Ransom - About The Cast

Ransom: About The Cast

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MEL GIBSON (Tom Mullen) was born in upstate New York and moved with his family to Australia when he was 12 years old. Gibson attended the National Institute of Dramatic Arts at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. His stage appearances include "Death of a Salesman."

Gibson was eventually brought to the attention of director George Miller who cast him in "Mad Max," the film that first brought Gibson worldwide recognition. His starring role in "Tim" won Gibson an Australian Film Institute Best Actor Award for his portrayal of a mentally challenged young man.

He was further established as an international star by the two hit sequels to "Mad Max": "The Road Warrior" and "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome"-along with Peter Weir's "Gallipoli," which brought Gibson a second Australian Best Actor Award. A few years later Weir and Gibson again collaborated on "The Year of Living Dangerously."

Gibson made his American film debut in "The River." He starred in another popular trilogy with the high-grossing "Lethal Weapon" series. Gibson's other films include "The Bounty," "Mrs. Soffel," "Tequila Sunrise," "Bird on a Wire," and "Air America."

When Gibson starred in "Hamlet," directed by Franco Zeffirelli, the film was the first to be produced by Gibson's production company, Icon Productions. The role brought him the William Shakespeare Award from the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C. Icon also produced, with Mel Gibson starring, "Forever Young" and "Maverick."

In 1995, Gibson produced, directed and starred in the critical and box office success "Braveheart," which received 10 Academy Award® nominations. "Braveheart" went on to win five Oscars®, including Best Picture and Best Director for Gibson. Also, Gibson received a Best Director Award by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, a Special Achievement in Filmmaking Award by the National Board of Review, and was honored as the 1996 NATO/ShoWest Director of the Year.

RENE RUSSO (Kate Mullen) recently starred in the box office hit "Tin Cup" with Kevin Costner. She is currently in production on "Buddy," starring with Robbie Coltrane and Alan Cumming, written and directed by Caroline Thompson.

In "Lethal Weapon 3," Russo starred opposite Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Her portrayal of an Internal Affairs detective who is the female counterpart of Gibson's character received strong critical acclaim. Her subsequent movies have continued to draw audience and critical approval. In 1994 Russo starred opposite Clint Eastwood and John Malkovich in the box office success "In the Line of Fire," portraying the feisty Secret Service Agent who romances Eastwood. She followed that performance starring opposite Dustin Hoffman in the thriller, "Outbreak," portraying a doctor on the trail of a deadly virus that threatens to wipe out the entire world. In 1995 she starred opposite John Travolta, Gene Hackman and Danny DeVito in the box office hit "Get Shorty," in which she portrayed a B-movie actress.

Since her 1989 feature film debut in "Major League," Russo's additional motion picture credits include "Mr. Destiny" with James Belushi, "One Good Cop" with Michael Keaton, and "Freejack" with Emilio Estevez.

A native Californian, Russo grew up in Burbank. At age 18 she was "discovered" at a Rolling Stones concert and encouraged to become a fashion model. Soon thereafter, Russo moved to New York and became a top model for the Ford Agency.

GARY SINISE's (Detective Jimmy Shaker) portrayal of Lt. Dan in "Forrest Gump" earned him nominations for an Academy Award® and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor as well as the Best Supporting Actor Award from the National Board of Review and the Commander's Award from the Disabled American Veterans. Following "Forrest Gump," Sinise was then seen in Ron Howard's "Apollo 13," in which he portrayed real-life astronaut Ken Mattingly opposite Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Paxton.

This spring Sinise returned to the theater, directing Sam Shepard's "Buried Child" on Broadway. "Buried Child" recently received five Tony Award nominations, including Best Director for Sinise.

Sinise played the title role in the HBO film "Truman" for which he recently received the Golden Globe Award, Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television, as well as the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor. Upcoming for Sinise is a starring role in Kevin Spacey's "Albino Alligator," due out this fall.

In 1974, at the age of 18, Sinise founded the Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago. He served as Artistic Director from 1980 to 1987. His acting credits at Steppenwolf include the role of Tom Joad in "The Grapes of Wrath" (for which he was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award), "True West," "Balm in Gilead," "Of Mice and Men," "Streamers," "The Caretaker," "The Indian Wants the Bronx," "The Collection," "Loose Ends," "The Fifth of July," and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead." He received a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Supporting actor in Marsha Norman's "Getting Out" at Chicago's Wisdom Bridge Theatre.

Sinise's directing credits at Steppenwolf include "True West" (for which he won an Obie Award), "Orphans," "Tracers," "Frank's Wild Years," "The Miss Firecracker Contest," "Waiting for the Parade," "Action," and "Road to Nirvana." He received a Joseph Jefferson Award for his direction of "Orphans" which also played off-Broadway and in London with Albert Finney.

