- Notes provided by Overture Films. -

NOTHING LIKE THE HOLIDAYS
Synopsis
If there's one thing everyone can agree on, it's that family time isn't always a walk in the park. In Nothing Like the Holidays, John Leguizamo (Ice Age, Moulin Rouge),Freddy Rodriguez ("Six Feet Under," Bobby) and Debra Messing ("Will & Grace," "The Starter Wife") headline an all star cast in the humorous and heartwarming story of one unforgettable family holiday from award-winning director Alfredo De Villa (Washington Heights).
Nothing Like the Holidays also stars Alfred Molina (Spiderman 2), Elizabeth Peña (Rush Hour), Luis Guzmán (Beverly Hills Chihuahua), Vanessa Ferlito (Death Proof), Jay Hernandez (Friday Night Lights) and Melonie Diaz (Be Kind Rewind). The film is directed by De Villa from a script by Rick Najera and Alison Swan. The film's producers are Robert Teitel and George Tillman, Jr. of State Street Pictures (Soul Food, Barbershop). Rene M. Rigal, Paul Kim, Reid Brody and Freddy Rodriguez are executive producers, with Thomas J. Busch serving as co-producer. The film is edited by Amy E. Duddleston (Laurel Canyon) and John Coniglio (Saw). Cinematographer is Scott Kevan (Stomp the Yard). Daniel B. Clancy (Fred Claus) is production designer and Susan Kaufmann (The Strangers) is costume designer.
It's Christmastime and the far-flung members of the Rodriguez family are converging at their parents' home in Chicago to celebrate the season and rejoice in their youngest brother's safe return from combat overseas. For Jesse (Freddy Rodriguez), coming home has rekindled feelings for an old flame, although she can't seem to forgive him for leaving. His older sister Roxanna, a struggling actress, has been chasing her Hollywood dreams for years with little to show for it. Meanwhile, eldest brother Mauricio (John Leguizamo) brings home a high-powered executive wife (Debra Messing) and finds himself caught between his mother, who is eager for grandchildren, and his spouse, who would rather raise capital than a kid.
In the course of one eventful week, traditions will be celebrated, secrets revealed and major life decisions made. It all begins when Anna announces to her children she is leaving their father Eduardo (Alfred Molina). The shock waves from this familial upheaval prompt Roxanna, Mauricio and Jesse, each in their own way, to reevaluate the past and rethink the future. But when the Rodriguezes learn that one of their own is facing a true crisis, they instinctively pull together: Old resentments are forgotten, familial bonds are reaffirmed and the healing power of laughter works its magic as the family discovers they are much stronger than they ever realized.

THE RESIDENTS OF HUMBOLDT PARK

The cast of Nothing Like the Holidays includes some of the most acclaimed actors working today, including Emmy winner John Leguizamo ("John Leguizamo's Freak"), Emmy nominee Freddy Rodriguez ("Six Feet Under"), Emmy winner Debra Messing ("Will and Grace"), two-time Tony nominee Alfred Molina (Frida) and six-time Alma Award winner Elizabeth Peña (Tortilla Soup).
"When we first talked about doing this project, our goal was always to get this caliber of actors," says Rodriguez. "If we couldn't, I don't think we would have done it. It was either all or nothing. The level of quality starts with that."
The casting process, says De Villa, took a grueling three months to complete. "I never worked harder putting together a cast. We all knew the overall tone of the film was going to be so dependent on who played those characters."
In addition to serving as executive producer, Rodriguez plays the character of Jesse, the youngest member of the Rodriguez clan, who has just returned from combat in Iraq. Jesse enlisted in an effort to put off taking over the family business, a neighborhood grocery store. "I was intrigued with what was happening with the character, post-Iraq," says the actor. "We've seen movies about the soldiers who are out there, but I wanted to explore what was happening in his head after all that he's gone through."
Jesse's return is the catalyst for the Rodriguez family's first reunion in three years. "Imagine, if your family got together, and it's been three years since everybody's seen each other at Christmastime," producer Teitel says. "Of course, mayhem ensues. Every family's going to go through some of that."
"Add to that Jesse was injured in Iraq. I had read so many articles in the paper about these soldiers coming home and grappling with so many different issues. We took that and we gave it to the writer and said, 'This is an interesting character. This is a dynamic that you see in the papers every day, but you haven't seen it on film yet.'"
