The world of performing arts offers a dazzling array of acting roles, each with its own set of challenges and rewards. From the immersive realms of television and the dramatic expanses of film to the live, pulsating energy of theater, actors find opportunities to explore a variety of characters. Whether it’s the subtle background presence of an extra, the complex portrayal by a series regular, or the dynamic expressions of a theater lead, each role is vital in bringing stories to life. This article delves into the diverse types of acting roles available across these platforms, highlighting ho ..read more

After announcing a whopping number of English-language films in competition, Cannes Film Festival has added some international titles: Michel Hazanavicius‘ animated feature “The Most Precious of Cargoes” and Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof‘s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.” An auteur-driven feature, “The Most Precious of Cargoes” is adapted from Jean-Claude Grumberg’s bestselling novel of the same name, set during World War II against the backdrop of the Holocaust. It will be the first animated feature to compete in more than a decade, since Ari Folman’s “Waltz With Bashir” in 2008. The film ..read more

Marvel‘s favorite frenemies are back in the second trailer for the hotly anticipated “Deadpool and Wolverine” — the third installment in the “Deadpool” series of films and the first set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This time, Deadpool and Wolverine fight like bloody hell to the tune of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer.” “I’m about to lose everything that I’ve ever cared about,” Deadpool tells Wolverine in the trailer, to which Wolverine responds, “Not my fucking problem.” “Is that what you said when your world went to shit?” Deadpool retorts, provoking Wolverine to strike his crotch with those c ..read more

“Hell’s Kitchen” opened on Broadway on April 20, 2024. The following is Aramide Tinubu’s review of the show’s Off Broadway premiere published on Nov. 19, 2023. The credits and copy have been updated to reflect any changes for the Broadway transfer. “Hell’s Kitchen,” playwright Kristoffer Diaz‘s new musical with songs by Alicia Keys, begins at a dinner table. 17-year-old Ali (a magnetic Maleah Joi Moon, making her professional debut) has dinner with her mom, Jersey (Shoshana Bean), in their Hell’s Kitchen apartment every night at the same time. It’s a routine that Jersey insists on to keep Ali ..read more

Maya Boyd will take over the title role in Broadway‘s “& Juliet.” She joins the cast directly from the company of “Merrily We Roll Along,” where she made her Broadway debut earlier this year while simultaneously completing her senior year at the University of Michigan. But there’s something Boyd has to take care of before she assumes the lead in the new show. She’ll take a break from rehearsals to return to Ann Arbor, Mich. to graduate from college. Lorna Courtney, the show’s Tony-nominated original Juliet, will play her final performance in the Broadway company o ..read more

Eva Mendes offered her stamp of approval on Tuesday for husband Ryan Gosling‘s Saturday Night Live performance, shouting out his particularly relevant sketch in which he spoke with a Cuban accent. “My Cuban Papi made this Cuban Mami so happy with this,” Mendes, who is of Cuban descent and was born in Miami, wrote on Instagram. “Years of hanging out with my Dad paid off.” The sketch involved Gosling playing a man who had developed a Cuban accent after marrying a Cuban woman. Marcello Hernandez and Kenan Thompson played two friends out to dinner with Gosling. At one point, Thompson says that Go ..read more

Director Alex Garland’s provocative dystopian thriller “Civil War” lit up the box office with $25.7 million in its debut. It’s the first A24 movie to lead the charts in North America, setting an opening weekend record for the New York-based specialty studio. It also marks the biggest R-rated start of the year. Heading into the weekend, “Civil War” was projected to kick off with $15 million to $20 million. Those ticket sales would have been enough to overtake 2018’s “Hereditary” (which opened in fourth place to $13.6 million) as A24’s biggest debut. But the film, starring Kirsten Dunst as a jo ..read more

Berlinale Forum entry “Shahid,” the debut feature of Iranian-German filmmaker Narges Kalhor, has been picked up by Prague-based doc specialist Filmotor ahead of its premiere at Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel, where it is competing in the more experimental Burning Lights section. Described by Kalhor as a collective work between herself and other artists, including a costume artist and a painter from Iran, a German music composer and a choreographer from Berlin, “Shahid” shifts playfully between genres, challenging conventional filmmaking rules. Set in present-day Germany, where Kal ..read more

Ryan Gosling returned to “SNL” this week in a cold open with “Barbie” co-star Kate McKinnon, reviving one of their most famous sketches, “Close Encounter,” in which they recount being abducted by aliens and their vastly different experiences aboard the spaceship. The original sketch debuted eight years ago and featured Gosling and McKinnon, alongside Cecily Strong (it currently has 60 million views on YouTube). The actor also recreated this sketch on his second time hosting six years ago. In every attempt to act through “Close Encounter” Gosling has heroically attempted to get through McKinno ..read more

The response to ID’s four-part docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV has been overwhelming to say the least, the project’s co-directors and executive producers Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz said at an Emmys FYC screening and panel in Los Angeles Tuesday evening. It’s also brought into focus another industry where there’s a “clear lack of protection” when it comes to children, Schwartz said: social media. “One thing that we’ve had conversations about as a result of this is that if you look at where children’s entertainment, so to speak, is today, it’s not just in studios or in n ..read more