Daniel Day-Lewis
President Abraham Lincoln
Best Actor
From his earliest roles, Academy Award®–winner Daniel Day-lewis impressed audiences and critics alike, moving easily from a working-class punk in “My Beautiful Laundrette” to a foppish Victorian suitor in Merchant-Ivory’s “A Room with a View.” Together these performances earned him 1986’s New York Film Critics Circle Award as Best Supporting Actor, the first of a string of accolades, including two Academy Awards® for Best Actor, three BAFTA awards for Best Actor and a Golden Globe® for Best Actor. Day-Lewis also won the Screen Actors Guild Award® twice, the New York Critics Award four times and three LA Critics Awards.
Though Day-Lewis has continued to turn in one highly-praised performance after another, it was his role as writer, artist and cerebral palsy sufferer Christy Brown in “My Left Foot” for director Jim Sheridan that won him an Academy Award® for Best Actor. He received his second Academy Award® nomination for “In the Name of the Father,” his second collaboration with Sheridan—the true story of a man unjustly imprisoned for 15 years—and his third for his portrayal of Bill the Butcher, in Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York.” In 2008, Day-Lewis earned his second Academy Award® for Best Actor as oil prospector Daniel Plainview, in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood.” His other wide-ranging roles include the early American adventurer Hawkeye in “The Last of the Mohicans,” and the aristocratic Newland Archer in his first collaboration with Martin Scorsese, “The Age of Innocence.”
Born in London (but now an Irish citizen), Day-Lewis was first introduced to acting when he was at school in Kent, England. His acting debut was in “Cry, The Beloved Country” and his film debut was at the age of 14 in “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” in which he played a vandal in an uncredited role. He later applied and was accepted to the renowned Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which he attended for three years, eventually performing at the Bristol Old Vic itself. In the 1970s and early 1980s, he worked on stage, appearing with the Bristol Old Vic Theater Company, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theater, turning in notable performances in “Another Country,” “Dracula,” “Futurists” and “Hamlet,” in which he played the title role.
Day-Lewis’ additional film credits include Philip Kaufman’s film version of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” in which he won praise for his memorable performance in the leading role, and the Arthur Miller classic “The Crucible,” in which he portrayed Puritan John Proctor opposite Winona Ryder, directed by Nicholas Hytner. He joined up with Jim Sheridan once again for the lead role in “The Boxer” and was later seen in Rebecca Miller’s powerful and poetic “The Ballad of Jack and Rose.” In 2009, Day-Lewis starred in Rob Marshall’s film adaptation of the Broadway Musical hit, “Nine,” opposite Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard and Kate Hudson.
Sally Field
Mary Todd Lincoln
Best Supporting Actress
Sally Field is a two-time Academy Award® winner for performances in Robert Benton’s “Places in the Heart,” for which she also received a Golden Globe®, and Martin Ritt’s “Norma Rae,” for which she received a Golden Globe, along with the New York Film Critics prize, the National Board of Review Award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Award, the National Society of Film Critics honor and Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival. Field has also received Golden Globe nominations for her work in “Smokey and the Bandit,” “Absence of Malice,” “Kiss Me Goodbye,” “Steel Magnolias” and “Forrest Gump.” Her many film credits include “An Eye for An Eye,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Soapdish,” “Not Without My Daughter,” “The End,” “Hooper,” “Stay Hungry” (her first major film role), as well as “Punchline” and “Murphy’s Romance,” both of which were produced by her production company, Fogwood Films.
Born in Pasadena, California, and raised in a show-business family, Field began her career in 1964 in the television series “Gidget.” She went on to star in the “The Flying Nun” in 1967. She starred in three television series by the age of twenty-five. She received Emmy® Awards for her title role in the landmark miniseries “Sybil” and for her performance on “ER.” She also received Emmy nominations for her role in Showtime’s “A Cooler Climate” and the NBC miniseries “A Woman of Independent Means,” which she co-produced and for which she received a Golden Globe® nomination. Field co-starred in the ABC series drama “Brothers & Sisters” from 2006 to 2011 and for her role as Nora Walker, Field received a Screen Actors Guild Award® and an Emmy Award as well as two Golden Globe nominations.
Field made her directorial debut in 1996 with the ABC telefilm “The Christmas Tree,” which she co-wrote and which starred Julie Harris. She directed an episode of the HBO miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon” and in 2000 made her feature film directorial debut with “Beautiful,” starring Minnie Driver.
