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Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. Lee has won numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and two Peabody Awards. He has also been honored with an Honorary BAFTA Award in 2002, an Honorary César in 2003, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2015.
Laurence John Fishburne III is an American actor. He is a three-time Emmy Award and Tony Award winner known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative characters in his films. He is known for playing Morpheus in The Matrix series (1999–2003), Jason "Furious" Styles in the John Singleton drama film Boyz n the Hood (1991), Tyrone "Mr. Clean" Miller in Francis Ford Coppola's war film Apocalypse Now (1979), and "The Bowery King" in the John Wick film series (2017–present).
Richard Masur is an American character actor who has appeared in more than 80 films. From 1995 to 1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He is best known for playing David Kane on One Day at a Time (1975–1976), Nick Lobo on Rhoda (1974–1977), Clark in The Thing (1982), Adult Stanley Uris in the miniseries It (1990), and Edward L. L. Moore on Younger (2016–2018).
Rory Cochrane is an American actor. He is known for playing Ron Slater in Dazed and Confused, Lucas in Empire Records, Lee Schatz in Argo, Freck in A Scanner Darkly, and Tim Speedle in CSI: Miami.
John Smeallie Youngs, known professionally as John Savage, is an American actor. He first rose to prominence in the late 1970s for his portrayals of troubled-but-sensitive characters in films like The Deer Hunter (1978), The Onion Field (1979) and Hair (1979). His television roles include Donald Lydecker on Dark Angel (2000–2002) and Hack Scudder on Carnivàle (2003–2005).
Kelly Bishop is an American actress and dancer, best known for her roles as matriarch Emily Gilmore on the series Gilmore Girls and as Marjorie Houseman, the mother of Jennifer Grey's Frances "Baby" Houseman in the film Dirty Dancing. Bishop originated the role of Sheila in A Chorus Line for which she won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. In 2023, she starred as Mrs. Ivey in The Watchful Eye (2023).
Doug E. Doug is an American actor. He started his career at age 17 as a stand-up comedian. He played the role of Griffin Vesey on the CBS sitcom Cosby, Sanka Coffie in the film Cool Runnings, and the voice of Bernie in the animated film Shark Tale.
William Goldwyn Nunn III was an American actor known for his roles as Radio Raheem in Spike Lee's film Do the Right Thing, Robbie Robertson in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man film trilogy and as Terrence "Pip" Phillips on The Job (2001–02).
Nicky Katt is an American character actor. He is best known for his role as Harry Senate on the television show Boston Public and for his roles as unsympathetic villains, including as a murderous cop on the take in Monk, an irascible motorhead in Dazed and Confused, an ill-fated white supremacist child rapist in A Time to Kill, and an embittered business rival in Boiler Room. He has also appeared in films including Insomnia, The Limey, SubUrbia, and Sin City, and is an semi-regular collaborator of Richard Linklater, Steven Soderbergh, and Christopher Nolan.
Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Gus Fring in the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad, from 2009 to 2011, as well as in its prequel series Better Call Saul, from 2017 to 2022. For this role, he won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2012) and earned three nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
School Daze is a 1988 American musical drama comedy film written and directed by Spike Lee and starring Lee along with Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, and Tisha Campbell. Released on February 12, 1988 by Columbia Pictures as Lee's second feature film, and based partly on his experiences as a student at Morehouse College in the Atlanta University Center during the 1970s, it is a story about undergraduates in a fraternity and sorority clashing with some of their classmates at a historically black college during homecoming week. It also touches upon issues of colorism, elitism, classism, political activism, hazing, groupthink, female self-esteem, social mobility, and hair texture bias within the African-American community.
Darryl M. Bell is an American actor best known for his role as Big Brother X-Ray Vision in the 1988 Spike Lee film School Daze and as Ron Johnson Jr. on the NBC sitcom A Different World (1987–93). Darryl Bell also starred on the short-lived UPN sitcom Homeboys in Outer Space as Morris Clay.
Joe Seneca was an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for playing Willie Brown in Crossroads (1986), Dr. Meadows in The Blob (1988), and Dr. Hanes in The Cosby Show.
Roger Guenveur Smith is an American actor, director, and writer best known for his collaborations with Spike Lee.
Kimberly Ann Director is an American actress. She has played the roles of Kim Diamond in Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000), and Stevie in Inside Man (2006). Beginning in 2017, she has appeared as a recurring guest star on the HBO series The Deuce.
Robert John Burke is an American actor known for his roles in the early films of Hal Hartley as well as his roles in RoboCop 3 (1993), Tombstone (1993), and Thinner (1996). During the 2000s Burke became well known for his portrayal of Mickey Gavin on Rescue Me (2004–11), Bart Bass in Gossip Girl (2007–12), Ed Tucker in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2002–20), and a number of other film and television roles including Intrusion (2021).
Isiah Whitlock Jr. is an American actor. He is best known for his role as corrupt state senator Clay Davis on the HBO television series The Wire as well as being a frequent collaborator of Spike Lee.
Spike Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor, known for films that deal with controversial social and political issues. Each of Lee's films is typically referred to as "A Spike Lee Joint" and the closing credits always end with the phrases "By Any Means Necessary," "Ya Dig," and "Sho Nuff."
Cinqué Lee is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the younger brother of filmmaker Spike Lee. Lee has worked in number of different positions of his older brother's films, as a camera operator, video archivist and most notably as a co-screenwriter in the 1994 film Crooklyn. He also had small roles in School Daze (1988) and Oldboy (2013). As an actor, he appeared in the Jim Jarmusch-directed films Mystery Train (1989) and Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), and a number of other independent films.
Robi Reed is an American casting director and producer. She has over 50 films and television shows to her credit, including The Best Man, Soul Food, For Colored Girls, Love Jones, Set It Off, In Living Color and Girlfriends. She began her career working with the writer-director Spike Lee. His 1988 release, School Daze, was her first film as a casting director. She went on to cast Lee's Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues, Crooklyn, Clockers and Jungle Fever.
References
- ↑ Berry, S. Torriano; Berry, Venise T. (2015-05-07). Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-4702-4.
- ↑ "Leonard L. Thomas". IMDb .
