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With Vikings nearing the end of its run, star Katheryn Winnick has booked her next series. She has signed on as a lead opposite Ryan Phillippe in The Big Sky, ABC’s straight-to-series drama created and executive produced by David E. Kelley.
Read More…Tracee Ellis Ross wins NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for 'Blackish' and Harold Perrineau Wins NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for 'Claws.'
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Jon Prasida (Hiding), Shannon Dang (The L Word) and Eddie Liu (Silicon Valley) have been cast as series regulars in the CW pilot Kung Fu, a reimagining with a female lead of the 1970s David Carradine-starring TV series. It hails from Christina M. Kim, Martin Gero, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Warner Bros. TV.
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Thank you to The Academy for including Bill Esper in the official Oscars 2020 In Memoriam Honors
Read More…Margarita Levieva is set to headline In From the Cold, an international spy thriller drama with a supernatural bent, which has received an eight-episode series order by Netflix.
Read More…Sam Rockwell snagged the best actor award in a TV movie or television miniseries at the 26th annual SAG Awards on Sunday night. The actor, who portrays legendary Broadway choreographer and director Bob Fosse in Fosse/Verdon, prevailed over fellow nominees Mahershala Ali, Russell Crowe, Jared Harris and Jharrel Jerome.
Read More…Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline, Ready Player One) plays Ralph Anderson, the “seasoned cop” who takes on the case. He’s joined by Cynthia Erivo as private investigator Holly Gibney, Bill Camp (The Night Of) as Howie Gold, Mare Winningham as Jeannie Anderson, Paddy Considine as Claude Bolton, Julianne Nicholson as Glory Maitland, Yul Vázquez (Treme) as Yunis Sablo, Jeremy Bobb as Alec Pelley, Marc Menchaca as Jack Hoskins, Hettienne Park as Tomika Collins, Michael Esper as Bill Samuels, Derek Cecil as Andy Katcavage, and Max Beesley (Strike Back) as Seale Bolton.
Read More…Kathy Bates has been nominated for a best supporting actress Academy Award for her role as Bobi Jewell in the Atlanta-filmed drama “Richard Jewell.” Bates’ performance also earned her a Golden Globes award nomination...
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Terho will portray Harry, an emotionally uncomplicated, promiscuous player who has always left a string of broken hearts in his wake. Under the surface, Harry actually yearns for love, family and stability, but the thought of commitment still terrifies him.
Read More…Ramy Youssef on Sunday took home the first award of the night at the Golden Globes — best actor in a comedy or musical television series — for his role on the Hulu series Ramy. It was the creator and star's first Golden Globe nomination.
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Ramy Yousseff receives Critics’ Choice nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. He has also received a nomination for Best Comedy Special. Alongside these two nominations, he has also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical. Ramy Youssef, co-creator of the comedy “Ramy,” has been nominated for his lead performance in Hulu’s breakthrough series about an Egyptian American millennial. The New Jersey-based character, whose life is loosely based on Youssef’s, grapples with his Muslim faith while navigating sex, dating and relationships.
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Amy Schumer and Ramy Yousseff both received Critics’ Choice nominations for Best Comedy Special. Amy Schumer’s ‘Growing’ can be seen on Netflix and Ramy Youssef’s ‘Feelings’ can be seen on HBO. For the full list of Critics Choice Nominations, you can click...
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Ramy Youssef, co-creator of the comedy “Ramy,” has been nominated for his lead performance in Hulu’s breakthrough series about an Egyptian American millennial. The New Jersey-based character, whose life is loosely based on Youssef’s, grapples with his Muslim faith while navigating sex, dating and relationships.
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We’ll be seeing more of Uncle Naseem in Hulu’s Ramy. Laith Nakli, who recurred as the character opposite Ramy Youssef in season 1, has been promoted to series regular for the upcoming second season.
Ramy’s Uncle Naseem (Nakli) is a loud, opinionated, misogynist who owns a successful diamond store in New York, where he gives Ramy a job in hopes of teaching him to “be a man”. Charismatic in his own horrible way, Uncle Naseem has the strength of his convictions and isn’t afraid to stand up (or get beaten up) when he sees something that he feels is wrong.