In 2002, Field made her Broadway debut in Edward Albee’s “The Goat” and in 2004, received rave reviews for her role as Amanda in Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” at The Kennedy Center.
Field appeared as Aunt May in “The Amazing Spiderman,” which opened in July of this year.
Ms. Field has served on the Board of Directors of Vital Voices since 2002. She has served as Mistress of Ceremony at Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards gala held at The Kennedy Center from 2002 through 20011. She also served on the Board of Directors of The Sundance Institute from 1995 to 2010.
Sally has three sons and four grandchildren.
David Strathairn
William Seward
David Strathairn won the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival and earned nominations from the Academy®, Golden Globe®, Screen Actors Guild®, BAFTA and Independent Spirit Awards for his compelling portrait of legendary CBS news broadcaster Edward R. Murrow in George Clooney’s Oscar®-nominated drama “Good Night, and Good Luck.” He won an Emmy® for Best Supporting Actor in the HBO project, “Temple Grandin” in 2011 and has been nominated again this year for his portrayal of John Dos Passos in HBO’s “Hemingway and Gellhorn.”
His 2005 Independent Spirit nomination was the fourth in a stellar career that dates back to his 1980 motion picture debut in John Sayles’ first film, “The Return of the Secaucus Seven.” Strathairn subsequently collaborated with Sayles on seven titles, winning the IFP honor for his supporting performance in “City of Hope,” while collecting two additional nominations for “Passion Fish” and “Limbo.”
Strathairn continued a busy screen career with co-starring roles in several critically acclaimed films, including Tim Robbins’ directorial debut, “Bob Roberts”; Penny Marshall’s “A League of Their Own”; “Losing Isaiah”; Sydney Pollack’s “The Firm”; “Sneakers”; Taylor Hackford’s adaptation of the Stephen King novel “Dolores Claiborne”; and Jodie Foster’s “Home for the Holidays”; as well as two projects with Curtis Hansen: “The River Wild” and the Oscar®-winning “L.A. Confidential,” in which Strathairn shared a Screen Actors Guild Award® nomination with the all-star ensemble cast. His additional movie credits include “Memphis Belle,” “A Map of the World,” “Simon Birch,” “Lost in Yonkers,” “Missing in America,” Michael Hoffman’s adaptation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Philip Kaufman’s “Twisted,” “The Bourne Ultimatum,” directed by Paul Greengrass and “The Tempest,” starring opposite Helen Mirren.
Strathairn will next been seen on Broadway opposite Jessica Chastain in the play “The Heiress.”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Robert Lincoln
Joseph Gordon-Levitt starred in “The Dark Knight Rises,” Christopher Nolan’s third and final installment in the “Batman” series, which opened on July 20, 2012. He can also be seen in two other films that have opened since then: “Looper,” for which he reunited with his “Brick” director, Rian Johnson, and the action thriller “Premium Rush,” directed by David Koepp. Recently he wrapped his feature film directorial debut, “Don Jon’s Addiction,” from a script he wrote and in which he stars opposite Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore.
Gordon-Levitt’s additional film credits include “50/50,” directed by Jonathan Levine and also starring Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick and Bryce Dallas Howard, for which he received a Golden Globe® nomination; Christopher Nolan’s Academy Award®–nominated action-drama “Inception,” also starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotllard and Ellen Page; “Hesher,” directed by Spencer Susser with Natalie Portman and Rainn Wilson (Sundance Film Festival 2010); Marc Webb’s “(500) Days of Summer,” also starring Zooey Deschanel, for which he received Golden Globe, Independent Spirit Award and People’s Choice Award nominations; the global action hit “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” for director Stephen Sommers; Spike Lee’s World War II drama “Miracle at St. Anna”; the controversial drama “Stop-Loss,” in which he starred with Ryan Phillippe under the direction of Kimberly Peirce; and the crime drama “The Lookout,” which marked Scott Frank’s directorial debut. In addition, Gordon-Levitt has received widespread praise for his performances in such independent features as John Madden’s “Killshot” with Diane Lane and Mickey Rourke; Lee Daniels’ “Shadowboxer”; Rian Johnson’s award-winning debut film, “Brick”; “Mysterious Skin” for writer/director Gregg Araki; and “Manic” with Don Cheadle.
Early in his career, Gordon-Levitt won a Young Artist Award for his first major role in Robert Redford’s drama “A River Runs Through It.” He went on to co-star in “Angels in the Outfield,” “The Juror,” “Halloween H20” and “10 Things I Hate About You.”
