Sam Wood
Following a two-year apprenticeship under Cecil B. DeMille as assistant director, Samuel Grosvenor Wood had the good fortune to have assigned to him two of the biggest stars at Paramount during their heyday: Wallace Reid (between 1919 and 1920) and Gloria Swanson (from 1921 to 1923). By the time his seven-year contract with Paramount expired, the former real estate dealer had established himself as one of Hollywood's most reliable (if not individualistic) feature directors. Not bad for a former real estate broker and small-time theatrical thesp. In 1927, Wood joined MGM and remained under contract there until 1939. During this tenure he was very much in sync with the studio's prevalent style of production, reliably turning out between two and three films a year (of which the majority were routine subjects). Most of his films in the 1920s were standard fare and it was not until he directed two gems with The Marx Brothers, A Night at the Opera (1935) and A Day at the Races (1937) that his career picked up again. Looking at the finished product it is difficult to reconcile this to Groucho Marx finding Wood "rigid and humourless". Maybe, this assessment was due to Wood being vociferously right-wing in his personal views which would not have sat well with the famous comedian. His testimonies in 1947 before the House Un-American Activities Committee certainly gained Wood more enemies than friends within the industry. Regardless of his personality or his habitually having to shoot each scene twenty times over, Wood turned out some very powerful dramatic films during the last ten years of his life, beginning with Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939). This popular melodrama earned him his first Academy Award nomination. At RKO, he coaxed an Oscar-winning performance out of Ginger Rogers (and was again nominated himself) for Kitty Foyle (1940). Ronald Reagan gave, arguably, his best performance in Kings Row (1942) under Wood's direction. His most expensive (and longest, at 170 minutes) assignment took him back to Paramount. This was Ernest Hemingway's Spanish Civil War drama For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), bought for $150,000 (De Mille was originally slated as director). In spite of editorial incongruities and the relatively uneven pace, the picture turned out to be the biggest (and last) hit of Wood's career. Sam Wood died of a heart attack on September 22 1949. He has a star on the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard.
Sam Wood-Dow
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Sam Woodward
Sam Woodward is known for Closed Circuit (2013), Safeguard (2020) and Spooks (2002).
Sam Woolf
Sam Woolf is known for The Witcher (2019), C.B. Strike (2017) and Humans (2015).
Sam Worthington
Samuel Henry John Worthington was born August 2, 1976 in Surrey, England. His parents, Jeanne (Martyn) and Ronald Worthington, a power plant employee, moved the family to Australia when he was six months old, and raised him and his sister Lucinda in Warnbro, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Worthington graduated from NIDA (Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art) in 1998 at the age of 22. He received critical acclaim for his portrayal of "Arthur Wellesley" in his first professional role in the Belvoir Street Theatre production "Judas Kiss" (directed by Neil Armfield). He then went on to work in Australian television on such shows as Water Rats (1996) and "Backburner" and then on the American TV show JAG (1995)'s 100th episode (Boomerang: Part 1). Worthington made his film debut in the highly acclaimed Australian movie Bootmen (2000), a film about a troop of "tap dogs". Minor roles proceeded in Hart's War (2002) and A Matter of Life (2001) before he was cast in another hailed Australian drama, Dirty Deeds (2002), co-starring Toni Collette and John Goodman. The following year, he starred in yet another Aussie film, opposite David Wenham in Gettin' Square (2003). The director of the film, Jonathan Teplitzky, originally tested actors who were up to 8 years older than the then-27-year-old Worthington. Teplitzky wasn't sure Sam "could convincingly play a tough guy and also have elements of the leading man about him", but in the end Teplitzky decided he was "fantastic", and had "David playing the older, slightly more streetwise accomplice" proclaiming "it worked". But it wasn't until 2004 that Sam got his big break. He was offered the starring role in Cate Shortland's acclaimed Australian drama Somersault (2004), opposite Abbie Cornish. The film made a clean sweep of the Australian Film Institute awards in 2004, winning in 13 film categories - the first time this has ever occurred in the award's history. Worthington also won the AFI award for Best Male Actor. Worthington's career took off internationally when he was cast as Jake Sully in James Cameron's Avatar (2009) and as Marcus Wright, a cyborg who assists the humans despite their suspicions of him in Terminator Salvation (2009). Worthington soon became a household name, and starring in high profile films Clash of the Titans (2010), The Debt (2010), Texas Killing Fields (2011), Man on a Ledge (2012), and Wrath of the Titans (2012). Worthington also provided the voice for the Call of Duty: Black Ops video games. In 2010, Worthington started a production company, Full Clip Productions, with two of his close friends John Schwarz and Michael Schwarz. The company teamed with Radical studios to print two graphic novels Damaged and Patriots.
Sam Wray
Sam Wray is known for The Shane Adventures (2014) and Everything Now (2023).
Sam Wrench
Sam Wrench is a Director working across live music, documentary and branded content. Sam works in both U.S & UK and is freelance. His Mary J. Blige feature documentary premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival 2015, and after much critical acclaim his 90' film capturing the amazing personal story behind Blur's unexpected recent reunion won an NME Award for Best Music Film. In 2017 he directed YouTube's Best.Cover.Ever and Sky 1's Sing Ultimate Acapella hosted by Cat Deeley. His branded content work has encompassed a diverse range of clients and mediums - from artist centric documentary films for MasterCard to the worlds first VR Single Performance Live Stream for Samsung with Years & Years as well as acting as Creative Director on the award winning follow up Royal Blood x Samsung. He recently directed KFC's VS Live Stream. Similarly he has directed branded content for Footlocker, Adidas, Toyota, NBA, McDonald's and Converse amongst others. He has directed music festivals featuring artists as diverse as Major Lazer at Loveboxx and Mumford & Sons in front of 60,000 at Hyde Park as well as a Netflix comedy special for Jimmy Carr and the Topshop Fashion Show. He has worked with a diverse list of artists from Nas to George Michael as well as brands from McDonald's to ONE
Sam Xu
Sam Xu is known for Don't Look Up (2021) and Straight Line (2014).
Sam Yates
Sam Yates was named a Screen International Star of Tomorrow 2016. He directed short film The Hope Rooms featuring Andrew Scott and Ciaran Hinds, and short films for the Globe featuring Ruth Wilson, Gemma Arterton and Hayley Atwell. He is known for his work in theatre including Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet starring Christian Slater (West End), and upcoming production of Kenneth Lonergan's play The Starry Messenger starring Matthew Broderick and Elizabeth McGovern (West End).
Sam Yazbeck
Born in Lebanon during the war, some of my childhood memories are of my family and I running for our lives to the nearest shelter. I would pretend that I was the hero escorting everyone to safety. I knew then, that with just a little imagination, my life was going to be an amazing journey. When I was twelve, we moved to the US. My teenage years consisted of drinking, doing drugs and getting into trouble. In my twenties, I decided to focus my energy on something less self-destructive and pursue an acting career. I took a hands-on approach and started acting in plays and in short films for free in exchange for experience. Fluent in Arabic and conversational in Spanish, I was usually cast as Middle Eastern or Ethnically Ambiguous characters in intense and vulnerable roles. After paying my dues in South Florida for ten years, I moved to New York where I joined the union and began earning an income as an actor. I would later complete a two year Meisner program at the Maggie Flanigan Studio. It was two years of pure torture and immense growth. I currently live in Brooklyn with my partner of twenty years and our little girl where my journey continues.
