great players, writers, creators
by akm-29321 | created - 05 Jan 2019 | updated - 3 months ago | PublicActors who play characters worth remembering and the writers and movie makers who make it possible.
1. Melanie Lynskey
Actress | Togetherness
At sixteen years old, Melanie Lynskey dazzled the film world with an audacious debut in Peter Jackson's revered psychological crime picture, Heavenly Creatures (1994). Her electrifying portrait of Pauline Parker - high school misfit whose fierce rapport with her only friend (a pre-fame Kate Winslet...
2. Jimmi Simpson
Actor | Dark Matter
Jimmi Simpson is an American actor. He was born in Hackettstown, New Jersey, the youngest of three brothers. After graduating from Bloomsburg University with a Bachelor of Arts in theater, he acted for four seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts.
Simpson made his film debut in...
3. Andrew Garfield
Actor | Hacksaw Ridge
Andrew Russell Garfield was born in Los Angeles, California, to a British mother, Lynn, and American father, Richard Garfield. When he was three, he moved to Surrey, U.K., with his parents and older brother. He is of English and Polish Jewish heritage. Andrew was raised in a middle class family, ...
4. Bill Skarsgård
Actor | It
Bill Istvan Gunther Skarsgard is a Swedish actor, producer, director, writer, voice actor, and model. He is best known for portraying Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the supernatural horror films It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019), based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. He also voiced the ...
5. Noel Fisher
Actor | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Noel Fisher has become one of the entertainment industry's most sought-after and versatile performers, bringing to life memorable characters on the big and small screens over the past few years. Fisher's film and television credits include starring as Michelangelo in Paramount Pictures' summer hit ...
6. Owen Campbell
Actor | X
Owen Campbell was born on June 9, 1994 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for X (2022), Super Dark Times (2017) and As You Are (2016).
7. Sam Rockwell
Actor | Moon
Sam Rockwell was born on November 5, 1968, in San Mateo, California, the only child of two actors, Pete Rockwell and Penny Hess. The family moved to New York when he was two years old, living first in the Bronx and later in Manhattan. When Sam was five years old, his parents separated, at which ...
8. Max Minghella
Actor | The Handmaid's Tale
Max Giorgio Choa Minghella is an English-born actor and filmmaker. He was born in Hampstead, London, England, the son of choreographer Carolyn Choa and the late Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella. He is the half-brother of Hannah Minghella, who has also worked in film.
Minghella is a former ...
9. Amy Adams
Actress | Arrival
Amy Lou Adams was born in Vicenza, Veneto, Italy, to American parents, Kathryn (Hicken) and Richard Kent Adams, a U.S. serviceman who was stationed at Caserma Ederle in Italy at the time. She was raised in a Mormon family of seven children in Castle Rock, Colorado, and has English, as well as ...
10. J.K. Simmons
Actor | Whiplash
J.K. Simmons is an American actor.
He was born Jonathan Kimble Simmons in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, to Patricia (Kimble), an administrator, and Donald William Simmons, a music teacher. He attended the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; University of Montana, Missoula, MT (BA in Music).
He had ...
11. Ryan Gosling
Actor | Blue Valentine
Born Ryan Thomas Gosling on November 12, 1980, in London, Ontario, Canada, he is the son of Donna (Wilson), a secretary, and Thomas Ray Gosling, a traveling salesman. Ryan was the second of their two children, with an older sister, Mandi. His ancestry is French-Canadian, as well as English, ...
12. Saoirse Ronan
Actress | Hanna
Saoirse Una Ronan was born in The Bronx, New York City, New York, United States, to Irish parents, Monica Ronan (née Brennan) and Paul Ronan, an actor. When Saoirse was three, the family moved back to Dublin, Ireland. Saoirse grew up in Dublin and briefly in Co. Carlow before moving back to Dublin ...
13. Emory Cohen
Actor | Brooklyn
Emory Cohen was born in New York City. He graduated from Elisabeth Irwin High School and started acting at UArts in Philadelphia, receiving a full scholarship.
His first major role was portraying Leo, son of Julia Houston's character (portrayed by Debra Messing) on NBC's Smash (2012). His stand-out ...
14. Lesley Manville
Actress | Phantom Thread
Lesley Manville was born on March 12, 1956 in Brighton, East Sussex, England. She is a multi award-winning actress of theatre, film, and television, and has worked extensively with director Mike Leigh. She is known for Another Year (2010), All or Nothing (2002), Topsy-Turvy (1999) and Secrets &...
