HBO’s The Undoing had one of the best casts of the year in 2020 when it comes to new television series, featuring Hollywood movie and TV heavyweights with careers that date back decades and have seen plenty of success.
It also included some talented newcomers who turned heads, like Noah Jupe, who had previously mesmerized viewers in the movie A Quiet Place, and Matilda De Angelis, an Italian actress who stole every scene she was in. Whether they are A-listers or newcomers, each cast member has a few interesting facts about them that aren’t very well known to general audiences.
10 Nicole Kidman: Her Hawaiian Name Is Hōkūlani
Of course, everyone knows Kidman, a Hollywood movie actor who has since been making a shift to television, is Australian, has four Academy Awards nominations and one win, has been ranked among the highest-paid actresses several years in a row, was married to Tom Cruise and is now married to Keith Urban.
But what many people don’t know is that she was actually born in Hawaii, not Australia, since her parents were living there on student visas at the time of her birth. Her Hawaiian name is actually Hōkūlani, which translates to “heavenly star.” And the name was apparently inspired by the birth of a baby elephant that was born at the Honolulu Zoo around the same time that she was.
9 Hugh Grant: Had A Decades-Long Feud With Robert Downey Jr.
Grant has had some iconic roles, including in movies like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bridget Jones’ Diary. His role in this series takes a sinister twist, but he pulls it off beautifully.
There’s a lot about Grant that is out in the open, but one of the lesser-known facts is that he had a long feud with fellow actor Robert Downey Jr. There wasn’t any real fighting between them, just a mutual dislike. After Downey Jr. uttered some harsh words about Grant during an interview on Hollywood Correspondent, the pair eventually took to Twitter to bury the hatchet publicly, once and for all.
8 Edgar Ramirez: He Speaks Five Languages
Before his recurring role in this series, Ramirez gained attention for playing Gianni Versace in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. But he also has other big credits to his name, including Carlos, Zero Dark Thirty, and The Bourne Ultimatum.
Fun fact about him: thanks to his family traveling quite a bit while he was young, Ramirez is actually fluent in five different languages. He can speak Spanish and English as well as French, Italian, and German.
7 Noah Jupe: His Mom Was On Coronation Street
With a promising career ahead of him, Jupe already has some big credits to his name, including The Night Manager, Suburbicon, Wonder, A Quiet Place, Ford v Ferrari, and Honey Boy. Still, fans don’t know much about this teenager just yet.
One interesting fact to know about the British actor is that his mother is actually an actor as well. She was on one of the biggest and longest-running British soap operas, Coronation Street where she played Julie Carp from 2008 through to 2015.
6 Lily Rabe: She Was In Two Episodes Of Law & Order
A Tony Award nominated actor and veteran of the American Horror Story family, Rabe took an interesting turn in this series. She was a wonderful addition to the cast and one of the most likable characters.
What’s there to know about her? Most actors who were up and coming in the early 2000s appeared on at least one crime drama as an uncredited or small part, and Rabe is no exception. She appeared on one episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent in 2005 called “Scared Crazy” as Siena Boatman. The following year, she appeared on sister series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in an episode title “Recall.” Her character’s name was Nikki.
5 Matilda De Angelis: She Is A Musician
While her acting abilities are tremendous, with this entire series centered around the question of who killed her character, De Angelis is actually a talented musician as well. Born and raised in Italy, she plays the violin and guitar, both instruments of which she has been playing since she was just 13.
She also sings in a band called Rumba de Bodas, which released an album called Karnaval Fou in 2014. Acting was not her goal, but she was discovered when the director of a movie reached out to her after seeing her photos on Facebook because he needed an actor with a very specific Italian dialect to play a part.
4 Edan Alexander: He Was In Two And A Half Men
He wasn’t in many scenes as the young Miguel Alves and he was the least suspicious of the characters to be the potential murderer. But the scenes he was in truly showed this young man’s tremendous talents and tugged at viewers’ heartstrings. It’s obvious it wasn’t his first acting gig: Alexander has also appeared in Succession and a handful of other series.
One of those series is actually a massively successful one: Two and a Half Men. If he looks familiar, it’s because he is the same actor who played Louis Schmidt, the adopted son of Walden and Alan in the long-running series’ final season.
3 Michael Devine: He Was Really A Police Officer
Devine played a detective in this series, which is pretty close to reality since he actually was a detective sergeant in real life, working with the New York Police Department (NYPD). This might help explain why he was so convincing in the role.
Interestingly, the actor is no stranger to having art imitate life as he has played a police officer on a long list of other shows and movies as well, including The Wolf of Wall Street, Law & Order, Blue Bloods, and Orange is the New Black.
2 Donald Sutherland: He Doesn’t Have An Oscar
It’s no secret that the long-time actor is the father of Jack Bauer himself, Kiefer Sutherland (the uncanny resemblance is a dead giveaway as well). It’s also no secret that he is Canadian and was married to actor Shirley Douglas (Kiefer’s mother).
But what a lot of fans might not know is that the Hollywood Walk of Fame inductee is one of many incredible actors with a 50+ year career who has never won an Academy Award. He has won an Emmy, several Golden Globes, and other awards. And did get an Honorary Academy Award but he still hasn’t gotten an Oscar.
1 Ismael Cruz Cordova: He Will Be In Lord Of The Rings
The Puerto Rican actor is captivating on screen as a young father who displays a wide variety of emotions throughout the series. Indeed, he has only just begun his career with his first acting gig in the 2003 movie Stray Bullet. He is also known for his role in the Showtime series Ray Donovan and as Mando on Sesame Street.
Cordova has been confirmed to have a role in the upcoming Amazon Prime Video original series The Lord of the Rings, based on the J.R.R. Tolkien novel. Set to premiere some time in 2021, there’s still no word on who he will play.
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