Contemporary Actors

Collection of Contemporary Actors

Matthew Modine
Matthew Modine

Matthew Modine (Wikipedia)

Matthew Modine was born March 22, 1959) & is an American actor, activist and filmmaker, who rose to prominence through his role as United States Marine Corps Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick‘s Full Metal Jacket. His other film roles include the title character in Alan Parker‘s Birdy, the high school wrestler Louden Swain in Vision Quest, Drake Goodman in Pacific Heights and Dr. Ralph Wyman in Short Cuts. On television, Modine portrayed Dr. Martin Brenner in Stranger Things, the oversexed Sullivan Groff on WeedsDr. Don Francis in And the Band Played On and Ivan Turing in Proof.

Modine has been nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for his work in And the Band Played Onand What the Deaf Man Heard and won a Special Golden Globe for him and the rest of the ensemble in Short Cuts.[2] He was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for And the Band Played On.

Modine, the youngest of seven children, was born in Loma Linda, California, the son of Dolores (née Warner), a bookkeeper, and Mark Alexander Modine, who managed drive-in theaters. He is a nephew of a stage actress Nola Modine Fairbanks, and the great-grandson of the prospector and pioneer Ralph Jacobus Fairbanks. Modine lived in Utah for several years, moving every year or two. The drive-in theaters his father managed were being torn down because the land beneath them exceeded the value of the theaters. The Modine family returned to Imperial Beach, California where Matthew attended and graduated from Mar Vista High School in 1977.

Modine’s first film role was in John Sayles‘ film Baby It’s You. His performance caught the eye of director Harold Becker, who cast him in Vision Quest, based on Terry Davis’ novel. Modine appeared in the sex comedy Private School, co-starring Phoebe Catesand Betsy Russell.

The director Robert Altman propelled Modine to international stardom with his film adaptation of David Rabe‘s play Streamers. Modine played Mel Gibson‘s brother in Mrs. Soffel and starred with Nicolas Cage in Alan Parker‘s Birdy; the film was awarded Gran Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. The actor also famously turned down the role of LT Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun (the role that Tom Cruise made famous), because he felt the film’s pro-military stance went against his politics.

Modine may be best known for his role as Private Joker, the central character of Stanley Kubrick‘s Vietnam War movie Full Metal Jacket (1987). Subsequently, Modine played the dangerous young criminal Treat in Alan Pakula‘s film adaptation of Lyle Kessler‘s stageplay Orphans. Modine played the goofy, earnest FBI agent Mike Downey in Jonathan Demme‘s screwball comedy Married to the Mobopposite Michelle Pfeiffer. In 1990, he led the cast of Memphis Belle, a fictionalized account of the famous B-17 Flying Fortress.

Modine and his fellow castmates won an unprecedented Best Actor prize from the Venice Film Festival for the tragic story of young American soldiers about to be shipped to Vietnam in Streamers. Modine has twice been nominated for an Emmy Award: first, for his performance in And the Band Played On (an HBO Emmy award-winning film about the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic), and then for the dark comedy What the Deaf Man Heard. In 2017, he and his Stranger Things castmates won the prestigious Screen Actors Guild Best Ensemble Award.

In 1995, he appeared opposite Geena Davis in the romantic action-adventure film Cutthroat Island. Modine made his feature directorial debut with If… Dog… Rabbit…, which came after the success of three short films debuting at the Sundance Film FestivalWhen I Was a Boy (co-directed with Todd Field), Smoking written by David Sedaris, and Ecce Pirate written by Modine.

His dark comedy, I Think I Thought, debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film tells the story of a Thinker (Modine) who ends up in Thinkers Anonymous.

Other short films include To Kill an AmericanCowboy, and The Love Film. In 2011, he completed Jesus Was a Commie, an avant garde-dialectical conversation about the world and the prominent issues of modern society. Modine co-directed the short film with Terence Ziegler, the editor of I Think I Thought. Modine’s short films have played internationally.

