musings about the actor and the characters he brings to life
As we reported in March, BBC series Wolf Hall was dealt the most nominations for BAFTA Craft and TV Awards. At the BAFTA TV Awards portion of the event in London on May 8, we saw this excellent series take home the well-deserved prize for Best Drama! And leaving with the honor of Best Actor was Mark Rylance for his flawless portrayal of Thomas Cromwell.
Continue reading “Wolf Hall WINS BAFTA for Best Drama, Mark Rylance WINS for Best Actor”
In the time since Billions finished filming and we know Damian has been on break, it’s been interesting following the various projects he’s tackling back home across the pond. You hear of actors spending their series hiatuses well out of the public eye, on a beach somewhere, lounging away the days until filming starts again. Not Damian Lewis. The break from NYC and from Bobby Axelrod saw a Londoner doing London things, loving on his home town. Seems the only person to get the time off was Damian’s barber!
Continue reading “Damian in Between: Reserve Rope, Frankenstein, and WWE”
It all starts with a good colleague with whom I share love for theater asking me to name my favorite male and female stage performances in 2015. Easy. It’s Lesley Manville in Ibsen’s Ghosts and Damian Lewis in Mamet’s American Buffalo (with Mark Strong in Miller’s A View From the Bridge as a close second). And what is it about these performances that make me LOVE them? Just one word: Precision.
Then I think about the heart-breaking performance Lesley Manville gives in Ghosts which, in fact, has brought her an Olivier Award in 2014 (I saw the play much later when it visited Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2015). I know Manville mostly from her work on big screen such as Secrets and Lies (1996), Vera Drake (2004), Another Year (2010) and Mr Turner (2014) all of which were some of my favorites in the year they were released. But I really do not know about her stage work. So I google her. And this is one of the first images I hit!
Ha! Small world. Have you heard of the saying that Brits have 10 actors? I am about to believe that! 😀 And it’s time we dig into the play! Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in Pillars of the Community”
In my experience, one of the best returns in an educator’s life is to see her former students graduate and thrive in their careers. It feels so good when a former student sends an email saying: “Hey professor, I had taken such and such class with you and then you wrote for me a letter of recommendation and I got into law school and now I am doing very well at such and such company. Thank you.” You simply feel you have, in fact, touched THAT life and in a very good way, too! I just cannot think of a better reward for an educator. Otherwise, what’s the point?
That’s why we declare Damian Lewis writing the foreword for his drama school teacher Ken Rea’s new book The Outstanding Actor and giving a speech at the book launch party a TOP Damian Lewis moment of 2015! Continue reading “TOP Damian Lewis Moments 2015: Damian Lewis as a Grateful Student”
We have no intention whatsoever of ranking TOP Damian Lewis moments of the year; however, one incomparably exciting moment in 2015 — well, all 10 weeks of it — was to have our favorite actor back on stage in an incredibly dynamic performance in American Buffalo. In fact, Evening Standard agrees and includes Damian in its list of the most influential people in London Theatre in 2015. Besides, this is a moment where Damian shines as a brilliant actor, as a kind individual as well as a guy who knows how to have a good time!
Continue reading “TOP Damian Lewis Moments 2015: American Buffalo”