Adrien Brody

Adrien Brody won the Academy Award® for his performance in Roman Polanski's The Pianist. His portrayal of real-life Holocaust survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman also earned him best actor honors from the National Society of Film Critics, the Boston Society of Film Critics, and the César Awards. He most recently starred in Cadillac Records and will next be seen with Mark Ruffalo and Rachel Weisz in writer/director Rian Johnson’s adventure romantic comedy The Brothers Bloom, Italian director Dario Argento’s thriller/horror film Giallo, and the sci-fi film Splice. Brody was born and raised in New York City, where he attended the High School for the Performing Arts and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Some of his films include Steven Soderbergh's King of the Hill, Eric Bross’ Restaurant, Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line, Ken Loach’s Bread and Roses, Barry Levinson's Liberty Heights, Spike Lee's Summer of Sam, M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village, Peter Jackson's King Kong, Allen Coulter’s Hollywoodland, and Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited.

In support of Stand Up to Cancer, Adrien Brody Stands Up to Cancer. Stand up at su2c.org.

Karen Durbin

Karen Durbin is the film critic for Elle magazine, writing a monthly two-page column as well as profiles and feature articles. She profiled Lars von Trier for the New York Times Sunday Magazine and contributes articles on film to the paper’s Arts & Leisure section, including interviews, profiles, and a regular feature she initiated on breakthrough performances in forthcoming movies. Before joining Elle in 2000, she was the arts and entertainment editor of Mirabella magazine and eventually its film critic. From April 1994 to September 1996, Durbin was the editor-in-chief of The Village Voice, where, in the 1970s and ’80s, she had been an award-winning staff writer and senior editor and also helped unionize the paper. Before becoming the Voice’s overall arts editor in 1987, she oversaw its expanding film coverage for seven years, working with such notable critics as Andrew Sarris, J. Hoberman, David Edelstein (both of whom she brought on staff), and Amy Taubin.

Richard Ledes

Richard Ledes is an award-winning filmmaker and writer based in New York City. His first feature film—A Hole in One (2003), starring Oscar® nominee Michelle Williams and Meat Loaf—premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, enjoyed a theatrical release, and is now available on DVD. His second feature film, The Caller, which he directed and cowrote, starring Frank Langella and Elliot Gould, won the “Made in New York” award at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, had a theatrical release, and is slated for release on DVD by Virgil Films in April 2009. In addition to his work in film, Ledes has written and directed theater and created performance art pieces, notably at the American Fine Arts Co. under the curatorship of Colin De Land.

Melissa Leo

Melissa Leo has been a staple in both film and television for more than 20 years.  She has received critical adulation for her performance as a mother who finds herself involved in smuggling across the American/Canadian border through Mohawk territory in Frozen River. The film won the grand jury prize at Sundance, and Leo won the Independent Spirit Award for best actress along with acting awards from the National Board of Review, San Sebastian International Film Festival, Marrakesh International Film Festival, Gotham Independent Film Awards, Florida Film Critics, Ohio Film Critics, and Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Among many other nominations, she received her first Academy Award® nomination for best actress in a leading role. Prior to Frozen River, Leo was most widely known for her work in Homicide: Life on the Streets, 21 Grams, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Hide and Seek, The Young Riders, The L Word, and Hollywood Dreams. Leo studied drama at Mount View Theatre School in London, England and later at the SUNY Purchase Acting Program.

Parker Posey

Parker Posey will next been seen opposite Demi Moore in Happy Tears and opposite Amy Poehler in Spring Breakdown. She has appeared in more than 50 films, including four Christopher Guest films—Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration—Zoe Cassavetes’ Broken English (Independent Spirit Award nomination), Rebecca Miller’s Personal Velocity (Independent Spirit Award nomination), Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay (Golden Globe nomination), Superman Returns, The Eye, The Sweetest Thing, The Anniversary Party, Suburbia, Dazed and Confused, Clockwatchers, The Daytrippers, The Event, and four films with Hal Hartley (Amateur, Flirt, Henry Fool, and Fay Grim). For The House of Yes, she received a Special Jury Prize at Sundance. On stage, Parker most recently starred off-Broadway in Hurlyburly, for which she received a Lucille Lortel Award, and in Lanford Wilson’s Fifth of July (receiving a Lortel nomination for lead actress). She also starred in the Los Angeles premiere of John Patrick Shanley’s Four Dogs and a Bone, and opposite Matthew Broderick on Broadway in Taller Than a Dwarf.

André Leon Talley

André Leon Talley is Vogue’s editor-at-large, regularly delivering a witty, pithy column called “Life with André” and taking charge of many special fashion and celebrity projects. His career at Vogue began in 1983, when he was hired as Fashion News Director and then served as Creative Director. Recently, he was the official voice of fashion at the 79th Annual Academy Awards and curated a retrospective of Oscar® gowns. André graduated from Brown University with a master’s degree in French studies and went on to work with Andy Warhol at Interview magazine. At MoMA’s Costume Institute, André worked with legendary style authority Diana Vreeland, his professed mentor and—like Bennie Frances Davis, the grandmother who raised him—one of the primary inspirations in André’s life. He released his autobiography, A.L.T.: A Memoir, in 2003, and his latest book, A.L.T. 365+, is his first art monograph. André is a member of the board of the Savannah College of Art and Design, where a lifetime achievement award has been named for him. He is also the 2003 recipient of the CFDA’s Eugenia Sheppard Award for Excellence in Fashion Journalism. André is an active member of Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church and is deeply involved in its many programs.

In support of Stand Up to Cancer, André Leon Talley Stands Up to Cancer. Stand up at su2c.org.

Photo credit: Susan B. Landau

Beau Willimon

Beau Willimon writes for theater and film. His play Farragut North recently received its world premiere at the Atlantic Theater in New York. Current film projects include two screenplays for Warner Bros: the film adaptation of Farragut North and an adaptation of Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, as well as a film adaptation of Peter Morgan’s miniseries The Jury for Fox 2000 with Marc Forster to direct. For the theater he is currently working on commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club and The National Theatre of Great Britain. Willimon is the recipient of the Lila Acheson Wallace Juilliard Playwriting Fellowship, a Donmar Warehouse playwriting residency, the Seymour Brick Memorial Playwriting Prize, and two-time winner of the Lincoln Center Le Compte du Nouy Award. Willimon holds an MFA in playwriting from Columbia University’s School of the Arts.