2008 was a intense year leaving the nation in complete financial shambles and causing many to find alternative ways in making ends meet by following their passions and giving corporate America the middle finger salute. As we continue in 2009 and become the change that we need, we bring you some of latest creative influences, rebels and mavericks that are all about change beyond the next four years. Check out our list and pay close attention because we want to be the ones to say, “We told you so!”
Kat Dennings
Photo by Paolo Pellegrin
Kat Dennings. She’s the kind of girl we all wish we could be best friends with. She exudes the ultimate combination of wit and sarcastic humor that’s tucked neatly inside an approachable, down-to-earth package. At 22, she’s nothing like her Hollywood peers – and it’s because she’s so comfortable with who she is. It’s one of the many reasons we all find Dennings’ character – and the characters she plays – to be so magnetic.
Born and raised just outside of Philadelphia, Dennings relocated to LA with her family in 2002, when she decided to pursue acting full time. Though her parents considered her career choice to be “the worst idea ever” (Interview, August 2007), Dennings went on to snag roles in Sex and the City, ER, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and most recently, Charlie Bartlett and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. She told Interview magazine, “Acting is the only thing I consistently love.” And we consistently love to watch her. In 2009, she’ll appear in Shorts, a dark children’s film directed by Robert Rodriguez and Arlen Faber and Defendor, a superhero film starring Woody Harrelson and Sandra Oh.
The icing on the cake, when it comes to Dennings, is all in the details. She runs her own blog (www.katdennings.com), where she notes her love of author Haruki Murakami, David Bowie, baby animals, and cheese, amongst others things. She also posts her own video blogs on YouTube (www.youtube.com/katdennings) and can be followed on Twitter (“OfficialKat”) where she describes herself as “officially insane” in her bio. Through each of these mediums, we are given a more personal invitation to get to know Dennings – her random thoughts, relatable day-to-day experiences and unique charisma – open the door to a personality that is oh-so-appealing, and in many ways reminiscent of a piece of ourselves.
Russell Brand
The Beatles. The Office. Fish and chips. It’s often been stated that Americans like most things British, and Russell Brand is no exception. The 33-year-old comedian shot to fame in his native England with his edgy, truth-be-told act, which he recently brought across the pond. The wild-haired, tight pants-wearing comedian introduced himself to Americans in last year’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which he played rock star Aldous Snow. From there, Brand went on to host the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. He’s recently been seen working the late night talk show rounds promoting his just-passed Comedy Central special and new book, My Booky Wook.
Although 2008 was a breakthrough year for Brand, he is still not widely known in the US. However, 2009 is when that all changes. Hollywood has taken note of Brand’s unique style and unforgiving comedy. Makers of The Simpsons have shown interest in incorporating the comedian in a future episode; but perhaps the most exciting prospect for Brand is in the circulating rumors that he is being considered to play Jack Sparrow’s brother in the fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise-a role that those who know Brand might agree he was born to play. (Brand has stated that due to a packed schedule, he may not be able to accept an offer to play the part.) Other future projects include a remake of the 1981 film Arthur, starring opposite Anthony Hopkins, and a role in Julie Taymor’s The Tempest, based on Shakespeare’s play and starring Hollywood heavyweights Helen Mirren, Alfred Molina, and Chris Cooper. And for those who loved him in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, prepare yourselves for Brand’s reprisal of his rock star character in the 2010 release Get Him to the Greek, with Jonah Hill.
Josh Peck
From Nickelodeon goofball to drug dealer. Not everyone can successfully tackle both roles, but fortunately for Josh Peck, he’s not just anyone. The versatile actor gained early fame on the kids’ TV network, notably on Amanda Bynes’s sketch comedy starring vehicle The Amanda Show, before taking the helm of his own popular sitcom, Drake & Josh. Peck’s precise comedic timing and physical bits put him in his audience’s favor, as he earned a Kids’ Choice Award nomination in 2008 for Favorite Television Actor. But the actor is all grown up, and the now 22-year-old has been testing his dramatic chops playing a bully and drug dealer in indie flicks Mean Creek (2004) and The Wackness (2008), respectively.
Peck has provided the voice of Eddie in the Ice Age movies, and he will return for the third installment, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Another upcoming project includes a role in Safety Glass, starring Hilary Duff and Molly Shannon. Following in the footsteps of Shia LaBeouf and Keenan Thompson-both of which have successfully made the transition from kids’ TV to mainstream movies and television-Peck undoubtedly has a long career ahead of him. Look for him to make bigger waves sooner than later.
Janelle Monae
Janelle Monae posses something beyond greatness that most performers you see today would not have the heart to think of. Keeping on her own path with her own sound comes this Kansas born, Atlanta-based crooner with a style comparable to Judy Garland and Lauryn Hill, in our eyes she’s indescribable, although have being deemed the female Andre 3000 as they share similar gyrations in the heat of performing. You probably notice her from her trademark 1950’s honey-bun pompadour; Monae states “I have a machine that sculpts my hair just like the women in The Jetsons used”. Monae’s debut album Metropolis: The Chase Suite delivered a bash of uptempo blues and afro-punk and is sure to take you on a whim to the land of the unknown; for which she becomes Cindi Mayweather, an “Alpha Platinum 9000 android” who’s on the run because she’s fallen in love with a human, an act that is forbidden in Metropolis. Although Monae has created this fantasy world for us to visit, we’re sure you won’t want to leave.
Gardar Eide Einarsson
Photo by Daniel Armstrong
Coming all the way from Norway to school downtown New Yorkers on what’s really considered art is a brave task, obviously fear is something Gardar Eide Einarsson doesn’t know or cares to meet anytime soon. Growing up in Norway with heavy American influences got Einarsson interested in skateboarding and hardcore music, but the relationship between individualism and society or the lack of is what made him break away. A few of his exhibitions have stirred up some controversy with pieces such as his rotating neon sign at Art Basel Switzerland that read “JESUS SAVES”, Einarsson says his pieces are “a visual language of repression, but with a pinch of paranoia”, he finds it a bit hard to have come to this country as a outsider and not see the American myth as somehow tragic.
