Claire Danes

Evening reunites Claire Danes with several actors - Eileen Atkins, Toni Collette, and Meryl Streep - who appeared in Stephen Daldry's Golden Globe Award-winning The Hours, which was based on upon a novel by Evening screenplay co-writer Michael Cunningham.

This summer, Ms. Danes will also be seen starring in Matthew Vaughn's Stardust, with Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Ricky Gervais, Peter O'Toole, and Charlie Cox.

Her feature film credits include Anand Tucker's Shopgirl; Thomas Bezucha's The Family Stone; Richard Eyre's Stage Beauty; Jonathan Mostow's Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines; Burr Steers' Igby Goes Down; Francis Coppola's The Rainmaker; Oliver Stone's U Turn; Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's 'Romeo + Juliet'; Michael Pressman's To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday; Billy Hopkins' I Love You, I Love You Not; Jodie Foster's Home for the Holidays (on which Evening director Lajos Koltai was the cinematographer); Jocelyn Moorhouse's How to Make an American Quilt; and Gillian Armstrong's Little Women.

Ms. Danes first came to prominence with her indelible performance as Angela Chase on the television series My So-Called Life. Her portrayal earned her an Emmy Award nomination and a Golden Globe Award.

She recently completed two dance performances to considerable acclaim: Christina Olson: American Model and Edith and Jenny, both at P.S. 122 in her native New York City.

Toni Collette

Toni Collette was an Academy Award nominee for her performance in M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense; a Tony Award nominee for George C. Wolfe and Michael John LaChiusa's The Wild Party; and has thrice been nominated for a Golden Globe Award, most recently for Bharat Nalluri's miniseries Tsunami: The Aftermath and Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' Little Miss Sunshine.

The latter movie, one of the biggest sleeper hits of this decade, also earned her a BAFTA Award nomination. With her fellow actors from the Academy Award-winning film, she shared a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Ms. Collette's first Golden Globe Award nomination came for her memorable performance in one of the breakout hits of the previous decade, P.J. Hogan's Muriel's Wedding. Her work in the title role earned her the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award for Best Actress. She has since won three more AFI Awards, for her portrayals in Sue Brooks' Japanese Story, Rowan Woods' The Boys, and Jerzy Domaradzki's Lilian's Story; and been nominated twice more, for her work in Curtis Hanson's In Her Shoes and Mark Joffe's Spotswood.

She shared a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination with her fellow actors from Stephen Daldry's The Hours, who included Eileen Atkins, Claire Danes, and Meryl Streep (all from Evening). Ms. Collette's performance in The Hours won her Best Supporting Actress honors from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle and the Boston Society of Film Critics (with the latter award given in tandem with her performance in Chris and Paul Weitz' About a Boy).

Her other features include Douglas McGrath's Emma; Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine; Norman Jewison's telefilm Dinner with Friends; Roger Michell's Changing Lanes; Jeff Nathanson's The Last Shot; Karen Moncrieff's The Dead Girl; and, also for Evening producer Jeffrey Sharp, Patrick Stettner's The Night Listener.

Born and raised in Australia, Ms. Collette studied there at the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). In addition to the aforementioned The Wild Party on Broadway, her stage credits include productions with the Belvoir Street Theater and the Sydney Theater Company.

Vanessa Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave won the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award, as well as awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, for her performance in the title role of Julia (directed by Fred Zinnemann and adapted by Alvin Sargent from Lillian Hellman's novel of the same name, and which featured Meryl Streep of Evening).

She has received five additional Academy Award nominations and eleven additional Golden Globe Award nominations, as well as been honored with a second Golden Globe Award win for her performance in the telefilm If These Walls Could Talk 2 (for the segment written and directed by Jane Anderson). The latter performance also earned her an Emmy Award. She had previously won an Emmy Award for her portrayal of Holocaust survivor Fania Fénelon in Playing for Time (directed by Daniel Mann and adapted from Ms. Fénelon's autobiography), and has been nominated for an Emmy three additional times.

The London native trained for eight years at the Ballet Rambert School and later graduated from the Central School of Speech and Drama. She made her U.K. stage debut with her father Michael Redgrave in A Touch of the Sun, in January 1958. In July 1961, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her theater work has since encompassed starring roles in The Cherry Orchard, Lady Windermere's Fan, Daniel Deronda, The Threepenny Opera, Design for Living, and The Lady from the Sea, among many other plays across the U.K. and the U.S. She produced and co-directed a staging of the newly discovered Tennessee Williams play Not About Nightingales at The National Theatre; and starred opposite Eileen Atkins of Evening in the latter's play Vita and Virginia.

In 2003, Ms. Redgrave won a Tony Award for her performance in the Robert Falls-directed Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. She is currently starring on Broadway in The Year of Magical Thinking, written by Joan Didion and directed by David Hare.

