Ararat Press Kit
|
Christopher Plummer (David) began his professional career in both French and English in his hometown, Montreal. Since his New York stage debut in 1954, he went on to star in many celebrated productions on Broadway and London's West End.
He was also a leading actor at England's National Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company and Canada's Stratford Festival. His last Broadway appearance was in the award-winning Barrymore; he has toured in Barrymore throughout North America. Plummer has written for the stage, television and the concert hall. In 1986, he was inducted into Theatre's Hall of Fame. A veteran of more than 80 motion pictures, his films include such diverse titles as the Oscar-winning The Sound of Music, The Man Who Would Be King, Waterloo, The Pink Panther, Silent Partner, Battle of Britain, The Fall of the Roman Empire, Murder by Decree, Somewhere in Time, Star Trek VI, Dragnet, Wolf, Dolores Claiborne and 12 Monkeys. Plummer's most recent successes are his portrayals of TV journalist Mike Wallace in the critically acclaimed The Insider, and of F. Lee Bailey in the NBC telefilm American Tragedy. He will next be seen in Peter Cattaneo's Lucky Break.
Apart from numerous honors from the UK, USA, Austria and Canada, Plummer has won two Tony Awards, two Emmy Awards, Britain's Evening Standard Award, Canada's Genie Award, and many nominations. He was named an Honorary Doctor of Arts by New York's Juilliard School and in 1968, sanctioned by Queen Elizabeth, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada, his country's highest honor. In November, 2001, he received the prestigious Governor General's Award for his lifetime achievement in the arts.
Singer-actor-composer-songwriter Charles Aznavour (Edward) was born Chahnour Varinag Aznavourian in 1924 in Paris, France, after his parents fled Turkey in the wake of the Turkish massacre. He is one of Franceís legendary entertainers whose extraordinary career has spanned six decades. Aznavour is considered to have reinvented the French chanson, has composed more than 600 songs, has sold more than 100 million records and has appeared in over 60 films.
Aznavour made his theatrical debut as a dancer at the age of nine. He went on to become an international singing sensation and movie star, working with the likes of musical legends Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier and film directors such as Andre Cayatte (Tomorrow Is My Turn, for which Aznavour received the 1960 Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival); René Clair (Three Fables of Love); Julien Duvivier (Devil and The Ten Commandments); Claude Chabrol (The Hatterís Ghost, The Twist); Volker Schlondorff (The Tin Drum); and Francois Truffaut, with whom he created perhaps his most memorable role as the lead in Shoot the Piano Player.
Some of his numerous career highlights include his 1964 sell-out performance at Carnegie Hall; his 1967 London debut at Royal Albert Hall, which was also sold-out; his UK No. 1 hit single, She (which was recently re-recorded by Elvis Costello for the soundtrack of the film, Notting Hill); and his honorary Cesar Award (France's equivalent of the Academy Award), which he received in 1997 for his invaluable contributions to French cinema.
More recent accomplishments include his compositions for the musical comedy Lautrec; his latest album Jazznavour; his appearance with Sting, Elton John, Billy Joel and other popular music stars in Sting's annual rain-forest benefit concert at Carnegie Hall; and his being chosen Entertainer of the Century in an online poll sponsored by TIME Magazine, edging out the likes of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan.
Elias Koteas (Ali / Jevdet Bey) is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and a member of the prestigious Actors' Studio. Born in Montréal, his career is defined by the bold and challenging roles he undertakes in films directed by groundbreaking contemporary filmmakers.
His credits include Francis Ford Coppola's Gardens of Stone and Tucker; Peter Masterson's Full Moon in Blue Water; Roger Cardinal's Malarek, for which he received his first Genie nomination for Best Actor; Atom Egoyan's The Adjuster and Exotica, for which he received his second Genie nomination, this time as Best Supporting Actor; David Cronenberg's Crash; Gregory Hoblit's Fallen, opposite Denzel Washington; Bryan Singer's Apt Pupil; Steven Shainberg's Hit Me; and, perhaps most notable, his role in Terrence Malick's Oscar-nominated film, The Thin Red Line.
