Bradley Cooper, Will Arnett, Laura Dern and Andra Day at a special Q&A panel at Angelika Film Center in advance of the film’s theatrical release. Photo by John Nacion/Getty Images for Searchlight Pictures
A flailing relationship is no joke—unless you’re Alex Novak (Will Arnett), who stumbles into personal salvation by cracking wise in front of a live audience. Multi-hyphenate Bradley Cooper’s latest film c?, now playing in theaters nationwide, traces this journey, which begins with Alex’s spur-of-the-moment impulse to get up in front of a crowd and emotionally unload. “It’s the first time that he talks about what he’s going through,” Arnett told Observer. “It’s kind of the first time he admits it to himself.”
What triggers the confessional is a still-fresh separation from longtime wife Tess (Laura Dern), after 20 years of marriage (and 5 years as a couple before that). A quarter-century together will change anyone—moving to the suburbs, having kids, sacrificing professional goals for familial stability. The real question is how to acknowledge that change in each other without falling apart.
Arnett, who co-wrote the script with his writing partner Mark Chappell and Cooper, came up with the idea for the film after hearing the origin story behind British comedian John Bishop, who unexpectedly started his career in comedy—and saved his marriage—by turning his estrangement from his wife into comic fodder that became a catalyst for personal change.
“It’s a midlife catharsis, not a crisis,” explained Cooper at a press screening before Is This Thing On?, which premiered as the Closing Night Film of the New York Film Festival. “This movie’s not about a guy who’s unhappy in his profession. It’s that he’s not really comfortable with who he is.”
Arnett echoed the sentiment during his talk with Observer. “We don’t see Alex at work, for instance,” he said. “We don’t see any of that stuff. What was important to us was really getting down to him trying to find his voice. And by that I don’t mean his comedic voice, but his voice as a person—to see him start to connect the dots and be able to actually speak.”
Is This Thing On? is both a thematic continuation and a pivot for Cooper, whose trajectory as a writer-director-actor-producer includes his splashy Lady Gaga vehicle A Star Is Born and the ambitious Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro. Both of those were big-budget productions that, at heart, were relationship dramas writ large. Is This Thing On? compresses that canvas and trades studio spectacle for low-budget intimacy.
Intrigued by the story’s possibilities, Cooper—who has known Arnett for almost 30 years and even was his roommate in L.A. as their careers were getting off the ground—offered to join Arnett and Chappell to explore the script’s characters further with a rewrite. He then added himself to the cast (in a small role as a Falstaffian goofball buddy nicknamed Balls) and brought together a terrific ensemble, .including Academy Award winner Dern; Andra Day as Balls’s frustrated wife; Arnett’s Smartless podcast cohost Sean Hayes as his newlywed friend (coupled with Scott Icenogle); plus Christine Ebersole and Ciarán Hinds as Alex’s parents. Amy Sedaris and Peyton Manning pop up in smaller roles, and stand-up legend Dave Attell even makes an appearance.
Cooper and his collaborators pulled together the film very quickly and shot almost entirely on location in New York last spring over 33 tight days, getting it edited in time to premiere at the NYFF in the fall. “New York is a treasure chest and very, very little was shot on a stage,” said Cooper, a native Philadelphian who relished being back in the downtown neighborhood where he spent time as a grad student in places like the Comedy Cellar and Bar Six (both of which play key roles in the film). Alex’s apartment is on 12th between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, right on the same street where Cooper got his MFA at the New School.
“It was a small budget,” said Cooper, who often served as his own camera operator. “That shot of him crossing Sixth Avenue? I’m on a seatbelt on a dolly handheld with nothing shut off from the street. That’s all actual traffic. And there’s just the cop there. We’re like, ‘Is it okay?’ ‘Yeah, you got ten minutes.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, okay!’”
But that run-and-gun indie vibe was inspirational for the cast. “It’s like Christmas on steroids!” said Dern at the NYFF press screening, and then invoked her longtime professional relationship with David Lynch. “Inland Empire was the only other experience I had where my director was right there with the camera. Bradley, as an actor and as our family, knows us so well and feels the instincts with us in character. The most fun of your life is to be in it and feel an instinct as an actor that you catch up to after the take is done, and you go, ‘Oh man, maybe I should try this…’”
Arnett was even further in uncharted territory, handling a dramatic role while surrounded by Oscar-caliber talent. “For me, that was a lot of the work,” he said. “To just be present in those moments and be open and vulnerable. These kinds of roles never came my way,” said the actor best known for indelible turns like being Job in Arrested Development or the voice of Lego Batman. “But, also, I did it to myself. I’ve heard people say that I got typecast. Well, I didn’t have to do all the things I did. I had fun doing them—but certainly to do something like this is much closer to what I’d always wanted to do.”
Day, an Oscar-nominated actress better known as a Grammy Award-winning singer, plays a small but larger-than-life role in the film as Christine, an unhappy wife simmering with marital discontent. She has a seminal scene with Arnett when Christine hilariously confronts Alex about the rage she feels toward him. “She tells him straight up, ‘I despise you because I hate myself. You remind me of me’,” she told Observer, laughing. “Let’s see what you’re going to do now with that truth!”
But that interaction speaks to a greater truth: the film has no villains, only people who are adrift and unable to communicate with each other. “She’s not a victim,” said Day about her character. “She’s not blaming everyone else. She’s like, ‘What am I passionate about? What do I love? Well, shit, maybe I’m pissed at myself!’ You know what I mean? I love that the movie talks about this theme of grace. We have to transform as people in order to actually have a pulse and be alive. We need to have grace to allow other people to transform.”
Dern echoed those same feelings at the NYFF press screening. “The film finds the unbelievable complexity of relationships. I hadn’t seen a script or a film allowing us to know that we don’t know how we got here. Because most of us don’t, in moments of despair, in one’s self and in relationship.”
And for Arnett, as the lead in this marital reckoning, Is This Thing On? was truly transformative. “It was a difficult task for me,” he said. “I did have to recalibrate and remember why I started doing this in the first place. Making a movie like this was how I always envisioned my life going when I was a young man. For me, it was kind of like a rebirth in a way, as opposed to a new thing. It was just reconnecting to something I always wanted to do.”
The show commonly known as the SAG Awards will officially become the Actor Awards presented by SAG-AFTRA in its next incarnation on March 1, when Netflix will stream the ceremony as it has since 2023.
The move was announced Friday to the board of SAG-AFTRA, the union that presents the awards and represents U.S. film and television actors among others.
The SAG Awards began in 1995 to annually recognize performances in movies and primetime TV. They have become an increasingly prominent part of Hollywood’s awards season, in part because all of its nominees and winners tend to be famous faces. It generally comes just before the Academy Awards and is considered a key Oscar bellwether.
“Since the show started over 30 years ago, our iconic statuette has always been called The Actor, and simply evolving the show’s name to align with the award itself made obvious sense. We wanted to provide clearer recognition in terms of what the show is about for our domestic and global audiences – we honor actors in film and television.”
The organization said the change has been discussed for some time, but didn’t get more specific.
The actor, who plays George Clooney’s publicist in “Jay Kelly” and Will Arnett’s estranged wife in “Is This Thing On?,” has spent her life surrounded by Hollywood luminaries.
Let’s get the headline out of the way first – and we do mean this article’s literal headline.
In past theater seasons, we’ve highlighted the fresh talents everyone should take notice of and we’ve called our feature the Up and Comers article—a nod to emerging talent bursting onto the Houston scene.
And trust us, there’s plenty of that on our list this year. We’re fortunate in Houston to have a strong network of high schools, colleges, educational programs and mentors who champion theater arts and help forge a thrilling pipeline of young talent to our stages.
However, this year, we’ve included some artists that are beyond what could be considered the emerging or “new” phase of their career. In some cases, it’s because they are new to Houston. In other cases, they’re newly back on the stage. Some are taking their talents in a new theatrical direction.
Together, they comprise a diverse group of artists who have made us sit up and take notice. These are the theater artists who had us madly flipping through programs, wondering who they were and if we could get more of them. They are the ones we’re most excited to see continue to grow, stretch and show Houston audiences what they’re capable of.
These are this year’s Ones to Watch.
Credit: Violeta Alvarez
Jazmyn Bolden
Jazmyn Bolden credits supportive parents and an extracurricular pursuit for the blossoming of her acting talents.
The Houston native joined the Speech and Debate team in high school, and a love of performance was instantly born. “I loved the forensic side of speech and debate,” says Bolden. “It gave me a real understanding of the depth of acting. Not just reading words on a paper and pretending to do something, but truly feeling and understanding what it was to embody a character and understand their story.”
For many students, one demanding club would be enough. For Jazmyn, speech and debate operated alongside her developing in theater and a rigorous involvement in sports.
“My parents always wanted us to be extremely versatile,” says Bolden. “So, when I said I think I’m a little more interested in debate/theater than I am in sports, they said do both, and let’s be great at both. And so, every rehearsal or practice, they showed up and they showed out, and they made sure that they tapped in truthfully into everything we wanted to do.”
Bolden’s debating prowess landed her a full ride to college and it was there that the acting bug once again caught up with her when she participated in a community play reading. Her involvement in theater continued back home in Houston in 2017 with roles in festivals and a small mainstage credit.
But it was 2025 in Ensemble Theatre’s production of Flex that launched Bolden into our minds. Playing the lead role of Starra, the competitive captain of her high school basketball team with dreams of getting out and making her dead mother proud, Bolden vibrated with informed intensity, hard on the outside but churning with vulnerability beneath.
It was an affecting, emotional and physical performance, especially for a young woman with no formal training just kicking off her professional stage career. Not that either of these facts fazed her all that much once she got past the shock of landing the role.
“I think everything in me said, you have the capability regardless of the history and the resume and you know that you can embody this woman and really show up,” says Bolden. “And I think what was so beautiful is being an athlete my whole life. I understood the drive of Starra, I understood the need and the grit behind her. She felt like home to me.”
Now that Bolden is running headfirst into acting as a lifetime pursuit, she says she’s looking forward to diving more into the comedic side of herself in her work. “I’ve always been the drama queen. So typically, I end up with a role of that nature, but recently, I just started tapping into comedy, and so that has been the super thing on my mind and I really want to dive into that,” says Bolden. “My friends call me a comedian all day every day. I’m the jokester of the group and I definitely enjoy being able to put a smile on people’s faces. So, I think that’s really where I’m heading.”
Regardless of what kind of roles Bolden takes on in the future (and we hope there are many), she knows to bring a little of herself to each performance.
“I spent a lot of my life not wanting to live in my own shoes,” says Bolden. And so originally performing was being able to live in someone else’s shoes, and then finally finding myself, it became even more beautiful to be able to be me inside of something else.”
This season, she will be working to fill many shoes as she’s cast as the understudy for all the female roles in the stage adaptation of Toni Morrison’s debut novel, The Bluest Eye, at Ensemble Theatre. Bolden says she’s excited for the responsibility and grateful to be trusted with such a big task.
