CAST BIOS

JUDI DENCH (BARBARA COVETT)
In a career spanning over forty years on stage, screen and television, Judi Dench has won numerous awards beginning with the BAFTA Most Promising Newcomer (1965), and more recently, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Queen Elizabeth in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1999). In addition she has received Academy Award nominations for MRS. BROWN (1998), CHOCOLAT (2001), and IRIS (2002). In 2006, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for her performance in the title role of MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS. She has been nominated for no less than twelve BAFTA Awards, winning eight, and has more than fifty nominations and wins for other awards in the USA and UK for her work on screen.

Her television work was most recently recognized by the Golden Globe Award for "Last Of The Blond Bombshells" (2000); and recent stage accolades include 1999 Tony Award for Amy's View on Broadway.

Dench will reprised her role as M, in the James Bond series in CASINO ROYALE currently in theatres, having appeared in GOLDEN EYE, TOMORROW NEVER DIES, THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH and DIE ANOTHER DAY. Other recent film credits include TEA WITH MUSSOLINI, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. She recently appeared alongside Dame Maggie Smith in Charles Dance's well-received directorial debut LADIES IN LAVENDER.

In 1970 Judi Dench was awarded the Order of the British Empire, and in 1998 became a Dame of the British Empire.

CATE BLANCHETT (SHEBA HART)
Blanchett's secondary education was in Melbourne at the Methodist Ladies' College, where she explored her passion for acting. She studied economics and fine art at the University of Melbourne before leaving Australia to travel. She returned to Australia and later moved to Sydney to study at the National Institute of Dramatic Art; graduating in 1992 and beginning her career on the stage. Her first major stage role was opposite Geoffrey Rush in the 1993 David Mamet play Oleanna. She also appeared as Ophelia in an acclaimed 1994-95 Company B production of Hamlet, directed by Neil Armfield, starring Richard Roxburgh and Geoffrey Rush.

She has also appeared in roles in Australian television. She appeared in the mini-series Heartland opposite Ernie Dingo, the mini-series Bordertown and in the Police Rescue episode, The Loaded Boy.

Her film debut was as an Australian nurse captured by the Japanese in the prisoner of war production of Paradise Road directed by Bruce Beresford, that co-starred Glenn Close and Frances McDormand.

Blanchett is perhaps best known for her role as Elizabeth I, Queen of England, in the 1998 movie Elizabeth. This role earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, losing to Gwyneth Paltrow for Shakespeare in Love but did win the British Academy Award and a golden globe award for best actress in a motion picture drama .

The following year, Blanchett was nominated at BAFTA award for her supporting role in The Talented Mr. Ripley.

She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2005 for playing Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator. This made Blanchett the first person ever to garner an Academy Award for playing a previous Oscar-winning actor/actress.

Already an acclaimed actress, Blanchett received a host of new fans when she appeared in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies. She played the role of the High Elf Queen Galadriel in all three films.

Blanchett is currently reprising her role as Elizabeth I in the upcoming sequel tentatively entitled Golden Age, and is set to star as a young Bob Dylan in the upcoming feature I'm Not There.

As of 2008, she and her husband will commence three-year contracts as co-artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company. The contracts include a clause that will allow either of them to take three months out each year to pursue other activities

BILL NIGHY (RICHARD HART)
Bill Nighy delighted international audiences with his scene-stealing turn as aging rocker Billy Mack in Richard Curtis' LOVE ACTUALLY, which won him a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. In the same year, he won a BAFTA Best Actor TV Award for the series "State Of Play." He also received the Los Angeles Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor in I CAPTURE THE CASTLE, LOVE ACTUALLY, AKA and THE LAWLESS HEART. His work in Peter Cattaneo's LUCKY BREAK brought him a Best Supporting Actor nomination from the British Independent Film Awards, as did his chilling performance in Fernando Mireilles THE CONSTANT GARDENER in 2005. He was most recently seen as Davy Jones in the blockbuster PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST.

Nighy has twice won the Evening Standard‚ "Peter Sellers Award for Best Comedy Performance": in 1998's hit ensemble comedy STILL CRAZY and in 2004 for LOVE ACTUALLY.

His numerous feature-film credits have included EYE OF THE NEEDLE, CURSE OF THE PINK PANTHER, THE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL, FAIRY TALE: A TRUE STORY, UNDERWORLD and, more recently, the acclaimed zombie comedy SHAUN OF THE DEAD, THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION and STORMBREAKER.

On television, his role in the recent THE GIRL IN THE CAFÉ brought him a 2004 Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. On stage, Nighy's recent honours include the Barclays Theatre Award for Best Actor in David Hare's Skylight, and an Olivier Best Actor nomination for his role in Blue/Orange in 2001. He is currently starring in the Sam Mendes directed The Vertical Hour on Broadway which opened in November 2006.

ANDREW SIMPSON (STEVEN CONNOLLY)
Andrew Simpson has been attending the Foyle School of Speech and Drama in Londonderry since the age of five and has appeared on stage with the group throughout Ireland, winning several prizes in drama festivals. He is currently preparing for grade seven in speech and drama at the Royal Irish Academy. He recently appeared in Aisling Walsh's drama feature SONG FOR A RAGGY BOY, and two television commercials. Andrew is currently studying for O level examinations, and intends to study law at university.