In 2003, he guest starred in The West Wing episode “The Long Goodbye”. He portrayed the character Marco, who went to high school with C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) and who helped her deal with her father’s steady mental decline due to Alzheimer’s disease. Modine agreed to take the role because he is a longtime friend of Janney’s. (The two appeared together in a theatrical production of the play Breaking Up directed by Stuart Ross). That same year, he played Fritz Gerlich in the CBS miniseries Hitler: The Rise of Evil.

In 2004, Modine appeared in Funky Monkey as ex-football star turned spy Alec McCall, who teams up with super-chimp Clemens and his friend Michael Dean (Seth Adkins) to take down the villainous Flick (Taylor Negron). The film was critically panned, yet has gained a cult status.

In 2005, Abel Ferrara‘s Mary won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. In the film, Modine portrays a director recounting the story of Mary Magdalene (Juliette Binoche). The following year, he guest-starred in the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode “Rage” as a serial killer of young girls.

In 2010, Modine appeared in The Trial, which was awarded the Parents Television Council‘s Seal of Approval™. The PTC said: “‘The Trial’ combines the best features of courtroom drama, murder mystery and character story. ‘The Trial’ is a powerful drama which shows the power of healing and hope.”

Modine played a corrupt Majestic City developer named “Sullivan Groff” throughout Season 3 on Weeds. Groff has affairs with Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) and Celia Hodes (Elizabeth Perkins).

In 2010, Modine appeared in HBO’s Too Big to Fail, a film about the Wall Street financial crisis. In it, Modine stars as John Thain, former Chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch, who famously spent millions decorating his office.

In 2011, Modine completed two independent films, Family Weekend and Girl in Progress, opposite Eva Mendes.

In 2012, he appeared in Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight Rises as Deputy Commissioner Peter Foley, a Gotham City police officer and peer to Gary Oldman‘s Commissioner James Gordon.

In February 2013, Modine was cast in Ralph Bakshi‘s animated film Last Days of Coney Island after coming across the film’s Kickstartercampaign online.

In 2014, he co-starred with Olivia WilliamsRichard Dillane, and Steve Oram in the horror mystery film Altar.

In 2016, Modine played Dr. Martin Brenner in the Netflix original series Stranger Things.

In 2017, Matthew Modine was featured in the music video for “1-800-273-8255“, a song by American hip hop artist Logic.

Modine was part of Speed Kills released in November 2018 as well as several upcoming films such as Foster BoyMiss Virginia, and The Martini Shot.

Modine appeared in Arthur Miller‘s Finishing the Picture at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, in Miller’s Resurrection Blues at London’s Old Vic, and in a stage adaptation of Harper Lee‘s To Kill a Mockingbird (as Atticus Finch) at Connecticut’s Hartford Stage. This production of To Kill a Mockingbird became the most successful play in the theatre’s 45-year history.  In 2010, he starred with Abigail Breslin in the 50th Anniversary Broadway revival of The Miracle Worker. at the Circle in the Square theatre.

In fall 2013, Modine starred in a self-parodying comedy, Matthew Modine Saves the Alpacas, at Los Angeles’ Geffen Theatre.

Cycling has been Modine’s main mode of transportation since moving to New York City from Utah in 1980. He heads a pro-bike organization called “Bicycle for a Day” and was honored for his work on June 2, 2009, by the environmental arts and education center on the East RiverSolar 1.

Adam Driver
Adam Driver

Adam Driver (Wikipedia)

Adam Driver was born in 1983) is an American actor. He rose to prominence in the supporting role of Adam Sackler in the HBO comedy-drama series Girls (2012–2017), for which he received three consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He made his Broadway debut in Mrs. Warren’s Profession (2010) and subsequently appeared in Man and Boy (2011). Driver went on to play supporting roles in such films as Lincoln (2012), Frances Ha (2012), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), and Silence (2016). 

Driver won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his lead role in the drama Hungry Hearts(2014) and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor for playing a poet in Jim Jarmusch‘s Paterson (2016). He earned nominations for the Golden Globeand the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing a police detective in the black comedy film BlacKkKlansman (2018). Driver gained wider recognition for playing Kylo Ren in the Star Wars sequel trilogy films The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi(2017), and the upcoming The Rise of Skywalker (2019). He returned to Broadway in 2019 with Burn This, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.

