BEN AFFLECK (Gigli) most recently starred in the hit screen adaptation of the Marvel Comic Daredevil. Prior to that he starred in the psychological drama Changing Lanes opposite Samuel L. Jackson and The Sum of All Fears, following in the steps of Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford in bringing to life the Tom Clancy hero Jack Ryan.
Affleck is partners with Matt Damon, Chris Moore and Sean Bailey in LivePlanet, Inc. Their first endeavor, “Project Greenlight,” aired on HBO and drew critical raves for its behind-the-scenes look at the challenges faced by a first-time filmmaker, chosen from an internet screenwriting contest to make his feature film debut. A second “Project Greenlight” recently debuted. Affleck and Bailey also co-wrote the interactive drama “Push, Nevada” for ABC.
Affleck first came to prominence starring in Kevin Smith’s comedy Chasing Amy. He captured an Academy Award® and a Golden Globe Award in 1998 for his first script, Good Will Hunting, which he co-wrote with Damon. He segued into big-budget action films with Armageddon and was part of the ensemble cast of the Academy Award® winning Shakespeare in Love. Affleck went on to star in the romantic comedy Forces of Nature, the fantastical comedy Dogma, the Wall Street drama Boiler Room, the suspense thriller Reindeer Games, the romantic drama Bounce and the epic Pearl Harbor. His other film credits include Going All the Way, Mall Rats, Cruz, Dazed and Confused and School Ties.
Upcoming for Affleck is Kevin Smith’s Jersey Girl, his second co-starring assignment with Jennifer Lopez, the holiday film Surviving Christmas and John Woo’s sci-fi thriller Paycheck.
JENNIFER LOPEZ (Ricki) earned widespread acclaim for her work in the title role of Selena, and then was showered with extensive praise for her role opposite George Clooney in Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight.
Soon after, she starred in the psychological thriller The Cell, playing the role of a gifted psychotherapist who must journey inside the mind of a comatose serial killer in the hope of saving his latest victim. The film opened #1 at the box office in August 2000, grossing $17.5 million, and eventually reaching $60 million.
Lopez recently made history by being the first woman to have the #1 movie and #1 album in the same week. The romantic comedy The Wedding Planner co-starring Matthew McConaughey and released by Columbia Pictures, was the nation’s top grossing movie at the time. Her sophomore recording release “J.Lo” debuted at the top of the Billboard Top 200 Chart. Later that year Lopez starred in Angel Eyes co-starring Jim Caviezel and directed by Luis Mandoki. She played a police officer working through a history of sexual abuse by befriending a man who is coming to grips with the death of his wife and son.
Lopez has been honored at ShoWest as the “ShoWest Female Star of the Year,” as well as being named Entertainer of the Year by the National Council of La Raza, the largest Latino advocacy group in the nation, presented at the American Latino Media Arts Awards for TV and film. Lopez made her feature film debut in the highly acclaimed feature My Family/Mi Familia, garnering an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her role as the young mother Maria Sanchez. Her other film credits include Oliver Stone's U-Turn, Money Train with Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes, Francis Ford Coppola’s Jack with Robin Williams, Blood and Wine opposite Jack Nicholson, Michael Apted’s thriller Enough and Anaconda with Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz and Ice Cube. She can also be heard in the animated feature Antz, voicing the character "Azteca," alongside Woody Allen and Sylvester Stallone.
Most recently, she starred in Revolution Studios’ hit romantic comedy Maid in Manhattan, released by Columbia Pictures. Currently, she is shooting the remake of Shall We Dance? opposite Richard Gere for director Peter Chelsom. She is due to co-star with Affleck again in Kevin Smith’s new film Jersey Girl and will appear opposite Robert Redford in Lasse Halstrom’s drama An Unfinished Life slated for this fall.
As a recording artist, Lopez's 1999 debut album, "On the 6," sold more than eight million copies worldwide and earned her two Grammy nominations. Her smash single, "If You Had My Love," spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts, and the accompanying video earned four MTV Video Music Award nominations. In 2000, she won an MTV Award and the best R&B Award at the MTV European Music Awards.
“J.Lo,” her sophomore album, was executive produced by Lopez. “J.Lo” debuted at #1 on the Billboard Charts, and has sold over eight million units worldwide. The first three singles “Love Don’t Cost A Thing,” “Play” and “I’m Real” all went to #1. In 2001, she was nominated for an American Music Award as “Best Female Artist.” Jennifer's third album "J To Tha L-O! THE REMIXES" is the first remix album to enter the Billboard Top 200 chart at #1 and has spawned two #1 hit singles. The track "Alive," written by Lopez, was featured in her film Enough.
Most recently, Lopez released her third album "This is Me ...Then,” which included the hit single “Jenny From the Block.”
In November 2001, Jennifer expanded her talents to fashion design by launching the “J.Lo by Jennifer Lopez” women’s collection. This fall she also introduced her own fragrance. Future plans for her Sweetface Fashions, a joint venture with an investment group led by Andy Hilfiger and Larry Stemmerman, will include licensing agreements to expand the “J.Lo by Jennifer Lopez” brand into other fashion categories, including accessories, eyewear and swimwear.
