Cinema Experts

“Hollywood is much more creatively corrupt than it is economically [corrupt]. It takes $1 for them to kill their dreams. Their dreams are worth more than $1.”
Penn was born in Santa Monica, California, to Leo Penn, an actor and director, and Eileen Ryan, an actress. Penn's father was the son of Elizabeth Melincoff and Maurice Daniel Penn, Jewish immigrants from Lithuania and Russia, respectively, and the grandson of Rabbis. Penn's mother is a Roman Catholic of Italian and Irish descent. Penn was raised in a secular home and is an Agnostic. According to Ryan, his father had distant Spanish ancestry as his family surname was originally "Piñon", but it was changed when his grandfather immigrated to the United States. He has one living brother, musician Michael Penn. Another brother, Chris, died in 2006.
Penn launched his career with the 1981 film Taps, followed a year later with the comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High in the role of Jeff Spicoli and has since starred in over 40 movies. He was awarded an Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in Mystic River. Penn has also been nominated for three other Academy Awards in recognition of his roles in I Am Sam, Sweet and Lowdown and Dead Man Walking.
In 1985, Penn gave a memorable performance in the role of Andrew Daulton Lee in The Falcon and the Snowman. Lee was a former drug dealer by trade, who was convicted of espionage for the Soviet Union and was originally sentenced to life in prison. Lee was paroled in 1998. According to a April 8, 2005 interview in The Guardian, Penn later hired Lee as his personal assistant, partly because he wanted to reward Lee for allowing him to play Lee in the film, and also because he was a firm believer in rehabilitation and thought Andrew Lee should be reintegrated into society now that he is a free man again.
In 1991, Penn made his directorial debut with The Indian Runner, a film based on Bruce Springsteen's song "Highway Patrolman" from the Nebraska album. He has since directed three more films: The Crossing Guard in 1995, and The Pledge in 2001 and Into the Wild in 2007. He also directed Shania Twain's music video "Dance with the One That Brought You" in 1993 and Peter Gabriel's music video "The Barry Williams Show" in 2002. He also appeared on an episode of Viva La Bam in 2004 with his son Hopper.In 2004, Penn was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

"My dad told me, 'It takes fifteen years to be an overnight success,' and it took me seventeen and a half years."
As a child, Brody performed magic shows at children's birthday parties as "The Amazing Adrien". He attended New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (famous as the inspiration for television's Fame). His parents enrolled him in acting classes to distance him from the dangerous kids with whom he associated.
Brody hovered on the brink of stardom, receiving praise for his roles in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam and Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line. He received widespread recognition when he was cast as the lead in Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002). To prepare for the role, Brody withdrew for months, gave up his apartment and his car, learned how to play Chopin on the piano, and lost 29 lbs (13 kg). The role won him an Academy Award for Best Actor, making him the youngest actor ever to win the award. He also won a Cesar Award for his performance, becoming the only American actor to win one.
Throughout his career, Brody has been compared to Al Pacino and Marlon Brando for his unique looks and method acting. He is also widely known for giving presenter Halle Berry a back-breaking kiss after winning his Best Actor Oscar, and as the spokesman for fashion brand Ermenegildo Zegna.
Brody appeared on Saturday Night Live on May 10, 2003, his first TV work, but he was banned from the show after giving an improvised introduction while wearing faux dreadlocks for Jamaican reggae musical guest Sean Paul (the show's producer, Lorne Michaels, is notorious for hating unscripted performances). However, the unscripted intro remains in reruns of the episode. Other TV appearances include NBC's The Today Show and on MTV's Punk'd after being tricked by Ashton Kutcher.
After The Pianist Brody has appeared in three very different movies. He played Noah Percy, a mentally disabled young man in the movie The Village by M. Night Shyamalan, shell-shocked war veteran Jack Starks in The Jacket, and writer Jack Driscoll in the 2005 King Kong remake. He also played a detective in Hollywoodland.
He has also appeared in Diet Coke commercials and Tori Amos' music video for "A Sorta Fairytale".
On January 5, 2006, Brody confirmed speculation that he indeed was interested and very willing to play the role of The Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight. However, Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. eventually decided to cast Heath Ledger as The Joker. He was also in talks with Paramount to play Spock in J.J. Abrams Star Trek XI, but it ultimately went to Zachary Quinto .Brody has been confirmed to star as a con man in Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom, which is slated for a 2008 release date.