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Washington Square Films
Washington Square Films (WSF) is an American production and management company based in New York City and Los Angeles. It was founded in 1995 by Joshua Blum. History The company's debut project was '' United States of Poetry'', a five-part series for PBS, created and produced by Joshua Blum and Bob Holman and directed by Mark Pellington. The program featured sixty poets performing in stylized poetry videos, including Paul Beatty, Joseph Brodsky, Jimmy Carter, Sandra Cisneros, Leonard Cohen, Rita Dove, Allen Ginsberg, Czesław Miłosz, Lou Reed, Johnny Depp, and Amiri Baraka. The series was accompanied by a book of the same name published by Abrams Books and a soundtrack album from Mercury Records. The USOP also produced a live touring component, which was booked and managed by Kathleen Russo and Mary Shimkin. In 1996, Russo and Shimkin joined Washington Square Films to book and manage performers and spoken word acts, naming the division Washington Square Arts. The roster includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joshua Blum
Joshua Blum is an American film, television, commercial, and theater producer based in New York City. He established Washington Square Films (WSF), a production and management company based in New York and Los Angeles, in 1995. Career At Washington Square Films, Blum created and produced the company's debut project, ''The United States of Poetry'' (''USOP''), a five-part series for PBS, together with Bob Holman. The ''United States of Poetry'' was directed by Mark Pellington. The program featured 60 poets performing in stylized poetry videos. Joshua Blum has served as Producer or Executive Producer for Steven Soderbergh, Abel Ferrara,Sally Potter, and Pedro Almodóvar. Blum has also produced the early work of J. C. Chandor, Kelly Reichardt, and Alex Ross Perry. In 2023, Washington Square Films produced a live musical based on the 1972 Jamaican film ''The Harder They Come'', with music by Jimmy Cliff and a book and additional songs by Suzan-Lori Parks. The musical was developed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spalding Gray
Spalding Gray (June 5, 1941 – ) was an American actor, novelist, playwright, screenwriter and performance artist. He is best known for the autobiographical monologues that he wrote and performed for the theater in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as for his film adaptations of these works, beginning in 1987. He wrote and starred in several, working with different directors. Theater critics John Willis and Ben Hodges called Gray's monologues "trenchant, personal narratives delivered on sparse, unadorned sets with a dry, WASP, quiet mania." Gray achieved renown for his monologue '' Swimming to Cambodia'', which he adapted as a 1987 film in which he starred; it was directed by Jonathan Demme. Other of his monologues that he adapted for film were '' Monster in a Box'' (1991), directed by Nick Broomfield, and ''Gray's Anatomy'' (1996), directed by Steven Soderbergh. Gray died by suicide at the age of 62 after jumping into New York Harbor on January 11, 2004. He had been struggling w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sally Potter
Charlotte Sally Potter (born 19 September 1949) is an English film director and screenwriter. She directed '' Orlando'' (1992), which won the audience prize for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival. Early life Potter was born and raised in London. Her mother was a music teacher and her father was an interior designer and a poet. Her younger brother Nic became the bassist for the rock group Van der Graaf Generator. When asked about her background, which influenced her work as a filmmaker, she responded, "I came from an atheist background and an anarchist background, which meant that I grew up in an environment that was full of questions, where nothing could be taken for granted." When asked about what she learned about filmmaking from pursuing it as a seventeen-year-old woman in the UK during the 60s, Potter laughed.You know, most kinds of securities are illusions, and we need to kind of duck and weave as filmmakers, go with the flow, go where the harvest is. ..I knew very ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abel Ferrara
Abel Ferrara (; born July 19, 1951) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for the provocative and often controversial content in his movies and his use and redefinition of neo-noir imagery. A long-time independent filmmaker, some of his best known movies include the New York-set, gritty crime thrillers '' The Driller Killer'' (1979), '' Ms .45'' (1981), '' King of New York'' (1990), '' Bad Lieutenant'' (1992), and '' The Funeral'' (1996), chronicling violent crime in urban settings with spiritual overtones. Ferrara also worked in a wide array of genres, including the sci-fi remake ''Body Snatchers'' (1993), cyberpunk thriller '' New Rose Hotel'' (1998), the religious drama ''Mary'' (2005), the black comedy '' Go Go Tales'' (2007), and the biopic ''Pasolini'' (2014), as well as in several documentary filmmaking projects. Early life Ferrara was born in the Bronx of Italian and Irish descent. He was raised Catholic, which influenced much of his work. At 8 years old, he mov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh ( ; born January 14, 1963) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. A pioneer of modern Independent film, independent cinema, Soderbergh later drew acclaim for formally inventive films made within the studio system. Soderbergh's directorial breakthrough, the indie drama ''Sex, Lies, and Videotape'' (1989), lifted him into the public spotlight as a notable presence in the film industry. At 26, Soderbergh became the youngest solo director to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and the film garnered worldwide commercial success, as well as Sex, Lies, and Videotape#Accolades, numerous accolades. His next five films, including the critically lauded King of the Hill (1993 film), ''King of the Hill'' (1993), found limited commercial success. He pivoted into more mainstream fare with the crime comedy ''Out of Sight'' (1998), the biopic ''Erin Brockovich (film), Erin Brockovich'' (2000) and the crime drama ''T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alex Désert