She previously starred for the latter director in his film Wetherby, for which she was honored by the National Society of Film Critics with their Best Actress award. Her other films include Fred Zinnemann's A Man for All Seasons; Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup; Karel Reisz' Isadora (for which she won Best Actress awards at the Cannes International Film Festival and from the National Society of Film Critics); Sidney Lumet's Murder on the Orient Express; Michael Apted's Agatha; Merchant Ivory's The Bostonians (for which she was cited as Best Actress by the National Society of Film Critics); Stephen Frears' Prick Up Your Ears (for which she was named Best Supporting Actress by the New York Film Critics Circle); Simon Callow's The Ballad of the Sad Café; Marleen Gorris' Mrs. Dalloway (adapted from the Virginia Woolf novel by Eileen Atkins of Evening); her son Carlo Nero's The Fever; and Roger Michell's Venus. Ms. Redgrave will next be seen onscreen in Joe Wright's Atonement (also for Focus Features).

Evening marks the second film in which she has starred opposite her daughter Natasha Richardson, following Merchant Ivory's The White Countess. Ms. Redgrave has also starred opposite her daughter Joely Richardson, most recently in several episodes of the latter's hit television series Nip/Tuck.

Patrick Wilson

Patrick Wilson received Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations for his performance in Mike Nichols' miniseries Angels in America, which Tony Kushner adapted from his own epic plays.

Born in Virginia, Mr. Wilson was mostly raised in St. Petersburg, Florida. He received his B.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University. After moving to New York City, his breakthrough performance was in Michael Greif's Off-Broadway staging of the musical Bright Lights, Big City, which earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination, and a Drama League Award. He won a second Drama League Award for his work in the Broadway revue The Gershwins' Fascinating Rhythm, directed by Mark Lamos.

He then earned two consecutive Tony Award nominations, for his performances in Jack O'Brien's staging of The Full Monty (which also brought him Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama League Award nominations) and Trevor Nunn's revival of Oklahoma! More recently, he was back on Broadway alongside Jill Clayburgh, Amanda Peet, and Tony Roberts in Scott Elliott's revival of Barefoot in the Park.

Mr. Wilson has starred on-screen in Joel Schumacher's The Phantom of the Opera (adapted from Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage musical); John Lee Hancock's The Alamo; and two of the most talked-about movies of 2006, Todd Field's award-winning Little Children (opposite Kate Winslet and Jennifer Connelly) and David Slade's Hard Candy (opposite Ellen Page). He is at work on Rodrigo García's Passengers, and will soon be seen in Edward Burns' Purple Violets (a World Premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival).

Hugh Dancy

Hugh Dancy was recently an Emmy Award nominee for his performance in Tom Hooper's miniseries Elizabeth I, in which he starred opposite Dame Helen Mirren.

A native of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire in the U.K., he began acting in school plays while a teenager. After graduating from Oxford, he moved to London to pursue an acting career.

His early television work soon led to Mr. Dancy landing the lead role in the telefilm remake of David Copperfield, directed by Peter Medak. His other notable television credits have included Tim Fywell's telefilm remake of Madame Bovary and Tom Hooper's miniseries Daniel Deronda.

His subsequent film work includes Tommy O'Haver's Ella Enchanted; Michael Caton-Jones' Shooting Dogs (a.k.a. Beyond the Gates) and Basic Instinct 2; and Katja von Garnier's Blood and Chocolate; and Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down and Antoine Fuqua's King Arthur, both for producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

Mr. Dancy will next be seen on-screen in Tom Kalin's Savage Grace (with Julianne Moore) and Robin Swicord's The Jane Austen Book Club (as part of the ensemble cast).

His stage work includes (in the U.K.) Sam Mendes' staging of To the Green Fields Beyond and (in the U.S.) David Grindley's revival of Journey's End. The latter production is currently running on Broadway.

Natasha Richardson

Natasha Richardson won the 1998 Tony, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk Awards for her performance in Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall's revival of Cabaret. In 1993, she was nominated for Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her performance in the title role of the revival of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie (directed by David Leveaux), which earned her a Theatre World Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Debut of an Actress.

Trained at the U.K.'s Central School of Speech and Drama, Ms. Richardson has worked extensively on stage, including in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet. In 1986, she was voted Most Promising Newcomer by the London Drama Critics Circle for her performance in The Seagull, in which she first starred with her mother, Vanessa Redgrave (of Evening).

More recently, she starred in Lady from the Sea (directed by Trevor Nunn); and as Blanche Du Bois in the Roundabout Theatre revival of A Streetcar Named Desire (directed by Edward Hall), for which she was an Outer Critics Circle Award nominee.

Ms. Richardson's television work includes John Gray's miniseries Haven; Richard Eyre's telefilm remake of Suddenly, Last Summer; and Pat O'Connor's telefilm Zelda, in which she played the title role and for which she won a CableACE Award.

Her early films include Ken Russell's Gothic; Pat O'Connor's A Month in the Country; Paul Schrader's Patty Hearst (in the title role) and The Comfort of Strangers; and Volker Schlöndorff's The Handmaid's Tale. The latter two movies earned her the Evening Standard Award for Best Actress.

