Live action/animated, Adventure, Fantasy
Synopsis
Three young houseflies stow away on Apollo 11 and help defend the spacecraft from Russian bugs who want to sabotage the mission.
Cast: Christopher Lloyd, Kelly Ripa, Nicollette Sheridan, Tim Curry, Trevor Gagnon, Philip Daniel Bolden, David Gore, Ed Begley, Robert Patrick, Adrienne Barbeau, Buzz Aldrin, Sandy Simpson, Eddie Frierson, David Cowgill, Steve Kramer, Mimi Maynard
Producer(s): nWave Pictures
Crew: Director - Ben Stassen, Producer - Charlotte Huggins, Producer - Caroline Van Iseghem, Producer - Gina Gallo, Producer - Mimi Maynard, Screenwriter - Domonic Paris, Executive Producer - Eric Dillens, Executive Producer - Domonic Paris, Executive Producer - Ben Stassen, Original Music - Ramin Djawadi, Casting - Mimi Maynard, Casting - Gina Gallo, Art Director - Jérémie Degruson
Distributor: Summit Entertainment
Release Date: 08/15/2008
Running Time: 89 minutes
OFFICIAL SITE
Production Notes:
- Notes provided by Summit Entertainment. -
FLY ME TO THE MOON
SYNOPSIS
"It took a monkey to get man into space,
but it will take three flies to get them back!"
Three tiny explorers make history in the action-packed outer space adventure Fly Me to the Moon, the first-ever animated feature film designed, created and produced entirely in 3D. Fly Me to the Moon takes the historic Apollo 11 moon mission and turns it into a launch pad for a family comedy that introduces a new generation to NASA's ultimate achievement as a trio of tween-aged houseflies stow away aboard the first manned flight to the moon.
A funny, heartwarming journey that bucks the conventional wisdom that "dreamers get swatted," Fly Me to the Moon features an all-star voice cast including Kelly Ripa ("Live with Regis and Kelly"), Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), Nicollette Sheridan ("Desperate Housewives"), Tim Curry ("The Wild Thornberrys"), Ed Begley Jr. (For Your Consideration), Adrienne Barbeau ("Carnivà le), Trevor Gagnon ("The New Adventures of Old Christine"), Philip Daniel Bolden (Are We There Yet?), David Gore (Nomad), Robert Patrick (Bridge to Terabithia) and real-life Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Directed by Ben Stassen and written by Domonic Paris, Fly Me to the Moon is produced by Charlotte Huggins, Gina Gallo Paris, Mimi Maynard and Caroline Van Iseghem.
Every American school child knows the story of the summer of 1969, when Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins made the first manned moon landing in the Apollo 11 lunar module. But lost to history until now is the story of the mission's unsung heroes, Nat (Trevor Gagnon), IQ (Philip Daniel Bolden) and Scooter (David Gore), three young flies whose quick thinking and courage saved the mission from sure disaster.
Young Nat grew up listening to his Grandpa (Christopher Lloyd) relive his audacious rescue of Amelia Earhart as she crossed the Atlantic on her historic flight. Inspired by Grandpa's derring-do and eager for an unforgettable adventure of his own, Nat convinces his two best friends to join him as stowaways aboard NASA's historic moon mission.
Thinking the trip will be over in a matter of minutes, the fly boys-and their earthbound families-are shocked to learn they will be in space for a week. When a Ground Control official catches sight of the three winged stowaways, he instructs the astronauts to store them in a test tube for later study. But after an electrical short causes the ship's engine to malfunction, the three intrepid insects manage to escape from their glass mini-brig just in time to discover the wiring problem and fix it.
After a difficult lunar landing, Nat tags along with Neil Armstrong on his legendary moon walk. The mission appears to be a success, until Grandpa's old flame Nadia (Nicollette Sheridan) arrives from Russia to warn him that her government, angry over losing the space race, has dispatched fly-spy Yegor (Tim Curry) to Cape Canaveral to sabotage the computer flight plans. With the Apollo 11 hurtling toward Earth, it's up to Nat's family to save the mission-and the trio of brave flies-from disaster.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
A trailblazer in the now red-hot field of 3D filmmaking, director Ben Stassen has been making movies in three dimensions for 14 years, building his nWave Pictures into the leading supplier of 3D films in the world. Fly Me to the Moon is the culmination of a long-held dream for Stassen-the first feature length animated film conceived and created as a 3D experience.