Girls Trip and Black Monday star Regina Hall has set her latest project with Amazon Studios. The actress and comedian will serve as executive producer well as star in Master, an occult drama written and to be directed by Mariama Diallo. The film follows two African American women at a predominantly white college in Massachusetts – one head of students (aka Master) and one a freshman – who start to experience haunting activities ingrained in the history of the school.
Read More…Black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross is set to star in and executive produce adult animated comedy Jodie, the first in a series of spinoffs based on MTV’s iconic Daria franchise. Ross will voice the title character, Jodie. Daria, which ran for five seasons (1997-2002), came out of MTV’s Beavis and Butthead based on the widespread appeal of the Daria Morgendorffer character whose wry wisdom was beyond her high school years. Daria was hailed for her feminist take on key issues such as class, race and gender.
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Ramy Youssef's freshman Hulu comedy, Ramy, premiered its first season barely a few weeks ago, and it's already been renewed for a second season. Are we blessed, or are we blessed?
The streaming platform announced the exciting renewal news on May 1. Luckily, Ramy isn't the only comedy that will be returning for a second outing: the quirky middle school series PEN15 has also scored a second season, as has Aidy Bryant's brilliant Shrill. So, in other words, Hulu will have a whole lot more comedy heading your way next year.
If you haven't seen Ramy yet, Youssef previously appeared in Mr. Robot, where he played overzealous security analyst Samar Swailem and also built a successful career in stand-up. But it's his 10-episode, half-hour comedy series that's written, executive produced, created by, and starring Youssef that's on its way to making him...
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Congratulations to our Esper Alums who were a part of these Oscar winning productions: Green Book (Craig DiFrancia and Brian Distance), Blackkklansman (Laura Harrier), Black Panther (Marija Abney), and Vice (Sam Rockwell).
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Hulu has slotted premiere dates for two new installments of its Into The Dark horror event series from Blumhouse Television: April Fools’ Day-themed I’m Just F*cking With You on Friday, April 5 and Mother’s Day-themed All That We Destroy on Friday, May 3. The premium cabler also set Friday, April 19 for the premiere of its new 10-episode comedy series Ramy. From Jason Blum’s indie TV studio, the...
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Ramy Youssef has signed for his first stand-up comedy special for HBO. No premiere date is set for the hourling show, which will be taped before a live New York City audience in the spring. Youssef will executive produce alongside Jerrod Carmichael. A24 is producing it, with Chris Storer directing. Youssef stars in Hulu’s upcoming sitcom Ramy, which...
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It was a good day for Reginas, as two won big big at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Regina King won Best Supporting Actress for “If Beale Street Could Talk,” while Regina Hall’s performance...
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May Calamawy (The Long Road Home) is set as a series regular opposite fellow Esper Studio Alum, RamyYoussef in the Hulu comedy Ramy, from The Carmichael Show team of star/co-creator Jerrod Carmichael, co-creator Ari Katcher and studio A24.
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In preparation for her role as Patrice Dumas, a ’70s-era student activist who catches the eye of detective Ron Stallworth in Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman,” it was crucial for actress Laura Harrier to understand the soul of her character.
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Vikings star and Esper Studio graduate Katheryn Winnick, Lewis Tan (Into the Badlands), Sons of Anarchy alum Tommy Flanagan, and Tzi Ma (Meditation Park) are set as series regulars opposite Iko Uwais and Byron Mann in Netflix’s Wu Assassins, from Tony Krantz of Flame Ventures (24), John Wirth (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles; Falling Skies) and Nomadic Pictures (Fargo, Hell on Wheels).
Winnick will play Christine “C.G.” Gavin, an undercover cop caught in the middle of a gang war that’s breaking out in Chinatown.