Ms. Richardson's other feature credits include John Irvin's Widows' Peak (for which she was named Best Actress at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival); Michael Apted's Nell; Nancy Meyers' The Parent Trap (1998); Wayne Wang's Maid in Manhattan; and David Mackenzie's Asylum (which she executive-produced and for which she received an Evening Standard Award, and a 2005 British Independent Film Award nomination, for Best Actress).

She was last seen on-screen in the title role of Merchant Ivory's The White Countess, starring opposite Ralph Fiennes and costarring with her mother Vanessa and aunt Lynn Redgrave.

Mamie Gummer

Native New Yorker Mamie Gummer graduated from Northwestern University, and also studied theater at the British Academy of Dramatic Arts.

She subsequently made her New York stage debut in 2005, starring opposite Michael C. Hall in the Roundabout Theatre production of Noah Haidle's Mr. Marmalade, directed by Michael Greif. More recently, she starred with Kate Burton and Tony Goldwyn in Theresa Rebeck's The Water's Edge, directed by Will Frears at NYC's Second Stage Theatre.

Ms. Gummer previously appeared on-screen in Lasse Hallström's The Hoax, with Richard Gere and Hope Davis. She will next be seen in Kimberly Peirce's Stop Loss.

Eileen Atkins

Dame Eileen Atkins was born in London and attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Her initial London stage appearance was in Robert Atkins' staging of Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost, at the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park. Seasons in repertory followed, including two years with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon. She went on to star at the Old Vic in many Shakespearean roles, among them Miranda and Viola.

Venturing into contemporary plays, Dame Eileen won the 1965 Evening Standard Award for Best Actress for her performance as Childie in Frank Marcus' play The Killing of Sister George, and then made her New York stage debut in the play. Her wealth of U.K. stage credits also includes portraying Saint Joan and Medea; and presenting an evening of T.S. Eliot's poetry at the Lyric Theatre. She won a Variety Club Award for her role as Elizabeth in Robert Bolt's Vivat! Vivat! Regina; won the London Critics Circle Award, and was nominated for an Olivier Award, for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Richard Eyre's staging of Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana; and received an Olivier Award for her performance in Peter Hall's staging of Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale.

In 1989, she garnered unanimous acclaim for her one-woman show, A Room of One's Own, in which she portrayed Virginia Woolf. The off-Broadway production brought her a Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance; and a Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics Circle. She then toured the U.S. in the show, later taping the project for U.K. television on location at Girton College, Cambridge (the venue of Mrs. Woolf's original lecture). She would return to the role in 1992 with Vita and Virginia, which she wrote and starred in (opposite Penelope Wilton as Vita Sackville-West) for the U.K. stage as well as in the U.S. (opposite Vanessa Redgrave of Evening). The latter production earned Dame Eileen a second Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics Circle, for both her playwriting and her performance.

Among her recent stage credits are, in the U.K., Anthony Page's staging of Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance, which brought her a (London) Evening Standard Award; in the U.K. and New York, Matthew Warchus' staging of Yasmina Reza's The Unexpected Man (for which she won an Olivier Award); and, on Broadway, Daniel Sullivan's staging of William Nicholson's The Retreat from Moscow (for which she was nominated for a Tony Award and won an Outer Critics Circle Award).

Dame Eileen's many television appearances include Simon Langton's miniseries Smiley's People; Norman Stone's telefilm The Vision; Nigel Finch's telefilm The Lost Language of Cranes; and Mike Nichols' telefilm Wit.

In addition, she co-created, with Jean Marsh, the classic television series Upstairs Downstairs. For her screenplay adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway (which starred Vanessa Redgrave of Evening and was directed by Marleen Gorris), she won the Evening Standard Award for Best Screenplay.

Dame Eileen's other film acting roles include ones in Sidney Lumet's Equus; Peter Yates' The Dresser; Peter Medak's Let Him Have It; Mike Nichols' Wolf; Mira Nair's Vanity Fair (also for Focus Features); and three recent Academy Award-winning movies: Robert Altman's Gosford Park, Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain, and Stephen Daldry's The Hours (the cast of which included Toni Collette, Claire Danes, and Meryl Streep, all also of Evening, and with whom she shared a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination).

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep is the most-nominated actor in the history of the Academy Awards. Of her fourteen nominations, she has been honored with an Oscar twice; for Robert Benton's Kramer vs. Kramer, and for Alan J. Pakula's Sophie's Choice.

Additionally, Ms. Streep has been nominated twenty-one times for a Golden Globe Award, and has won six (most recently for David Frankel's The Devil Wears Prada).

Her acting career began at Yale Drama School. Then, in New York City, she made both Broadway and off-Broadway appearances, and was honored with two Theatre World Awards. She has enjoyed a long association with The Public Theatre, having worked with its founder Joseph Papp and performed in The Public's noted Shakespeare in the Park stagings, among other shows.

