Interview

Outside the Box

Before BSW spoke with Paul Bettany, the charismatic and chameleonic English actor, someone at his management company told us, "Whatever you do, don't ask him about the lesbians and the cockroaches." If ever there was a story that needed to be heard, this surely had to be it. But ...

Jason Dohring: A Likeable Guy

When UPN's Veronica Mars premiered last year, the character of Logan Echolls was a mouthy rich kid with questionable morals. These days, he's, well, still a mouthy rich kid with questionable morals, but the character has also emerged as a surprise fan favorite and love interest to leading ...

Objectively Speaking

Whenever I talk to practitioners about the craft of acting—which I do constantly for this column—there is one technique that is always mentioned, no matter what approach we're investigating, no matter what the medium (film, TV, stage), no matter whether we're discussing auditions or performances.

Now and Then

Something happened to Christina Ricci since the last time I spoke to her—and it's not just that she blossomed from an awkward, flippant 17-year-old into a buxom, poised young woman. Ricci found a sincere respect for acting—a dramatic turn from a few years back.

Character Studies, Marcia Gay Harden

Every year since the 1960s, the media has been abuzz about a certain Best Supporting Oscar curse, rumored to have either killed a long list of careers or lulled them to mediocrity.

Broad Appeal

In an industry in which many women complain of a dearth of roles after they leave their 30s, Cloris Leachman is living proof that there's life after 40. And 50. And 60. At 78, Leachman is one of the most sought-after actors working today. She has no fewer than ...

In Her Prime

Tovah Feldshuh might be best-known for her role as the quintessential Jewish mother in the Sapphic comedy Kissing Jessica Stein, a part that should have at least earned her an Oscar nomination, if not the award itself. "Miramax chose to back Shakespeare in Love that year," she says good-naturedly. "Hey ...

Deborah Kara Unger: Talent Will Out

Few actors manage the transition between independent and studio films so effortlessly as Deborah Kara Unger. Since the beginning of her career—in the 1989 miniseries Bangkok Hilton—Unger has alternated between studio films such as Payback and The Game and indies such as Sunshine and Thirteen, the only consistent ...

The Jill Factor

Jill Hennessy needed to change clothes. Fresh from the set of her NBC series Crossing Jordan, still in her character's costume of jeans and a simple blouse, she wanted to put on a different outfit for her photos. She disappeared into her trailer to, I assumed, slip into something ...

Chris Noth - Tech and the City

A great actor must remain chameleonic to assume the different roles that scripts call for. But what if a character becomes iconic, as did the Fonz, Captain Kirk, and Kramer, and audiences won't let him go? The tall, dark, and handsome Chris Noth knows something about moving on—and ...