Honored Guests

Emmy Rossum

Emmy Rossum stars as Alexa in the indie drama “Dare,” which will be released theatrically by Image Entertainment on Nov. 13. In 2004, her starring performance as Christine in “The Phantom of the Opera” earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination, as well as the National Board of Review’s Best Female Breakthrough Performance Award and the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s Best Young Actress Award in 2005. Her acting performance in “Songcatcher” earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination in the category of Best Debut Performance. Other past film credits include the Clint Eastwood-directed drama “Mystic River,” “Poseidon,” “The Day After Tomorrow” with Jake Gyllenhaal, “Dragonball” and “Happy Now.”

At age 7, Rossum began singing at the Met, and she has since performed with such musical talents as Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Dolly Parton. In 2007, Rossum recorded her first album for Geffen records, “Inside Out,” which showcased her classically trained voice as the primary instrument. She wrote and recorded all her own songs. She is currently working on her second album.

Patricia Clarkson

As an Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award-winning actress, Patricia Clarkson takes on roles as varied as the platform in which she plays them. It is that multi-faceted approach that has made her one of today’s most respected actresses.

She last appeared in Woody Allen’s “Whatever Works” alongside Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood. Additionally, Clarkson stars in a romantic drama, “Cairo Time,” which recently won the Best Canadian Feature award at the 34th Toronto International Film Festival. She will next be seen in “Blind Date” opposite Stanley Tucci. The film premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, and was slated for release by Variance Films in late September. In early 2010, Clarkson will be seen in Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated “Shutter Island” alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Sir Ben Kingsley. Paramount will release the film in February.

Last year, Clarkson received praise for her work in Isabel Coixet’s “Elegy” opposite Sir Ben Kingsley, Penelope Cruz and Dennis Hopper, as well as for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” written and directed by Woody Allen, and for Ira Sachs’ “Married Life,” in which she starred opposite Chris Cooper and Pierce Brosnan. Additional credits include “Phoebe in Wonderland,” “Lars and the Real Girl,” “All the King’s Men,” “Goodnight, and Good Luck,” “The Dying Gaul,” “The Woods,” “Far from Heaven,” “Pieces of April,” ” The Station Agent,” “Miracle,” “High Art,” “Dogville,” “Welcome to Collinwood,” “The Pledge,” “The Green Mile,” “Everybody’s All-American,” “The Dead Pool,” “Rocket Gibraltar,” “Tune in Tomorrow,” “Joe Gould’s Secret,” “Wendigo” and Brian De Palma’s “The Untouchables,” her film debut.

Clarkson’s continuous innovative work in independent film earned her the Independent Award for Acting Excellence at the 2009 ShoWest Awards. In 2003, her role in “Pieces of April” earned her nominations for Academy, Golden Globe, SAG, Broadcast Film Critics and Independent Spirit awards. In addition, the Sundance Film Festival awarded her the Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance for “Pieces of April,” “The Station Agent” and “All the Real Girls.” Her performance in “The Station Agent” also earned her SAG Award nominations for Best Actress and Best Ensemble Cast. The National Board of Review and the National Society of Film Critics named her Best Supporting Actress of the Year for her work in “Pieces of April” and “The Station Agent.”

Clarkson also won Best Supporting Actress awards from the New York Film Critics Circle and National Society of Film Critics for her performance in Todd Haynes’ “Far from Heaven.” That role also earned her a nomination from the Chicago Film Critics. Her performance as Greta in Lisa Cholodenko’s “High Art” earned her a nomination for an IFP Independent Spirit Award.

On television, Clarkson won an Emmy in 2002 and 2006 for her guest-starring role on HBO’s acclaimed drama “Six Feet Under.”

Jeremy Renner

Jeremy Renner will next be seen in the feature film “The Hurt Locker,” directed by Kathryn Bigelow. His role as Jeffrey Dahmer in the indie hit “Dahmer” garnered him a nomination for Best Actor at the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards.

In 2007, Renner appeared in three features: “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” with Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck, “28 Weeks Later” and “Take,” opposite Minnie Driver. In 2005, he starred in the acclaimed independent film “12 and Holding” (Independent Spirit Award nominee, John Cassavetes Award) and in “Neo Ned,” which won an array of awards at various film festivals. In Warner Bros.’ “North Country” Renner starred opposite Academy Award-winner Charlize Theron.

Renner also performs in plays throughout the Los Angeles area. In addition, he writes, records and performs contemporary rock and has written songs for Warner Chapel Publishing and Universal Publishing.

Hugh Dancy

Hugh Dancy currently stars in Max Mayer’s Adam opposite Rose Byrne. The film premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it garnered the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. He next will star in the MCC Theater’s off-Broadway production of The Pride, directed by Joe Mantello and written by Alexi Kaye Campbell. The play runs Feb. 16-March 20, 2010.