The Bluest Eye at Ensemble Theatre runs January 23 – February 22, 2026
Credit: Violeta Alvarez
Benjamin McLaughlin
Keep the fire lit. Art doesn’t retire or die. It just waits.
Bemjamin McLaughlin believes strongly in this notion, as well he should; it succinctly sums up the trajectory of his career as a theater artist.
When we saw his hysterically genius performance as the insufferable Tuzenbach in Classical Theatre’s production of Three Sisters, it had been eight or so years since he’d been on stage.
By choice.
McLaughlin’s love of theater and performance began at 15 when his family moved from Tomball out to Tyler, Texas. Feeling like a fish out of water, he sought out a welcoming and energetic community and that’s where he discovered drama club.
“At first, it was just kind of being in the social sphere, you know, just trying to stay busy, but I didn’t do any shows,” says McLaughlin. But when the school produced a classical play, he figured, why not jump in and give it a try?
“I had no idea what I was doing, but our drama teacher at the time helped guide me through it. And I ended up really liking it. From there I was able to springboard off into a leadership position in the drama club and help foster new people coming in with similar situations as mine.”
By the end of high school, Mclaughlin was president of the club and enjoyed it so much he started looking around to see if there was a college program he could jump into. His parents weren’t so keen.
“Everyone in the family, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, everyone knew that I was the odd one out. We have doctors in the family; we have engineers in the family. I was expected to become a businessman. But I pursued theater instead at University of Houston.”
His parents ultimately did come around to support his artistic ambitions, driving up to see shows, but McLaughlin respects how they approached the whole situation. “Gradually, they weaned me off and said, you know, if you keep doing this, then you’re gonna have to start paying your weight to keep going with it and I’m actually very grateful because it did highlight my need to be self-sustaining. And so that was actually very helpful to get early on.”
McLaughlin graduated in 2015 and worked in Houston for a bit, but gradually had to decide: keep at it, or get a more stable job.
“Ultimately, I decided to pull back from theater because I was cognizant of rising prices and I had a timeline and goals. I focused on just being able to pay the bills and building a professional resume and I got a house, I got married, I did all the stuff I wanted to do.”
But when he saw that Three Sisters was casting, with a company and director he knew and liked, he knew it was time to jump back in. He missed the theater and the community and, despite his reservations about being away for so long, McLaughlin says returning to the stage was inevitable for him. It’s something he’s looking forward to doing more often, now that he’s racked up more life experiences.
“This time has given me the ability to hone certain skill sets,” says McLaughlin. “You go through all these years and things change. I’ve fallen on financial hardship, I’ve lost people during COVID, etc. These are things I could have researched before to portray a role. But now I have a repertoire of things I’ve experienced that I can relate to the text. And I imagine as time goes on, I’ll change even more.”
This season, McLaughlin will pour his honed talent and life skills into playing Rodrigo in Classical Theater’s production of Othello. “I’m fired up to explore a character driven by obsession and desperation! He may be viewed as a gullible fool, but his devotion to Desdemona and willingness to be manipulated by Iago reveal a man who is both foolhardy and incredibly vulnerable.”
Othello at Classical Theatre runs April 16 – May 2, 2026
Credit: Pin Lim
Alexandra Szeto-Joe
It was competitive figure skating that ushered Alexandra Szeto-Joe into what is quickly becoming a busy professional theater career.
As a sport, figure skating has an artistic side that requires fine-tuning to complement the skater’s training. Szeto-Joe explored other performative art forms, eventually bumping into theater. “I would do dance, and then, I would discover the beautiful world of dance and then through dance, I discovered theater and was like, ‘Oh, I can, like, speak on stage?’”
Pretty soon, theater eclipsed skating, and Szeto-Joe was setting her sights on the high school musical and auditioning for college drama programs. Something she was prepared for thanks to the arts education she was fortunate to have.
“I was lucky enough to be able to attend theatrical programs and camps throughout my childhood and adolescence, one of which was the summer Young Actors Conservatory program at Stages,” says Szeto-Joe. “I think my experience at Stages really helped me put my theatrical dreams into a professional context.”
She also credits a pre-college program at Carnegie Mellon University for enriching her training and giving her the tools to make theater and acting a tangible career.
Attending NYU for Drama was a dream come true until she graduated into a pandemic. “I’d already heard all the warning stories about how hard this career is, but to graduate into an industry that didn’t exist was like, whoa, I had a plan, and now that’s gone.”
She ended up moving back to Houston to wait it out, and when things opened back up, she started auditioning and getting roles locally. “And it’s crazy because that was hardly in my plans. A big reason I chose NYU was because it was in New York City and that’s where I wanted to build my career. I figured, let me move to New York City now and then I won’t have to move there later on postgrad. But I’ve been very lucky to find a career here in Houston and also travel back and forth to work in New York. So, I figured out a way to have my cake and eat it too.”
Last season in Houston, Szeto-Joe’s talents caught our attention with her excellent performances in Three Sisters at Classical Theater, The Heart Sellers at Stages and The Mirror Crack’d at the Alley—an impressive list of credits for an emerging actor.
“I feel very lucky and a little bit, like, not that it’s moving too fast, but I do feel like okay, I have to soak everything up right now…and learn as much as I can.”
Szeto-Joe says one of the most rewarding things that’s come out of her performances is being able to turn people on to theater. “I’ve had a few friends come up to me after a performance and talk about how they’re not really theater people, but seeing me in multiple shows, in multiple different companies, makes them want to consume more theater in Houston, which is always really gratifying.”
Szeto-Joe says she also pays close attention to when there are younger audience members at a show. “I always go back to the idea that in every audience, there’s at least one person who is at their first play or first theatrical experience….so having a direct line to that makes me think, this is what I’m meant to do.”
Szeto-Joe will return to The Alley this season to join A Christmas Carol as a swing performer, her first time taking on the challenge of multiple characters.
“The thought of exploring all their different perspectives, wants, objectives, etc., is equal parts daunting and thrilling,” says Szeto-Joe. Though they’re all individual characters, I’m excited to find the things that unite them, and I hope to contribute to the joy that is already happening onstage and bring my own unique sense of heart and play to the work.”
A Christmas Carol at Alley Theatre runs November 16 – December 28, 2025
Credit: Violeta Alvarez
Elia Adams
Elia Adams is coming full circle this fall.
Back in 2017, when he was attending Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Adams auditioned for the Broadway premiere of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy. “I actually stumbled across my audition tape for it the other day,” says Adams. “Wow. It was a very young me trying to sing, but I definitely wasn’t mature enough at the time for that production.”
Fast forward to this season and almost a decade more under his belt, and this time, Adams has what it takes. He’ll be playing AJ in The Ensemble Theatre’s production of the musical in the new year. A character, he says, offers a meaningful opportunity to “Explore themes of brotherhood, identity, and resilience.”
We didn’t know about the casting last season when he turned our heads with his earnestly optimistic and affecting performance in the Ensemble Theatre’s production of Camp Logan. A performance that helped the show earn a Houston Theater Award for Best Ensemble.
But we did know was that while this might have been his first big role on a Houston mainstage, it wouldn’t be his last.
Adams says he knew from a young age that he wanted to perform.
“The ability to just entertain people and make someone smile, be comfortable within your own skin and to just laugh at yourself. That’s the beauty of life. And that’s what performing gave me.”
After high school, Adams attended the California Institute of the Arts to get his BFA in acting. However, two years in, COVID hit, and Adams came back to Houston and took a break from theater. “They were trying to do things online,” says Adams. “But it didn’t suit my spirit and my passion for the arts. So, I just took a break. I wasn’t one of these people who could sit on a computer and do it.”
When things opened back up, Adams scored a part in a musical playing at MATCH. ” I don’t usually do musicals, so it was kind of out of my comfort zone, but I think that was what I needed to get back in the theater, right? Do something that’s completely out of my comfort zone. So that now I’m able to go back and do the things that I am comfortable doing, like fiction and just real storytelling.”
One of the biggest lessons he’s learned is to be as natural as he can be on stage.
“Natural to me is interpreting the character as if I am the character,” says Adams. “So, you start with yourself as the foundation and then add the character’s details on top of that to who you are. They cast you in the role because of something you brought to the table, right? They didn’t see the character in the audition, but maybe they caught a glimpse. It’s something you brought to the table, so you have to continue bringing yourself to the table and then add the layers of character on top of you. It’s not me completely disappearing into a character. It’s layering.”
Choir Boy at The Ensemble Theatre runs March 20 – April 12
Olivia Knight Credit: Violetta Alvarez
Olivia Knight
There was no worse time for a theater artist to graduate from college than the pandemic. This is the situation Olivia Knight found herself in after getting her degree in Theater in her home state of Virginia. It was 2021, and theaters across the country were shuttered. No one was casting or producing shows.
With nowhere to perform, Knight thought auditioning for grad school seemed like a good option. One that could expand on her talents.
“I was really looking for a program that offered a lot of physical training as an actor and also somewhere that was really text and detail oriented, because that’s something that I really enjoy digging into,” says Knight.
It was her University of Houston audition that sold her on the school. “I felt like I left that audition, having learned something unique. Most of the others felt like we were just checking each other out. Seeing if I would be a good fit. But I left the U of H one feeling like I’d already picked something up that I could use.”
Knight has put her acting/physical training to good use. This year, she won the Houston Theater Award for Best Breakthrough for her trauma and rage-filled performance in Dirt Dog’s production of Blackbird. She also lends her talents behind the scenes as an Intimacy and Fight Director, this past season working with Houston Grand Opera and Sheppard School of Music.
Initially, Knight wasn’t sure she’d stick around Houston after graduation, but her first professional role (while still in school) cemented the deal.
“After that show, I really got to see what the theater community here was like,” says Knight, who loved the quality of work and how tight-knit and supportive the artists were. “So, I decided to stay for at least another year. And after that, I got even more connected. I found friends, found people that I really, dearly love working with and creating art with. And it’s just become, well, I don’t see where else I would go now.”
When it comes to her work onstage, Knight says what connects her to a character is figuring out what they are fighting for, digging into the text and tackling difficult, more dramatic situations. But at the heart of it, it all comes down to telling stories.
“I’ve always found comfort, healing and lessons in stories,” says Knight, a self-described bookworm. “I fell in love stories and with the ability to share them with other people. To go through and exist in these moments together, learning together and experiencing things that you might not have a chance to experience in your daily life.”
This season at Classical Theater, she’ll be sharing the story of Othello when she takes on the role of Emilia. She says she’s excited to explore the character’s complexity because, “She’s trying so hard to be wise, warning Desdemona, being a good wife, but she’s simultaneously naive about Iago’s manipulation. So, her best intentions become his weapon against the girl she cares for, which makes her final act so powerful.”