Read More… Leigh-Ann Rose (Love Thy Neighbor) has landed the final lead in ABC’s Untitled Holmes drama pilot, from former CSI: NY showrunner Pam Veasey, Robin Roberts, Regina King, and ABC Studios. Written by Veasey and directed by King, the drama explores the lives of five African-American sisters, all officers in the NYPD, as they face the challenges of their high-risk jobs while juggling the responsibilities of marriage, motherhood and family. Rose will play one of the
Read More…Mamoudou Athie (Unicorn Store) is in talks for a lead role and Kelly Marie Tran (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) and Fences star Jovan Adepo have joined the cast of Sorry For Your Loss (fka Widow), a half-hour female-driven dramedy starring and executive produced by Elizabeth Olsen for
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Graeme Thomas King became an actor thanks to the number 11 London bus. A chance meeting with a young filmmaker sitting next to him on the way to Liverpool Street led to him auditioning for the short film she was making. “The whole idea of bumping into someone by chance and it turning into something else really appealed to me,” he said. “I’d been shy when I was younger but this seemed like something that was meant to
Read More…Saudi actress, writer and director Ahd Kamel rose to fame both on local and international scenes after her starring role in 2012’s high profile festival favorite, the critically acclaimed BAFTA nominee, “Wadjda”, which is Saudi Arabia’s first feature film. Kamel, 36-year-old, has more ambitions in acting and directing that landed her a prominent role in a new English television mini-series, Collateral, that is produced by Netflix
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Two-time Academy Award® and Tony Award® winner Denzel Washington will soon be on stage in Eugene O’Neill‘s The Iceman Cometh, directed by five-time Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe. BroadwayWorld has just learned the full cast of actors who will be joining him! In addition to Washington, the company, which begins rehearsals Monday, features Colm Meaney, David Morse, Bill Irwin, Tammy Blanchard, Carolyn Braver, Austin Butler, Joe Forbrich, Nina Grollman, Thomas Michael Hammond, Neal Huff, Danny Mastrogiorgio, Dakin Matthews, Jack McGee, Clark Middleton, Michael Potts, Reg Rogers, and Frank Wood.
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Sam Rockwell took home the SAG Award Sunday night for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role. Rockwell won for his portrayal of a racist cop in Martin McDonagh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” Rockwell is also nominated with the rest of the cast for best ensemble. Rockwell first thanked fellow nominee and co-star Woody Harrelson, calling him “My brother, Woody.” This is the second SAG Award nomination for Rockwell. He was previously nominated in 2009 in the Outstanding Ensemble category for his work in “Frost/Nixon.”
Read More…Put this on a billboard: Sam Rockwell is finally a Golden Globe winner. At Sunday’s 75th annual Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles, the Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri star took home the trophy for best performance by an actor in a supporting role in any motion picture. “It’s nice to be in a movie that people see, you know?” Rockwell joked in his acceptance speech. Speaking to writer-director Martin McDonagh and costar Frances McDormand, he said
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Miss Julie allows herself to be seduced by the manservant Jean in the Count’s kitchen on Midsummer’s Eve – and Night. Before the new day dawns, their erotic games have had catastrophic consequences. Throughout this Midsummer’s Night, the kitchen maid Kristin, Jean’s fiancée, bears witness to the shameless flirtations with disgust, as everything seems to tumble around
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After a series of tests,Grey Damon(Aquarius), Hamilton’s Okieriete Onaodowan,Danielle Savre(Too Close To Home), andBarrett Doss (Marvel’s Iron Fist) have been cast as series regulars in the upcoming Grey’s Anatomy firefighters spinoff opposite Jaina Lee Ortiz and the mothership series’ Jason George. The 10-episode drama, which follows a group of heroic firefighters, hails from Grey’s Anatomy
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Hulu has given a pilot presentation order to a comedy co-created by and starring actor-comedian Ramy Youssef. It hails from The Carmichael Show team of star/co-creator Jerrod Carmichael, co-creator Ari Katcher and production company A24. The untitled show, which Youssef co-created and co-wrote with Katcher and Ryan Welch, centers on Youssef’s distinct point-of-view as a contemporary Egyptian-American Muslim, caught between multiple worlds and what it means to be Arab, American, and Muslim
