A classically trained British theater actor, Academy Award® winner Colin Firth (Maxwell Perkins) is a veteran of film, television and theater, with an impressive body of work spanning over three decades. He has appeared in three films that have won the Academy Award® for Best Picture: The King’s Speech, Shakespeare in Love and The English Patient. Firth’s performance as King George VI in The King’s Speech garnered him an Academy Award® as well as a Golden Globe® Award, Screen Actors Guild Award®, British Independent Film Award, Critics’ Choice Award and his second consecutive BAFTA Award in 2011. Firth also won the BAFTA Award in 2010 and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 2009 Venice Film Festival for his performance in Tom Ford’s A Single Man.
Firth was recently seen in The Railway Man directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, which also stars Nicole Kidman and Jeremy Irvine. The film is based on a true story of Eric Lomax, played by Firth, who sets out to find those responsible for his torture during his time as a prisoner in World War II.
He was also recently seen in Woody Allen’s Magic in the Moonlight, in which he stars opposite Emma Stone. He has most recently starred in Kingsman: The Secret Service, directed by Matthew Vaughn and based on the acclaimed comic book of the same name in which Firth plays the role of a secret agent who recruits and trains an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency’s competitive training program. The cast includes Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Caine and Taron Edgerton. Firth is in post-production on Eye in the Sky, which is being produced and distributed by Firth’s production company, Raindog Films, with partner Ged Doherty.
In 2012 Firth was seen in Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy opposite Gary Oldman and Tom Hardy. The thriller is based on John Le Carré’s Cold War spy novel. The film garnered three Academy Award® nominations including Best Writing and won the 2012 BAFTA Film Award for Outstanding British Film and Best Adapted Screenplay.
In 2008, Firth starred in Universal Pictures’ global smash hit Mamma Mia! The film grossed over half a billion dollars around the world and is the highest grossing film of all time in the UK. He also starred in the Universal/Working Title hit film series Bridget Jones’ Diary and in the Universal hit Love Actually, written and directed by Richard Curtis. At the time of its release, Love Actually broke box office records as the highest grossing British romantic comedy opening of all time in the UK and Ireland, and was the largest opening in the history of Working Title Films.
His others film credits include the Oscar®-nominated Girl with a Pearl Earring; Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason; Devil’s Knot; Arthur Newman; Then She Found Me; When Did You Last See Your Father?; Easy Virtue; Michael Winterbottom’s Genova; A Christmas Carol; The Importance of Being Earnest; Atom Egoyan’s Where the Truth Lies; Marc Evans’ thriller Trauma; Nanny McPhee; What a Girl Wants; A Thousand Acres, with Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange; Apartment Zero; My Life So Far; Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch; Circle of Friends; Playmaker and the title role in Milos Forman’s Valmont opposite Annette Bening.
On the small screen, Firth is infamous for his breakout role in as Mr. Darcy in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor and the National Television Award for Most Popular Actor.
In March 2004, Firth hosted NBC’s Saturday Night Live. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2001 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in the critically acclaimed HBO film Conspiracy and also received the Royal Television Society Best Actor Award and a BAFTA nomination for his performance in Tumbledown. His other television credits include BBC television movie Born Equal; Donovan Quick; The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd; Deep Blue Sea; Hostages and the mini-series Nostromo. His London stage debut was in the West End production of Another Country playing Guy Bennett. He was then chosen to play the character Judd in the 1984 film adaptation opposite Rupert Everett.
Firth is an active supporter of Oxfam International, an organization dedicated to fighting poverty and related injustice around the world. He was honored with the Humanitarian Award by BAFTA/LA at their 2009 Britannia Awards. In 2008 he was named Philanthropist of the Year by The Hollywood Reporter and prior to this, In 2006, Firth was voted European Campaigner of the Year by the EU.
Two times Academy Award® nominee and BAFTA winner Jude Law (Thomas Wolfe) is one of the most sought after talents in the acting world, winning awards for both his film and theatre work.
