Three time Academy Award nominee JEFF BRIDGES (the Dude), is regarded
as one of today's most talented and sought-after leading men. His recent
films include Barbra Streisand's The Mirror Has Two Faces, Walter Hill's
Wild Bill and Ridley Scott's White Squall. In 1994, Bridges made his first
foray into the action film genre in Blown Away, while in 1993 received widespread
acclaim for his performance in Peter Weir's Fearless and was honored with
the 1993 IFP/Spirit Award for Best Actor for the critically acclaimed American
Heart, on which he also made his producing debut.
Bridges earned his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Peter
Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show, and received a second nod in the same
category the following year for his role in Michael Cimino's Thunderbolt
and Lightfoot. Starman brought him his third Academy Award nomination, this
time as Best Actor, as well as a Golden Globe nomination.
In recent years he has also starred in a variety of popular film hits including
The Fisher King, The Fabulous Baker Boys and Jagged Edge.
His extensive list of film credits includes Fat City, Stay Hungry, Texasville,
Tucker, Nadine, The Morning After, Stay Hungry, Against All Odds, Tron,
Heaven's Gate, 8 Million Ways to Die, Cutter's Way, Winter Kills, The Vanishing,
See You in the Morning and many others.
In 1988, Bridges became the youngest actor to be honored by the National
Film Theater in London with a three-week, 18 film tribute. Two years later
he was named NATO's (National Association of Theater Owners) Male Star of
the Year.
In addition to American Heart, Bridges production company, AsIs Productions,
has produced Showtime's multi-award nominated Hidden In America, starring
brother Beau. He is also developing the Newberry Award winning young people's
novel The Giver, with Joe Johnston ( Jumanji ) set to direct in the fall
on 1998.
An accomplished musician and composer, Bridges has written over 70 songs.
He is also a painter and photographer.
The Big Lebowski marks Jeff Bridges debut in a Coen brothers film.
JOHN GOODMAN (Walter Sobcek) has played Dan Conner for eight seasons
on the TV comedy series Roseanne, a role that has earned him seven Emmy
nominations and a Golden Globe. One of Hollywood's most respected actors,
Goodman is reunited on THE BIG LEBOWSKI with the Coen brothers for the third
time, having previously appeared in Raising Arizona and Barton Fink --the
latter earning him a Golden Globe nomination in 1992.
Goodman grew up in St. Louis and attended Afton High where he played football.
He continued to dedicate himself to the sport in college, first at Meramac
Community College and then Southwest Missouri State University. Because
of a knee injury, he was forced to sit out a year and spent the time studying
drama with fellow students Kathleen Turner and Tess Harper. John graduated
in 1975 with a B.F.A. in theater.
Moving to New York, Goodman performed off-Broadway as well as in dinner
and various children's theater productions. His regional theater credits
include Henry IV, Parts I and II, Anthony and Cleopatra, and As You Like
It. After appearing in the road company of The Robber Bridegroom, he starred
in two Broadway shows, Loose Ends and Big River.
Goodman made his screen debut in HBO's Mystery of the Moro Castle, and his
other credits include The Big Easy, True Stories, Sweet Dreams, Maria's
Lovers, Revenge of the Nerds, C.H.U.D., Eddie Macon's Run, Stella, Everybody's
All-American, Sea of Love, Punchline, King Ralph, The Babe, Born Yesterday,
Pie in the Sky, Mother Night, Matinee, Arachnophobia, Always and The Flintstones.
In 1998, Goodman will star in Fallen, The Borrowers and Blues Brothers 2000.
Goodman's recent television credits include producing and starring in TNT's
Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long. He also starred as Mitch in the CBS production
of A Streetcar Named Desire. Goodman received an Emmy nomination for both
roles.
JULIANNE MOORE (Maude Lebowski), an actress of exceptional range,
has delivered outstanding work in both box office hits and independent features.
Most recently she was seen starring in the critically acclaimed Boogie Nights
and The Myth of Fingerprints. This past summer, she starred opposite Jeff
Goldblum in Steven Spielberg's box office blockbuster The Lost World: Jurassic
Park.
