’s “A League of Their Own”; Ron Howard’s “Apollo 13,” “The Da Vinci Code,” “Angels & Demons” and “Splash”; and the computer-animated blockbusters “Cars,” “Toy Story,” “Toy Story 2” and “Toy Story 3.”
Hanks’ work on the big screen has translated to success on the small screen. Following “Apollo 13,” he executive produced and hosted the acclaimed HBO miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon,” also directing one segment, and writing several others. His work on the miniseries brought him Emmy, Golden Globe and Producers Guild Awards, as well as an Emmy nomination for Best Director.
His collaboration with Steven Spielberg on “Saving Private Ryan” led to them executive producing the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers,” based on the book by Stephen Ambrose. Hanks also directed a segment and wrote another segment of the fact-based miniseries, which won Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for Best Miniseries. In addition, Hanks earned an Emmy Award for Best Director and an Emmy nomination for Best Writing, and received another Producers Guild Award for his work on the project.
In 2008, Hanks executive produced the critically acclaimed HBO miniseries “John Adams,” starring Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson. It won 13 Emmy Awards, including the Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries, as well as a Golden Globe for Best Miniseries, and a PGA Award. More recently, Hanks and Spielberg re-teamed for the award-winning HBO miniseries “The Pacific,” for which Hanks once again served as executive producer. The ten-part program won eight Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Miniseries, and brought Hanks his fourth PGA Award.
In 1996, Hanks made his successful feature film writing and directing debut with “That Thing You Do,” in which he also starred. Hanks more recently wrote, produced, directed and starred in “Larry Crowne,” with Julia Roberts. Under his own Playtone banner, Hanks, together with his wife, Rita Wilson, and partner, Gary Goetzman, produced 2002’s smash hit romantic comedy “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Other producing credits include “Where the Wild Things Are,” “The Polar Express,” “The Ant Bully,” “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “Mamma Mia!,” “The Great Buck Howard,” “Starter for 10” and the HBO series “Big Love.”
SANDRA BULLOCK
Linda Schell
won the 2010 Academy Award® for Best Actress for her role in 2009’s “The Blind Side.” Bullock also won the Critics’ Choice Award, the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award® for Best Actress for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy, in the film, which grossed more than $309 million worldwide.
That same year, Bullock starred in the wildly successful “The Proposal,” opposite Ryan Reynolds, which earned over $317 million worldwide at the box office, and garnered Bullock a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Bullock will next be seen starring with George Clooney in “Gravity,” directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
Following acclaimed roles in several motion pictures, Bullock’s breakthrough came in the 1994 runaway hit “Speed.” Her next two features, “While You Were Sleeping,” which earned her first Golden Globe nomination, and “The Net,” were both critical and popular successes. Under her Fortis Films production company banner, she also produced and starred in “Hope Floats,” which marked her feature film producing debut; “Practical Magic”; “Gun Shy”; “Two Weeks Notice,” opposite Hugh Grant; “Miss Congeniality,” for which she received her second Golden Globe nomination, and its sequel, “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous.”
She earned praise for her performances in such dramas as the Truman Capote biopic “Infamous,” in which she portrayed author Harper Lee, and the 2004 Oscar®-winning Best Picture, “Crash,” directed by Paul Haggis, for which she shared in a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award® for Outstanding Performance by a Motion Picture Cast. Bullock’s other film credits include starring roles in “All About Steve,” “Premonition,” “The Lake House,” “Speed 2: Cruise Control,” “A Time to Kill,” “In Love and War,” “Two if by Sea,” “The Vanishing,” “Demolition Man,” “Wrestling Ernest Hemingway,” “The Thing Called Love,” “Forces of Nature,” “28 Days,” the animated “The Prince of Egypt,” “Divine Secrets of The Ya Ya Sisterhood,” and the psychological thriller “Murder By Numbers,” which she also executive produced.
Bullock made her debut as a writer/director with the short film “Making Sandwiches,” in which she also starred with Matthew McConaughey, and which debuted at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. She recently concluded her stint as the executive producer of the highly successful “The George Lopez Show” which aired on ABC for six seasons.
In addition to her Oscar®, Golden Globe and SAG® Awards, Bullock has received numerous awards and nominations for her work, including two Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, four MTV Movie Awards, an American Comedy Award, eight Teen Choice Awards, and four People’s Choice Awards for Favorite Female Movie Star. Additionally, in 2001 and in 1996, Bullock was voted NATO/ShoWest “Female Star of the Year.”