Knight will also continue fight and intimacy direction with Houston Grand Opera’s productions of Porgy and Bess, Silent Night, and Hansel and Gretel, the Sheppard School of Music’s productions of The Magic Flute and Falstaff and University of Houston’s production of The Magic Flute.
Othello at Classical Theatre runs April 16 – May 2, 2026
Credit: Violetta Alvarez
Juan Sebastian Cruz
Late into his second year at Rice University, Juan Sebastian Cruz told his mother that he was going to switch gears from mathematics and engineering to a major in theater. It didn’t go over well.
Cruz hadn’t shown an interest in theater until freshman year, when a friend of his suggested he audition for a show. In high school, he had been part of the band program and he was missing involvement in performing arts, so he went for it. Cruz got the role and found that theater was both fulfilling and a whole lot of fun.
“Then, in my sophomore year, I was trying to double major in theater and engineering. And then at some point, I was like, What am I doing? What is it that I really want to do?” Cruz knew he wanted to be in the arts, but even with his high school band experience, the music program at Rice was out of his reach. Rice’s small theater department, however, was inviting and they welcomed him to take classes and be in more shows.
“It was very difficult at first,” says Cruz. “I think a lot of my family members, my mother, included, who has always been the rock of my life, she was concerned. She was like, Are you sure? Is this really what you want to do? Is this the best use of your time at the school?”
Once she realized that not only was I happier in the theater department, but also putting in the work to really make something of it, her worry turned to support.
After graduating in 2016, Cruz decided to stay in Houston rather than go to grad school or move away.
“I decided that I needed to try to see if working in theater and in the arts was a path of sustainability. And since I was already in Houston, I wanted to use the connections and the foundation that I had here first…and give myself a few years,” says Cruz.
Every year, he would check in with himself to see if things were going well, if it was still what he wanted to do. “And every year, even if it wasn’t going all that great, it was like, I still want to give this more time and it took a little bit of time, but the more I discovered, the more I realized that I didn’t want to move, that I could live here and make a career for myself.”
It’s been a fruitful and diverse career, with Cruz performing on almost all of Houston’s mainstages. We first noticed his talent in Stage’s production of My Manana Comes and he just recently turned in a monumental performance in Moody Center for the Arts’ production of Spill with a pin-drop 10-minute monologue that haunts us to this day.
So why then is this seasoned actor on our ones to watch list? Much like his U-turn in sophomore year, Cruz is now taking on a new challenge, one we’re excited to follow.
“I recently had a son,” says Cruz. “I’m realizing that as much as I love theater, time is becoming an even more precious resource when you have a family. And so, I’m very, very happy for all the roles and all the accolades and success that I’ve been able to have with theater, but I’m purposefully not going to act this year. Instead, I’m exploring all these other artistic facets that I have and new things that I want to explore.”
The first fruit of this exploration is an all-ages short musical, The Legend of Julio Star, that Cruz wrote and will be directing at La Vida es Cortos, TEATRX’s short film/play festival.
“It’s a coming-of-age story about a small-town Colombian man who loves Cumbia music …. he loves his town, and he loves playing music, but he also dreams of bigger things,” says Cruz. “Because this is a musical suitable for young audiences, there is also a fantastical element where the man gets transported to Mars and gets to share his music throughout the galaxy.”
As a first-time playwright, Cruz says he now has a deep respect for the process of developing new work. “When I first started as an actor, new work readings and festivals weren’t important to me. I was like okay; I’ll do a reading. It’s a one-day thing. That’s fine. But now it interests me so much. And I absolutely think it’s so important …. I think new works are going to be priorities as much as possible going forward.”
The Legend of Julio Star at La Vida Es Cortos is playing November 29, 2025
Houston Actors Credit: Violeta Alvarez
Andraes Hunt
Andraes Hunt says it was his mother who set in motion his love of storytelling.
“I have vivid memories of her acting out characters and telling me stories,” says Hunt. “She would always do voices or her face would change; she was my first storyteller.” Hunt also enjoyed doing voices, imitating characters from his favorite movies starring Jim Carey and Jamie Fox.
But it wasn’t until late high school that Hunt channeled that energy into theater.
After watching a UIL production in junior year, a light went on for Hunt as he regretted not being a part of theater making from the start of his schooling. So, in his senior year he got involved with the production of West Side Story and while he loved the experience, it didn’t propel him into full-time performance.
After taking some time to work and make money however, Hunt did enroll in HCC Stafford and it was there that his theatrical path was set.
“Post high school theater was always an interest, but it wasn’t on the front row. I was focusing on working and making a living. I thought I could do this on the side for fun. And I eventually did a show per semester while I was taking classes at HCC and it became like, okay, I’m looking forward to the next show.” Through participation in regional competitions and exposure to artists who were living the theater life, Hunt realized this was possibly something he could do for real.
“I felt like I belonged, but I knew that I didn’t have the technique, I hadn’t honed my craft…Then I got to visit Texas State, and I knew that that was my next step on the path. And so, I enrolled in the Spring of 2011, and there, I got the rigorous training that set me up to pursue this professionally.”
For the next several years, Hunt worked in Houston, but in 2018 after a busy performing season, he decided to step aside and take a job that better paid the bills.
“My theater cup was so full but I needed to go make some money. Then 2019 went by, and I didn’t have a desire to do a show. Then I thought, hey, you know what, 2020, I’m going to get back out there. And then lockdown.”
Which was why when we saw Hunt give a searing performance as a cutthroat lawyer in Dirt Dog’s production of Race, it felt like a new discovery of sorts. A reawakening, if you will. One that almost didn’t happen.
“I wasn’t certain I was going to audition, and then, the day of, I got out of work, and I was like, you know what? I’m going to this audition. I just called and said hey, I know you guys have been auditioning people for the past couple of hours, but I’m free. Can I show up?”
Hunt says he’s drawn to complex roles. “I like smart characters. I like characters who are misunderstood because it feels like a challenge for me to make you understand. If I’m playing the villain, then you’re going to see my justification.”
Coming off of Race, Hunt is eager to once again flex and stretch his actorly muscles. This fall, he’ll be playing Aegisthus in Classical Theater’s production of Electra. “I don’t think tragedies are most people’s first choice for entertainment”, says Hunt. “But my goal is to find the universal themes that are relevant today and share them. Mostly, I’m excited to get in the rehearsal room and start playing.”
Electra at Classical Theatre runs October 9-18, 2025
Credit: Violeta Alvarez
Cameron O’Neil
Singing was the first performance high that hooked Cameron O’Neil.
From singing karaoke at the age of four to performing in community theater musicals in third grade to being one of just a few sixth graders invited to perform in a production of Into the Woods in middle school, O’Neil knew that singing on the stage was magical for him.
“I did start high school at HPVA as the Broadway baby,’ says O’Neil. I was like, I’m going to go to Broadway, and I’m gonna be in New York and going to I’m gonna do everything I can. And then I realized how cutthroat it was and how expensive it is to hone not only acting talents, but having a voice teacher and having dance training and not just one curriculum, but also do ballet and jazz and modern. And I learned that it was it was such a cutthroat intense path to go down.”
Rather than sour him, this realization opened his eyes to the beauty of plays.
“I still love singing, but HPVA taught me what straight plays are and like that they’re so rich and just because there’s not singing and dancing doesn’t mean that you’re not going to walk away completely moved…I learned that theater is an art and you could say so much with your art.”
From high school, O’Neil attended Webster Conservatory in St. Louis. “It’s so crazy to think back that at 18, I was ready to pack up my bags and move to the other side of the country. And there it was very intensive. It was live, eat, breathe, theater, we did it from sunup to sundown.”
Graduating into the pandemic meant that no work was forthcoming, so O’Neil moved with a friend to Austin, hoping the vibrancy of the city would bear fruit. But despite going on auditions and doing some readings and fringe festival work, he found that Austin’s theater scene just wasn’t as vibrant as it was in Houston.
O’Neil says he tried to give up acting. To get an office job, a golden retriever, a conforming life. But that itch to be onstage just wouldn’t let up. And that’s when he heard that Rec Room Arts was producing Spring Awakening, a musical he’d been obsessed with since his early teen years. He wanted in and he would do whatever it took.
Lucky for him and us, his efforts and talents aligned and this is where we first spotted him. As the painfully neurotic yet utterly sincere Moritz, O’Neil tore up the stage with his double threat heart-ensnaring acting and singing.
It was one hell of an outing for his first professional stage role. Followed quickly by a very different but equally compelling turn as Bernard, in Rec Room’s Death of a Salesman.
The experience and accolades have helped draw O’Neil back home to Houston.
“I think that initially I had to get away from Houston because I was born here and it seemed like the hometown blues,’ says O’Neil. “But I’m now starting to see the beauty of the Houston theater scene and the community. There is some Broadway-level acting here, some really passionate people who love what they do, and they pour their hearts and souls and that’s what I love to. I don’t want to do it as a business. I don’t want to be in a play, just to be in a play. I want to pour my heart and soul into it and be with like-minded people who also want to do the same.”
O’Neil says that at this point, he’s open to both musicals and plays. But mostly he loves language and the ability to bring words to life. This fall, he’ll help bring new words to life as Kieran in Marisela Treviño Orta’s Womb 2.0 for the 2025 Alley All New Festival.
“I’m excited to be working with a new script and creating a character based on my own instincts instead of what’s been done before,” says O’Neil. “A huge theme in Womb 2.0 is privilege, so I want to work on manifesting Kieran’s privilege in the work and see how that tells the story in a more dynamic way.”
Womb 2.0 at Alley All New Festival is playing October 24 and 26, 2025
Credit: Tim Tiebout, Folger Shakespeare Library
Brandon Carter
When Brandon Carter stepped onstage last season as Biff in Rec Room’s production of Death of a Salesman, we marveled at his prowess in the role. Surely, he was an out-of-towner brought in for the production – a seasoned actor like that doesn’t just appear in Houston out of thin air.
Lucky for us, it does and he did.
Now calling Houston home, Carter has already made an impact, winning the 2025 Houston Theater Award for Best Supporting Actor for his first role on Houston stages.
It’s a long way from his early dreams of being a fisherman, like his father and grandfather. When he found himself floundering at Longwood University, taking a minor in theater, his family suggested he stop wasting money and time and go work on a boat.
Heeding their advice, Carter paused his study to see if the fisherman dream still spoke to him. And that’s when the theater really came calling.
“I still remember it, I was on the fish boat and one of my professors called and said, hey, I’m doing Othello, and I want you for the lead. I know you’re out of school, but I want you to come back and give it a try, says Carter. “I had the fishboat, I had Othello in my hands, and I had an opportunity to go back to college. So, I read it while I was fishing on the boat and it won my heart. I was reading verse on the open sea in the Gulf of Mexico and Shakespeare’s words actually won me back into college.”