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Levieva ‘highly recommends’ NYC’s William Esper Studio. “It’s a two-year program. It’s just such well-rounded training. I did clown work and movement work and speech, voice, and all that stuff…. I feel like that early training, some of the things that were developed during that time were so instrumental and helpful, and I miss them…. Honestly, I’m always involved in some sort of class or workshop. I now train with Larry Moss, and I do a lot of his workshops.” Studying Meisner taught her how to listen. “[With] Meisner, we did a lot of repetition work, which gets you really in the moment and present with your partner, but also just develops such attuned
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Saudi actress and filmmaker, Ahd Kamel, is set to star in a new television mini-series co-produced by Netflix and the BBC, Al Arabiya reported on Thursday. The US-based 36-year-old will reportedly appear in Oscar-winning playwright David Hare’s upcoming series, Collateral, alongside Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan from The Great Gatsby. Kamel will play the role of a Muslim woman called Fatima, who resides in London – details about the character have not been announced yet. Set in the present day British capital, the four-part thriller
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You know things are bleak when every mainstream comedy derives its humour from just how fucked up it is to be young today. Girls, Broad City, Search Party, Insecure, Fleabag, Love, This Country, You’re The Worst… the list of on-screen women in their 20s “just doing their best to figure it all out” is endless. Over on Channel 4 tonight, a new overgrown child of the genre debuts, albeit one with a slight difference. Young and Promising (or Unge Lovende) makes its way to
Read More…Laura Harrier has signed on for a key role opposite Michael B. Jordan in Fahrenheit 451, HBO Films’ adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s iconic dystopian novel. Fahrenheit 451 depicts a future where media is an opiate, history is outlawed and “firemen” burn books. Young fireman Montag (Jordan) forsakes his world, battles his mentor Beatty (Michael Shannon) and struggles to regain his humanity. Harrier will play Millie, Montag’s social media-immersed wife whose consumption of all
Read More…Michael Esper is set to co-star as John Paul Getty II, alongside Harris Dickinson, Hilary Swank and Donald Sutherland, in FX’s Trust,a 10-episode limited series about the kidnapping of the young Getty heir. In addition, Veronica Echegui has been tapped for a recurring role. Esper’s John Paul Getty II is father to John Paul Getty III (Dickinson) and son to J. Paul Getty (Sutherland). “Big Paul” is a recovering heroin addict and recluse, who finds himself in a fog of grief following the death of his second wife. Echegui will portray Luciana, the youngest
Read More…Amy Schumer has signed to star in I Feel Pretty, from a script written and to be directed by Abby Kohnand Marc Silverstein for Wonderland Sound & Vision and Voltage Pictures. The picture marks Kohn and Silverstein’s directorial debut and is set to shoot on the East Coast this summer. The logline is being kept under wraps. Schumer, who also is a producer on the movie, was last seen in Trainwreck. The deal for I Feel Pretty comes as she is about to star opposite Goldie Hawn in the Jonathan Levine comedy Snatched, which Fox opens May 12. Schumer also will be seen opposite
Read More…The “Great Comet” is getting a new star. Okieriete Onaodowan, who played Hercules Mulligan and James Madison in the original Broadway cast of “Hamilton,” will succeed the pop singer Josh Groban as Pierre this summer in the musical “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.” The casting choice is striking. It reflects a
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Lauren Blumenfeld (Doubt) and Don Fanelli (Orange Is The New Black, 30 Rock) who recurred on Season 1 of Pop’s comedy series Nightcaphave been promoted to series regulars for Season 2. Blumenfeld plays Penny Jones, assistant to head talent producer Staci (Ali Wentworth). Penny is loyal to a fault, single and idolizes Staci. Although plagued by a myriad of health concerns and unusual issues, she would never miss a day of work because her job and her relationship with Staci are her everything. Fanelli is Todd Mitchell, Jimmy’s childhood best friend. Todd doesn’t have a clear cut position on Nightcap besides being Jimmy’s oldest friend, but
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It’s no secret that FOX has been knocking it out of the park with high-quality comedies for a few years now. Between Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl, and The Last Man On Earth the network has assembled a wrecking crew of hilarious shows anchoring their comedy programming — and will soon be adding another show to their ranks.The Mick aims to bring the profane, irreverent attitude that star Kaitlin Olson perfected on It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia to network television — but she’s not the only TV veteran in the cast. If you’ve been paying attention to television in the past few years, chances are you’ve seen Sofia Black-D’Elia, the actor playing Sabrina on The Mick, before. Black-D’Elia may seem young, but.