For his early performance as Bosie in the film Wilde, opposite Stephen Fry and Vanessa Redgrave, he won the London Film Critics Circle Award and the Evening Standard Award. His American film debut was in the futuristic Gattaca opposite Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke.
It was his performance as the charmed and charming Dickie Greenleaf in the late Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley that brought him to the attention of a worldwide audience and garnered him his first Academy Award® and Golden Globe® nominations, for Best Supporting Actor. He won the BAFTA Award for the role. He worked with Minghella in two further films: Cold Mountain for which he was again nominated for Golden Globe® and Academy Awards®, this time as Best Actor, and the small-scale and intimate Breaking and Entering.
Other films include Sam Mendes’ Road To Perdition, David Cronenberg’s Existenz, Clint Eastwood’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Jean-Jacques Annaud’s World War II epic Enemy at the Gates, Mike Nichols’ Closer, based on the original play by Patrick Marber, opposite Julia Roberts, Clive Owen and Natalie Portman. He starred in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow with Gwyneth Paltrow, and played Alfie for director Charles Shyer. In addition, Law played supporting roles as Errol Flynn in Martin Scorsese’s Oscar®-nominated epic The Aviator, and in I Heart Huckabees directed by David O. Russell. He starred with Sean Penn in All the King’s Men and with Cameron Diaz in The Holiday. In 2007 he produced and starred in Sleuth with Michael Caine, directed by Kenneth Branagh and scripted by Harold Pinter and in 2008 he starred with Norah Jones in Wong Kar Wei’s first English language film, My Blueberry Nights. Also in 2008 he completed work on Repo Men, a futuristic thriller in which he starred with Forrest Whittaker for director Miguel Sapochnik. He stepped into the late Heath Ledger’s role in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, a role he shared with Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell.
He played a telling cameo as a cross-dressing model in Sally Potter’s film Rage which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2009 and had huge success as Dr. Watson in Guy Ritchie’s two Sherlock Holmes films starring Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes. He featured in Martin Scorsese’s Hugo and in 2011 appeared in Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, Fernando Meireilles’ 360 and voiced a role in DreamWorks’ Rise of the Guardians.
More recently, Law starred in Paul Feig’s Spy alongside Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne and Jason Statham. He played the title role in Richard Sheppard’s Dom Hemingway, in a small role in Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and in the lead role of Black Sea, a submarine drama directed by Kevin McDonald. Prior to this, he played Karenin in Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina and starred in Steven Soderbergh’s final and highly acclaimed film, Side Effects.
Law’s theatre work has also been highly regarded, most recently in Michael Grandage’s Henry V for which Law received huge critical acclaim. In 1994 he created the role of Michael in Jean Cocteau’s play Les Parents Terribles for which he was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award for Outstanding Newcomer. The play was renamed Indiscretions when it moved to Broadway and where he received a Tony nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor.
He has worked with director David Lan at London’s Young Vic Theatre where he starred in ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore and also starred in Christopher Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus in a highly acclaimed performance. In 2005–2006, Law was closely involved in the fund-raising efforts for the major refurbishment of the Young Vic Theatre. In 2009 he took on Hamlet for the Donmar Theatre’s season in the West End, directed by Michael Grandage. The production, and his performance were critically acclaimed and the play transferred to Broadway in September 2009 where it broke box office records for a production of Shakespeare. In February 2010 Law won the London Critics’ Circle award for the Best Shakespearean Performance and was nominated for both an Olivier and a Tony Award as Best Actor. In 2011, Jude returned to the stage at the Donmar Theatre in Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie and received rave reviews.
In 2007 Law was awarded the prestigious French Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres medal and in the same year won a César Award for his contribution to cinema. In 2012 he received the prestigious Variety Award at the British Independent Film Awards. He is an Ambassador for the charity Peace One Day.
