Widows

Viola Davis (Actor) .. Veronica

Born: August 11, 1965 in St Matthews, South Carolina

Best Known For: Doubt and The Help.

Early-life: Viola was born in St Matthews, South Carolina, on August 11, 1965 to Dan and Mary. Her family moved to Central Falls, Rhode Island two months after she was born. She studied theatre at Rhode Island College and went on to attend the Juilliard School in New York. Her screen debut was a small role as a nurse in The Substance of Fire (1996).

Career: Davis had guest roles in a number of TV shows before landing a part in short-lived medical drama City of Angels. Her career received a boost in 2001 when she won a Tony Award for her work on Broadway in King Hedley II. She won a second Tony award in 2010 for her role in Fences. Two years earlier, she starred on the big screen in Doubt (2008), a role that garnished her an Oscar nomination. She received her second Oscar nomination for her performance in The Help (2011). More recently, she has starred in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011), Prisoners (2013) and Ender's Game (2013).

Quote: 'We grew up in abject poverty. Acting, writing scripts and skits were a way of escaping our environment at a very young age.'

Trivia: In 2012, she was voted one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world.

Liam Neeson (Actor) .. Harry Rawlings

Born: June 07, 1952 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland

Best Known For: Schindler's List and Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace

Early-life: William John Neeson was born on June 7, 1952, in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. He made his acting debut at 11 in a school play. He was a good teenage amateur boxer, winning the Irish Youth Championship, but quit after blacking out following a fight. Neeson later enrolled at St Mary's Teaching College in Belfast, but became interested in acting on joining the Belfast Lyric Players' Theatre. He made ends meet with various odd jobs, including forklift operator, truck driver and assistant architect, before stardom beckoned.

Career: Neeson's professional debut was on stage in The Risen People. He was spotted in a play at Dublin's Abbey Theatre by director John Boorman, who cast him in movie Excalibur in 1981. He made a name for himself in Krull, A Woman of Substance, Ellis Island and The Mission. Other leading roles came in Suspect, The Dead Pool and The Big Man. However, he didn't become a major star until Schindler's List in 1993. Since then he's featured in Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace, Gangs of New York, Love Actually, Kinsey and the brilliant action film Taken. He was also seen in the big-screen version of The A Team and has several blockbusters in the pipeline.

Quote: 'I never did think of myself as handsome - terribly attractive, yes - but not handsome.'

Trivia: Dated a string of famous women, including Julia Roberts, Brooke Shields, Barbra Streisand, Sinead O'Connor and Helen Mirren. Married actress Natasha Richardson, mother of his sons Micheal and Daniel. She died in a skiing accident in 2009.

Elizabeth Debicki (Actor) .. Alice

Born: August 24, 1990 in Melbourne, Australia

Best Known For: Playing Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby.

Early-life: Born on August 24, 1990 in Paris, France to ballet dancer parents. When she was five, Elizabeth and her family moved to Melbourne, Australia. She became interested in ballet at a young age and trained as a dancer before choosing to focus on theatre instead. She graduated from Huntingtower School in 2007, where she achieved perfect study scores in Drama and English and was the school's dux. She went on to get a degree in drama at the University of Melbourne's Victorian College of the Arts.

Career: Debicki made her film debut in A Few Best Men (2011), where she made a brief appearance. She was cast as Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby (2013) after director Baz Luhrmann saw her audition reel and flew her out to Los Angeles. Since then, Debicki has had roles in such films as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), Everest (2015) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017). She has also had roles in TV series, including The Night Manager and The Kettering Incident, as well as appearing alongside Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert in a theatre production of The Maids.

Quote: 'I don't have a story about an epiphany in which I suddenly realised I wanted to be an actor. It was much more a case of the idea dawning on me gradually.'

Trivia: Won the AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2014 for her performance in The Great Gatsby.

