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When you have the SAG Award nominated ensemble of “American Fiction” – John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Tracee Ellis Ross and Jeffrey Wright (also individually nominated in male lead and Oscar nominated for the film) you have to ask them where it all began. In discussing their first jobs for the union, Ross revealed that, like many actors, she started with a commercial – this one for Infiniti cars.

But her co-stars soon revealed surprisingly momentous stories for their first SAG-AFTRA jobs. Wright noted his onscreen debut was opposite Burt Lancaster and Sidney Poitier in the 1991 miniseries “Separate but Equal” about the Brown v. Board of Education court case. “My first single was opposite Sidney Poitier,” Wright revealed. Alexander started in a 1986 film called “My Little Girl” that starred Mary Stuart Masterson, Geraldine Page and – in her film debut – Jennifer Lopez. And Ortiz

Ross joked, “My Infiniti commercial is getting smaller and smaller…...

After a year that saw actors hit the picket lines for four months, it’s no surprise that the awards season has felt more urgent and emotional than previous years. That was no more apparent than at the 35th annual Annual Palm Springs International Film Awards Thursday. The event, hosted by Mary Hart, honored 9 acting nominees and one feature film (Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon”) that, no doubt, we’ll be hearing more of in the coming months.

The night was filled with tears and laughter, starting with Danielle Brooks, who won the Spotlight Actress Award for her role as Sofia in “The Color Purple.” The actress gave Oprah Winfrey a shout-out, praising her for taking Steven Spielberg’s advice while making the 1985 film and not losing weight. For Brooks, it allowed curvy women to feel they had a space in Hollywood. She also talked about the...

Mike Nussbaum, one of the oldest working actors in the U.S. industry who appeared in such films as “Men in Black” and “Field of Dreams,” has died. He was 99.

Nussbaum died of natural causes Saturday — six days short of his 100th birthday — at his home in Chicago, his daughter Karen told the Chicago Tribune.

Nussbaum played book publisher Bob Drimmer in “Fatal Attraction” (1987), a school principal in “Field of Dreams” (1989) and alien jeweler Gentle Rosenburg in “Men in Black” (1997). He also appeared in films like “House of Games” (1987), “Things Change” (1988), “Harry and Tonto” (1974), “Losing Josiah” (1995) and “Steal Big Steal Little” (1995).

On the television side, Nussbaum had turns in “The Equalizer,” “The X-Files,” “Brooklyn Bridge,” “Separate but Equal,” “Frasier,” “L.A. Law,” “227,” “The Commish” and “Early Edition.”

Nussbaum was born on Dec. 29, 1923, and raised in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago. He went on to have an extensive career in theater,...

Heading into the 81st Golden Globe Awards, legendary performer Harrison Ford is eligible for two different small screen prizes – Best TV Drama Actor and Best TV Supporting Actor – thanks to his respective turns on the inaugural seasons of “1923” and “Shrinking.” These possible dual bids would come 22 years after he was named the 48th recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille career achievement award and make him a proper Golden Globe competitor for the first time since 1996. Given the fact that 33 other DeMille awardees will have preceded him in subsequently landing regular nominations, it only makes sense to analyze those instances to determine just how great his chances of victory at the 2024 ceremony really are.

Until “1923” premiered on Paramount Plus last December, the 81-year-old Ford had never appeared in a regular capacity on a TV program of any kind. Within six weeks, however, he was officially a multi-series star showcasing...

Sidney Poitier celebrates his 92nd birthday on February 20, 2019. The Oscar-winning star broke down barriers for actors of color, becoming a Hollywood leading man at a time before black Americans were even granted full civil rights. He also opened doors for black directors after stepping behind the camera for nine features. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1927, Poitier made his big screen debut in “No Way Out” (1950), playing a doctor treating a racist white bigot (Richard Widmark). Just eight years later he was competing at the Oscars as Best Actor for “The Defiant Ones” (1958), which centers on two runaway fugitives chained together — one black, the other white (Tony Curtis). His bid made him the first black male performer to contend in an acting category at the Academy.

SEEOscar Best Actor Gallery: Every Winner in Academy...