Ms. Streep's many films include Fred Zinnemann's Julia (which starred Vanessa Redgrave of Evening); Michael Cimino's multi-Academy Award-winning The Deer Hunter (with Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Cazale, and for which she received her first Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations); Woody Allen's Manhattan; Karel Reisz' The French Lieutenant's Woman (for which she won a BAFTA Award); Mike Nichols' Silkwood, Heartburn, and Postcards from the Edge (all of which, among other movies, she was costumed for by Evening costume designer Ann Roth); Fred Schepisi's Plenty and A Cry in the Dark (for which she was named Best Actress at the Cannes International Film Festival); Sydney Pollack's multi-Academy Award-winning Out of Africa; Albert Brooks' Defending Your Life; Steven Spielberg's A.I.; Stephen Daldry's The Hours (which also featured Eileen Atkins, Toni Collette, and Claire Danes of Evening); and Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion.

Her current and upcoming film projects include Shi-Zheng Chen's Dark Matter; Gavin Hood's Rendition; Phyllida Lloyd's Mamma Mia!; and Robert Redford's Lions for Lambs.

For television, Ms. Streep has starred in groundbreaking telefilms, specials, and miniseries. These include Marvin J. Chomsky's Holocaust (for which she won an Emmy Award); Robert Markowitz' The Deadliest Season; Emile Ardolino's Alice at the Palace; Dwight Hemion's The Earth Day Special; Jim Abrahams' …First Do No Harm (which she executive-produced); and Mike Nichols' Angels in America, which Tony Kushner adapted from his own epic plays. Her performance(s) in the latter miniseries earned her Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

In 2003, she was given an honorary César Award for Career Achievement and was named a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des lettres. In 2004, Ms. Streep was honored with the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award.

Glenn Close

Glenn Close made her feature film debut in George Roy Hill's The World According to Garp. Her performance in the film earned her awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review as well as an Academy Award nomination.

She has since been Oscar-nominated for her performances in Lawrence Kasdan's The Big Chill; Barry Levinson's The Natural; Adrian Lyne's smash Fatal Attraction; and Stephen Frears' Dangerous Liaisons (for which she was also a BAFTA Award nominee).

Ms. Close's other films include Richard Marquand's Jagged Edge (one of several movies in which she was costumed by Evening costume designer Ann Roth); Barbet Schroeder's Reversal of Fortune; Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet (1990); István Szabó's Meeting Venus (on which Evening director Lajos Koltai was the cinematographer); Ron Howard's The Paper; Stephen Herek's 101 Dalmatians and Kevin Lima's 102 Dalmatians; Wolfgang Petersen's Air Force One; Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune; Rose Troche's The Safety of Objects; Merchant Ivory's Le Divorce; Chris Terrio's Heights; and Rodrigo García's Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her and Nine Lives.

She has been nominated eight times for a Golden Globe Award, winning for her performance in Andrei Konchalovsky's telefilm remake of The Lion in Winter (which also earned her a Screen Actors Guild Award).

The latter is among the television projects she has starred that have brought her ten Emmy Award nominations, with a win for her portrayal of real-life hero Margarethe Cammermeyer in Jeff Bleckner's Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (which Ms. Close executive-produced). Her most recent Emmy Award nomination came for the dramatic series The Shield, on which she starred in a season-long story arc.

Ms. Close's current television project is the series Damages. The legal thriller, in which she stars as litigator Patty Hewes, is in production for a summer 2007 debut.

Her other notable telefilms include Jack Hofsiss' taped staging of The Elephant Man; Randa Haines' Something About Amelia; Jack Gold's Stones for Ibarra; Christopher Reeve's In the Gloaming (for which she won a CableACE Award); Richard Pearce's telefilm musical remake of South Pacific, in which she starred and sang as Nellie Forbush, and which she executive-produced; and, starring opposite Christopher Walken, the Sarah, Plain and Tall trilogy (directed, alternately, by Glenn Jordan and Joseph Sargent), all of which Ms. Close executive-produced.

She made her professional theater and Broadway debut with Harold Prince's revival of Love for Love. Her many subsequent stage credits include Paul Giovanni's The Crucifer of Blood, which was the first time she was costumed by Evening costume designer Ann Roth; and Simone Benmussa's adaptation of The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs, for which she won an Obie Award.

Ms. Close's first Tony Award nomination came for her role in Joe Layton's musical Barnum; she subsequently won Tony Awards for her performances in The Real Thing and Death and the Maiden, both directed by Mike Nichols.

For her portrayal of Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Sunset Boulevard, Ms. Close won a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award, a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, and a Dramalogue Award. She would later reteam with the show's director, Trevor Nunn, for his Royal National Theatre revival of A Streetcar Named Desire.

She has been honored with a Crystal Award from Women in Film; a GLAAD Media Award; a People's Choice Award; the National Association of Theatre Owners' Female Star of the Year award at ShoWest; and a Gotham Award, for her contributions to the New York independent filmmaking community.

Ms. Close is a trustee emeritus of The Sundance Institute, with which she has been associated for over sixteen years. Ms. Close is a trustee of The Wildlife Conservation Society, and actively supports the Riverkeeper Alliance.

Lajos Koltai

Born in Budapest, Hungary, Lajos Koltai has gained international attention for his filmmaking, first as cinematographer and now as director.

