Biographies!

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Kevin Smith One of the most original voices to emerge during the American independent filmmaking renaissance of the 1990s, Kevin Smith was born in New Jersey on August 2, 1970. Smith later attended the New School for Social Research's creative writing program, dropping out after administrators contacted his parents to report that their son had been caught launching water balloons out of his dormitory window. He subsequently enrolled in the Vancouver Film School, but again ended his stay after just four months. Returning home to New Jersey, Smith accepted a job in a local convenience store and began plotting his next move. Inspired by the success of director Richard Linklater's 1991 low-budget hit Slacker, he contacted former film-school comrade Scott Mosier, and together the duo began discussing producing their own feature. After rounding up just over ,000 -- collected from parents, credit-card advances and the sale of Smith's beloved comic book collection -- they shot Clerks, a hilariously scabrous look at American consumer culture steeped in Smith's own experiences behind the cash register. Shooting each night in the same convenience store where the director worked by day, they completed production in just three weeks and began promoting the feature on the festival circuit. In 1994 Clerks debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, becoming the breakout hit of the event. Suddenly Smith, with his flair for raunchy yet heavily stylized dialogue, colorful characterizations and keen cultural perceptiveness, was the toast of the indie community, swiftly acquiring Creative Artists Agency representation and a distribution deal with Miramax. After winning a court battle to replace the often-vulgar movie's NC-17 rating with a more commercially palatable R, Clerks hit the arthouse circuit, where it recouped its initial investment many times over and became a critical smash. Soon Smith was at work on the 1995 comedy Mallrats, the second chapter in his self-described "New Jersey trilogy." Despite reprising a number of characters from the previous film -- including the director's own onscreen alter ego, Silent Bob -- Mallrats was both a commercial and critical disaster, and while members of his avid cult audience remained enthusiastic, he publicly "apologized" for making the movie at the 1995 Independent Spirit Awards ceremony. In 1997 Smith resurfaced with Chasing Amy, the final film in the trilogy and his most mature effort to date. Unlike its predecessor, the film won wide critical acclaim, with many critics praising Smith's insightful exploration of love and loss. In 1999, Smith was back in the spotlight with Dogma, a film centering on the last living descendent of Jesus Christ, a woman named Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) who works as a clerk in a New Jersey abortion clinic. Unsurprisingly, the film, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, garnered more than its share of controversy even before being released theatrically. Dogma's distributor, the Disney-owned Miramax Pictures, announced that they would not release the picture and intended to sell it to another distributor. They did so, as Smith all the while maintained that the film--which also starred Alanis Morrisette as God--was about the importance of faith, rather than an attempt to ridicule it. On the heels of an brewing altercation with filmmaker Tim Burton regarding the similarity between the much-disputed surprise ending to Burton's re-imagining of Planet of the Apes and a comic that Smith had published a few years previously, Smith prepared for the opening of his new film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. As with the complaints from religious groups surrounding Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob began recieving pre-release backlash from The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLADD) who strongly objected the film's abundant use of derogatory terms for homosexuals. Cleverly marketed with a logo closely resembling The Empire Strikes Back, legions of Jay and Silent Bob fans nevertheless eagely anticipated the final chapter in the twisted tale of their beloved comedic duo. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Jason Mewes Jason Mewes This actor from New Jersey is best known as the vocal half of the onscreen comedy duo of Jay and Silent Bob, immortalized by Kevin Smith's independent classic Clerks (1994). Jay (Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith), an idiosyncratic pair of suburban drug dealers, provide brief comic moments throughout Clerks, and Jay's ramblings are interrupted only by a rare moment of wisdom from Silent Bob. Although Smith's films do not share an ongoing story, they all occur in the same continuity, with Jay and Silent Bob as the one constant fixture. The criminal background of Jay and Silent Bob was toned down for the studio-produced Mallrats (1995), and the pair was played more for slapstick laughs. Mewes made a rare appearance as a character other than Jay in the film Drawing Flies (1996), an independent backed by Kevin Smith's View Askew Productions; he would reprise the role of Jay in the indie hit Chasing Amy. Jay and Silent Bob also appear in a series of comedic short films, directed by Smith, that were aired on MTV in 1998 and are featured extensively in Smith's action-oriented religious satire, Dogma (1999). In 2001 the dynamic duo of humor re-teamed, this time for their very own feature film, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, All Movie Guide