Driver is the co-founder of Arts in the Armed Forces, a non-profit that brings high-quality arts programming to active-duty service members, veterans, military support staff and their families around the world free of charge. He founded the organization with his wife Joanne Tucker in 2006.

Driver was born in San Diego, California, the son of Nancy Wright (née Sneedham), a paralegal, and Joe Douglas Driver.  His father’s family is from Arkansas and his mother’s family is from Indiana. His stepfather, Rodney G. Wright, is a minister at a Baptist church. He has English, Irish, Scottish, German, and Dutch ancestry. When Driver was seven years old, he moved with his older sister and mother to her hometown of Mishawaka, Indiana, and attended Mishawaka High School, where he graduated in 2001. Driver was raised Baptist; he had a religious upbringing and sang in the choir at church.

As a teenager, Driver described himself as a “misfit,” telling M Magazine that he climbed radio towers, set objects on fire, and co-founded a fight club with his friends after being inspired by the film Fight Club. After high school, and before his military service, Driver worked as a door-to-door salesman selling Kirby vacuum cleaners and as a telemarketer for a basement waterproofing company and Ben Franklin Construction. After high school, Driver applied to the Juilliard School for drama, but was rejected. 

Shortly after the September 11 attacks, Driver joined the United States Marine Corps and was assigned to Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines as an 81mm mortar man.  He served for two years and eight months with no deployments before breaking his sternum while mountain biking. He was medically discharged with the rank of Lance Corporal. After leaving the Marine Corps, Driver attended the University of Indianapolis for a year, then auditioned again and was accepted into Julliard to study drama. Driver said that he was seen as an intimidating and volatile figure by his classmates, and struggled to fit into a lifestyle so different from the Marines.  He was a member of the Drama Division’s Group 38 (2005–2009), where he met his wife Joanne Tucker. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2009.

After graduating from Juilliard, Driver began his acting career in New York City, appearing in both Broadway and off-Broadwayproductions. Like many aspiring actors, he occasionally worked as a busboy and waiter. Driver also appeared in several television shows and short films. He made his feature film debut in Clint Eastwood‘s biographical drama J. Edgar in 2011.

In 2012, Driver was cast in the HBO comedy-drama series Girls, as the emotionally unstable Adam Sackler, the boyfriend of the lead character Hannah Horvath (Lena Dunham). During the show’s run he received three nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role. The same year, Driver played supporting roles in two critically acclaimed films, as telegraph and cipher officer Samuel Beckwith in Steven Spielberg‘s historical drama Lincoln, and Lev Shapiro in Noah Baumbach‘s comedy-drama Frances Ha. He also appeared in the drama Not Waving But Drowning and the romantic-comedy Gayby. Additionally, he garnered major off-Broadway recognition for playing Cliff, a working-class Welsh houseguest in Look Back in Anger,winning the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.

In 2013, Driver appeared in the drama Bluebird and the romantic-comedy What If. He played Al Cody, a musician, in the Coen Brothers‘ black comedy tragedy Inside Llewyn Davis, and photographer Rick Smolan in the drama Tracks. In 2014, he played Jude, a despairing father, in the drama Hungry Hearts; Jaime, an aspiring filmmaker, in Noah Baumbach‘s comedy While We’re Young; and Philip, the black sheep of a dysfunctional Jewish family, in the comedy-drama This Is Where I Leave You. For his performance in Hungry Hearts, Driver won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 71st Venice International Film Festival.

In February 2014, Variety reported that Driver would play the villain, Kylo Ren, in J. J. Abrams‘ Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). On April 29, 2014, he was confirmed as a cast member. The Force Awakens was released on December 18, 2015 to commercial and critical success. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardianhighlighted Driver’s performance in his review of the film calling him “gorgeously cruel, spiteful and capricious… very suited to Kylo Ren’s fastidious and amused contempt for his enemies’ weakness and compassion.”