From college came grad school at Penn State, where Carter participated in commissioning the Dominique Morisseau play, Blood at the Root. “We raised a bunch of money, which gave me my first taste of administration/fund raising and we toured that show around the world for three years from South Africa to Adelaide.”
Shakespeare’s works continued to pull on Carter. His first gig after Penn State was with the Classical Theatre of Harlem’s production of The Tempest. Carter then was a company member with American Shakespeare Center for seven years, and the company’s Artistic Director for four years up until March 2024.
Carter says it’s the music of Shakespeare’s work that draws him to it.
“My grandfather used shanties to help pull in the fish by hand. They would sing a verse, and then they would pull the nets … he sang these shanties to me and it is the undercurrent to the musicality I hear in Shakespeare’s work that helps me to be able to find the jazz in it. I’m able to connect to it and think about home and my bloodline. There’s a familiarity, even though you’re talking about two different time periods, to different cultures, two different ways of communicating.”
Regardless of which play or writer, Carter says he strives never to think he knows everything about the character. “I think I think we sometimes don’t hear the playwright because we put on the assumptions of what we think is going to happen and that doesn’t allow us to listen to the person that’s opposite us and what story they’re telling and what this moment might be. But if you avail yourself to the moment, you’ll deepen the experience for yourself and for others.”
Carter will get to deepen his experience with Shakespeare this season, coming back to Othello, the play that started it all for him. This time, he’s in the lead role with time and experience under his belt.
He hopes that his portrayal of the ‘psychological damage of a black leader who has reached the top of his craft’ resonates with audiences and inspires young actors to fall in love with Shakespeare the way he did.
Othello at Classical Theatre runs April 16 – May 2, 2026
In the new anthology film Kinds of Kindness, surrealist Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos tells three stories with the same group of actors — Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, and more. He recasts each of them in every segment: Plemons is a put-upon office worker, a paranoid cop, and a cultist investigator; Stone is a glamorous optometrist, a marine biologist who vanished, and a cultist having a crisis of faith (or some kind of crisis, anyway), and so on. Lanthimos moves these famous actors around roles that contrast with or complement each other, exploring different facets of their personalities.
It’s an extension of the way Lanthimos likes to work. Much of the cast, apart from Plemons, have been in his films before. It’s Stone’s third film in a row with him; the previous one, Poor Things, won her a Best Actress Oscar. And they’re about to make it four in a row. Lanthimos’ next film, Bugonia, set for release in 2025 and based on the Korean sci-fi comedy Save the Green Planet!, will star Stone again. Plemons is set to appear in that one, too.
Actors clearly like working for Lanthimos. So says English actor Joe Alwyn (Conversations with Friends), who appeared with Stone in Lanthimos’ The Favourite and has funny bit parts in the first two Kinds of Kindness stories before taking a larger role in the third as the estranged husband of Stone’s character.
Emma Stone and Joe Alwyn in Kinds of Kindness.Photo: Atsushi Nishijima/Yorgos Lanthimos
“It’s like a theater troupe, and it felt very playful,” Alwyn told Polygon in an interview alongside Lanthimos. “Being on the set for The Favourite and Kinds of Kindness didn’t feel like going to work in the way that it sometimes does, or can sometimes slip into. It felt like you were gonna go and play. And that’s such a nice feeling, as an actor, to hold on to as much as you can. That comes from the material, of course, and also the way that Yorgos is on set, and his rehearsal, and every component, and every department. It’s rare to feel that as much as I have with those two films. It’s really just a joy.”
That sounds like fun, but there’s some bravery involved in being in a Lanthimos movie, too. He likes to film his characters doing bizarre, humiliating, intimate, or disturbing things in frank, unblinking ways. In Kinds of Kindness, Dafoe cries into a pool while wearing a Speedo, Stone gives a long speech about a society of sentient dogs, and Qualley sings a Bee Gees song while accompanying herself on a toy piano — all completely straight-faced.
What marks an actor who’ll fit into Lanthimos’ peculiar world? “I think just having an open mind,” the director said. “And being generous with the other actors, and be trusting when they see that trust is due. Being up for, you know, not taking things too seriously. And trying things that might make you uncomfortable, and you might feel ridiculous in front of the others!”
Watching Kinds of Kindness is kind of like speeding through a decade of a director’s work in one sitting: You notice the same themes being considered from different angles, and watch the familiar, starry cast inhabit characters who contrast with each other, or echo each other in poignant ways. Beyond that, there’s nothing tying the stories together other than their alienated, doomy, blackly comic mood — and the figure of R.M.F., a bearded man (played by Lanthimos’ friend Yorgos Stefanakos) who pops up in each story. “We just decided that it would be more interesting if it wasn’t major characters that reappeared in the three stories, but someone who appears only for a brief moment, but his presence is kind of pivotal to the stories,” Lanthimos said about the character.
Photo: Yorgos Lanthimos/Searchlight Pictures
Photo: Yorgos Lanthimos/Searchlight Pictures
Photo: Yorgos Lanthimos/Searchlight Pictures
Photo: Yorgos Lanthimos/Searchlight Pictures
Lanthimos took these portrait photos of Stone, Alwyn, Qualley, and Plemons himself on the set of Kinds of Kindness.
Lanthimos is offhand about the way he deployed the cast and selected their roles for each story. “You figure out what makes sense for each one to play — kind of rationally sometimes, sometimes against type, whatever that may be.” But he suggests that it’s the recurring cast that creates an alchemy between the three storylines, and makes Kinds of Kindness more than the sum of its parts.
“You do kind of bring something with you from one story to the next, just because there’s a familiarity from having seen that actor playing a character before — I think you just can’t help but carry over certain things to the next story. Although the characters themselves practically don’t have such a long arc as they would in a full feature, you kind of make up for that, because you’ve seen the actor before, and you kind of bring a sense from that person to the next story and then to the next story,” he said.
“So, somehow, the characters are enriched without it being very literal. But mostly with that sense of familiarity, the sense of acknowledging that this is a film and it’s not real life, you are able to let go and kind of get into the next story in a more open way.”
What does it all mean, though? Lanthimos won’t be drawn on that — but Alwyn is extremely clear. Reflecting on his character from the third story, who reaches out tenderly to his ex-wife at first before a shocking twist, Alwyn offers a perceptive summary of the unifying theme of Kinds of Kindness.
“Throughout, you have people reaching out with perceived kindness and benevolence, whether it’s a boss offering structure and reward to an employee looking for purpose, or cult leaders offering a home to a woman whose life has recently changed — offering, you know, what she thinks is love. But actually, whilst that’s kindness on paper, if you write it down, it’s far more about control or coercive control, manipulation, power imbalance.” As gnomic a director as Lanthimos is, his actors clearly know exactly what he’s up to.
Fans who didn’t make it to New York City to catch the Broadway revival of “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch,” starring Leslie Odom, Jr., can catch the comedic play on TV later this month.
PBS will broadcast “Purlie Victorious” on Friday, May 24, at 9 p.m. as part of its Emmy-winning performing arts series “Great Performances.” The show will also be available to watch on the PBS website and app.
“Purlie Victorious” follows a Black preacher’s scheme to reclaim his inheritance and win back his church from a plantation owner. Odom, who grew up in East Oak Lane and attended the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, received a Tony Award nomination last month for playing the titular role. The “Purlie Victorious” revival opened in September 2023 and closed in February. The play, written by Ossie Davis, made its original Broadway debut in 1961 starring Davis.
“I have loved this piece and its author, Mr. Davis, for well over half my life,” Odom said in a release. “We endeavored to live up to the demands of a challenging text and the legacy of a great American. I was thrilled beyond measure to be part of the revival company and now for it to be part of the rich tradition of ‘Great Performances’ on PBS.”
The PBS broadcast of the play was recorded live at the Music Box Theatre in January. It will be part of the “Great Performance” Broadway Best series, which also includes the Free Shakespeare in the Park production of “Hamlet,” Audra McDonald’s 2022 London Palladium concert, and 2023’s “My Favorite Things: The Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert,” also from London.
Odom, best known for his Tony-winning breakout role as Aaron Burr in the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton,” has earned a Grammy award and been nominated for multiple Emmys and Oscars throughout his career. He was named to Time’s “100 Most Influential People of 2024” list in April, and joined Philly’s Walk of Fame in 2023.
His fifth full-length album, “When A Crooner Dies,” was released in November, and he stopped by Philadelphia earlier this month to perform a concert at the Miller Theater for his “My Favorite Things” tour.
Will Smith will play a veteran-turned-vigilante in the upcoming action thriller “Sugar Bandits.”
The film, based on the 2010 Chuck Hogan novel “Devils in Exile,” follows a group of Iraq War veterans who team up to take down the drug trade in Boston, Variety reported. Hogan — who also wrote the novel “Prince of Thieves” and its star-studded 2010 film adaptation “The Town” — wrote the screenplay for “Sugar Bandits” as well. The director has not yet been announced.
“Sugar Bandits” was first announced back in 2013, with Universal developing the feature, but it is now hitting the independent marketplace. The film’s worldwide distribution rights will be introduced to buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin, which began Thursday and runs through Feb. 21. There, the film could fetch somewhere in the $80 million range, according to Deadline.
Later this year, Smith is also set to return to the “Bad Boys” franchise, a series of buddy-cop action films starring Smith and Martin Lawrence as detectives in the Miami Police Department. The untitled fourth “Bad Boys” flick is currently in post-production, and is scheduled to premiere in June.
Smith and Lawrence recently attended North Philly-native comedian Kevin Hart’s tour stop in Atlanta, where they were previously spotted filming “Bad Boys 4.”
Smith is also reportedly going to star in and produce a sequel to his 2007 post-apocalyptic film “I Am Legend” alongside “Creed” actor Michael B. Jordan. Most details have been kept under wraps, but the sequel will apparently follow the original film’s alternate ending in which Smith’s character survives, according to Variety.
These upcoming projects will mark a return to the big screen for West Philly-native Smith, whose only major feature since the now-infamous Oscars slap was the 2022 Apple TV+ film “Emancipation.” Smith has been delving into other forms of media in the meantime. Last summer, Smith made his first video game appearance as a post-apocalyptic guide in the game “Undawn.” He also launched the hip-hop-focused “Class of 88” podcast in October.
Robert De Niro, a distinguished filmmaker and artist, resides in Greenwich Village, New York City. He is a co-founder and partner of the Tribeca Film Festival, contributing significantly to the inspiration of the film community in the city. His notable films include “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “The Godfather,” “The Intern,” “Joker,” “Cape Fear,” “Last Vegas,” “House of Gucci,” and “Righteous Kill.”
27. Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift, a celebrated singer and songwriter, resides on Franklin Street in Tribeca, NYC as per Finty source. She is renowned for chart-topping hits such as “Shake It Off,” “You Belong with Me,” “Bad Blood,” “Blank Space,” and “Wildest Dreams.” Swift has also made notable appearances in films like “Hannah Montana,” “The Cats,” “Amsterdam,” and “All Too Well.”