Ben Affleck Tall and handsome in a meat-eating sort of way, Ben Affleck has the looks of a matinee idol and the resume of an actor who honed his craft as an indie film slacker before flexing his muscles as a Hollywood star. A staple of Kevin Smith films and such seminal indies as Dazed and Confused, Affleck became a star and entered the annals of Hollywood legend when he and best friend Matt Damon wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting, winning a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for their work. Born in Berkeley, California on August 15, 1972 to a schoolteacher mother and drug rehab counselor father, Affleck was the oldest of two brothers. His younger brother, Casey, also became an actor. When he was very young, Affleck's family moved to the Boston area, and it was there that he broke into acting. At the age of eight, he starred in PBS's marine biology-themed The Voyage of the Mimi, endearing himself to junior high school science classes everywhere. The same year he made Mimi, Affleck made the acquaintance of Matt Damon, a boy two years his senior who lived down the street. The two became best friends and, of course, eventual collaborators. After a fling with higher education at both the University of Vermont and California's Occidental College, Affleck set out for Hollywood. He began appearing in made-for-TV movies and had a small role in School Ties, a 1992 film that also featured Damon. Further bit work followed in Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused (1993) and Kevin Smith's Mallrats (1995). Around this time, both Affleck and Damon were getting fed up with the lack of substantial work to be found in Hollywood, and they decided to write a screenplay that would feature them as the leads. Affleck's brother Casey introduced them to Gus Van Sant, who had directed Casey in To Die For. Thanks to Van Sant's interest, the script was picked up by Miramax, and in 1997 the story of a troubled mathematical genius living in South Boston became known as Good Will Hunting. Before the film's release, Affleck starred in Smith's Chasing Amy that same year; the tale of a comic book artist (Affleck) in love with a lesbian (Joey Lauren Adams), it received good reviews and showed Affleck to be a viable leading man. The subsequent success of Good Will Hunting and the Best Original Screenplay Oscar awarded to Affleck and Damon effectively transformed both young men from struggling actors into Hollywood golden boys. Having won his own Golden Boy, Affleck settled comfortably into a reputation as one of the industry's most promising young actors. His status was further enhanced by widespread media reports of an ongoing relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow. The following year, Affleck could be seen in no less than three major films, ranging from his self-mocking supporting role in the Oscar-winning period comedy Shakespeare in Love to the thriller Phantoms to the big-budget box-office monster Armageddon. In 1999, Affleck continued to keep busy, appearing in a dizzying four movies. He could be seen as a dull bartender in 200 Cigarettes, an errant groom in Forces of Nature, a stock market head hunter in The Boiler Room, and a supporting cast member in Billy Bob Thornton's sophomore directorial effort, Daddy and Them. Finally, Affleck reunited with Smith and Damon for Dogma, starring with the latter as a pair of fallen angels in one of the year's more controversial films. In 2000, he would appear as an ex-con trying to mend his ways in Reindeer Games, with Charlize Theron. Re-teaming with Armageddon cohort Michael Bay again in 2001 for another exercise in overbudgeted excess, Affleck flew into action in Pearl Harbor. Despite unanimous lambasting from critics, Pearl Harbor blasted to number one at the box office, earning .2 million on its Memorial Day weekend opening and beginning a summer-2001 trend of high profile films with precipitous box-office runs. In addition to acting and screenwriting, Affleck has also directed a short feature, the provocatively titled, I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meathook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney (1993). ~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide
Jason Lee A puppy-eyed professional skateboarder turned actor, Jason Lee has proven himself as versatile and engaging onscreen as he once did as a skater who turned 360 degree flips on the skate ramp. Discovered by director Kevin Smith, who gave him his first break with a lead role in Mallrats (1995), Lee went on to win over critics and audiences with his portrayals of men who often harbored some degree of endearing immaturity and/or sweet-natured dorkiness. In the process, he created a reputation for himself as one of the more talented and underrated actors to emerge from the 1990s indie scene, eventually beginning to earn mainstream acceptance with his casting in such successes as Smith's Dogma (1999) and Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous (2000). A native of Huntington Beach, CA, Lee began skateboarding when he was 13. Five years later he had gone professional, traveling the world, appearing in a number