Gordon-Levitt is also well known to television audiences for his starring role on NBC’s award-winning comedy series “3rd Rock From the Sun.” During his six seasons on the show, he won two YoungStar Awards and also shared in three Screen Actors Guild Award® nominations for Outstanding Performance by a Comedy Series Ensemble. Following the series, Gordon-Levitt took a short break from acting to attend Columbia University.
Gordon-Levitt founded and directs an open collaborative production company called hitRECord.org comprised of an online community of thousands of artists from all over the world. The company has presented evenings of short film and live entertainment at the Sundance and South by Southwest Film Festivals, toured some of the country’s top colleges, published the “Tiny Book of Tiny Stories” (which was released by Harper Collins in December 2011) and released a DVD/book/CD called RECollection volume 1 last fall.
A budding writer/director in the more traditional sense, as well, Gordon-Levitt adapted the Elmore Leonard short story “Sparks” into a 24-minute short film that screened at Sundance 2009.
James Spader
W.N. Bilbo
An actor with a taste for extremes, James Spader has forged a career built upon exploring the darker side of human nature. He attracted the attention of television critics and audiences alike with his portrayal of the ethically challenged attorney, Alan Shore, on ABC’s long-running “The Practice.” For the role, he won back-to-back Emmy® Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2004 and 2005 for “The Practice” and “Boston Legal” respectively—unprecedented in Emmy history. He also garnered a third win in 2007 for “Boston Legal.”
Recently, Spader was seen again on television on NBC’s hit comedy series “The Office,” starring as Robert California.
Spader appeared alongside Maggie Gyllenhaal in the critically-acclaimed film, “Secretary.” Directed by Steven Shainberg and based on Mary Gaitskills’ novella, “Bad Behavior,” “Secretary” is a richly imaginative and unique love story about two people who discover that the most delectable pleasures can be found between the hours of 9:00 and 5:00. The Lions Gate Films release won the 2002 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for Originality. Spader also starred in John McNaughton’s “Speaking of Sex,” in which he plays a depression expert, one of the many people who attempt to solve a couple’s marital problems. Produced by Canal Plus, “Speaking of Sex” co-stars Bill Murray and Catherine O’Hara.
Working opposite Albert Brooks, Helen Mirren, Anne Bancroft and Jeffrey Wright in Sidney Lumet’s “Critical Care”—a satire of modern medical care—Spader portrayed a libidinous second-year resident involved with the hypocrisy and greed at the heart of the hospital system. And in one of his more controversial roles, Spader starred in David Cronenberg’s “Crash,” in which, following a car accident, his character finds himself awakened by a sudden mix of violence and sexuality in his life. Adapted from J.G. Ballard’s cult classic novel, “Crash” received the Special Jury Prize at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. The film co-starred Holly Hunter.
Spader’s additional film credits include John Herzfeld’s “2 Days in the Valley,” opposite Charlize Theron; the smash-hit “Stargate,” with Kurt Russell; Mike Nichols’ “Wolf,” with Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer; Luis Mandoki’s “White Palace,” opposite Susan Sarandon; “The Music of Chance,” with Mandy Patinkin; Tim Robbins’ political satire, “Bob Roberts”; “True Colors”; “Bad Influence”; and Steven Soderbergh’s “Sex, Lies, and Videotape,” for which he won the coveted Best Actor Award at The Cannes Film Festival in 1989. He also co-starred in Robert Rodriguez’s film “Shorts” and in David Mamet’s play “Race” on Broadway.
Hal Holbrook
Preston Blair
Academy Award®–nominated actor Hal Holbrook was born in Cleveland in 1925, but raised mostly in South Weymouth, Massachusetts. When he was 12 he was sent to Culver Military Academy, where he discovered acting.
In the summer of 1942, he got his first paid professional engagement playing the son in “The Man Who Came to Dinner” at the Cain Park Theatre in Cleveland. That fall, he entered Denison University in Ohio, majoring in theatre under the tutelage of his lifelong mentor, Edward A. Wright.
Holbrook’s famous Mark Twain characterization grew out of an honors project at Denison University. Holbrook and his first wife, Ruby, had constructed a two-person show, playing characters from Shakespeare to Twain. Holbrook’s first solo performance as Mark Twain was at the Lock Haven State Teachers College in Pennsylvania in 1954.