Sidney Poitier celebrates his 92nd birthday on February 20, 2019. The Oscar-winning star broke down barriers for actors of color, becoming a Hollywood leading man at a time before black Americans were even granted full civil rights. He also opened doors for black directors after stepping behind the camera for nine features. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1927, Poitier made his big screen debut in “No Way Out” (1950), playing a doctor treating a racist white bigot (Richard Widmark). Just eight years later he was competing at the Oscars as Best Actor for “The Defiant Ones” (1958), which centers on two runaway fugitives chained together — one black, the other white (Tony Curtis). His bid made him the first black male performer to contend in an acting category at the Academy.

He would soon be joining the winner’s...

Award-winning casting director Alixe Gordin died at her home in Duxbury, Massachusetts on November 28. She was 96. Additional details about her death were not revealed.

Born Alixe Glas on April 10, 1922 in Dayton, Ohio, she took her stage name Gordin when she started performing as a musician and an actor. She got into casting in the ’60s with Studio One and The Defenders on CBS.

Gordin is known for her casting work on some of the most iconic films in history. She served as casting director for the Brian De Palma classic Scarface which earned Al Pacino and Steven Bauer a Golden Globe nomination in 1984. She worked on Alan J. Pakula’s Klute which won Jane Fonda an Academy Award in 1971. She reteamed with Pakula for his film Sophie’s Choice which went on to win an Academy Award for Meryl Streep in 1982. Gordin’s magic touch would continue with John Huston’s Prizzi’s Honor,...

Alixe Gordin, the casting director who worked on Scarface, Prizzi’s Honor and 10 films with director Alan J. Pakula, including Klute and Sophie's Choice, has died. She was 96.

Gordin died Wednesday at her home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, family spokeswoman Emily M. Kellndorfer said.

Gordin also won a Primetime Emmy in 1991 for casting for a miniseries or a special for her work on ABC's three-hour Separate But Equal, which starred Sidney Poitier as Thurgood Marshall.

In addition to Klute (1971) and Sophie's Choice (1982), she collaborated with Pakula on The Parallax View (1974), Dream Lover (1986), Orphans (1987), See You in the Morning (1989) — she also ...

Alixe Gordin, the casting director who worked on Scarface, Prizzi’s Honor and 10 films with director Alan J. Pakula, including Klute and Sophie's Choice, has died. She was 96.

Gordin died Wednesday at her home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, family spokeswoman Emily M. Kellndorfer said.

Gordin also won a Primetime Emmy in 1991 for casting for a miniseries or a special for her work on ABC's three-hour Separate But Equal, which starred Sidney Poitier as Thurgood Marshall.

In addition to Klute (1971) and Sophie's Choice (1982), she collaborated with Pakula on The Parallax View (1974), Dream Lover (1986), Orphans (1987), See You in the Morning (1989) — she also ...

Image Source: Getty / Paul Drinkwater As the stars descended upon Los Angeles for the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards, there was one speech we were already impatiently waiting to hear: Oprah Winfrey's acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille Award. Of course, Oprah inspired and empowered us, speaking about sexual harassment, the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, and the future for women and, well, everyone from this day forward. One of her biggest moments from the speech, however, was focused on the past and the actor who inspired her to want to achieve greatness: Sidney Poitier. "In 1964, I was a little girl sitting on the linoleum floor of my mother's house in Milwaukee watching Anne Bancroft present the Oscar for best actor at the 36th Academy Awards. She opened the envelope and said five words that literally made history: 'The winner is Sidney Poitier.' Up to the...

Pioneering actor to receive BAFTA’s highest honour.

BAFTA is to honour Us actor Sidney Poitier with its Fellowship honour at the Ee British Academy Film Awards in London on Feb 14.

Awarded annually, the Fellowship is the highest accolade bestowed by BAFTA upon an individual in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, television or games.

Fellows previously honoured for their work in film include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Sean Connery, Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Lee, Martin Scorsese, Alan Parker and Helen Mirren. Mike Leigh received the Fellowship at last year’s Film Awards.

Poitier said: “I am extremely honored to have been chosen to receive the Fellowship and my deep appreciation to the British Academy for the recognition.”

The pioneering actor’s award-winning career includes six BAFTA nominations, including one BAFTA win for The Defiant Ones (1958), and a British Academy Britannia Award for Lifetime...