of popular skateboarding videos, and along with a friend, founding the company Stereo Skateboards and Stereo Sounds Clothing. Deciding to retire from skateboarding before he became too old for the sport and went to seed, Lee made his first foray into acting in 1993 with a walk-on role in Allison Anders' Mi Vida Loca. Two years later he auditioned for and won the lead role of Brodie, a wise-ass slacker, in Kevin Smith's Mallrats (1995). Although the film received a critical thrashing, Lee did earn positive notices for his work in it, and was further rewarded with a lead part in Smith's Chasing Amy (1997). Cast as comic-book artist Banky, best friend and partner of Ben Affleck's Holden, the actor earned an Independent Spirit Award for his smart-assed yet deeply felt portrayal, and subsequently crossed over into more mainstream work with a bit part in the Will Smith suspense thriller Enemy of the State (1998) and a lead in the flop romantic comedy Kissing a Fool (1998), in which he starred with David Schwimmer and Mili Avital. Lee again collaborated with Smith for the writer/director's Dogma (1999), playing the satanic Azrael alongside a cast that included Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Chris Rock, and Alan Rickman. His work in the high-profile film was complemented that same year by his well-received portrayal of a sweet-natured computer mogul in Lawrence Kasdan's ensemble comedy Mumford. The following year Lee appeared in one of his biggest films to date, Cameron Crowe's much lauded Almost Famous, portraying the lead singer of the fictional '70s rock band Stillwater. ~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide George Carlin The titles of his popular record albums "Weird Behavior" and "Class Clown" sum up the childhood deportment of American comedian George Carlin. He tried to fit into the mainstream, but school was too confining. Carlin dropped out of high school to join the Air Force as a radar mechanic, and while stationed in Shreveport, Louisiana, the 17-year-old Carlin was given a shift as a deejay on a local radio station. At 18, Carlin teamed with the station's newsman Jack Burns and hit the nightclub circuit with a comedy act. Things didn't congeal, and soon both performers went their separate ways (Burns would later team more successfully with Avery Schreiber, then go on to become an influential comedy writer and producer). In the mid 1960s, Carlin began building a following with appearances on variety programs, delivering soon-to-be classic routines about Indian war parties ("You wit' the beads...get outta line"), crack-brained deejays ("Wonderful WINO....") and Al Sleet, the Hippie-Dippie weather man. This fresh burst of celebrity led to Carlin's being hired as a regular on Away We Go, the 1967 summer replacement for The Jackie Gleason Show. Carlin remained popular, but grew tired of pulling out the same routines in show after show; he also rebelled against the conservatism of his physical appearance. Before the 1960s had become the 1970s, Carlin had lost several TV jobs by dressing hippie-style, replete with beard and earrings. But changing public tastes made such eccentricity salable again, and soon Carlin was hot again. One of his more popular routines was one that he couldn't deliver on the air: "The Seven Words You Can't Use On Television." This more than any other piece of material would both deify Carlin with his fans and vilify him with the conservative element: an FM radio station nearly lost its license for playing the "Seven Words" routine, while Carlin himself was arrested during a Milwaukee appearance for violating obscenity laws. This served to solidify Carlin's link with the down-with-everything youth culture of the era, which may be why the comedian was the first guest on the doggedly anti-establishment Saturday Night Live. Carlin's performances became renowned for their unpredictability in the 1970s and early 1980s; sometimes he'd stalk off in the middle of the act if the laughs weren't there, other times he'd verbally abuse the audience, and still other times he wouldn't show up at all. By the mid 1980s, he had cleaned up his personal act (if not his public one), and in 1989 Carlin became something of a teen idol thanks to his appearances as mentor-from-the-future Rufus in the lowbrow but profitable Bill and Ted movies. With nearly three decades of lofty career heights and equally precipitous lows behind him, George Carlin took on a weekly sitcom for the Fox Network in 1993, in which he played a cab driver named George - and within a few weeks was up to his old tricks by weaving a heavily bleeped variation of those "Seven Words" into one of the plotlines. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide Matt Damon Going from obscure actor to Hollywood golden boy in just a handful of years, Matt Damon became an instant sensation when he co-wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting. With his Best Original Screenplay Oscar (shared by co-writer and co-star Ben Affleck), he was ensured a place on the Hollywood "It" boy roster. A product of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was born on October 8, 1970, Damon grew up in prosperous surroundings with his tax preparer father, college professor mother, and older brother. At the age of ten, he made the acquaintance of one Ben Affleck, a boy two years his junior who lived down the street. The two became best friends and professional collaborators. Educated at Cambridge's Rindge and Latin School, Damon was accepted at Harvard University, where he studied for three years before dropping out to pursue his acting career. During his time there, he had to write a screenplay for an English class: it went unfinished, but it would later be dusted off and turned into Good Will Hunting. Arriving in Hollywood, Damon got his first break with a one-scene part in Mystic Pizza (1988). However, his film career failed to take off, and it was not until 1992, when he had a starring role in School Ties, that he was again visible to movie audiences. As the film was a relative failure, Damon's substantial role failed to win him notice, and he was back to laboring in obscurity. It was around this time, fed up with his Hollywood struggles, that Damon contacted Affleck, and the two finished writing the former's neglected screenplay and began trying to get it made into a film. It was eventually picked up by Miramax, with Gus Van Sant slated to direct and Robin Williams secured in a major role. Before Good Will Hunting was released in 1997, Damon won some measure of recognition for his role as a drug-addicted soldier in Courage Under Fire; various industry observers praised his performance and his dedication to the part, for which he lost forty pounds and suffered resulting health problems. Any praise Damon may have received, however, was overshadowed the following year by the accolades he garnered for Good Will Hunting. His Oscar win and strong performance in the film virtually guaranteed industry adulation and steady employment, something that was made readily apparent the following year with lead roles in two major films. The first, John Dahl's Rounders, cast Damon as a former card shark trying to make good, despite the temptations posed by his ne'er-do-well buddy (Edward Norton). Despite a name cast and preliminary hype, however, the film proved a relative critical and financial disappointment. The same could not be said of Damon's second film that year, Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. As Ryan's title character, Damon headlined an all-star line-up and received part of the lavish praise heaped on the film and its strong ensemble cast. The following year, Damon further increased his profile with leads in two more highly anticipated films, Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley and Kevin Smith's Dogma. The former cast the actor against type as the title character, a psychotic bisexual murderer, and featured him as part of an improbably blonde and photogenic cast that included Cate Blanchett, Jude Law, and Gwyneth Paltrow. Dogma also allowed Damon to go against his nice-guy persona by casting him as a fallen angel. One of the year's more controversial films, it reunited him with Affleck, as well as Smith, who had cast Damon in a bit role in his 1997 film, Chasing Amy. ~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide Jeremy London (Mallrats) Unlike his twin brother Jason London, Jeremy London's career seems increasingly pointed toward television work, though he does occasionally appear in feature films. Born in San Diego, 27 minutes after Jason, Jeremy was raised in Oklahoma. His mother divorced their father when they were young. As the family's sole supporter, she moved them often until she finally located them a more permanent home in middle-class De Soto, a suburb of Dallas, TX, where he, his brother, and their younger sister Dedra London took acting classes. It was Jeremy who was first bitten by the acting bug while in high school. He made his film debut as a stunt double for his brother in The Man in the Moon (1990) and, from there, had bit parts in a couple other films. He had his first speaking role when he played a bit part in the made-for-TV feature In Broad Daylight (1991), which also marked the debut of sister Dedra in a small role. Later, Jeremy replaced his brother Jason in the role of Nathan in the critically acclaimed NBC television drama I'll Fly Away. Jason reclaimed the role in the PBS film version. Jeremy gained further experience in the briefly aired CBS series Angel Falls and in a trio of made-for-television movies. He had his first feature film role in The Babysitter, a taut direct-to-video drama starring Alicia Silverstone. On television, Jeremy is best known for playing the dangerously handsome Griffin on the Fox teen-oriented drama Party of Five. The part was originally meant as a short-term role, but when Griffin was written out of the show, outraged fans flooded producers with letters of protest. The producers listened and London became a cast regular. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Shannen Doherty (Mallrats) Memphis-born actress Shannen Doherty began her career as a child actor. She later supplied several cartoon voices (notably in the animated feature Secret of NIMH (1982)) and was featured as Jenny Wilder during the 1982-83 season of TV's Little House on the Prairie. Between 1986 and 1988 she appeared as Kris on the family "dramedy" Our House. Doherty is probably best known for her four-year stint on Fox's Beverly Hills 90210 in which she portrayed Brenda Walsh. In 1994, Doherty left Beverly Hills 90210. Doherty occasionally appears in film, including Heathers (1989), and Mallrats(1995). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide.