Biographies

Kyra Sedgwick returns for a spectacular third season as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson on TNT's blockbuster series THE CLOSER, and this time she's carrying with her one of the industry's top prizes, the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series. This accomplished stage and screen actress has set the entertainment world buzzing with her portrait of an Atlanta detective transferred to Los Angeles to head up a squad that handles high-profile crimes. In addition to her Golden Globe win, she has earned two consecutive Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, an Emmy nomination and two Golden Satellite Awards for her stellar work on THE CLOSER.

On the big screen, Sedgwick will start opposite Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in The Game Plan, a comedy about an NFL player who learns he has a 7-year-old daughter from a previous relationship. It is slated to hit theaters in October.

Sedgwick most recently co-starred in and co-produced the independent film Loverboy, directed by multi-talented husband Kevin Bacon, who also directed her in the first half of a two-hour special episode of THE CLOSER this past December. Her other recent big-screen credits include Cavedweller, which she developed and produced and for which she received a 2005 Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress, and Nicole Kassell's award-winning The Woodsman, a dark drama co-starring Bacon that won the Jury Prize at the Deauville Film Festival, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival (in competition) and was showcased in Cannes as part of the 2004 Director's Fortnight line-up; and Rebecca Miller's Personal Velocity, which won the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.

Among Sedgwick's long list of feature film credits are Phenomenon, opposite John Travolta; What's Cooking, which opened the 2000 Sundance Film Festival; the romantic comedy Labor Pains; Critical Care, with James Spader and Albert Brooks; Oliver Ston'es Born on the Fourth of July; the Merchant-Ivory production of Mr. and Mrs. Bridge; Singles; Lemon Sky; Hearts & Souls; Montana, with Stanley Tucci, Robin Tunney and Philip Seymour Hoffman; and Losing Chase, which she executive-produced and in which she starred opposite Helen Mirren. She also co-starred in Fisher Stevens' Just a Kiss; Behind the Red Door, opposite Keifer Sutherland and Stockard Channing; and Secondhand Lions, co-starring Michael Caine, Robert Duvall and Haley Joel Osment.

On television, Sedgwick appeared in Joseph Sargent's Emmy-nominated Something the Lord Made for HBO. She also co-starred in the Emmy-nominated TNT movie Door to Door, opposite William H. Macy, Helen Mirren and Kathy Baker.

Sedgwick's theater credits include the The Culture Project's New York production of The Exonerated; a triumphant run of Nicholas Hytner's Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center; Ah Wilderness!, for which she won the Theater Award; and David Mamet's Oleanna, which garnered her a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and a Dramalouge Award.

J.K. Simmons has appeared in feature film, television and stage performances, but, before he achieved his success in acting, Simmons studied to become a composer at the University of Montana.

Simmons' feature-film credits include the Spider-Man movies; Hidalgo; The Ladykillers; The Mexican, with Brad Pitt; For Love of the Game; The Gift; Off the Map, Thank You for Smoking, First Snow, The Astronaut Farmer, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Rendition, and the upcoming Juno.

In addition to feature films, Simmons has played several guest-starring roles on award-winning series such as Arrested Development, nip/tuck, ER, Spin City and Law & Order. He played Vern Schillinger in Tom Fontana's OZ for six seasons on HBO.

Simmons' stage career includes Broadway performances of Guys and Dolls, A Few Good Men, Laughter on the 23rd Floor and Peter Pan, with the latter two touring nationally. His off-Broadway productions include Birds of Paradise and Das Barbecu.

Jon Tenney's professional career includes extensive work on stage, as well as in feature films and television. Tenney has acted in more than 150 plays, beginning his stage career with the national touring company of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing. He went on to play the title roles in Tartuffe and Romeo and Juliet.

Tenney launched his television career in a guest-starring role on Murphy Brown and has been a series regular on several shows, including the critically acclaimed series Brooklyn South. He has also had recurring roles on CSI and Will and Grace.

In addition to Tenney's television success, his film career was launched when he appeared in Watch It, opposite Tom Sizemore, John C. McGinley and Peter Gallagher. He went on to appear in Fools Rush In, co-starring Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek, and Showtime's original feature Twilight of the Golds, co-starring Jennifer Beals, Faye Dunaway and Brendan Fraser. He most recently starred opposite Albert Brooks in the independent film Looking for Comedy in the Muslin World and the Showtime movie Homecoming. He has also appeared in Crime & Punishment, Equal Justice and The Division and had roles in the critically acclaimed films Tombstone and Nixon. Other credits include Music from Another Room, With Friends Like These, Entropy and a starring role in the Sundance Film Festival Grand Prize winner You Can Count on Me, opposite Laura Linney and Matthew Broderick.

Corey Reynolds was born and raised in Richmond, VA., beginning his professional career at age 16 performing around his hometown.

He went on to perform in the national and international tours of the Broadway musicals Smokey Joe's Cafe and Saturday Night Fever, as well as regional performances of Parade and Avenue X. His feature-film debut was in the movie The Terminal, with Tom Hanks, after which he played a supporting role in Partners, with Julie Bowen.

Reynolds soon made his Broadway debut in the Tony-winning musical Hairspray, a performance that garnered him nominations for the Outer Circle Critics Award, the Drama Desk Award and the Tony Award.

Reynolds' television appearances include guest-starring roles on Without a Trace and Eve and a recurring role on The Guardian.

Robert Gossett was born in the Bronx and, after high school, landed his first professional gig in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest at the Mercer Arts Center in Greenwich Village.

Gossett went on to perform in Lloyd Richard's Broadway production of Fences, Hal Scott's A Raisin in the Sun and Donald McKayle's The Last Minstrel Show. Other notable theater performances include Manhattan Made Me, Sons and Fathers of Sons, A Soldier's Play and Colored People's Time, all of which were performed with the famed Negro Ensemble Company of New York.

Gossett's awards include the NAACP Theater Award for The Best Performance by a Male and the Dramalogue Best Actor Award for his performance in Indigo Blues, directed by his wife, Michele Gossett. In film, Gossett has starred with Jeff Bridges in Arlington Road, with John Travolta in White Man's Burden and The Spring in Her Step.

G.W. Bailer's career spans three decades and is a gallery of memorable and distinctive characterizations. A native Texan, he began his training at Texas Tech University and began his professional career at the prestigious Actor's Theatre of Louisville.

Bailey later traveled to Los Angeles, where he started his television career in a string of guest-starring roles on episodic series and also continued his stage work.

Among his series television credits are CSI, M*A*S*H, The Jeff Foxworthy Show and St. Elsewhere. Bailey also starred in several television movies, such as the award-winning Double Crossed and The Siege at Ruby Ridge.

Bailey's feature career began with Police Academy and flourished with starring roles in such films as Mannequin, Short Circuit, Burglar and Rustler's Thapsody, among others. Returning to academia in the mid 90's, he graduated from Texas State University in 1994 and served as artist-in-residence for several years, working occasionally in Hollywood and on the stage in New York.

Bailey last appeared at the State Theatre as Richard Nixon in Larry L. King's The Dead President Club, which he also directed. Most recently he appeared as the lead detective in the Showtime movie The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story and guest-starred on two episodes of the NBC series American Dreams.

With Broadway credits under his belt, Tony Denison made his momentous television debut starring in produce/director Michael Mann's critically acclaimed drama Crime Story. As Ray Luca in the one-hour television drama series, he received a fistful of kudos, including Time recognition as television's best villain of the 1980s.

Since then, Denison has appeared in more than two-dozen motion pictures, with Art of Revenge and Joel Bender's Independent feature Deadly being the most recent. Following Crime Story is an impressive list of television appearances, including notable guest-starring roles on such shows as CSI, Criminal Minds, Boston Legal, The District, J.A.G., Cold Case, The O.C., ER and Charmed.

He landed the role of recurring character Paul Harper in the one-hour television drama series The D.A., and audiences again were charmed by Denison in the series regular role of Head Coach Mike George in ESPN's first scripted series, Playmakers. In 2006, he landed the plum recurring role of the dad in Prison Break.

Michael Paul Chan's professional acting training at the American Conservatory Theatre got him started on a journey that has taken him all over the world. China, Thailand, Israel and the United Kingdom are just some of the locales he has worked in the past several years. His varied interests and travels have served him well in his acting career as his roles most often cross both cultural and class backgrounds.

Chan's film credits include director Tony Scott's Spy Game, as a member of American Central Intelligence. Most recently, he starred as Dr. Louis Roh in Mrs. Harris, with Sir Ben Kingley and Annette Bening. Before that he was in the critically acclaimed Michael Mann TV series Robbery Homicide Division. He also appeared in Michael Mann's The Insider and Laurence Fishburne's Once in the Life. Prior to that, he was in the critically acclaimed The Joy Luck Club. For director Joel Schumacher, he has appeared in Falling Down, with Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall, and the last two installments of the Batman franchise. His ear for dialects led Oliver Stone to cast him in Heaven and Earth.

One of Chan's favority roles was that of a turn-of-the-century saloon keeper in the American Playhouse production of Thousand Pieces of Gold, featuring the story of the first Chinese to come to America.

On television, Chan spent two seasons as the voice of Jimmy Ho, the Korean-Soul-Brotha, on the animated series The PJ's starring Eddie Murphy. His theatre background includes the New York Shakespeare Festival, Mark Taper Forum, Milwaukee Rep and the East-West Players. Chan is a founding member of the Asian-American Theatre Company.

Raymond Cruz has appeared in more than 30 feature films and has worked extensively in television, exhibiting a wide range of characters.

Cruz's work in feature films includes roles in Havoc, with Anne Hathaway; Training Day, with Denzel Washington; Collateral Damage, with Arnold Schwarzenegger; and Alien: Resurrection, with Sigourney Weaver.

Most recently, he appeared in 10 Tricks and Brother in Arms. Other notable films include The Last Marshal, The Rock, The Substitute and Clear and Present Danger. On television, Cruz has guest-starred on numerous hit shows, including CSI: Miami, The Division, ni/tuck, NYPD Blue, The Practice and The X-Files.

He has an extensive stage background and is also the recipient of the Drama Critics award.

Gina Raver's professional acting credits span from the theater stage of off-Broadway to the big screen of Hollywood. Her film credits include Soul Food, Kiss the Girls and Chasing Papi. Other film credits include Get on the Bus, Showgirls, One Mile and One Lonely Heart. For her work, Ravera has garnered nominations for an Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actress, an ALMA Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Made-for-Television series and a NAMIC Award.

Ravera has also had great success on the small screen with guest starring and recurring roles on such television shows as ER, Boston Legal, Everwood, NYPD Blue and Frasier. Also to her credit are the critically acclaimed television movies The Temptations and The Soul of the Game. She recently starred as Jennifer Pryor, opposite Eddie Griffin, in Showtime's Pryoer Offenses, based on the life of the late Richard Pryor.

Ravera's official acting career began on the regional theater stage in San Francisco. She would then work on the Los Angeles stage in houses such as the Marc Taper Forum LATC and from there, New Jersey Crossroads theatre and off Broadway. In addition, Ravera is classically trained in dance and voice.