Born December 19, 1972 · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Birth name Alyssa Jayne Milano
Spouses Dave Bugliari (August 15, 2009 – present) (2 children) Cinjun Tate (January 1, 1999 – November 20, 1999) (divorced)
QUOTES:
I’ve always believed in experiencing everything in life. When you walk out with blinders on, you cut yourself off from the angels and the fairies.
We were in Brooklyn and we stopped by a neighbor’s house … there were these dogs there and I guess they had puppies, she was going to keep one but said she may have to put the rest to sleep if she couldn’t find homes for them, so if we knew anyone that wanted puppies to let her know. I asked what she meant by “putting them to sleep”, so I asked and my mom being as subtle as possible said it means they are going to kill them. So we took home one named Pluto.
Animals, they are one of the most beautiful gifts we have and, you know, if there are people that have compassion, there are very few people that put their money into animal rescue organizations. And if there is someone that has that passion, animals need all the help they can get.
I won’t date a guy who doesn’t own a toolbox. I’m not saying you need to be able to knock down a wall or build a house or anything like that. But I’ve been out with a couple of guys who didn’t own toolboxes, and they couldn’t even change a light bulb.
I’ve always been this strong-willed person and I’ve always been in love with acting. I love every aspect of show business and that includes both the show part of it and the business part of it.
[on posing for Playboy] I could not pass up the opportunity to work with the renowned photographer, Phillip Dixon, and by the look of my pictorial I think I made the perfect choice.
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Angelina Jolie (August 23, 2014 – April 13, 2019) (divorced, 6 children) Jennifer Aniston (July 29, 2000 – October 2, 2005) (divorced)
QUOTES:
[on what keeps him humble] You know, I telephoned my grandparents the other day, and my grandfather said to me, “We saw your movie.” “Which one?”. I said, and he shouted, “Betty, what was the name of that movie I didn’t like?”. I thought that was just classic. I mean, if that doesn’t keep your feet on the ground, what would?
I’m one of those people you hate because of genetics. It’s the truth.
Success is a beast. And it actually puts the emphasis on the wrong thing. You get away with more instead of looking within.
[Time magazine, October 13, 1997] You shouldn’t speak until you know what you’re talking about. That’s why I get uncomfortable with interviews. Reporters ask me what I feel China should do about Tibet. Who cares what I think China should do? I’m a f—ing actor! They hand me a script. I act. I’m here for entertainment. Basically, when you whittle everything away, I’m a grown man who puts on makeup.
When you see a person, do you just concentrate on their looks? It’s just a first impression. Then there’s someone who doesn’t catch your eye immediately, but you talk to them and they become the most beautiful thing in the world. The greatest actors aren’t what you would call beautiful sex symbols. I’ll tell you who my favorite actress is, Dianne Wiest, and you wouldn’t call her a sex symbol. Dianne Wiest is, to me, the most beautiful woman on the screen. [when asked by Conan O’Brien how he got into character as stoner Floyd in True Romance (1993)] I’m a method actor.
[on winning the Best Director Oscar for Saving Private Ryan (1998)]: Am I allowed to say I really wanted this?
Before I go off and direct a movie I always look at 4 films. They tend to be: Seven Samurai (1954), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) and The Searchers (1956).
[on friend Joan Crawford]: She is five feet four, but she looks six feet on the screen. In a two-shot with anyone, even Gable, (Clark Gable), your eyes fix on her. She is imperious, yet with a childlike sparkle. She is haughty, yet tender. She has no great range as an actress, yet within the range she can perform better than any of her contemporaries. I have made almost as many films in England as I have in America. I will come back to England again and again. I would love to see the British film industry get back on its feet again.
I don’t drink coffee. I’ve never had a cup of coffee in my entire life. That’s something you probably don’t know about me. I’ve hated the taste since I was a kid.
I dream for a living.
I’d rather direct than produce. Any day. And twice on Sunday.
Spouse Tom Cruise (November 18, 2006 – August 20, 2012) (divorced, 1 child)
QUOTES:
It’s important to try to be creative. I paint, and my mom is going to teach me how to make clothes. I think people should have passions.
My family always keeps me in check. I have three older sisters, and they work their butts off. They’re all very supportive of my career, but I know what’s really important is kids and family.
I felt so proud to be having a baby and so excited. And I felt closer to other women – to my sisters, to my mom. I felt empowered, like, ‘I’ve given birth. I did it! There’s nothing I can’t handle. I’ve really enjoyed this time that I have taken to be with Suri as well as the challenges of the first couple of months: feeding and pumping, learning to decipher what each cry means – is she hungry? Is she tired? Does she need a fresh diaper? – and figuring out how to really help her.
We all keep dreaming, and luckily, dreams really do come true.
[on watching Independence Day (1996) with President Bill Clinton] Oh, great. This is going to be like shooting baskets with Magic Johnson watching.
[1996, on Lost Highway (1997)] I was brought up in a very small town in upstate New York. We lived on Main Street, and my dad was a doctor. And this idyllic setting held some very dark corners. Working with David Lynch, getting to know his psyche, and getting inside the character in Lost Highway felt so connected up to my past. Benign on the exterior, seething on the interior. My dad was also the town coroner, so we saw all these dead bodies…When I was a teenager my father would bring us along. I remember that when my mother had colon cancer, my father took us down to the basement of the hospital and pulled out a tumor in a jar to show us. And he’s holding it up, he’s kinda laughing, like a scientist. He said, ‘See, it’s kinda like congealed hamburger.’ I mean, that’s like David Lynch, that combination of strange, funny, macabre, all in one. So working with Lynch felt very much like going home.