In 2016, Driver played a supporting role in Jeff Nichols‘ sci-fi thriller Midnight Special, which was released on March 18, 2016. He also co-starred in Martin Scorsese‘s historical drama Silence (2016) as Father Francisco Garupe, a 17th-century Portuguese Jesuit priest, alongside Andrew Garfield. In preparation for the role, Driver lost almost 50 pounds. Jim Jarmusch‘s drama Paterson was Driver’s final film of 2016, in which he played Paterson, a bus driver who writes poetry.  The film premiered at Cannes Film Festival and was released on December 28, 2016. Driver’s performance was acclaimed and he received multiple nominations for Best Actor from critics associations, winning several, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor. Peter Traversof Rolling Stone wrote “Driver’s indelibly moving portrayal is so lived-in and lyrical you hardly recognize it as acting.”  Paterson was included in many critics’ top ten lists of best films of 2016.

In 2017, Driver played a cameo in Noah Baumbach‘s The Meyerowitz Stories as Randy, marking his third appearance in one of Baumbach’s films. The film premiered at Cannes Film Festival and was released on October 13, 2017 on Netflix. He also portrayed Clyde, a one-armed redneck veteran, in Steven Soderbergh‘s Logan Lucky, which was released on August 18, 2017.[42] He reprised his role as Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which was released on December 15, 2017. His performance was positively received, with his character lauded as the best in the series: David Edelstein of Vulture wrote, “the core of The Last Jedi — of this whole trilogy, it seems — is Driver’s Kylo Ren, who ranks with cinema’s most fascinating human monsters.”

In 2018, Driver portrayed a Jewish police detective, Phillip “Flip” Zimmerman, who helps infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan in Spike Lee‘s comedy-drama BlacKkKlansman. The film premiered at Cannes Film Festival and was theatrically released on August 10. He received critical acclaim for his performance in the film and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Driver also starred as the lead character Toby Grisoni in Terry Gilliam‘s adventure-comedy The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which also premiered at Cannes.  In 2019, he starred as Daniel Jones in Scott Z. Burns‘ political drama The Report, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. Driver returned to Broadway to play Pale against Keri Russell in a Michael Mayer-directed production of Lanford Wilson’s Burn This. He received acclaim for his explosive performance and was nominated for Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.

In 2019, Driver was part of the ensemble cast of the Jim Jarmusch zombie comedy movie The Dead Don’t Die.

Driver will co-star with Scarlett Johansson in the upcoming Marriage Story. He is set to star in Sylvester Stallone‘s Tough As They Come  and Leos Carax‘s upcoming music drama Annette. He will reprise his role as Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Driver married actress Joanne Tucker in June 2013. They live together in Brooklyn Heights with dog Moose, a Rottweiler-Pitbull mix.

He is the co-founder of Arts in the Armed Forces (AITAF), a non-profit that performs theatre for all branches of the military, both in the United States and abroad.

Indie-rock band Sipper has a song dedicated to Driver.

Fred Webber
Frederick Webber

Fred Webber (Wikipedia)

Fred Weller was born in New OrleansLouisiana, the son of lawyers Carole and Francis Weller In 1966.  He is a 1984 graduate of Jesuit High School, a Catholic all-boys high school in New Orleans. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1988. He then studied acting at The Juilliard School as a member of the Drama Division’s Group 21 (1988–1992).

In 1993, Weller was one of the main regulars in the TV series Missing Persons. He has made guest appearances in episodes of Law & OrderLaw & Order: Special Victims UnitLaw & Order: Criminal IntentMonk and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He has also appeared in several well-received films, such as StonewallThe Business of StrangersThe Shape of Things, and the 2000 drama/miniseries The Beach Boys: An American Family portraying the character Brian Wilson.

Weller was initially successful as a stage actor, and stage acting is still his biggest passion. He performed in Neil LaBute and David Mamet plays and films. He appeared on Broadway in 2003 in the Tony award-winning play Take Me Out in which he appeared completely nude, and in 2014 in the Terrence McNally play Mothers and Sons. In 2018 he appeared on Broadway as Bob Ewell in Aaron Sorkin‘s To Kill a Mockingbird, an adaptation of Harper Lee‘s novel.