Stassen and nWave, the production company he co-founded in 1994, have produced nearly a quarter of all films ever made in 3D IMAX, including 3D Mania: Encounter in the Third Dimension, Wild Safari 3D and Haunted Castle. It is estimated that 250,000 people watch an nWave film every day, despite the fact that most of these films can only be seen in limited venues such as science centers, museums and other specialized sites. Fly Me to the Moon is the very first animated feature film created and designed in 3D, produced in 3D for a 3D-only release.
"Without taking ourselves too seriously, it's like we're pioneers," says Stassen. "Some people treat 3D as a mere evolution, like going from black and white to color. But I believe that 3D is a revolution in the history of cinema. There has been only one previous revolution, when movies went from silent to talkies. After that transition, everything was different-scripts, casting, editing and pacing-and cinema became a new language. 3D cinema is another brand new language."
Filmmakers have been experimenting with 3D technology almost as long as films have been made. The legendary Lumière brothers experimented with it in their early 20th century forays into moviemaking, and the first confirmed public showing of a movie in 3D to a paying audience was in Los Angeles in 1922. During the early 1950s, and again in the 1980s, major Hollywood studios turned out a spate of films in 3D, but they were largely viewed as novelties.
A turning point for recent interest in the technology was the 2003 release of Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, says Stassen, which was followed by the 3D IMAX version of Polar Express. "That was a milestone. It grossed $45 million in just four theaters. Hollywood woke up to the fact that people will flock to 3D cinema, and that got the ball rolling again."
Even though neither film was originally shot in 3D, their successes were enough to capture the imagination of the entertainment industry. With almost 15 years of creating documentaries and motion simulation ride films under his belt, Stassen decided it was time to find a feature film script that he could translate into this new cinematic language.
"I wanted to tell a story that would be told very differently than it would in 2D," says the director. "The 3D technique turns something that is predictable into something that's really magical."
While Stassen strongly believes 3D cinema is on the verge of becoming a major force in the out-of-home entertainment market, he's keenly aware that not every story lends itself to 3D. nWave spent two years in search of just the right script before discovering Domonic Paris' screenplay Fly Me to the Moon.
"It was perfect in terms of both its content and its form," says the director. "It has a cute take on a landmark event-mankind's first steps on the moon-and it's one we could tell in a fresh and new way in 3D."
Charlotte Huggins, nWave president and producer of Fly Me to the Moon, concurs: "It had everything we were looking for. Unlike scripts that are written with an in-your-face 3D 'punch line' every few pages, Fly Me to the Moon has elements and environments that lend themselves well to a compelling use of 3D space throughout the story. It takes place in three different worlds: the human world, the macro world of outer space and the world from the flies' perspective, which is incredibly cool visually for 3D. And on a practical level, there was simplicity in terms of the number of characters, so we could produce it with our 50 or so animators instead of needing over 200."
Paris and his production company, Illuminata, originally planned to make the story of three thrill-seeking insects into a traditional 2D animated film. Once he teamed up with nWave, Paris got a crash course in 3D and learned there were certain guidelines to writing an effective 3D script that required him to make a few key revisions to his screenplay. "Because this is truly the first animated movie fully conceived for a 3D environment, I had to be aware of things that a writer doesn't normally deal with, like camera moves," says Paris. "Everything has to be organic to the storytelling. If you treat 3D as a gimmick, people will see it as one."
For the screenwriter, learning to factor in the physical element of 3D was crucial. "People will lean left and right to try to see around objects floating in front of them, which of course, they can't really do," he adds. "So you don't have dialogue exchanges as quickly as you would in a 2D landscape. And you have to be very careful you are not dispensing important dialogue as characters are really popping off the screen. Otherwise, the audience may miss what's being said because of the impact of the visuals."
Although it is important to keep the 3D presentation in mind during the writing process, Stassen says, a script should never be written specifically for 3D. "If a writer writes for 3D, he will just write effects," he says. "We rewrote the script more for storytelling reasons. We focused on dialogue and also enhanced sequences that would be really great in 3D, not in terms of effects, but in terms of the audience's sense of really being there.
"For instance, we created a very long sequence when the astronauts take their first steps on the moon, and it has paid off. In preliminary screenings, audiences have been mesmerized. They feel like they're physically present on the lunar surface with the astronauts."
Another highlight is what the filmmakers refer to as "the 'Blue Danube' scene," in which the flies experience weightlessness for the first time and perform a ballet to Johann Strauss' famous waltz, echoing the famed scene from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. "It was just two lines in the script," says the director. "It ended up being a three-minute sequence without any dialogue and no cuts."