That same year, fortune struck by way of a steady job on a daytime television soap opera, “The Brighter Day,” but the following year Holbrook pursued the Twain character again at night in a Greenwich Village night club while doing the soap daytimes. In seven months at the club he developed his original two hours of material and learned timing. Finally, Ed Sullivan saw him and gave his Twain national television exposure.
In 1959, after five years of researching Mark Twain and honing his material in front of countless audiences in small towns all over America, he opened at a tiny theatre off-Broadway in New York. The show was a stunning success.
Holbrook quit the soap opera and after his show had a 22-week run in New York, he toured the country again, performed for President Eisenhower and at the Edinburgh Festival. The State Department sent him on a tour of Europe, during which he became the first American dramatic attraction to go behind the Iron Curtain following World War II.
Continuing in theater, Holbrook played Hotspur in “Henry IV,” Part I, at the Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut; then Lincoln in “Abe Lincoln in Illinois” off-Broadway. In 1963 he joined the original Lincoln Center Repertory Company in New York appearing in “Marco Millions,” “After the Fall,” “Incident at Vichy” and “Tartuffe.” Starring roles on Broadway came along: “The Glass Menagerie,” “The Apple Tree,” “I Never Sang for My Father,” “Man of La Mancha” and “Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?” with the young Al Pacino.
Meanwhile, he continued to do Mark Twain every year and in 1966, on Broadway, his second New York engagement won him a Tony® Award and a Drama Critics’ Circle Award followed in 1967 by a 90-minute CBS television special of “Mark Twain Tonight!,” which was nominated for an Emmy® Award.
In 1970, after a dozen plays in New York, he was brought to Hollywood to star in a controversial television series, “The Senator,” which won 8 Emmy® Awards. In the 42 years since then Mr. Holbrook has done some 50 television movies and mini-series, been nominated for 12 Emmys and won 5 for “The Senator” (1971), “Pueblo” (1974), Best Actor of the Year (1974), “Sandburg’s Lincoln” (1976), and as host and narrator of “Portrait of America” (1989). He has appeared in two sitcoms: “Designing Women” and “Evening Shade” and has made guest appearances on “West Wing,” the sitcoms “Becker and Hope & Faith,” “The Sopranos,” “NCIS,” “ER,” “Sons of Anarchy” and “The Event.”
Holbrook’s movie career began with “The Group” in 1966. Since then, moviegoers have seen him in more than 40 films, including “Magnum Force,” “Midway,” “All The President’s Men,” “Capricorn One,” “The Fog,” “Creepshow,” “Wall Street,” “The Firm,” “Men of Honor,” “The Majestic,” “Into the Wild,” for which he received an Academy Award® nomination, “That Evening Sun,” “Flying Lessons” (premiered at the 2010 Santa Barbara Film Festival), “Good Day For It” (premiered at the 2011 Sonoma International Film Festival) and “Water for Elephants.” He recently finished shooting on “Promised Land,” due out at the end of 2012.
Throughout his long career, Holbrook has continued to perform Mark Twain every year, including his third and fourth New York engagements in 1977 and 2005; and a world tour in 1985, the 150th anniversary of Mark Twain’s birth, beginning in London and ending in New Delhi. And he has constantly returned to the stage: in New York (“Buried Inside Extra,” 1983; “The Country Girl,” 1984; “King Lear” 1990; “An American Daughter,” (1997); at regional theatres (“Our Town,” “Uncle Vanya,” “Merchant of Venice,” “King Lear,” “Be My Baby,” “Southern Comforts” (the last two with his wife Dixie Carter) and a National Tour of “Death of a Salesman.”
Holbrook has received Honorary Doctor of Humanities Degrees from Ohio State and the University of Hartford, an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Ursinus College, an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Elmira College and Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degrees from Kenyon and his alma mater, Denison University. In 1996 he received the Edwin Booth Award; in 1998 the William Shakespeare Award from The Shakespeare Theatre, Washington, DC; in 2000 he was inducted into the New York Theatre Hall of Fame; in 2003 received the National Humanities Medal from the president; and in 2010 a medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
In September 2011, “Harold,” the first of two volumes of Holbrook’s memoirs was published. He continues to work on the second volume, covering the years since “Harold” ended.
He lives in Los Angeles and Tennessee, and with his late wife, actress/singer Dixie Carter, has five children.
Tommy Lee Jones
Thaddeus Stevens
Best Supporting Actor
One of the most acclaimed and accomplished actors in Hollywood, Academy Award® winner Tommy Lee Jones brings a distinct character to his every film.
