The Cast: Juliet Landau J ULIET LANDAU (Sarra), born and raised in Southern California, is the daughter of esteemed actress Barbara Bain and Academy Award-winner Martin Landau. R aised in a family atmosphere steeped in the performing arts, she trained as both an actress and a classical ballerina, performing with the prestigious Southern California Ballet and Los Angeles Dance companies, ultimately choreographing her own dance works. A fter guest-starring in a number of television productions, she made her film debut in Stephen Frears' savagely funny, often shocking 1990 black comedy "The Grifters," portraying Anjelica Huston's character, Lily, as a young girl. T he actress got the first opportunity to work with her father when both appeared in "Ed Wood," Tim Burton's affectionate 1994 tribute to Hollywood's acknowledged worst filmmaker. Martin portrayed the legendary Bela Lugosi, a role for which he received a long overdue Oscar in the Best Supporting Actor category in 1995. With typical professionalism, Ms. Landau threw herself into her role as a B-movie actress researching not only the real life person she portrayed, but tracking down every piece of film she could find from the period to examine how B-movie actresses of the '50s walked, sipped a highball and smoked a cigarette. I n "Ravager," she portrays a beautiful "Spare" a triumph of 21st century medicine specifically created to provide human organs and other body parts to those in need. She admits being attracted to the role because of the character. "I'd been playing so many sophisticated types recently that I jumped at the chance to play a character who's discovering everything for the first time." | |
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