Evening is his second film in the latter creative capacity. In 2001, a countryman, Nobel Prize-winning author Imre Kertész, asked Mr. Koltai to direct the film version of his autobiographical novel Fateless, which tracked one young man's odyssey through the Holocaust. With Mr. Kertész adapting the novel, Mr. Koltai committed to make the move to directing. The resulting film, Fateless, became Hungary's official submission to the Academy Awards for Best Foreign-Language. It was screened worldwide at some sixty film festivals, beginning with the Hungarian Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival, and was released to global acclaim throughout 2005 and 2006. Fateless starred Marcell Nagy in the lead role.

Mr. Koltai's cinematography career has been highlighted by his work with another countryman, director István Szabó. Their films together, spanning over a quarter-century of collaboration, include Mephisto (which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film); Colonel Redl and Hanussen (both of which were Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film); Meeting Venus (which starred Glenn Close of Evening); Sunshine (which was named Best Picture at the Genie Awards); Being Julia (for which Annette Bening won a Golden Globe Award); and, most recently, Rokonok (which he shot after directing Fateless and before directing Evening).

He has also enjoyed multiple collaborations with Guiseppe Tornatore, on Malèna (for which Mr. Koltai received an Academy Award nomination and a David di Donatello Award) and The Legend of the Pianist on the Ocean (a.k.a. The Legend of 1900, for which Mr. Koltai won European Film and David di Donatello Awards); and Luis Mandoki, on Gaby: A True Story (for which Norma Aleandro received Academy and Golden Globe Award nominations), White Palace, Born Yesterday (1993), and When a Man Loves a Woman.

Mr. Koltai's other films as cinematographer include Péter Gothár's Time Stands Still; Randa Haines' Wrestling Ernest Hemingway; Jodie Foster's Home for the Holidays (which starred Claire Danes of Evening); Albert Brooks' Mother; Martha Coolidge's Out to Sea; and Menno Meyjes' Max.

Susan Minot

In addition to the 1998 novel Evening, Susan Minot is the author of Monkeys (which won France's Prix Femina étranger in 1987); Lust & Other Stories; Folly; Rapture; and the poetry collection Poems 4 A.M. Evening marks the first screen adaptation of her fiction.

The Boston, Mass. native grew up in Manchester-by-the-Sea. She attended Brown University, where she studied painting and writing; and received an M.F.A. in writing from Columbia University. Her first published works were short stories in Grand Street and The New Yorker.

Ms. Minot's non-fiction has appeared in Vogue, The New York Times Traveller, McSweeney's, HG, Condé Nast Traveller, Playboy, and The Paris Review, among other publications.

She previously wrote the screenplay for Stealing Beauty, starring Liv Tyler and Rachel Weisz, after being invited by director Bernardo Bertolucci to collaborate with him on bringing his story idea to the screen.

Michael Cunningham

For his 1998 novel The Hours, Michael Cunningham won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award. The 2002 film version of the book was directed by Stephen Daldry and starred several Evening cast members (Eileen Atkins, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, and Meryl Streep). The Hours won the Academy Award for Best Actress (Nicole Kidman) and the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture (Drama), among other honors around the world.

The Cincinnati, Ohio native grew up in La Cañada, California. He received his B.A. in English literature from Stanford University, and his M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Iowa.

Mr. Cunningham's novel A Home at the End of the World was published in 1990 to wide acclaim. The 2004 film version, for which Mr. Cunningham wrote the screenplay adaptation, was directed by Michael Mayer and starred Colin Farrell, Robin Wright Penn, Dallas Roberts, and Sissy Spacek. Evening producer Jeffrey Sharp was also producer of A Home at the End of the World.

His next novel, Flesh and Blood, was published in 1995 and is currently being developed as a cable television miniseries. His sole nonfiction book to date, Land's End: A Walk in Provincetown, was published in 2002. Mr. Cunningham's latest novel, Specimen Days, was published in 2005.

His work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly and The Paris Review. A short story, "White Angel," was selected for the 1989 edition of The Best American Short Stories; another short story, "Mister Brother," was published in the Prize Stories 2000: The O. Henry Awards collection.

Mr. Cunningham has, over the years, received a Whiting Writers' Award; a Guggenheim Fellowship; a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship; and a Michener Fellowship from The University of Iowa.

Jeffrey Sharp

Jeffrey Sharp is one of New York's most prominent independent film producers. Over the past ten years, he has produced several notable features, which are detailed below.

Writer/director Kimberly Peirce's debut film, Boys Don't Cry, starring Hilary Swank and Chloë Sevigny, premiered to great acclaim in the fall of 1999. Among other honors accorded the film, Ms. Swank won the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award, while Ms. Sevigny was nominated for both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award. With his fellow producers, Mr. Sharp was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award in the Best Picture category, among other honors.

The following winter, writer/director Kenneth Lonergan's debut movie You Can Count on Me world-premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won two awards including the Grand Jury Prize (for Dramatic Features). Mr. Lonergan subsequently earned nominations from both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards for his screenplay. Additionally, the film's leading lady Laura Linney received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations, among other accolades; and leading man Mark Ruffalo received an Independent Spirit Award nomination, among other citations. With his fellow producers, Mr. Sharp was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award in the Best Picture category, among other honors.

