Crash Bios (pdf document) free file download at fliiby.com

"DENNIS HOPPER, BEN CENDARS Film icon Dennis Hopper heads the cast of “Crash,” a Starz original drama series inspired by the Oscar-winning movie. Hopper plays maverick record producer Ben Cendars, a volatile figure whose fight to remain relevant is made more difficult by his self-destructive tendencies. An acclaimed actor and filmmaker with an iconic and distinctly American voice, Hopper has been twice nominated for an Academy Award: as Best Supporting Actor for his role as an alcoholic father who gets sober to coach his son’s basketball team in Hoosiers, and for Best Original Screenplay of the counter-culture road movie Easy Rider, a film he directed, starred in, and cowrote with Peter Fonda and Terry Southern. Hopper was born in Dodge City, Kansas, and grew up in San Diego, California. He made a lasting impression as a teenager with his performance in Nicholas Ray’s classic Rebel Without a Cause, opposite James Dean and Natalie Wood, quickly following that with an equally revelatory performance in George Stevens’ epic Giant. Relocating to New York City where he studied with Lee Strasberg, Hopper starred in such television n shows as “The Rifleman,” “Naked City,” and “The Twilight Zone.” Returning to Hollywood, Hopper forever changed the face of American cinema with the 1969 film Easy Rider. The movie, made for $350,000, went on to gross in excess of $50 million and garnered Hopper the Best New Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Since Easy Rider, Hopper has been a familiar presence both in front of and behind the camera for more than three decades. He has been in over 140 television shows and has starred in more than 150 films including most notably Apocalypse Now, Blue Velvet, River’s Edge, Hoosiers, The Indian Runner, True Romance, Speed, Waterworld, Basquiat, and Edtv. He received Golden Globe nominations for his roles in Hoosiers and as Frank Booth in David Lynch’s now-classic Blue Velvet. In 2008 alone, Hopper is appearing in such films as Sleepwalking with Charlize Theron; Quentin Tarantino’s Hell Ride; Elegy with Penelope Cruz (scheduled to open in August); Kevin Costner’s Swing Vote with Kelsey Grammer; and Wim Wenders’s The Palermo Shooting. Other recent film projects for Hopper include the upcoming adventure comedy Alpha and Omega, in which he stars with Hayden Panettiere and Christina Ricci; comedy An American Carol with Kelsey Grammer; and horror thriller Forever with Edward Furlong. Hopper received the prestigious CIDALC award at the Venice Film Festival for the movie-industry feature The Last Movie, which he directed, co-wrote, and starred in. He also directed the gang-war crime drama Colors, starring Sean Penn and Robert Duvall; action thriller Catchfire, in which he starred with Jodie Foster; and crime drama The Hot Spot, starring Don Johnson and Virginia Madsen. Hopper bio/2 On television, Hopper has appeared on HBO’s Emmy award-winning “Entourage,” as well as on the acclaimed series “24”; “Las Vegas” with James Caan; the USA Networks feature The Last Ride; received an Emmy nomination for starring in Paris Trout; and he co-starred opposite Benjamin Bratt in the Jerry Bruckheimer/Warner TV produced NBC series “E-Ring,” during 20052006. In addition to acting and directing, Hopper is an internationally known photographer and painter, with retrospective exhibitions in 2001 at the Stedlejik Museum in Amsterdam and The MAK in Vienna. The most important exhibition of his artistic career was in 2007 at The State Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, with a photographic exhibition following at The Manege in Moscow, Russia. He is currently working on an extensive film and art retrospective with La Cinematheque Francaisin Paris set to open October 13th, 2008. Hopper is married to Victoria Duffy, who gave birth to their first child, daughter Galen, in March 2003. Hopper remains close to his three other children from previous marriages: Marin, Ruthanna and Henry. “Crash” is the first original drama series from Starz Entertainment, co-produced with Lionsgate. GLEN MAZZARA, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Glen Mazzara is writer/executive producer of “Crash,” a Starz original drama series inspired by the 2006 Oscar-winning film, but with all new characters and storylines. Previously as writer/executive producer of “The Shield,” the 2003 Golden Globe® winner for Best Television Drama, Mazzara was a member of the core writing staff of that groundbreaking police drama for six seasons, ending in 2006. He has also written for “Life,” for which he served as coexecutive producer during 2007; “Standoff,” where he was executive producer during 2006; and “Nash Bridges,” where he was a writer and story editor. Mazzara was born in Manhattan and raised in Queens, New