Trivia: Possessing a chameleon-like ability to disappear into his characters, which frequently renders him unrecognizable save for his piercing eyes, it's no wonder that Javier Bardem chose to pursue a career as an actor given his family's long history in show business. Always hesitant to play the same type of character twice, the very foundation of Bardem's career is his remarkable ability to so immerse himself in character that audiences never even see the actor. Each role is a transformation that occurs both mentally and physically, and Bardem's hesitance to embrace celebrity culture and make a conscious effort to break into the American market has only served to make him more alluring to stateside filmmakers. Born the youngest member of a family of actors in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain, in 1969, Bardem's first role came at the age of six with the film El Picaro (aka The Scoundrel). Bardem was a shy boy who immediately took to acting, and numerous television roles as well as a stint touring with an independent theater company found the young rugby enthusiast increasingly dedicated to the stage. An interest in painting led Bardem to study at Madrid's Escuela de Artes y Officios, but following a series of odd jobs and the realization that he would never develop the skills to become a great artist, he eventually drifted back into acting. Moving into the 1990s, Bardem's collaborations with such filmmakers as Pedro Almodóvar (High Heels [1991] and Live Flesh [1997]) and J.J. Bigas Luna (Jamón Jamón [1992] and Huevos de Oro [1994]) found his popularity as a Spanish screen star growing. Goya-nominated for his performances in both Jamón Jamón and Huevos de Oro, Bardem took home the award for his roles in Dias Contados (1994) and Boca a Boca (1995), and it was becoming increasingly clear that a formidable international talent was emerging. Though some may have regarded Bardem as little more than a beefcake sex symbol due to his steamy early roles, a turning point came with the release of 2000's Before Night Falls. A thoughtful look at the life of Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas, Bardem took over the role after Benicio Del Toro abandoned the it, and his physical transformation stunned audiences worldwide. Arenas was an ultimately tragic figure who eventually committed suicide while living in poverty in New York City, and Bardem prepared tirelessly for the role by changing his diet, immersing himself in Arenas' works, and traveling to Cuba to speak with those who knew the writer personally and to learn the Cuban dialect. In addition to drawing the actor international accolades, the role also found Bardem making history as the first Spanish actor ever to be nominated for an Academy Award. Though the offers came flooding in following the success of Before Night Falls, Bardem remained steadfast in his resistance to the Hollywood system. Turning down roles in such blockbusters as The World is Not Enough, it became increasingly obvious that Bardem was indeed sincere in his intentions to remain thoughtful about his career choices. Following his role in actor John Malkovich's directorial debut, The Dancer Upstairs (2002), Bardem's role as an unemployed dockworker in Fernando León de Aranoa's Mondays in the Sun (also 2002) again found the actor drawing praise. Though the film ultimately didn't take home the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, it did net Bardem another Best Lead Actor Goya in addition to being voted Best Film at the awards.In 2004 Bardem joined forces with director Alejandro Amenabar for the euthenasia drama The Sea Inside , earning solid reviews for his work as a man fighting to die with dignity. He bolstered his status as an international leading man with Milos Foreman's Goya's Ghosts in 2006, but the following year would bring Bardem the most substantial praise of his career to that point with his work in the Coen Brothers No Country for Old Men. His portrayal of the remorseless, amoral killer earned him nearly unanimous praise and several year end accolades including the Best Supporting Actor prize from the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes, and the Academy Awards.He followed up the career defining work playing Fidel Castro in Steven Soderbergh's biopic Che, and was a red-blooded Spanish lover in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona. In 2010 he earned rave reviews for his work in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Biutiful. In 2012 he joined an ever-growing list of actors who have played the bad guy in a James Bond film when he appeared in that capacity in Skyfall.

Trivia: One of Spain's foremost leading ladies of the 1990s, Penélope Cruz has managed to make her mark with international audiences as well. Born in Madrid on April 28, 1974, Cruz was one of three children of a merchant and a hairdresser. After years of intensive study in ballet and jazz, she broke into acting in 1992. That year, she had starring roles in Jamón Jamón and Belle Epoque, two very disparate films. The former cast her as the desperately poor daughter of a village prostitute, while the latter featured her as one of four lusty daughters of a wealthy man in pre-Franco Spain. Belle Epoque proved to be a huge success, winning nine Goya Awards (the Spanish equivalent of an Academy Award) and an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Its success gave Cruz a dose of international recognition, and after starring in a number of Spanish films, she enhanced this recognition in 1997 with the Sundance entry Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes). That same year, she had a brief but memorable role in Pedro Almodóvar's Carne Trémula (Live Flesh). In 1998, Cruz had her first starring role in an English-language film, playing Billy Crudup's Mexican-American love interest in Stephen Frears' The Hi-Lo Country. She had another go at English later that year in the Spanish-British romantic comedy Twice Upon a Yesterday, which cast her as a Spanish barmaid living in London. In 1999, she returned to Spain to collaborate once again with Almodóvar on Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother), a wildly acclaimed film that premiered at Cannes that year.The next two years would prove to be a critical turning point in both Cruz's personal and professional life, with increasingly visible roles in large-scale Hollywood productions as well as a developing relationship with one Tinseltown's most popular leading men. Gaining notice for her roles in All the Pretty Horses in 2000 and Blow the following year, it appeared as if Cruz's career had suddenly kicked into overdrive. After starring alongside Nicolas Cage in the underperforming Captain Corelli's Mandolin in 2001, Cruz dove back into familiar territory with director Cameron Crowe's remake of Abre los Ojos, Vanilla Sky (2001). Developing a close relationship with lead Tom Cruise as his much publicized breakup with Nicole Kidman drew to a close, the pair soon found themselves the center of considerable paparazzi attention as they became Hollywood's hottest new couple.While "Cruz & Cruise" outlasted most celebrity couplings born on movie sets -- even generating wedding talk -- the duo went their separate ways in 2004. Perhaps not coincidentally, Cruz's career took a backseat to her paramour's while she was dating him; between 2001 and 2004, most of her roles were either minor ones in uncelebrated American indies (Waking Up in Reno, Masked and Anonymous, Noel) or meatier ones in foreign films that failed to gain traction in the States (Fanfan la Tulipe, Don't Move, Bandidas). Luckily, the actress rebounded with a performance thought by many critics to be the best of her career, when she re-teamed with one of her earliest champions, Pedro Almodóvar, for his nostalgic, bittersweet Volver in 2006. Warm, witty, and biting, Cruz's performance kept her name in the running for many year-end awards, even garnering her her first Oscar nomination for Best Actress.In 2008, Cruz earned strong reviews for her work in Elegy, but it was her turn in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona that garnered her Best Supporting Actress nods from the Hollywood Foreign Press, the Screen Actors Guild, and winning the trophy in that category from the Academy.She was nominated the next year for the Golden Globe, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Oscar for her sexy supporting turn in Rob Marshall's big-screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Nine. Despite the film itself doing poorly, Cruz proved that she'd found a solid career trajectory as the 2010's progressed, appearing in projects like Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Trivia: Universally known as one of the sexiest women in Hollywood, Scarlett Johansson has actually been acting professionally since the age of eight. A native of New York City, where she was born on November 22, 1984, Johansson was raised -- along with her twin brother -- as the youngest of four children, and she developed an interest in acting at the age of three. After enrolling in classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute for Young People, she made her stage debut opposite Ethan Hawke in the off-Broadway production of Sophistry. Her film debut followed in 1994, when she had a supporting role in North, and she subsequently appeared in the little-seen Just Cause (1995) and If Lucy Fell (1996). Johansson had her first significant screen breakthrough with her role as one of two orphaned teenaged sisters in Manny & Lo (1996), a coming-of-age drama directed by Lisa Krueger. Johansson, who shared the screen with Aleksa Palladino and Mary Kay Place, earned an Independent Spirit Award Best Actress nomination for her work in the film, and she soon found herself being tapped by Robert Redford to star as Kristin Scott Thomas' daughter in The Horse Whisperer (1998). Although the film met with a very mixed reception, Johansson was widely praised for her portrayal of a girl who loses her leg and her best friend in a horrific accident.In 2000, the actress signed on to play one of the heroines (alongside Thora Birch) of Terry Zwigoff's screen adaptation of Ghost World, Daniel Clowes' celebrated comic about the adventures of two teen girls grappling with post-high school life. That same year, she starred in American Rhapsody, in which she portrayed a young girl who escapes communist Hungary in the 1950s and travels to the U.S.Though she would take a brief detour into camp with the 2002 giant spider fiasco Eight Legged Freaks, the respect Johansson had gained in the film industry as a result of her previous dramatic roles found the young actress in high demand among indie directors while quickly catching the eye of the Hollywood elite. With Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, Johansson's touching performance as a young girl who strikes a tentative friendship with a washed-up American actor (memorably portrayed by Bill Murray) left no doubts regarding her dramatic skills, and although a Best Actress Oscar nomination eluded her, she received a boatload of nods from critics' groups and the Golden Globes. The rising starlet was soon cast in the lead of such subsequent films as The Girl with the Pearl Earring (2003) and The Perfect Score (2003).After sticking to form in 2004 with roles in In Good Company and A Love Song for Bobby Long, Johansson took her first stab at a lead role in a big budget Hollywood flick, starring opposite Ewan MacGregor in Michael Bay's futuristic actioner The Island. While the picture was panned by critics and avoided by audiences, it did nothing to slow the young star down. She closed out the year by receiving virtually unanimous praise for her performance in Woody Allen's Match Point.She immediately reteamed with Allen, who was full of praise for the young actress after their first collaboration, for the supernatural comedy/murder mystery Scoop in 2006. Johansson would spend the next several years enjoying her status as an A-list actress, appearing in a wide range of projects, like The Nanny Diaries and Vicky Cristina Barcelona. In 2012, she joined The Avengers as Natasha Romanoff, playing the character in several more films in the series.

Trivia: Born and raised in New Orleans, deep-voiced actress Patricia Clarkson studied drama at Yale. She stayed on the East coast working in theater productions before her feature film debut in The Untouchables (1987) as the wife of Elliot Ness. Continuing to work in film, she gained attention for her role as the drug-addicted Greta in the independent film High Art. Also working in TV, she had reoccuring roles on Wonderland and Fraser, and even won an Emmy award for her role as Sarah on the HBO drama Six Feet Under. She gave memorable performances in her smaller film roles, such as the bedridden wife in The Green Mile. Her career really picked up in 2002 with appearances in such films as the Russo brothers' Welcome to Collinwood, Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven, and Lars von Trier's Dogville. In 2003, Clarkson appeared in several films at the Sundance Film Festival, where she won the Outstanding Performance award for her work in All the Real Girls, The Station Agent, and Pieces of April. She continued to work steadily in projects such as the inspirational hockey drama Miracle, and George Clooney's Oscar-nominated Good Night, and Good Luck. She was part of the high-powered ensemble put together for the box-office disappointment All the King's Men, but remained one of the most in-demand character actresses of her time, In 2007 she appeared in Lars and the Real Girl, Married Life, and No Reservations. In 2008 she began a working relationship with Woody Allen when she was cast in Vicky Cristina Barcelona that continued with Whatever Works. She had a single scene in Martin Scorsese's paranoid thriller Shutter Island in 2010, the same year she appeared in the sleeper hit Easy A. The next year she acted in the romantic drama One Day as well as the comedy Friends With Benefits.

Trivia: The daughter of Royal Shakespeare Company director Peter Hall and opera diva Maria Ewing, raven-haired British actress Rebecca Hall broke into filmed entertainment before her 12th birthday, with roles in a series of made-for-television British productions including the miniseries The Camomile Lawn (1992) and the feature Don't Leave Me This Way (1993). She subsequently took a more than ten-year departure from the screen, then returned in a big way in the late 2000s, with a series of supporting roles in features including Christopher Nolan's period psychological thriller The Prestige (2006) and Tom Vaughan's romantic comedy Starter for 10 (2007). In 2008, Hall starred opposite Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz, and Javier Bardem in Woody Allen's romantic comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona. In 2009 she was part of the well-received Red Riding trilogy. In 2010 she was the female lead opposite Ben Affleck in his crime film The Town, and co-starred in the indie comedy Please Give. She appeared in the BBC 5-part serial Parade's End, which earned her a BAFTA TV nomination; the following year, she took a supporting role in Iron Man 3. Hall played opposite Johnny Depp in the 2014 sci-fi Transcendence and opposite Jason Bateman in the psychological thriller The Gift in 2015.

Trivia: A character-oriented actor who specialized in playing American everymen, Chris Messina emerged in the mid-'90s, landing guest appearances on series programs such as Law & Order and mounting supporting parts in Hollywood features including You've Got Mail and Rounders (both 1998). Messina gained even more exposure when he joined the cast of the quirky HBO comedy drama Six Feet Under during that program's fifth and final season. On that series, Messina played Ted Fairwell, a Republican attorney smitten with Claire Fisher (Lauren Ambrose) who (as the program reveals) will eventually marry her. After Six Feet wrapped, Messina hearkened back to feature portrayals, this time as a lead, in director Jennifer Westfeldt's (Kissing Jessica Stein) critically praised sophomore effort Ira & Abby (2006). The actor proved he could hold his own with a multilayered turn as a neurotic therapist's son who rushes headlong into marriage only to watch his confidence fall to pieces when he learns of his new wife's two ex-husbands. In 2008, Messina took on a supporting role in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, opposite Penélope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson. In the years to come, Messina would enjoy continued success as an established actor, appearing in films like Ruby Sparks and Argo, as well as on TV series like The Mindy Project and The Newsroom.

Trivia: The genial, slightly stocky Hollywood character actor Kevin Dunn graced the casts of some of the highest grossing and most enjoyable A-listers of the '80s, '90s, and 2000s. With a pleasant (if unremarkable) countenance, this brother of Second City veteran (and onetime Saturday Night Live mainstay) Nora Dunn cut his chops playing everymen in American movies and one-shot television episodes. Kevin Dunn lacked the sketch comedy background of his arguably more famous sibling but quickly chalked up an equally extensive resumé at about the same time.Dunn debuted on camera in the mid-'80s, with a recurring role on the series comedy drama Jack & Mike (1986), co-starring Shelley Hack and Tom Mason, but Alan Parker's harrowing civil-rights drama Mississippi Burning (in which he played Agent Bird) marked his first real breakthrough. From that point on, he became ever-present in such blockbusters as Ghostbusters 2 (1989), Blue Steel (1990), Only the Lonely (1991), Hot Shots! (1991), Chaplin (1992), and Dave (1993). Directors often cast Dunn as an emotional (or political) support to a heavy, such as his brief evocation of Nixon aide (and eventual Christian spokesperson) Chuck Colson in Oliver Stone's biopic Nixon (1995), that of Lou Logan (opposite Nicolas Cage) in Brian De Palma's muddled, flawed paranoid thriller Snake Eyes (1998), and that of Alex (alongside Sean Penn) in the political drama All The King's Men (2006). In 2007, Dunn appeared in the blockbuster action hit Transformers as Ron Witwicky, the father of lead actor Shia LaBeouf's character, Sam. Dunn also had a role in the underperforming Tom Cruise/Robert Redford/Meryl Streep drama Lions for Lambs. In the fall of that year, Dunn found success on the sitcom Samantha Who? as the father of the amnesia-afflicted main character (Christina Applegate).He was part of the cast of Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and played a bad guy in the runaway train thriller Unstoppable. In 2011 he appeared in the well-reviewed MMA drama Warrior, and the blockbuster Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The next year he was cast in the one and only season of HBO's racetrack set drama series Luck.

Trivia: With a love for both the screen and the stage, Pablo Schreiber learned the tools of the acting trade in theater, appearing in plays in his home state of Washington. He continued to appear in theatrical productions while attending Carnegie Mellon in the early 2000s, and made his Broadway debut in 2006, with a role in the revival of Awake and Sing!, for which he earned a Tony Award nomination. Meanwhile, Schreiber nurtured an on-screen career, as well, appearing in films like Lords of Dogtown and Vicky Christina Barcelona, and on TV shows like Law & Order, but his most noted role came in 2003, when he took on the role of Nick Sobotka on the critically acclaimed crime drama The Wire. He would stick with the series until 2008, soon moving on to appear in the quirky ensemble movie happythankyoumoreplease in 2011. That same year, having found such success with TV drama in the past, Schreiber returned to the small screen, starring in the boxing drama Lights Out. In 2013, Schreiber played correctional officer George "Pornstache" Mendez on the Netflix series Orange is the New Black, and was a regular on the quickly-canceled Ironside remake on NBC.

Trivia: As the impresario of her own front-yard theater troupe at the tender age of 12, there wasn't much question as to which direction the later career of actress Carrie Preston was headed. Serving as everything from stage hand to starlet made it clear to all that her dedication to theater ran deep even at such an early age; eventually, Preston would graduate from the sound stage to the bright lights of Broadway opposite many of her generation's finest classically trained actors. Born and raised the daughter of an artist and art therapist mother and a geo-technical engineer father in Macon, GA, the stage-smitten youngster later earned a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Evansville. After continuing her education with an acting diploma from Juilliard, Preston found a choice early career role as Miranda (opposite Patrick Stewart) in a Shakespeare-in-the Park production of The Tempest. Seeking her fortune out West, Preston found roles in such popular films as My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) and Mercury Rising (1998) while frequently returning to the New York stage between film roles. After once again re-teaming with Tempest co-star Stewart in a Guthrie Theater production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the avid outdoors woman continued developing her film career with appearances in Cradle Will Rock, Guinevre (both 1999), and The Legend of Beggar Vance (2000). Though her roles on television were previously limited to appearances in Sex and the City and Spin City, Preston later took a more committed dedication to the small screen when she turned up alongside popular television chef Emeril Lagasse in the series Emeril in 2001.In the several years to come, Preston would find success in films like Vicky Christina Barcelona and Doubt, as well as on shows like The Good Wife and the monumentally successful True Blood.

Trivia: Though best known for his work in screen comedies, actor Zak Orth felt at home in a surprisingly diverse array of genres including earnest drama. An Illinois native and the son of a piano teacher and opera singer, Orth began his acting career on the New York-area stage, with plum roles in productions including Suburbia (1994), Misalliance (1997), and The Eros Trilogy (1999), but concurrently branched off into film, landing one of his first A-list parts with a bit role in the Frank Oz-directed comedy In & Out (1997). Orth then traveled to the other end of the emotional spectrum with a small role in Scott Hicks' sincere historical drama Snow Falling on Cedars (1999), and landed supporting roles in the teen-oriented comedies Loser and Down to You ( both 2000).Beginning in 2001, Orth commenced a longstanding association with the cast members of the MTV sketch comedy program The State, appearing in their big-screen outings Wet Hot American Summer (2001), The Baxter (2005), and The Ten (2007). Supporting roles in two additional features -- the comedies Melinda and Melinda (2004) and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) witnessed Orth collaborating with maestro Woody Allen.

Trivia: Actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright Woody Allen redefined film comedy during the 1970s, bringing a new measure of sophistication and personal complexity to the form. Drawing universal insight from the traditions of Yiddish humor, Allen established himself both as a comic Everyman and one of American filmmaking's true auteurs, writing and directing features which broke with established narrative conventions and infused the screen-comedy form with unprecedented substance and depth.Born Allen Stewart Konigsberg in Brooklyn, NY, on December 1, 1935, he adopted his stage name at the age of 17, and in 1953 enrolled in New York University's film program, quickly failing the course "Motion Picture Production" and soon dropping out of school to begin writing for comedian David Alber for the sum of 20 dollars a week. Two years later, Allen graduated to writing for television, working on the staff of the legendary Your Show of Shows, as well as penning material for Pat Boone. During his five-year tenure in television, his efforts won him an Emmy nomination, but like Mel Brooks, Allen found his writing career stifling, and he eventually decided to try his hand as a standup performer. After slowly gaining a reputation on the New York-club circuit, he became a frequent talk show guest and in 1964 issued his self-titled debut comedy LP.In 1965, Allen made his film debut, writing and starring in the Clive Donner farce What's New, Pussycat?; he also continued his standup career, but his interest in live performance was clearly waning. With 1966's What's Up, Tiger Lily?, a puckish re-tooling of a Japanese spy thriller complete with his own story line and dubbed English dialogue, he made his directorial debut. After appearing in the 1967 James Bond spoof Casino Royale, his rise to fame continued when his play Don't Drink the Water was produced on Broadway. In 1969 Allen directed two short films for a CBS television special: Cupid's Shaft, a satire of Charlie Chaplin's City Lights, and an adaptation of Pygmalion. However, Allen's career as a filmmaker fully took flight with the gangster send-up Take the Money and Run (1969), in which he starred, co-wrote, and directed. His status as an auteur was further solidified with 1971's Bananas and the following year's episodic Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask). Allen next appeared in Herbert Ross's 1972 feature Play It Again, Sam, followed by his own return to the director's chair for 1973's futuristic comedy Sleeper. While remaining as outlandish as his previous work, 1975's period comedy Love and Death signaled Allen's desire for respect as a serious filmmaker.Allen's breakthrough was 1977's Best Picture-winning Annie Hall; bittersweet and deeply personal, it established a new kind of comedy -- soul-searching and sophisticated, even the film's nonlinear narrative was experimental. A major commercial hit as well as a critical success, Annie Hall announced a new era of intelligence and complexity in American comedies, but Allen himself subsequently turned away from humor completely with 1978's Interiors, a brooding drama inspired by the films of his hero Ingmar Bergman. While earning a pair of Oscar nominations, the feature received wildly mixed reviews.With 1979's Manhattan, however, Allen's comic impulses and his desire for respect met halfway, and the results were remarkable; an autobiographical ode to his beloved New York City set against the music of George Gershwin, the film, luminously shot in black-and-white, was widely hailed as a masterpiece, and remains one of his definitive works. Its follow-up, 1980's Stardust Memories, recalled Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 in its depiction of a filmmaker torn between his audience's desire for comedy and his own aspirations toward more fulfilling work. Bergman was again the inspiration behind 1982's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, the first of Allen's films to star new paramour Mia Farrow; his fascination with his own celebrity continued with 1983's Zelig, a technical tour de force combining new material with vintage newsreel footage.After 1984's modest character comedy Broadway Danny Rose, Allen mounted The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), a tribute to Buster Keaton's landmark Sherlock, Jr. The next year's brilliant Hannah and Her Sisters won favorable comparisons to Chekhov, and earned Allen his second Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The following year, he released Radio Days, his most sweetly comic effort in years; however, he subsequently entered into another Bergman-like phase, directing two back-to-back 1988 dramas -- September and Another Woman -- which failed to find favor with audiences or critics. The penetrating Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), on the other hand, ended the decade on a high note, scoring three Academy Award nominations.In the 1990s, Allen settled comfortably into the role he'd begun assuming during the previous decade; working with limited budgets, he made exactly the films he wanted to make regardless of current trends, with a steady and dependable cult audience to keep his career successfully afloat. Both 1990's Alice and 1992's Shadows and Fog were negligible at best, but he returned to form with Husbands and Wives, a seriocomic, cinéma vérité look at a crumbling marriage. The reality of the film soon became apparent when he and Farrow suffered a very public breakup in the wake of revelations that Allen had begun dating Farrow's adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn (whom he later married).In the wake of his personal turmoil, Allen returned to filmmaking, enlisting Diane Keaton for 1993's Manhattan Murder Mystery. In 1994, he returned to critics' good graces with the period comedy Bullets Over Broadway, which garnered an impressive seven Oscar nominations, while 1995's Mighty Aphrodite scored two more Academy nods. In 1996, Allen directed his first-ever musical comedy, Everyone Says I Love You, which found some favor with audiences and generally positive reviews from critics. However, Deconstructing Harry followed in 1997 to vehemently mixed reviews, as did 1998's Celebrity, leading many critics to wonder if Allen was entering another phase in his long and varied career.Almost in direct response to these sentiments, Allen released a string of lighthearted films, beginning with the critically acclaimed Sweet and Lowdown in 1999. A mock-docudrama look at a Django Reinhardt-like jazz musician, the film snagged Oscar nominations for Sean Penn and his co-star Samantha Morton. After Lowdown, Allen entered into a multi-picture deal with DreamWorks Pictures -- his most significant alliance with a studio since his fruitful collaboration with Orion throughout the 1980s. 2000's Small Time Crooks, a modestly scaled comedy evoking Born Yesterday and Big Deal on Madonna Street, was the first of these pictures, enjoying a healthy run at the box office and decent reviews. Allen's next pair of films, Anything Else and Melinda and Melinda, continued his trend of mixed-reviewed comedies, but in 2005, he changed the setting of his work to Britain and delivered what many considered his best film in years with the dark drama Match Point. Starring Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, the picture netted a Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, Allen's first in nearly a decade. Perhaps hoping she might be his lucky charm, the filmmaker cast Johansson again in the following year's so-so mystery-comedy Scoop, and continued to explore the dark corners of the other side of the Atlantic with the star-studded Cassandra's Dream in 2007. A string of uneven follow-ups ensued, many of which extended Allen's newfound interest in filming outside of the U.S. - such as the earthy, Spain-set romantic comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) and the lighthearted Midnight in Paris (2011), a fantasy with a time travel twist that recalled Allen's classic short story The Kugelmass Episode. Midnight was rapturously received by the critics, bringing the writer-director some of his finest reviews since Sweet and Lowdown and becoming his biggest box office hit ever. On top of all that popular success, the movie earned a Best Picture Oscar nomination, and Allen garnered his 15th nod for writing as well as his seventh for Best Director. He also captured nominations for directing from the DGA and the Golden Globes, and writing nominations from the WGA as well as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. When all was said and done, Allen won the Oscar for Best Writing and the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. But Allen was soon onto his next project, an ensemble comedy called To Rome with Love.