His next film as producer was Douglas McGrath's Nicholas Nickleby, adapted by the writer/director from Charles Dickens' novel. With his fellow producers, Mr. Sharp was nominated for the Golden Globe Award in the Best Picture (Comedy/Musical) category.

His subsequent films as producer included Michael Mayer's debut feature A Home at the End of the World, which Evening screenwriter Michael Cunningham adapted from his novel; John Madden's Proof, adapted from David Auburn's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, for which Gwyneth Paltrow received a Golden Globe Award nomination; and Patrick Stettner's The Night Listener, adapted from Armistead Maupin's novel, starring Toni Collette of Evening opposite Robin Williams.

Mr. Sharp was a founding partner of the production company Hart Sharp Entertainment, which he ran with John Hart from 1996 through 2006. The two were also partners in Hart Sharp Video, an independent distribution company that issued a host of successful video and DVD releases. These included Morgan Spurlock's Academy Award-nominated documentary feature Super Size Me and the New York Yankees anthology set Yankeeography.

He holds an M.F.A. from Columbia University and a B.A. from Colgate University. He serves on the boards of Literacy Partners and the National Foundation for Facial Reconstruction; and on the advisory board of the Hamptons International Film Festival, which he also chairs.

In 2005, Mr. Sharp was honored with the Andrew Sarris Award from Columbia University's School of the Arts, for his contribution to independent film.

He is president and CEO of Sharp Independent, a New York-based independent film production company.

Jill Footlick

Jill Footlick is an independent film producer. Her company, Grow Pictures, was launched in 2006 to develop and produce films of significance from both established and emerging filmmakers, and from both adapted and original screenplays.

Ms. Footlick graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in philosophy. She then began her film industry career, working as a production coordinator on features both large (such as Mimi Leder's The Peacemaker) and small (such as James Mangold's Heavy).

Subsequently, for Evening producer Jeffrey Sharp, she line-produced Kimberly Peirce's Boys Don't Cry (starring Hilary Swank in her Academy Award-winning performance) and Kenneth Lonergan's You Can Count on Me. She also produced Kelly Anderson's Shift; and co-produced Franc. Reyes' Empire, starring John Leguizamo.

In 2001, Ms. Footlick co-founded Archer Entertainment. For Archer, she produced Alan Hruska's Nola (starring Emmy Rossum) and The Warrior Class (starring Erica Leehrsen). Her next projects as producer were Sue Kramer's Gray Matters (starring Heather Graham) and, reuniting with Jeffrey Sharp, Patrick Stettner's The Night Listener (starring Toni Collette of Evening opposite Robin Williams).

Reteaming with writer/director Franc. Reyes and star John Leguizamo, Ms. Footlick is producing Grow Pictures' first feature, The Ministers. The romantic thriller is currently in post-production. She is also producing Grow Pictures' second feature, the thriller Manhattan Nocturne, to star Campbell Scott for director Brian DeCubellis.

Michael Hogan

From 1999 to 2007, Michael Hogan served as partner and COO at the New York-based independent film production company Hart Sharp Entertainment.

At Hart Sharp, he oversaw the creation and management of True Film Fund I and II, equity funds that financed the company's feature films. Mr. Hogan's credits include executive-producing the following films: Douglas McGrath's Nicholas Nickleby; Michael Mayer's A Home at the End of the World (the company's first collaboration with writer Michael Cunningham of Evening); Dylan Kidd's P.S.; John Madden's Proof; and Patrick Stettner's The Night Listener.

After graduating from College of the Holy Cross, he was commissioned in the U.S. Navy and served as a Navy SEAL. He is a Commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve.

Mr. Hogan also holds an M.A. from the University of North Carolina, and an M.B.A. from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College.

Robert Kessel

Robert Kessel is executive vice president of production and acquisitions at Overture Films, a theatrical distribution company. Based in New York City, Mr. Kessel co-heads the department(s).

Before joining Overture in 2006, Mr. Kessel was a partner in, and head of production at, the New York-based independent film company Hart Sharp Entertainment. In his seven years at Hart Sharp, he not only managed production and development but also shared responsibility for managing the company's private equity fund.

His producing credits include DeMane Davis and Khari Streeter's Lift; Douglas McGrath's Nicholas Nickleby; John Leguizamo's Undefeated; Michael Mayer's A Home at the End of the World (written by Michael Cunningham of Evening); Dylan Kidd's P.S.; John Madden's Proof; and Patrick Stettner's The Night Listener.

Prior to joining Hart Sharp, Mr. Kessel served as vice president, acquisitions at Miramax Films for five years. At Miramax, he was central to the acquisition of several notable independent and foreign features. Among them were Jan Sverák's Kolya (which won both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, among other honors); Doug Liman's breakthrough film Swingers; Majid Majidi's Children of Heaven and Caroline Link's Beyond Silence, both of which were Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film; and Chris Eyre's Smoke Signals (which won both the Audience Award and the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival).

