Advanced search

Sydney Greenstreet's father was a leather merchant with eight children. Sydney left home at age 18 to make his fortune as a Ceylon tea planter, but drought forced him out of business and back to England. He managed a brewery and, to escape boredom, took acting lessons. His stage debut was as a murderer in a 1902 production of "Sherlock Holmes". From then on he appeared in numerous plays in England and the US, working through most of the 1930s with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne at the Theatre Guild. His parts ranged from musical comedy to Shakespeare. His film debut, occurring when he was 62 years old and weighing nearly 300 pounds, was as Kasper Guttman in the classic The Maltese Falcon (1941), with Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre. He teamed with Lorre in eight more movies after that. In eight years he made 24 films, all while beset by diabetes and Bright's disease. In 1949 he retired from films, and died four years later. He was 75.

From a working class family in the small town of Sandwich, England, Justin Stanley discovered a passion for cinema and filmmaking at a young age. This passion led him to organise a London-based film festival which garnered a Stateside job offer as an assistant in the film industry from one of the festival's VIP guests. He jumped at the chance and hasn't looked back since and now counts Los Angeles as his second home.

As an assistant he worked alongside some of the most respected producers and directors in the business. It was during a later stint in motion picture and television creative development that he discovered a knack for writing, which then became his career of choice. He has now written or co-written projects for companies like Universal Pictures, Arnon Milchan's New Regency, Marc Platt Productions, Atlas Independent, Fox Television and HBO, which involved producers and filmmakers such as David Kirschner (Child's Play, Frailty), Oscar winner Arnold Kopelson (Platoon, Eraser), and visionary director Timur Bekmembatov (Night Watch, Day Watch, Wanted).

Most recently, he co-wrote the thriller "Black Butterfly", a remake of the French thriller, "Papillon Noir". Starring Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Piper Perabo, produced by Marc Frydman & Rod Lurie (The Contender, Nothing But The Truth, The Outpost) and Silvio Muraglia (After The Wedding) and directed by Brian Goodman (What Doesn't Kill You), "Black Butterfly" was released worldwide, featured at the prestigious Raindance, Belgrade and Madrid International Film Festivals (with Antonio Banderas winning "Best Actor" awards at the Madrid International Film Festival and Ischia Global Film & Music Festival) and drew positive reviews from the likes of The Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter and NPR's FilmWeek with Claudia Puig & Wade Major.

He is represented by Chris Cowles at alldayeveryday.

Carl Cieka was born in 1964 in Sandwich, Kent, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Life on Mars (2006), South Riding (2011) and Coronation Street (1960).

Julia Stuart was born in 1867 in Sandwich, Kent, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Life's Whirlpool (1916), Feathertop (1912) and The Common Law (1916). She died on 24 January 1949 in The Bronx, New York, USA.

Katherine Stewart was born on 6 May 1867 in Sandwich, Kent, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Great Adventure (1921), Please Help Emily (1917) and How Women Love (1922). She died on 24 January 1949 in New York City, New York, USA.

'Laddie' Lucas was born on 2 September 1915 in Sandwich, Kent, England, UK. He died on 28 March 1998.