As a director, Sinise has two films to his credit: "Of Mice and Men," which he co-produced and in which he co-starred with John Malkovich, and "Miles from Home," starring Richard Gere. Both films were presented in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

Sinise's film acting credits include "My Name is Bill W.," "A Midnight Clear," "The Witness" (a short film for Showtime), "Jack the Bear," and "The Quick and the Dead." For television, Sinise starred in "The Stand," the ABC miniseries based on Stephen King's epic novel.

DELROY LINDO (Agent Hawkins) garnered critical acclaim for his role as Rodney in Spike Lee's contemporary urban drama "Clockers," written by Richard Price. Lindo has worked with Lee on two other films: "Malcolm X," for which he earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for his portrayal of West Indian Archie, and "Crooklyn." He was also recently seen in the box office hits "Get Shorty," also starring Rene Russo, and "Broken Arrow," opposite John Travolta and Christian Slater, for director John Woo.

Lindo also recently starred in the HBO original movie, "Soul of the Game," a drama which explores the lives of Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Jackie Robinson and the Negro Baseball Leagues, prior to the integration of major league baseball. He also recently starred opposite Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz in "Feeling Minnesota," a slice-of-life comedy directed by Steven Baigelman. Upcoming for Lindo is the feature film "The Winner," directed by Alex Cox.

Lindo's additional film credits include "Mr. Jones," "Behanzin," "Bound By Honor," "The Hard Way," "Bright Angel," "Perfect Witness," "Mountains of the Moon," and "Salute of the Jugger."

An accomplished stage actor, Lindo received nominations for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for his performance in August Wilson's "Joe Turner's Come and Gone." He also appeared on Broadway in "Master Harold and the Boys," and off-Broadway in "The Heliotrope Bouquet" at Playwrights Horizons; the New York Shakespeare productions of "As You Like It," "Romeo and Juliet" and "Spell 7"; and "District Line," for the Negro Ensemble Company.

In addition, he starred in "A Raisin in the Sun" at the Kennedy Center, for which he was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award. He later won an Image Award for Best Actor when he reprised his role in the Los Angeles presentation of that play. His regional theater credits include productions of "Othello," "Julius Caesar," "Mrs. Evers' Boys," "Cobb," "My Mark, My Name," and "Macbeth" at such venues as the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, and the Yale Repertory Theatre. Lindo is also a member of the Actor's Studio in New York.

LILI TAYLOR (Maris) most recently starred in "Girlstown" which she also co-wrote, and in "I Shot Andy Warhol," portraying the title character Valerie Solanis. Her critically acclaimed performance brought her the first-ever Special Grand Jury Prize for Acting at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

Taylor made her screen debut in the 1988 hit "Mystic Pizza" with Julia Roberts, and in the following year played a memorable role in "Say Anything" with John Cusack. She then starred with Sam Shepard in "Bright Angel" and appeared in Oliver Stone's "Born on the Fourth of July" before starring in two films directed by Nancy Savocca: "Dogfight," and "Household Saints." For the later film she was honored with the IFP Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was also nominated for the same award for her performance in Abel Ferrara's "The Addiction."

In addition, Taylor was featured in Robert Altman's "Short Cuts," and received a special Golden Globe Award for Best Ensemble and then played Edna Ferber in Alan Rudolph's "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle," produced by Altman. Taylor reteamed with Altman and many of the "Short Cuts" cast members for "Ready to Wear" ("Pret-A-Porter") in which she played an investigative reporter. Taylor's other film credits include "Rudy," "Arizona Dreams," "Four Rooms," and "Cold Fever."

Taylor formed her own theater company, Machine Full, and has been involved in every facet of theater-from her participation in the Cultural Exchange Program which took her to Czechoslovakia, to the Humanafestival in Louisville, Kentucky, to her starring role in the critically acclaimed "Aven U Boys" at the Herald Clurman Theater. She made her directorial debut in Machine Full's production of "Halcion Days" at the Work House Theater.

Upcoming films for Taylor include "Things I Never Told You," opposite Andrew McCarthy; "illtown" for director Nick Gomez opposite Michael Rapaport; and "Kicked in the Head," opposite James Woods and Linda Fiorentino.

LIEV SCHREIBER's (Clark) feature film credits include "Mixed Nuts," directed by Nora Ephron; "Mad Love," directed by Antonia Bird; "Party Girl," directed by Daisy Van Scherler Mayer, and "Denise Calls Up," which received a Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival last year. He will soon be seen in "The Daytrippers," winner of the Grand Jury Award at this year's Slamdance; as well as "Big Night," winner of the Best Screenplay Award at the recent Sundance Film Festival, and "Walking and Taking," which also premiered at Sundance.