Koteas'more recent feature film credits include Gattaca, Living Out Loud, Divorce: A Contemporary Western and Lost Souls. Upcoming films include Dancing At The Blue Iguana; Andrew Davis'Collateral Damage; Novocaine, with Steve Martin; Harrison' Flowers, with Andie MacDowell and Adrien Brody; Agnieska Holland's Shot in the Dark; and Simone, starring Al Pacino and directed by Andrew Niccol.
His television credits include a co-starring role in HBO' Sugartime, opposite John Turturro and Mary-Louise Parker, and Horton Foote' familial drama The Habitation of Dragons.
Among his numerous stage performances was a starring role in Kiss of the Spider Woman at Yale Repertory Theatre and last year' well-received re-staging of Sam Shepard' True West, directed by Matthew Warchus and co-starring Josh Brolin.
Arsinée Khanjian (Ani) most recently starred in Catherine Breillat's critically acclaimed feature, A Ma Soeur! (Fat Girl). Her other international credits include Michael Haneke's CODE INCONNU; two films for Olivier Assayas, Irma Vep and Late August, Early September; and Don McKellar's debut feature, Last Night. Khanjian is best known in North America for her ongoing collaboration with filmmaker Atom Egoyan. In his features she has played many important parts, including the pregnant club-owner in Exotica; an anguished hippie mother in the Oscar-nominated The Sweet Hereafter, (for which she shared a special award for Ensemble Acting from the National Board of Review); and the glamorous TV cook (and mother) in Felicia's Journey. She also co-produced, as well as starred with Egoyan in the award-winning Calendar.
Khanjian's extensive stage-work includes Irina Brook's 1999 French-language premiere of Dancing At Lughnasa, in Paris and Switzerland, (subsequently remounted in 2000, for a French national tour and festival appearances in Japan and Germany). She has starred in a number of important productions in Canada, including Beast On The Moon, and Wedding Day At The Cro-Magnons. In Spring, 2001, she was back in Paris and Switzerland, starring in a major new production of Goethe's Stella, directed by Bruno Bayen. On television, she starred in the CBC drama series, Side Effects and has established a dynamic collaboration with Ken Finkleman, with the series More Tears, Foreign Objects, and Foolish Heart. The latter of which, she performed entirely in Armenian, and earned her both the Gemini Award, and the Best Actress Award from the Cinema Tout Ecran (Switzerland). Khanjian also starred on stage in the Canadian premiere of Marivaux's Counterfeit Secrets, directed by John Van Burek. Most recently, she hosted a special presentation of the CBC's Opening Night, dealing with genocide - an issue that Khanjian has been fervently involved with, especially as an activist for international recognition of the historic Armenian Genocide.
Khanjian is an active volunteer and board member of arts groups internationally, including the Zoryan Institute, and The Power Plant, Canadaís leading contemporary art gallery.
Bruce Greenwood (Martin / Ussher) won rave reviews in 2001 for his portrayal of President Kennedy in the Cuban missile crisis drama Thirteen Days. The film also brought him mass audience attention, attention he has never particularly sought, but which his subtle and detailed portraits of memorable heroes and villains -- make long overdue.
His first major role was as the second-generation sex symbol and bad boy Dr. Seth Griffin in the long-running hit drama St. Elsewhere. When the series ended, he starred in bio-pics like Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys (1990) and glittering soap operas like Judith Krantz' Dazzle (1995) and in the now-revered cult favorite series Nowhere Man (1995-96).
