Blues Brothers 2000 - About The Cast

Blues Brothers 2000: About The Cast

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DAN AYKROYD (Elwood Blues/Producer/ Co-Writer) has been entertaining film and television audiences with his brilliant comedic and dramatic stylings for over two decades.

His screen acting career spans over 35 movies, with roles encompassing a wide range of characters including a Ghostbuster, a Conehead, a widowed father in My Girl and Jessica Tandy's son in Driving Miss Daisy, for which he received a 1990 Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. His other starring roles include Trading Places, opposite Eddie Murphy, Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II (both of which he also originated and co-wrote), Spies Like Us (again, an originator and co-writer), Dragnet (co-writer), Sneakers alongside Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Ben Kingsley and River Phoenix, and the role of the legendary filmmaker Mack Sennett in Richard Attenborough's Chaplin.

Aykroyd's other film credits include Doctor Detroit, The Couch Trip, The Great Outdoors, My Stepmother is an Alien, Loose Cannons, My Girl II, North, Exit to Eden, Tommy Boy and Rainbow; with guest star appearances in Into the Night, Twilight Zone: The Movie and Caddyshack II. In 1986, he produced the feature film One More Saturday Night for tape and cable markets and in 1991 directed his first feature film Nothing But Trouble, which he also starred in alongside pals Chevy Chase and John Candy.

Additional film credits include Sgt. Bilko, Celtic Pride, Feeling Minnesota and Getting Away With Murder, My Fellow Americans and Grosse Pointe Blank.

A native of Ontario, Canada, Aykroyd was a member of the famed Second City Troupe in the early 1970s, performing with them in Toronto and Chicago. In 1975, he helped to forever change the face of television when he joined the original cast and writing crew of the brand-new NBC television show Saturday Night Live. It was at SNL that he met John Belushi and formed The Blues Brothers Band; the two subsequently recorded their hit album Briefcase Full of Blues in 1979, starred in the 1980 hit comedy feature The Blues Brothers, embarked on a live 10-city tour and completed their Made in America live album. The duo also appeared together in Steven Spielberg's 1941 and the Zanuck/Brown production of Neighbors.

Aykroyd recently marked a return to television in the ABC prime-time sitcom Soul Man in which he stars as Mike Weber, a widowed Episcopalian minister with four rambunctious children and a wild past in a motorcycle gang. Aykroyd is also host of the syndicated television program Psi Factor which chronicles paranormal activities.

Aykroyd is on the Board of Directors for House of Blues, a restaurant/nightclub/entertainment company he co-founded with Isaac Tigrett (co-founder of the Hard Rock Cafe). They currently have locations in Cambridge, Massachusetts; New Orleans, Louisiana; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Orlando, Florida.

JOHN GOODMAN (Mighty Mack McTeer) remembers the day in 1975 when he left St. Louis for New York, armed only with a dream of becoming a working actor, a degree in fine arts from Southwest Missouri State University and $1,000 that his brother lent him. He had the same goal most aspiring young actors share - he wanted to act professionally. He didn't want to look back fifteen years later and say, "I wonder if I could have" He made the rounds, worked at odd jobs and just tried to keep busy. Goodman has fond memories of those days.

Today, Goodman is one of the entertainment industry's most respected actors. He earned a Golden Globe nomination in 1992 for his chilling performance in the Coen Brothers' heralded Barton Fink. Ironically, Goodman's breakthrough motion picture performance was in Raising Arizona, also a Coen Brothers' film. He teams with the Coen Brothers for a third time in The Big Lebowski.

Goodman was raised in St. Louis by his mother after his father died when he was two years old. As a tall, broad-shouldered teenager, he attended Afton High School, where he dedicated himself to playing football (his team won one game). Goodman next entered nearby Meramec Community College, before transferring to Southwest Missouri State University. Goodman's intention was to play football, but he sustained a knee injury and was forced to sit out a year. He spent that year studying drama with fellow students Kathleen Turner and Tess Harper. He never returned to football, and he graduated in 1975 with a B.F.A. degree in theatre.

He performed in numerous dinner theatre and children's theatre productions, as well as several off-Broadway plays. His regional theatre credits include Henry IV, Parts I and II, Antony and Cleopatra and As You Like It. Things started to come together when he joined a road production of The Robber Bridegroom for nine months. Eventually, he starred in two Broadway shows, Loose Ends in 1979 and Big River in 1985.

Goodman made his screen debut in the HBO production, Mystery of the Moro Castle and has emerged to the forefront of Hollywood's finest and most prestigious actors. His film credits also include The Flintstones, Mother Night, Arachnophobia, Always, Pie in the Sky, Born Yesterday, Matinee, The Babe, King Ralph, Punchline, Everybody's All-American, Sea of Love, Stella, Eddie Macon's Run, C.H.U.D., Revenge of the Nerds, Maria's Lovers, Sweet Dreams, True Stories, The Big Easy, Burglar and The Wrong Guys. His current and upcoming feature films include Fallen and The Borrowers.