In order to create the kind of immersive experience he strives for, Stassen says he had to "break the frame around the picture." "Basically, 2D filmmakers have been using the screen as a window through which they show the story. Most 3D films released to date also used the screen as a window. The filmmaker creates perspective behind the window and throws things at the audience in front of the window. They're just adding a 3D layer to a 2D movie. People see it as a gimmick and get tired of it very quickly.
"When I'm making a 3D film, I don't want to use the screen as a window, but rather as a cinematic space into which we transport the audience," says Stassen. "This is a major distinction in the way you position the viewer. You're not just adding depth and perspective to a 2D image. Instead of telling a story through a window, you're giving the audience a very strong immersive experience."
The filmmakers go one step further by filming certain scenes as if the audience is seeing them from the flies' point of view. "In 'fly-vision' 3D, the ordinary is transformed into the extraordinary," explains the director. "We use not just a normal perspective, but also 'macro vision,' where you see things from a fly's perspective. To the flies in this film, the human environment around them appears gigantic. If a fly lands in a cup of coffee, it becomes a giant swimming pool. A head of hair is a dense forest."
This also gave the filmmakers an opportunity to showcase their expertise in motion simulation. "We tried to build the feeling of a ride into the movie," says Paris. "For example, early in the movie, when we fly over a junkyard, it has almost a roller coaster feel. And again later, after the malfunction on the ship, they open a little door and zip through the wires and electronics. It helps to create the feeling of complete immersion."
The fact that the film's central characters are flies turned out to have a number of advantages for 3D. "One of the most challenging things about 3D is that when an object breaks frame-that is, when an actor or object touches the edge of the screen-the 3D effect is destroyed," Stassen explains. "A human is always standing on something. Whether it's a road, or a ladder, whatever they're standing on will touch the edge of the screen. That's why theme park attractions use arrows and other things that can come at you and are not attached to the environment. It's also why space and underwater are settings that lend themselves so well to 3D.
Paris explains the basics of 3D filmmaking this way: "In simple terms, to create 3D, you need two cameras. It's like a left eye and right eye. In our case, because it's animation, they are virtual cameras within the computer software. How you place those cameras in relationship to actors or objects creates 3D."
The secret to eliminating what Stassen calls "the window effect" is to shoot with the two cameras in parallel rather than the more commonly used converging cameras. "When cameras converge, both will see the same image at the screen plane level," says Stassen. "Whatever is behind the plane will be in perspective and whatever is in front will be coming off the screen. When you project this, the right eye and left eye have the same image of the screen plane.
"If you put cameras parallel, you don't have a window anymore," he goes on. "You create a space. It's really a drastic difference. You can take the audience and transport them into the middle of the scene. By using this approach, we've tried to create a film where we're taking the audience along on a trip to the moon."
The result, says Paris, is a unique cinematic experience. "Everything is coming off the screen," he says. "The perceived border of the screen moves to a position behind the audience so they are completely immersed in the 3D environment."
nWave Pictures' entry into feature filmmaking comes at a time when the industry is recognizing the value of 3D digital projection to attract audiences to theaters, says Stassen. "To me, there is as much difference between a standard feature film and a 3D film as there is between a film and a video game. You can relate to a 2D film intellectually and emotionally. With 3D, you add a physical level. Not just big, in-your-face effects, but the feeling that you've been transported into the movie.
"3D is truly a different type of cinema," says Stassen. "You feel like you are literally in the environment-almost a part of the story. I'm not suggesting that every feature film released in the future will or should be in 3D," he says. "But I think once audiences get a taste of good 3D presentations in their local multiplex, there's going to be pressure to create more event movies in stereo."
ABOUT THE CAST
TIM CURRY (Yegor) is an acclaimed British actor and two-time Tony Award nominee who first came to the attention of American audiences in his motion picture debut, the cult phenomenon The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He has gone on to a diverse career with film credits that include Kinsey, Charlie's Angels, Scary Movie 2, The Scoundrel's Wife, Addams Family Reunion, McHale's Navy, The Muppets' Treasure Island, Congo, The Shadow, The Three Musketeers, Loaded Weapon 1, Home Alone 2, Passed Away, Oscar, The Hunt for Red October, Pass the Ammo, Clue, Legend, The Ploughman's Lunch, Annie, Times Square and The Shout.
