(Warner Bros.) After starring
in 15 films in her native France, SOPHIE MARCEAU (Anna Karenina)
made her first English-language film -- the Academy Award-winning
“Braveheart” -- in a starring role opposite Mel Gibson.
Since then she has starred in the upcoming “Firelight,”
also in English.
Marceau became a French star at the age of 13 with her debut film, “La Boum,” which was also an international success. Two years later she starred in the sequel to “La Boum” and received the Cesar Award for Most Promising Newcomer.
At age 16, Marceau starred with Gerard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve in “Fort Saganne” and then starred again with Depardieu in Maurice Pialat’s “Police.” In that same year, 1984, Marceau made the first of three films with Polish director Andrzej Zulawski, “L’Amour Braque”; Zulawski also directed her in “Mes Nuits Sont Plus Belles Que Vos Jours” and “La Note Bleue.”
Marceau recently starred in “D’Artagnan’s Daughter,” in which she performed her own swordfighting and most of the riding stunts; and in Antonioni’s “Beyond the Clouds” with John Malkovich. Her other film credits include “Fanfan,” with Vincent Perez; “Pour Sacha”; “Pacific Palisades”; “L’Etudiante”; “Chouans”; “Descente Aux Enfers”; and “Joyeuses Paques.”
Her stage debut in Jean Anouilh’s “Euridyce” in 1991 brought her a Moliere Award for most Promising Newcomer. She also starred as Eliza Dolittle in “Pygmalion” at the Theatre des Arts Hebertot.
Marceau directed a nine-minute film, “L’Aube A L’Envers,” which opened “Un Certain Regard” at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.
SEAN BEAN (Count Vronsky) has appeared in such well-received films as “The Field,” “Patriot Games,” “Black Beauty,” “When Saturday Comes” and, in the role of rogue agent 006, in “GoldenEye,” opposite Pierce Brosnan.
Bean was born and raised in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, and initially followed his father into the family welding business before joining the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. There, he won the Silver Medal for his graduation performance in “Waiting for Godot” and also received two awards for fencing.
He made his professional acting debut as Tybalt in “Romeo and Juliet” at the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, then played Romeo for the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Bean appeared as Lovelace in the BBC television adaptation of “Clarissa,” then achieved widespread audience notice in the starring role of Lieutenant Sharpe on the BBC series “Sharpe’s Rifles,” which is going into its fourth successful season. His starring performance as Mellors in Ken Russell’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” a four-part telefilm, further enhanced his popularity.
Among Bean’s other film credits are “Caravaggio,” “Lorna Doone,” Mike Figgis’ “Stormy Monday” and “Windprints.” His television appearances include “A Woman’s Guide to Adultery,” “Fool’s Gold,” “Inspector Morse,” “Prince,” “Tell Me That You Love Me,” “Troubles,” “My Kingdom For a Horse” and “War Requiem.” On stage, Bean has performed in “Fair Maid of the West,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Deathwatch” and “Last Days of Mankind.”
ALFRED MOLINA (Constantin Levin) has enjoyed a successful career on stage and in motion pictures. The English-born actor was recently seen in the film “Before and After” opposite Liam Neeson and Meryl Streep. His other film credits include Stephen Frears’ “Prick up Your Ears,” “Not Without My Daughter,” “Enchanted April,” “Letter to Brezhnev,” “Ladyhawke,” Steven Spielberg’s “The Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Maverick,” “The Perez Family,” “The Hideaway,” “Species” and “Dead Man.” He has just completed production on two independent films, “Mojave Moon” and “A Further Gesture.”
Molina has been performing on the British stage since 1978 in such productions as “Night of the Iguana” and “Speed-the-Plow” at the National Theatre and, in the role of Petrucchio, in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of “Taming of the Shrew.” He recently received an Outer Circle Critics Award nomination for Most Outstanding Debut for his performance in the Off-Broadway production of “Molly Sweeney” at New York’s Roundabout Theatre.
Canadian-born MIA KIRSHNER (Ekaterina “Kitty” Scherbatsky) has appeared in Denys Arand’s critically acclaimed film “Love and Human Remains” as well as in Atom Egoyan’s “Exotica” and “The Crow -- City of Angels.”
Kirshner, who was raised in Toronto, began acting in her teens and has studied literature at McGill University between performing assignments.
JAMES FOX (Alexi Karenin) has amassed a substantial body of acting work that includes numerous popular and critically acclaimed motion pictures. He has recently been seen in “Gulliver’s Travels,” “Neverever,” “Patriot Games” (in which he appears with Sean Bean), Merchant-Ivory’s “The Remains of the Day” and Nicholas Roeg’s “Heart of Darkness.”
Son of the late Robin Fox, a distinguished theatrical agent, and Angela Fox, actress and author, and brother to actor Edward and theatrical producer Robert, London-born Fox was educated at Harrow and at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He made his film debut in Tony Richardson’s “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner” and next appeared in the British TV series “The Door.” This led to his being cast by director Joseph Losey in the widely praised film “The Servant.”
Fox’s other film credits include “Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines,” “King Rat,” “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” “The Chase” and the cult classic “Performance” in 1969. Fox then retired for nearly a decade to pursue Christian vocational work. He returned to acting in 1980 and has since appeared in more than 30 productions on film and television, including Sir David Lean’s “A Passage to India” and “The Russia House.”
Fox also appeared in the BBC telefilm “A Question of Attribution,” directed by John Schlesinger, which won the 1992 BAFTA Award for Best Single Drama.
DANNY HUSTON (Stiva) plays his first major acting role in “Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina” after building a respected reputation as a writer and director. The son of Academy Award-winning writer-actor-director John Huston, grandson of Oscar-winning actor Walter Huston and brother of Oscar winning actress-director Anjelica Huston, Danny Huston’s film writing and directing credits include “Mr. North,” “Becoming Colette” and “The Maddening”; for television, he has written and directed “Bigfoot” and the HBO telefilm “Ice Princess.”
SASKIA WICKHAM (Dolly) stars for the second time with actor Sean Bean, with whom she previously appeared in the British drama “Clarissa.”
Wickham has recently had two successful British TV series on the air simultaneously -- “Peak Practice” and “Our Friends in the North” and, additionally, was seen on the telefilm “Circle of Deceit” the same season. She made her film debut in “The Prince of Jutland, directed by Gabriel Axel, and followed with the role of Rowena in Philip Haas’ “Angels and Insects.”
On stage, Wickham’s credits include “Boon,” “Uncle Vanya,” “Clandestine Marriage,” “One Over the Eight” and “Absence of War,” all in Great Britain. She also toured the United States in the National Theatre production of “Racing Demon” before the production moved to London’s West End.
FIONA SHAW (Lydia Ivanova) is a native of Great Britain who spent the early part of her career with the Royal Shakespeare Company and in productions in some of Europe’s most prestigious venues. She received the Olivier Award as Best Actress four times, for her role as Rosalind in the Old Vic Theatre’s production of “As You Like It”; her performance in the title role of “Electra” with the Royal Shakespeare Company; her dual leading roles as She Te and Shen Ta in the National Theatre production of “The Good Person of Sechuan”; and her role in Stephen Daldry’s National Theatre production of “Machinal.”
On film, Shaw has been seen in such productions as Bob Rafelson’s “Mountains of the Moon,” Jim Sheridan’s “My Left Foot,” Emile Ardolino’s “Three Men and a Little Lady,” Hanif Kureishi’s “London Kills Me,” Herbert Ross’ “Undercover Blues” and Franco Zeffirelli’s “Jane Eyre.”