Moore was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for both Robert Altman's
Short Cuts and Todd Haynes Safe. She also received critical acclaim for
her performance as Yelena in Louis Malle's Vanya on 42nd Street and Dora
Maar in James Ivory's Surviving Picasso. Her additional film credits include
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, Benny & Joon, The Fugitive, Nine Months
and Assassins.
After earning her B.F.A. from Boston University for the Performing Arts,
Moore starred in a number of off-Broadway productions, including Caryl Churchill's
Serious Money and Ice Cream/Hot Fudge at the Public Theater. She appeared
in Minneapolis in Guthrie Theater's Hamlet, and recently participated in
workshop productions of Strindberg's The Father with Al Pacino and Wendy
Wasserstein's An American Daughter with Meryl Streep.
The Big Lebowski marks STEVE BUSCEMI's fifth appearance in a Coen
brothers film. Co-starring in Fargo, Buscemi also played roles in The Hudsucker
Proxy, Barton Fink and Miller's Crossing.
Other recent films include Escape From L.A., Desperado, Things To Do In
Denver When You're Dead, Living In Oblivion, and starred with Nicolas Cage
and John Cusack in the summer blockbuster, Con Air. He will soon be seen
in Jerry Bruckheimer's Armageddon starring with Bruce Willis, Liv Tyler
and Ben Affleck and Stanley Tucci's Ship of Fools.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Buscemi began to show an interest in drama in
high school. Soon after, he moved to Manhattan to study acting with John
Strasberg. He and a fellow actor/writer Mark Boone Jr. began writing their
own theater pieces in New York performance spaces and downtown theaters.
This soon led to being cast in a leading role as a musician with AIDS in
Bill Sherwood's Parting Glances.
Buscemi then played a role in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, for which
he won a Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also received a Spirit
Award nomination in 1989 for his performance in Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train.
His other film credits include In the Soup, New York Stories, Twenty Bucks,
Airheads, Rising Sun and Pulp Fiction.
In the early 1990s, Buscemi wrote, directed and starred in the short film,
What Happened to Pete, and went on to do the same for the 1996 feature film
Trees Lounge.
Veteran stage, screen and television actor DAVID HUDDLESTON (The
Big Lebowski) has more than 30 films to his credit. Born in Vinton, Virginia,
Huddleston began acting as a child in school and church productions.
After serving in the US Air Force, Huddleston moved to New York, graduated
from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and began touring in a series
of Broadway musicals including The Music Man and A Funny Thing Happened
on the Way to the Forum.
Among Huddleston's film credits are Rio Lobo, with John Wayne, Blazing Saddles,
McQ, Fool's Parade, with Jimmy Stewart, Billy Two Hats, with Gregory Peck,
The Klansman and Bad Company. He starred in the title role of Alexander
Salkind's Santa Claus, The Movie.
On television, Huddleston has made hundreds of Guest Star appearances and
starred in his own NBC-TV series Hizzonner. Huddleston also was nominated
for an Emmy for his portrayal of Grandpa in the series The Wonder Years.
TV movies and Miniseries have been many and include Brian's Song, How the
West Was Won, Family Reunion with Bette Davis, Finnegan Begin Again, with
Robert Preston and the HBO movie The Tracker.
On Broadway, Huddleston appeared as Charley with Dustin Hoffman in the revival
of Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman, at the Lincoln Center with Sam Waterston
in Abe Lincoln in Illinois, The Roast, and created the role of Branch Rickey,
owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers in a musical version of the life of Jackie
Robinson entitled The First.
JOHN TURTURRO (Quintana) starred in the title role of Joel and Ethan
Coen's Barton Fink, winning a Palme D Or as Best Actor at the 1991 Cannes
Film Festival and a David diDonatello award for his performance. He also
appeared in the Coens Miller's Crossing.
Turturro appears three new independent films, Brandon Cole's The O.K. Garage,
Francesco Rossi's The Truce and Tom DiCillo's Box of Moonlight. Turturro's
other film credits include Spike Lee's Girl 6, Clockers, Mo Better Blues,
Jungle Fever and Do the Right Thing.
He has starred in Robert Redford's Quiz Show, Alison Anders Grace of My
Heart, Diane Keaton's Unstrung Heroes, David Salle's Search and Destroy,
Peter Weir's Fearless, Bill Forsyth's Being Human, Michael Cimino's The
Sicilian, Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money, William Friedkin's To Live
and Die in LA, and Susan Seidelman's Desperately Seeking Susan. John directed
his first feature Mac in 1992, which won the Camera D Or at the Cannes Film
Festival. John is now completing post-production on his second feature,
Illuminata.