Inhumans #1-12 (1998-99)

Written by Paul Jenkins

Penciled by Jae Lee

Inked by Jae Lee

Colored by Dave Kemp, Dan Kemp, and Avalon Studios

Published by Marvel Comics

“While we appreciate the support…it is nonetheless conditional. As seems to be the case with every human good deed.”

-Mendicus (Inhumans Vol. 2, Issue 5)

“From diversity comes equality”. A simple concept that stands in direct contrast to the term “Separate but equal”, and a concept that governs every facet of life according to the Inhumans. From the very beginning of Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee’s Inhumans, readers are immediately thrust into a genocracy governed by genealogy and phenotypical expression. The home of these strange beings with irresistible power is known as Attilan, an island nation ruled by the ever-silent Black Bolt and his inner cabinet, composed of his family. Together, they preside over their race of Inhumans, an offshoot of Homo sapiens,...

And when I walk up in the building/everybody's hands go Up!....And they stay there!

It’s the week of release and I still don’t feel like I have a bead on the new live-action iteration of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But that's okay.

I’ve been following the development of this movie since it seemed like an immediate reality at a public showing of the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live action film in New York celebrating a Turtles anniversary. The creators were on hand and everyone was excited to hear the Turtles were going to interact with real things again after a hibernation period in the cartoon space (which gave us some worthwhile entries for the Turtle fan - TV’s Turtles Forever and cinema’s CGI Tmnt).

Then, there was the whole “these Turtles are Aliens” debacle that at first looked like producer Michael Bay misunderstanding the property then,...

In conjunction with the LUMIÈRE publication of the free downloadable e-book "Allan Dwan: A Dossier," we present a new video series, An Allan Dwan Serial. The serial is a continuous selection of clips from the career of the one and only Allan Dwan, an engineering director whose broad filmography connects in beautiful and unexpected ways.

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Download "Allan Dwan: A Dossier" to see the Rise and Shine segment of my visual essay "Separate But Equal".

In conjunction with the LUMIÈRE publication of the free downloadable e-book "Allan Dwan: A Dossier," we present a new video series, An Allan Dwan Serial. The serial is a continuous selection of clips from the career of the one and only Allan Dwan, an engineering director whose broad filmography connects in beautiful and unexpected ways.

<- previous entry | next entry -> 

Download "Allan Dwan: A Dossier" to read Mathieu Macheret's piece on Allan Dwan's Shirley Temple films and to see the Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm segment of my visual essay "Separate But Equal".

Mumbai, March 7: Veteran Shabana Azmi says women must be "placed at the centre of development" while another seasoned actor Khushboo feels it's time to "change the mindset of people" towards women.

Women's Day is March 8 and Indian actresses express what it means to be a woman, what changes they feel should be brought about and which woman inspires them:

Shabana Azmi: Separate but equal/different but equal surely must become the axiom for Women's Day. Men and Women are different... and this difference needs to be celebrated. I salute the women's movement for creating space that has allowed many of us to walk the untrodden.

I can honestly appreciate that many, myself included, are progressive enough in 2011 that we can take issue with a white woman -- in this case, novelist Kathryn Stockett -- presumptuous enough to speak for an entire race and class of people from an era with which she didn't belong. But if I may be presumptuous myself, it's not the book that many of us have an issue with, it's the idea that these smug suburban soccer moms on both sides of the political spectrum can claim ownership of the novel, who believe that by reading The Help and sympathizing with it, they have fulfilled their anti-prejudice obligations, who can say, "I understand racism. I have read The Help!"

Reading The Help is the new, "I have a black friend." Like, Eat, Pray, Love, it's an easy shortcut to a Gap brand of Enlightenment.

But here's the thing: The Help differs from Eat,...

Charles Dickens’ beloved holiday story “A Christmas Carol” gets the 3D treatment, and the result is a visually stunning big-screen experience I’m sure many cinema goers out there will enjoy to the fullest extent. As far as I’m concerned, my feelings about this one are mixed.

The story doesn’t really require a lengthy introduction. The holiday season is in full swing, and Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) despises Christmas and everyone celebrating it. Then he’s visited by three ghosts who take him on an emotional journey, and before you know it, his meanness is gone for good…read more [ScreeningLog]

It’s hard to believe that Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol 166 years ago, but here we are in 2009 and Robert Zemeckis has spent $180 million to produce a motion-capture animated film that retells the famous story. The movie opens this weekend on more than 2,000 digital 3D screens and...