Search

The Whale

2022

A reclusive English teacher suffering from severe obesity attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter for one last chance at redemption.

Ann Sothern

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ann Sothern (born Harriette Arlene Lake; January 22, 1909 – March 15, 2001) was an American actress who worked on stage, radio, film, and television, in a career that spanned nearly six decades. Sothern began her career in the late 1920s in bit parts in films. In 1930, she made her Broadway stage debut and soon worked her way up to starring roles. In 1939, MGM cast her as Maisie Ravier, a brash yet lovable Brooklyn showgirl. The character, based on the Maisie short stories by Nell Martin, proved to be popular and spawned a successful film series (Congo Maisie, Gold Rush Maisie, Up Goes Maisie, etc.) and a network radio series (The Adventures of Maisie). In 1953, Sothern moved into television as the star of her own sitcom Private Secretary. The series aired for five seasons on CBS and earned Sothern three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. In 1958, she starred in another sitcom for CBS, The Ann Sothern Show, which aired for three seasons. From 1965 to 1966, Sothern provided the voice of Gladys Crabtree, the title character in the sitcom My Mother the Car. She continued her career throughout the late 1960s with stage and film appearances and guest-starring roles on television. Due to health issues, she worked sporadically during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1987, Sothern appeared in her final film The Whales of August, starring Bette Davis and Lillian Gish. Sothern earned her first and only Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film. After filming concluded, she retired to Ketchum, Idaho, where she spent her remaining years before her death from heart failure in March 2001. Lucille Ball called Sothern "the best comedian in the business, bar none."

Noah Baumbach

Writer · Known for Barbie, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

Noah Baumbach (born September 3, 1969) is an American filmmaker. He received Academy Award nominations for writing his films The Squid and the Whale (2005) and Marriage Story (2019), both of which he also directed, while the former garnered him one of the few screenwriters to ever sweep "The Big Four" critics awards: Los Angeles Film Critics Association, National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Circle, and National Society of Film Critics. He has written and directed a number of other films, including Margot at the Wedding (2007), While We're Young (2014), and The Meyerowitz Stories (2017). He is also known for his collaborations with his partner Greta Gerwig in Greenberg (2010), Frances Ha (2013), Mistress America (2015), and White Noise (2022), as well as with Wes Anderson, co-writing The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). Description above from the Wikipedia article Noah Baumbach, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Eli Gelb

Eli Gelb was born in New York City, New York, USA. Eli is an actor, known for The Squid and the Whale (2005), Indignation (2016) and The Newsroom (2012).

Sathya Sridharan

Cast · Known for The Whale

Sathya Sridharan is a New York based actor, writer, and teacher who has worked on screen and stages for the last decade. Most recently, he appeared in the Oscar-nominated film The Whale (2022).

Rob Simonsen

Composer · Known for (500) Days of Summer, Deadpool & Wolverine, Elio

Rob Simonsen (born March 11, 1978) is an American composer and conductor. He is best known for his scores in films such as 500 Days of Summer (2009), The Age of Adaline (2015), Gifted (2017), The Only Living Boy in New York (2017), Tully (2018), Love, Simon (2018), The Front Runner (2018), The Way Back (2020), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), The Adam Project (2022), The Whale (2022), Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), and It Ends with Us (2024), and the television series Life in Pieces (2015–2019). He also collaborates with the directors Marc Webb, Jason Reitman and Shawn Levy. Description above from the Wikipedia article Rob Simonsen, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Tricia Collins

Tricia Collins is an actress and filmmaker. She most recently wrote, directed and played the lead in Clinch: A Violent Love Story about professional female boxers, which was made with the support of an NFB grant. Tricia attended the Bell Media and WGC Diverse Screenwriter's program, holds a Master from Ryerson University's RTA School of Media and a BFA in contemporary theatre from SFU. Her lead acting roles on stage include Smart People, The City and The City, News of the World for Neworld Theatre, Beaver by Claudia Dey, The Unnatural & Accidental Women at Buddies in Bad Times, Hunted and Women in Fish by Marie Clements. Tricia’s on-screen acting credits include Evil Men, The Good Mistress, Luna: Spirit of the Whale, The Guard, Supernatural, Eureka and Reaper. Tricia is also an advocate for and educator of youth from the margins of society. She teaches underprivileged kids how to write, act and make films.

