Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Dan Mahowny, the young assistant manager with an incredible obsession. Philip Seymour Hoffman has had a busy year, starring in a broad range of critically acclaimed films. He appeared in the blockbuster "Red Dragon," the prequel to "Silence of the Lambs" with Ed Norton, and in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Punch-Drunk Love" opposite Adam Sandler, marking the fourth time Hoffman has worked with his friend Anderson. He is currently starring in Spike Lee's "25 th Hour" reteaming him with Norton, and is winning rave reviews for his soulful performance in "Love Liza," which was written by Hoffman's brother Gordy and debuted at Sundance, winning the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Upcoming he will be seen in "Owning Mahowny," which will have it's World Premiere at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
Hoffman recently wrapped Anthony Minghella's "Cold Mountain" with Nicole Kidman and is currently shooting the untitled John Hamberg film with Ben Stiller.
His other film credits include David Mamet's "State and Main" and Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous. " In 1999 he appeared in three films; opposite Robert De Niro in Joel Schumacher's "Flawless," which earned him a London Film Critics and SAG nomination for Best Actor, alongside Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow in Anthony Minghella's "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and with Tom Cruise and Jason Robards in Anderson's "Magnolia," in which the cast was honored with an Ensemble SAG Award nomination. Hoffman received the National Board of Review's Best Supporting Actor Award for his work in both "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Magnolia."
Hoffman's other notable roles are Anderson's "Boogie Nights" and "Hard Eight" as well as "Happiness" (which garnered him an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Male), "Patch Adams," "The Big Lebowski," "Twister," "Scent of a Woman," and "Nobody's Fool. " On Broadway, he will soon be seen in Eugene O'Neill's "Long Days Journey into Night," starring with Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Dennehy. Hoffman starred in the latest production of Sam Shepard's "True West" which earned him a nomination for a Tony Award in dual roles. Other stage work includes "The Seagull" directed by Mike Nichols with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline at the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park, "Defying Gravity" at the American Place Theater, "The Merchant of Venice" directed by Peter Sellars and the Off-Broadway production of Mark Ravenhill's "Shopping and Fucking. "
As the Co-Artistic Director of the New York-based theater company, LAByrinth, Hoffman directed "Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train" and "In Arabia, We'd All be Kings," both written by Stephen Adly-Guirgis. He also moved the production of "Jesus" to the Donmar Warehouse and subsequently London's West End. At the end of 2001, Hoffman directed the New York premiere of Rebecca Gilman's play "The Glory of Living" for the Manhattan Class Company. In the summer of 2002, Philip directed "Our Lady of 121st Street," also written by Stephen Adley Guirgis for LAByrinth, which had a very successful run and will soon move to a larger venue, the Union Square Theater.
Minnie Driver stars as Belinda, girlfriend of Dan Mahowny and a clerk at the same bank branch. While she dislikes his gambling, she's enchanted by his ability to soar to the top of this male-dominated bastion of finance. Minnie Driver first came to the attention of audiences and critics alike for her winning performance in Circle of Friends in which she starred with Chris O'Donnell. She went on to earn Oscar and Screen Actors Guild nominations, both in the category of Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor is a Supporting Role for her performance in the award-winning feature Good Will Hunting, directed by Gus Van Sant. In 1998, Driver was honoured with the Female Star of Tomorrow Award at the ShoWest Awards. Driver has built her career on diverse roles. She co-starred with Cate Blanchett, Rupert Everett and Julianne Moore in the feature version of Oscar Wilde's play, An Ideal Husband; moved audiences with her performance in the love story Return to Me; received accolades for her performance in the critically praised dark comedy Grosse Point Blank; and endeared herself to a whole new generation by providing the voice of Jane in the Walt Disney animated feature Tarzan. Her film credits also include The Governess, Beautiful, directed by Sally Field, and Big Night, Stanley Tucci's acclaimed ensemble drama. Driver will next be seen starring in the action/comedy, High Heels and Lowlifes.
John Hurt is Victor Foss, the Atlantic City casino manager who saw Dan Mahowny as his meal ticket to Las Vegas. John Hurt is one of Britain's best known, critically acclaimed and most versatile actors. He made his West End debut in 1962 and went on to take the 1963 Critics' Award for Most Promising Actor in Harold Pinter's The Dwarfs. On stage, John has also appeared in Pinter's The Caretaker, O'Casey's Shadow of a Gunman, Stoppard's Travesties for the RSC, and Turgenev's A Month in the Country. The year 2000 saw his greatly acclaimed performance in Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape in London's West End. John's impressive body of television work, which commenced in 1961, includes such notable roles as Caligula in I, Claudius, Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment, and most memorably, as Quentin Crisp in the autobiographical The Naked Civil Servant, for which he received a Best Actor Emmy and a BAFTA Best Television Actor Award. It was his defining film roles as Max in Midnight Express and as John Merrick in The Elephant Man which thrust Hurt into the international spotlight with Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor, respectively. His other roles which earned awards were 1984, The Hit, and Champions. Additionally, he has had the lead in A Man for All Seasons, The Field, Scandal, Rob Roy, John Boorman's Two Nudes Bathing and Richard Kwietniowski's Love and Death on Long Island. He recently finished filming Krapp's Last Tape directed by Atom Egoyan, Tabloid TV, directed by David Blair and was seen last year in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, directed by Chris Columbus.
