English Actors

Although he died at a heartbreakingly young age and appeared in only a handful of movies, James Dean revolutionized American manhood. As a celebrity and icon, he melded vulnerability with determination, sensitivity with strength, in a way that offered a bracing and—for some—threatening new vision of masculinity. His massive influence and the fascination he has always inspired are inseparable from his identity as a queer man whose complex sexuality shattered the norms of midcentury American society.

Mike Epps is one of America’s favorite and funniest people, but the path to fame was paved with opportunities to mess it up. And mess it up he did. Growing up in “Naptown” - what people who live there really call rough-around-the-edges Indianapolis - Epps was drawn to a life of crime, but as he quickly discovered, stealing and dealing didn’t really fit his sweet sensibilities. Not to mention he wasn’t very good at it - take, for example, the day he had to call the cops on himself when a dog wouldn’t let him leave a house he was burgling.

My Seinfeld Year, and Five Minutes to Kill author Fred Stoller returns describing his complicated friendship with the comedy legend, Norm Macdonald. When comic actor, Fred Stoller appeared on Norm Macdonald’s video podcast, Norm MacDonald Live, many commented that Norm seemed to care about Fred, and had quite a fondness for him. And some noted Norm seemed like he was being a bully. Both those assessments may have been correct at different times. That’s what made their friendship so complicated.

Beauchamp writes about the pictures Kennedy produced, the stars he made - and destroyed - and the men who did his bidding. She also writes about the Hollywood titans in his midst: William Randolph Hearst, Cecille B. DeMille, and David Sarnoff, whose collaboration with Kennedy resulted in the formation of RKO Studios.

Billy Dee Williams was born in Harlem in 1937 and grew up in a household of love and sophistication. As a young boy, he made his stage debut working with Lotte Lenya in an Ira Gershwin/Kurt Weill production where Williams ended up feeding Lenya her lines. He studied painting, first at the High School of Music and Art, with fellow student Diahann Carroll, and then at the National Academy of Fine Art, before setting out to pursue acting with Herbert Berghoff, Stella Adler, and Sidney Poitier.

Richard E. Grant’s life changed almost overnight when he was cast as the lead in Withnail & I in 1986. He kept a diary of the experience, the bestselling With Nails, and now it is published for the first time in audio, read by the author. Funny and revealing, told with trademark candour, join Richard E. Grant on the shoot of a lifetime.

From Marion Davies's humble days in Brooklyn to her rise to fame alongside press baron William Randolph Hearst, the public life story of the film star plays like a modern fairy tale shaped by gossip columnists, fan magazines, biopics, and documentaries. Yet the real Marion Davies remained largely hidden from view, as she trusted few with her true life story. In Captain of Her Soul, Lara Gabrielle pulls back layers of myth to show a complex and fiercely independent woman, ahead of her time, who carved her own path.

For decades Tippi Hedren's luminous beauty radiated from the silver screen, enchanting moviegoers and cementing her position among Hollywood's elite - beauty and star power that continue to endure. For too long Hedren's story has been told by others through whispered gossip and tabloid headlines. Now Hedren sets the record straight, recalling how a young and virtuous Lutheran girl from small-town Minnesota became a worldwide legend.

Emmy-winning editor Jordan Goldman, ACE, takes you inside the cutting room and pulls back the curtain on how and why directors, showrunners, and editors decide whether your performance makes it to the screen. He explains the key things actors should do—and shouldn't do—to avoid getting cut out. Topics include what an editor does, how editors evaluate your work, why actors get cut, what you can control, and what you can't control.

Master the quick, sharp tones of the East London accent with An Actor’s Guide to the East London Accent. Often associated with the Cockney dialect, the East London accent is energetic, lively, and packed with personality. Whether you’re working on a character for stage, film, or voice-over, this course will teach you how to confidently use the key features of the accent, including dropped consonants and clipped vowels.

Access Accents bring the highly sought-after voice techniques of top voice coach Penny Dyer to the actor's audio device. A unique opportunity to prepare for auditions at short notice.

Welcome to a comedic trip through the life of one of the country’s most exciting comedians. Meet Dulcé Sloan, whose life has been an incredible journey filled with lessons and laughter. In addition to doing stand-up around the world, Dulcé is a trained actor, singer, and has been a correspondent on The Daily Show. Dulcé's first memoir is organized into essays from her life. From a childhood moving between cities, starting her own business selling toys at a Miami flea market, to being a Black kid in a predominately White school, she’s always used her masterful wit to challenge the status quo.

With more than seventy years on the silver screen, Shirley MacLaine has, as she says, seen it all, done it all, been everywhere, and met everyone. Since making her Hollywood debut in 1955, her popularity has only grown as she’s amassed a stunning collection of awards and written multiple bestselling memoirs. Now, at ninety years old, MacLaine has more stories to tell and the pictures to bring them to life.

He spent his earliest years in post WWII refugee camps. He came to America and grew up in Cleveland, stealing cars, rolling drunks, battling priests, nearly going to jail. He became the screenwriter of the worldwide hits Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge, and Flashdance. He also wrote the legendary disasters Showgirls and Jade. The rebellion never ended, even as he became the most famous, or infamous, screenwriter in Hollywood.

From Crimea with Love documents the mishaps, blunders, incompetence and downright corruption that made Sharpe’s Rifles go down in British television folklore for its unique tales of hardship. Follow the cast through intense depravation and constant catastrophe until they become every bit the jaded, battle-hardened soldiers we saw on screen. Jason brings you an eye-opening, jaw-dropping insider’s account of one of the best-loved shows ever made.

She is a one-name legend, a global icon, the ultimate diva. Yet most of what we know about Barbra Joan Streisand is the stuff of caricature.

Ice-T here offers his hip-hop generation’s Horatio Alger story: the narrative of an orphaned child who, drawn inexorably into a harrowing life of crime, ultimately turns away from the streets and, through self-discipline and a single-minded work ethic, forges a path to international fame as a musician and film-and-television star.

Second Act: A Working Actor’s Handbook is part memoir, part masterclass, and all heart. Drawing from a deeply personal return to the business after decades away, Rob DeRosa offers a no-fluff survival guide for actors navigating co-star roles, stage performances, auditions, set life, and the emotional rollercoaster of working in film, television, and theater.

This must-listen account of starting at the lowest rung on the production ladder among enormously famous and outrageously demanding people will be devoured for its insights, gossip, humor, and storytelling. Married and with a child, the author takes unpaid gigs to get a foot in the door and eventually ends up working on all seasons of The Sopranos, often named the best TV show ever.

Meet The Actor. Finally, he had it all. It had not been easy. Then, he met a woman. His life changed forever.