Liebestraum (1991) was a great experience, a great time, and I have such fond memories about it…It was wild working with Mike Figgis, because he’s very much in possession of himself. Some would say a narcissist, but I think there’s a power in that. I have to admit that I was just dazzled by his absorption with his own instincts and his own ability to pursue things…
It’s very curious when you’re an actor and suddenly you’re in the right role, with the right match. Truthfully, I almost avoided While You Were Sleeping (1995), because I find those romantic comedies kind of precious, and they’re full of lines that leave you feeling a little bewildered when you say them. It’s all about first looks and little giggles, and part of me is always thinking, ‘Isn’t there anything else we could be doing with our time right now? Something a little more important?’ But when I was doing it, I really enjoyed it. It was like the air was charged between me and Sandy. From the minute I met her, we just clicked. We were totally in tune with each other. Lots of the movie was about us just talking and talking, and I’ll tell you the truth, most actors don’t listen very well, they don’t give it 100 percent. But Sandy and I, we just lived in that rarefied air of the movie, and it worked really, really well.
Watch the best of political shorts from around the world today. Films from Germany, Spain, UK, Ukraine, USA.
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CHILDREN’S PARLIAMENT, 13min., Germany Directed by Anna Faroqhi, Haim Peretz In a small village in Brandenburg, a group of children aged 6 to 13 has established the Groß Schauen Youth Advisory Council, a children’s parliament. Here, they actively participate in democratic decision-making processes to represent the interests of their community. One of their key initiatives is advocating for a 30 km/h speed limit on the main road running through their village.
NIGHT SHIFT, 10min., UK Directed by Michael Rogers Night Shift is a gritty thriller set in the not-so-distant future, when cities fall into chaos, and a paramedic takes the law into her own hands.
UNIVERSE OF UKRAINE, 3min., Ukraine Directed by Alexander Sparinsky «Universe of Ukraine” is a documentary music video-essay for all people who want to know what war in Ukraine is and what are Russian killers today, in the 21st century; about all the troubles and griefs that this invasion brought…
THE SOCIALISTS OF SHOE CITY, 35min., USA Directed by Shana Figueroa The story of “The Socialists of Shoe City: The Socialist Movement in Haverhill, Massachusetts” ” chronicles the transformative impact of James F. Carey and John C. Chase on Haverhill, Massachusetts, during a period of intense industrialization and social upheaval. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Haverhill’s booming shoe industry was a focal point of labor exploitation and inequality. Carey and Chase, driven by a vision of social justice and workers’ rights, founded the Haverhill Socialist Labor Party in 1895. Their activism led to significant labor strikes, public lectures, and campaigns for better working conditions and fair wages. Despite facing formidable opposition, their efforts culminated in Carey’s historic election to the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1898, signaling a profound shift in the political landscape and inspiring a broader socialist movement across America.
NISE, A journey in the negation of love, 41min., Spain Directed by Maria Gisèle Royo This documentary follows the creative process of a group of people passionate about art and culture who voluntarily confine themselves to a town in the province of Segovia, to rehearse and study texts in old Spanish. The result is teamwork that makes the work grow. The cohesion between actors, artistic and technical team, and a love for a job well done, and for culture, is breathed through the screen. Nise, is the last work they have brought to the stage, astonishing critics, and offering a text from the past that continues to make us reflect on the ambiguity of justice and the exercise of political power.
A SEED OF REGRET, 5min,. USA Directed by Jon Gary A once-assimilated African American father faces an agonizing unraveling as he grapples with the devastating loss of his beloved son to a senseless and untimely murder.
SYSTEMIC POKER, 3min., USA Directed by Isaul Beltran Systemic Poker is a black comedy that attempts to mirror the systemic racism that is present in our society.
People say that New Yorkers aren’t friendly, but I think they’re more friendly than Londoners. Here there is a front-footed nature of Americans. You can go out on a night out and meet 10 random people and stay in touch with them, whereas that’s not going to happen in the same way in London.
What is interesting, as well, is how much power homicide detectives have and how much respect. They are kind of rock stars, especially in New York. There are not that many of them.
Even though I’m an actor, I don’t love sharing everything about myself. It’s always good to keep a little bit for yourself. [Interview, September 1, 2015]
I just graduated from high school, and I was working at Blockbuster. Not only did I get into movies while I was there, but I was putting away boxes and looking at the kids on the covers, it felt like windows into these seemingly perfect lives.
I’ll never have a more life-changing year than than this last one (2003-2004). I could win an Oscar and it wouldn’t alter my daily life as much as The O.C. (2003) has.
You know how in The Fugitive (1993), when Harrison Ford hears sirens, he’ll just subtly steer the other way? I do that when I see groups of teenage girls.
I love movie-making. I’m interested in writing and directing, and I’ve dabbled, but I haven’t done anything I care to brag about. Yet.
I wish I came from a more pure place. I don’t have something to say from the bottom of my soul. I just know how to take stuff I like and repackage it in a slightly different way.
Festival Reviews 