Dev Patel

If you watched the first two seasons of the UK series “Skins” and then watched Slumdog Millionaire you might not recognize that Anwar and Jamal are portrayed by the same actor. You’ve got to figure it takes a fairly astute person to play the hyper, sexually obsessed Anwar and then turn around and be so convincing as the sensitive and devoted hero of Slumdog Millionaire. Well that’s what Dev Patel is. For someone so young and with relatively little acting experience, he’s making his mark on the big and small screens and impressing directors and audiences alike.

Raised in the London Borough of Harrow, Patel was a kid with tons of energy. Gee, you’d never think it to look at him: all wiry and lanky. So his very intelligent mother put him into tae kwon do classes to channel all that energy. Get this, in 2004 at the AIMAA World Championships our guy here won a bronze. That’s right, he medaled! Turns out that dedication and those martial arts skills will come in handy later.

Throughout his school career Dev was involved in the dramatic arts. He garnered high marks and high praise from his teachers. Once again his very intelligent mother stepped in and suggested he go to open auditions for a new teen drama TV show called “Skins”. Much to his amazement he got the role of “Anwar” a fun-loving Pakistani Muslim. To hear his co-stars tell it, the character was tailor made for Patel. For the first-time professional actor, that had to be a source of comfort. A fan favorite, the series went on to win several BAFTA TV awards during its first two seasons.

This is all prologue to the lucky chance that would thrust Dev into the international spotlight. In the summer of 2007 Director Danny Boyle was frustrated. He was trying to cast the lead in his film Slumdog Millionaire about Jamal Malik, a kid from the slums of Mumbai who unbelievably wins the grand prize on the popular game show by recalling events in his own life to answer all the questions correctly. All the Indian actors Boyle had seen so far were muscular, hero types and not at all the normal, thoughtful guy he was looking for. As it turns out Boyle’s daughter was a big fan of “Skins” and recommended he check out the actor playing Anwar. The rest is history. 5 months of shooting in India and an obscene amount of awards, including 8 Oscars later Dev Patel is one hot commodity.

So how do you follow up such an auspicious start to your career? Well Dev thought long and hard about this very question. The parts Hollywood was offering him were mostly funny side-kick roles and not at all satisfying. He fully expected to find something in the independent film arena. Director M. Night Shyamalan had a better offer. Jesse McCartney, his original choice for Prince Zuko in the big-screen adaptation of “Avatar: The Last Airbender” had scheduling conflicts. Shyamalan approached Dev about playing the Fire Nation Prince in the big-budget summer blockbuster. At press time I was hoping to have seen the film so I could gush about how wonderful Dev was but ‘twas not to be, I’m afraid. We’ll have to suppose he was awesome until we each have an opportunity to confirm that ourselves.

If you visit Dev’s IMDB page you’ll see that he has no future projects listed. I can only surmises that he’s being choosy about his next project. When you’ve got the talent and support from home (remember his oh-so-intelligent mom?) to make the best choice for yourself, you won’t stay unemployed long.

Fansites:
Dev Patel Fan

Official Sites:
The Last Airbender
Slumdog Millionaire
Skins

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The Last Airbender

Air, Water, Earth, Fire. Four nations tied by destiny when the Fire Nation launches a brutal war against the others. A century has passed with no hope in sight to change the path of this destruction. Caught between combat and courage, Aang (Noah Ringer) discovers he is the lone Avatar with the power to manipulate all four elements. Aang teams with Katara (Nicola Peltz), a Waterbender, and her brother, Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), to restore balance to their war-torn world.

Based on the hugely successful Nickelodeon animated TV series, the live-action feature film “The Last Airbender” is the opening chapter in Aang’s struggle to survive.

Opens July 2nd.

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Jackson Rathbone

Bite me or sing to me, vampire or rock star; either way, I’m all yours! Jackson Rathbone, my personal favorite reason to be excited about the opening of New Moon, is a perfectly adorable “Jack-of-all-entertainment-trades’ – vampire, movie & TV actor, musician, singer, composer – there’s apparently nothing this boy can’t do, and do very well indeed.

Jackson first came to general notice in November ’08, by playing one of the key secondary characters in the Twilight Universe, Jasper Whitlock-Hale-Cullen. (Jasper’s proper surname depends upon what point of the book/movie saga you are referring to!) While many of the young actors in the film ignited furious debate over whether they were the right choices to play the much beloved Twilight characters, Jackson was universally accepted as an excellent ‘spot on’ Jasper. In spite of having limited screen-time in the film, Jackson managed to breathe life into the non-breathing vampire, enough to make his brief scenes memorable ones. For myself, one of the few warm-blooded females who did NOT fall into a swoon at the sight of Robbie Pattinson, the films’ brooding ‘Edward’ – I found Mr. Rathbone to be the most attractive male in a cast positively filled with Fan Girl ‘eye candy.’ Voicing this opinion often produced the comment: “You mean the one that looks like Edward Sissorhands?” And my reply: “Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing? Edward Sissorhands is JOHNNY DEPP, after all!!”

With a little research, I soon discovered that there was a great deal more to Jackson than being convincing in golden contacts and swinging a mean vampire baseball bat. He has several TV appearances on his resume, as well as some lesser-known films. I’d highly recommend checking out his ‘Criminal Minds’ episode, and movies Big Stan and S. Darko – all impressive examples of his acting ability and range. I’m also looking forward to his role as ‘Sokka’ in the upcoming The Last Airbender – and have fingers crossed that his lower budget films: Dread, Hurt and Girlfriend will make their way to mainstream theaters.

The biggest surprise, however, was discovering that Jackson Rathbone has his own band, 100 Monkeys. I became a devoted Monkey’s fan this past June, when I had the great fortune and absolute pleasure of seeing them perform live in New York City. I’ll freely admit that I had no expectations of the show, since my limited grasp of their music – based on poor quality YouTube fan video – was that it was mainly ‘jazz’ oriented, not a type of music I usually favor, but ‘100 Monkey’s LIVE is nothing short of incredible! Much of the music is jazz-ish, but they play faster rock-type numbers too, and all of it wonderful to hear and to watch! In fact, I can’t imagine anyone not having a great time watching these guys perform! They were all having SO MUCH fun — I could not help but wonder whatever made Jackson want to go into acting, since he obviously loves his music with his whole heart! During the show he played guitar, keyboard, drums, and trumpet, as well as singing lead for most of the songs. They also do ‘improv’ songs, which consists of creating an entire song, music and lyrics, right on the spot; something that you just have to experience for yourself to believe!

It certainly doesn’t hurt the show, that the other guys who make up 100 Monkeys, (Jerad Anderson, Ben Johnson & Ben Graupner), are all quite cute, but it was difficult to pay them any attention, with Jackson there. Looking even more gorgeous in person than he does on screen; Jackson’s eyes are ‘immortally’ beautiful, and his SMILE…. ‘lights up the room’ does not begin to cover it! For days after the show, I saw that smile every time I closed my eyes, just like the ‘after image’ of a flash bulb!

OK, so at just short of his 25th birthday, Jackson Rathbone is an accomplished actor, part of one of the major pop-culture crazes of our time, a genius level musician and performer, and a drool-worthy male specimen besides! Talent, fame, fortune, and striking good looks – ‘too shallow’ you say? Well, by all reports he’s an absolute sweetheart to his cast mates, and to those fans who have been lucky enough to have a personal ‘encounter’ – he loves his mother (sporting a ‘Mom’ in a heart, tattoo) and is, dare I say, ‘super’ intelligent – and if you think that’s exaggerated, look up ‘Hundredth-monkey effect’ on Wikipedia! And that’s why, while the Twi-World divides itself between the Rob-sessed and the Wolf-girls… just call me ‘Team Jasper’!

Fansites:
Jackson Rathbone dot Org
Jackson Rathbone Online

Official Sites:
The Twilight Saga
The Last Airbender

100 Monkey Sites:
Official Site
MySpace
Twitter

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