Turturro is a graduate of the Yale Drama School. He has appeared on stage
in Bertolt Brecht's Arturo Ui, Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, John
Patrick Shanley's The Italian American Reconciliation, Eugene Ionesco's
The Bald Soprano, La Puta Vida, The Worker's Life, Men Without Dates and
Danny and the Deep Blue Sea.
Swedish actor/director/writer PETER STORMARE (Uli) who appeared in
the Coen brother's Fargo, recently co-starred in Steven Spielberg's The
Lost World: Jurassic Park. Stormare's other credits include Louis Malle's
Damage, Penny Marshall's Awakenings and Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander
and Bacchants.
Stormare's association with famed Swedish director Ingmar Bergman extends
to the theater as well. Stormare appeared in Bergman's production of Hamlet
at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as well in the National Theater of Sweden's
world tour productions of Long Day's Journey Into Night, Miss Julie, King
Lear and Bacchants.
Stormare's other National Theater of Sweden's stage credits include Don
Juan, Cyrano de Bergerac, Curse of the Starving Class, Seneca's Death, Action,
Class Enemy and Amorina.
He has directed various Swedish National Theater productions, including
The Dwarfs, Mountain Language, The Bride and The Highway.
Other directorial credits include English language productions of Miss Julie
at New York Actor's Theater and Tokyo's Globe, Hamlet (on stage and in an
operatic version), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Comedy of Errors, Strindberg's
Dance of Death at London's Almeida Theater and a production of his own play,
La Futurista at Stockholm's Company Theater.
Stormare has also directed numerous classical and contemporary plays for
the Swedish Broadcasting Company on radio and television.
SAM ELLIOTT's (The Stranger) recent films include three independent
productions, John Langley's Dogwatch, Roger Christian's Final Cut and Evelyn
Purcell's Woman Undone.
Elliott has appeared in Turner Picture's The Desperate Trail, Ronald Maxwell's
Gettysburg, Tombstone, Rush, Prancer, Roadhouse and many others.
Elliott's television credits include the TNT's Conagher, one of their all-time
highest-rated movies, for which he co-wrote, produced and starred. Others
include the mini series Rough Riders, Hallmark's Blue River, Buffalo Girls,
(Emmy Nomination) The Hole in the Sky, Fugitive Nights, and HBO's The Quick
and the Dead.
DAVID THEWLIS (John Herrington) was most recently seen co-starring
with Brad Pitt in Jean-Jacques Annaud's Seven Years In Tibet. The actor
first won widespread recognition for his work in three films by Mike Leigh--
Naked, The Short and Curlies and Life Is Sweet.
Upcoming films include Paul Chart's American Perfekt with Amanda Plummer
and David Caffrey's Divorcing Jack, based on the critically acclaimed novel
by Colin Bateman.
Among Thewlis recent film credits are Agnieszka Holland's Total Eclipse,
Rob Cohen's Dragonheart, Michael Hoffman's Restoration, John Frankenheimer's
The Island of Dr. Moreau, Caroline Thompson's Black Beauty, Little Dorrit
and Vroom. Thewlis also provided the voice for The Earthworm in Henry Selick's
James and the Giant Peach.
On television, Thewlis has appeared in opposite Helen Mirren in PBS Emmy
Award winning Mystery! Theatre's Prime Suspect 3 and Mike Hodges Dandelion
Dead. Additional credits include Frank Stubbs, The Singing Detective, Journey
to Knock, and many other shows. His stage credits include The Sea at Britain's
National Theater, Ice Cream at the Royal Court, Buddy Holly at the Regal
with the New Vic Company and Ruffian on the Stairs/The Woolley at the Farnham
Theater.
For his performance in Naked, Thewlis was named Best Actor by the New York
Film Critics Association, the Cannes Film Festival, the National Society
of Film Critics, and the London's Evening Standard.
BEN GAZZARA (Jackie Treehorn) has been acting on stage, television
and on screen since the mid-1950s. Known for his work in the films of John
Cassevetes ( Husbands, Opening Night, A Rage to Live ), Gazzara's recent
films include David Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner.