Schreiber made his Broadway debut in "In the Summer House," directed by JoAnne Akalitis, and worked with Jason Robards and Blythe Danner in Harold Pinter's "Moonlight," directed by Karel Reisz at the Roundabout Theater. Off-Broadway he appeared in the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of "The Tempest," directed by George C. Wolfe, "All For One" at Ensemble Studio Theater, and "Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet" at CSC Repertory.

Schreiber trained at the Yale School of Drama and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

EVAN HANDLER (Miles) previously appeared on screen in "Natural Born Killers," "Taps," "The Chosen," "Sweet Lorraine," and "Dear Mr. Wonderful." On television, he appeared on the series "Sibs" and "Woops!"

On Broadway he starred in "I Hate Hamlet," "Six Degrees of Separation," "Broadway Bound," "Brighton Beach Memoirs," and "Solomon's Child," as well as the national touring company of "Master Harold ... and the Boys."

Off-Broadway he appeared in "Big Al" and "Slam" at the Ensemble Studio Theater, "Big Al" at the American Jewish Theater, "Found a Peanut" at the Public Theatre, "What's Wrong with this Picture" at Manhattan Theater Club, and "Biography: A Game" and "Strider" at The Chelsea Theater Center. Among his credits in regional theater are the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Shenkkan's first play "Derelict" at Studio Arena Theater in Buffalo, and an early production of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Angels in America" at the Mark Taper Forum. Handler also performed with the Seattle Repertory Company under the direction of Daniel Sullivan.

Handler is the author of the recently published Time On Fire: My Comedy of Terrors, a critically acclaimed memoir based on his solo theater piece, which he performed at The Second Stage Theatre in New York as well as in Los Angeles, Boston and Baltimore.

DONNIE WAHLBERG (Cubby) was one of five talented performers who comprised the singing group New Kids on the Block, one of the biggest music acts in the world for much of the '80s, and the first teen vocal group in history to chart four top ten singles from one album. Among their multi-million-selling albums are New Kids on the Block (1986), Hangin' Tough (1988), and Step by Step (1990). The Group disbanded in 1994 after their final "Face the Music" tour.

Wahlberg continues to produce records, including his group's final recording Face the Music, and his brother Marky Mark's multi-platinum debut album. He records emerging artists on his own label and is working on a solo project.

As an actor, Wahlberg recently completed a starring role in Julien Temple's upcoming "Bullet" with Mickey Rourke and the late Tupac Shakur.

Ten-year-old BRAWLEY NOLTE (Sean) previously acted in the upcoming "Mother Night," starring his father, actor Nick Nolte. In that film, Brawley portrays his father's character as a youth. Brawley attends the fifth grade, and his hobbies include Nintendo and Sony Play Station.

DAN HEDAYA (Jackie Brown) has appeared in a long list of diverse and notable motion pictures including the recent smash hit "The First Wives Club," as well as "Freeway," Oliver Stone's "Nixon," "The Usual Suspects," "Blood Simple," "Reckless," "Running Scared," "Commando," "Wiseguys," "Joe Versus the Volcano," "Pacific Heights," "The Addams Family," "Boiling Point," "Benny & Joon," "Mr. Wonderful," "Rookie of the Year," "Searching for Bobby Fischer," "Maverick," "To Die For," and "Clueless." He co-stars with Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton in the soon-to-be-released "Marvin's Room," and with Sylvester Stallone in "Daylight," directed by Rob Cohen. He will also be seen starring in the upcoming "Alien Resurrection," and "The Second Civil War" for HBO.

On television, Hedaya received an Emmy Award nomination for "NYPD Blue," and also starred on the series "The Tortellis," in addition to guest starring appearances on such programs as "St. Elsewhere," "Hill Street Blues," "L.A. Law," "Cheers," "Family Ties," "Equal Justice" and "Law & Order."

Hedaya's stage performances have included roles on Broadway in "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel" starring opposite Al Pacino, and in the New York Shakespeare Festival's productions of "Museum" and "Henry V," "Macbeth" at Lincoln Center and "Conjuring an Event," with Sigourney Weaver at the American Place Theatre, among others.

PAUL GUILFOYLE (Wallace) recently starred in "Extreme Measures," "Striptease," "Celtic Pride," "Mother's Boys," "Little Odessa," "Quiz Show," "Final Analysis," and "Hoffa."

He also stars in the forthcoming features "Night Falls in Manhattan," the French production "A Couch in New York" with William Hurt and Juliette Binoche, Phil Joanou's "Heaven's Prisoners," as well as in the Sundance production "Manny and Lo" and Al Pacino's "Looking For Richard." He starred as the head of the communist party in the as yet unreleased feature "Gospa" which was filmed in Croatia and also starred Martin Sheen, Michael York and Morgan Fairchild.