Michelle Rodriguez (Actor) .. Linda

Born: July 12, 1978 in Texas

Best Known For: Playing no-nonsense cop Ana-Lucia Cortez in Lost

Early-life: Mayte Michelle Rodriguez was born July 12, 1978, in Texas to Rafael Rodríguez and Carmen Milady Pared. At the age of eight, she and her family left the Lone Star state and moved to the Dominican Republic, later relocating to Puerto Rico. At 11, they settled in New Jersey. Like many kids, she longed to be famous and dropped out of school at 17 to pursue her showbiz dreams.

Career: Rodriguez appeared as an extra in the films Summer of Sam and Cradle Will Rock. She went to a New York casting call for the movie Girlfight, and landed the lead role. It brought her to the attention of leading casting agents, and before long she was snapped up for the projects 3AM, The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil, Blue Crush and SWAT. A keen video game fan, she lent her dulcet tones to Driver 3 and Halo 2, and currently provides one of the voices for animated series IGPX. Aside from appearing in Lost, she can soon be seen in horror thriller The Breed.

Quote: 'My favourite part of my body is my brain.'

Trivia: Didn't have a driver's license before filming The Fast and the Furious (2001) and had to obtain one during her training for the car chase sequences.

Colin Farrell (Actor) .. Jack Mulligan

Born: May 31, 1976 in Dublin

Best Known For: His partying lifestyle.

Early-life: Born Colin James Farrell on May 31, 1976, in Castleknock, Dublin. He's the youngest of four children, and one of his sisters, Claudine, is now his personal assistant. His father, Eamon, was a professional footballer, and Farrell thought of following in his footsteps until he realised his love of drinking and girls got in the way of training. Instead, he concentrated on acting after being taken to a drama club by his brother.

Career: Farrell dropped out of Gaeity Drama School in Dublin, but landed a part in Ballykissangel a few months later. Roles in The War Zone, and Ordinary Decent Criminal followed before Hollywood beckoned. An acclaimed performance in Tigerland in 2000 led to him being cast in Hart's War, and Minority Report. Phone Booth, his first lead role, was a hit and made him a force to be reckoned with. Since then, Farrell has starred in such films as The Recruit, Daredevil, Intermission, Alexander, Miami Vice, In Bruges (for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Crazy Heart and Ondien. He always has a number of films in the pipeline.

Quote: 'I'm in no hurry to get anywhere. I don't have any plans. If you did in this business, you'd destroy yourself.'

Trivia: He failed an audition to become a member of Boyzone.

Robert Duvall (Actor) .. Tom Mulligan

Born: January 05, 1931 in San Diego, California

Best Known For: The Godfather.

Early-life: Robert Selden Duvall was born on January 5, 1931, in San Diego, California. He is a direct descendent of Confederate General Robert E Lee. His father was an admiral, his mother was an actress. He has two brothers. After graduating from Principia College in Illinois, he enrolled in the US Army and saw combat in Korea. On being discharged, he studied drama at the Neighbourhood Playhouse in New York, during which time he became friends with Dustin Hoffman. The pair shared an apartment before finding fame.

Career: Duvall's first professional work came on stage. His TV debut was in a 1959 episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre, while his first film was 1962's To Kill a Mockingbird. Other early movies were The Chase, Bullitt, True Grit and MASH. In 1972, he received his first Oscar nomination for The Godfather. Nominations since have been for Apocalypse Now, The Great Santini, The Apostle (which he also wrote and directed) and A Civil Action. He won the Best Actor award for Tender Mercies in 1983. Other films include The Godfather: Part II, Sling Blade, Open Range, Secondhand Lions, Thank You for Smoking, Crazy Heart and Get Low.

Quote: 'Being a star is an agent's dream, not an actor's.'

Trivia: He won an Emmy Award in the TV miniseries Broken Trail.

Steve McQueen (Director)

Born: October 09, 1969 in London

02:10 am - 04:55 am, Wednesday, April 29 on Film4 +1 (47)

About this Broadcast

Cast & Crew

More Information

Did You Know..

Before / After