Academy Award® winning actress Nicole Kidman (Aline Bernstein) first came to the attention of American audiences with her critically acclaimed performance in Phillip Noyce’s riveting 1989 Australian psychological thriller Dead Calm. Kidman, the only Australian actress to win a Best Actress Oscar®, has since become an internationally-recognized, award-winning actress known for her range and versatility.
In 2003, Kidman won an Academy Award®, a Golden Globe® Award, a BAFTA Award and a Berlin Silver Bear for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry’s The Hours. In 2002, she was honored with her first Oscar® nomination for her performance in Baz Luhrmann’s innovative musical, Moulin Rouge!. For that role, and her performance in writer/director Alejandro Amenabar’s psychological thriller, The Others, she received dual 2002 Golden Globe® nominations, winning for Best Actress in a Musical. She was awarded her initial Golden Globe® for a pitch-perfect, wickedly funny portrayal of a woman obsessed with becoming a TV personality at all costs, in Gus Van Sant’s To Die For, and has been nominated three additional times for her performances in Jonathan Glazer’s Birth, Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain, and Robert Benton’s Billy Bathgate.
In 2010, Kidman starred opposite Aaron Eckhart in Rabbit Hole, for which she received Academy Award®, Golden Globe®, Screen Actors Guild Award® and Independent Spirit Award nominations for Best Actress. The film was developed by Kidman’s production company, Blossom Films. Kidman’s additional film credits include Margot at the Wedding, The Golden Compass, Academy Award winning animated musical Happy Feet, Just Go with It, Nine with Daniel Day Lewis, Penelope Cruz and Marion Cotillard, Australia, Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, The Interpreter, Bewitched, The Human Stain, Dogville, Eyes Wide Shut, Birthday Girl, The Peacemaker, The Portrait of a Lady, Batman Forever, Malice, Far and Away, Stoker, Grace of Monaco, and Before I Go to Sleep. She also narrated the documentary release (Sundance Grand Jury Award and Audience Award–winner), God Grew Tired of Us, and also narrated the film biography of Simon Wiesenthal, I Have Never Forgotten You. In October 2012, Kidman starred in Lee Daniel’s The Paperboy with Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron and John Cusack. Her performance earned her an AACTA, Screen Actors Guild® and Golden Globe® nomination.
Kidman was recently seen in the film adaptation Paddington as well as Queen of the Desert where she stars in the title character of Gertrude Bell with James Franco, Robert Pattinson and Damian Lewis. She also starred in Strangerland with Hugo Weaving and Joseph Fiennes; The Family Fang with Jason Bateman, which her Blossom Films is producing; and Genius alongside Colin Firth, Jude Law and Dominic West. Billy Ray’s The Secret in Their Eyes, with Julia Roberts and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and The Weinstein Company’s Lion with Dev Patel are both in post-production.
In theater, Kidman made a highly-lauded London stage debut in the fall of 1998, starring with Iain Glenn in The Blue Room, David Hare’s modern adaptation of Schnitzler’s La Ronde. For her performance Kidman won London’s Evening Standard Award and was nominated in the Best Actress category for a Laurence Olivier Award.
In 2012, Kidman was seen in HBO’s Hemingway and Gellhorn alongside Clive Owen. Her portrayal as Martha Gellhorn earned her Emmy, SAG® and Golden Globe® nominations. Kidman will return to the small screen in the limited series Big Little Lies alongside Reese Witherspoon. Kidman’s Blossom Films and Witherspoon’s Pacific Standard will produce the project as well.
In January of 2006, Kidman was awarded Australia’s highest honor, the Companion in the Order of Australia. She was also named, and continues to serve, as Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Development Fund for Women, UN Women, whose goals are to foster women’s empowerment and gender equality, to raise awareness of the infringement on women’s human rights around the world and to end violence against women. Kidman has also lent her voice in support of the Women’s Cancer Program at Stanford with Dr. Jonathan Berek. Along with her husband, Keith Urban, she has helped raise millions over the years for the Women’s Cancer Program, which is a world-renowned center for research into the causes, treatment, prevention, and eventual cure of women’s cancer.