York. He developed an interest in writing at an early age, and went on to attend NYU, where he earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English. His first success as a writer came in 1994, when his one-act play, My Father Hates the Rain, was performed at Brown University's George Houston Bass Play-Rites Festival. Before beginning his career in Hollywood, Mazzara spent 13 years as a hospital administrator in New York City. In 1998, he left the hospital for a friend’s couch in Los Angeles, determined to become a film and television writer. He soon sold freelance scripts to the syndicated series “Big Wolf on Campus” and to CBS’s “Nash Bridges,” which led to two years on staff at that show. In addition to executive producing “Crash,” Mazzara is currently writing the feature film Hater for Universal Pictures and producers Guillermo Del Toro and Mark Johnson. He has also written the feature film Quiet Soldier for Andell Entertainment. He is a contributing editor to Written By magazine. Mazzara lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three sons. “Crash” is the first original drama series from Starz Entertainment, co-produced with Lionsgate. BOBBY MORESCO, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Bobby Moresco is an executive producer of “Crash,” a Starz original drama series inspired by the Oscar®-winning film. Moresco co-wrote and was a producer on Crash. Before becoming an Academy Award®-winning writer, Moresco started out as an actor in New York City. In 1978, he moved to Los Angeles where he continued his theatre company, The Actor’s Gym. Since then, Moresco has written, produced, and/or directed over 35 theatrical productions. Currently, he has several high-profile projects in various stages of production. Moresco co-wrote and produced the drama Crash, directed by Paul Haggis, featuring an ensemble cast including Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Ryan Phillipe, Thandie Newton, and Ludacris. It was released by Lions Gate Films on May 6, 2005. In 2006, at the 78th Academy Awards®, Moresco and Haggis were awarded an Oscar for co-writing the film. In addition to winning in the Original Screenplay category, Crash won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Achievement in Editing. It also received WGA, BAFTA and Critic’s Choice awards. Moresco co-created and executive produced the NBC television series, “The Black Donnellys.” The drama is loosely based on characters from the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City, where Moresco was born and raised. Moresco’s motion-picture directorial debut, 10th & Wolf, a coming-of-age gangster drama set in the ‘80s, was released in 2006. The movie starred James Marsden, Giovanni Ribisi, Piper Perabo, Brad Renfro, Lesley Ann Warren, Brian Dennehy and Val Kilmer. Born in New York City in 1951, Moresco was raised in the Hell’s Kitchen district of Manhattan. After completing only one term in high school, Moresco decided it wasn’t the path he wanted to follow and hit the streets doing odd jobs for most of his adolescence. Things changed at 18 when a patron of the bar where he worked advised him to pursue a career in the theatre. Soon after, he began studying acting with the widely respected Wynn Handman and Peggy Fuery, founders of The American Place Theatre and Loft Theatre, respectively. With classes under his belt, Moresco opened The Actor’s Gym in New York and then moved the company to Los Angeles in 1978. Throughout the ‘90s, Moresco focused much of his time creating, writing, and producing television projects which included “Millennium,” earning him a Genesis Award, and “EZ Streets,” which he wrote and co-produced, and which won the Viewers for Quality Television Award for best program of the year. He co-created and executive produced the critically acclaimed series “Falcone,” which was based on the movie Donnie Brasco and was nominated for two Emmy Awards. Moresco bio/2 Moresco’s other projects include Million Dollar Baby, the 2005 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, which he co-produced and developed with Paul Haggis, as well as the films Heat (for Walden Media) and Rule of Nines, which are both in development. He is currently in postproduction on the coming-of-age film The Kings of Appleton, starring Dylan and Cole Sprouse of Disney’s “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” fame. Moresco is married with two daughters and lives in Los Angeles. “Crash” is the first original drama series from Starz Entertainment, co-produced with Lionsgate. PAUL HAGGIS, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Paul Haggis is an executive producer of “Crash,” a Starz original drama series inspired by the Oscar-winning film. A director, writer, and producer, Haggis is the award-winning filmmaker who, in 2006, became the first screenwriter to write two Best Picture Oscar winners back-to-back--Million Dollar Baby (2004) directed by Clint Eastwood, and Crash (2005) which he himself directed. For Crash, he won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. The film also received a Best Editing win, and three additional nominations, including one for Haggis’ direction. Crash reaped numerous awards during its year of release from associations such as the IFP Spirit Awards, the Screen Actors Guild, and BAFTA. In 2006, Haggis’s screenplay collaborations included the duo Clint Eastwood productions, Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, the latter earning him his third screenplay Oscar nomination. He also helped pen Casino Royale, which garnered considerable acclaim for reinvigorating the James Bond spy franchise, and has written the screenplay for the next Bond production, Quantum of Solace. Haggis’s directorial follow-up to Crash was In the Valley of Elah, which he wrote, directed, and produced, for Warner Independent Pictures. The film, which starred Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and Susan Sarandon, was a suspense drama of a father’s search for his missing son, who is reported AWOL after returning from Iraq. Jones earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance. Most recently, Haggis and his partner Michael Nozik formed Hwy 61 Films, based at United Artists. Their first venture is an adaptation of the celebrated Australian novel The Ranger’s Apprentice. Haggis was born in London, Ontario, Canada and moved to California in his early 20s. For over two decades he has written, directed, and produced television shows such as “thirtysomething” and “The Tracey Ullman Show,” and also developed credits as a pup writer on many Norman Lear sitcoms. He created the acclaimed, if short-lived, CBS series “EZ Streets” which The New York Times cited as one of the most influential shows of all time, noting that without it “there would be no Sopranos.” Haggis is equally committed to his private and social concerns. He is co-founder of Artists for Peace and Justice and a working board member of EMA (The Environmental Media Association) as well as the advocacy group Office Of The Americas, among others. He is married, the father of four children, and splits his time between residences in Los Angeles and New York. “Crash” is the first original drama series from Starz Entertainment, co-produced with Lionsgate. DON CHEADLE, CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Don Cheadle is a co-executive producer of “Crash,” a Starz original drama series inspired by the Oscar®-winning film. Cheadle starred in Crash and was also a producer of the movie. Cheadle is currently working on a film based on the life of jazz legend Miles Davis, and he has just wrapped Traitor, an international thriller from Overture Films, set in the world of covert counterterrorism operations, in which he will star opposite Guy Pearce. Cheadle is awaiting the 2009 release of Hotel For Dogs, directed by Thor Freudenthal. Since being named Best Supporting Actor by the Los Angeles Film Critics for his breakout performance opposite Denzel Washington in Devil in a Blue Dress, Cheadle has turned in powerful performances in such notable films as Talk To Me, directed by Kasi Lemmons; Hotel Rwanda, which won him Academy Award®, Golden Globe Award, Broadcast Film Critics Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Actor; Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve, and Ocean’s Thirteen, directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney; Mike Binder’s Reign Over Me with Adam Sandler; Brett Ratner’s After the Sunset with Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek; The Assassination of Richard Nixon with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn; the Academy Award-winning Traffic and the George Clooney/Jennifer Lopez-starrer Out of Sight, both also directed by Soderbergh; Paul Thomas Anderson’s critically acclaimed Boogie Nights with Julianne Moore and Mark Wahlberg; Volcano with Tommy Lee Jones; Bulworth, directed by and starring Warren Beatty; Swordfish co-starring John Travolta and Halle Berry; Mission to Mars with Tim Robbins and Gary Sinise; and John Singleton’s Rosewood. Cheadle won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary for 2007’s Darfur Now. He has also appeared The Family Man, directed by Brett Ratner; The United States of Leland, starring Ryan Gosling and Kevin Spacey; Allison Anders’ Things Behind the Sun; Dennis Hopper’s Colors; John Irvin’s Hamburger Hill; and Robert Townsend’s Meteor Man. On television, Cheadle has received a Golden Globe Award for his portrayal of Sammy Davis Jr. in HBO’s The Rat Pack. He received an Emmy nomination for his starring role in HBO’s adaptation of the best-selling novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. He also starred for HBO in Rebound: The Legend of Earl “The Goat” Manigault, directed by Eriq La Salle. Known for his twoyear stint on David E. Kelley’s “Picket Fences,” Cheadle’s other series include a guest starring role on “ER” (a performance that earned him yet another Emmy nomination); a series regular role on “The Golden Palace”; recurring roles on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and “Fame;” and the live CBS television broadcast of Fail Safe. Cheadle bio/2 An accomplished stage actor, Cheadle originated the role of Booth in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play Top Dog Underdog at New York’s Public Theatre. His other stage credits include Leon, Lena and Lenz at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis; The Grapes of Wrath and Liquid Skin at the Mixed Blood Theater in Minneapolis; Cymbeline at The New York Shakespeare Festival; ‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore at Chicago’s Goodman Theater; and Athol Fugard’s Blood Knot at The Complex Theater in Hollywood. Cheadle directed Cincinnati Man at the Attic Theater; the critically acclaimed The Trip at Friends and Artists Theater in Hollywood; and Three, True, One at the electric Lodge in Venice, California. A talented musician, Cheadle was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Spoken Word Album for his narration/dramatization of the Walter Mosley novel Fear Itself. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Cheadle earned a bachelor’s degree at the California Institute of the Arts. He resides in Los Angeles. “Crash” is the first original drama series from Starz Entertainment, co-produced with Lionsgate. TOM NUNAN, CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Tom Nunan is a co-executive producer of “Crash,” a Starz original drama series inspired by the Oscar®-winning film. Nunan is the founding partner in Bull’s Eye Entertainment, an independent television and film production company which produced the independent feature film Crash, winner of the 2006 Academy Award® for Best Picture, along with two other Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing. The company produced 2006’s independent smash, The Illusionist, which starred Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Rufus Sewell, and Jessica Biel. Bull’s Eye produced the 2006 comedy Employee of the Month and Sundance indie darling Thumbsucker, starring Keanu Reeves, Vince Vaughn, Tilda Swinton, and Benjamin Bratt. Nunan is also producing Your Presents Required, a TV movie for ABC Family that stars Melissa Joan Hart. The company’s first dramatic series, “Angela’s Eyes,” premiered on the Lifetime cable network in 2006. Created by Dan McDermott, the series starred ingénue Abigail Spencer. It was a coproduction between Bull’s Eye and NBC Universal Television. During its overall deal with Sony Pictures TV, Bull’s Eye produced two comedy pilots for CBS: “All Grown Up” and “The Papdits,” the second of which was created by Anthony Hines, Oscar nominated for the screenplay Borat. Prior to forming Bull’s Eye, Nunan was president of UPN, the fifth largest broadcast network in the United States. While running programming and marketing for UPN, Nunan was also nominated to the board of the Hollywood Radio & Television Society, the industry’s largest and longest running philanthropic organization. Shortly after joining the board, Nunan was made vice president, then president. He was responsible for high-profile events featuring Ted Turner, Mel Karmazin, George Stephanopoulos, Larry King, Colin Powell, and Hillary Clinton. Nunan has held prominent positions at the other networks as well, running NBC Studio’s prime time production; heading the FOX Network’s prime time and late night efforts after having run its comedy division; and being the lead executive in charge of two-hour movies at the ABC Network. During his tenure as a network executive, Nunan developed such hit shows as “Will & Grace,” “Profiler,” “The Pretender,” “Martin,” “Living Single,” “King of the Hill,” “Mad TV,” “Malcolm in the Middle,” “The Bachelor,” and “The Dead Zone.” Nunan bio/2 Nunan began his career at Guber/Peters TV as director of TV long form; was senior vice president of TV drama production at Fries Entertainment; and then joined Weintraub Entertainment Group, where he ran that company’s TV drama slate. A graduate of UCLA’s Motion Picture and TV School, Nunan currently resides in Venice Beach, CA. He continues his relationship with UCLA by teaching a TV development and production course once a year for the Graduate Producer’s Program, in association with the Anderson MBA School. “Crash” is the first original drama series from Starz Entertainment, co-produced with Lionsgate. ..."

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