JUSTIN BARTHA (Brian) is making his motion picture debut in Gigli as the mentally disabled young man Gigli is ordered to kidnap.
Bartha is a graduate from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He currently lives and works in New York City.
AL PACINO (Starkman) received an Academy Award® for Best Actor for his performance as Lt. Colonel Frank Slade in Martin Brest’s Scent of a Woman, for which he also won a Golden Globe Award.
An eight-time Academy Award® nominee, Pacino has earned four Best Actor nominations for ... And Justice For All, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico, which also earned him a Golden Globe Award. He was nominated three times as Best Supporting Actor for his roles as Michael Corleone in The Godfather, as Big Boy Caprice in Dick Tracy (he also won a 1990 American Comedy Award for this role) and in David Mamet’s screen adaptation of Glengarry Glen Ross.
Last year, Pacino starred in Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia opposite Robin Williams and Hilary Swank and Andrew Niccol’s Simone. Early this year he starred in The Recruit with Colin Farrell and is also due to be seen in Dan Algrant’s People I Know.
In late 1999, Pacino starred opposite Russell Crowe and Christopher Plummer as “60 Minutes” reporter Lowell Bergman in The Insider. Michael Mann directed this film, which received seven Academy Award® nominations. Pacino also starred in Oliver Stone’s football saga Any Given Sunday as a football coach of the Miami Sharks. His co-stars were Cameron Diaz, James Woods and Dennis Quaid.
Pacino recently finished his second directorial effort Chinese Coffee, which he also starred in and produced. This film is based on a play written by Ira Lewis that Pacino performed at Circle in the Square in 1992. The story revolves around a conversation between a Greenwich Village writer and his friend, as they talk about friendship, love and dreams.
He also directed and starred in Looking For Richard, a meditation on Shakespeare’s “Richard III.” He received the Outstanding Directorial Achievement for a Documentary Award from the Directors Guild of America for the film, which also starred Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey.
Pacino’s other film credits include Mike Newell’s Donnie Brasco, which co-starred Johnny Depp, Devil’s Advocate with Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron, Two Bits with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Heat with Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer and City Hall, which also starred John Cusack, Bridget Fonda and Danny Aiello.
In 1993, Pacino starred in Brian de Palma’s Carlito’s Way. Other films include Frankie & Johnny, The Godfather Part III, Sea of Love, Revolution, Scarface, Author! Author!, Bobby Deerfield and Scarecrow, for which he received the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973. He made his film debut in 1971 in The Panic in Needle Park.
Pacino produced, starred in and co-directed the independent film adaptation of the play The Local Stigmatic, presented in March 1990 at New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Public Theatre.
As a child growing up in the Bronx, he would re-create for his mother and grandparents the characters he saw in movies. His grammar school teachers encouraged him to apply to the famed High School of the Performing Arts, which he attended while working part-time as a theatre usher.
After studying with Herbert Berghof and later, with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, Pacino made his professional acting debut in off-Broadway productions of “The Connection” and “Hello, Out There.” He won an Obie Award for Israel Horovitz’s “The Indian Wants The Bronx.”
Pacino has won two Tony Awards for his starring roles in “The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel” and “Does a Tiger Wear A Necktie?” He is a longtime member of David Wheeler’s Experimental Theatre Company of Boston, where he has performed in “Richard III” and in Bertolt Brecht’s “Arturo Ui.”
In New York and London he has acted in David Mamet’s “American Buffalo.” Also in New York, he appeared in “Richard III” and as Marc Antony in “Julius Caesar” at the late Joseph Papp’s Public Theatre.
During the spring and summer of 1994, Pacino appeared in repertory at Circle in the Square. He presented the New York debut of Oscar Wilde’s “Salome” and the premiere presentation of Ira Lewis’ “Chinese Coffee.” He directed and starred in Eugene O’Neill’s “Hughie” which opened in early July 1996 at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, and moved to Circle in the Square in New York in mid-July where it continued its run through the end of August.
Pacino won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Independent Feature Project (IFP) at their 1996 Gotham Awards. In 2000, Pacino was honored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. He also received the Cecil B. DeMille Award from the Hollywood Foreign Press in 2001.
CHRISTOPHER WALKEN (Jacobellis) won the 1978 Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor for his astonishing performance in Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter, a role that also earned him the New York Film Critic's Circle Award, and a Golden Globe nomination. He also received a 2002 Academy Award® nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can. In the film, based on a true story, Walken plays the father of a young con artist who successfully impersonated an airline pilot, doctor, assistant attorney general and history professor, cashing more than $2.5 million in fraudulent checks in 26 countries.