Goodman has also given many highly acclaimed television performances. He received Emmy nominations for his starring role in TNT's Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long and for his role as "Mitch" in the CBS production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. For eight seasons, Goodman played "Dan Conner" in Roseanne - a role that has earned him seven Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe.

JOE MORTON's (Cabel Chamberlain) film credits include the blockbuster hits Speed, Speed II and Terminator II: Judgment Day, Of Mice and Men, Executive Decision and, for director John Sayles, Lone Star, City of Hope and the title role in Brother From Another Planet. He was featured alongside Gregory Hines in the dancing musical Tap and includes among his other feature film credits Final Act, The Walking Dead, Forever Young, Crossroads, Trouble in Mind and The Inkwell. He is currently filmming The Astronaut's Wife with Johnny Depp and will next be seen in the upcoming Apt Pupil.

Morton has appeared extensively on television and lists among his credits, lead roles in such series as New York News, Under One Roof, Tribeca and Equal Justice, as well as recurring or guest starring roles on Homicide, A Different World and Touched by an Angel, among others. His miniseries and movie-of-the-week credits include The Challenger, The File on Jill Hatch, Death Penalty, We're Fighting Back and, most recently, the critically acclaimed HBO telefilm Miss Evers' Boys.

A veteran of Broadway, Morton made his stage debut at 21 in the historic Broadway musical Hair. He later earned a Tony Award nomination and Theatre World Award for his work in Raisin, the musical adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun. His impressive theatre resume also includes A Midsummer Night's Dream and King John at the New York Shakespeare Festival, as well as productions of Cheapside, Electra, A Winter's Tale, Oedipus Rex, Julius Caesar, The Tempest and The Legend of Oedipus.

Morton lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife Nora, their son Ara and daughter Seta. His oldest daughter Hopi and grandson Moses live in Brooklyn.

Twelve-year-old J. EVAN BONIFANT (Buster) made his feature film debut in 3 Ninjas Kick Back.

Bonifant's other work includes the lead in the PBS American Playhouse presentation Dottie Gets Spanked and the role of young Al Holden in the popular daytime drama One Life to Live. He also starred in the Fox series, My Wildest Dreams. He has made guest star appearances on such shows as Law & Order, Diagnosis Murder and Full House.

Since beginning his career at the age of five, he has 40 national commercials under his belt. He just completed a starring role in the feature film Breakout.

KATHLEEN FREEMAN (Mother Mary Stigmata), a veteran of over two hundred films, has been seen in roles ranging from "Phoebe Dinsmore," the frustrated voice teacher in Singin' in the Rain, to "Ma" in Naked Gun 33 1/3.

Her other films include North To Alaska with John Wayne, The Rounders with Henry Fonda, Dragnet with Dan Aykroyd, Support Your Local Sheriff and Support Your Local Gunfighter with James Garner and ten films with Jerry Lewis including Ladies Man, The Disorderly Orderly and The Nutty Professor.

A familiar face on television for the past four decades, her numerous credits include recurring roles and guest appearances on such classics as The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Lucy Show, Hogan's Heroes and Topper. More recently, Freeman has been seen on Roseanne, Coach, Murphy Brown, ER, Party of Five, Melrose Place, Beverly Hills 90210, among others. Her voiceover work includes the animated series Duck Tales and the Disney feature Hercules.

A founding member of the Circles Players, the Players Ring and Gallery Theatres in Los Angeles, Freeman has toured throughout North America in the stage shows Deathtrap, Annie and Woman of the Year.

FRANK OZ (Prison Warden) first achieved fame as one of the major creative forces behind The Muppets. In addition to being the performer behind such icons as Miss Piggy, Grover and The Cookie Monster, he performed Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi.

Oz made his feature film directorial debut with Jim Henson on The Dark Crystal. His subsequent directing credits include The Muppets Take Manhattan, Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, What About Bob?, Housesitter, The Indian in the Cupboard and most recently, In & Out.

SHANN JOHNSON (Matara) makes her feature film debut in Blues Brothers 2000. A former Raiderette, Johnson has been featured in several television shows and commercials. She currently resides in Los Angeles where she works as an actress and continues to model and dance professionally.

DARRELL HAMMOND (Robertson) makes his big screen debut in Blues Brothers 2000. Currently appearing in his third season of the long-running television show Saturday Night Live, Hammond is best known to audiences for his funny and accurate impressions of individuals ranging from Bill Clinton, Ted Koppel and Jesse Jackson, to Richard Dreyfuss, Jay Leno and Phil Donahue.

For the last several years, Hammond has been performing stand-up comedy and impressions in New York and throughout the country.

JEFF MORRIS (Bob) has acted in numerous films including The Crossing Guard, Two Jakes, Ironweed, Kid Galahad, Kelly's Heroes, The Gauntlet, Goin' South, The Border, and Payday with Rip Torn.

His television credits include appearances in such classic series as Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Death Valley Days, Rifleman, Ben Casey and Mission Impossible, among others.

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