THOMAS HORN
Oskar Schell
is a first-time film actor, whose only previous acting experience was as the old grasshopper in his elementary school’s stage production of “James and the Giant Peach.” The newcomer was first spotted during his winning appearance on Kids Week on “Jeopardy!”
Horn was born in 1997 in San Francisco, California. His parents are physicians and he has one younger brother. He spends most of his free time reading and learning languages—he is fluent in Croatian and has studied Spanish and Mandarin—and enjoys skiing, karate, tennis, cross-country running, playing piano and traveling. When he was in the sixth grade, he entered the National Geographic Geography Bee, taking third place in the state. He competed again the following two years, earning fourth and second place awards, respectively. He is currently in his freshman year of high school.
MAX VON SYDOW
The Renter
is a legendary actor who has received innumerable honors from the international film community. He has appeared in films for more than 60 years, and is known for his extraordinary collaboration with the great Swedish filmmaker, the late Ingmar Bergman. Among the eleven Bergman films in which von Sydow starred are the classics “The Seventh Seal,” “The Magician,” “The Virgin Spring,” “Through a Glass Darkly,” “Hour of the Wolf” and “Shame.” He also appeared in several other Swedish films, including “The Emigrants” and “The New Land.”
In 2007, von Sydow received worldwide acclaim for his performance as a grieving father in Julian Schnabel’s film “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” He also appeared in such hits as “Pelle the Conqueror,” for which he received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Actor; “Hawaii”; William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”; John Huston’s “The Kremlin Letter”; Sydney Pollack’s “Three Days of the Condor”; Dave Thomas’ and Rick Moranis’ “Strange Brew”; Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters”; David Lynch’s “Dune”; “Death Watch”; and “Voyage of the Damned.” In 1993, he played the devil in Fraser Heston’s film based on Stephen King’s “Needful Things,” which made him the only actor in the world to have played Lucifer, an Exorcist and Jesus Christ. He also starred in Scott Hicks’ “Snow Falling on Cedars”; Steven Spielberg’s “Minority Report”; Paul Marcus’s “Heidi”; Eric Emmanuel Schmitt’s “Oscar and the Pink Lady”; Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island”; and Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood.”
Von Sydow made his film debut in the Swedish film “Only a Mother” in 1949, and appeared for the first time in a Hollywood film playing Christ in George Stevens’ epic “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” In 1988, von Sydow directed the film “Katinka,” based on Herman Bang’s novel, “Along the Highway.”
Born in Lund, Sweden, he attended the Acting Academy at the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm from 1948 through 1951, and in 1957 appeared on stage in Henrik Ibsen’s “Peer Gynt.” Among his other stage appearances—82 all together—are Swedish productions of Luigi Pirandello’s “Henry IV,” Tennessee Williams’ “Cat On A Hot Tin Roof,” Jean Anouilh’s “Waltz of the Toreadors,” Moliere’s “The Misanthrope,” Jean-Paul Sartre’s “The Condemned of Altona” and Ibsen’s “The Wild Duck.”
He appeared on Broadway in “Night of the Tribades” and “Duet for One,” and at London’s Old Vic in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” in the role of Prospero, which he had previously played in Sweden.
In 2003, he became a French citizen. In 2005, he received the honor of being Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres and in 2011 the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur. He lives in Paris with his wife, Catherine, a film documentary director.
VIOLA DAVIS
Abby Black
is a critically acclaimed, award-winning actress who garnered Academy Award, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt,” based on his play and starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams. She was also recognized by The National Board of Review with their Breakthrough Award, and was honored by the Santa Barbara Film Festival as a Virtuoso.
Davis was most recently seen in Tate Taylor’s adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel The Help. Davis plays the role of Aibileen in the film, which tells the story of three extraordinary women in the Deep South during the early 1960s. Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard also starred. Davis will next be seen alongside Maggie Gyllenhaal, Holly Hunter and Rosie Perez in the feature film “Won’t Back Down,” from director Daniel Barnz.