On television, Curry has been seen in numerous mini-series and telefilms, including the starring role as William Shakespeare in "Life of Shakespeare" and as Theodosius in "Attila" for USA Network. Other television credits include "Jackie's Back!" for Lifetime, "Titanic" for CBS, "It" for ABC, "The Worst Witch" for HBO and "Oliver Twist" for CBS. He also starred in several telefilms for the BBC, including "Three Men in a Boat," directed by Stephen Frears, "Napoleon and Love" and "Schmoedipus." Curry was a member of the initial cast of "Family Affair" and "Over the Top" as well as a series regular on "Wiseguy." He has had recurring roles on the series "Rude Awakening" and "Earth 2." Curry has also been a guest host of "Saturday Night Live."
As a stage actor, Curry earned Tony Award nominations for his Broadway roles in "Amadeus," in which he played Mozart, and "My Favorite Year." He also starred in Broadway's "Travesties." On the London stage, Curry starred in the Royal National Theater productions "Pirates of Penzance," "The Rivals," "Love for Love" and "The Threepenny Opera." Curry also starred in both the London and Broadway productions of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
ROBERT PATRICK (Louie) is a steely-eyed master of his craft who commands the screen with his powerful, confident presence. The veteran actor is best known for his performance as the T-1000 assassin in James Cameron's box-office smash, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He can currently be seen starring as Colonel Tom Ryan in CBS' hit action-drama "The Unit," produced by David Mamet and Shawn Ryan. The show follows a team of American covert operatives and explores the ways their dangerous job affects their lives. Patrick was recently seen in Paramount's comedy Strange Wilderness, about a television nature show that goes in search of Bigfoot in a desperate attempt to boost ratings.
Patrick was recently seen in Flags of Our Fathers, Clint Eastwood's Golden Globe-nominated WWII epic focusing on the battle for Iwo Jima and the iconic photograph of the U.S. flag raisers. He also appeared alongside an all-star cast headed by Matthew McConaughey in We Are Marshall.
Born in Marietta, Georgia, Patrick was an avid athlete growing up but became taken with acting after sitting in on drama classes in high school. He moved to Hollywood in 1984 and was cast in the beatnik play "Go." Patrick got his break during this performance when he was discovered by legendary producer and director Roger Corman.
Other film credits include The Marine, alongside John Cena; Firewall, with Harrison Ford; and the Golden Globe-winner Walk the Line, in which Patrick played Johnny Cash's father for director James Mangold. He starred as a heroic firefighter alongside John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix in Ladder 49.
Patrick also appeared in Spy Kids, opposite Antonio Banderas; All the Pretty Horses, starring Matt Damon and directed by Billy Bob Thornton; Copland, alongside Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro; Eye See You, also with Stallone; Striptease, with Demi Moore; and the independent film The Only Thrill, opposite Diane Keaton, Diane Lane, and Sam Shepard. Other films include Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle, The Faculty, From Dusk Til Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money, A Texas Funeral, Fire In the Sky, Double Dragon: The Movie, Decoy, The Last Gasp and Hong Kong '97. Patrick also made an impression with his chilling appearance in Rosewood, appearing as a personal favor to filmmaker John Singleton.
Television audiences may best remember the actor's turn as Agent John Doggett from the last two seasons of the cult-classic series "The X-Files," but Patrick has an extensive small-screen resume. He received critical acclaim for his high-profile performance in the second season of "The Sopranos." He was also featured in an episode of "The Outer Limits," the TNT original "Bad Apple" and the CBS mini-series "Elvis," in which Patrick played Elvis's father.
Always involved in all aspects of his trade, Patrick enjoys producing films when he is not performing. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Barbara and their two children.
KELLY RIPA (Nat's Mom), co-host of the popular syndicated morning talk show "Live with Regis and Kelly," enjoys one of the most sought-after seats in television. In her six years hosting alongside Regis Philbin, Ripa has received five Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Also during her tenure, the show has been nominated for five Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Talk Show, received two TV Guide Award nominations for Favorite Daytime Talk Show and two People's Choice nominations for Favorite Daytime Talk Show Hosts. Most recently, Ripa, Philbin and the show were nominated for a Daytime Emmy in the new category of Outstanding Morning Program.
