BILL MURRAY (Don Johnston)

Bill Murray previously starred for Jim Jarmusch in the “Delirium” segment of Coffee and Cigarettes.

For his performance as Bob Harris in Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation (also a Focus Features release), he received the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Independent Spirit, and New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago film critics’ Awards, among others, for Best Actor. He also was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild and Academy Awards.

Mr. Murray’s portrayal of Herman Blume in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore brought him the New York Film Critics Circle, National Society of Film Critics, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and Independent Spirit Awards for Best Supporting Actor.

Born in Chicago, he began his acting career there with the improvisational troupe Second City. He joined the cast of NBC’s Saturday Night Live in the show’s second season, and shortly thereafter won an Emmy Award as one of the show’s writers.

After making his screen debut in Ivan Reitman’s Meatballs, Mr. Murray reteamed with the director on Stripes and the Ghostbusters movies. His film credits also include Harold Ramis’ Caddyshack and Groundhog Day; Art Linson’s Where the Buffalo Roam; Sydney Pollack’s Tootsie; John Byrum’s The Razor’s Edge (1984); Richard Donner’s Scrooged; Frank Oz’ What About Bob?; John McNaughton’s Mad Dog and Glory and Wild Things; Tim Burton’s Ed Wood; Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s Kingpin; Jon Amiel’s The Man Who Knew Too Little; Tim Robbins’ Cradle Will Rock; Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet (2000); and Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

He authored the book Cinderella Story: My Life in Golf.

JEFFREY WRIGHT (Winston)

Jeffrey Wright continues to make his mark as an actor in films, on stage, and on television.

His portrayal of Jean-Michel Basquiat in Julian Schnabel’s Basquiat, which marked his first lead film role, brought him an Independent Spirit Award nomination. His subsequent films have included Sidney Lumet’s Critical Care; Adrian Pasdar’s Cement; Ang Lee’s Ride with the Devil; John Singleton’s Shaft; Michael Mann’s Ali (as Howard Bingham); Jonathan Demme’s The Manchurian Candidate; and Stephen Gaghan’s upcoming Syriana.

Mr. Wright has had a long and rewarding association with New York City’s Public Theatre. He has starred, at and for The Public, in Othello; King Lear; Julius Caesar; Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk; Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog (for which he won an OBIE Award and was nominated for a Tony Award); and, most recently, This is How It Goes.

For his portrayal of Belize in Tony Kushner’s two-part theatrical event Angels in America, directed by George C. Wolfe, Mr. Wright won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards. He later reprised the role for Mike Nichols’ epic miniseries, earning Golden Globe and Emmy Awards for his performance, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

He played Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Clark Johnson’s telefilm Boycott, for which he was honored with an AFI Award. Mr. Wright also starred for frequent collaborator George C. Wolfe in the telefilm Lackawanna Blues, adapted by Ruben Santiago-Hudson from his play.

SHARON STONE (Laura)

Sharon Stone became one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading ladies following her performance as Catherine Tramell in Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct, a blockbuster hit in both the U.S. and internationally. The portrayal earned Ms. Stone her first Golden Globe Award nomination. She is reprising the iconic role in Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction, which is currently filming under the direction of Michael Caton-Jones.

She received an Academy Award nomination, and won a Golden Globe Award, for Best Actress for her performance in Martin Scorsese’s Casino, in which she starred opposite Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. She was subsequently a Golden Globe Award nominee for her performances in Peter Chelsom’s The Mighty (which she also executive-produced) and Albert Brooks’ The Muse.

Ms. Stone recently won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, for her three-episode appearance on The

Practice. Her other television work includes a starring role opposite Ellen DeGeneres, in the segment of If These Walls Could Talk 2 directed by Anne Heche.

Born in Meadville, Pennsylvania, Ms. Stone pursued her interest in acting throughout her schooling, studying privately with a drama teacher. After winning several local beauty pageants and a writing scholarship to Edinboro College (where she majored in creative writing and fine arts, and minored in art history), she went on to international success as a model, working for the prestigious Eileen Ford Agency.