Laura Linney (Louise Perkins) is an American actress who works in film, television and theatre. She has been nominated three times for an Academy Award®, three times for the Tony Award, once for a BAFTA Award, and five times for the Golden Globe®.
She has won one SAG Award®, one National Board of Review Award, two Golden Globes® and four Emmy Awards. She holds two honorary Doctorates from her alma maters, Brown University and The Juilliard School.
Her film work includes the recent Mr. Holmes directed by Bill Condon, starring Ian McKellan. She has also appeared in You Can Count on Me, Kinsey, and The Savages (Academy Award® nominated for all three), The Fifth Estate, Hyde Park on Hudson, The Squid and the Whale, Mystic River, Absolute Power, The Truman Show, Primal Fear, The Mothman Prophecies, Love Actually, P.S., The House of Mirth, The Details and Congo among others.
She starred in and produced the Showtime Series The Big C for four seasons for which she won a few awards, as she did for her portrayal of Abigail Adams in the HBO miniseries John Adams directed by Tom Hooper. Early in her career she starred as Mary Ann Singleton in Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series, a job for which she continues to be most grateful and proud. She appeared as Kelsey Grammer’s final girlfriend in the last six episodes of Frasier, was directed by Stanley Donen in Love Letters and starred opposite Joanne Woodward in Blindspot.
She has appeared in many Broadway productions, most notably Time Stands Still and Sight Unseen both directed by Daniel Sullivan and written by Donald Margulies, and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible directed by Richard Eyre opposite Liam Neeson with whom she has worked many times. Other plays include Six Degrees of Separation, Honour, Uncle Vanya, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Holiday and The Seagull.
Born in England, Guy Pearce (F. Scott Fitzgerald) moved with his family to Australia when he was seven. He attended The Geelong College and participated in the GSODA Junior Players, the country’s premier youth theatre company. Pearce starred in several theatre productions when he was young, and graduated to television when he was cast in the Australian soap opera Neighbours in 1985. Pearce also found roles in other television series such as Home and Away and Snowy River.
Director/producer/writer Frank Howson cast Pearce in his first three movies, including 1991’s Hunting, which premiered at Cannes. He made his first major film breakthrough with his role as a drag queen in 1994’s The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and subsequently appeared in several major US films thereafter, including L.A. Confidential, Ravenous, Rules of Engagement, Memento, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Time Machine. Pearce continued to perform in Australian films like The Hard Word (2002) and the critically lauded The Proposition (2005).
Pearce portrayed pop artist Andy Warhol in 2006’s Factory Girl and magician Harry Houdini in 2007’s Death Defying Acts. Other films include 2008’s Traitor, Winged Creatures, and The Road. He was one of the stars of 2009’s The Hurt Locker, which won six Academy Awards® including Best Picture. In 2010, he was seen in four films: Animal Kingdom, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, The Hungry Rabbit Jumps, and Oscar®-winning Best Picture, The King’s Speech (as King Edward VII).
Additionally, in 2011, Guy won the Emmy for his portrayal of Kate Winslet’s lover Monty in Todd Haynes’ HBO film remake of Mildred Pierce.
In 2012, Guy was seen in the Luc Besson-produced action film Lockout, the John Hillcoat period drama Lawless, and as the 114-year-old mogul in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus.
He most recently starred in Drake Doremus’s improvized, independent drama Equals; David Michod’s The Rover alongside Robert Pattinson; Hateship Loveship with Kristen Wiig; and the most recent installment in Marvel’s Iron Man franchise, opposite Robert Downey Jr.
Guy lives in Melborne, Australia.