Ben Gazzara was born in New York City, the son of Sicilian immigrants. He
attended New York's City College, studied under Erwin Piscator at the New
School and became a member of the Actor's Studio in its first and most exciting
years.
Gazzara conquered the New York critics with his stage debut in the play
End As A Man, which was filmed as The Strange One. Among his other important
stage credits are Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, A Hatful of Rain, Who's Afraid
of Virginia Woolf? and Love Letters.
He has appeared in close to 40 feature films, including Anatomy of a Murder,
The Young Doctors, A Rage to Live, The Bridge at Remagen, Killing of a Chinese
Bookie, Voyage of the Damned, Saint Jack, Bloodline, They All Laughed, Roadhouse
and Vicious Circle.
Gazzara's television credits include CBS TV film To Sleep With Danger, Showtime's
Parallel Lives and Convict Cowboy, Mafia Marriage, An Early Frost, for which
he won an Emmy nomination, the series Run For Your Life, the Philco Playhouse,
Playhouse 90" and Lies Like Kisses. He was recently honored at the
1997 Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Texas-born recording artist JIMMIE DALE GILMORE (Smokey) makes his
screen-acting debut in The Big Lebowski. Gilmore cut his first album, Jimmie
Dale Gilmore and the Flatlanders in 1972, after which he moved to Denver
and pursued other interests. In 1980, Gilmore returned to Austin playing
in bars and folk clubs. In 1988, he released the first of two albums for
High Tone Records: Fair and Square, followed a year later by Jimmie Dale
Gilmore.
In 1990, Gilmore teamed up with Butch Hancock and recorded Two Roads--Live
In Australia, but it wasn't until 1991 when he made his first album for
Elektra, After Awhile, that Rolling Stone hailed it as a masterpiece and
named him Country Artist of the Year in its annual critics poll. He retained
the honor in 1992 and 1993.
Gilmore's album Spinning Around the Sun received a Grammy nomination for
Best Contemporary Folk Album. His most recent album is Braver New World.
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN (Brandt) has appeared in two recent films,
Boogie Nights (with The Big Lebowski co-star Julianne Moore) and Next Stop
Wonderland.
His recent films include Twister, Hard Eight, Nobody's Fool, When A Man
Loves A Woman, The Getaway, Leap of Faith, Scent of A Woman, My New Gun
and several others.
Hoffman's theater credits are extensive and include appearances at New York's
Public Theater in The Skriker, Greensboro: A Requiem at the McCarter Theater,
The Merchant of Venice at the Goodman Theater, and most recently Defying
Gravity at the American Place Theater.
On television he has appeared in Law and Order and The Yearling.
TARA REID (Bunny) made her film debut at the age of 15 in Larry Cohen's
Return to Salem's Lot, which was produced by Warner Bros. Following her
appearance in The Big Lebowski, Tara played the lead role in the independent
feature Around The Fire, opposite Devon Sawa. She is presently shooting
Girl and plays the lead opposite Dominique Swain and Sean Patrick Flanery.
On television, she had a recurring role on Days of Our Lives.
FLEA (Kiefer) is a founding member and current performer with the
rock band The Red Hot Chili Peppers, recently completed a sold-out tour
as a guest performer with Jane's Addiction and has contributed to several
film soundtracks. In addition to his musical career, Flea has appeared in
more than a dozen feature films. Among them are Gus Van Sant's My Own Private
Idaho, Robert Zemeckis Back to the Future II & III and Penelope Spheeris
Suburbia, and Dudes. He has also lent his vocal talents to several animated
projects such as Duckman, a regular on The Wild Thornberry's and the soon
to be released animated feature Gen-13.
TORSTEN VOGES (Franz) born in Germany, was a guest star on the TV
series City Hospital. A noted stage and screen actor in his native Germany,
Torsten's film credits include Dangerous Games, The Eye, Sound Off, Gnadiges
Fraulein, Stop and Moritz Lieber Moritz.
An actor with the Dusseldorfer Schauspielhaus for seven years, his German
stage credits include My Mother's Courage, David Mamet's Oleanna, Wozzeck,
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and King Lear, and many other plays.
Among Torsten's television credits are A Case for Two, The Precinct, Children
of the Sun and The Life of G.
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