For the roles of parents Eddy and Anna Rodriguez, the filmmakers turned to two esteemed, veteran actors, Alfred Molina and Elizabeth Peña. The British-born and trained Molina might not have seemed an obvious choice, but his fluent Spanish and compelling performances in films such as Frida brought him to the attention of the filmmakers.
The director recalls the search for an actor who could convey the complexity and depth crucial to the character. "He can't be just a complete womanizer, because then there is no conflict. He's the guy who, like a lot of first-generation immigrants, basically gave up his hopes and dreams for the benefit of the kids. He had to put his life and blood and sweat into that store, and that's how his kid got to be a lawyer. You have to love him, but at the same time, he did something wrong and he has to live with that."
"When I heard that Alfred Molina liked the script, I thought 'Okay, well, I'm glad he likes the script, but is he really going to do the movie?'" remembers Teitel. "When he signed on, the excitement was unbelievable. It changed the scope of the movie."
Molina describes his character as a man trying to do his best and not always succeeding. "He's trying really hard to just keep his family together with two very old fashioned ideas, love and loyalty, both of which get questioned in the course of the story," says Molina. "There are very serious elements in it, but there's a lot of humor as well, which is the way things are with families. In the midst of serious breakups and fallouts, whatever happens to a family, there are always moments of complete hysteria."
Molina recalls a Christmas when he was younger, right after his own parents divorced. "My mother decided to redecorate the apartment, so she called in a decorator. But she then discovered she didn't have enough money to pay for it, so she sold the furniture to pay for the paint job. All we had left was a sofa and a coffee table. I'm not kidding, a sofa and a coffee table. All the dining room furniture went. All the stuff in the front room went."
"And she then decided to have a Christmas party, and she invited about ten or twelve people," he continues. "We all sat on the floor cross-legged, eating spaghetti Milanese. It was such fun. She was a great storyteller, my mother. She was telling everyone the story in her wonderful Italian accent. She said, 'Well, I decorated the place. And I had no money. So I sell the furniture.' And one of her friends said, 'But Joanna, wouldn't it have been easier just to sleep with him?' My mother pretended to be shocked. But she laughed, I mean, she laughed and she laughed so much, I'll never forget it."
"You could look at it from the other side and say, 'What a terrible story, deprivation and poverty and all that.' But the truth is, no. It was very funny. It was one of the best Christmases I think we ever had."
Anna Rodriguez is the family's anchor, a deceptively calm powerhouse, much like Teitel's own mother. "In my family it was like that," says Teitel, who describes himself as "Sorta Rican" - half Puerto Rican and half Jewish. "My dad used to say, 'I'm the boss,' but my mom made all the decisions. Elizabeth Peña- we couldn't ask for more as the mother. She has a strong hold on this family. Even though Alfred Molina towers over her, there's no denying who's the boss."
The filmmakers originally had doubts about casting Peña that had nothing to do with talent. "At first they didn't want to hire me because John Leguizamo is only three years younger than me, and I play his mother," she says. "But there is the magic of film and hair and makeup. You know, I love it. I don't mind playing unattractive or old or whatever. I'm not a model, I'm an actress. To be able to sneak into somebody else's skin is a joy."
The highly acclaimed actress says working with Molina was a dream come true for her. "I slapped myself every morning when I realized I was working with Alfred Molina. I mean, the whole cast was fantastic. But I have been a fan of Alfred's since the first time I saw him, which was in Prick up Your Ears in 1987. I still can't believe I worked with him!"
In the film, the couple's eldest child, Mauricio, has been living in New York and is about to become a partner in a white shoe law firm, creating some tension between him and his father, who was born in Puerto Rico and built the family business from nothing. "But Mauricio is really tight with his mom," says John Leguizamo of his character. "The only tension there is with my wife, played by the lovely, enchanting Debra Messing. My mom wants her to get pregnant. I kind of want it, too, and I use my mom to tell my wife to get with it."
Rodriguez recalls, "When we were thinking of this character, we immediately said 'Leguizamo.' I've never seen him do a character like this before, this sort of uptight, Manhattan elite, suit-wearing character. We were trying to cast against type with all the characters so we immediately said, 'Legz should be that guy, because no one's ever seen him in that light.'"
"Once John heard the idea, then read the script, he loved it," adds Teitel. "He came on board right after that. Once we had Freddy and John, they were like the actor-magnets. They just kind of brought everybody else in."