Her affection for New York City is a recurring theme in her music and public engagements, drawing creative energy from its lively streets to infuse her songs with the city’s dynamic spirit. As one of the most successful music artists globally, Swift’s fusion of pop music with deeply personal lyrics has garnered a massive following, drawing fans to the city that fuels her creativity.
Swift has expressed her deep connection with New York City, likening it to an intense romance that, despite its challenges, offers irreplaceable energy and inspiration. She cherishes the city’s influence and wouldn’t exchange it for anything, highlighting the profound impact New York has had on her life and work.
26. Tina Fey
Tina Fey, an accomplished American writer, producer, actress, and comedian, resides in the Upper West Side of NYC. She is renowned for her brilliant performances in well-known TV shows and movies such as “Mean Girls,” “Date Night,” “Saturday Night Live,” and “Free Guy.”
Her journey to stardom kicked off with her pivotal role on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), where she broke new ground as the show’s first female head writer and became a cherished member of the cast. Her memorable impersonation of Sarah Palin not only won critical praise but also earned her an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.
25. Al Pacino
Al Pacino, a renowned Broadway theater artist and film actor, is celebrated for his residence in the Bronx, NYC. His acclaimed movies include “The Devil’s Advocate,” “The Godfather II,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” “The Irishman,” and “Scent of a Woman.”
Al Pacino, the legendary actor famed for his role as Michael Corleone in “The Godfather” series, was born and brought up in the vibrant East Harlem neighborhood of New York City. The diverse talents and artistic expressions of this area significantly influenced his career path.
Although Al Pacino has since moved to Palisades, New York, he retains a deep connection to his East Harlem roots. The local community continues to hold him in high regard, celebrating his remarkable contributions to film and theater.
Reflecting on his upbringing, Pacino has said:
“I grew up in East Harlem, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. The energy and spirit of that neighborhood have had a profound impact on my life and career.”
23. Lena Dunham
Lena Dunham, a prominent TV and film artist, is best known as the creator and star of the HBO series “Girls.” She resides in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NYC. Her well-known TV shows and movies include “The House of the Devil,” “The Innkeepers,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” “Seven Days in Hell,” and “Sharp Stick.”
22. Liev Schreiber
Liev Schreiber is a renowned film actor based in New York City. Initially a theater artist, he has achieved significant success in films. His notable movies include “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” “A Small Light,” “Scream,” “The Last Days on Mars,” and “Asteroid City.”
21. Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks, a celebrated film actor, resides in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. His highly acclaimed movies include “The Da Vinci Code,” “The Polar Express,” “Elvis,” “Angels and Demons,” “Toy Story,” “Pinocchio,” “News of the World,” and “Asteroid City.
20. Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman is a renowned artist, dancer, and singer who, although not originally from New York, resides in the West Village, NYC. His notable movies include “The Son,” “Deadpool,” “X-Men,” “Van Helsing,” and “The Prisoners.”
“I love New York City. It’s not just a place to work, but a place to call home. The energy and creativity that thrive here are unparalleled, and being a part of the Broadway community has been a dream come true.” – Hugh Jackman
19. Ethan Hawke
Ethan Hawke, an acclaimed actor, producer, and writer, has chosen Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, as his home, embedding himself in the fabric of New York City’s artistic community according to Patch.
His Oscar-nominated work in “Before Sunrise” and “Training Day” highlights his versatile talent, while films like “Sinister” and “Boyhood” showcase his depth as an actor.
Boerum Hill’s charming streets and vibrant cultural scene reflect Hawke’s creative spirit, making it the perfect backdrop for an artist known for his profound and introspective roles.
This neighborhood, with its mix of historic brownstones and modern cultural venues, mirrors Hawke’s blend of classic talent and contemporary relevance.
18. Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin, a fixture in the entertainment world, lives in the heart of Greenwich Village, an area as dynamic and diverse as his career.
Known for his memorable performances on “Saturday Night Live” and in films like “The Boss Baby” and “Mission: Impossible,” Baldwin’s choice of residence in this culturally rich neighborhood speaks to his deep connection with New York City’s creative pulse.
Greenwich Village, with its history of artistry and activism, complements Baldwin’s outspoken nature and his contributions to both cinema and television, embodying the spirited and eclectic essence of his character.
17. Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg, a celebrated actress, comedian, and author, resides in Soho, NYC. Born Caryn Elaine, she is professionally known as Whoopi Goldberg. She has received numerous accolades, including an Oscar, for her outstanding performances.
Her well-known movies and TV shows include “The Color Purple,” “The View,” “Ghost,” “Sister Act,” “The Lion King,” “Till,” “The Deep End of the Ocean,” “Summer Camp Island,” “Godfather of Harlem,” and “The Conners.”
Goldberg’s presence in this neighborhood underscores her status as a trailblazer in the entertainment industry, much like Soho has been a trailblazer in New York City’s cultural evolution. Her choice to live in Soho highlights a shared ethos of creativity, diversity, and resilience.
16. Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep, one of the most celebrated actresses of our time, calls Tribeca her home, a neighborhood known for its upscale residential spaces and thriving arts scene.
Streep’s illustrious career, featuring roles in “The Devil Wears Prada” and “Sophie’s Choice,” parallels Tribeca’s transformation into a hub of luxury and creativity.
Her residence in Tribeca not only signifies her stature in the film industry but also her affinity for a neighborhood that values privacy, sophistication, and artistic freedom, qualities that have defined Streep’s career and personal style.
15. Uma Thurman
14. John Leguizamo
John Leguizamo, renowned as a leading comedian and supporting actor in TV shows and films, hails from Colombia but was raised and continues to live in Queens, NYC. He is celebrated for his performances in movies such as “Super Mario Brothers,” “Spawn,” “Romeo + Juliet,” “Violent Night,” “The Night Clerk,” and “The Power.”
13. Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is a multi-talented artist, vocalist, author, and producer residing in Harlem, NYC. He is well-known for his comedy performances, stage dramas, and live musical stage shows throughout New York City. His notable film and TV credits include “The Smurfs,” “Uncoupled,” “The Matrix Resurrections,” “How I Met Your Father,” and “Drag Me to Dinner.”
A fun fact about Harris is his love for the local cuisine and jazz clubs, where he’s often spotted enjoying Harlem’s famous soul food and live music, showcasing his deep appreciation for the area’s artistic and culinary delights. His participation in local theater productions and charity events highlights his commitment to contributing to the community’s cultural landscape.
12. Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi, residing in Brooklyn, NYC, transitioned from a former firefighter to a celebrated film artist. He is renowned for his exceptional performances in popular movies such as “Spy Kids: Island of Lost Dreams,” “Armageddon,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Vacation Friends Two,” and “Hubie Halloween.”
Known for his love of indie films and local arts, Buscemi is a regular at Brooklyn’s film festivals and small theaters, supporting the borough’s vibrant arts scene with genuine enthusiasm.
11. Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Radcliffe, a highly popular British actor, gained immense fame for his standout role in the Harry Potter film series, catapulting him to the list of top stars. Currently residing in the West Village, New York City, his notable films include the “Harry Potter Series,” “The Woman in Black,” “Victor Frankenstein,” “Horns,” “The Lost City,” “December Boys,” and “Jungle.”
A quirky fact about Radcliffe is his penchant for exploring the city incognito, enjoying the West Village’s quaint streets, bookshops, and cafes without the fanfare typically associated with his global fame.
He’s also an avid fan of New York’s underground comedy scene, often spotted at small venues enjoying stand-up shows. Radcliffe’s low-key lifestyle in the city reflects his desire to blend into the tapestry of New York life, embracing the city’s diversity and energy.
10. Amy Adams
Amy Adams, originally from Italy, now resides in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, NYC. She is celebrated for her exceptional performances in movies such as “Enchanted,” “Disenchanted,” “Man of Steel,” “Catch Me If You Can,” “Night at the Museum,” “Batman vs. Superman,” “The Woman in the Window,” and “Big Eyes.”
Julianne Moore, a distinguished celebrity, first gained recognition in the TV serial “The Edge of the Night.” Currently residing in Greenwich Village, New York City, she is a familiar face in the city’s hot spots.
Moore’s remarkable performances are showcased in the popular Netflix series “May December” and “The Woman in the Window.” Her notable films include “The Forgotten,” “Next,” “Wonderstruck,” “Far from Heaven,” “The Hunger Games: Part II,” “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” and “The Assassins.”
Lucy Liu is not only a talented artist whose artwork is featured in art galleries across NYC but also a popular actress residing in the Upper West Side, NYC according to Artnet news. Her remarkable acting skills are showcased in famous TV shows and movies such as “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” “Kill Bill,” “Rise: Blood Hunter,” “Chicago,” and “Charlie’s Angels.”
Ben Stiller, a renowned actor and comedian, resides in the West Village, NYC. Those visiting might spot him at a local coffee shop or another well-known location in the West Village. His notable works include movies and TV shows such as “Night at the Museum,” “Meet the Fockers,” “Hubie Halloween,” and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.”
Sarah Michelle Gellar, a celebrated actress known for her roles in both TV and film, resides in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, NYC. Fans may catch sight of her at exclusive restaurants and coffee houses in the Upper East Side. Her notable works include TV shows and movies such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Wolf Pack,” “Scream 2,” “Cruel Intentions,” “Angel,” and “The Grudge.”
Peter Dinklage, an acclaimed American actor, currently resides in Upstate New York, having previously lived in Williamsburg, NYC. Fans may catch a glimpse of him in Downtown West Side, Manhattan. His most celebrated movies include “The Hunger Games,” “Elf,” “The Chronicles of Narnia,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” and “The Station Agent.”
Famous couple Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick will soon bring their real-life chemistry to the big screen, for the first time in two decades.
The husband-wife duo, who have been married since 1988, will costar in the upcoming film “Connescence,” Deadline reported. Philly-native actor Bacon last acted alongside Sedgwick in the 2004 movies “Cavedweller” and “The Woodsman.”
“Connescence” is written and directed by Michael J. Weithorn, who created “The King of Queens” and also worked on Jenkintown-set sitcom “The Goldbergs” and its spinoff, “Schooled.”
In the film, which kicked off principal photography last week in Brooklyn, Bacon stars as funny, underachieving security guard Stan Olszewski. Sedgwick’s character is successful urologist Cynthia Rand, who is married to a gifted former Watergate prosecutor. Stan crosses paths with Cynthia when he breaks up an attempted robbery at her home.
“From this chance encounter grows a charged and dynamic friendship – first as late-night text sessions filled with humor and intimate revelations, growing into something that shakes the foundation of both their lives,” according to Deadline.
Along with Bacon and Sedgwick, the cast also includes “The Fabelmans” actor Judd Hirsch, as Cynthia’s husband Warren, and “The White Lotus” actress Brittany O’Grady.
