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Curated playlist

Theatre World Award winners

  • Jude LawJude Law dropped out of school at 17 to become an actor. It led to an Oscar nomination for The Talented Mr. Ripley.
  • Meryl StreepDino De Laurentiis insulted Meryl Streep in Italian, not knowing she spoke it. She answered him in Italian too.
  • Nicole KidmanNicole Kidman was born on the 20th of June 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and was given the Hawaiian name Hōkūlani, which means heavenly star. The inspiration for the name was a baby elephant born around the same time at the Honolulu Zoo. Since…
  • Rachel WeiszRachel Weisz first made headlines in 1984 by saying no. She was a teenage model who had started working at the age of 14, and she turned down an offer to star in King David opposite Richard Gere. The British actress, born on the 7th of…
  • Rachel McAdamsFor the March 2006 Hollywood issue of Vanity Fair, the Canadian actress Rachel McAdams was invited to share a cover with Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley. She arrived at the photo set and discovered that the session was a nude one.…
  • Marisa TomeiMarisa Tomei's first film role was a waitress with exactly one line. She later earned three Oscar nominations.
  • Tom HanksTom Hanks lost 35 pounds to play a dying lawyer in Philadelphia. He thinned his hair and learned to walk differently.
  • Scarlett JohanssonAs a child, Scarlett Johansson practiced Judy Garland's emotions in a mirror until she cried.
  • Philip Seymour HoffmanPhilip Seymour Hoffman was an American actor whose career the director Joel Schumacher summed up in 2000 with bad news and good news. Schumacher put it this way: "The bad news is that Philip won't be a $25-million star. The good news is…
  • Mark RuffaloMark Ruffalo has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which ties a record. Each nomination came for a different kind of man. Ruffalo is an American actor and producer, and the road to that record was…
  • Macaulay CulkinIn December 2018, Macaulay Culkin asked the internet to help him pick a new legal name. He announced that he would become Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin, and he opened a vote on his own website to choose the new middle name. Five…
  • Ralph FiennesRalph Fiennes has played a Nazi camp commandant, a dark wizard, a British spymaster and a flirtatious hotel concierge, and audiences have believed every one of them. Born in 1962, the English actor and director carries the full name Ralph…
  • Reba McEntireReba McEntire, later known as the Queen of Country, nearly missed her Grand Ole Opry debut on the 17th of September 1977. A guard at the gate overlooked her name on the list of performers. Her parents and her older sister Alice had driven…
  • Timothy OlyphantTimothy Olyphant once turned down the lead in a film that its studio was ready to approve if he said yes. The producer Neal H. Moritz recalled the studio's position this way: "If you can get Timothy Olyphant to play that role we will…
  • Liam NeesonLiam Neeson, born William John Neeson, first saw great acting in a church he had no business being in. Ian Paisley, founder of the Democratic Unionist Party, led the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, and the young Neeson sneaked into it.…
  • Bryan CranstonIn 1968, a 12-year-old Bryan Cranston was riding horses with his cousin at Spahn Ranch when he met Charles Manson. About a year later, Manson ordered the Tate-LaBianca murders. Cranston grew up to become an American actor and filmmaker…
  • Helen MirrenDame Helen Mirren was born Ilyena Lydia Mironoff on the 26th of July 1945, at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in the Hammersmith district of London. Neither the first name nor the surname on that record would last. The woman who…
  • Lupita Nyong'oAfter her Oscar, Lupita Nyong'o says she was offered another slave role, this time on a slave ship.
  • John KrasinskiJohn Krasinski hosted a livestreamed prom on the 17th of April 2020. It was meant for high schoolers whose real proms had been cancelled, and 210,000 viewers tuned in. Live performances came from Billie Eilish, Finneas, the Jonas Brothers…
  • Nicole ScherzingerIn August 2003, Nicole Scherzinger walked into the Arista Records office in New York carrying a demo CD of songs she had written herself. She was performing under her Hawaiian family name, Nicole Kea, and she wanted a solo recording…
  • Paul MescalPaul Mescal was born in Dublin on the 2nd of February 1996. As a teenager, he was a defender for Kildare, first at minor level and then at under-21 level. A physical trainer named Cian O'Neill once described the young player as "mature…
  • Anthony PerkinsAnthony Perkins was born on the 4th of April 1932 in Manhattan and died on the 12th of September 1992. When Fear Strikes Out reached theaters in 1957, The Hollywood Reporter wrote of his performance: "Every recent young star has been…
  • Hugh JackmanHugh Jackman likes to tell the story of the thirteen seconds he spent out of work. In his words, "I was technically unemployed for thirteen seconds." The count began on the night of his final graduation performance at drama school, when a…
  • Kristin ChenowethKristin Chenoweth is 4 feet 11 inches tall, and as a child she sang a song about it. At the age of 12, she stood alone before the national conference of the Southern Baptist Convention and performed "Four Feet Eleven," an Evie song. Its…
  • Simon CallowSimon Callow's acting career began with a fan letter to Laurence Olivier. Olivier wrote back with a box-office job.
  • Cynthia ErivoCynthia Erivo, whose surname is pronounced uh-REE-voh, belongs to a very small group. She has been nominated for an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award. She has won every one of them except the Oscar. That set of four honors is known…

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