Born in Netherlands. Writer of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) (story), The Mad Monkey (1990) and The Siege (1998). Producer of Foreign Student (1994).

John Cusack is, like most of his characters, an unconventional hero. Wary of fame and repelled by formulaic Hollywood fare, the Chicago-born actor has built a successful career from playing underdogs and odd men out-all the while avoiding the media spotlight. Like his brother and sisters, John became a member of Chicago's Piven Theatre Workshop while he was still in elementary school. By age 12, he already had several stage productions, commercial voiceovers, and industry films under his belt. He made his feature film debut at 17, acting alongside Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy in the romantic comedy Class (1983). Young Cusack is probably best remembered for what could be considered his last adolescent role: the stereo-blaring romantic Lloyd Dobler in Say Anything... (1989). Cusack has always favored offbeat material, so it was no surprise when he turned up in the fiercely original Being John Malkovich (1999). Long-haired, bearded, and bespectacled, he was almost unrecognizable in the role of a frustrated puppeteer who stumbles across a portal into the brain of actor John Malkovich. The convincing performance won him a Best Actor nomination at the Independent Spirit Awards. The real Cusack has been romantically linked with several celebs, including Driver, Alison Eastwood, Claire Forlani, and current squeeze Neve Campbell. He's also something of a family man, acting frequently opposite sister Joan and pulling other Cusacks into his films on a regular basis. He seems pleased with the spate of projects on his horizon, but admits that he still hasn't reached his ultimate goal: to be involved in a "great piece of art."

Noah grew up in the St. Kilda area of Melbourne, fantasizing of being a spy or a commando. He attended University High School in Melbourne. He left home and school at 16 and began his acting career at the St. Martin's Youth Theater in the South Yarra area when someone suggested that he could "go to a theatre as something to do on the weekends, like a hobby." Noah is described by director Bob Ellis ("The Nostradamus Kid") as "possibly the most accomplished screen actor in the country," and is especially known for playing what "Shine" director Scott Hicks calls "male rites-of-passage characters with consummate skill." He is relieved, however, that his extended screen teenagehood is "definitely over." Noah would like to play more comic roles in the future, saying "goofy comedy" comes more easily to him than the dramatic roles for which he is famous. Director Ellis says that Noah could do "any romantic comedy, anything with women in it, he would be great. They all think he is terrific." Noah, however, admits to a discomfort with romantic roles because his own love life is "so depressing." Noah often says that he fell into acting "by accident." This is not to say he doesn't admire the actor's craft, but rather he's "not particularly career-driven. I am finding more and more in life, the things that are important to me have very little to do with career. I am quite happy to work as an actor so I can afford not to work for six months out of the year and go exploring in the country." His travels have taken him literally around the world, and, within Australia, to the Nullabor Desert and Kangaroo Island.

Raised on a farm in picturesque Pitt Meadows, B.C., Molly Parker's parents owned a retail seafood store, and reveled in their kids, giving them unconditonal support in whatever they wanted to do. At three, she started ballet and danced three times a week until she was 17. Her schools included the Royal Winnipeg Ballet of Canada. At 14, she discovered her other passion: acting. After high school, she cashed in her acting scholarships and bursaries, and then took a three-year course with Mel Austin Tuck at Vancouver's Gastown Actors' Studio. When a cinematographer friend approached her about auditioning for a role in a new low-budget feature film he was working on, it set off a chain of events that changed her career. The film was Kissed, about a woman who is a necrophiliac. At the Toronto Film Festival, Kissed earned a special jury citation and was picked up for distribution by Samuel Goldwyn Ltd. in the United States. Within days of its first showings, the actress was fielding offers from scads of Hollywood agents. She landed on the cover of Variety, was snapped up with the powerful William Morris Agency in Los Angeles and won a best-actress Genie.