LOVE ACTUALLY Alumni Report

Many movie fans feel that Love Actually is a Christmas classic on its own, which is why we’re showing it this weekend at our theater, Cinema Detroit. But some of the fun to be had as you watch is catching a glimpse of actors who weren’t quite so famous or lauded back in 2003. They may have been lesser-knowns on this side of the pond, were just beginning their careers, had better performances in store, or some combination thereof. So, let’s catch up with some of LA‘s more successful alumni…

Chiwetel Ejiofor
We better start practicing the correct pronunciation of this guy’s name…the actor, who played Peter, new husband to Keira Knightley’s Juliet, is a sure bet for an Oscar nomination for 12 Years A Slave.

Colin Firth
Firth was already famous, but since appearing as Jamie, who ends up marrying his Spanish housekeeper Aurelia, he’s earned two Best Actor nods, winning in 2011 for The King’s Speech.

Kris Marshall
It seems like Marshall has done mostly TV in the UK, so I haven’t seen all that much of his work, but he definitely acquitted himself well in the original Death at a Funeral (2007). It’s a lot funnier than the picture looks.

Martin Freeman
From hesitant suitor with a really odd job to Watson and Bilbo Baggins in 10 short years.

Joanna Page
“Just Judy” works mainly in UK TV, including the “Day of the Doctor” episode of Doctor Who, in which she appeared as Elizabeth I.

Andrew Lincoln
That guy whose character was sort of stalking Juliet (Keira Knightley) now deals with a whole other set of issues as Rick Grimes on The Walking Dead.

Hugh Grant
He may never win an Oscar but nobody plays Hugh Grant like Hugh Grant. And I love that, but it was flippin’ insane fun seeing his departure from the norm for his six! roles in Cloud Atlas, including one as, yes, a bloodthirsty cannibal.

Alan Rickman
The caddish tendencies of the philandering husband Rickman portrayed in LA turned downright sinister when he portrayed Professor Severus Snape, head of Slytherin House and Potions master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

January Jones
Betty Draper would probably not appreciate the antics or the wardrobe of “American Angel,” the ditsy gal who meets Colin (Kris Marshall) in a bar and is so taken with his accent. But she would like that blue.

With a cast of nearly 100, I’m sure I missed someone…remind me in the comments.