Weller has also played lead roles in many successful independent films, including Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things (with Paul RuddRachel Weisz and Gretchen Mol), James Toback’s When Will I Be Loved (opposite Neve Campbell) and The Business of Strangers (with Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles).

Weller starred in the USA Network comedy-drama series In Plain Sight as Deputy U.S. Marshal Marshall Mann. He worked closely with Mary McCormack (Deputy U.S. Marshal Mary Shannon) during filming.

Weller married actress Ali Marsh on September 6, 2003.  They have a daughter Azalea, born in 2007, whose godmother is his In Plain Sight co-star Mary McCormack.

He is a cousin of actor Peter Weller.


Charlie De Melo
Charlie De Melo

Charlie De Melo stars in “Coronation Street”.

Charles Alexander De Melo (born 26 September 1989) is a British actor. From 2017 to 2022, he portrayed the role of Imran Habeeb on the ITV soap opera Coronation Street, for which he was nominated for the British Soap Award for Best Leading Performer.

De Melo was born on 26 September 1989 in BarnstapleDevon, and later moved to London, where he attended the University of London. He later graduated from ArtsEd in 2012. He began his acting career in 2012, appearing in the short films Rewind and Innocence. In 2013, he appeared as Tamir Niaz in an episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors.  In 2014, he portrayed Josh Ware in an episode of Casualty, and in 2015, De Melo was cast in the BBC One drama series The Interceptor as Martin, a former MI6 agent and a member of the UNIT team. In 2016, he appeared in the direct-to-video sequel Jarhead 3: The Siege.  In 2017, De Melo appeared in EastEnders as PC Jaz Jones on a recurring basis, appearing in five episodes.  Later that year, he provided additional voices for the video game Need for Speed Payback.

In November 2017, De Melo joined the cast of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street as Imran Habeeb.[9] The character was introduced as the brother of established character Rana Habeeb (Bhavna Limbachia) and arrives to attend Rana’s wedding.  The character returned in January 2018, after being promoted to a regular character, with storylines including his relationship with Toyah Battersby (Georgia Taylor), a one-night stand with Abi Franklin (Sally Carman which results in Abi getting pregnant and a custody battle for their son. In March 2022, it was announced that De Melo had decided to leave the soap, and Imran was killed off after sustaining injuries in a car accident and ultimately dying of cardiac arrest in scenes broadcast on June 2022.  Following his exit from the soap, De Melo announced he would be starring in a theatre adaption of The Clothes They Stood Up In, based on the 2001 book by Alan Bennett and in 2023, he is set to appear as Borachio in the play Much Ado About Nothing.

Samuel Robertson
Samuel Robertson

Sam Robertson (Wikipedia)

Sam Robertson was born in 1985 and is a Scottish actor and model best known for his roles as Flynn on E4 comedy-drama Beaver Falls, and as Adam Barlow in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.

Robertson was born in DundeeScotland. He studied Drama and English at the University of Manchester, but dropped out at 18 to focus on his role as Adam Barlow in Coronation Street.

He is a keen follower of his local football team, Dundee Football Club.

In 2005 and 2006, he took part in the second and third series of Sky One‘s The Match.

In 2009, Sam joined the BBC Scotland soap opera River City as new character Innes Maitland.

Robertson played Flynn in the E4 series Beaver Falls, which aired in July 2011 in the UK.

When he was eighteen, he joined the cast of Coronation Street as Adam Barlow.

In January 2013, Robertson was a housemate in the eleventh series of Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5 in the UK.[3] He was the second evictee of the series.

In 2016, Robertson reprised his role as Adam Barlow in Coronation Street.

Damien Lewis
Damien Lewis

Damien Lewis (Wikipedia)

Damien Lewis was born in 1971 is an English actor and producer. He played U.S. Army Major Richard Winters in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination, and also portrayed U.S. Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brodyin the Showtime series Homeland (which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award).  His performance as King Henry VIII in Wolf Hall earned him his third Primetime Emmy nomination and fourth Golden Globe nomination. He currently plays Bobby Axelrod in the Showtime series Billions (2016–present), and portrays actor Steve McQueen in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) directed by Quentin Tarantino.