Ripa has studied ballet since age three. After performing in her senior high school play, "The Ugly Duckling," she decided to pursue a career in acting. She attended Camden Community College in New Jersey and performed in local theater productions before beginning her 12-year stint as Hayley Vaughan on ABC's "All My Children." She won three Soap Opera Digest Awards for her work, two for Outstanding Younger Lead Actress and one for Hottest Romance, which she shared with her co-star and real-life husband, actor Mark Consuelos. The couple married in 1996, a year before their characters married onscreen, and now live in New York with their three children, Michael, Lola and Joaquin.
For her work on "All My Children," Ripa also received three Daytime Emmy nominations, two for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and one for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series.
Ripa ventured into primetime in 2003 on "Hope & Faith," starring with Faith Ford in the half-hour sitcom on ABC. She had a recurring role on the hit NBC series "Ed," appeared in the telefilm "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie" and won acclaim for her turn in late night TV's most coveted role: hosting "Saturday Night Live." Her voice has been heard as a guest star on the popular animated series "Kim Possible" and "Duck Dodgers."
With Philbin, Ripa has hosted the annual "Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade" on ABC for the last four years. The duo received a 2006 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Special Class Special for their hosting duties and were nominated again in the same category the following year. Most recently, she hosted the 2007 TV Land Awards and the "50 Funniest Women Alive" special on the Oxygen network.
Though best known for her television work, Ripa also has several feature films to her credit. She appeared in the acclaimed Marvin's Room in 1996 and in 1999 won the Best Actress prize at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival for her work in The Stand-In.
BUZZ ALDRIN (appearing as himself) was selected by NASA as one of the early astronauts in October 1963. In November 1966, he established a new record for Extra-Vehicular Activity in space on the Gemini XII orbital flight mission. Aldrin has logged 4500 hours of flying time, 290 of which were in space, including eight hours of EVA. As Backup Command Module Pilot for Apollo VIII, mankind's first flight around the moon, Aldrin significantly improved operational techniques for astronautical navigation star display. Then, on July 20, 1969, Aldrin and Neil Armstrong made their historic Apollo XI moon walk, thus becoming the first two humans to set foot on another world. This unprecedented heroic endeavor was witnessed by the largest worldwide television audience in history.
Upon returning from the moon, Aldrin embarked on an international goodwill tour. He was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, only the highest honor among more than 50 other distinguished awards and medals he has received from the United States and numerous other countries.
Aldrin was born in Montclair, New Jersey on January 20, 1930. His mother, Marion Moon, was the daughter of an Army chaplain. His father, Edwin Eugene Aldrin, was an aviation pioneer, a student of rocket developer Robert Goddard and an aide to the immortal General Billy Mitchell. Buzz Aldrin was educated at West Point, graduating with honors in 1951, third in his class. After receiving his wings, he flew Sabre Jets in 66 combat missions in the Korean Conflict, shooting down two MIG-15's. Returning to his education, he earned a Doctorate in Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The manned space-rendezvous techniques he devised were used on all NASA missions, including the first space docking with the Russian Cosmonauts.
Since retiring from NASA, the Air Force, and his position as Commander of the Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, Aldrin has remained at the forefront of efforts to ensure a continued leading role for America in manned space exploration. To advance his lifelong commitment to venturing outward in space, he created a master plan of evolving missions for sustained exploration through his concept, "The Cycler," a spacecraft system making perpetual orbits between Earth and Mars.
In 1993, Aldrin received a U.S. patent for a permanent space station he designed. More recently, he founded his own rocket design company, Starcraft Boosters, Inc., as well as the ShareSpace Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to opening the doors to space tourism for all people.
Aldrin has shared his vision for the future of space travel by authoring two novels that dramatically portray humanity's discovery of the ultimate frontier: The Return (Forge Books, 2000) and Encounter with Tiber (Warner Books, 1996). He has also authored an autobiography, Return to Earth, and a historical documentary, Men from Earth, which describes his trip to the moon and his unique perspective on America's space program.
Aldrin continues lecturing and traveling throughout the world to pursue and discuss the latest concepts and ideas for exploring the universe. He is a leading voice in charting the course of future space efforts from planet Earth.
On Valentine's Day 1988, Aldrin married Lois Driggs Cannon of Phoenix, Arizona. She is a Stanford graduate, an active community leader in Southern California and personal manager of all her husband's endeavors. Their combined family is comprised of six grown children and one grandson. The family spends their leisure time exploring the deep-sea world of scuba diving and skiing the mountaintops of Sun Valley, Idaho.