Dominic West (Ernest Hemingway) has successfully combined a career in both the UK and the US, with leading roles in international film, American television and on the London stage. After graduating from Trinity College Dublin and then from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, West won the Ian Charleson award for Best Newcomer for his performance in Sir Peter Hall’s production of The Seagull.
A very successful film career soon followed with West winning leading roles in studio movies including 28 Days opposite Sandra Bullock; Mona Lisa Smile, with Julia Roberts; and The Forgotten, with Julianne Moore. He also starred as Theron in Warner Bros.’ 300. Further credits include Chicago, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, True Blue, Hannibal Rising, Rock Star, The Phantom Menace, Surviving Picasso and Richard III.
In 2000, he won the role of McNulty in HBO’s The Wire, one of the most critically acclaimed television programs ever made in the US. The show ran for five seasons, with West directing an episode in the final season.
His theatre credits include Peter Gill’s production of Harley Granville Barker’s The Voysey Inheritance at the Royal National Theatre; David Lan’s West End production of As You Like It, in which he starred opposite Helen McCrory; and Trevor Nunn’s West End production of Tom Stoppard’s most recent play, Rock ’N’ Roll, which opened to huge plaudits at The Royal Court Theatre in summer 2006.
In 2008 he played Oliver Cromwell in Channel 4’s BAFTA-nominated television series The Devil’s Whore. He then went on to do Pedro Calderon de la Barca’s Life Is a Dream at the Donmar Warehouse in London, followed by Centurion directed by Neil Marshall and also starring Micahel Fassbender.
Dominic starred in the 2011 film The Awakening, the box office hit Johnny English Reborn and ITV’s critically acclaimed mini-series Appropriate Adult for which he won a TV BAFTA in May of 2012 year as well as The Hour by Abi Morgan for which Dominic was nominated for a Golden Globe®. On the stage in 2011 West captivated audiences as the title role in Butley at the Duchess Theatre as well as sharing the stage with his Wire co-star Clarke Petes in Othello at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
2012 saw Dominic reprise his role as Hector Madden in the second season of The Hour and he starred in the new Jez Butterworth play at The Royal Court, The River which opened in October 2012.
In 2013 Dominic returned to Sheffield to appear in My Fair Lady at The Crucible. He then went on to film as Richard Burton in a BBC4 drama, starring opposite Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth Taylor. In the autumn he began filming the television series The Affair for Showtime and Matthew Warchus’ Pride, alongside Imelda Staunton and Bill Nighy. He finished the year by completing a trek across the South Pole for the charity Walking With the Wounded, competing against teams led by Prince Harry and Alexander Skarsgard.
In 2014, Dominic starred in Testament of Youth alongside Alicia Vikander. He is currently appearing in the US series The Affair alongside Ruth Wilson, Maura Tearney and Joshua Jackson.
Michael Grandage (Director/Producer) is a director and producer at the Michael Grandage Company in London, a theatre, film and television company found in 2011 with long time collaborator and producer James Bierman.
One of the most respected and awarded names in theatre both in the UK and on Broadway, Genius marks Grandage’s feature film directorial debut.
Grandage most recently celebrated a 15-month residency at the Noel Coward Theatre, in London’s West End directing five hugely successful productions: Privates on Parade starring Simon Russell Beale; A Midsummer Night’s Dream starring Sheridan Smith and David Walliams; a new play by Genius writer John Logan entitled Peter and Alice starring Dame Judi Dench and Ben Wishaw; Henry V starring Jude Law; and The Cripple of Inishmaan, starring Daniel Radcliffe. The sell-out production of Martin McDonagh’s black comedy later transferred to Broadway with rave reviews both for the production and for Radcliffe remaining in the lead role.
This Michael Grandage season also broke new ground with the company staying true to its philosophy of reaching new audiences through competitive ticket pricing and access, with tickets on sale for as little as ten pounds. As well as playing to packed auditoriums throughout, the season garnered four Whatsonstage Awards including Best Director.
