ROBERT DE NIRO (Sam "Ace" Rothstein) launched
his prolific motion picture career in Brian De Palma's The Wedding Party
in 1969. By 1973, De Niro had twice won the New York Film Critics' Award
for Best Supporting Actor in recognition of his critically acclaimed performances
in Bang the Drum Slowly and Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets.
In 1974, De Niro received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for
his portrayal of the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Part II. In 1980,
he won his second Oscar, as Best Actor, for his extraordinary portrayal
of Jake La Motta in Scorsese's Raging Bull. De Niro has earned Academy Award
nominations for his work in four additional films: for his role as Travis
Bickle in Scorsese's Taxi Driver, as a Vietnam vet in Michael Cimino's The
Deer Hunter, as a catatonic patient brought to life in Penny Marshall's
Awakenings, and in 1992 for his role as Max Cady, an ex-con looking for
revenge, in Scorsese's remake of the 1962 classic Cape Fear.
De Niro's distinguished body of work includes performances in Elia Kazan's
The Last Tycoon, Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900, Ulu Grosbard's True Confessions
and Falling in Love, Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America, Scorsese's
The King of Comedy, New York, New York and GoodFellas, Terry Gilliam's Brazil,
Roland Joffe's The Mission, Brian De Palma's The Untouchables, Alan Parker's
Angel Heart, Martin Brest's Midnight Run, David Jones' Jacknife, Martin
Ritt's Stanley and Iris, Neil Jordan's We 're No Angels, Irwin Winkler's
Guilty By Suspicion and Night and the City, Ron Howard's Backdraft, Michael
Caton-Jones' This Boy's Life, John McNaughton's Mad Dog and Glory and Kenneth
Branagh's Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein. Most recently, De Niro starred in
Heat for director Michael Mann. Casino is De Niro's eighth film collaboration
with Martin Scorsese.
De Niro also takes pride in the development of his production company, Tribeca
Productions, and the Tribeca Film Center, which he founded with Jane Rosenthal
in 1988. The Tribeca production, A Bronx Tale, based on Chazz Palminteri's
one-man play, marked De Niro's directorial debut. Other Tribeca features
include Thunderheart, Cape Fear, Mistress, Night and the City, The Night
We Never Met and the upcoming Faithful, also written by Palminteri.
Since her starring role in Basic Instinct, a high-grossing
and controversial 1992 release, SHARON STONE (Ginger McKenna) has become
one of Hollywood's most sought-after leading ladies, receiving critical
acclaim and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her performance
in that film.
Most recently, Stone starred in and served as co-producer on The Quick and
the Dead, opposite Gene Hackman, directed by Sam Raimi. She also co-starred
in the blockbuster action thriller, The Specialist.
She has also co-starred with Richard Gere in the Mark Rydell-directed drama,
Intersection and in the psychosexual thriller, Sliver, directed by Phillip
Noyce and co- starring William Baldwin and Tom Berenger. This Ira Levin
best-seller was adapted for the screen by Joe Eszterhas (Basic Instinct,
Showgirls).
Before her success in Basic Instinct, Stone garnered attention as the secret
agent masquerading as Arnold Schwarzenegger's loving wife in Total Recall,
directed by Paul Verhoeven, who also helmed Basic Instinct. Her first (albeit
fleeting) film appearance was as the blond goddess glimpsed by Woody Allen
on a passing train in Stardust Memories.
Stone's first major film role was in Irreconcilable Differences, playing
the conniving young actress-girlfriend of Ryan O'Neal. Stone's other film
appearances include King Solomon's Mines and its sequel, Allan Quartermain
and the Lost City of Gold, both with Richard Chamberlain, Action Jackson,
Above the Law, Personal Choice, Scissors, He Said, She Said, Where Sleeping
Dogs Lie, Year of the Gun and Hit Man. Since completing her role in Casino,
Stone has filmed the lead role in Last Dance, directed by Bruce Beresford
and co-starring Rob Morrow, and she is currently filming Diabolique, Jeremiah
Chechik's new version of the classic thriller, in which she stars.
Academy Award-winner JOE PESCI (Nicky Santoro) has created
a rogue's gallery of indelible characters during his long and varied acting
career. It is performance as the explosive Tommy De Vito in Martin Scorsese's
critically acclaimed GoodFellas won him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor,
a Golden Globe nomination and awards from the National Board of Review and
the Los Angeles Film Critics Society. He received his first Academy Award
nomination in 1980 for his intense portrayal, opposite Robert De Niro, as
boxer Jake La Motta's brother in Scorsese's Raging Bull. Pesci's performance
also won awards from the New York Film Critics, The National Board of Review
and The American Film Society.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, Pesci started acting at age five. As a teenager
he appeared on stage and in television, however, it was a brief career as
a musician and stand-up comic that led to his film debut in the little known
Death Collector. His over- the-top performance inspired Scorsese and De
Niro to track him down in a Bronx restaurant to cast him in Raging Bull,
launching his full-time acting career with a rush of critical attention.
Pesci followed Raging Bull with roles in I'm Dancing As Fast As I Can, Eureka
and Easy Money. He teamed again with De Niro in Sergio Leone's Once Upon
a Time in America, went on to film Backtrack with Dennis Hopper and followed
with the Michael Jackson feature, Moonwalker. One of Pesci's most popular
creations was Leo Getz, the fast-talking, scene-stealing mob accountant
of Lethal Weapon 2 and Lethal Weapon 3. More recently, with co-stars Macaulay
Culkin and Daniel Stern, Pesci helped propel the 1990 hit sensation Home
Alone to become the most successful comedy ever. He played the crazed anti-Castro
fanatic David Ferrie in Oliver Stone's JFK, a bigoted slumlord in The Super,
a New York street lawyer in the rural South in My Cousin Vinny, a Forties
tabloid photographer in The Public Eye and returned as the bumbling burglar
in the box-office smash sequel Home Alone II: Lost in New York.