Alex Désert is an American actor and musician, known for his roles in the TV series ''The Flash'', '' The Heights'' with Jamie Walters, ''Becker'' with Ted Danson, and Mr. Williams on ''Boy Meets World'', as well as the voice of Nick Fury for '' The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes'' and '' Wolverine and the X-Men''. Désert has been seen in '' Mom'' and ''Grey's Anatomy''. Other television credits include '' Tyler Perry's House of Payne'', ''House'', ''A League of Their Own'', ''Reno 911!'', and ''The Sarah Silverman Program''. In 2020, he started voicing Carl Carlson and Lou on ''The Simpsons'', replacing Hank Azaria. Career His motion picture credits include the independent hit '' Swingers'', '' Playing God'', ''High Fidelity'', ''Bob Funk'' and '' PCU'' with Jeremy Piven, David Spade and Jon Favreau, and '' Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day'', from Disney Studios. Désert has lent his voice to various animated series and video games, including ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adepero Oduye
Adepero Oduye ( ) is an American actress, director, singer, and writer. She is known for '' Pariah'' (2011), '' 12 Years a Slave'' (2013), '' The Big Short'' (2015), and ''Widows'' (2018). Life and career Adepero Oduye was born in Brooklyn, New York, one of seven children of Nigerian parents. Although she graduated pre-med from Cornell University, she decided to pursue her passion for acting upon graduation.Adepero Oduye- Biography , Oduye's breakout role came in 2011 when she starred in ' critically acclaimed and award-winning independent film '' [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Rasuk
Victor Rasuk (born January 15, 1984) is an American actor. Early life Rasuk grew up in New York City. He is the son of Dominican parents. His mother worked as a seamstress, and his father at an auto shop. He has one brother, actor Silvestre Rasuk, with whom he starred in '' Raising Victor Vargas''. Rasuk attended performing arts school as a teenager, and began acting at 14. Career Rasuk landed his first film role in the Peter Sollett-directed short film ''Five Feet High and Rising''. Two years later, Sollett suggested expanding the short film into a feature-length film, '' Raising Victor Vargas'', which earned Rasuk a nomination for Best Debut Performance at the 19th Independent Spirit Awards. In his next film, ''Rock Steady'', he played a character named Roc. Two years later, he took a leading role in '' Haven''. Rasuk portrayed skateboarder Tony Alva in the 2005 biographical drama film ''Lords of Dogtown''. The part included surfing and performing skateboarding tricks. Alth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarita Choudhury
Sarita Catherine Louise Choudhury (born August 18, 1966) is a British actress. She made her screen debut starring in the romantic drama film ''Mississippi Masala'' (1991). She later appeared in American and international film productions, including ''A Perfect Murder'' (1998), ''Restless (1998 film), Restless'' (1998), ''She Hate Me'' (2004), ''The War Within (film), The War Within'' (2005), ''Lady in the Water'' (2006), ''Midnight's Children (film), Midnight's Children'' (2012), ''The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1'' (2014) and ''The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2'' (2015), ''A Hologram for the King (film), A Hologram for the King'' (2016), and ''The Green Knight (film), The Green Knight'' (2021). Choudhury played the leading roles in a number of films, most notably the experimental film ''Fresh Kill'' (1994), the historical erotic romance ''Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love'' (1996), the drama ''For Real (film), For Real'' (2009), and the supernatural horror film ''Evil Eye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dulé Hill
Karim Dulé Hill (; born May 3, 1975) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as personal presidential aide and Deputy Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff Charlie Young on the NBC drama television series ''The West Wing'', for which he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, and pharmaceutical salesman–private detective Burton "Gus" Guster on the USA Network television comedy-drama ''Psych''. He also had minor roles in the movies '' Holes'', ''The Guardian'', and '' She's All That'' and a recurring role on '' Ballers''. He joined the cast of '' Suits'' for the last 2 seasons, and played patriarch Bill Williams in the 2021 remake of ''The Wonder Years''. Hill also serves as a member of the SAG-AFTRA Board of Directors. Early life Hill was born in Orange, New Jersey, to Jamaican parents and was raised in Sayreville, New Jersey. He studied ballet at a young age, and appeared in the musical ''The Tap Dance Kid'' as Savion Gl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kerry Washington
Kerry Marisa Washington (born January 31, 1977) SidebarCertificate of Live Birth: Isabelle Amarachi Asomugha(County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health). Gives Kerry Washington birth dateArchivedfrom the original on May 2, 2016.Note: FilmReference.com states "Born January 5, 1977 (some sources cite 1975)...." at is an American actress. She has received List of awards and nominations received by Kerry Washington, several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award as well as nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Awards, Tony Award. She was included in ''Time (magazine), ''Times'' Time 100, 100 list of most influential people in 2014, and ''Forbes'' named her the eighth highest-paid television actress in 2018. Washington gained wide recognition for starring as Spin (public relations), crisis management expert Olivia Pope in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC drama series ''Scandal (TV series), Scandal'' (2012–2018). For her role, she was twice nominated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandra Bernhard
Sandra Bernhard (born June 6, 1955) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy, where she often critiqued celebrity culture and political figures. Bernhard is also well known as the ex-best friend of Madonna. She played Nancy Bartlett Thomas on the ABC sitcom ''Roseanne'' from the fourth season (1991) to the end of the show in 1997. She played Masha in Martin Scorsese’s film '' The King of Comedy'', Nurse Judy Kubrak in the FX drama series '' Pose'', and Nurse Cecily on the Apple TV+ series '' Severance''. She is number 96 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest stand-ups of all time. Early life Bernhard was born June 6, 1955, in Flint, Michigan, the daughter of Jeanette (née LaZebnik; 1921–2014) and proctologist Jerome Bernhard (1922–2025). She was raised Conservative Jewish. She has three older brothers: Dan, David, and Mark. Her family moved to Scottsdale, Arizona when she was 10. She att ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