Olivia Niță

Olivia Alexandra Nita was born and raised in Bucharest, Romania. She started studying violin at the age of six and continued for twelve years until she graduated "George Enescu" Music High School in 2006. At the age of eleven she was cast in the play "A Lost Letter" ("O Scrisoare Pierduta") at the National Theatre in Bucharest next to big names of the Romanian Theatre and directed by the critically acclaimed Alexandru Tocilescu, for which she gathered great reviews. When she was fifteen she started working for Prima TV Channel, in the popular and successful Tv Show "Cronica Carcotasilor" ("The Grumpy Chronicles") for three years until 2006 when she was admitted at the Acting program at the National University of Theatre and Film "I.L.Caragiale" (U.N.A.T.C.) until 2008 when she transferred in United Kingdom and graduated BA Hons Degree in Acting. While she was in University she worked for the Acasa Tv Channel in the soap opera "Daria, My Love", The ScyFy Channel production "Hellhounds" directed by Ricky Schroeder, "Radu+Ana" short film and several theatre productions as "The Whale Hunt", "The Statue of Liberty", Three Sisters", "The House of Bernarda Alba". After graduating Bachelor Degree in United Kingdom she returned in Romania where she did an MA in Acting, followed by Mandragora Movies Academy classes where she studied Ivanna Chubbuck Technique with Franz Turner and David Lipper.

Ari Handel

Executive Producer · Producer · Known for Black Swan, The Whale

Ari Handel is a Swiss-born American neuroscientist, film producer and writer. He is known for co-writing the films Noah and The Fountain with his Harvard Dunster House suitemate Darren Aronofsky and for producing these films along with four other films: The Wrestler, Black Swan, Mother!, and The Whale. He started co-writing the film Noah around 2003. Handel grew up in a Jewish family in Newton, Massachusetts. He was born in Zürich, Switzerland, while his father was studying abroad, but he only lived there for about a year. Handel had an internship for Nova at WGBH, the Boston PBS station. He has a PhD in neurobiology from New York University. Torn between science writing and science education, he eventually became a film writer in an attempt to become a better communicator of science. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ari Handel, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Keith Agius

Keith, a distinguished alumnus of NIDA (class of 1986), left an indelible mark in the world of acting, directing, and producing, both in Australia and internationally. His exceptional talent was recognized when he was nominated for the Green Room Awards as the Outstanding Male Actor in 2014 for his role in "Henry V" (Bell Shakespeare), and again in 2016 for the Sydney Theatre Awards as the Best Male Actor in a Leading Role for "The Whale" (Red Line). His contributions to film and television were significant, with notable roles in Wyrmwood (2014), Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo (2011), Crownies (2011), Home and Away (1988), Fireflies (2004), All Saints (1998), White Collar Blue (2002), State Coroner (1997), Blue Heelers (1994), Phoenix (1992), and Embassy (1990). Keith's theatre credits are extensive and diverse. He performed in "The Whale" (Red Line - Old Fitz), toured the UAE with "Mr Stink" (CDP), and graced the stage in productions of "Twelfth Night", "Henry V", "Julius Caesar" & "King Lear" (all Bell Shakespeare), "Macbeth", "The Comedy of Errors", "The Tempest" & "Twelfth Night" (all Sport for Jove), and "Emily Eye-Finger" (Monkey Baa). He also appeared in "Homebody/Kabul" & "Whore" (B- Sharp - Belvoir St), "The Herbal Bed" (New Theatre), "Much Ado About Nothing", "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Night Sky), "Alive At Williamstown Pier" (Griffin), and "Often I Find That I Am Naked" (National & International tour - Savage Wit). Further credits include "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Hamlet" & "After Liverpool" (Theatre UpNorth), "Because You Are Mine" (Red Shed), "Ginger Meggs & the Missing Link" (Vic Arts Centre), "The Adman" & "Heroic Measures" (Playbox - Malthouse), "Wogs Out Of Work" (Australian tour), "Noel Coward in Two Keys" & "A Small Family Business" (Marian St), "Woman In Mind" (STC), and "Hamlet" (Q Theatre). Keith's legacy continues to inspire and influence the world of performing arts.