Her other feature film credits include “It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” with Emma Roberts, Lauren Graham and Zach Galifianakis; “Eat Pray Love,” with Julia Roberts; “Knight and Day,” with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz; “Law Abiding Citizen,” with Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler; George C. Wolfe’s “Nights in Rodanthe,” based on the Nicholas Sparks novel and starring Diane Lane and Richard Gere; “Madea Goes to Jail”; “State of Play”; “Disturbia”; the independent film “The Architect”; Jim Sheridan’s “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” opposite 50 Cent; Stephen Gaghan’s “Syriana,” starring George Clooney and produced by Steven Soderbergh; “Far from Heaven,” with Dennis Quaid and Julianne Moore; and the Soderbergh-directed films “Solaris,” “Traffic” and “Out of Sight.”
On the small screen, Davis was recently seen in a six-episode arc in Showtime’s hit series “United States of Tara.” Prior to that, she appeared opposite Benjamin Bratt, Eric McCormack and Rick Schroeder in the miniseries “The Andromeda Strain.” Her extensive television credits also include a recurring role on “Law & Order: SVU;” a recurring role in the CBS franchise “Jesse Stone,” opposite Tom Selleck; a starring role as Diane Barrino in Lifetime’s “Life is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story”; a starring role in ABC’s “Traveler,” as Agent Jan Marlow; CBS’ “Century City”; “Lefty”; the Steven Bochco series “City of Angels”; Oprah Winfrey’s “Amy and Isabelle”; and Hallmark Hall of Fame’s “Grace and Glorie.”
Davis is also a veteran of the stage. In 2010, she returned to Broadway in the highly anticipated revival of August Wilson’s “Fences,” alongside Denzel Washington. The 1987 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play earned her a Tony Award, as well as Drama Critics’ Circle Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Drama Desk Award. “Fences” was also honored with the Tony Award for Best Play Revival and was the most profitable theatre production of the year. In 2004, Davis lit up the stage in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Lynn Nottage’s play “Intimate Apparel,” directed by Tony Award-winning director Daniel Sullivan. Her performance earned her the highest honors for an off-Broadway play, including Best Actress Awards from Drama Desk and the Drama League, as well as an Obie and the Audelco Award and a nomination for the Lucille Lortel Award. She reprised her role at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, where she was recognized with the Ovation, Los Angeles Drama Critics and the Garland Awards. In 2001, Davis was awarded a Tony for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Tonya in “King Hedley II.” She also received a Drama Desk Award in recognition of her work.
A graduate of The Juilliard School, Davis also holds an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts Degree from her alma mater, Rhode Island College.
JOHN GOODMAN
Stan the Doorman
is one of the entertainment industry’s most respected actors. He earned a Golden Globe nomination in 1992 for his chilling performance in the Coen brothers’ heralded “Barton Fink,” after delivering a breakthrough motion picture performance in the Coen brothers’ earlier “Raising Arizona.” He has since teamed with them in “The Big Lebowski” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
Goodman can currently be seen starring in writer/director Michel Hazanavicius’s homage to Hollywood’s silent film era, “The Artist,” and in Kevin Smith’s indie political horror/thriller “Red State.” On television, he can be seen in the critically acclaimed series “Damages” and “Treme,” and recently appeared alongside Al Pacino in the award-winning Jack Kevorkian biopic “You Don’t Know Jack,” earning an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie. He previously won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his turn in Aaron Sorkin’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.”
In addition to his work in front of the camera, he has lent his voice to numerous animated characters, with voiceover credits including “Monsters, Inc.,” “Cars,” “The Emperor’s New Groove” and its small screen continuation, “The Emperor’s New School,” “Tales of the Rat Fink,” “The Jungle Book 2,” “Bee Movie” and, most recently, “The Princess and the Frog.” He also voiced one of the main characters in NBC’s animated primetime series “Father of the Pride.”
Goodman’s many additional film credits include “Evan Almighty,” “Death Sentence,” “Drunk Boat,” “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” “In the Electric Mist,” “Gigantic,” “Speed Racer,” “Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing and Charm School,” “Beyond the Sea,” “Masked and Anonymous,” “Storytelling,” “One Night at McCool’s,” “Coyote Ugly,” “What Planet Are You From?,” “Bringing Out the Dead,” “The Runner,” “Blues Brothers 2000,” “Fallen,” “The Borrowers,” “Mother Night,” “Pie in the Sky,” “The Flintstones,” “Born Yesterday,” “Matinee,” “The Babe,” “King Ralph,” “Arachnophobia,” “Stella,” “Always,” “Sea of Love,” “Everybody’s All-American,” “Punchline,” “The Wrong Guys,” “The Big Easy,” “Burglar,” “True Stories,” “Sweet Dreams,” “Maria’s Lovers,” “C.H.U.D.,” “Revenge of the Nerds” and “Eddie Macon’s Run.”