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Christina Brucato has landed a recurring role on the CW’s DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. She’ll play the role of Lily Stein, a character introduced in tonight’s The Flash crossover “Invasion” episode. Brucato joins Legends stars Brandon Routh, Victor Garber, Arthur Darvill, Dominic Purcell, Caity Lotz, Franz Drameh, Nick Zano, Amy Pemberton, Matt Letscher and Maisie Richardson-Sellers in the series from Berlanti TV and Warner Bros. TV. Brucato was most recently seen playing Young Lolly on
…Read More…Mamoudou Athie has joined Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Joan Cusack and Bradley Whitford in Larson’s directorial debut film Unicorn Store. Based on an original screenplay by Samantha McIntyre, the comedy centers on a woman (Larson) who moves back in with her parents and receives an invitation to a store that will test her ideas of what it really means to grow up. Athie will play Virgil, a Home Depot employee who falls in love with
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Fox has added two pivotal cast members to “24: Legacy,” Variety has learned exclusively. Veronica Cartwright (“Alien,” “The Birds”) and Laith Nakli (“The Visitor”) have both been cast in the “24” revival, which debuts midseason on Fox. Cartwright has joined as a series regular. She will play Margaret Donovan, Senator John Donovan’s (Jimmy Smits) mother. Described as well-heeled and connected, the character is formidable in business and politics and has lost very few battles in her life. Nakli, in a recurring role, will portray one of the series’ bad guys. His character Kusuma is a battle-hardened
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Kristine Froseth has been cast as the female lead in Jeff Davis’ TNT drama pilot Let the Right One In, based on the best-selling novel by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist. Let the Right One In is an eerie drama about Henry, a young boy, long tormented by his classmates, who finds solace in a friendship with a charismatic vampire, Eli (Froseth), who appears to be near his age. Thin and pale, Eli’s actual age is unknown. Lonely and friendless (for obvious reasons), Eli lands in an apartment building in Vermont
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While Jamal (Jussie Smollett) did get shot in Empire’s penultimate episode last season, at least he’s gaining a super attractive new love interest at the beginning of season 3. EW can exclusively reveal that actor Juan Antonio (Murder in the First) will play Philip, a military vet, who runs a PTSD support group Jamal attends. Says Smollett, “It’s someone that for the first time, gives no f—s about his fame. Could not care less and
Read More…The Collective NY‘s 4th Annual 10 Minute Play Festival Returns with 10 Original Plays. September 14 – 25, 2016. The Collective was started by studio graduates years ago and has continued to be a home for actors, writers and directors. These graduates include their founding members Amy Schumer, Kevin Kane, Robert Z Grant, Mike Houston, Victoria Dicce and many more in their ensemble. Unlike many companies that have short lives, the Collective has thrived – producing several shows over the years and receiving critical acclaim for their work. Most importantly, they have made theater not only worth watching, but also affordable with their NO EMPTY SEATS campaign. Follow the link below for details on how to get tickets:
http://www.thecollective-ny.org/4th-annual-collective10-4The Tennessee Performing Arts Center will launch its 2016-17 season September 9-18 with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Evita, created in collaboration with the Franklin-based Studio Tenn Theatre Company. Eden Espinosa, who has been seen on Broadway in Brooklyn and Wicked, will star in the title role with Ben Crawford as Che. Evita, which premiered as a two-LP recording starring Julie Covington (Eva) and Colm Wilkinson (Che), features a score by Lloyd Webber (music) and Rice (lyrics). Hal Prince staged both the original London and New York productions of the musical, which made stars of Elaine Paige (in London) and Mandy Patinkin and Patti LuPone (on Broadway). The score
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If you’re reading this, then I already know that you won’t be getting much sleep this weekend. On June 17th (somewhere supposedly around 3am ET), Season 4 of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black drops. Enter the new guard, Lee Dixon, played by actor Mike Houston. Immediately upon looking at Mike’s picture with the hat, I fell head over heels. I know – it’s hard to believe that I think Mike is adorable since he is the total opposite of my twink preference, but just look at
