Jane Russell belongs to Hollywood’s golden age, but there remains something startlingly modern and subversive about her persona—maybe it’s her signature snarl, which allured studio magnates like Howard Hughes as much as it intimidated them. Initially making a splash as a provocative pin-up, she s...

All hail the indie queen! Ever since she burst onto the scene in the early 1990s, Parker Posey has captivated audiences with her offbeat magnetism, deadpan comic timing, and effortless cool in hip, offbeat gems like PARTY GIRL, THE HOUSE OF YES, HENRY FOOL, and CLOCKWATCHERS. Even as her star ros...

As she reaches new heights of acclaim for her dazzling, Oscar-nominated performance in the breakout smash EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, now is the perfect time to revisit the sensational career of Michelle Yeoh. Before conquering Hollywood, the Malaysian-born actor established herself as one...

One hundred years ago, Harold Lloyd gave the movies one of their most meme-able moments—the anxious, thrilling, clock-hanging climax of SAFETY LAST!, a film that still stands as a high-water mark of slapstick invention. Though often overlooked in favor of his more famous silent-clown contemporari...

Seemingly ageless even as she turns seventy this March, the incomparable French actor Isabelle Huppert is something of a paradox: an enigma who lives in front of the camera, inviting our gaze while maintaining a sense of deep, unknowable mystery. Specializing in portrayals of complex women who tr...

A unique and blazing talent, Bob Hoskins was one of the most versatile and consistently riveting actors Britain ever produced. “Five-foot-six cubic” in his own words, Hoskins combined a brawny physicality with a vast emotional range, leading to a series of indelible performances: as a beleaguered...

With her smoldering magnetism and fierce intelligence (likened by Patti Smith to “a barbed-wire fence on fire”), French screen siren Jeanne Moreau breathed unforgettable life into some of the most complex women in all of twentieth-century cinema. Already a successful stage actor when she came to ...

With her coolly magnetic performance in L’AVVENTURA, Monica Vitti (1931–2022) became the face of a new era of Italian cinema. Vitti lent her regal, striking beauty and effortless allure to three more films by director Michelangelo Antonioni, translating his ambitious ideas about modernity and ali...

No actress represents the golden age of Japanese cinema more fully than Setsuko Hara, whose radiant, compassionate presence made her nothing less than the living symbol of the changing role of women in Japanese society. Beginning her career at age fifteen, she appeared in more than one hundred fi...

The beautiful boy of French cinema whose steely, ice-blue gaze betrayed more than a hint of danger, Alain Delon was a favorite of modernists like Luchino Visconti, Jean-Pierre Melville, and Michelangelo Antonioni, all of whom were seduced by his impossible good looks and air of cool detachment. T...

Heralded by many as the greatest actor of his generation, Laurence Olivier wed the gravitas of a classically trained thespian with the dashing charisma of a modern movie star. After conquering the London stage in the 1930s, he went on to cement his reputation as the leading Shakespeare interprete...

Heralded by Peter Ustinov as “the outstanding poet of anonymity” for his virtuosic ability to disappear into a role, British cinema icon Alec Guinness was the ultimate example of character actor as movie star, renowned for his nuanced, fully inhabited performances and dazzling range. Beginning hi...

Marrying the daredevil physical comedy of Buster Keaton with the martial-arts mastery of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan is an international icon whose awe-inspiring stunt work and acrobatic grace set a new standard for action spectacle. Working his way up through the Hong Kong film industry of the 1970s ...

Intense, handsome, and gifted with a rare capacity for conveying inner turmoil and doubt, Jean-Louis Trintignant was one of the greatest actors of European art-house cinema, bringing intelligence and passion to carefully crafted performances in a number of all-time classics. After early success a...

Exuding a gruff, jaded cynicism, Jean Gabin became the defining face of pre–New Wave French cinema, embodying its downtrodden, working-class heroes with a mix of smoldering charisma and sardonic ennui. His renowned collaborations with leading directors like Jean Renoir (GRAND ILLUSION, LA BÊTE HU...

Incandescent muse of the French cinema, Hollywood movie star, and international art-house icon: Juliette Binoche has been all of the above in her extraordinary career. Bringing nuance, intelligence, and a radiant screen presence to each of her performances, she has delved fearlessly into a wide r...

One of the most mesmerizing presences in European art-house cinema, Delphine Seyrig was a favorite of visionary directors such as Chantal Akerman (JEANNE DIELMAN, 23, QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES), Marguerite Duras (INDIA SONG), and Luis Buñuel (THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE), bringin...

Akira Kurosawa once said, “The ordinary Japanese actor might need ten feet of film to get across an impression. Toshiro Mifune needed only three feet.” However, the filmmaker certainly gave Mifune—born on April 1, 1920—a lot of space: over the course of sixteen indelible collaborations, the actor...

Marcello Mastroianni made being a movie star look effortless, wearing his suave good looks and worldly sophistication with a sly, self-deprecating lightness that was perhaps only matched by his American counterpart, Cary Grant. Though he will forever be remembered for his immortal collaborations ...

British stage and screen legend Wendy Hiller was renowned for her supremely controlled, unsentimental performance style and her ability to imbue strong-willed heroines with intelligence and vigor. Though she concentrated primarily on theater for much of her career, Hiller left behind a small but ...

In celebration of the life of Max von Sydow, the Criterion Channel presents a series of highlights from his legendary career. One of the greatest actors of the twentieth century, von Sydow is best known for his long creative partnership with director Ingmar Bergman, whose psychologically probing ...

Before she conquered Hollywood, Ingrid Bergman starred in a number of films in her native Sweden that showcased her daring range and passionate depth as an actor. Then in 1949, at the height of her stardom, she decamped for Italy to star in neorealist titan Roberto Rossellini’s STROMBOLI. It was ...

For nearly six decades, Catherine Deneuve has been the face of French cinema, the embodiment of its sophistication, allure, and cool glamour. Following her star-making turn in Jacques Demy’s THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, Deneuve’s porcelain beauty and aloof elegance caught the attention of some of ...