TREVOR GAGNON (Nat) always gave the same answer when he was asked, at six years old, what he wanted to be when he grew up. "I want to be a famous actor...I want to be on TV."
In the last six years, Gagnon has indeed been involved in almost every type of acting. He has appeared in commercials and magazine ads, performed side-by-side with incredible actors in several films, lent his voice to animated characters in projects for both film and TV, and starred in a hit comedy series for CBS opposite one of the industry's funniest ladies. He is a regular on "The New Adventures of Old Christine," starring the Emmy-winning actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Gagnon plays her son, Ritchie. He is also a series regular on Cartoon Network's "Happy Monster Band," in which he voices the character L.O., one of the silly monsters who teach preschoolers about the many wonderful countries around the world.
Currently, Gagnon is in Austin, Texas filming the Warner Bros. feature Shorts, a new family adventure/comedy written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, creator of the Spy Kids trilogy. Gagnon stars opposite William H. Macy, Jon Cryer, James Spader and Leslie Mann.
Gagnon made his acting debut in "Iron Jawed Angels," a television drama about women's struggles to achieve equality and their triumph with the Women's Suffrage Movement in the early 1900's. The telefilm starred Hilary Swank, Angelica Huston and Patrick Dempsey.
Director Tim Burton's feature Big Fish was the next big opportunity to come Gagnon's way. After a long and involved audition process, he landed a part alongside Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Danny DeVito and Ewan McGregor in this magical film.
Gagnon has appeared in several television commercials, including a Mederma scar-cream ad in which his image appeared on the pages of numerous parenting magazines. Two more movies followed, Loggerheads and Southern Belles. Both were filmed near his hometown in North Carolina.
As a way to give back to the community, Gagnon has spent time on the "Dr. Phil" show as a celebrity guest and donated his time to various charitable organizations such as the Ronald McDonald House and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
PHILIP DANIEL BOLDEN (I.Q.) has, despite his young age, amassed an impressive list of film and television credits. He is most often recognized for his role as Kevin Persons opposite Ice Cube and Nia Long in the films Are We There Yet? and its sequel Are We Done Yet? In between these projects, Bolden appeared as Bradley in the Walden Media feature How to Eat Fried Worms, based on the classic children's book.
In addition to his film work, Bolden earned recurring roles on series such as "The King of Queens" and "My Wife and Kids." His numerous other television credits include "The Bernie Mac Show," "Malcolm in the Middle" and "According to Jim."
While not busy with work, Bolden enjoys reading, traveling, going to the movies and spending time with his family and friends.
NICOLLETTE SHERIDAN (Nadia) first won a worldwide audience with her starring role on the long-running CBS drama "Knots Landing," but the actress exploded to small-screen success once again in her Golden Globe-nominated role as Edie Britt, the serial divorcee whose romantic conquests keep the neighborhood buzzing on ABC's smash hit "Desperate Housewives." Sheridan was recently honored in her native England with a Glamour Women of the Year Award for Best U.S. Television Actress, adding to her back-to-back 2005-2006 Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Born and raised in England, Sheridan discovered a passion for ballet as a small child and studied furiously, broadening her love of the arts as a student at the Arts Educational School in London. In addition to the theatre, she nurtured her talents as an avid equestrienne as well as a thirst for reading and love of Shakespeare.
Moving to Los Angeles and being courted to explore her acting talents was a natural progression for Sheridan. She first became a household name portraying the beautiful, powerful and manipulative Paige Matheson on "Knots Landing." This led to myriad other roles, including parts in the telefilms "The People Next Door," with Faye Dunaway; "A Time To Heal," opposite Gary Cole; "Indictment: The McMartin Trial," with James Woods; and "Dead Husbands," with John Ritter. She also made a special guest appearance on the season finale of "Will & Grace."
Sheridan was first introduced to film audiences in Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing, opposite John Cusack, before going on to appear in other film comedies such as Noises Off, opposite Michael Caine; Spy Hard, opposite Leslie Nielsen; and Beverly Hills Ninja, starring Chris Farley and Chris Rock. With an affinity for the animated world, Sheridan brought her English accent to the animated series "Tarzan and Jane" and recently completed voicing the role of Zenna in the animated film Noah's Arc: The New Beginning, which co-stars Michael Keaton, Jason Lee, Eliza Dushku, Rob Schneider, Marcia Gay Harden and Sir Ben Kingsley.
Having found much success in front of the camera, Sheridan has more recently turned her attention behind the scenes and is developing several projects for film and televis