Jones made his feature film debut in “Love Story” and, in a career spanning four decades, has starred in such films as “Eyes of Laura Mars,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter”—for which he received his first Golden Globe® nomination—“Stormy Monday,” “The Package,” “JFK,” “Under Siege,” “The Fugitive,” “Heaven and Earth,” “The Client,” “Natural Born Killers,” “Blue Sky,” “Cobb,” “Batman Forever,” “Men in Black,” “U.S. Marshalls,” “Double Jeopardy,” “Rules of Engagement,” “Space Cowboys,”
“Men in Black 2,” “The Hunted,” “The Missing,” “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,” “A Prairie Home Companion,” “In the Electric Mist,” “The Company Men” and “Captain America: The First Avenger.
He was awarded the Best Supporting Actor Oscar® for his portrayal of the uncompromising U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard in the box office hit “The Fugitive” in 1994. For this performance, he also received a Golden Globe Award® as Best Supporting Actor. Three years earlier, Jones had received his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Clay Shaw in Oliver Stone’s “JFK.”
In 2007 Jones starred in the critically acclaimed film “In the Valley of Elah,” for which he received an Oscar® nomination for Best Actor and in the same year he starred in the Academy Award®–winning film “No Country for Old Men,” written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and based on the Cormac McCarthy novel.
This year, Jones reprised his role as Agent K in “Men in Black 3” in May and starred with Meryl Streep in “Hope Springs” in August.
Jones recently completed filming “The Emperor” on location in New Zealand for director Peter Webber. He portrays General Douglas MacArthur. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival this year. He also recently shot “Malavita” in France for director Luc Besson
In 1995, Jones made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed telefilm adaptation of the Elmer Kelton novel “The Good Old Boys” for TNT. Jones also starred in the telefilm with Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard, Frances McDormand and Matt Damon. For his portrayal of Hewey Calloway, he received a Screen Actors Guild Award® nomination and a CableACE Award nomination
In 2005, Jones starred in the critically acclaimed film, “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,” which he also directed and produced. The film debuted in competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival and garnered Jones the award for Best Actor and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga the award for Best Screenplay for this film about friendship and murder along the Texas-Mexican border.
Jones directed “The Sunset Limited” for HBO. This telefilm, which premiered in February 2011, is based on the play of the same name by Cormac McCarthy and starred Jones and Samuel L. Jackson
The next film he will direct will be “The Homesman,” which is the story of a pioneer woman and a claim-jumping rascal of a man who usher three insane women on an odyssey from Nebraska to Iowa, braving the elements along the way
Jones has also had success on the small screen. In 1983, he won an Emmy® Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special for his portrayal of Gary Gilmore in “The Executioner’s Song” and, in 1989 he was nominated for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe® Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for “Lonesome Dove.
His numerous network and cable credits include the title role in “The Amazing Howard Hughes,” the American Playhouse production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “The Rainmaker” for HBO, the HBO/BBC production of “Yuri Nosenko, KGB” and “April Morning.
In 1969, Jones made his Broadway debut in John Osborne’s “A Patriot for Me.” His other Broadway appearances include “Four on a Garden,” with Carol Channing and Sid Caesar, and “Ulysses in Nighttown,” with the late Zero Mostel
Born in San Saba, Texas, Jones worked briefly with his father in the oil fields before attending St. Mark’s School of Texas, then Harvard University, where he graduated cum laude with a degree in English.
Jackie Earle Haley
Alexander Stephens
Jackie Earle Haley’s career should be an inspiration for any former child star or aspiring actor. As a teenager Haley left an indelible impression with his generation when he played Kelly Leak, a motorcycle riding, home-run-hitting hellion in Michael Ritchie’s Little League comedy hit “The Bad News Bears” and two sequels. Peter Yates then cast him to play Moocher in the Academy Award-winning sleeper “Breaking Away.”
Like so many child stars, Haley’s transition to adult actor proved elusive. After disappearing from screens for some 15 years, his spectacular return in 2006—as sex-offender Ronnie McGorvey in Todd Field’s impeccably directed film, “Little Children”—earned him numerous accolades, including an Academy Award® nomination and the coveted New York Film Critics Circle Award.
Steve Zaillian and Sean Penn then cast him as Sugar Boy in the film based on Robert Penn Warren’s novel “All the King’s Men.”