Owen Kline

Owen Kline is an American director, screenwriter and actor based in New York City. His short Jazzy for Joe starred the late broadcasting legend Joe Franklin in a rare comic performance paired alongside an orphaned toddler. His prior short, Fowl Play, a Queens-based comedy about low-rent aspiring cockfighters and their chicken, was presented on Le Cinéma Club in 2017 as part of the Safdie brothers’ carte blanche. Kline’s acting credits include Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale, the Safdies’ John’s Gone and the Michael M. Bilandic comedies Hellaware and Jobe’z World. Kline wrote and directed Funny Pages, his feature debut.

Lillian Gish

Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993) was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987. She was a prominent film star of the 1910s and 1920s, particularly associated with the films of director D.W. Griffith, including her leading role in Griffith's seminal Birth of a Nation (1915). Her sound-era film appearances were sporadic, but included memorable roles in the controversial western Duel in the Sun (1946) and the offbeat thriller Night of the Hunter (1955). She did considerable television work from the early 1950s into the 1980s, and closed her career playing, for the first time, opposite Bette Davis in the 1987 film The Whales of August. The American Film Institute (AFI) named Gish 17th among the greatest female stars of all time. She was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 1971, and in 1984 she received an AFI Life Achievement Award.

Laura Linney

Cast · Known for Primal Fear, The Truman Show, Love Actually

Laura Leggett Linney (born February 5, 1964) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several awards, including two Golden Globe Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards, and has been nominated for three Academy Awards and five Tony Awards. Linney made her Broadway debut in 1990 before going on to receive Tony Award nominations for the 2002 revival of The Crucible, the original Broadway productions of Sight Unseen (2004), Time Stands Still (2010), My Name Is Lucy Barton (2020), and the 2017 revival of The Little Foxes. On television, she won her first Emmy Award for the television film Wild Iris (2001), and had subsequent wins for the sitcom Frasier (2003–04) and the miniseries John Adams (2008). From 2010 to 2013, she starred in the Showtime series The Big C, which won her a fourth Emmy in 2013, and from 2017 to 2022 she starred in the Netflix crime series Ozark. Linney is also an established film actress. She made her film debut with a minor role in Lorenzo's Oil (1992) and went on to receive Academy Award nominations for the dramas You Can Count on Me (2000), Kinsey (2004), and The Savages (2007). She's also known for her performances in Primal Fear (1996), The Truman Show (1998), Mystic River and Love Actually (both 2003), The Squid and the Whale (2005), The Nanny Diaries (2007), Hyde Park on Hudson (2012), Mr. Holmes (2015), Sully and Nocturnal Animals (both 2016).

Brendan Fraser

Cast · Known for The Mummy Returns, The Whale, Pressure

Brendan James Fraser (born December 3, 1968) is an American-Canadian actor. Fraser had his breakthrough in 1992 with the comedy Encino Man and the drama School Ties. He gained further prominence for his starring roles in the comedies With Honors (1994) and George of the Jungle (1997) and emerged as a star playing Rick O'Connell in The Mummy trilogy (1999–2008). He took on dramatic roles in Gods and Monsters (1998), The Quiet American (2002), and Crash (2004), and further fantasy roles in Bedazzled (2000) and Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008). Fraser's film work slowed from the late 2000s to mid-2010s due to the poor box office performances, and various health and personal problems, including the fallout from a sexual assault committed against him in 2003 by Philip Berk, the then-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Fraser branched into television with roles in the Showtime drama The Affair (2016–2017), the FX series Trust (2018), and the Max series Doom Patrol (2019–2023). His film career was revitalized by roles in Steven Soderbergh's No Sudden Move (2021) and Darren Aronofsky's The Whale (2022). Fraser's starring role as an obese gay man in the latter earned him critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, becoming the first Canadian to win this category. Description above from the Wikipedia article Brendan Fraser, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia​.

Jesse Eisenberg

Cast · Known for Now You See Me, Now You See Me 2, Now You See Me: Now You Don't

Jesse Adam Eisenberg (born October 5, 1983) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received numerous accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. Eisenberg debuted on television with the short-lived comedy-drama  Get Real (1999–2000). Following his first leading role in the film Roger Dodger (2002), he starred in films such as The Squid and the Whale (2005), Adventureland(2009) and Zombieland (2009). He gained wider recognition for starring as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in David Fincher's film The Social Network (2010), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Eisenberg then starred in the Woody Allen films To Rome with Love (2012) and Café Society (2016), the heist films Now You See Me (2013) and its 2016 sequel, and independent dramas such as The Double (2013). He portrayed Lex Luthor in the superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and had a lead voice role in the animated films Rio(2011) and Rio 2 (2014). In 2022, he starred in the FX / Hulu miniseries Fleishman Is in Trouble. He made his film directorial debut with the black comedy When You Finish Saving the World. He has since directed, written, and starred in A Real Pain (2024), which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Eisenberg has contributed pieces to  The New Yorker and McSweeney's websites. He has written and starred in three plays for the New York stage: Asuncion, The Revisionist, and The Spoils. He released his first book, Bream Gives Me Hiccups: and Other Stories in 2015.

Jeff Daniels

Cast · Known for 101 Dalmatians, The Martian, Speed

Jeffrey Warren "Jeff" Daniels (born February 19, 1955) is an American actor. He founded a non-profit theatre company, the Purple Rose Theatre Company, in his home state of Michigan. He has performed in a number of stage productions, both on and off Broadway. He has been nominated for the Tony Award as Best Actor for the Broadway play God of Carnage (2009), along with his other three cast-mates. He has had a thriving film career, from his debut in 1981 in Ragtime, through State of Play in 2009. For his film work, he has received three Golden Globe Award nominations, including as Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical for Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) (hence the name of his theatre company). He has also received nominations by the Screen Actors Guild, Satellite Awards, and several for his work in The Squid and the Whale (London Critics Circle Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, Chlotrudis Awards and Gotham Awards).

William Baldwin

Cast · Known for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, MacGyver

William Joseph 'Billy' Baldwin (born February 21, 1963) is an American actor, producer, and writer, known for his starring roles in such films as Flatliners (1990), Backdraft (1991), Sliver (1993), Fair Game (1995), Virus (1999), Double Bang (2001), as Johnny 13 in Danny Phantom (2004–2007), Art Heist (2004), The Squid and the Whale (2005), as Senator Patrick Darling on the ABC drama Dirty Sexy Money (2007–2009), Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010), and was a regular guest on Gossip Girl as William van der Woodsen and Parenthood as Gordon Flint. He also starred as lead detective Brian Albert in the Lifetime Original Movie The Craigslist Killer. He is brother to actors Alec Baldwin, Stephen Baldwin, and Daniel Baldwin. He is married to singer Chynna Phillips (Wilson Phillips) and they have 3 children.

Saori Sugimoto

Cast · Known for Ninja Boy Rantaro

Saori Sugimoto (杉本 沙織, Sugimoto Saori, November 17, 1964) is a Japanese voice actress and narrator Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture. She is affiliated with Aoni Production. She used to work under the name of Saori Suzuki (鈴木 砂織, Suzuki Saori). She replaced Tomiko Suzuki in the role of Kisanta Yamamura in Nintama Rantarō since the season 12. She also played the role of Ramurin in the Shima Shima Tora no Shimajirō series for many years, and also voiced Nyakkii, who appeared after Ramurin's departure. The films she voiced include Shimajiro and Fufu's Big Adventure (2013), Shimajiro and the Whale's Song (2014), Shimajiro and the Mother Tree (2015), Shimajiro in Bookend (2016), Shimajiro and the Rainbow Oasis (2017), Shimajiro the Movie: Adventures on Magic Island (2018), Shimajiro and Ururu's Hero Island (2019), Shimajiro Sky and Bone (2021), Her final voice role was Shimajiro and The Prince of Glittering Kingdom (2022) which was released one year after her death in 2021. She died on October 21, 2021 from anorexia-induced heart failure.

Henri Alekan

Cinematographer · Known for Roman Holiday

Henri Alekan (10 February 1909, Paris – 15 June 2001, Auxerre, Bourgogne) was a French cinematographer. Alekan was born in Montmartre in 1909. At the age of sixteen he and his brother became travelling puppeteers. A little later he started work as third assistant cameraman at the Billancourt Studios. He then spent a short time in the army, returning to Billancourt in 1931. In the late 1930s he was the camera operator to Eugene Shufftan on Marcel Carné's Quai des Brumes and Drôle de drame. He was greatly influenced by Schufftan's non-naturalistic style. His first success as a director of photography was René Clément's realistic war drama La Bataille du Rail of 1946. In the same year he worked on Jean Cocteau's fable La Belle et la Bête. He found himself out of sympathy with the French New Wave cinema which emerged in the late 1950s and Alekan shot some rather conventional films in Hollywood. A new generation of directors appreciated his visionary style, however, and he worked with Raúl Ruiz on The Territory and On Top of the Whale, with Joseph Losey on Figures in a Landscape and The Trout, and with Wim Wenders on The State Of Things and Wings of Desire. His last films were made with the Israeli director Amos Gitai. He wrote one of the best books about cinematography Des lumières et des ombres (1984, Éditions du Collectionneur). Alekan died from leukemia on 15 June 2001 in Auxerre, Bourgogne, aged 92. Source: Article "Henri Alekan" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Samuel D. Hunter

Writer · Known for The Whale

Samuel D. Hunter is an American playwright living in New York City. Hunter was born and raised in Moscow, Idaho. He is best known for plays A Bright New Boise, which won the 2011 Obie Award for playwriting, and The Whale, which won the 2013 Drama Desk Award and the 2013 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play.

Lori Alan

Cast · Known for WALL·E, The Grinch, Toy Story 4

Lori Alan (née Denniberg, born July 18, 1966) is an American actress, voice actress, writer, producer, and stand-up comedian. She voices the long-running role of Pearl Krabs the Whale on the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants. She also voices news anchor Diane Simmons on Family Guy, the Invisible Woman on Fantastic Four, and The Boss in the Metal Gear video game series, as well as various voices on Hey Arnold!. She voiced for movies including Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Inside Out, Monsters University, Despicable Me 2, Minions, and as Bonnie's Mom in Toy Story 3, 4 and 5 (and Toy Story Toons). She started acting at age five, making her television debut in a Shakey's Pizza commercial. Her stage debut was as Annie's youngest sister in a local community theater production of Annie Get Your Gun. A longtime member of New York's Gotham City Improv (Groundlings East), she went on to Emerson College and graduated with honors from Tisch School of the Arts.

Harry Carey Jr.

Cast · Known for Have Gun, Will Travel, Gremlins, Tombstone

Henry George "Harry" Carey Jr. (May 16, 1921 - December 27, 2012) was an American actor. He appeared in more than ninety films including several John Ford westerns as well as numerous television series. The son of actors Harry Carey Sr. and Olive Carey, he attempted a singing career before beginning his acting career in the John Ford Stock Company. Director John Ford became a close friend and collaborator. Carey appeared in such notable Ford films as 3 Godfathers (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), The Searchers (1956), and Cheyenne Autumn (1964), some also featuring appearances by his parents. He became a respected character actor like his father. Carey made four films with director Howard Hawks: Red River (1948), Monkey Business (1952), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), and Rio Bravo (1959 - scenes cut). He also frequently co-starred with actors John Wayne and Ben Johnson, acting together in nine films each. Between 1955 -1957, Carey appeared as ranch counselor Bill Burnett in the serial Spin and Marty, seen on Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club. In the 1960s, Carey appeared on such western series as Have Gun - Will Travel and The Legend of Jesse James. Later film roles include George Arthur in The Long Riders (1980), Mr. Anderson in Gremlins (1984), aging biker Red in Mask (1985), Joshua Brackett in The Whales of August (1987), saloon old-timer Zeke in Back to the Future Part III (1990), and Marshal Fred White in Tombstone (1993).

Jennifer Daley

Jennifer Daley is known for Casual (2015), The Mad Whale (2017) and Coach Stage Stage Coach (2019).

Richard J. Lewis

Director · Known for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Dune: Prophecy, Person of Interest

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Richard J. Lewis is a television and film director born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 2002 to 2009, Lewis worked on the CBS television crime`drama series, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as writer, director and co-executive producer. He is best known for directing the films Whale Music (1994) and Barney's Version (2010), the latter featuring a Golden Globe winning performance by actor Paul Giamatti.