“Once in 2004 and again 20 years later,” Sedgwick wrote on Instagram of her onscreen reunion with Bacon. “Maybe we’ll join forces again in 2044… So excited for this moving, yet touching script to come to life! And an absolute honor to work with this stellar cast.”
While they haven’t acted together in 20 years, “Footloose” star Bacon — who recently appeared as a Cowboys hat-wearing survivalist in Netflix’s “Leave the World Behind” — and Emmy-winning “The Closer” star Sedgwick have worked together in other capacities through the years. Bacon directed Sedgwick in the 2005 movie “Loverboy” and Sedgwick directed Bacon in the 2022 movie “Space Oddity.”
The couple fell in love while filming the 1988 PBS movie “Lemon Sky,” and married that same year. They have two children, Travis and Sosie, and live on a farm in Connecticut.
Beloved actor and former NFL player Carl Weathers, whose Hollywood legacy includes an iconic role as boxing heavyweight Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” franchise, has died at 76, his family said Friday.
Weathers’ manager, Matt Luber, told the Associated Press that Weathers died Thursday. The Weathers family said the actor “died peacefully in his sleep.”
Starting with the first installment of “Rocky” in 1976, Weathers played the world champ who gave Sylvester Stallone’s underdog character, Rocky Balboa, the chance to rival him in a title bout in Philadelphia. Weathers developed the Creed role further in subsequent films, becoming the Italian Stallion’s trainer in “Rocky III.” And in the next movie, Creed dramatically dies in the ring during his bout with Soviet fighter Ivan Drago. His character’s son, Adonis Creed, later goes on to helm the “Creed” trilogy starring by Michael B. Jordan.
Stallone and Jordan had not publicly commented on Weathers’ death by early Friday evening.
Though Adonis Creed helped put Rocky on the fictional map, Stallone had a similar impact on Weathers in real life.
In a 2015 interview, Weathers told the The Hollywood Reporter that he nearly ruined his chance to be in “Rocky” because he had mouthed off about Stallone during his audition. Weathers said he had been told there was nobody available to read lines with, so he’d have to do so with the writer of the movie — Stallone.
“And we read through the scene, and at the end of it, I didn’t feel like it had really sailed, that the scene had sailed, and they were quiet and there was this moment of awkwardness, I felt, anyway,” Weathers said. “So I just blurted out, ‘I could do a lot better if you got me a real actor to work with.’ So I just insulted the star of the movie without really knowing it and not intending to.”
Stallone reportedly felt the outburst was in character for Creed and that Weathers’ mistake made him stand out for the role.
Prior to becoming an actor, Weathers played linebacker in the NFL for the Oakland Raiders and also spent time in the Canadian Football League, during which time he pursued a degree in drama.
Weathers’ memorable roles included his appearances in “Predator,” in which he starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, and in “Action Jackson,” for which got a nomination for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture. More recently, Weathers starred as Greef Karga in Disney’s “The Mandalorian” and directed two episodes of the “Star Wars” series.
Weathers’ most-quoted character may be Derick “Chubbs” Peterson, the quirky golf guru who mentors Adam Sandler in “Happy Gilmore.” Chubbs famously clasps his arms around Happy Gilmore ahead of an important putt — showing off the false wooden hand he wears to replace the appendage he lost to an alligator bite — and tells Gilmore that the game of golf is “all in the hips.”
Sandler, who invited Weathers to reprise the Chubbs role in “Little Nicky,” shared a message on X, formerly Twitter, remembering his longtime friend.
A true great man. Great dad. Great actor. Great athlete. So much fun to be around always. Smart as hell. Loyal as hell. Funny as hell. Loved his sons more than anything. What a guy!! Everyone loved him. My wife and I had the best times with him every time we saw him. Love to… pic.twitter.com/Gi2lPWFTgt
Weathers’ death came after he filmed a Super Bowl commercial with former football player Rob Gronkowski, who’s slated to participate in FanDuel’s “Kick of Destiny” before Sunday’s game between the Chiefs and 49ers. Fans are invited place bets on whether Gronk will make or miss the kick — which, in the commercial, Weathers tells him he “won’t miss.”
In a statement on X, FanDuel said it is “deeply saddened” by Weathers’ passing. The company told AdAge it plans to adjust its campaign accordingly out of respect for the family.
It’s back to school for fans of “Abbott Elementary” as the ABC sitcom returns next week.
The series, which was created by and stars West Philadelphia-native Quinta Brunson, returns Wednesday, Feb. 7 with a special, hour-long Season 3 premiere. A new trailer shows what the staff of the titular Philly public school have been up to since viewers last saw them in the spring, and it’s clear that changes have been afoot.
To commemorate the mockumentary’s return to TV, the “Abbott Elementary” team is launching a “Lunch Break” tour to donate meals and supplies to underserved schools across the country. The tour, which features a giant “lunch box vehicle,” will make a stop in Philadelphia on Friday, Feb. 2. No further information has been released about where the Philly stop will be.
With just one week before “Abbott Elementary” returns, here’s what to know about Season 3:
Who’s in the Season 3 cast?
There will be some new faces this season. “Abbott Elementary” is welcoming actors Josh Segarra, Kimia Behpoornia and Benjamin Norris to recurring roles. The trio will portray “good-natured Philadelphia school district representatives who aim to bring fresh perspectives to their roles as school ambassadors,” Deadline reported.
Segarra — known for roles in “The Other Two,” “Scream VI” and “She-Hulk” — will play a character named Manny, Behpoornia (“Hacks”) will play Emily and Norris (“Never Have I Ever”) will play Simon.
Lisa Ann Walter, the recent “Celebrity Jeopardy!” champion who plays sassy second-grade teacher Melissa on the show, told Entertainment Tonight “so many great characters” will be in the third season.
Segarra, Behpoornia and Norris join a beloved returning cast that includes Brunson, who also produces and writes the show, as plucky second-grade teacher Janine Teagues. The fictional public school’s other quirky staff members are played by Walter, Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Chris Perfetti and William Stanford Davis. The show has featured cameos by acclaimed actors like Ayo Edebiri, Leslie Odom Jr. and Taraji P. Henson.
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Abbott Elementary’ is almost back in session and Season 3 will bring three new characters starring Josh Segarra, Kimia Behpoornia and Benjamin Norris in recurring roles https://t.co/nlBh40mx3r
The new season is sure to set itself apart from previous installments, for multiple reasons.
Rather than beginning the season at the start of the school year, as the show did previously, the series will pick up in the middle of the school year to reflect its February premiere. The show experienced monthslong delays due to last year’s dual Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes. For this reason, the season will also be shorter than Season 2, containing just 14 episodes compared to 22.
“Our season will still be on the school calendar. Last year, we started airing in September, when school started. We’re not doing that this year,” Brunson told Deadline in October. “It’s not like coming back to a family show where you can pop in on that family on any sitcom-y thing. It’s really like, what’s going on in the school?”
The hour-long premiere will center on a district-wide career day planned by Janine, who is anxious for it to be a success. The first episode also will show Ava (James) trying out a new approach to her role as principal, according to ABC. The first episode contains some surprises, according to Walter.
“I will tell you this, the premiere episode of Season 3 is so chock full of new, exciting stuff,” Walter told Entertainment Tonight. “I can’t even, we’re not allowed to say it obviously. But all I can say is stay tuned. It’s a lot.”
One such surprise seems to be the formerly lax Ava’s newfound rigidity as leader of the school, following an Ivy league stint over the break.
“I went to Harvard this summer,” Ava says during the trailer. “I’ve learned what it truly takes to do the job of a principal.”
ABC also teased details of the second episode, which airs Wednesday, Feb. 14. The Valentine’s Day episode handles the revelation that Janine’s ex Tariq (Zack Fox) is dating the mother of one of the school’s students, while Gregory (Williams) hesitantly deals with his newfound status as the “cool teacher.”
Where did we leave off?
When viewers last saw the “Abbott” crew, they were on a school field trip at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The Season 2 finale marked the first time the show, which is set in Philly, was actually filmed in the city.
During that fateful night at the museum, Janine and Gregory finally had a tense chat about their feelings for each other. The pair, who have been pushing the boundaries between friendship and flirtation since the show began, shared a highly anticipated kiss earlier that season. But things were complicated because Janine was dating Gregory’s friend at the time.
The coworkers walked away from the Franklin Institute as just friends, with Janine hoping to focus on herself and Gregory looking for new beginnings. One of the most pressing concerns on fans’ minds is how the pair’s will-they-won’t-they relationship will resolve, but Season 3 is sure to give their slow burn more time to either simmer or fizzle.
In the Season 3 trailer, Gregory and Janine refer to their friendship as “good” and “fine,” which appears to be a polite way of saying things are awkward.
The latest accolades
At the Emmys earlier this month, “Abbott Elementary” added to its long list of awards. Brunson won outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for her performance in the second season. It was Brunson’s second Emmy, having previously won for writing the pilot episode of “Abbott Elementary.” On Instagram, Brunson shared a larger-than-life congratulatory bouquet sent to the “Abbott” set by Oprah Winfrey, who Brunson portrayed in a 2022 Weird Al Yankovic biopic.
When and where to watch
Fans can catch up on Seasons 1 and 2 of “Abbott Elementary” on Hulu before the new season premieres Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 9 p.m. on ABC. Watch the trailer below:
Colman Domingo is set to take on the role of Michael Jackson’s father in an upcoming biopic about the King of Pop.
The West Philly-native actor and Temple University alum will play Joe Jackson, the patriarch and talent manager of the Jackson family, in “Michael,” a film scheduled to premiere next year, Deadline reported.
Joe Jackson, who died in 2018 at the age of 89, was known for “his hard-driving management and often controversial parenting of the Jackson 5,” according to Deadline. The Jackson 5 was the pop group founded in the ’60s that included brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael Jackson, launching the latter into megastardom. Joe Jackson and his wife Katherine had 10 children, including Janet and La Toya Jackson.
Jaafar Jackson, the 27-year-old son of Jermaine, will take on the role of Michael. Fans got a look at Jaafar in the role through a behind-the-scenes image the actor shared last week to Instagram, alluding to the fact that production on the movie would begin this Monday.
“I’m excited to be a part of a film that explores both the complicated soul of the legendary Michael Jackson as well as his impact on music and culture as a global icon,” Domingo said in a statement obtained by Variety. “Not only am I fortunate to have a rich, complex and flawed character to portray in Joe Jackson, but I also have a front row seat for Jaafar’s incredible transformation.”
“Michael,” which was written by three-time Oscar nominee John Logan, will be directed by Antoine Fuqua and produced by Oscar-winner Graham King, along with the coexecutors of the Michael Jackson estate, John Branca and John McClain. The film is scheduled to premiere April 18, 2025.
Domingo’s latest role comes during his successful awards season. Earlier this week, he received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Bayard Rustin — a civil rights leader born in West Chester — in the Netflix film “Rustin.” This is the first Oscar nomination for Domingo, who previously won an Emmy for his role in “Euphoria.” Domingo also has been nominated for Golden Globe, BAFTA, Critics Choice and SAG awards for his work on “Rustin.”
He also starred in the 2023 musical adaptation of “The Color Purple” and can be seen next month in the comedy “Drive-Away Dolls” alongside Margaret Qualley, Beanie Feldstein, Pedro Pascal and Matt Damon.
Following more than 100 days of picketing, and over a month after the end of the writers’ strike, SAG-AFTRA announced on Wednesday that it has reached a deal for a new contract with the studios, effectively ending Hollywood’s monthslong work stoppage at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, November 9.
In an email to members on Wednesday night, SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee said that the new contract “will enable SAG-AFTRA members from every category to build sustainable careers.” SAG-AFTRA is valuing its deal at more than $1 billion, telling members, “we have achieved a deal of extraordinary scope that includes ‘above-pattern’ minimum compensation increases, unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI, and for the first time establishes a streaming participation bonus.”
In their own statement released on Wednesday, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said that the tentative agreement “represents a new paradigm” and “gives SAG-AFTRA the biggest contract-on-contract gains in the history of the union, including the largest increase in minimum wages in the last forty years; a brand new residual for streaming programs; extensive consent and compensation protections in the use of artificial intelligence; and sizable contract increases on items across the board. AMPTP is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement and looks forward to the industry resuming the work of telling great stories.”
Full details of the tentative agreement will be unveiled after the guild sends the terms to its national board for review on Friday, where members will have the opportunity to vote to ratify the contract.
Reactions to the news began pouring in immediately, with both Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass and governor Gavin Newsom offering statements in support. “Those on the line have been the hardest hit during this period and there have been ripple effects throughout our entire city,” Bass wrote. “Now, we must lean in on local production to ensure that our entertainment industry rebounds stronger than ever and our economy is able to get back on its feet.” Newsom said, “actors have been fighting for better wages and the health and pension benefits they deserve,” adding, “I am thankful that we can now get this iconic industry back to work, not only for our writers and actors, but also the more than two million workers who power our world-class entertainment sector.”
Actors are similarly celebrating the tentative deal. Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, and Harris Dickinson learned of the strike’s end at the premiere for their upcoming movie, The Iron Claw, which earned an interim agreement for promotion from the union. “It makes me feel incredible,” Allen said once alerted to the news. “I don’t know the details of the deal but I’m sure that SAG got what we wanted, what they wanted.”
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While screenwriters are busy back at work, film and TV actors remain on picket lines, with the longest strike in their history set to hit 100 days on Saturday after talks broke off with studios. Here’s a look at where things stand, how their stretched-out standoff compares to past strikes, and what happens next.
Inside the actors-studio talks that failed
Hopes were high and leaders of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists were cautiously optimistic when they resumed negotiations on Oct. 2 for the first time since the strike began 2 1/2 months earlier.
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The same group of chief executives from the biggest studios had made a major deal just over a week earlier with striking writers, whose leaders celebrated their gains on many issues actors are also fighting for: long-term pay, consistency of employment and control over the use of artificial intelligence.
But the actors’ talks were tepid, with days off between sessions and no reports of progress. Then studios abruptly ended them on Oct. 11, saying the actors’ demands were exorbitantly expensive and the two sides were too far apart to continue.
“We only met with them a couple of times, Monday, half a day Wednesday, half a day Friday. That was what they were available for,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher told The Associated Press soon after the talks broke off. “Then this past week, it was Monday and a half a day on Wednesday. And then “Bye bye. I’ve never really met people that actually don’t understand what negotiations mean. Why are you walking away from the table?”
Writers Guild and Hollywood studios reach tentative deal to end strike
The studios said the SAG-AFTRA proposals would cost them an untenable $800 million annually. The union said that number was a 60% overestimate.
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Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, one of the executives in on the bargaining sessions, said that at the session that spurred the studios to walk away, the union had asked for a “a subscriber levy unrelated to viewing or success” on every subscriber to streaming services.
“This really broke our momentum unfortunately,” Sarandos told investors on a Netflix earnings call Wednesday.
SAG-AFTRA leaders said it was ridiculous to frame this demand as as though it were a tax on customers, and said it was the executives themselves who wanted to shift from a model based on a show’s popularity to one based on number of subscribers.
“We made big moves in their direction that have just been ignored and not responded to,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director and chief negotiator, told the AP. “We made changes to our AI proposal. We made dramatic changes to what used to be our streaming revenue share proposal,” Crabtree-Ireland said.
What happens next in the actors strike?
The actors are in unscripted territory, with no end in sight. Their union has never been on a strike this long, nor been on strike at all since before many of its members were born. Not even its veteran leaders, like Crabtree-Ireland, with the union for 20 years, have found themselves in quite these circumstances.
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As they did for months before the talks broke off, members and leaders will rally, picket and speak out publicly until the studios signal a willingness to talk again. No one knows how long that will take. SAG-AFTRA says it is willing to resume at any time, but that won’t change its demands.
“I think that they think that we’re going to cower,” Drescher said. “But that’s never going to happen because this is a crossroads and we must stay on course.”
The studio alliance said in a statement after the talks broke off that they had made generous-but-rejected offers in every disputed area. “We hope that SAG-AFTRA will reconsider and return to productive negotiations soon,” the statement said.
The writers did have their own false start with studios that may give some reason for optimism. Their union attempted to restart negotiations with studios in mid-August, more than three months into their strike. Those talks went nowhere, breaking off after a few days. A month later, the studio alliance came calling again. Those talks took off, with most of their demands being met after five marathon days that resulted in a tentative deal that its members would vote to approve almost unanimously.
How did previous actors strikes play out?
Hollywood actors strikes have been less frequent and shorter than those by writers. The Screen Actors Guild (they added the “AFTRA” in a 2011 merger) has gone on strike against film and TV studios only three times in its history.
In each case, emerging technology fueled the dispute. In 1960 — the only previous time actors and writers struck simultaneously — the central issue was actors seeking pay for when their work in film was aired on television, compensation the industry calls residuals. The union, headed by future U.S. President Ronald Reagan, was a smaller and much less formal entity then. The vote to strike took place in the home of actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, the parents of current SAG-AFTRA member and vocal striker Jamie Lee Curtis.
Mid-strike, the actors and studios called a truce so all could attend the Academy Awards — a move forbidden under today’s union rules. Host Bob Hope called the gathering “Hollywood’s most glamorous strike meeting.”
In the end, a compromise was reached where SAG dropped demands for residuals from past films in exchange for a donation to their pension fund, along with a formula for payment when future films aired on TV. Their 42-day work stoppage began and ended all within the span of the much longer writers strike.
U.S. actors join writers on the picket lines
A 1980 strike would be the actors’ longest for film and television until this year. That time, they were seeking payment for their work appearing on home video cassettes and cable TV, along with significant hikes in minimum compensation for roles. A tentative deal was reached with significant gains but major compromises in both areas. Union leadership declared the strike over after 67 days, but many members were unhappy and balked at returning to work. It was nearly a month before leaders could rally enough votes to ratify the deal.
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This time, it was the Emmy Awards that fell in the middle of the strike. The Television Academy held a ceremony, but after a boycott was called, only one acting winner, Powers Boothe, was there to accept his trophy.
Other segments of the actors union have gone on strike too, including several long standoffs over the TV commercials contract. A 2016-2017 strike by the union’s video game voice actors lasted a whopping 11 months. That segment of the union could strike again soon if a new contract deal isn’t reached.
What’s happening to movies and TV shows?
The return of writers has gotten the Hollywood production machine churning again, with rooms full of scribes penning new seasons of shows that had been suspended and film writers finishing scripts. But the finished product will await the end of actors strike, and production will remain suspended many TV shows and dozens of films, including “Wicked,” “Deadpool 3” and “Mission Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 2.”
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The Emmys, whose nominations were announced the same day the actors strike was called, opted to wait for the stars this time and move their ceremony from September to January, though that date could be threatened too.
The Oscars are a long way off in March, but the campaigns to win them are usually well underway by now. With some exceptions _ non-studio productions approved by the union — performers are prohibited from promoting their films at press junkets or on red carpets. Director Martin Scorsese has been giving interviews about his new Oscar contender “ Killers of the Flower Moon.” Star and SAG-AFTRA member Leonardo DiCaprio hasn’t.
Leaders of Hollywood’s writers union declared their nearly five-month-old strike over Tuesday after board members approved a contract agreement with studios.
The governing boards of the eastern and western branches of the Writers Guild of America both voted to accept the deal, and afterward declared that the strike would be over and writers would be free to work starting at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
The writers still have to vote to ratify the contract themselves, but lifting the strike will allow them to work during that process, the Writers Guild told members in an email.
Hollywood actors remain on strike with no talks yet on the horizon.
Hollywood North awaits end to writers strike
A new spirit of optimism animated actors who were picketing Tuesday for the first time since writers reached their tentative deal Sunday night.
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“For a hot second, I really thought that this was going to go on until next year,” said Marissa Cuevas, an actor who has appeared on the TV series “Kung Fu” and “The Big Bang Theory.” “Knowing that at least one of us has gotten a good deal gives a lot of hope that we will also get a good deal.”
Writers’ picket lines have been suspended, but they were encouraged to walk in solidarity with actors, and many were on the lines Tuesday, including “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner, who picketed alongside friend and “ER” actor Noah Wyle as he has throughout the strikes.
“We would never have had the leverage we had if SAG had not gone out,” Weiner said. “They were very brave to do it.”
Striking actors voted to expand their walkout to include the lucrative video game market, a step that could put new pressure on Hollywood studios to make a deal with the performers who provide voices and stunts for games.
Writers Guild and Hollywood studios reach tentative deal to end strike
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists announced the move late Monday, saying that 98% of its members voted to go on strike against video game companies if ongoing negotiations are not successful. The announcement came ahead of more talks planned for Tuesday.
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Acting in video games can include a variety of roles, from voice performances to motion capture work as well as stunts. Video game actors went on strike in 2016 in a work stoppage that lasted nearly a year.
Some of the same issues are at play in the video game negotiations as in the broader actors strike that has shut down Hollywood for months, including wages, safety measures and protections on the use of artificial intelligence. The companies involved include gaming giants Activision, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Take 2 Productions as well as Disney and Warner Bros.? video game divisions.
“It’s time for the video game companies to stop playing games and get serious about reaching an agreement on this contract,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in a statement.
Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for video game producers, said they are “continuing to negotiate in good faith” and have reached tentative agreements on more than half of the proposals on the table.
Lingering impact of the Hollywood writers’ strike
So far this year, U.S. consumers have spent $34.9 billion on video games, consoles and accessories, according to market research group Circana.
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The threat of a video game strike emerged as Hollywood writers were on the verge of getting back to work after months on the picket lines.