Her first (albeit fleeting) film appearance was in Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories. She would later star opposite the latter filmmaker in two movies, Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson’s animated feature Antz (in voiceover); and Alfonso Arau’s Picking Up the Pieces.

Ms. Stone’s first major film role was opposite Ryan O’Neal in Charles Shyer’s Irreconcilable Differences. In Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall, she memorably starred opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger. Among her numerous other film credits are Sam Raimi’s The Quick and the Dead (which she also co-produced); Luis Llosa’s The Specialist; Mark Rydell’s Intersection; Phillip Noyce’s Sliver; Matthew Warchus’ Simpatico; Sidney Lumet’s Gloria; and Bruce Beresford’s Last Dance.

She has completed filming Nick Cassavetes’ Alpha Dog (with Justin Timberlake and Emile Hirsch), and is executive-producing Larry Clark’s Wassup Rockers.

FRANCES CONROY (Dora)

Frances Conroy can be seen this year in the fifth and final season of HBO’s celebrated series Six Feet Under. She has starred as Ruth, the matriarch of the Fisher family, in every episode of the program. For her portrayal, she has been honored with a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as two additional Screen Actors Guild Awards shared with her fellow actors for the ensemble’s collective work in the series. She has also been nominated for an Emmy Award for her work.

Since graduating from The Juilliard School’s Drama Division, Ms. Conroy’s work encompasses stage, film, and television. In addition to Six Feet Under, her work in television has included such shows as Law & Order, Cosby, Alex Haley’s miniseries Queen (directed by

John Erman), and the telefilm Murder in a Small Town (cowritten by and starring Gene Wilder, and directed by Joyce Chopra).

In the theatre, she was in the Lincoln Center production of Our Town (with Spalding Gray and Eric Stoltz), first performed on Broadway and then taped for PBS’ Great Performances.

Ms. Conroy’s many other stage credits include Edward Albee’s The Lady from Dubuque and Three Tall Women. She received an OBIE Award for Arthur Miller’s The Last Yankee, and a Tony Award nomination for the playwright’s The Ride Down Mt. Morgan.

She has received four Drama Desk Award nominations, and garnered the award for David Hare’s The Secret Rapture. She toured for two years with John Houseman’s The Acting Company.

Ms. Conroy has appeared in numerous films, among them three by Woody Allen (Manhattan, Another Woman, and Crimes and Misdemeanors); Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator (as Katharine Hepburn’s mother); Terence Davies’ The Neon Bible; Martin Brest’s Academy Award-winning Scent of a Woman; Frank Oz’ Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; Pitof’s Catwoman; and Anand Tucker’s upcoming Shopgirl, written by and starring Steve Martin.

JESSICA LANGE (Carmen)

Two-time Academy Award winner Jessica Lange is one of the entertainment world’s most highly regarded actresses.

After studying drama in Paris, Ms. Lange moved to New York, where she worked as a model before being cast by producer Dino De Laurentiis in King Kong (directed by John Guillermin). She went on to costar in Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz and then star opposite Jack Nicholson in Bob Rafelson’s The Postman Always Rings Twice.

In 1982, Ms. Lange starred in Graeme Clifford’s Frances and Sydney Pollack’s Tootsie, and was double-nominated for Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards for both performances. For the latter, which became one of the most popular films of all time, she won the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award, as well as awards from the National Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Circle, for Best Supporting Actress.

She subsequently earned Academy Award nominations for Richard Pearce’s Country (which she also produced), Karel Reisz’ Sweet Dreams (starring as Patsy Cline), and Costa-Gavras’ Music Box. For her performance in Tony Richardson’s Blue Sky, she won the Academy

Award and the Golden Globe Award, as well as the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, for Best Actress.

Ms. Lange’s other films include Bruce Beresford’s Crimes of the Heart, Sam Shepard’s Far North, Paul Brickman’s Men Don’t Leave, Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear, Irwin Winkler’s Night and the City, Michael Caton-Jones’ Rob Roy, Jocelyn Moorhouse’s A Thousand Acres, Julie Taymor’s Titus, and Tim Burton’s Big Fish.

She will next be seen starring on-screen in Wim Wenders’ Don’t Come Knocking and Joshua Michael Stern’s Neverwas. She soon begins filming Robin Swicord’s The Mermaids Singing (adapted from Lisa Carey’s novel).

Through the spring and early summer of 2005, Ms. Lange is starring on Broadway as Amanda Wingfield in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie. She made her Broadway stage debut as Blanche DuBois in the playwright’s A Streetcar Named Desire, later reprising the role for a telefilm (directed by Glenn Jordan, and for which she won her third Golden Globe Award and earned an Emmy Award nomination) as well as on the London stage. She returned to the latter as Mary Tyrone in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night (for which she was honored with an Olivier Award nomination).

In addition to A Streetcar Named Desire, Ms. Lange’s notable telefilm appearances include Glenn Jordan’s O Pioneers! (for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination) and Jane Anderson’s Normal (for which she received Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations).

In 2003, Ms. Lange became a Goodwill Ambassador to UNICEF.

TILDA SWINTON (Penny)

A native of Scotland, Tilda Swinton is best known to audiences for her memorable performances in Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s The Deep End (based on the novel by Elizabeth Sanxay Holding) and Sally Potter’s Orlando (based on the novel by Virginia Woolf).

Prior to capturing the film world’s attention with the latter, Ms. Swinton had collaborated with filmmaker Derek Jarman on eight features. Among them were Caravaggio, War Requiem, and Edward II (for which she was named Best Actress at the 1992 Venice International Film Festival).

She has since appeared in a wide variety of films for a diverse group of filmmakers. These include two movies for Lynn Hershman-Leeson, Conceiving Ada and Teknolust (in four roles); Susan Streitfeld’s Female Perversions; John Maybury’s Love is the Devil; Robert Lepage’s Possible Worlds; Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky; Spike Jonze’s Academy Award-winning Adaptation; David Mackenzie’s Young Adam; and two films costarring with Keanu Reeves, Mike Mills’ Thumbsucker and Francis Lawrence’s Constantine.

Ms. Swinton next stars as the White Witch in the globally anticipated The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, directed by Andrew Adamson and based on C.S. Lewis’ classic The Chronicles of Narnia series of novels.

JULIE DELPY (Sherry)

Julie Delpy was recently an Academy Award nominee, as co-screenwriter (with Ethan Hawke, Kim Krizan, and director Richard Linklater) of Before Sunset. The film was embraced by critics and audiences even more than the quartet’s previous collaboration (Before Sunrise) had been nine years prior, and Ms. Delpy was named Best Actress by the San Francisco Film Critics Circle for her portrayal of Celine in the new film. In addition to its Oscar nod, the Before Sunset screenplay also earned her Writers Guild of America and Independent Spirit Award nominations.

Both of Ms. Delpy’s parents are actors, and as a teenager she landed roles in films by notable directors. Her early films included Jean-Luc Godard’s Détective; Bertrand Tavernier’s La Passion Béatrice (starring in the title role); Carlos Saura’s La noche oscura The Dark Night; Agnieszka Holland’s Europa Europa; and Volker Schlöndorff’s Voyager (starring opposite Sam Shepard).

She subsequently starred for Krzysztof Kieslowski in the middle film (White) of his unforgettable Three Colors trilogy, and can also be seen in the trilogy’s other films (Blue and Red). Her other films include Roger Avary’s Killing Zoe and John Stimpson’s just-wrapped The Legend of Lucy Keyes (starring opposite Justin Theroux).

Inspired by her early work with M. Godard, Ms. Delpy made her directorial debut with the short film Blah Blah Blah, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival.

In addition to acting, writing, and directing, she has also released a self-titled debut album as singer/songwriter.