If you know anything about Limité, you know that we don’t follow the norm nor do we care what the ‘others’ glorify. Awards are usually given out to those who’ve sold a certain amount of music albums or for their performance in a big budget movie in the last fiscal year, but what about celebrating someone’s entire career and being recognized. That’s what we’ve done in our 1st Annual Limité Honors Awards. The individuals below have entertained us on more than one occasion and we deem it necessary to give respect when respect is due. Enjoy!
Kathryn Bigelow
by Janice Perez
On the eve of International Women’s Day, Kathryn Bigelow made history by becoming the first female to be awarded the much-coveted Best Director award in the Oscars’ 82-year history. As much as this fact has kept the blogosphere frantic in the 24 hours before the award show’s broadcast, there is much to say about Bigelow’s real merit – that she is a prolific storyteller. Regardless of the hype surrounding her breaking-genre conventions with her stereotypical “guy movies,” Bigelow is a brilliant filmmaker deserving of all accolades. Her films generally tend to be kinetic and action-packed with male protagonists dominating the screen. What’s notable about her characters, though, is albeit their overt masculinity, they are wrought with a sincere, feminine side that doesn’t seem unbelievable in real life.
Her next film project, another collaboration with The Hurt Locker screenwriter Mark Boal, will tackle an adventure set in a few countries in South America, with the working title Triple Frontier. Word out on Tinseltown is that Kathryn turned down the chance to work on the next Spider-Man sequel so that she could focus on the South American action thriller. How’s that for women filmmakers coming a long way?
Zach Galifianakis
by Stephanie Dawson
When you think of unorthodox comedians, Zach Galifianakis is probably one of the first names that come to mind. He is known for near anti-comedy in his performances: reading one-liners while expertly playing piano concertos, or making jokes with flip charts, or even just standing on the stage for an uncomfortable amount of time completely silent before confessing that he forgot what he wanted to say. So why is Limité honoring him? However off the beaten track he’s been in the past, Galifianakis has ventured into the mainstream with his role in the Golden Globe-winning most successful R-rated comedy, The Hangover.
Galifianakis was born in Wilkesboro, North Carolina to a mother who ran a community arts center and a father who sold heating oil. He started his stand-up performances in venues like hamburger joints and concert halls. He appeals to younger audiences, perhaps because his comedy mixes traditional standing delivery, physical comedy, and musical performance in rapid succession all with the appearance of being unplanned or rehearsed. He is unique – often uncomfortable – but his fans love him for it.
Galifianakis’s television career began on the short-lived Boston Common. He went on to appear in several films, including Corky Romano, Bubble Boy, and Into the Wild. He gave the world a unique video for Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” and a hilarious series of Absolut commercials co-starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim as three sexagenarian women (Ã la Golden Girls) with deep anger issues who burst into violence on set. Galifianakis has appeared on Reno 911, The Sarah Silverman Program, Dog Bites Man, Tom Goes to the Mayor, and was a headliner for the Comedians of Comedy tour. He continues to produce and host a segment on Funny or Die entitled “Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis,” where he interviews celebrities on a small set with two large ferns. Future film roles include Dinner for Schmucks with Paul Rudd and Due Date with Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx.
Last year was really a break-out year for Galifianakis because he emerged from stand-up phenom and “bit-part-in-a-well-established-comedy-guy” to comedic lead material. Limité honors Galifianakis this year for his hilarious turn as Alan Garner, the awkward brother of the bride in The Hangover, his starring role as Ray Hueston in the hit HBO comedy Bored to Death, and as one of the few scripted layoff victims in Up in the Air.
Woody Harrelson
by Daniel Quitério
Whether it’s by coincidence or a case of art imitating life, Limité honoree Woody Harrelson’s career was launched as the result of one key role that, perhaps, borrowed elements of his own life. Harrelson was born in Texas and raised in Ohio, but he attended college in Hanover, Indiana, the same town that his iconic Cheers character Woody Boyd called home. (And, of course, there’s also the name shared by both actor and character.)
The young actor Harrelson moved to New York City in the mid-’80s, where he took his first job as an understudy in Neil Simon’s Tony-winning Best Play, Biloxi Blues. But Harrelson didn’t have to wait long before stepping into his own spotlight when he joined the cast of the widely popular sit-com Cheers, playing the loveable and naïve farm boy-turned-bartender for eight seasons. For this role, Harrelson earned five Emmy nominations and one win in 1989. He was later awarded a sixth nomination for reprising the same character in the Cheers spinoff Frasier.
After Cheers, Harrelson turned almost exclusively to feature films, starring in such memorable 1990s films as White Men Can’t Jump (1992), Indecent Proposal (1993), and Natural Born Killers (1994). In 1997, the actor received his first Oscar nomination (Best Actor) for his portrayal of the Hustler publisher in The People vs. Larry Flynt.
Last year, Harrelson’s impact was felt in theatres with a trifecta of performances in Zombieland, 2012, and The Messenger. It was for the latter film that some critics agree Harrelson delivered his most powerful performance to date. In The Messenger, he plays a soldier with the unenviable task of going door to door, informing next of kin that their loved ones were lost in battle. For his efforts, Harrelson received Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Academy Award nominations. He also won the Best Supporting Actor prize by the National Board of Review and at Film Independent’s Spirit Awards.
In his own time, Harrelson is a prominent advocate for the legalization of marijuana. He is also an environmentalist and vegan who subscribes to “raw foodism,” a lifestyle that promotes the consumption of un-cooked and un-processed food as a majority of the diet.
Harrelson’s upcoming projects include parts in The Other Side and Bunraku, in which he is subject to another coincidence: playing the part of “The Bartender.”
John Krasinski
by Janice Perez
Last year was a big year for John Krasinski. Apart from performing some unforgettable roles in a handful of indie and mainstream movies and screening his film directorial debut, Krasinski made headlines upon the announcement of his engagement to actress Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria). Krasinski is more famously known for playing Jim Halpert in the NBC sitcom The Office. He’s taken bit roles in movies thereafter, but 2009 was a striking year for him, in which he starred alongside Maya Rudolph for the Sam Mendes comedy-drama Away We Go, as well as with heavyweight actors Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin in the Nancy Meyers’ hit It’s Complicated.
During last year’s Sundance Film Festival, Krasinski’s writing and directing debut, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, opened and was selected for the US Dramatic Competition category. This year begins with Krasinski providing the voice for Sir Lancelot in Shrek Forever After, once again. And as of present time, there is much speculation going on over his being cast as the lead in the highly anticipated Marvel release of The First Avenger: Captain America.
Ken Jeong
by Stephanie Dawson
He’s a doctor. I mean, really, he’s a doctor. The first time you saw Ken Jeong may have been as the doctor in Knocked Up or the selfish King Argotron in Role Models. Perhaps you saw him for the first time in last summer’s hit comedy The Hangover or the sleeper hit NBC sit-com Community. In all of these cases, Jeong is not the lead, but he sure is a scene stealer.
Jeong was born in Detroit, MI and raised in Greensboro, NC, where his father was a professor at North Carolina A&T University. In primary and high schools, he exhibited all the signs of a gifted student, from participating in student council to the orchestra and the High IQ team. He went on to complete his undergrad. degree at Duke and a medical degree from UNC-Chapel Hill. While completing his residency in New Orleans, he honed his stand-up comedy routine. He won the Big Easy Laff-Off, which turned out to be his big break because NBC President Brandon Tartikoff and Improv founder Budd Friedman were judges. They encouraged him to move to Los Angeles. Jeong followed their advice right onto the stages of the Improv and Laugh Factory.
Jeong has appeared on several television shows including hits like The Office, Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Two and a Half Men, The Shield, and American Dad. Knocked Up was his first feature, but in 2009, alone, he appeared in All About Steve, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, Funny People, How to Make Love to a Woman, Couples Retreat, and the much celebrated (and very naked) role of Mr. Leslie Chow in The Hangover. He also is a series regular on Community, where he plays the enigmatic Señor Chang. Whew! If that impressive slate alone doesn’t deserve some recognition, the fact that he’s a doctor should tip the scales.
Mo’Nique
by Stephanie Dawson
Mo’Nique has been a force to reckon with since she first stepped on a stage (dared by her brother) back in 1994 in her hometown of Baltimore, MD. She established herself on the UPN series The Parkers as Nikki Parker, a single mother and high school dropout who returns to school and has the hots for one of the teachers. Performing double duty, she continued to showcase her comedy skills for such programs as Showtime at the Apollo, Russell Simmons Def Comedy Jam, Comic View, and venues such as Montreal Comedy Festival and Uptown Comedy Club while working on The Parkers.
Mo’Nique nabbed film roles in comedies Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, Beerfest, 3 Strikes, Soul Plane, Two Can Play that Game, and Half Past Dead. She showed her dramatic abilities as the crooked but saucy government employee in Domino. On stage, Mo’Nique was one of the first African American women to perform in The Vagina Monologues.
She and fellow female comedians filmed The Queens of Comedy to match the very popular Original Kings of Comedy. She hosted three seasons of the reality show Mo’Nique’s FAT Chance, a beauty pageant for plus-sized women. She hosted Showtime at the Apollo and her own radio talk show. She’s also penned the book Skinny Women Are Evil: Notes of a Big Girl in a Small-Minded World and a cook book Skinny Cooks Can’t be Trusted. She currently hosts her own late night show on BET, aptly titled The Mo’Nique Show.
There should be no surprise why Mo’Nique is being honored this year. Her amazing performance as Mary, the abusive mother of the title character in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire has earned her the Sundance Special Jury Prize, the Critics Choice Award, and supporting role honors from the Golden Globes, SAG, BAFTA, and just about every existing critics organization. Time magazine dubbed her performance as “Best Female Performance of 2009.” And then there’s her Best Supporting Actress Oscar win.
Gabourey Sidibe
by Daniel Quitério
Her name is Gabourey Sidibe, but you can call her Gabby. The 26-year-old New York native exploded onto the scene in 2009 playing the title character in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. Despite no previous acting experience, Gabby auditioned for the part on a whim, perhaps not realizing how a “well-timed” whim could change a person’s life.
Prior to her acting debut, Gabby studied psychology in college, a subject that no doubt helped her enter the mindset of an illiterate, teen mom who’s pregnant with her second child by her own father (all the stuff that makes up an Oscar-caliber role). In a November 2009 article, Gabby said, “I had an idea about Precious. Abused children want to hide themselves. She doesn’t want to be seen. She had nothing to smile about until she had her baby. Then she decided she was going to love her baby no matter what” (MercuryNews.com). The role required Gabby to completely transform herself from her normal, articulate, “all smiles” disposition into a shy, unconfident victim of both her parents’ abuse. And she nailed it. Knowing nothing about the actress, one could easily fall into the trap of equating her with her character-but this is a mistake. Just one view of an interview with her and that perception is proven false. Gabby is playful and freely admits her undying love for ‘NSync-a total 180-degree turn from her character.
For her unforgettable and emotional portrayal as Precious, Gabby has been honored with Oscar, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, and the National Board of Review recognized her with the award for Best Breakthrough Performance. She has also won the Best Female Lead Spirit Award. Eager to prove her versatility, she will next be playing a bully in Yelling to the Sky, currently scheduled for a release later this year.