In the early '90s, Greenwood began working in feature films and has since amassed an impressive list of credits. Before Thirteen Days, he was best known to wide audiences as the husband-victim-villain in 1999's surprise hit Double Jeopardy with Ashley Judd. He is starring in the upcoming supernatural thriller Below for Miramax as well as Sony's romantic-comedy, Swept Away, costarring Madonna and Jennifer Aniston. His greatest acclaim had come from his work in independent film: as the grieving father of two children killed in a school bus accident in Atom Egoyan's searing The Sweet Hereafter (1997), for which he received a Genie Award nomination as Best Actor, and for his work in Egoyan's earlier Exotica (1994).
Eric Bogosian (Rouben) is the author of the plays Talk Radio (NYSF/Public Theater), subUrbia (Lincoln Center Theater) and Griller (Chicago's Goodman Theatre and Baltimore's Center Stage Theatre), and the solos Wake Up and Smell The Coffee; Pounding Nails In The Floor With My Forehead; Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll; and Drinking In America, the last three for which he won Obie Awards. He wrote the screen adaptations of his first two plays, receiving the Berlin Film Festival's Silver Bear for his work on Talk Radio.
As an actor, Bogosian has appeared in over a dozen feature films. He is best known for starring as the misanthropic shock-jock Barry Champlain in Oliver Stone's film version of his own Talk Radio. In the past few years, he has appeared in films as disparate as Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry, Steven Seagal's Under Siege 2 and the HBO movie A Bright Shining Lie. He recently appeared in the CBS film Blonde, based on the Joyce Carol Oates novel.
Bogosian's work has been staged around the United States and the world. His solos and plays, as well as a novella Notes from Underground are published by Theatre Communications Group. A live recording of Pounding Nails in the Floor with My Forehead is available on CD from the Blackbird Recording Company. His first novel, Mall, was just published by Simon & Schuster.
Brent Carver (Philip) is a major Canadian talent whose stage, television and film work has been much admired and celebrated. Carver is, perhaps, best known internationally for his performance as Molina in Kiss of the Spider Woman (Toronto, New York and London productions), a role which earned him a Dora Mavor Moore Award, a Tony Award, a New York Drama Desk Award and an Olivier Award nomination. His 1998 performance in Parade was lauded by the New York critics and won him a second Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical, as well as a Tony Award nomination.
His extensive stage credits include the recent Larry's Party (Canstage); the title role in Don Carlos and Orante in The Misanthrope (Soulpepper Theatre Company); Donnie in High Life and David in Unidentified Remains and the True Nature of Love (Crow's Theatre); the title roles in Richard III and Cyrano de Bergerac (Citadel Theatre); Jack in The Importance of Being Earnest and the title role in Tartuffe (The Canadian Stage Company); Ariel in The Tempest (Mark Taper Forum); Dubedat in The Doctor's Dilemma (The Grand Theatre); and Ned Lowenscroft in Timothy Findlay's Elizabeth Rex, Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, Emcee in Cabaret, Eiliff in Mother Courage, Don John in Much Ado About Nothing and the title role in Hamlet (Stratford Theatre Festival).
His filmed credits include Deeply, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the Gemini Award-winning Lilies, Whiskers, The Edge: A Lover's Lament, The Wars, The Song Spinner, Leonardo: A Dream in Flight and Young At Heart.
Marie-Josée Croze (Celia) has acted in numerous films in both English and French. Her most recent film was Denis Villeneuve's MaÎlstrom, for which she won the 2001 Genie Award for Best Actress as well as a Jutra Award in Quebec. Her credits include HLA identique, La Florida and the television movie Murder Most Likely, which garnered her a Gemini nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Ararat marks the first screen role for twenty year-old newcomer David Alpay (Raffi). His only other acting experience was his performance of the tramp in a university production of Chekhov's classic The Cherry Orchard.
Alpay is currently studying at the University of Toronto, where he is a Class of 2003 Candidate for Honors Degree in Human Biology and French. Since 1994, he has been the principal violinist for the Canadian Dance Tapestry, a group that showcases traditional Canadian music in festivals around the world.