In addition to his association with Al Pacino for the filming of "The Local Stigmatic," Guilfoyle's screen roles also include "True Colors," "Three Men and a Baby," "Cadillac Man," "Wall Street," "The Serpent and the Rainbow" as Alex Cassedy, an exploitative biotechnologist, and "Beverly Hills Cop II" as a powerful drug king named Thomopolis.

His extensive television credits include the movies "Amelia Earhart" with Diane Keaton, "Curiosity Kills," "Those Secrets," Simon Gray's miniseries "Unnatural Pursuits" for the BBC, "Darrow" for American Playhouse, USA Network's "Notorious," the HBO/BBC production "ExxonValdez," as well as such series as "Civil Wars," "Law and Order," "Wiseguy," "Against the Law," "Spenser for Hire," "Crime Story," "Miami Vice," "Kate and Allie" and "The Equalizer."

Though he is now based in New York City, Guilfoyle was born in South Boston and while he attended Boston College high school he earned a hockey and arts scholarship to Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. After his first professional work in a play with Norman Mailer, Guilfoyle returned to Boston and joined Playwrights' Platform, a group that only performed new plays. An associate, David Wheeler, helped him to join The Theatre Company of Boston as their youngest member, performing with them for 12 years in such productions as "Death of A Salesman," "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof," "Curse of the Starving Class," "Man and Superman" and "American Buffalo."

He moved to New York to appear on Broadway with David Wheeler and Al Pacino in David Rabe's "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel," as well as in "Richard III," "Search and Destroy," and the critically acclaimed Pulitzer Prize winning "Glengarry Glen Ross."

OffBroadway, Guilfoyle recently opened and starred in "Death Defying Acts" playing three different characters in the three one act plays written by Woody Allen, David Mamet and Elaine May. Last season he starred in David Rabe's new play "Those the River Keeps."

MICHAEL GASTON (Jack Sickler) has appeared in the feature films "The Wedding Banquet," "Hackers," "Sudden Death" and is featured in the upcoming "The Crucible." He recently completed filming "Copland" with Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro. On television he has guest starred on such episodics as "New York Undercover," "New York News," and "Law & Order," the ABC pilot for "The Bureau" and the Nickelodeon program "Pete and Pete." He was a series regular on the CBS pilot "Hollywood Division" and has had a recurring role on the daytime drama "All My Children."

A classically trained actor, Gaston's repertoire includes New York productions of Shakespeare's "Henry V," "The Taming of the Shrew," "Othello," "As You Like It," and "Richard III." Also in New York, at Playwrights Horizons, he starred as Chotowski in "Somewhere in the Pacific." At the Long Wharf Theatre he was Captain Horster in "The Enemy of the People," and starred as Eddie in the national tour of Neil Simon's "Lost In Yonkers."

Gaston received his master's degree in acting from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. He also earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of California, Davis.

JOSE ZUNIGA (David Torres) has appeared in a long list of motion pictures as well as television and stage productions. His feature film credits include "Striptease," "Stonewall," "Blue in the Face," "Smoke," "Fresh," "Crooklyn," "Flirt" and "Alive." He will soon be seen in Touchstone Pictures' action packed drama "Con Air," starring with Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich.

Television audiences are familiar with Zuniga's guest starring roles on a variety of episodic programs including "New York Undercover," "The Cosby Mysteries," "NYPD Blue," "The Good Policeman" and "Law & Order."

Zuniga's theatre credits include "House of Lear" for the New York Shakespeare Festival, as well as "Veins & Thumbtacks" and "A Joke Luigi Pirandello" for the Malaparte Theatre Company (of which he is a founding member), "A Dream of Wealth" for the Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Yale Repertory Theatre's production of "Search and Destroy," the Harold Clurman Theatre production of "Of Blessed Memory" and Theatre of New York's "8 Chekhov One Acts."

NANCY TICOTIN's (Agent Kimba Welch) achievements in the arts include success as an actress in theatre, film and television, and as a dancer with Ballet Hispanico of New York. In motion pictures, she was featured in "Jeffrey" and "Hackers," and is also featured in Woody Allen's upcoming project for this fall entitled "Everyone Says I Love You." Her other film credits include "Ghetto Blaster" and "The First Wives Club."

On Broadway, Ticotin starred as Anita and Tuptim in "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" and also guest starred with the New York City Ballet as Anita in "West Side Story Suite" at the request of Mr. Robbins, the legendary director/choreographer. Recently she starred as Lola in the critically acclaimed revival of "Damn Yankees." She has also appeared in the Metropolitan Opera's production of "La Clemenza Di Tito." Ticotin's off-Broadway credits include "A...My Name is Still Alice," "Wild Woman" and "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" as well as the workshop for Disney's upcoming Broadway version of "The Lion King."

Television audiences are familiar with Ticotin's work on such series as "New York News," "New York Undercover," "Law & Order," "Knots Landing" and in the ABC daytime drama "One Life to Live."

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