He began his industry career at New Line Cinema; and later worked as Stephen Chao's director of development at Chao, Inc.

Mr. Kessel holds a B.A. in political science and film from Vassar College.

Luke Parker Bowles

Luke Parker Bowles is vice president of Sharp Independent, a New York-based independent film production company.

He began his film industry career at International Creative Management (ICM) London in 1999, following his obtaining of a degree in English and Drama from the University of London. While at ICM, he worked under Chairman Duncan Heath and was responsible for co-representing and managing top actor and director clients.

Mr. Parker Bowles joined Working Title Films' creative department in 2001. At Working Title, he was involved in the development of such hit films as Chris and Paul Weitz' About a Boy and Richard Curtis' Love Actually.

In the fall of 2003, he moved to New York and began working with Evening producer Jeffrey Sharp at Hart Sharp Entertainment. Over the course of his three years at the company, he worked as a development executive before becoming vice president of production. He also was production associate on the Hart Sharp Entertainment production of Patrick Stettner's The Night Listener, starring Robin Williams and Toni Collette.

In addition to the University of London, Mr. Parker Bowles also studied at Yale University and Carnegie Mellon University.

Claire Taylor

After graduating Oxford University, Claire Taylor worked at ICM as assistant to the chairman, and then at Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Really Useful Group.

At the latter, she was executive assistant to Mr. Lloyd Webber and as such was schooled in many aspects of the film, stage, and recording industries. After nearly three years at Really Useful, she decided to make the film business her career choice.

Ms. Taylor segued to CiBy Sales (later renamed United Artists), and spent over eight years there, becoming head of international sales. In that capacity, she handled sales and distribution worldwide for dozens of feature films, including such Academy Award-winning features as Jane Campion's The Piano; Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy; and Pedro Almodóvar's All About My Mother.

She subsequently joined Renaissance Films, becoming head of international sales, where she was responsible for all aspects of international distribution and supervised the company's acquisitions. Among the films she represented at Renaissance were Phil Morrison's Junebug, for which Amy Adams was an Academy Award nominee; Roger Michell's The Mother; and Michael Caton-Jones' Shooting Dogs (a.k.a. Beyond the Gates), which starred Hugh Dancy of Evening.

Ms. Taylor currently works as an international sales consultant with Pathé Pictures, among other companies.

Nina Wolarsky

Nina Wolarsky is vice president of features at Smoke House, George Clooney and Grant Heslov's production company, which has a first-look deal at Warner Bros.

Prior to joining Smoke House, she was vice president of development and production at Hart Sharp Entertainment, working on such projects as the forthcoming Revolutionary Road, which will be directed by Sam Mendes and reteam Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

At Hart Sharp, Ms. Wolarsky associate-produced Patrick Stettner's The Night Listener and Dylan Kidd's P.S.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she began her career as an independent book scout for several foreign publishers and film companies.

Gyula Pados, H.S.C.

A native of Hungary, Gyula Pados previously collaborated with his countryman Lajos Koltai as cinematographer on Fateless.

In his first year at the Budapest Film School, he directed an award-winning short film, Dawn, and shot another award-winning short, Lost Movie. Mr. Pados later graduated from the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest.

He began his industry career as a camera assistant for famed cinematographer and countryman Vilmos Zsigmond, working on such projects as Ivan Passer's telefilm Stalin.

Mr. Pados was the cinematographer on several short films in the U.K.. His subsequent feature credits as cinematographer include Terence Gross' Hotel Splendide; Thaddeus O'Sullivan's The Heart of Me; Nimród Antal's Kontroll (which won awards worldwide, including a Copenhagen International Film Festival honor for Mr. Pados' cinematography) and Michael Caton-Jones' Basic Instinct 2 (which costarred Hugh Dancy of Evening).

Caroline Hanania

Caroline Hanania was born in Lebanon and educated in England. She later studied fine art at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, Italy. There, she spent a year working as assistant to the surrealist artist Mayo, whose costume designs were featured in Marcel Carné's classic Les enfants du paradis.

After then completing her B.A. at London's Camberwell School of Art, she began her design career in the London theater, and spent three years as resident designer with the Common Stock Theatre Company. She entered the film industry working with production designer Andrew McAlpine, as an art director on such movies as Alex Cox' Sid and Nancy and Clare Peploe's High Season.

In the two decades since, Ms. Hanania has been a production designer on feature films all over the world. She has enjoyed a long collaboration with director Peter Chelsom; their films together include Hear My Song, Funny Bones, The Mighty, Town & Country, Serendipity, and Shall We Dance.

Her other features as production designer include Pen Densham's Moll Flanders; John Duigan's The Leading Man; Mika Kaurismäki's L.A. Without a Map; and the top-rated telefilm The Five People You Meet in Heaven (directed by Lloyd Kramer).

Allyson C. Johnson

Allyson C. Johnson has collaborated as film editor with director Mira Nair on Monsoon Wedding, Vanity Fair (also for Focus Features, and also starring Eileen Atkins of Evening), The Namesake, and an 11'9"01 segment.