Maury Chaykin stars as Frank Perlin, the almost benevolent bookie who was more than happy to facilitate Dan Mahowny's gambling needs.
Chaykin returns to work with director, Richard Kwietniowski once again. He previously starred in Love and Death on Long Island. Chaykin has more than 90 films to his credit including the recent The Art of War, The Mark of Zorro, Mouse Hunt, The Sweet Hereafter and A Life Less Ordinary. Twice awarded Canada's Genie for Best Actor (for Canada's Sweetheart and Whale Music), his many credits include Breaking In, Twins, Stars and Bars, Leaving Normal, War Games, Where the Heart Is, Hero, My Cousin Vinny, Camilla, Cutthroat Island, Sommersby, Harriet The Spy, The Adjuster, Exotica, Devil In a Blue Dress, Dances with Wolves and Unstrung Heroes. Other recent features include Pale Saints. Chaykin has recently completed 13 episodes as the lead in A&E's Nero Wolfe Mystery series, and starred with Diane Keaton in the Disney Channel film, Northern Lights. Other television credits include appearances on The Tracey Ullman Show, Crime Story, The Twilight Zone and La Femme Nikita. Chaykin also has extensive stage credits in Toronto, Montreal, New York and California.
Sonja Smits plays Dana Selkirk, the woman who entrusted a massive business account to the care of Dan Mahowny. One of Canada's most esteemed actresses, Sonja Smits is best known for her portrayal of Sally Ross in the multi-award winning television series, Traders (1996-2000). Prior to that, she starred in Street Legal for six seasons and garnered a 1993 Gemini nomination for Best Performance by a Lead Actress in a Continuing Dramatic Role, and a 1988 Gemini Award for Best Performance by a Lead Actress in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series. Smits has also acted in numerous popular television movies-of-the week including two Tekwar films as well as Spenser:Pale Kings & Princes, Command Five, Ambush at Iroquois Point, Passion of the Patriots, and most recently, starring opposite Judy Davis in Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. Smits drew rave reviews for her lead performances as Morag in Anne Wheeler's The Diviners which yielded her third Gemini nomination, and War Brides for which she received an ACTRA nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress. And in 1984, she co-starred in David Cronenberg's cult classic, Videodrome, for which she received her first Genie nomination for Best Performance by a Supporting Actress. One year later, she received her second Genie nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in That's My Baby.
Ian Tracey is Detective Ben Lock, the man who inadvertently catches Dan Mahowny in a trap set for his bookie. The acclaimed young actor was born on Vancouver Island and grew up all around B. C. 's lower mainland. Tracey went for his first acting audition when he was 11 years old and started working in series television at 14, playing the lead in Huckleberry Finn and Friends. Since then, he has appeared in countless Canadian and American productions. Tracey's feature film credits include:The Ice Man, Double Edged, Touched (formerly titled Shegalla), Rupert's Land for which he won a Leo Award, Free Willy III, Time Cop, Stakeout, Change of Heart, Man With A Gun, and The Journey of Natty Gann. He has appeared in a number of movies-of-the-week, including the starring role in Milgaard, for which he won both Gemini and Leo Awards for Best Actor. Other television movies include Dirty Little Secret, Rookies (for which he received a 1991 Gemini Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role); Medusa's Child; Mountain of Fear; Murder In My Mind; Anne Wheeler's The War Between Us; and Conspiracy of Silence.
Tracey was a series regular on Sweating Bullets and was a recurring lead on The Commish. He has guest starred on The Sentinel, Welcome to Paradox, The X Files, The Outer Limits, Viper, Poltergeist, Highlander, Dead Man's Gun, Lonesome Dove, and Mom P. I. where he first worked with Chris Haddock and was nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Guest Performance. He also guest starred in CBC's Street Legal and the series, Change of Heart, for which he received a nomination for an ACTRA Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Roger Dunn appears as Bill Gooden, the banker who nurtures the career of his protege, Dan Mahowny. Roger Dunn's career is a map of virtually every production, film and television, which has been produced in eastern Canada. Most recently, he appeared in Ignition, with Bill Pullman and Lena Olin, and The Sandy Bottom Orchestra with Glenne Headly. Before that, Dunn appeared in the TV mini-series, Nuremberg, starring Alex Baldwin and What Makes a Family, with Brooke Shields, Three To Tango, with Matthew Perry and Neve Campbell, and Dinner at Fred's with Parker Posey. His television career has been equally consistent, with recurring roles in Soul Food with Vanessa Williams and Isaiah Washington, plus La Femme Nikita and Traders.
Jason Blicker plays Dave Quinson, the bookmaking buddy of Frank Perlin. Jason Blicker credits include The Tracker, Superstar, Naked City:Justice with a Bullet, and Naked City: A Killer Christmas, One Tough Cop, The Garbage Picking Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon, Half Baked, Hollow Point, Iron Eagle II and IV, and TV's Getting Gotti.
Chris Collins plays Bernie, the casino foot soldier who hovers around Mahowny, ready to make what few wishes he has come true. Collins is a relative newcomer to acting but he's got an image that sticks. He can be seen in In Too Deep with LL Cool J, Omar Epps, and Stanley Tucci. Other appearances he has made are in the television biopic, Sirr, the comedy Seventeen Again, The Ride , Cheaters , Mean Streak , Love Songs, and Due South.
