SERENITY (2019) About The Cast
Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jason Clarke, Diane Lane, Djimon Hounsou, and Jeremy Strong
ABOUT THE CAST
MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY (Baker Dill), ANNE HATHAWAY (Karen Zariakas), JASON CLARKE (Frank Zariakas), DIANE LANE (Constance), DJIMON HOUNSOU (Duke), JEREMY STRONG (Reid Miller)
MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY (Baker Dill)
Texas native Matthew McConaughey is one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading men. A chance meeting in Austin with casting director and producer Don Phillips led him to director Richard Linklater, who launched the actor’s career in the cult classic Dazed and Confused . Since then, he has appeared in over 40 feature films that have grossed over $1 billion; and has become a producer, director, and philanthropist – all the while sticking to his Texas roots and “jk livin” philosophy.
In 2018 McConaughey was seen in in White Boy Rick based on a true story about FBI informant Rick Wershee, Jr. In 2019 he will star in Serenity , opposite Anne Hathaway as well as in the Harmony Korine comedy The Beach Bum . In 2016 McConaughey voiced Buster Moon in the holiday release of Illumination project’s Sing . The film was a holiday box office success grossing over $600 million at the box office. In addition, that same year he was seen in Gold , Free State of Jones as well as featured as the voice of Beatle in Kubo and the Two Strings which was nominated for an Academy Award.
2014 was a game-changing year for McConaughey. For his riveting portrayal of Ron Woodruff in Dallas Buyers Club , McConaughey received an Academy Award®, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and Gotham Award for Best Actor, the Best Actor Award at the Rome Film Festival as well as the Desert Palm Achievement Actor Award at the Palm Springs Film Festival. He also made the move to TV starring alongside Woody Harrelson in the HBO dramatic series True Detective . The show was met by rave reviews from critics and fans alike and earned McConaughey a Critics Choice and TCA Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series as well as an Emmy Nomination. Later that year he starred in Interstellar , directed by Christopher Nolan, and also starring Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain.
In 2012 McConaughey was spotlighted in four diverse career-changing performances. He won a Spirit Award for his portrayal of Dallas Rising in Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike , and was named the year’s Best Supporting Actor by both the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics for his work in Magic Mike and Richard Linklater’s Bernie . Mr. McConaughey also received acclaim for his performance in Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy , and was a Spirit Award nominee for playing the title role in William Friedkin’s Killer Joe .
He followed this up in 2013 with the release of Jeff Nichols’ Mud , which received rave reviews and was a sleeper hit in the national box office top 10 for five weeks and Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street , which opened in December 2013.
His other films include Brad Furman’s The Lincoln Lawyer , Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder , McG’s We Are Marshall , Jill and Karen Sprecher’s Thirteen Conversations About One Thing , Bill Paxton’s Frailty , Jonathan Mostow’s U-571 , Ron Howard’s EDtv , Richard Linklater’s The Newton Boys , Steven Spielberg’s Amistad , Robert Zemeckis’ Contact , Joel Schumacher’s A Time to Kill , and John Sayles’ Lone Star .
In 2008, Mr. McConaughey started The just keep livin Foundation ( www.jklivinfoundation.org ) and it is dedicated to empowering high school students by providing them with the tools to lead active lives and make health choices for a better future. The foundation implements after school fitness and wellness programs in inner city high schools. In his programs, they take a mind-body-spirit approach to encourage students to make positive life choices that improve their physical and mental health through exercise, teamwork, gratitude, nutrition, and community service. Participating students have a safe place to enhance their lives with fitness coaches and health experts. The results have been incredible. Participants get in shape and gain confidence while also improving their grades, attendance and behavior. Friendships are built and fears are overcome. At their just keep livin after school programs, kids learn self-reliance and get a healthy start today, so they can make a better tomorrow.
ANNE HATHAWAY (Karen Zariakas)
Anne Hathaway is an Academy Award winning actress known for her versatility as an actor and producer.
Hathaway was most recently seen in the highly-regarded Warner Bros. Ocean’s Eight , opposite Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson, Mindy Kaling, Helena Bonham Carter, and Rihanna. Ocean’s Eight premiered on June 8, 2018. She will next be seen opposite Matthew McConaughey and Diane Lane in Serenity, and opposite Rebel Wilson in The Hustle – both set to release in 2019. Additionally she will be seen starring opposite Ben Affleck and Willem Dafoe in the Dee Rees directed film The Last Thing He Wanted which will also be seen on Netflix in 2019.
In 2012, Anne starred as “Fantine” in Tom Hoopers’ screen adaptation of the musical phenomenon, Les Misérables , a role that garnered Academy, Golden Globe, SAG and BAFTA Awards for “Best Actress”. In 2008, she was nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and SAG Award for her performance in Jonathan Demme’s critically acclaimed Rachel Getting Married . The National Board of Review, Chicago Film Critics Association, and the Broadcast Film Critics Association all named Hathaway “Best Actress” in this role.
Additional film credits include Colossal, The Intern, Alice Through The Looking Glass, Alice In Wonderland, Interstellar, Don Peyote, Song One, Don Jon, The Dark Knight Rises, One Day, Rio, Valentine’s Day, Bride Wars, Passengers, Get Smart, Becoming Jane, The Devil Wears Prada, Brokeback Mountain, Havoc, Ella Enchanted, The Cat Returns, Nicholas Nickleby, The Other Side of Heaven, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement and The Princess Diaries.
Hathaway first gained Hollywood’s attention for her turn in the television series, Get Real . She’s also had an equal measure of success with television voice-overs including Family Guy and the Simpsons , for which she received an Emmy Award.
A veteran of the theatre, Hathaway appeared in the Lincoln Center Encore series presentation of Carnival , for which she won the prestigious 57th Annual Clarence Derwent Award. Additional theatre credits include Grounded (The Public Theatre), Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in the Park), and Woman In White (an Andrew Lloyd Webber’s workshop).
As an actress, Hathaway studied at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, Barrow Group in New York City, and at NYU’s Collaborative Arts Projects “Cap 21” where she focused on her musical theater training. In April 2005, Barrow Group honored Anne for her achievements on behalf of the organization as the first and only teen ever admitted to their intensive acting program.
Hathaway was appointed as UN Women’s Global Ambassador in 2016, where she works with the UN Women to foster more positive mindsets and practical arrangements around workplaces that build and support equality for women. She also serves on the advisory board for Lollipop Theater Network, which is an organization that screens movies in hospitals for pediatric patients suffering from chronic or life-threatening illness. She also recently began working at The Nike Foundation’s “Girl Effect”.
Hathaway currently resides in both New York and Los Angeles.
JASON CLARKE (Frank Zariakas)
Jason Clarke is known for his unforgettable roles in critically acclaimed independent and blockbuster films first captured the American audiences’ attention with the Showtime drama series Brotherhood in his role as the Rhode Island politician Tommy Caffee navigating the treacherous worlds of local politics and organized crime.
But it was the Australian thespian’s performance as "Dan" in Director Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar contender Zero Dark Thirty , which pivoted him as one of the most respected talents working in film today. For that memorable role, the Chicago Film Critics Association nominated him for Best Supporting Actor.
Clarke can be seen in the upcoming period drama The Aftermath , opposite Keira Knightley and Alexander Skarsgård; Serenity opposite Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway;and Damien Chazelle’s First Man opposite Ryan Gosling about the life of Astronaut Neil Armstrong and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the Moon. He also played U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy in Chappaquiddick , examining the fatal car accident in 1969 that claimed the life of a young campaign strategist and the effect it had on Kennedy’s political career.
Part of the ensemble cast of Dee Rees’ period drama Mudbound , opposite Carey Mulligan and Garrett Hedlund, Clarke shared a New York Film Festival Gotham Jury Award for Ensemble Performance, the Film Independent Spirit Awards’ Robert Altman Award, and the Breakout Ensemble Award at the Hollywood Film Awards. Mudbound premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and screened at the Toronto Film Festival, London Film Festival and New York Film Festival.
He also appeared in Marc Forster’s All I See Is You , opposite Blake Lively.
Clarke also starred in such films as Baltasar Kormákur’s Everest , based on the true story of the tragic 1996 Mount Everest disaster; and Terminator: Genesis opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Other film credits include: the sci-fi sequel blockbuster Dawn of the Planet of the Apes , with Gary Oldman and Keri Russell; Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups , with Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, and Natalie Portman; Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby , co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan; Roland Emmerich's White House Down ; John Hillcoat's period drama Lawless , with Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce and Jessica Chastain; Michael Mann's Public Enemies with Johnny Depp; Victoria Mahoney’s Yelling to the Sky ; Jada Pinkett Smith's directorial debut The Human Contract ; David Schwimmer's Trust , co-starring Clive Owen and Catherine Keener; Paul Anderson's Death Race ; Daniel Espinosa’s adaptation of the critically acclaimed Tom Rob Smith novel Child 44; Texas Killing Fields , which premiered at the 2011 Venice Film Festival; and The Better Angels , a drama co-starring Brit Marling and Diane Kruger, about Abraham Lincoln as a young child in which Clarke plays his father that premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
In Australia, the Queensland native also starred in a supporting role in Phillip Noyce's Rabbit Proof Fence as well as a role in Better than Sex .
His television credits include: the lead role in Fox’ cop drama The Chicago Code ; and Mercury opposite Geoffrey Rush.
Clarke has extensive theater credits as an actor and director.
He graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne.
DIANE LANE (Constance)
Diane Lane’s lengthy filmography best begins with “Best Actress” accolades by the New York Film Critics and National Society of Film Critics, and Academy Award®, Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe® nominations for her starring role as an adulterous wife in the critically-acclaimed Unfaithful .
Lane made her film debut opposite Sir Laurence Olivier in A Little Romance . Additional screen credits include Audrey Wells’ Under the Tuscan Sun , based on the novel by Frances Mayes that earned Lane another Golden Globe® nomination, Nights in Rodanthe opposite Richard Gere, Hollywoodland with Ben Affleck, Must Love Dogs opposite John Cusack and Christopher Plummer, A Perfect Storm with George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, A Walk on the Moon co-starring Viggo Mortensen and Liev Schreiber, Sir Richard Attenborough’s Chaplin opposite Robert Downey Jr. and Trumbo , landing Lane an Independent Spirit Award nomination, and along with Bryan Cranston and Helen Mirren was recognized by SAG with a “Best Ensemble” nomination.
She’s co-starred in four films with director Francis Ford Coppola: The Outsiders , Rumble Fish , The Cotton Club and Jack opposite Robin Williams, and in keeping it in the family, starred in Eleanor Coppola’s directorial debut, Paris Can Wait .
Lane earned Emmy®, Golden Globe® and SAG Award® nominations for her leading role in HBO’s Cinema Verite co-starring Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini.
She answered a call for child actors at New York City’s legendary La MaMa Experimental Theater at age 6, spending the next five years in various roles both in New York and touring theater festivals around the world.
Additional stage credits include The Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2016 production of The Cherry Orchard , having made her Broadway debut as a child in Joseph Papp’s 1977 revival of that same play at Lincoln Center.
In 2015, she returned to Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, starring in Bathsheba Doran’s critically-acclaimed The Mystery of Love and Sex with co-star Tony Shaloub.
Lane received an Emmy® nomination for her role as Lorena in the CBS mini-series Lonesome Dove opposite Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones. She co-starred in A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Jessica Lange and Alec Baldwin.
Additional TV credits include the CBS epic miniseries The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All , based on the best-selling novel by Allan Gurganus, sharing her character with the venerable Anne Bancroft and co-starring with Donald Sutherland and Cicely Tyson.
Lane co-starred
in the sixth and final season of House of
Cards
(Netflix Original Series) as well as a starring in an episode of
Matthew Weiner’s The Romanoffs
for
Amazon Original Series
DJIMON HOUNSOU (Duke)
Djimon Hounsou is a two-time Academy Award-nominated actor for his work in Ed Zwick’s Blood Diamond and Jim Sheridan’s In America .
Later this year, Hounsou co-stars in Elizabeth Banks’ Charlie’s Angels as part of the Bosley ensemble and in the upcoming DC Comic film adaptations of Shazam! , directed by David F. Sandberg. He also reprises the role of Korath the Pursuer ( Guardians of the Galaxy ) in Marvel Studios upcoming Captain Marvel . Hounsou has a cameo as The Fisherman King in the blockbuster Aquaman , directed by James Wan, recently finished filming a major Chinese Television show, 24 Hours in Chang’an and voiced Sumo in Blazing Samurai , an Open Road Films’ animated comedy.
Born in Benin, West Africa, Hounsou moved to Paris at the age of 13 to pursue a Western education. As an adult, he was discovered by fashion designer Thierry Mugler and subsequently modeled for and appeared in several iconic music videos for legendary photographer Herb Ritts and director David Fincher. Small film roles followed before Hounsou’s breakthrough performance as Cinque, the African who leads an uprising to regain his freedom in Steven Spielberg’s Amistad (1997). Hounsou earned a Golden Globe nomination and a NAACP Image Award for the part. He later shared a SAG Award nomination as a member of the cast of Ridley Scott’s Academy Award-winning Best Picture Gladiator .
In 2006, Hounsou received an NAACP Image Award, a National Board of Review citation and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his role as a forced laborer who discovers a rare gem in Blood Diamond , starring Leonardo DiCaprio. For his performance as an artist afflicted with AIDS in In America , Hounsou garnered an Independent Spirit Award, was named 2004’s ShoWest Supporting Actor of the Year and shared an ensemble SAG Award nomination.
His film credits also include James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy , Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: The Legend of The Sword and David Yate’s The Legend of Tarzan . He lent his voice as Drago Bludvist to How to Train Your Dragon (Twentieth Century Fox) and also co-starred in Same Kind of Different As Me , The Island , The Tempest , Eragon , Constantine , Jan de Bont’s Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life and Shekhar Kapur’s The Four Feathers with Heath Ledger.
For television, Hounsou voiced The Black Panther in the BET animated series based on the Marvel Comic. He also starred as a refugee seeking asylum in a memorable six-episode arc on ER and played a recurring role in the series Alias , starring Jennifer Garner. More recently, he starred as CJ Mitchum in the second season of Wayward Pines on FOX.
Hounsou is producing and developing a slate of feature films and documentaries via his company Fanaticus Entertainment. Through Fanaticus, Hounsou has a clear commitment to bettering Africa by using his accumulated knowledge and influence to allow the Continent’s stories to be heard. Fanaticus completed their first documentary called In Search of Voodoo about the traditions that define West Africa, the Continent, and the African Diaspora (Cuba, Brazil, Haiti, Argentina, U.S., etc.). The film shows how this way of life has been misrepresented and diabolized in Western culture.
As a celebrity ambassador for Orbis, Hounsou is promoting a campaign to raise awareness and funds for curing childhood blindness and empowering the youth of West Africa. In 2009, he opened the UN General Assembly in New York with a compelling speech about the impact of climate change on developing nations. Hounsou has appeared before the US Senate on behalf of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act and participated in a hearing and summit for the International Arms Ban Treaty.
JEREMY STRONG (Reid Miller)
Jeremy Strong has worked with many of the greatest filmmakers, actors and writers at the highest level of film and theater. His body of work is a collection of indelible, unrecognized roles.
Strong can currently be seen starring in Season one of HBO’s critically acclaimed drama Succesion , which will be returning for a second season this year. The show was created by Jesse Armstrong and produced by Adam McKay. Strong stars in the series as Kendall Roy opposite Brian Cox.
Next up, Strong will co-star in director Steven Knight’s thriller Serenity opposite Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway. The film will be released in theaters on January 25th, 2019. Strong also recently wrapped production in London on Guy Ritchie and Miramax's' Toff Guys , opposite Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant, Henry Golding and Kate Beckinsale.
In 2017, Strong appeared in Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut of Molly’s Game , which was released in theaters on December 25th, 2017; as well as Detroit , a compelling story about the largest race riots in United Sates history, directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Strong was also seen in the Paramount/ Plan B feature The Big Short directed by Adam McKay, starring alongside Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, and Steve Carell.
Strong starred opposite Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall in the Warner Bros’ feature film The Judge directed by David Dobkin, in the Oscar-nominated civil rights drama SELMA directed by Ava DuVernay, and in Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind opposite Richard Gere.
Other recent works include the 11 Oscar-nominated film Lincoln directed by Steven Spielberg, in which Strong co-starred alongside Daniel Day Lewis as the President’s secretary John Nicolay (Dreamworks) and the 5 Oscar-nominated film Zero Dark Thirty directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Sony). Strong played “Lee Harvey Oswald” in Peter Landesman’s acclaimed Kennedy assassination drama Parkland (Playtone). He co-starred in Oscar-winning writer/director Frank Darabont’s TNT series Mob City . He appeared in Oren Moverman’s The Messenger , M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening , had the leading role in Humboldt County and has co-starred in numerous independent films at Sundance.
Strong made his Broadway debut opposite Oscar nominee and Tony winner Frank Langella in A Man For All Seasons , directed by the renowned Doug Hughes. He most recently starred to rave reviews in Amy Herog’s The Great God Pan (Playwrights Horizons) and in Richard Nelson’s world premiere translation of Turgenev’s A Month In The Country (Williamstown). He also played the title role in Sam Golds production of The Coward (Lincoln Center). Other theater works includes leading roles in Adam Rapp’s acclaimed Hallway Trilogy (Rattlestick), Pulitzer Prize nominee Theresa Rebeck’s play Our House (Playwrights Horizons), and in David Ive’s New Jerusalem (CSC). He appeared in Richard Nelson’s Conversations In Tusculum (The Public) opposite Favid Strathairn, in Oscar and Pulitzer prize winning Joh Patrick Shanley’s Defiance (MTC), and Franks Home ( Playwrights Horizons) directed by Tony Award winner Robert Falls.
Strong has been a recipient of the prestigious Lincoln Center Theater Annenberg Fellowship for “an artist of extraordinary talent.” He trained at Yale, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater Company.