She has edited several independent features, including Griffin Dunne's Fierce People (as well as his documentary short Your Product Here); Matthew Coppola's Fresh Cut Grass; Alex Steyermark's Prey for Rock & Roll; and Bob Giraldi's Dinner Rush, which premiered at the 2001 New Directors/New Films series at the Museum of Modern Art. For Spike Lee, she was associate editor on Summer of Sam and co-edited Public Enemy's music video "He Got Game."

For television, Ms. Johnson has edited the acclaimed series The Wire. Her "rockumentary" credits include The Who's 'Tommy': The Amazing Journey (for which she received an Emmy Award nomination) and The History of Rock & Roll: Up from the Underground, both directed by Barry Alexander Brown, as well as Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen's Say It Loud: Can I Get a Witness.

Ann Roth

Ann Roth won the Academy Award for her costume design of Anthony Minghella's The English Patient. She has been nominated for the Oscar three additional times, for Mr. Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley; Robert Benton's Places in the Heart; and Stephen Daldry's The Hours (which was based on the novel by Evening screenwriter and executive producer Michael Cunningham, and which starred several members of the Evening cast).

The Hanover, Pennsylvania native's first feature as costume designer was George Roy Hill's classic The World of Henry Orient, starring Peter Sellers. Her subsequent 100-plus feature credits include John Schlesinger's multi-Oscar-winning Midnight Cowboy and The Day of the Locust (for which Ms. Roth won a BAFTA Award); Robert Mulligan's Up the Down Staircase and The Pursuit of Happiness; Herbert Ross' The Owl and the Pussycat, The Goodbye Girl, and California Suite; Alan J. Pakula's Klute; Robert Moore's Murder by Death; Hal Ashby's Coming Home; Milos Forman's Hair; Brian De Palma's Dressed to Kill; Colin Higgins' Nine to Five; Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being; Ivan Reitman's Dave; Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd; and Noah Baumbach's upcoming Margot at the Wedding.

She has costumed Glenn Close of Evening for such movies as George Roy Hill's The World According to Garp, Richard Marquand's Jagged Edge, and Jeff Bleckner's telefilm Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story, among others.

Ms. Roth has also costumed Meryl Streep of Evening for multiple features, including Silkwood, Heartburn, and Postcards from the Edge, all directed by Mike Nichols. She has collaborated with the latter on over a dozen film projects, including the epic miniseries Angels in America (for which she was an Emmy Award nominee); and on a comparable amount of theater projects, including the original Broadway productions of The Odd Couple and Hurlyburly.

Her many Broadway credits have brought her four Tony Award nominations (including one for Paul Giovanni's The Crucifer of Blood, which was the first time she costumed Glenn Close of Evening). Most recently, she was the costume designer on four Broadway plays during the 2006-2007 season, among them The Year of Magical Thinking (which stars Vanessa Redgrave of Evening).

In 2000, the Theatre Development Fund honored Ms. Roth with the Irene Sharaff Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2003, she was honored with the Costume Designers Guild Award for Lifetime Achievement, as well as with the Hollywood Film Festival's award for Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design.

Jan A.P. Kaczmarek

For his original score of Marc Forster's Finding Neverland, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek won the Academy Award and was honored by the National Board of Review, in addition to receiving Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations.

Mr. Kaczmarek's other feature scores include the ones for Adrian Lyne's Unfaithful; Frank Pierson's Soldier's Girl; and Max Färberböck's Aimée & Jaguar. Additionally, the Polish-born composer has scored several features directed by his countrywoman Agnieszka Holland, among them Total Eclipse, The Third Miracle, Shot in the Heart, and Washington Square.

Initially inspired by his encounter with director Jerzy Grotowski's theater lab, he began composing for both underground theater and his own mini-orchestra The Orchestra of the Eighth Day. The latter group toured Europe and then America, and Mr. Kaczmarek recorded his debut album "Music for the End."

He then began composing music for stage works in America, at Chicago's Goodman Theatre; Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum; and off-Broadway, among other venues. His score for JoAnne Akalaitis' staging of John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's A Whore, starring Val Kilmer and Jeanne Tripplehorn, earned him Obie and Drama Desk Awards.

Mr. Kaczmarek was commissioned to write two symphonic and choral pieces for live national television broadcasts in Poland. The broadcasts were commemorating the 25th anniversary (in 2005) of the Solidarity movement, for which he composed "Cantata for Freedom"; and the 50th anniversary (in 2006) of the uprising against the Poznan government, for which he composed the oratorio "1956."

His current project is the establishing of Rozbitek; based in Poland, this institute will serve as a European hub for development of new artistic works in a variety of media.

Michelle Matland

Michelle Matland's other feature credits as costume designer include David Auburn's just-wrapped The Girl in the Park, starring Sigourney Weaver; and Gus Van Sant's Last Days.

She has worked as assistant costume designer with Evening costume designer Ann Roth for over a decade, on such projects as Mike Nichols' award-winning miniseries Angels in America, telefilm Wit, and features Closer and Primary Colors; Stephen Daldry's The Hours; Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain; and Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd.