Laurie Collyer (born 1967) [1] is an American film director and screenwriter.
Born in Summit, New Jersey, she grew up in Mountainside, New Jersey and attended Oberlin College. [2] After working at a series of odd jobs, she went to film school at New York University. She is best known for writing and directing Sherrybaby , for which actress Maggie Gyllenhaal received a Golden Globe nomination. [3] She also directed the film Nuyorican Dream in 1999. [4] She is in development to direct a film based on the story of Julia Butterfly Hill and the redwood tree Luna, which is to star Rachel Weisz. She has also written the screenplay of an upcoming adaptation of Sara Zarr's novel Story of a Girl .
In 2013, she directed Sunlight Jr. , starring Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon. [5] In 2015, she directed The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe , which stars Kelli Garner, Susan Sarandon, Emily Watson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Eva Amurri Martino. In 2018, she directed a comedy-drama Furlough , starring Tessa Thompson, Melissa Leo, and Whoopi Goldberg.
Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series Taxi (1978–1983), which won him a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award. He plays Frank Reynolds on the FX and FXX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2006–present).
Mountainside is a borough in Union County, New Jersey, United States. The borough is located on a ridge in northern-central New Jersey, within the Raritan Valley and Rahway Valley regions in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 6,685, reflecting an increase of 83 (+1.3%) from the 6,602 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn declined by 55 (−0.8%) from the 6,657 counted in the 1990 Census.
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis is a British screenwriter, producer and film director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Love Actually (2003), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), About Time (2013) and Yesterday (2019). He is also known for the drama War Horse (2011) and for having co-written the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Vicar of Dibley. His early career saw him write material for the BBC's Not the Nine O'Clock News and ITV's Spitting Image.
James Hugh Calum Laurie is an English actor, comedian, writer, and musician, best known for starring on the medical drama series House (2004–2012). He received two Golden Globe Awards and many other accolades for portraying Dr. Gregory House on the Fox television show. He was listed in the 2011 Guinness World Records as the most watched leading man on television and was one of the highest-paid actors in a television drama, earning £250,000 ($409,000) per episode of House. His other television credits include arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper in the miniseries The Night Manager (2016), for which he won his third Golden Globe Award, and Senator Tom James in the HBO sitcom Veep (2012–2019), for which he received his 10th Emmy Award nomination.
Anna Hélène Paquin is a Canadian-born New Zealand actress. She made her acting debut portraying Flora McGrath in the romantic drama film The Piano (1993), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 11, making her the second-youngest winner in Oscar history. She was a successful child actress, receiving multiple Young Artist Award nominations for her roles in Fly Away Home (1996), The Member of the Wedding (1997), and A Walk on the Moon (1999), and a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for appearing in Cameron Crowe's comedy-drama film Almost Famous (2000). She also appeared in the films Jane Eyre (1996) and Amistad (1997).
Julie Taymor is an American director and writer of theater, opera and film. Since her stage adaptation of The Lion King debuted in 1997, 24 global productions have been seen by more than 100 million people in over 100 cities in 20 countries, on every continent except Antarctica, and its worldwide gross exceeds that of any entertainment title in box office history. The Lion King also received 11 Tony Award nominations, earning Taymor Tony Awards for Best Director and Costume Designer, and was honored with more than 70 major arts awards worldwide.
Naomi Ellen Watts is a British actress. After her family moved to Australia, she made her film debut there in the drama For Love Alone (1986) and then appeared in three television series, Hey Dad..! (1990), Brides of Christ (1991), and Home and Away (1991), and the film Flirting (1991). After moving to the United States, Watts initially struggled as an actress, taking roles in small-scale films until she starred in David Lynch's psychological thriller Mulholland Drive in 2001 as an aspiring actress. This role started her rise to international prominence.
Alexa Ellesse PenaVega is an American actress and singer. She is known for her roles as Carmen Cortez in the Spy Kids film series and Julie Corky in the 2004 film Sleepover. In 2009, she starred as the title character Ruby Gallagher in the ABC Family series Ruby & the Rockits.
David Henry Chase is an American filmmaker. He wrote and produced the HBO drama The Sopranos which aired for six seasons between 1999 and 2007. Chase has also produced and written for such shows as The Rockford Files, I'll Fly Away, and Northern Exposure. He created the original series Almost Grown which aired for 10 episodes in 1988 and 1989. He has won seven Emmy Awards. Chase's film debut came in 2012 with Not Fade Away, followed by The Many Saints of Newark (2021), a prequel film to the TV series The Sopranos.
Scout Taylor-Compton is an American actress. She has frequently worked in the horror genre, most notably as Laurie Strode in the 2007 remake of Halloween and its 2009 sequel. Outside of horror, she portrayed musician Lita Ford in the biographical drama film The Runaways (2010).
Eddie and the Cruisers is a 1983 American musical drama film directed by Martin Davidson with the screenplay written by the director and Arlene Davidson, based on the novel by P. F. Kluge. The sequel Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! followed in 1989.
Brenda Chapman is an American writer, storyboard artist, and director. In 1998, she became the first woman to direct an animated feature from a major studio, DreamWorks Animation's The Prince of Egypt. In 2012, she co-directed the Disney/Pixar film Brave with Mark Andrews and Steve Purcell, becoming the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Sherrybaby is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Laurie Collyer. Screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2006, the film received a limited release in the United States on September 8, 2006.
Dana Fuchs is an American singer and songwriter known for a mix of Southern rock, soul, roots, and blues. She is also an actor. The New York Times' Stephen Holden called Fuchs' performance in the film Across the Universe, "triumphal".
Deborah Ann Ryan, known professionally as Debby Ryan, is an American actress and singer. Ryan started acting in professional theatres at the age of seven, and was later discovered in a nationwide search by Disney Channel. From 2008 to 2011, she starred as Bailey Pickett on The Suite Life on Deck and appeared in the 2010 Disney Channel Original Movie 16 Wishes as Abby Jensen. Ryan also appeared in the 2010 independent theatrical film What If... as Kim Walker.
Annabelle Wallis is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Jane Seymour in Showtime's period drama The Tudors (2009–2010), Grace Burgess in the BBC drama Peaky Blinders (2013–2022), Mia Form in the supernatural horror film Annabelle (2014), Jenny Halsey in the supernatural adventure film The Mummy (2017), Sandra in Silent Night (2021) and Madison Mitchell in the horror film Malignant (2021).
The Oranges is a 2011 American romantic comedy-drama directed by Julian Farino and starring Hugh Laurie, Leighton Meester, Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Allison Janney, Alia Shawkat, and Adam Brody. The film chronicles how two families deal with a scandal involving a married man and his friends' daughter. Set in The Oranges area of Essex County, New Jersey, The Oranges was primarily filmed in New Rochelle, New York. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2011, and was released in the United States on October 5, 2012, by ATO Pictures. The film received mixed reviews upon its release.
Lena Dunham is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She is known as the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series Girls (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy Award nominations and two Golden Globe Awards. Dunham also directed several episodes of Girls and became the first woman to win the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series. Prior to Girls, Dunham wrote, directed, and starred in the semi-autobiographical independent film Tiny Furniture (2010), for which she won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.
Sunlight Jr. is a 2013 American drama film directed by Laurie Collyer and starring Matt Dillon and Naomi Watts. The film is a poignant vignette following a couple expecting their first child. The couple must come to grips with their dire financial situation while in the midst of an unplanned pregnancy and its subsequent challenges. The film is inspired by Barbara Ehrenreich’s non-fiction book “Nickel and Dimed” which investigates many of the difficulties low-wage workers face.
Quinn Shephard is an American actress, film director, producer, screenwriter and film editor. She played the roles of Donna Malone in the Christmas comedy Unaccompanied Minors and Morgan Sanders in the television series Hostages. In 2017, her feature film directorial debut, Blame, screened at several film festivals and earned critical attention.