The alliance of studios, streaming services and producers has chosen to negotiate only with the writers so far, and has made no overtures yet toward restarting talks with SAG-AFTRA. That will presumably change soon.
SAG-AFTRA leaders have said they will look closely at the writers’ agreement, which includes many of the same issues, but it will not effect their demands.
Associated Press video journalists Leslie Ambriz and Krysta Fauria in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
It’s a classic holiday film tale: small towns, snowflakes and star-crossed lovers.
But this year’s queue of beloved holiday movies may be considerably smaller due to the worldwide shut-down of productions caused by current Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes.
Glitch SPFX is an Ottawa-based special effects company responsible for simulating most of the artificial snow in holiday films produced in the province in the last five years — the majority of those films for American studios and networks.
Now, Glitch SPFX founder Ben Belanger said the company is completely out of work.
“It went from us working on literally three films at the same time in June … and then it was the writers’ strike that seemed like it was going to be nice and short.”
Glitch has been in business for 10 years, but Belanger said the last five have been especially lucrative due to deals with American networks such as the Hallmark Channel, known for pumping out some of the most talked about holiday films each year.
Many of those films have been produced in Canada, with small-town locations in Ontario and British Columbia as well as the nation’s capital Ottawa flourishing with business the past few years.
But due to the strikes this year, the number of holiday films produced in Canada for Hallmark and similar networks will be greatly reduced, experts say — not because of the crews, but actors.
1Development Entertainment Services is an Ottawa-based production company with a focus on holiday, made-for-TV movies. Like Glitch, almost all of the studio’s projects are in collaboration with American unions and networks due to having a larger market and audience size.
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Founder of 1Development, Shane Boucher, said it’s a big deal for networks to have at least one American star in a holiday film. That’s why many companies will likely choose to wait out the actors’ strike instead of working on new projects with an entirely Canadian cast.
“The SAG requirement is usually pretty high. There’s either a level of a Hallmark-known star … that’s going to help drive the viewership, or it’s just an American star that has a really high social media presence. Normally they’re higher than some of your top-level Canadians just because of the reach and the audience.”
Canadian studios will typically opt to hire domestic crews for tax credit purposes, which is more cost-effective.
Picketers carry signs outside Netflix studios on Thursday in Los Angeles. The strike by actors comes more than two months after screenwriters began striking in their bid to get better pay and working conditions.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
Boucher said 1Development will not be one of the companies waiting out the strike and will work with networks to develop their own intellectual property (IP) in the meantime.
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“We’re usually busy servicing production, so that’s kind of the silver lining. It gives us an opportunity,” he said.
Boucher said his goal has always been to grow the film industry in Ottawa since joining 20 years ago. Since work with American unions and networks is currently off the board, he’ll be focusing on smaller projects to fill the gaps.
“My job over the next few weeks to a month is to … work on getting some sort of projects so that we can keep everybody working … regardless of where it comes from.”
ACTRA Toronto executive director Alistair Hepburn said there is a small chance that some holiday film productions will be able to secure an American actor.
SAG-AFTRA is working on an agreement in which independent producers — those not affiliated with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) — will be able to engage the services of a SAG member through a waiver system for the duration of the strike.
“That may be something that we see maybe even more of because they will be filling that gap,” Hepburn said in an interview with Global News.
Hepburn noted that even if Canadian productions are able to hire SAG-AFTRA actors, those projects cannot be distributed by AMPTP companies, such as Netflix or Disney. Instead, independent producers can sell their project’s wares to unaffiliated networks like Hallmark.
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“That is a very clear direction from SAG,” he said.
‘We are the victims here’: SAG-AFTRA president says as Hollywood actors go on strike
Belanger said that he’s fortunate to feel financially secure enough during Glitch’s uncertainty, but that he worries about many of his employees.
“I’m more worried about the guys whose pay cheques I sign. The guys that work for me are looking for whatever other income they can get right now.”
Belanger said that what his company is currently experiencing is similar to the strain felt in the industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which also saw an industry-wide shut-down. A number of Glitch employees left at the time to supplement their income elsewhere, and not all returned.
However, Belanger said many of his staff are enjoying having a break. Though the holidays are still some time away, the summer season is typically the busiest for filming.
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“It’s a bit of an abnormality. They don’t seem to be too worried about it, but we also don’t know when we’re coming back,” he said.
SAG-AFTRA is entering its second week of striking. Hepburn said that he doesn’t know how long the strikes will go on and that doesn’t see a resolution coming soon.
“This is going to have an impact for months, absolutely months,” Hepburn said. “On not just performance, but the entire industry as a whole.”
“The compensation issues include both upfront compensation, the session fees, the money they’re paid when they do the work, and also residuals or royalties that actors, and also writers and directors get paid when product is rerun or reused,” said Los Angeles entertainment lawyer Jonathan Handel in an interview with Global News.
When it comes to streaming, actors are concerned that being on a successful show on services like Netflix or Prime video won’t earn them a higher compensation than one that draws in less buzz.
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“‘Wednesday’ doesn’t pay any higher residual than ‘Tuesday’ as it works,” Handel said, referencing the recent Netflix series produced and partially directed by Tim Burton.
American producer Tom Nunan told Global News that actors are increasingly being paid one lump-sum for their work on streaming services. Now, they want longer relationships with their content — similar to how they have been paid by non-streamers — and to see more transparency with the way that streaming services are measuring success.
The impact of the Hollywood strike on Canada
Before streaming services, “actors would have a movie or TV show premiere and then get paid for that one thing and then it would be on cable systems or on demand… and they would continue to have what we call residual relationships with the content financially,” Nunan said.
“Now in the streaming era, you get paid once and that’s all you get paid.”
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Attending a photo event on Wednesday, film star Matt Damon said that while everyone was hoping a strike could be averted, many actors need a fair contract to survive.
“We ought to protect the people who are kind of on the margins,” Damon told The Associated Press. “And 26,000 bucks a year is what you have to make to get your health insurance. And there are a lot of people whose residual payments are what carry them across that threshold… And that’s absolutely unacceptable. We can’t have that.”
Actor Rosario Dawson attends a rally by striking writers and actors outside Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, Calif. on Friday, July 14, 2023.(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill).
Actor Jac Cheairs and his son Wyatt, 11, take part in a rally by striking writers and actors outside Netflix studio in Los Angeles on Friday, July 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello).
Actor Dermot Mulroney takes part in a rally by striking writers and actors outside Netflix studio in Los Angeles on Friday, July 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello).
Actor Jason Sudeikis, center, walk a picket line with striking writers and actors, Friday, July 14, 2023 at NBC Universal Studios in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews).
Actors and comedians Tina Fey, second from right, and Fred Armisen, second from left, join striking members of the Writers Guild of America on the picket line during a rally outside Silvercup Studios, Tuesday May 9, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews).
Another key issue in the strike is the use of artificial intelligence — or AI. Computer generated imagery (CGI) is already widely used in the industry to simulate crowds or audiences, for example.
But as the digital age advances, studios have started to explore ways to convincingly replicate actors’ voices and faces. Early rumblings of ‘deepfakes’ already exist, where AI is used to make images of fake events or make appear that someone is saying something they didn’t.
Handel says that the industry generally holds two schools of thought on the matter. Some actors say they don’t have an issue with studios reproducing their likeness with AI, but they want to be compensated by studios. Others take issue with the use of AI entirely for authenticity purposes.
“It’s a compromise between both sides of the table… but I think the unions are most likely to take the first position: that as long as there’s compensation that would be satisfactory,” Handel said.
Nunan says he doesn’t think there is a large risk of Canadians’ favourite A-listers having their likeness replicated without their consent. Rather, lesser-known actors are more likely to have their features replicated without being aware because they don’t have the same protections through lawyers, agents and managers.
Hollywood actors join screenwriters on strike: ‘We are being victimized by a very greedy entity’
With actors and writers stepping away from U.S. productions, Handel says audiences may have to brace themselves for slightly different content for the time being. Reality television will be emphasized, he says, along with sports.
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There’s also an opportunity for foreign content with actors and writers who are not part of the striking unions.
“Some companies, Netflix in particular, have proved very adept at creating content overseas and getting Americans to watch it. You know, “Squid Game,” for example. Netflix managed to do something that no one thought was possible, which is to get Americans to watch foreign content.”
Nunan, on the other hand, does not see foreign content now dominating screens, but it “could be promoted more heavily,” he says.
The actors’ guild released a statement early Thursday announcing that its deadline for negotiations to conclude had ended without a contract.
BIV: Impact of Hollywood strikes on B.C. film industry
“The companies have refused to meaningfully engage on some topics and on others completely stonewalled us. Until they do negotiate in good faith, we cannot begin to reach a deal,” said Fran Drescher, the star of “The Nanny” who is now the actors’ guild president.
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Members of the Writers Guild of America have been on strike since early May, slowing the production of film and television series on both coasts and in production centres like Atlanta.
Handel said the dual actors’ and writers’ strike is a “win” for studios because “they’re not spending money on production.”
With files from the Associated Press and Global News’ Reggie Cecchini.
Negotiators for the SAG-AFTRA actors union agreed late Tuesday to call in a federal mediator to try to forge a last-minute agreement with Hollywood studios and avoid a second simultaneous strike in the entertainment business.
The 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA, Hollywood’s largest union, have authorized a strike if a new labor deal cannot be reached before midnight on Wednesday. The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since early May.
In a statement late on Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA said it was sticking with the Wednesday deadline and would “exhaust every possible opportunity to make a deal.”
“However we are not confident that the employers have any intention of bargaining toward an agreement,” the statement said.
SAG-AFTRA is demanding higher compensation in the streaming TV era plus safeguards around the use of artificial intelligence (AI). A-list stars including Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep have said they are ready to walk off the job if union leaders cannot reach a “transformative deal.”
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Writer shares experience picketing at Paramount Studios during strike
On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA said the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the group that negotiates on behalf of studios, “has abused our trust and damaged the respect we have for them in this process.”
The union said studio sources had leaked the request for a mediator to the press before SAG-AFTRA negotiators were informed.
“We will not be manipulated by this cynical ploy to engineer an extension when the companies have had more than enough time to make a fair deal,” the union said.
A spokesman for the AMPTP, which represents Walt Disney Co , Netflix Inc and other major studios, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Negotiations were taking place at a difficult time for media companies that are under pressure from Wall Street to make their streaming businesses profitable.
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Disney, Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal and Paramount Global each lost hundreds of millions of dollars from streaming in the most recent quarter. The rise of streaming has also eroded television ad revenue as traditional TV audiences shrink.
After a cheating scandal in their 10th season left viewers reeling, the cast members of reality show Vanderpump Rules reunited this week to air grievances, defend their decisions, and hopefully provide some sort of conclusion for their fans. Many longtime viewers have made up their minds and taken sides, and there are some things you might want to avoid saying to one of them.
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