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Tawny Cypress (Unforgettable) has been cast as a series regular opposite Famke Janssen, Ryan Eggold and Edi Gathegi in NBC’s proposed spinoff from The Blacklist. Like fellow new Blacklistaddition Janssen, Cypress will recur on the last couple of episodes of the original series this season and become a regular should
…Read More…Holbrook will play a relentless, calculating and intense head of security for a global enterprise who is set against Jackman’s clawed Wolverine/Logan hero. The CAA-repped actor’s deal was just completed on the film, which is
Read More…Countless words have been spilled on the subject of Timothy Olyphant and the Stare: that faint narrowing of those fathomless eyes, shorthand that one of his gunslinging lawmen — say, Raylan Givens of “Justified” or Seth Bullock of “Deadwood” — is about to
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I have learned that Robert Knepper has joined the cast of David Lynch’s upcoming new installment of his groundbreaking 1990 mystery series. The project has been shrouded with secrecy, so noone is commenting but I hear Knepper has been tapped for a recurring role on the new season for Showtime alongside fellow new addition Amanda Seyfried. The only actor officially confirmed for the newTwin Peaks is
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Following up his starring role in Gaspar Noé’s sexually explicit romantic drama Love, Karl Glusman has joined the cast of Focus Features’ Nocturnal Animals, based on Austin Wright’s 1993 novel Tony And Susan. Written and directed by Tom Ford, the
Read More…Margarita Levieva (Revenge) has landed a co-lead opposite James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal in David Simon’s HBO drama pilot The Deuce. Also cast in the project, a narrative set in the Times Square demimonde of the 1970s and ’80s, areLawrence Gilliard Jr. (The Walking Dead) and Dominique Fishback(HBO’s Show Me a Hero). The Deuce follows the story of the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York, exploring the rough-and-tumble world that existed in midtown Manhattan until the rise of HIV, the violence of the cocaine epidemic and
…Read More…Hamilton,” the mega-buzzy bio-musical about Alexander Hamilton and the founding fathers, opened to glowing accolades. In his review, Ben Brantley writes: “Yes, it really is that good.” It’s one of the most talked about Broadway shows since “The Book of Mormon”
…Read More…Amy Schumer is officially an Emmy winner. The funny lady of the year walked away with a golden statue Sunday night for her Comedy Centralseries “Inside Amy Schumer,” which won for outstanding variety sketch series, beating out “Drunk History,” “Key and Peele,” “Portlandia” and “Saturday Night Live.”
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Nancy Mayans is skilled at tapping into an actor’s essential and internal energy. The winning combination of her experience as an energy worker and healer and her acting courses at the William Esper Studio in New York City is likely why students feel at ease in her classroom, and why Backstage readers voted her their favorite
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Brad William Henke, Mike Houston and Kelly Karbacz have landed recurring roles on the upcoming fourth season of Netflix/Lionsgate TV prison drama Orange Is The New Black. Details of their characters are being kept under wraps. Henke, repped by
Read More…Shannon Esper has booked a recurring role on the upcoming fourth season of Netflix/Lionsgate TV prison drama, Orange Is The New BlackShe will play Alana Dwight, a new inmate whose meek ways make
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This year, THR is lifting its annual ranking of the best drama schools to a higher level. The magazine is concentrating on the best places to get a postgraduate education (with one- to three-year programs) and for the first time is expanding the polling process to include not just casting directors but
Read More…This is the first HBO comedy special for the Comedy Central breakout and ‘Trainwreck’ star. Amy Schumeris set to headline her first HBO comedy special, the network announced Thursday. The special, which will be directed by Chris Rock, will tape at the Apollo Theater in New York on May 29 and air
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Stephen Adly Guirgis’s “Between Riverside and Crazy” has won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for drama, a play hailed by the judges for using “dark comedy to confront questions of life and death.” The Columbia University’s prize board on Monday gave the playwright the prize for his play about a cantankerous ex-cop who owns
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Teddy Sears (Masters of Sex, American Horror Story) is set as the male lead opposite KaDee Strickland in Doubt, CBS’ hourlong pilot from Timberman/Beverly and CBS TV Studios. Written by longtimeGrey’s Anatomy executive producers Tony Phelan and Joan Rater and directed by Adam Bernstein, the project centers on…