Lewis was born in St John’s Wood, London, the elder son of Charlotte Mary (néeBowater) and John Watcyn Lewis, a City insurance broker with Lloyd’s.[2][3][4][5] His paternal grandparents were Welsh.

As a child, Lewis made several visits to the U.S. to visit relatives during his summers.  He first decided to become an actor at age 16. He was educated at the independent Ashdown House School in Forest RowEast Sussex, and at Eton College. He graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1993, after which he served as a stage actor for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

During his time with the RSC, he played Borgheim in Adrian Noble‘s production of Henrik Ibsen‘s Little Eyolf and Posthumus in William Shakespeare‘s Cymbeline. He also starred in another of Ibsen’s plays, as Karsten Bernick in Pillars of the Community at the National Theatre in November 2005.

Lewis once worked as a telemarketer selling car alarms, a job he detested.[13] He appeared in Robinson Crusoe (1997) as Patrick Conner. He appeared in Jonathan Kent‘s production of Hamlet, playing Laertes. This production was seen by Steven Spielberg, who later cast Lewis as Richard Winters in Band of Brothers, the first role of several that required him to have a credible American accent.

Subsequently, Lewis portrayed Soames Forsyte in the ITV series The Forsyte Saga, which earned him rave reviews. He returned to the US to star in Dreamcatcher, a Stephen King film about a man who becomes possessed by an evil alien. The character is American but when possessed he takes on a British accent.[10] On the heels of this role, he starred in Keane as a Manhattanite with a fragile mental state who is searching for his missing daughter. Despite the film’s poor box-office performance, the role won Lewis rave reviews.

He played Jeffrey Archer in the TV special Jeffrey Archer: The Truth. Since 2004, he has appeared in a number of films, as well as the 2005 BBC TV adaptation of Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing, as part of the ShakespeaRe-Told season. Lewis played the role of Yassen Gregorovich in the film Stormbreaker. In 2006, he appeared in Stephen Poliakoff‘s BBC drama Friends and Crocodiles. He has appeared on BBC’s Have I Got News for You as guest host several times; on 10 November 2006, 1 May 2009, 18 November 2010, 27 April 9 November 2012 and 31 October 2014.

In 2008, Lewis starred as the main character Charlie Crews in the US television series Life on NBC. The show premiered in the U.S. on 26 September 2007 and was affected by the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. Only half of the first season’s shows were produced. Regardless, the show won a 2008 AFI Award for best television series. Although the show received critical acclaim, when it returned the following television season, it was shuffled from night to night, and eventually cancelled by NBC to clear its time slot for the less expensive  nightly programme, The Jay Leno Show.

Lewis appeared, the following year, in the lead role in The Baker, a film directed by his brother, Gareth. Damian took a supporting role of Rizza in The Escapist, which he also helped produce. He led the cast in Martin Crimp‘s version of Molière‘s comedy, The Misanthrope, which opened in December 2009 at the Comedy Theatre, London. Other cast members included Tara FitzgeraldKeira Knightley and Dominic Rowan.

Since 2010, Lewis has played Tory Prime Minister Simon Laity in two seasons of Number 10 on BBC Radio 4.

He played Gareth, the father of an 11-year-old Liverpool F.C. fan, in the 2011 film Will.

From 2011 to 2013, Lewis had a starring role as Gunnery Sergeant Nicholas Brody in the Showtime series Homeland.[23] In 2013, he narrated poetry for The Love Book App, an “interactive anthology of love literature developed by Allie Byrne Esiri“.

Since 2016, he stars as billionaire Bobby Axelrod in the Showtime series Billions.

Lewis was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to drama.

On 4 July 2007, Lewis married actress Helen McCrory. They have a daughter, Manon (born 8 September 2006), and a son, Gulliver (born 2 November 2007).  Lewis and his family left England in the latter half of 2007 to live in Los Angeles, California, while he worked on the NBC-TV crime drama Life. However, after the completion of that series’ final episode in early 2009, he, his wife, and children returned to England to reside in a Victorian townhouse located in Tufnell Park, in north London. He is a cousin of Alderman William Russell, Lord Mayor-elect.

