TV Actor of the Day: ALEXANDER SKARSGARD
November 19, 2008
ALEXANDER SKARSGARD
TV Show: TRUE BLOOD which airs Sundays at 9pm on HBO.
His Character: Eric Northman, a 1000 year old Viking vampire, and owner of “Fangtasia.”
Why we like him: Alexander Skarsgård was able to make us intrigued and sort of infatuated with Eric in True Blood by only appearing in a few episodes. He gives the character of Eric a quiet confidence that only a few actors are able to pull off. In addition, his work on Generation Kill was incredible. Now if that’s not reason enough to like him, I don’t know what is.
Biography:
Alexander studied Political Science and did his Military service in the Marines and intended to study at an school of architecture in Stockholm. In 1997 Alexander enrolled at Marymount Theatre School in New York City to pursue his passion in acting.
Alexander has signed with the agency Endeavor in Los Angeles and New York and with Markham & Froggatt, Britains most acclaimed agency, to represent him in Europe. This union has proved quite fruitful as he has some big international movies like Zoolander.
Alexanders family are parents, his father Stellan Skarsgard who is also an actor(Pirates of the Caribbean, Mamma Mia), and mother is My Skarsgard.
(Source: TV.com)
Recent Filmography:
Metropia (2009) (in production) …. Stefan
Beyond the Pole (2009) (post-production) …. Terje
“True Blood” …. Eric Northman (9 episodes, 2008)
“Generation Kill” …. Sgt. Brad ‘Iceman’ Colbert (7 episodes, 2008)
Järnets änglar (2007) …. Stefan
“Leende guldbruna ögon” (2007) TV mini-series …. Boogey Knights sångare
Exit (2006) …. Fabian von Klerking
Cuppen (2006) (TV) …. Micke
Kill Your Darlings (2006) …. Geert
Never Be Mine (2006) …. Christopher
Om Sara (2005) …. Kalle Öberg
The Last Drop (2005) …. Lt Jergen Voller
“Revelations” (2005) TV mini-series …. Gunnar Eklind (unknown episodes)
Som man bäddar… (2005) …. Nisse
Hjärtslag (2004) …. Piloten
Hundtricket - The movie (2002) …. Micke
D-dag - Den færdige film (2001) (TV) …. Lise’s papsøn
Zoolander (2001) …. Meekus
(Source: imdb.com)
Read all our TRUE BLOOD coverage here.
TV Actor of the Day: NELSAN ELLIS
November 19, 2008
NELSAN ELLIS
TV Show: TRUE BLOOD which airs Sundays at 9pm on HBO.
His Character: Lafayette Reynolds, Sookie Stackhouse co-worker and Tara’s cousin. He deals in drugs and prostitution for extra income.
Why we like him: Nelsan Ellis brings an outstanding performance as Lafayette Reynolds. He litterally delivers all his lines in a very real way that makes his character fascinating and engaging.
Biography:
Nelsan Ellis was born in Alabama but raised in Chicago. After graduating high school, he attended The Julliard School for drama, to develop his interest in acting and writing. He has worked in TV, films and in the theater. Nelsan has written plays and short films.
(Source: TV.com)
Read all our TRUE BLOOD coverage here.
TV Actor of the Day: RYAN KWANTEN
November 17, 2008
RYAN KWANTEN
TV Show: TRUE BLOOD which airs Sundays at 9pm on HBO.
His Character: Jason Stackhouse, Sookie’s brother.
Why we like him: Ryan Kwanten is able to make us believe that he really is a white Southern boy living in Bon Temps, who, for lack of a better word, is the village’s idiot. But somehow we still love him for it.
Biography:
Nurturing an impressive body of work that encompasses film and television, Ryan Kwanten has positioned himself as one of Hollywood’s most promising talents as his career continues to evolve with exciting and challenging projects. Ryan’s television credits include the role of Jay Robertson in the critically acclaimed Warner Bros. series ‘Summerland,’ which ran for two seasons. He was also a lead in the ESPN original movie ‘The Junction Boys.’
Segueing effortlessly between the big and small screen, Ryan recently finished working on the Luke Kasdan feature film ‘Don’t Fade Away’ opposite Mischa Barton. His other feature film credits include ‘Flicka,’ a Twentieth Century Fox film in which he starred opposite Tim McGraw, Maria Bello and Alison Lohman; the title role in ‘American Brown,’ which received the Audience Award for Best Film at the Montreal Film Festival; ‘Liquid Bridhe,’ nominated for Best Picture at the Australian Film Festival; and the newly released ‘Dead Silence’ directed by James Wan (writer/director of ‘Saw’).
A native of Australia, Ryan began his acting career while attending Sydney University, where he earned a degree in business. He starred in numerous feature films and television shows and gained international notoriety when he joined the cast of the long-running Australian series ‘Home and Away.’ A published writer, Ryan is currently working on a new book. Also an accomplished athlete, Ryan qualified for the world Biathlon in Sweden in 2006 and Italy 2007 after winning the LA Biathlon series two years running. He is a qualified yoga instructor and spends his free time bike riding, surfing and completing triathlons. Ryan currently resides in Los Angeles.
(Source: HBO.com)
Read all our TRUE BLOOD coverage here.
TV Actress of the Day: CARRIE PRESTON
November 16, 2008
CARRIE PRESTON
TV Show: TRUE BLOOD which airs Sundays at 9pm on HBO.
Her Character: Arlene Fowler, a waitress working with Sookie Stackhouse.
Why we like her: Carrie Preston plays her current role of Arlene Fowler on TRUE BLOOD like a fiddle. She’s funny, charming and sweet in a very realistic way. Her scenes are always memorable and we welcome seeing more of her throughout the series.
Biography:
Carrie Preston was born in Macon, Georgia to an artist/art therapist mother and a geotechnical engineer father. After spending her Freshman year at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC, she obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Evansville and then went on to graduate from the prestigious school of performing arts, The Juilliard School.
Preston has worked with her husband, actor Michael Emerson, on a number of projects. Emerson plays Ben Linus on television’s Lost, and Preston was a guest star in episode 20 of season 3, The Man Behind the Curtain. She played Ben’s mother Emily for several flashback scenes, though she and Emerson never appeared in any scenes together. Emerson and Preston were both featured in the 2004 comedy Straight-Jacket.
Preston is co-owner of the production company Daisy 3 Pictures with James Vasquez and Daisy Todd
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read all our TRUE BLOOD coverage here.
TV Actress of the Day: LIZZY CAPLAN
November 15, 2008
LIZZY CAPLAN
TV Show: TRUE BLOOD which airs Sundays at 9pm on HBO.
Her Character: Amy Burley, Jason Stackhouse’s love interest.
Why we like her: We loved her as cynical but witty Kat Warbler in the short lived sitcom The Class. We love her even more as Amy Burley as the very intriguing psycho druggie girlfriend of Jason Stackhouse in True Blood.
Biography:
Caplan was born in Los Angeles, California. She attended Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, where she starred in such productions as Much Ado about Nothing and You Can’t Take It with You.
Caplan began her television acting career in 1999, when she played the minor role of Sara on the series Freaks and Geeks. She had a series of guest appearances on other shows, and has been a guest on Sharon Osbourne’s talk show. Lizzy also appeared in Jason Mraz’s music video for “You and I Both”. Another of her major television characters came on Smallville. She debuted on that show on November 6, 2001, playing “freak of the week” Tina Greer on the episode “X-Ray”. She reprised her role on the show on January 14, 2003, in the episode “Visage”. For two episodes she also appeared on the series, Once and Again, as a girl named Sarah, playing an ex-girlfriend of Katie Singer (Mischa Barton).
Although she was already an experienced actress, she gained much notice in the 2004 movie Mean Girls, where she played alternative styled girl Janis Ian, named for singer-songwriter Janis Ian. In 2003, she starred in the television series The Pitts, playing Faith Pitt. In the second season of Tru Calling, she played Avery Bishop, a friend of Tru Davies.
Caplan landed a starring role in 2005, playing Marjee Sorelli, the troubled sister in Related, a one-hour dramedy on The WB. The show was cancelled after one season. In 2006, Caplan played the starring role of Sara Weller in Wesley Strick’s thriller, Love is the Drug. After Related ended, Caplan was cast in the CBS sitcom The Class, which premiered on September 18, 2006 and lasted one season. The final episode aired March 5, 2007.
Caplan, along with Jason Ritter, presented a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Soundtrack From a Movie, in January 2007.
Lizzy, along with her The Class co-star Heather Goldenhersh, appeared on the talk show The View in early 2007.
Lizzy has recently appeared in the J.J. Abrams project, Cloverfield, where she plays Marlena Diamond. She appeared in the romantic comedy My Best Friend’s Girl where she plays Ami, the roommate of Kate Hudson’s character Alexis, which was released September 19, 2008. She is also lending her voice to the character of Faith Pitt, in the animated version of her canceled TV show, The Pitts in 2009. Caplan has recently been nominated for a Saturn award for her work in Cloverfield as “Best Supporting Actress”. Caplan has just finished a short film with Cloverfield co-star T.J. Miller entitled Successful Alcoholics, which will be released on the internet sometime in the summer. She recently made her debut as Amy Burley in the cast of the new, vampire-themed HBO show True Blood.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read all our TRUE BLOOD coverage here.
The Twilight TV Series: THE CULLENS
November 14, 2008
A TWILIGHT TV series? When? Who is in it?
Hold your horses, people! Don’t get too excited because unfortunately, as far as I know, there are no plans for a Twilight TV series (yet). However, the success of the books and the very likely success of the movie got me thinking about whether a Twilight TV series would be possible.
After reading Eric’s article on the possibility of a Twilight TV show, I personally couldn’t see a TV series that started off from where Breaking Dawn (the last book of the series) left us, and at the same time I don’t think doing a TV series based on the actual Twilight books would work. Since, we already have the Twilight movies for that, it doesn’t leave much space to grow.
But then something occurred to me. Why is Twilight such a success? What do people (and by people I mean women) love about it? The answer is of course Edward Cullen and his family. That’s it!
What if the TV series was in fact a prequel to the Twilight series recounting the story of the Cullens before they moved to Forks?
The Cullens would start with the story of Carlisle and how he became a vampire. This would be the pilot. Then you fast forward to the point where he finds Edward and that would be episode 2 or 3. And then continue the season by showing us how the family came to be. This could either take a whole TV season or half a TV season. But once you have the family together there is still so many stories to tell. For example, their time with Tanya’s family and other places they lived in before coming to Forks. Also I, for one, would love to find out more about the Cullens’ first meeting with Alice and Jasper. They could even make episodes focusing on each of them and how they became vampires before meeting each other and joining the Cullens.
There is so much potential for a Twilight TV series if done well, especially with a built-in audience like the fans of Twilight. However, in order for a Twilight TV show to be a success, I think it would work best on a premium cable channel like HBO or Showtime or just regular cable. I do fear that by being on a Network channel, The Cullens might not only get cancelled too soon, but there would be too much focus on pleasing the mainstream audience instead of focusing on the heart of the story.
One last thing that I do need to mention is of course the actors’ choice. It is clear to me that the actors for a Twilight series would have to be different than the ones in the movie (unless the actors actually want to be in the show, which I doubt most of them would). That said, casting is very crucial and the choice of actors will make or break the show as will the writing. I personally think that it is crucial to pick an up and comer actor for the role of Edward, who would give the show a fresh look and would prevent associating the actor to previous roles he played.
So that’s why I ask you, what actors would you like to see in The Cullens series and for what roles?
So what do you guys say, would you watch The Cullens if it was a TV show?
Twilight TV Series Or Twilight Movie?
November 14, 2008
What sounds better? Twilight The Movie? Or Twilight The TV Series.
With Twilight The Movie coming out November 21, it became clear to me that since this will be a massive hit (and I am talking near- Harry Potter Levels here), what will be the right way to capitalize on its success?
The classic way that Studios capitalize on successful movie franchises is to do sequels, which will happen in this case. But what if, in addition to following up with movie sequels, they also did a Twilight TV series at the same time?
I can already hear some of you telling me that I should stop smoking crack (which by the way is a good point as crack is indeed whack according to Whitney Houston). However, I would urge you to hear me out on this. Here are the top three reasons why a Twilight TV series would be a great addition to the Twilight Movie sequels:
1) A Twilight TV series would allow to delve deeper into the Twilight World more than the Movie could. I envision the Twilight Series to be a sort of spin-off from the Twilight Movie storyline.
2) A Twilight TV series would be successful right off the bat because it would already have a built-in audience that is hungry for Twilight related storylines. Plus a Twilight TV series would allow the studio to still make money on the franchise while they keep working on the movie.
3) A Twilight TV series would be just wicked cool!
So what do you think? Would a Twilight The TV Series be a good idea? Or should we just stick to Twilight The Movie for now?
See also The Twilight TV Series: THE CULLENS.
TV Actor of the Day: SAM TRAMMELL
November 13, 2008
SAM TRAMMELL
TV Show: TRUE BLOOD which airs Sundays at 9pm on HBO.
His Character: Sam Merlotte, owner of Merlotte’s where Sookie Stackhouse works.
Why we like him: Sam Trammell’s portrayal of Sam Merlotte in True Blood is just great. He plays the nice guy who hides a secret perfectly. But that’s not all, Sam Trammell has potential to wow us in the future as well. And with such a great performance in True Blood, I think it’s only a matter of time before we see more of him on TV or in movies. I personally can’t wait to see what he does next.
Biography:
Sam Trammell studied at Brown University and the University of Paris and has worked in regional theater, on Broadway, off-Broadway and in film and television. Trammell performed at Lincoln Center in ‘Ancestral Voices’ and in 1998 ‘Ah, Wilderness,’ for which he received a Tony nomination. He also starred in numerous plays on the New York stage including ‘Kit Marlowe,’ ‘If Memory Serves,’ and My Night with Reg.’
Trammell was seen in Joan Chen’s ‘Autumn in New York’ opposite Richard Gere and Winona Ryder. His independent film credits include ‘At the End of the Day,’ ‘Beat,’ and ‘Wrestling with Alligators.’ On television, Trammell appeared in ‘Without Warning,’ the series ‘Maximum Bob,’ ‘Trinity’ and ‘Sullivan Street.’ He most recently starred in the Showtime series ‘Going to California.’
(Source: HBO.com)
Read all our TRUE BLOOD coverage here.