A St. Louis native, Goodman studied at Southwest Missouri State, graduating in 1975 with a B.F.A. degree in Theatre. His stage credits include regional theatre productions of “Henry IV, Parts I and II,” “Antony and Cleopatra” and “As You Like It.” He performed in a touring production of “The Robber Bridegroom” and starred in the Broadway productions of “Waiting for Godot” in 2009; “The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui” in 2002; “Big River” in 1985, for which he earned a Drama Desk Award nomination; and “Loose Ends” in 1979. In 2001, he starred with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline in the Shakespeare in the Park production of “The Seagull.”
JEFFREY WRIGHT
William Black
is a critically acclaimed actor who continually pushes the boundaries of his craft with inspiring and celebrated performances in an illustrious career that has spanned the worlds of theatre, film and television. He can currently be seen in “The Ides of March,” directed by and co-starring George Clooney. He is currently in production on “Broken City,” in which he stars with Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe under the direction of Allen Hughes.
Wright, a gifted theater actor, was most recently on stage as the lead in John Guare’s “A Free Man of Color” at Lincoln Center, directed by George C. Wolfe, a frequent collaborator. In 2001 and 2002 respectively, he earned an Obie Award and a Tony nomination for his work in the play “Topdog/Underdog.” Wright garnered a Tony Award in 1994 for his role in Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic “Angels in America,” also directed by Wolfe. Wright reprised his “Angels in America” role in HBO’s 2003 miniseries adaptation of the play, earning both a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for his groundbreaking performance.
On film, Wright has played a stunning array of icons and iconoclasts. His brilliant portrayal of the renowned and controversial graffiti artist Jean Michel Basquiat in the 1996 film “Basquiat” received widespread praise from critics and earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination. Wright also took on roles in the 2006 and 2008 James Bond films, “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace,” and, also in 2008, starred as Muddy Waters in “Cadillac Records” and as Colin Powell in Oliver Stone’s “W.” In 2005, he co-starred in the award-winning film “Syriana.” His other credits include Jonathan Demme’s remake of “The Manchurian Candidate”; Jim Jarmusch’s “Broken Flowers,” which earned him another Independent Spirit Award nomination; Ang Lee’s “Ride with the Devil”; and “Shaft.” For his portrayal of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. in HBO’s “Boycott,” he received a 2001 AFI award.
In addition to his acting career, Wright is founder and Vice Chairman of Taia Lion Resources and co-founder and Chairman of Taia Peace Foundation. These two organizations work jointly toward natural resource-driven economic development in Sierra Leone, where Wright has been active since his first trip to the country, in 2001. In 2011, Wright was named by the Government of Sierra Leone as the Peace by Piece Ambassador for the country’s 50th Anniversary Independence Celebration. He also serves on the boards of directors of the Tribeca Film Institute and Resolve, and is a member of the board of governors of Saint Albans School for Boys.
Born in Washington, D.C., Wright graduated from Amherst College, receiving a B.A. in political science in 1987 and earning a doctorate of humane letters from his alma mater in 2004.
ZOE CALDWELL
Oskar’s Grandmother
is one of the theatre’s most respected actresses. She has earned four Tony Awards for her work on Broadway, three of them for Best Actress in a Play—in “Master Class,” “Medea” and “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”—and one for Best Featured Actress in a Play for “Slapstick Tragedy.” Her performances have also garnered her three Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Actress for “Master Class” and “Medea,” and Outstanding Performance for “Colette.” She also earned a Theatre World Award for “Slapstick Tragedy.” She also directed the plays “An Almost Perfect Person” and “Park Your Car in Harvard Yard.”
Caldwell was born in 1933 in Melbourne, Australia, where she began her professional career playing the Lost Boy Slightly Soiled in “Peter Pan.” She has spent the last half century learning more about her craft in many of the world’s greatest theatre companies, and has written a book, I Will Be Cleopatra: An Actress’s Journey, published by W.W. Norton.
In 1970, Caldwell was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and in 2003, she doffed her bonnet to the Chancellor of Melbourne University and was made an honorary Doctor of Laws.