Prior to forming his own company, Grandage was artist director of the Donmar Warehouse (2002–2012) and artistic director of Sheffield Theatres (2000–2005). He is the recipient of Tony, Drama Desk, Olivier, Evening Standard, Critics’ Circle and South Bank Awards. He has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by both Sheffield University and Sheffield Hallam University; an Honorary Degree from the University of London; and is President of Central School of Speech and Drama. He was appointed CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2011. His book A Decade At The Donmar, was published by Constable & Robins in 2012.
His work for the Donmar Warehouse includes: Richard II, Luise Miller, King Lear, Red (also New York, Tony and Drama Desk Awards Best Director); Hamlet (also Elsinore and New York); Ivanov (Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Award Best Director); Madame de Sade; Twelfth Night; The Chalk Garden (Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards Best Director); Don Juan in Soho; Frost/Nixon (also Gielgud, New York, USA tour, Tony Nomination Award for Best Director); Othello (Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Director); The Wild Duck (Critics’ Circle Award Best Director); Guys and Dolls (Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production); Grand Hotel (Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production and Evening Standard Award Best Director); The Cut; After Miss Julie; Caligula (Olivier Award Best Director), Merrily We Roll Along (Evening Standard Award Best Director) and Passion Play (Evening Standard Award and Critics’ Circle Award for Best Director). For Sheffield Theatres he directed many productions including Don Carlos (Evening Standard Award Best Director).
He has also directed many operas including Billy Budd and Marriage of Figaro for Glyndebourne and Don Giovanni for the Met.
John Logan (Writer/Producer) received the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critic Circle and Drama League awards for his play Red, directed by Michael Grandage. This play premiered at the Donmar Warehouse in London and at the Golden Theatre on Broadway. Since then Red has had more than 300 productions across the US and has been presented in over 30 countries.
He is also the author of more than a dozen other plays including Never the Sinner and Hauptmann. In 2013, his play Peter and Alice premiered in London and I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers opened on Broadway. He co-wrote the book for the musical The Last Ship, composed by Sting and directed by Joe Mantello, which debuted on Broadway in 2014.
As a screenwriter, Logan has been three times nominated for an Oscar® and has received Golden Globe®, BAFTA and WGA Awards. In addition to Genius, Logan’s screenwriting credits include: Hugo, The Aviator, Gladiator, Rango, Coriolanus, Sweeney Todd, The Last Samurai, Any Given Sunday and RKO 281. With Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, Logan wrote Spectre, the new James Bond adventure directed by Sam Mendes.
He is currently in production for Penny Dreadful, a drama series he created for Showtime.
A. Scott Berg (Biographer/Producer) graduated in 1971 from Princeton University, where he received the English department’s thesis prize for his work on the legendary book editor Maxwell E. Perkins. He spent the next seven years expanding his thesis into Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, which became a national bestseller and won the National Book Award.
The book also drew the attention of Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., who offered Berg complete access to his father’s archives. With the assistance of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Berg spent the next nine years writing Goldwyn: A Biography. It became an international bestseller; and Billy Wilder called it “the best book about Hollywood” he had ever read.
In 1990, Anne Morrow Lindbergh granted Berg exclusive and unrestricted access to her archives and those of her late husband, Charles Lindbergh. Eight years later, he published Lindbergh, which also became an international bestseller and which received the Pulitzer Prize for Biography. Paramount Television is developing it as a mini-series.
For 20 years, Berg had been a friend and confidant of Katharine Hepburn; and upon her death in 2003, he published a biographical memoir, Kate Remembered, which became the No. 1 New York Times bestseller for most of that summer.
His most recent book, Wilson, a biography of the 28th President, became an immediate bestseller and is currently being developed as a motion picture by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way Productions.
Berg has written and co-produced two documentary films: Directed by William Wyler and Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies; and he wrote the story for the 1982 drama Making Love.
He has served on the board of the Library of America and is currently on the board of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. He is also a Charter Trustee of Princeton University.
