Before The Oscars: Annette Bening

How did this year’s Academy Award nominees begin their acting career? Find out in The Daily Actor’s “Before The Oscars” special feature.

Annette Bening

Nominated for “Best Actress In A Leading Role”

Film: The Kids Are Alright

Role: Nic, a successful doctor who has raised two children with her female partner and must confront the problems that arise when they seek out their biological father.

How she got started: Annette Bening started acting when she was in junior high and landed a lead role in The Sound of Music. She continued to study theater at Patrick Henry High and Mesa College (both in San Diego) then graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in theater arts. She made her theater debut in an Off Broadway play with Tim Daly at Second Stage Theatre called Coastal Disturbances (for which she received Tony Award nomination).  Shortly after, she starred made-for-TV movie Manhunt for Claude Dallas. In 1988, she made her big screen debut in the hit comedy The Great Outdoors with Dan Akroyd and John Candy.

Other notable films: The Grifters (1990 Oscar Nomination), American Beauty (1999 Oscar Nomination), Mars Attacks!, The Seige, The American, and Being Julia (2004 Oscar Nomination).

The 83rd Academy Awards airs on February 27 at 8pm. For a list of nominees, click here.

Jeff Bridges: Oscar® Thank You Cam and Backstage Interview

Q. You were talking about sitting on the bed, your dad giving you all the pointers of being an actor. From that day to this moment, what kind of ride has this been? And did you ever see this happening?
A. Well, you know, ups and downs, what does the Dude say? Strikes and gutters, man. That’s about it. That’s about it.

Q. What part of Bad Blake do you most identify with personally, and also, will you and Colin Farrell please form a country band?
A. The music, that’s what I most identified with Bad. I have been writing music, playing music since I was a kid. Unlike Bad, I have you know, I didn’t think he had great parents. Certainly didn’t have he had four, probably, great wives that he got rid of, you know.

But I have a very strong marriage, you know. Bad didn’t have that. There’s a lot of stuff he didn’t have. But the music, I don’t know about forming a country band. Sounds like a good idea. I’ll talk with those guys, maybe.

Read more

Oscars: Backstage with Penelope Cruz

Oscars: Backstage with Sean Penn, Kate Winslet and Penelope Cruz

Oscars: Backstage with Heath Ledgers family

Oscars: Backstage with Kate Winslet

Oscars: What did you think?

I’ve been reading the reviews of last night’s Oscars and I really didn’t think it was as bad as people are saying.

I think it’s probably cool to rip the show every year but it wasn’t terrible.

The funny moment’s were few and far between. There was Ben Stiller as Joaquin Phoenix. And Steve Martin and Tina Fey presenting the screenwriting awards. Oh, and I almost forgot Robert DeNiro introducing Sean Penn – that was good.

That’s it from what I remember. Did I miss anything?

The acting awards pretty much went as expected. A lot of people thought that Mickey Rourke should have gotten Best Actor but I think they got it right by giving it to Sean Penn, don’t you?

Other than that, it was pretty uneventful. I thought Hugh Jackman was great (I could have done without the opening number) and how they did the awards in order of the movie-making process was inventive.

And, the ratings were up 6% so obviously it wasn’t as bad as everyone has written.

Oscars: Ben Stiller as Joaquin Phoenix

Ben Stiller has done some funny stuff at the Oscars the past couple years and this was another great bit.

Natalie Portman played it perfectly. Plus, she looked fantastic last night.

Hugh Jackman to host the Oscars naked

Yup. It’s true. He said it so himself.

“One of my favorite moments at the Oscars was when the streaker came across [past] David Niven. And we’re upping it a level and we’re just going to do most of the show naked. Um, well, there hopefully will be YouTube moments….Drunk and nude, yes. So that’s our new fresh approach. It’s the Australian way.”

Hugh Jackman on the Oscars: "Celebration is the key."

Hugh Jackman answered some questions about the Oscars as his upcoming stint as the host nears.

“Celebration is the key. I’m certainly going to have a good time. If I’m not going to have a good time, how the hell is anybody else?” said Jackman, who sounded up for the job in a phone interview Friday, less than two weeks before the Feb. 22 ceremony airing on ABC.

He isn’t openly rooting for anyone but….

“I can’t hide the fact that I would really love for that honor to be bestowed upon him,” Jackman said of his fellow Australian. “It would be fitting and I think he deserves it.”

How would he compare his Tony experience to that of the Oscars?

The Oscars is obviously a very different beast. There’s a lot of hype. There’s so much anticipation. … I chatted with Steve Martin on the phone who gave me some great tips. The first five or six minutes you’re going to have possibly the best audience you’ve ever had in your life, because all of them know they’re going be on camera at any moment, none of them have lost yet and they’re all sort of generally ready for a good time. He said from that point on, just move it on quickly. Just be quick.

In terms of style, there’s a quantum shift happening this year, and fingers crossed we get a lot of it right. … There’s an obvious amount of business that has to happen in the night. There’s 24 awards; you can’t change that. But I think Oscars could do a little more of the show in show biz. I think there’s been a little too much business.

The producers intend to try different things. Does that add to your excitement or trepidation?

I think it’s great. … Obviously I’m not a standup comedian and generally there’s been comedians who are actors as well (who) have been doing it for the last however many years. So there’s not the same pressure. I don’t think people expect me to come out and do seven minutes of bang-bang-bang jokes. … They really just encourage me to do what I feel I do best. It’s a night to have a feeling of celebration, of community.

The look of the theater is very different. It’s more like the nightclub of your dreams. It’s very intimate. … It’s got to be a lot closer. It’s been a little austere in the past. You know, there’s that stage, the host being up above the stalls, looking down at everybody. … But this is a lot more intimate. It’s still spectacular, being in the Kodak Theatre. But it’s a real difference in the way things are laid out.

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