What He Has Been In:
Adam Driver, 30,
graduated from Juilliard in 2009 and began looking for work in New York City as
an actor. After some television work, he started getting supporting roles in
more notable films such as J. Edgar,
Lincoln,
Frances
Ha, Inside
Llewyn Davis, and What If
(a great romantic comedy that came out this past August). His film work has
made him an in-demand actor. But, it is on television where Driver has really
shined.
Driver’s big break came on HBO’s
dramedy series Girls,
created by Lena
Dunham. He plays Adam the boyfriend character of Dunham’s Hannah. Driver is
fantastic on the series, making a name for himself. He is funny and very
emotionally emotive with incredible charisma.
September Film:
Driver has two films slated for
release in September. The first is Tracks. It
is about a young Australian woman who embarks on a trek across the West
Australian desert with only her four camels and trusted dog. Driver plays a
journalist coving the story who also falls for the young woman. It stars Mia Wasikowska and
is directed by John
Curran. The film looks like it might be the month’s best drama. Here is the trailer.
The second is the ensemble comedy
This Is Where
I Leave You from Shawn
Levy. In addition to Driver, it also features Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Rose Byrne, Corey Stoll, and Jane Fonda (among
others). It looks like a decent comedy (maybe worth renting). Here is
the trailer.
Upcoming:
Driver’s upcoming schedule is
packed with high profile projects. First he is in Noah Baumbach’s
new dramedy While
We’re Young, which also stars Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, and Amanda Seyfriend.
Then, he is in the Jeff
Nichols sci-fi drama Midnight Special
with Kirsten Dunst,
Joel Edgerton,
and Michael Shannon
(it is a film I am very excited to see in 2015). After that, he can be seen in J.J.
Abrams’s Star
Wars: Episode VII. He is rumored to be playing one of the film’s main villains.
Finally, he also has a role in Martin
Scorsese’s next drama Silence
about seventeenth century Jesuit priests who are persecuted in Japan. The film
also stars Andrew
Garfield, Ken
Watanabe, and Liam
Neeson (who played an 18th century Jesuit priest in The Mission).
Career Highlights:
*Editor’s picks
What He Has Been In:
Bill Hader, 36, is
known for playing very funny characters on television and in films. He got his
start in Los Angeles when he joined Second City. From there, he was added to
the cast of Saturday
Night Live in 2005, where he became a fan favorite during his nine years on
the show.
Hader is one of the great comedy
actors to find himself often cast by Judd Apatow in his many
projects. Hader is fantastically funny, creating great characters with small
supporting roles in films, such as: Knocked
Up, Hot
Rod, Superbad,
Forgetting
Sarah Marshall, Pineapple
Express, Tropic
Thunder, Adventureland,
Cloudy with
a Chance of Meatballs, Scott
Pilgrim vs. the World, Paul, Monsters
University, and They Came
Together (which came out earlier this summer).
He also continues to do fun work
on television with parts in The Venture
Bros., The
Mindy Project, and Bob’s Burgers.
September Film:
Hader appears in two films. The
first is the dramedy The Skeleton
Twins. It is about two estranged twins who almost die on the same day.
Shaken up, they decide to try and reconcile their relationship. He co-stars
with Kristen Wiig.
It is one of Hader’s first leading roles. It looks like a very good drama and
should lead to bigger things for him. Here
is the trailer.
The second is the romance drama The
Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them. It stars Jessica Chastain
and James McAvoy.
Hader plays a supporting role. The film was initially split into two films, one
from the woman’s perspective and one from the man’s. It has now has been
combined for theatrical release; however, critics claim that it worked much
better as two separate films. Here is the trailer.
Upcoming:
Hader has some great projects on
his upcoming schedule. Next summer he co-stars in the comedy Trainwreck,
written by and starring Amy Schumer (maybe
the funniest comic right now). It is directed by Judd Apatow and has a
fantastic ensemble supporting Schumer and Hader including: Daniel Radcliffe, Brie Larson, Tilda Swinton, Ezra Miller, and Marisa Tomei.
Then, he has voice roles in two Pixar films. The first is Inside Out,
about a young girl named Riley who is uprooted from her life in the Midwest and
moved to San Francisco. Riley is guided by her emotions, but the move allows
her negative emotions to try and take over. Hader voices Fear. The second is The Good
Dinosaur, about a 70-foot-tall teenage Apatosaurus who befriends a human
boy.
Career Highlights:
1)
Saturday Night Live (2005-2013) – lead
*Editor’s picks
What She Has Been In:
Analeigh Tipton, 25, got her
start as a figure skater as a juvenile. She then pursued a modeling career. She
placed third on Cycle 11 of America’s Next
Top Model in 2008. She then got into film and television. She started off
fairly quickly with roles in The
Green Hornet, Crazy,
Stupid, Love., Damsels in
Distress, and Warm
Bodies. She also had a reoccurring role in season three of HBO’s Hung.
Recently, Tipton featured in a
supporting role in this summer’s action blockbuster Lucy. She
also starred in the short film/commercial The Power Inside.
It is weird and fun.
September Film:
Tipton stars opposite Miles Teller (who
is also a star to watch featured this month) in the romantic comedy Two Night Stand
in September. The film looks rather generic, but Tipton and Teller are good
young actors. If they are able to find chemistry together, it could end up
being a very fun film. Here
is the trailer.
Upcoming:
Upcoming, Tipton has maybe her
most high profile acting jobs to-date. First, she stars in her own new sitcom
on ABC. It is called Manhattan Love
Story and is about the inner workings of the mind of a young man and young
woman as they begin a new relationship. It co-stars Jake McDorman and
is created by Jeff
Lowell. Then in 2015, she stars opposite Ryan Reynolds, Ben Mendelsohn,
and Sienna Miller
in writing/directing team Anna Boden and Ryan Feck’s new
drama Mississippi
Grind, about two down on their luck guys who go on a road trip through the
South.
Career Highlights:
*Editor’s picks
What He Has Been In:
Miles Teller, 27, earned
a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, appearing in
many short films. He made his feature debut in 2010’s Rabbit Hole.
He then took roles in lots of films geared towards teenagers, including: Footloose, Project X, 21 & Over,
That Awkward
Moment, and Divergent.
While Rabbit Hole did showcase Teller’s talent as an actor,
it is his performance in James Ponsoldt’s The
Spectacular Now, opposite Shailene
Woodley, that really caught people’s attention (including mine). He is very
good in the film, playing the lead Sutter. His emotional range is wonderful and
his chemistry with Woodley is palpable.
September Film:
Upcoming:
Teller has his best and biggest
projects upcoming. First, he stars in the Sundance Film Festival winning drama Whiplash,
playing an aspiring drummer who is brutalized verbally and emotionally by his
teacher. Then, Teller stars as Mr. Fantastic in Josh Trank’s
reboot of The
Fantastic Four. Also joining Teller in the film are Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, and Michael B. Jordan.
Teller is also attached to a sequel. After
that, Teller returns for the Shailene Woodley led YA sci-fi sequel to
Divergent, Insurgent.
Finally, Teller is slated to reunite with his Whiplash writer/director Damien Chazelle in
the musical dramedy La La Land
(the director has also stated that he would like Emma Watson to
co-star).
Career Highlights:
*Editor’s picks