Martin Scorsese cast him in his mind-bending thriller “Shutter Island,” playing opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the pivotal role of insane asylum patient George Noyce. In Will Ferrell’s comedy “Semi-Pro,” Haley played Dukes, the long-haired basketball fanatic and big-time stoner. And surprisingly, he also had the fortune to do a vaudevillian/Chaplinesque performance in the silent film “Louis,” directed by Dan Pritzker and with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond capturing the period beautifully.
When Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen” introduced Haley to the critical and discerning world of Comic-Con, he won them over playing a character that fanboys held very near and dear to their hearts: the iconic Rorschach. He also did two seasons on Fox’s comic-based series “Human Target,” where Haley’s character, Guerrero, was a fan favorite. And taking on yet another genre, Haley played the infamously terrifying Freddy Krueger in Sam Bayer’s 2010 reimagining of the horror classic “A Nightmare On Elm Street.”
Most recently, Tim Burton chose Haley to play Willie Loomis, drunken servant to Johnny Depp’s legendary Barnabas Collins, in “Dark Shadows,” which is based on the popular late ’60s soap opera of the same name.
David Oyelowo
Private Ira Green
David Oyelowo, a classically trained stage actor who is working successfully and simultaneously in film, television and theater, graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and received the Scholarship for Excellence from Nicholas Hytner in 1998.
Oyelowo stars in several highly anticipated feature films this year. In October, he co-stars opposite Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey and Zac Efron in “The Paperboy.” Directed by Lee Daniels, the film follows a journalist and his writing partner (Oyelowo), who return to a small hometown to uncover the truth about a death-row inmate, whom they believe was wrongly convicted. The film premiered to a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival this summer.
He also co-stars in the independent film “The Middle of Nowhere,” which premiered to rave reviews at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The emotionally inspiring film portrays the universal dilemma of how a person maintains oneself as they commit to loving and supporting someone through hardship.
In December, Oyelowo stars alongside Tom Cruise in “Jack Reacher.” Based on a book in Lee Child’s crime series, the drama tells the story of a homicide investigator who digs deeper into a case involving a trained military sniper who has shot five random victims.
Oyelowo is currently filming the Lee Daniels’ drama, “The Butler,” alongside Forest Whitaker, Robin Williams, John Cusak and Oprah Winfrey and just wrapped production on the British television show “Complicit.”
Additional film credits include the George Lucas produced bio-pic, “Red Tails,” which tells the story of the heroic Tuskegee Airmen who fought in WWII, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” alongside James Franco and Frieda Pinto, the Academy Award®–nominated drama “The Help,” “96 Minutes,” which premiered at the 2011 SXSW Film Festival, “Default,” a thriller directed by Simon Brand, Kevin MacDonald’s “The Last King of Scotland,” opposite Forest Whittaker and James MacAvoy, “Who Do You Love,” in which he played the iconic Muddy Waters, “A Sound of Thunder” for Warner Bros, “Derailed” for Miramax, “The Best Man” for Redbus and his most challenging screen role to date, the acclaimed BBC2 film “Shoot The Messenger.”
Oyelowo first impressed audiences on the stage when he starred in “The Suppliants” at the Gate Theatre playing King Palasgus, for which he received the Ian Charleson Award commendation. Following this he played the title role of “Henry VI,” becoming the first black actor to play an English king for the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company). The role won him The Ian Charleson Award and an Evening Standard award nomination. Other theatre credits include an acclaimed performance in Richard Bean’s “The God Botherers” at the Bush Theatre and the title role in Aeschylus’ “Prometheus Bound,” which was off-Broadway for which Oyelowo received rave reviews.
Beyond theatre Oyelowo starred in the BAFTA award winning series “Spooks/MI5” playing Danny Hunter. “MI5” also aired in the U.S. on BBC America. Additionally, he won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Actor and was also nominated for a BAFTA for the same role for his work on “Small Island.” Oyelowo also starred in the BBC1 original television movie “Born Equal” opposite Colin Firth. As well as ABC’s 2008 production of “A Raisin in the Sun,” alongside Sanaa Lathan and Sean “Puffy” Combs.
Oyelowo made his U.S. debut in two HBO productions. First starring in the Kenneth Branagh directed “As You Like It,” in which he played Orlando opposite Bryce Dallas Howard, which aired in August 2006. In October of the same year he was again seen on HBO as the lead in the miniseries “Five Days,” for which he won the Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for his performance. In 2008, Oyelowo starred in the acclaimed adaptation of the Alexander McCall Smith novel “The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency,” directed by the late Anthony Minghella.