In March 2010, Lewis became a trade justice ambassador for the charity Christian Aid.  In May 2006 and June 2018, he played for England in Soccer Aid, and played golf for Europe in the All*Star Cup in August 2006, both shown on ITV.

Damian Lewis is an avid supporter of Liverpool Football Club.


Jessie Buckley
Jessie Buckley

IMDB:

Jessie Buckley is an Irish singer and actress, who came in second place in the BBC talent show-themed television series I’d Do Anything, and subsequently played Anne Egermann in the West End revival of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. Most recently, Buckley appeared on three BBC television series, as Marya Bolkonskaya in BBC’s adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, as Lorna Bow in Taboo and as Honor Martin in The Last Post.

Buckley was born in Killarney, County Kerry, the eldest of five children. Her mother, Marina Cassidy, encouraged her to sing and coached her. She has a brother and three sisters. Buckley went to Ursuline Secondary School, an all-girls convent school in Thurles, County Tipperary, where her mother works as a vocal coach and where she performed in school productions. She played a number of male roles at school, including the male lead role of Jets gang founder Tony in the musical West Side Story and Freddie Trumper in Chess.

She has achieved Grade eight in piano, clarinet and harp with the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She is also a member of the Tipperary Millennium Orchestra. Buckley also attended The Association of Irish Musical Societies (AIMS) workshops during the summer, to help improve her singing and acting; it was where she was then recognised as a talented actress and was encouraged to apply for Drama School in London. Just before she auditioned for I’d Do Anything, she was turned down by two drama schools, including one the day before her first audition for the show. In 2008, Buckley won the AIMS Best Actress award for her portrayal of Julie Jordan in the Killarney Musical Society production of Carousel.

Buckley competed in I’d Do Anything, a search for a new, unknown lead to play Nancy in a London West End stage revival of the British musical Oliver. Buckley reached the final on 31 May 2008, finishing in second place behind Jodie Prenger. Before the final vote was announced in Show two of the final, Graham Norton asked the panel who they each thought was Nancy. Three of the panel said Buckley and two Prenger. John Barrowman and Denise van Outen said “Jodie”, while Barry Humphries, Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber said “Jessie”. However, the public voted for Jodie.

uckley performed at the Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Birthday in the Park show in Hyde Park, London on 14 September 2008, singing “I Don’t Know How To Love Him” as a solo and “Light at the End of the Tunnel” from Starlight Express with fellow I’d Do Anything finalists Keisha Amponsa-Banson, Niamh Perry, Rachel Tucker as well as Any Dream Will Do finalists Daniel Boys, Lewis Bradley, Ben James-Ellis and Keith Jack. On 18 September she and Aoife Mulholland performed with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra at an Andrew Lloyd Webber evening at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. On 26 August 2008 Buckley performed on Denny Street in Tralee, Co. Kerry where the first ever Millionaire raffle was broadcast live on RTÉ Radio 1. After this, Jessie performed at a charity concert in Tipperary, where she announced that she would be starting rehearals for A Little Night Music in London the following Monday.

Buckley was offered the opportunity to understudy Nancy, but turned it down in favour of another production: on 10 October 2008 it was announced that Buckley would be appearing in a revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music, in the role of Anne Egerman, at the Menier Chocolate Factory, a fringe Studio Theatre, in London from 22 November 2008 to 8 March 2009. She appeared alongside Maureen Lipman and Hannah Waddingham in the production, which was directed by Trevor Nunn. A Little Night Music transferred from the Menier Chocolate Factory to the Garrick Theatre in London’s West End on 7 April 2009 (previews from 28 March – 6 April). A Little Night Music was Buckley’s West End debut. The show closed on 25 July 2009. Since then, she has appeared in a number of concerts nationally, including a Christmas concert alongside Maria Friedman, Cantabile – the London Quartet and Tim Rice, and in February 2010 appeared alongside Daniel Boys (and Night Music co-star Kelly Price) in a series of Valentine musical concerts.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: ahmetkozan