John Turturro
Luzhin
John Turturro plays Alexander Luzhin, an eccentric chess Grand Master.

An acclaimed actor and film maker, Turturro is a long-time collaborator with the Coen Brothers, having worked on their forthcoming ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ and appeared in ‘The Big Lebowski’, ‘Barton Fink’, for which he won the Best Actor Award in Cannes in 1991, and ‘Miller’s Crossing’.

His most recent credits include Sally Potter’s ‘The Man Who Cried’, co-starring Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci and Cate Blanchett, Tim Robbins’ ‘Cradle Will Rock’ with Susan Sarandon and Emily Watson, Arto Pargaminian’s ‘2000 and None’ and Doug McGrath’s ‘Company Man’ co-starring with Sigourney Weaver and Woody Allen.

Turturro has directed and starred in ‘Illuminata’ and ‘Mac’, which he also co-wrote and which won the Camera d’Or at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. He has also won the Gotham IFP Award in 1991 and the Piper Heidseick Award at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival for excellence in his body of work.

A regular in the films of Spike Lee, he has performed in ‘Clockers’, ‘He Got Game’, ‘Mo’ Better Blues’, ‘Do the Right Thing’, ‘Jungle Fever’ and ‘Girl 6’. Other film credits include Allison Anders’ ‘Grace of My Heart’, Diane Keaton’s ‘Unstrung Heros’, Robert Redford’s ‘Quiz Show’ for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe, Peter Weir’s ‘Fearless’, Woody Allen’s ‘Hannah and her Sisters’ and Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Color of Money’ and ‘Raging Bull’.

Theatre credits include ‘Danny and the Deep Blue Sea’, ‘The Chairs’, ‘Italian American Reconciliation’, ‘Troilus and Cressida’, ‘The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui’ and ‘Waiting for Godot’.

Emily Watson
Natalia
Emily Watson plays Natalia, an independent Russian aristocrat who falls in love with Luzhin.

Watson’s film debut was in Lars von Trier’s ‘Breaking the Waves’ for which she was Academy Award nominated and won the New York Critics Circle Best Actress Award, the British Newcomer of the Year Award at the London Film Critics Circle and the Felix Award for Best Actress. She was also Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated for her role in Anand Tucker’s ‘Hilary & Jackie’ co-starring Rachel Griffiths.

Other film credits include Philip Saville’s ‘Metroland’ with Christian Bale, Jim Sheridan’s ‘The Boxer’ starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Tim Robbins’ ‘Cradle Will Rock’ with Susan Sarandon and John Turturro, Alan Parker’s ‘Angela’s Ashes’ with Robert Carlyle and Alan Rudolph’s ‘Trixie’ with Nick Nolte.

Her television credits include BBC productions of ‘The Mill on the Floss’ and ‘A Summer Day’s Dream’.

Watson has performed a number of roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company including Peter Hall’s ‘All’s Well that Ends Well’, Max Stafford-Clark’s ‘A Jovial Crew’ and Michael Attenborough’s ‘The Changeling’. Other credits include Lynsey Posner’s ‘The Lady from the Sea’, Max Stafford-Clark’s ‘The Three Sisters’ which toured in India and a number of fringe productions.

Watson trained at the Drama Studio in London.

Geraldine James
Vera
Geraldine James plays Vera, Natalia’s mother who is concerned about her daughter’s welfare.

James’ most recent film credits include Martin Duffy’s ‘The Testimony of Taliesin Jones’ starring Jonathan Pryce, Reverge Anselmo’s ‘The Lover’s Prayer’ starring Kirsten Dunst and Jon Amiel’s ‘The Man Who Knew Too Little’ starring Bill Murray.

Her numerous other film credits include Richard Attenborough’s ‘Gandhi’ starring Ben Kingsley, Mel Smith’s ‘The Tall Guy’ starring Jeff Goldblum, Pen Densham’s ‘Moll Flanders’, Mary McGuckian’s ‘Words upon the Window Pane’, David Elfick’s ‘No Worries’, Peter Hall’s ‘She’s Been Away’ starring Peggy Ashcroft for which she won the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival, Stuart Orme’s ‘The Wolves of Willoughby Chase’ and Claude Watham’s ‘Sweet William’ starring Jenny Agutter.

James’ theatre credits include Peter Hall’s productions of ‘Cymbeline’, ‘Lysistrata’ and ‘The Merchant of Venice’ which transferred to Broadway and won James a Best Actress Drama Desk Award and a Tony Award nomination. Other credits include Lynsey Posner’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ and Joseph Blatchley’s ‘Hedda Gabler’.

James has been nominated for a number of BAFTA awards for her work in television including ‘The Jewel in the Crown’, ‘Band of Gold’ and ‘Dummy’. She has also appeared in, amongst others, ‘Kavanagh QC’, ‘Inspector Morse’, ‘The Healer’, ‘The History Man’, ‘Stanley and the Women’ and ‘Blott on the Landscape’.

Stuart Wilson
Valentinov
Stuart Wilson plays Valentinov, Luzhin’s nemesis.

Wilson’s films credits include Martin Campbell’s ‘Mask of Zorro’ with Antonio Banderas, Michael Bay’s ‘The Rock’ starring Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery, Roman Polanski’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ co-starring Sigourney Weaver, Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Age of Innocence’ starring Daniel Day Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer, Gary Marshall’s ‘Exit to Eden’ and Richard Donner’s ‘Lethal Weapon 3’.

Television credits include ‘Prime Suspect 4 & 6’, ‘The Jewel in the Crown’, ‘Anna Karenina’, ‘I Claudius’, ‘We’ll Meet Again’ and the television films ‘Romance on the Orient Express’, ‘Rose Hill’, ‘Death of a Polish Priest’ and ‘Ivanhoe’.

Wilson’s theatre credits include ‘The Three Sisters’ at the Queens Theatre, the Almeida production of ‘Deliberate Death of a Polish Priest’, The Royal Court production of ‘The Overgrown Path’ and ‘More Light’, ‘China’, ‘Californian Dog Fight’ and ‘Devour the Snow’ for director Simon Stokes at the Bush Theatre.

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