15. Cary Joji Fukunaga
Producer | Beasts of No Nation
Cary Joji Fukunaga is a Japanese-American film director, screenwriter, cinematographer and producer from Oakland, California who is known for directing the James Bond film No Time to Die, Kofi, Beasts of No Nation, Jane Eyre and Sin Nombre. He co-wrote the 2017 film adaptation of the Stephen King ...
16. Oliver Masucci
Actor | Dark
Oliver Masucci, born 1968, is an award-winning German actor. He grew up in Bonn, where his father - an Italian immigrant - owned and ran several Italian restaurants. Oliver learned cooking at the age of four and regularly turns his hotel rooms into Italian-style kitchens because cooking makes him ...
17. Mary Stuart Masterson
Actress | Benny & Joon
Mary Stuart Masterson started acting before the age of ten, when she appeared in The Stepford Wives (1975) in 1975 with her father. Afterwards, at the direction of her parents, Mary Stuart led a life outside of the limelight, attending school in New York. She appeared in a few productions at New ...
18. Jonathan Majors
Actor | The Harder They Fall
Jonathan graduated from the Yale School of Drama with an MFA in acting. Jonathan is a recipient of the National Society of Arts and Letters (NSAL) National Drama Competition. Jonathan made his screen debut starring in the ABC miniseries "When We Rise" and has since landed strong roles, cementing ...
19. Wunmi Mosaku
Actress | His House
Wunmi Mosaku was born on July 31, 1986 in Zaria, Nigeria. She is an actress, known for His House (2020), Lovecraft Country (2020) and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016).
20. Wunmi Mosaku
Actress | His House
Wunmi Mosaku was born on July 31, 1986 in Zaria, Nigeria. She is an actress, known for His House (2020), Lovecraft Country (2020) and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016).
21. Michael Kenneth Williams
Actor | The Wire
Emmy-nominated actor and producer Michael Kenneth Williams was one of his generation's most respected and acclaimed talents. By bringing complicated and charismatic characters to life--often with surprising tenderness--Williams established himself as a gifted and versatile performer with a unique ...
22. Carey Mulligan
Actress | Never Let Me Go
Carey Hannah Mulligan is a British actress. She was born May 28, 1985, in Westminster, London, England, to Nano (Booth), a university lecturer, and Stephen Mulligan, a hotel manager. Her mother is from Llandeilo, Wales, and Carey also has Irish and English ancestry.
Her first major appearance was ...
23. Melika Foroutan
Actress | The Empress
Melika Foroutan was born in 1976 in Teheran, Iran. She is an actress, known for The Empress (2022), Tribes of Europa (2021) and Pari (2020).
24. Pedro Pascal
Actor | The Last of Us
Pedro Pascal is a Chilean-born actor. He is best known for portraying the roles of Oberyn Martell in the fourth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011), Javier Peña in the Netflix series Narcos (2015), the titular character in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian (2019) and Joel Miller in the...
25. Baran bo Odar
Writer | Who Am I - Kein System ist sicher
Baran bo Odar was born on April 18, 1978 in Olten, Switzerland. He is a writer and director, known for Who Am I (2014), Dark (2017) and The Silence (2010).
26. Nick Mohammed
Actor | The Martian
Nick was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England on the 4th of October 1980. On leaving school he was offered a place at Cambridge University, but instead chose to study geophysics at the University of Durham, graduating with a first. Whilst at Durham he became involved in the local comedy circuits ...
27. Saamer Usmani
Actor | Inventing Anna
Saamer Usmani is known for Inventing Anna (2022), What/If (2019) and Succession (2018).
28. Josh O'Connor
Actor | God's Own Country
Josh O'Connor is a British actor, originally from Cheltenham, England. He trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He has become known to a wide audience for portraying Prince Charles in the Netflix series The Crown, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA.
He is also known from ...
29. Jamie-Lee O'Donnell
Actress | Derry Girls
Jamie-Lee O'Donnell is a Northern Irish actress from Derry. She is best known for her role as Michelle Mallon in the Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls. O'Donnell was born to a large family in Derry, Northern Ireland. She attended St Anne's Primary School, St Cecilia's College, and North West Regional ...
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