Walken's film career skyrocketed after his unforgettable role as "Duane Hall," brother to Diane Keaton's title character in Woody Allen's Oscar®-winning Best Picture Annie Hall. Since then, Walken has appeared in more than 50 feature films including Herbert Ross' Oscar® nominated Pennies from Heaven, David Cronenberg's adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone, James Foley's At Close Range opposite Sean Penn, Mike Nichols' Biloxi Blues based on the Neil Simon play, Abel Ferrara's gritty crime-drama King of New York and Joe Roth's comedy America’s Sweethearts co-starring Julia Roberts, Billy Crystal and John Cusack.
Walken has succeeded in creating some of the most memorable characters in film history, appearing in supporting and cameo roles such as: "Vincent Coccotti" in Tony Scott's True Romance, "Captain Koons" in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, "Carlo Bartolucci" in Suicide Kings, "The Headless Horseman" in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, and crooked businessman "Max Shreck" in Burton's Batman Returns.
Walken began acting and dancing at the age of ten. He trained to be a dancer at the Professional Children's School in Manhattan, and eventually went on to appear in numerous stage plays and musicals. He received the Clarence Derwent Award for his performance in the Broadway production of “The Lion in Winter,” an Obie Award for his role in “The Seagull,” a Theatre World Award for “The Rose Tattoo” and the 1997 Susan Stein Shiva Award for his work with Joseph Papp's Public Theatre. In the fall of 1999, he co-starred in the stage adaptation of James Joyce's “The Dead.” In the summer of 2001, Christopher again appeared in a revival of Chekhov's “The Seagull” for the New York Shakespeare Festival. The production was directed by Mike Nichols and co-starred Meryl Streep.
On television, Walken has hilariously and memorably hosted “Saturday Night Live” a total of 6 times since 1990, contributed a mesmerizing dance performance to the Spike Jonze-directed music video for Fat Boy Slim's “Weapon of Choice,” and wrote and directed the short film Popcorn Shrimp, which premiered on Showtime in 2001.
Upcoming for Walken is Barry Levinson's Envy with Ben Stiller and Jack Black and Helldorado for director Peter Berg. He recently completed Man on Fire opposite Denzel Washington for director Tony Scott.
LAINIE KAZAN (Gigli’s Mom) has received numerous awards for her work in film, television and on stage. She began her career as Barbra Streisand's understudy in the Broadway production of "Funny Girl." She soon began appearing in New York nightclubs and as a guest on virtually every top variety and talk show on television. She appeared on "The Dean Martin Show" an unequaled 26 times, hosted her own variety special on NBC and opened the popular "Lainie's Room" and "Lainie's Room East" at the Los Angeles and New York Playboy Clubs.
After seeing her perform at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel, Francis Ford Coppola offered her a leading role in One from the Heart. The following year, Kazan was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actress in Richard Benjamin's My Favorite Year with Peter O'Toole.
Last year she starred in Nia Vardalos' blockbuster romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and the subsequent CBS-TV series adaptation "My Big Fat Greek Life."
Other recent roles include What's Cooking? opposite Mercedes Ruehl, Julianna Margulies, Joan Chen, Alfre Woodard and Kyra Sedgewick and Disney's The Crew with Richard Dreyfuss and Burt Reynolds.
Kazan's other film credits include director Paul Bartell' s cult favorite Lust in the Dust with Tab Hunter and Divine, Delta Force with Chuck Norris, Beaches with Bette Midler, The Cemetery Club with Diane Ladd and Ellen Burstyn, 29th St. with Danny Aiello and Anthony LaPaglia, The Associate with Whoopi Goldberg, Love Is All There Is with Paul Sorvino, Renee Taylor and Angelina Jolie and The Big Hit with Mark Wahlberg.
On television, Kazan was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance on “St. Elsewhere" and received a CableAce Award nomination for "The Paper Chase." She had a recurring role on "The Nanny" and played Kirstie Alley's mother on “Veronica's Closet." She has also guest-starred on "Will and Grace," "Touched by An Angel" and in the children's special "Safety Patrol" for the "Wonderful World of Disney."
Kazan received a Tony nomination when she reprised her role in the musical version of "My Favorite Year" at Lincoln Center. She produced and starred on Broadway with Bette Midler, Madeline Kahn, Patti LuPone, Elaine Stritch and Andrea Martin in "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly," a tribute to Ethel Merman and a benefit for the Gay Men's Health Crisis.
She recently starred in "The Vagina Monologues" on Broadway. In regional theatre she has appeared in productions of "A Little Night Music," "The Rink," "Man of La Mancha," "The Rose Tattoo," "Gypsy," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," "Hello, Dolly," "Fiddler on the Roof," "Orpheus Descending" and "Plaza Suite" among others.
Kazan has sung with the Boston Pops and the Cleveland Pops Orchestras and has performed to sold-out houses throughout Europe, Asia, Las Vegas and Atlantic City, as well as in New York City at Rainbow and Stars, Feinstein's at the Regency Hotel and at The Algonquin Hotel.
Kazan is also a recording artist, and her CDs include the jazz collections "Lainie Kazan-In the Groove" and "Body and Soul.”