On television, he starred in the series Half Nelson and played John Dos
Passos in the miniseries White Whale. For his most recent performance in,
Split Personality on the HBO series Tales From the Crypt, Pesci received
a Cable Ace Award nomination for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series.
Now one of the most sought after actors in Hollywood for his energetic characterizations,
Pesci was seen last year in Alex Keshishian's With Honors as a homeless
man befriended by Harvard students and in Barry Levinson's comedy Jimmy
Hollywood, in which he starred with Christian Slater as a struggling actor
whose real life turns into the role of a lifetime.
One of our most recognizable comedians, DON RICKLES
(Billy Sherbert), has been insulting and entertaining everybody for more
than 50 years. On screen, Rickles has. appeared in Innocent Blood, Kealon
's Cop, Kelly's Heroes, Enter Laughing, Rat Race, and Run Silent, Run Deep.
On television, he has appeared in episodes of Hunter, Tales From the Crypt,
Two Top Bananas and Foul-Ups, Bleeps and Blunders as well as starring in
two shows of his own: C.P.O. Sharkey and The Don Rickles Show. Rickles has
also performed on stage in Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple.
KEVIN POLLAK (Phillip Green) has been performing stand-up
comedy since the age of ten. He became a touring professional stand-up at
age 20; since 1987, when he got his first movie role, he has co-starred
in seventeen films, including A Few Good Men Grumpy Old Men, Avalon, Willow,
LA. Story, Richochet, Indian Summer and Miami Rhapsody and, most recently,
The Usual Suspects with Gabriel Byrne and Kevin Spacey. He will soon be
seen in Michael Moore's comedy, Canadian Bacon, with Alan Alda and John
Candy and has recently completed work on two independent features: Chameleon
with Anthony LaPaglia and House Arrest with Jamie Lee Curtis.
Pollak has also starred in two of his own HBO comedy specials, most recently
Kevin Pollak, Stop with the Kicking, directed by David Steinberg. He continues
to perform stand-up live in towns all over the country.
JAMES WOODS (Lester Diamond) is best known for his original
and powerful performances in major studio films, independent productions
by top filmmakers and highly acclaimed television and cable projects, leaving
behind a trail of award acknowledgments (two Emmy Awards for Best Actor
and an Oscar nomination among them). Woods made his film debut in Elia Kazan's
The Visitors and then played a small, but memorable role as Barbra Streisand's
college boyfriend in The Way We Were. His first major starring role was
in Alex and the Gypsy with Jack Lemmon. He then stepped into Arthur Penn's
Night Moves with Gene Hackman.
Woods was nominated for his first of four Golden Globe Awards for his performance
in Joseph Wambaugh's The Onion Field, directed by Harold Becker. He received
a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his appearance in Oliver Stone's Salvador.
His other film credits include Once Upon a Time in America; Videodrome;
Joshua, Then and Now; Against All Odds; True Believer; Eyewitness; The Choirboys;
Cop; The Boost; Diggstown; Best Seller; Immediate Family; and The Hard Way.
More recently, he was seen in The Specialist, the remake of The Getaway
and the film version of Sam Shepard's play Curse of the Starving Class.
Woods received a Golden Globe Award, Golden Apple Award, and Emmy Award
ñ all for Best Actor ñ for Promise, a Hallmark Hall of Fame
television production he also received a Golden Globe nomination for his
work in NBC's In Love and War. Woods received another Emmy for his performance
in My Name is Bill W. and an American Television Award Best Actor trophy
as well as a Peabody Award for his highly regarded performance in HBO's
Citizen Cohn. Most recently, Woods starred in HBO's acclaimed Indictment:
The McMartin Trial.
The actor made his Broadway debut in Brendan Behan's Borstal Boy and next
elected to play the lead in an off-Broadway production, Saved, for which
he won an Obie Award. Additional New York credits include The Trial of Catonsville
Nine, Finishing Touches, Green Julia, and Michael Weller's Moonchildren,
for which he won the Theater World Award.
Woods can soon be seen playing the title role in Killer, which will debut
at major film festivals later this year. He will also be seen later this
year in Oliver Stone's Nixon playing White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman.
ALAN KING (Andy Stone) has been a comic for 50 years
since his appearance on Major Bowes Amateur Hour as a teenager. But King
has also received critical acclaim as a serious actor in such films as Night
and the City (also with De Niro), Bonfire of the Vanities, Enemies, A Love
Story and Just Tell Me What You Want, among others, and will play yet another
serious role in the upcoming movie The Infiltrator, which aired this past
June on HBO; King also co-produced the Toyota Comedy Festival, His collected
appearances on variety shows since the dawn of TV tally at more than 1,000;
King has guest-starred on many TV series and had his own show, Alan King:
Inside the Comedy Mind, which ran on Comedy Central. King has produced many
films as well, including the bittersweet Memories of Me, in which he co-starred
with Billy Crystal. He is a best-selling author with three books: Anyone
Who Owns His Own Home Deserves It, Help, I'm a Prisoner in a Chinese Bakery
and Is Salami k Eggs Better Than Sex? - Memoirs of a Happy Eater (co-written
with restaurant and food critic Mimi Sheraton).
As a tennis enthusiast, King initiated the Alan King Tennis Classic at Caesar's
Palace, which had a 21-year run. For his outstanding service to the sport,
he is now being inducted into the Eastern Tennis Association's Hall of Fame.
King continues to serve as the head of the New York State Film Commission
and is now at work completing his memoirs (in collaboration with writer
Chris Chase) for Scribner's Publishing Company.
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