Music

Golden Globe nominee Melissa McCarthy is an amazing comedic actress, but displays her wonderful dramatic talent in the upcoming movie Can You Ever Forgive Me? based on the true story of Lee Israel, a celebrity biography writer who sold forged letters from dead literary and Hollywood stars. We asked her if music helps or inspires her acting.

Spanish star and Golden Globe nominee Penélope Cruz is first to admit a strong affinity to music. “I have this very strong relationship with classical music because that was my first hobby, from when I was four years old and I started to go to ballet,” she says.

Golden Globe winner Sir Ben Kingsley was a budding musician in the early ‘60s and his band, The Vikings, raised the interest of Beatles manager Brian Epstein. But it all came to an end when his promising acting talent took over.

Three-time Golden Globe winner Julia Roberts, the girl next door turned into Pretty Woman, is still enjoying a brilliant career. A protective mother in the upcoming film Ben Is Back and a trauma counselor in the upcoming series Homecoming, Roberts promoted both works in Toronto.

The OId Man and the Gun was announced as Robert Redford’s last movie as an actor. “I will stay in the business as a director and producer,” he assured us, adding that he never said, “This is my last movie.

Golden Globe nominee Bradley Cooper stunned the audience at the Venice Film Festival with his directorial debut, a remake of A Star Is Born. Besides guiding Lady Gaga on a rock ‘n roll stage, Bradley plays the part of a down and out rock star consumed by pills and alcohol, who finds redemption in his love for music.

Golden Globe winner - and Guatemala-born- Oscar Isaac debuts this week as a producer with the thrilling dramatic account of the capture of Adolf Eichmann, the SS commander who masterminded the brutal extermination of six million Jews during World War II, The film, Operation Finale,  recounts the Argentinian capture from the POV of Mossad agent Peter Malkin (Isaac) who convinced Eichmann (Ben Kingsley) to sign his release from Argentina to stand trial in Israel. Oscar Isaac is an accomplished musician - his love for music was shown in the Cohen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis.

Three-time Golden Globe nominee Kelly MacDonald started her acting career with the iconic Trainspotting in 1997 and next December she will be seen in Etan Cohen's solo debut as a director in the action-mystery comedy Holmes and Watson. We met the brilliant Scottish actress for her starring role in the drama Puzzle and we asked her if she is inspired by music when she prepares for a part.

Puerto Rico star and Golden Globe winner Benicio Del Toro has recently spent seven months with director Ben Stiller, working on a nine-episode limited series that recounts the well-publicized escape from the high-security prison of Dannemora of two inmates helped by a female prison worker. Del Toro is famous for choosing tough and deep roles.

Golden Globe winner for her amazing performance as Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do With it Angela Bassett is very much in love with music as a universal language: “We can be from different parts of the world and just hear a strain of music and it can make us both weep” , she told us as we met for her role in TV series 9-1-1 We agreed that it might very well be the language of the soul and when I asked her how much it intersect with her love for acting, she said: “I have used it often, doing a play or a particular character I'll listen to certain songs or instrumentals and they really hit my spirit or soul and they just take you there emotionally.   Music is able to do that in a way sometimes just the straight word on the page might not be able to, but it compliments it.