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If Gretchen Mol Has learned anything from her current role in the provocative Broadway drama “Disgraced,” it’s likely this: When it comes to dinner parties…
Read More…Black-D’Elia will take the role of Tirzah, Judah’s sister who becomes quietly political when the Roman Empire takes control of Jerusalem. She is imprisoned alongside her mother and…
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In Shesh Yak, it’s spring of 2011, five weeks into the civil uprising in Syria. Jameel, a 30-something-year-old Syrian-American writer is in his New York apartment waiting for…
Read More…Larry David returns to the stage for the first time since eighth grade, in a brand-new Broadway comedy written by… Larry David. Mr. David plays Norman Drexel, a character who is very much like…
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As the son of renowned acting coaches, Michael Esper spent his childhood immersed in the theater. He describes the influence of his parents, founders of the William Esper Studio, as “so massive. It probably can’t be overstated. Some of my earliest memories are…
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It’s rather serendipitous: 3 aspiring actors befriend each other in the same class at the William Esper Studio in NYC. They (Kimmy Foskett, Liza Renzulli and Luisa Fidalgo) slowly come to realize that intense hangovers, cute hipster boys and aspirations aren’t the only thing they have in common…
Read MoreRobert Knepper and Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas<) are starring in Cold Deck, the theatrical heist drama by Canadian director Zack Bernbaum. Stefano Gallo also stars as…
Read MoreKatheryn Winnick has joined the cast of Geostorm, the 2016 environmental disaster pic from Warner Bros. and Skydance Productions. Gerard Butler stars as a man sent into space to…
Read More…Voice and speech coach Nancy Mayans likes to bring a deeper sense of knowledge about an actor’s voice (as well as the actor) to her training…
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Faculty member David Newer talks to Backstage on getting inside your monologue. Sometimes it takes…
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Harold Perrineau plays a new character introduced to the world of ‘Constantine,’ one of the most highly anticipated new series coming this fall…
Read More…Larry David will make his Broadway debut in the spring, starring in his own, autobiographical play, ‘Fish In The Dark,’ which he describes as a comedy about a death in a family…
Read More…Congratulations to Esper Studio alum, Amy Schumer, on her new film, Trainwreck, directed by Judd Apatow…
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Esper Studio Alum, David Rasche, will now be a series regular on the single-camera dark comedy, Impastor…
Read More…Esper Studio Alum, Cass Bugge joins HBO’s ‘The Brink’, along with John Larroquette…
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The Actor’s Guide to Creating a Character
by William Esper & Damon DiMarco
William Esper’s new book, “The Actor’s Guide to Creating a Character: William Esper Teaches the Meisner Technique” is now available in paperback and Kindle!
You can order your copy today on Amazon.
Esper’s first book, The Actor’s Art and Craft, earned praise for describing the basics taught in his famous first-year acting class. The Actor’s Guide to Creating a Character continues the journey. In these pages, co-author Damon DiMarco vividly re-creates Esper’s second-year course, again through the experiences of a fictional class. Esper’s training builds on Sanford Meisner’s legendary exercises, a world-renowned technique that Esper further developed through his long association with Meisner and the decades he has spent training a host of distinguished actors. His approach is flexible enough to apply to any role, helping actors to create characters with truthful and compelling inner lives.
Mortdecai, the action comedy starring Johnny Depp, has rounded out its cast with Aubrey Plaza, Oliver Platt and Jeff Goldblum. The film recently wrapped production in London and is currently shooting in Los Angeles. Read more atThe Hollywood Reporter or Jewish Business News.
Congratulations to recent Esper Studio graduate Rezeta Veliu on her starring role in the independent feature film, Rezeta Carefree and charming, “Rezeta,” first film from director Fernando Frías de la Parra, is a breath of fresh air in the already exuberant landscape of contemporary Mexican cinema. The film, which on Jan. 23 received the Jury Prize at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, is a patchwork of naturalistic pieces without elaborate transitions and without a strong narrative structure. It is the spontaneity in the interpretation of the actors and the lively camera work that cement together the hour-and-a-half movie.
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