Dancy recently starred in P.J. Hogan’s Confessions of a Shopaholic opposite Isla Fisher. His other film credits include Evening, The Jane Austen Book Club, Beyond the Gates, King Arthur, Ella Enchanted, The Sleeping Dictionary, Black Hawk Down and Young Blades.

On television, he starred in Tom Hooper’s critically acclaimed series Elizabeth I opposite Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons. Dancy received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his role as Earl of Essex, and the series received the 2007 Golden Globe Award for Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television and the Emmy Award for Best Miniseries. Dancy’s other television credits include Daniel Deronda, David Copperfield, Relic Hunter and Madame Bovary.

Onstage, Dancy starred in David Grindley’s A Journey’s End, which won the 2007 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.

Dancy graduated with an English literature degree from St. Peter’s College, Oxford.

Woody Harrelson

Woody Harrelson’s rare mix of intensity and charisma consistently surprises and delights both audiences and critics.

His upcoming films include “The Messenger” with Ben Foster for director Oren Moverman and “Bunraku,” directed by Guy Moshe and co-starring Josh Hartnett and Demi Moore. Harrelson recently completed filming on “Defendor,” costarring Kat Dennings, for director Peter Stebbings. Most recently, Harrelson appeared in Stuart Townsend’s “Battle in Seattle” with Charlize Theron, Andre Benjamin and Ray Liotta; Brad Anderson’s “Transsiberian,” in which he starred opposite Emily Mortimer and Ben Kingsley; and Gabriele Muccino’s “Seven Pounds” with Will Smith and Rosario Dawson.

Harrelson’s critically acclaimed portrayal of controversial magazine publisher Larry Flynt in Milos Forman’s “The People vs. Larry Flynt” garnered him best actor Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild nominations. Other highlights from Harrelson’s film career include “No Country For Old Men,” “Semi Pro,” “After the Sunset,” “Play it to the Bone,” “The Thin Red Line,” “The Hi-Lo County,” “Ed TV,” “Wag the Dog,” “Welcome to Sarajevo,” “Kingpin,” “Natural Born Killers,” “Indecent Proposal,” “White Men Can’t Jump,” “The Big White,” “A Scanner Darkly,” “North Country,” “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio,” “A Prairie Home Companion” and Zak Penn’s ensemble comedy “The Grand.”

Harrelson first endeared himself to millions of viewers as a member of the ensemble cast of NBC’s long-running hit comedy, “Cheers.” For his work as the affable bartender Woody Boyd, he won an Emmy in 1988 and was nominated four additional times during his eight-year run on the show. In 1999, he gained another Emmy nomination when he reprised the role in a guest appearance on the spin-off series “Frasier.” He later made a return to television with a recurring guest role on the hit NBC series, “Will and Grace.”

Balancing his film and television work, in 1999 Harrelson directed his own play, “Furthest From the Sun” at the Theatre de la Juene Lune in Minneapolis. He followed next with the Roundabout’s Broadway revival of “The Rainmaker;” Sam Shepherd’s “The Late Henry Moss,” and John Kolvenbach’s “On and Average Day” opposite Kyle MacLachlan at London’s West End. Harrelson directed the Toronto premiere of Kenneth Lonergan’s “This is our Youth” at the Berkeley Street Theatre, and in Winter 2005 Harrelson returned to London’s West End, starring in Tennessee Williams’ “Night of the Iguana” at the Lyric Theatre.

A committed environmentalist, Harrelson joined his activism with his film efforts in Ron Mann’s “Go Further,” a road documentary following Harrelson and friends on their bicycle journey down the Pacific Coast Highway from Seattle to Santa Barbara. Along with being a father to his three beautiful daughters, closest to his heart is www.voiceyourself.com, a Web site Harrelson co-created with his wife, Laura Louie, that promotes and inspires individual action to create global momentum toward simple organic living.

Ben Foster

Ben Foster has established himself as one of the most exciting and versatile actors of his generation. He has played such characters as Jake Murzersky, the crystal meth-addicted skinhead in Nick Cassavettes’ “Alpha Dog”; outlaw Charlie Prince in James Mangold’s critically acclaimed “310 to Yuma”; Angel in “X-Men 3”; Stranger in “30 Days of Night”; the mute spirit Cod in the Polish Brothers’ film “North Fork”; and the lead in Barry Levinson’s “Liberty Heights,” his film debut.

On television, Foster portrayed the sexually ambiguous Russell Corwin on HBO’s drama “Six Feet Under,” garnering two SAG nominations and sharing the 2003 SAG Award for Best Ensemble. His other television work includes cult hit “Freaks and Geeks” and the Emmy-nominated HBO film “The Laramie Project.” His performance in Showtime’s “Bang Bang You’re Dead,” a meditation on school shootings, garnered him a Daytime Emmy.

Most recently, Foster starred with Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton and Jena Malone in Oren Moverman’s directorial debut “The Messenger,” which premiered at the 2009 Sundance and Berlin film festivals. He also appears in the Fall 2009 sci-fi thriller “Pandorum,” directed by Christian Alvart.