The onscreen bond between family members is authentic, according to Leguizamo. "We really worked hard to make that relationship real, and to find those little details that reveal the complexity of the father-son and mother-son relationships. As crazy as this family is, we love the hell out of each other."
Mauricio's wife, Sarah, is an outsider, a high-powered executive from a Jewish family who understands the Rodriguez clan as little as she is understood by it. Rodriguez reached back to the beginning of his career for an actress to play the part. "When we were throwing names around, Debra Messing was definitely on the top of the list," says Rodriguez. "She and I did our first film together. When they mentioned her name, I thought, yeah, that's a perfect choice and she's wonderful."
Messing was fresh out of graduate school when she shot A Walk in the Clouds with Rodriguez, Keanu Reeves and Anthony Quinn. "I had never been on camera in my life," she says. "And there was this young kid, Freddy, and it was his first movie, too. We bonded. Then "Will & Grace" and "Six Feet Under" came on around the same time and we were reunited on the red carpet when both of our shows were nominated for Emmys. It was like, oh, my gosh, who would have thought, when we met the first time, that we would be here? He's such a talented actor. And he's just so smart. I think it's limitless what he can do."
The Rodriguez family's old world ideals and values make Sarah feel shut out, says the actress. "Especially when it comes to Mom and what it means to be a woman. This family is so tight and so committed to each other and to each other's happiness. My character feels like there's nothing she can do that can win them over. She tries her best to help out, but the fact that she has not yet provided a grandchild is the elephant in the room, so to speak."
Although Messing had heard about Chicago's legendarily cold winters, she was not prepared for the record temperatures she encountered during the shoot. "Had I known then that it was going to be 25 below zero with the wind chill, I'm not sure I would have had the courage to do it," says Messing, who came up with an ingenious solution. "I researched extreme explorers who go to Antarctica and what they wear, and found a jacket and a liner that will keep you warm at sixty degrees below zero. Of course, by the time it showed up, there were about five days of shooting left, but now I'm ready for Antarctica!"
Messing developed a reputation on set for keeping up with the sometimes raucous antics of some of the male actors. "Debra brought crazy comedy chops to the work, as well as a lot of drama, too, so she's giving you a little extra," says Leguizamo. "Everybody knows she's very beautiful and upscale and all that, but she can be like a guy. She's got that kind of mouth. It's just hilarious, because she says the raunchiest, craziest stuff. But it was the hip-hop dancing that freaked me out. How that came out of her, I don't know. She must've been clubbing a lot."
Luis Guzmán, who plays Johnny, has been a staple in film and television for more than 20 years, appearing in high profile projects including Traffic, Carlito's Way, Boogie Nights and the HBO series "Oz."
"We said 'How can we do this movie and not have Luis Guzmán in it?'" says Teitel. "Doesn't even make sense. So we made him that older cousin, that screw-up cousin that we all have and know. He just fit right into it perfectly."
For Guzmán, it was an opportunity to return to some of the best moments of his childhood. "I come from the Lower East Side in New York City," he says. "The whole thing with the family getting together celebrating Christmas, the music and the unity among people from the neighborhood, the spirit of it all. I grew up with all that stuff.
"My old neighborhood has been so gentrified, and so many of the community people have been pushed out," he continues. "Coming to Humboldt Park was like what the Lower East Side was fifteen, twenty years ago. Just seeing all the different storefronts, all the different organizations, the murals reminded me of what a real community is, before so many longtime residents have been filtered out by developers."
Vanessa Ferlito, who has appeared on "CSI: New York" and "24," plays Roxanna, the middle child and only daughter, an actress living in California. "She hasn't really hit it yet, so when she comes home and realizes what a great environment she left and the people and her family, it starts to pull her back in," says Teitel. "In my family, I was that kid who went to California. There are times when you're doing well and you come home and you're a hero. Then there are times when you're not working and you really got nothing to say and you still want them to be proud of you."
Ferlito, who is an Italian-American from Brooklyn, found the Rodriguez family dynamic to be familiar, especially during a dinner scene in which the entire clan is talking simultaneously. "I wish my mother was here right now," she says. "I'd have her walk in the room and demonstrate. They're loud. They feel that's the only way you can hear them. The only way they can get their point across is by screaming across the table. Who can talk louder than the next? Who makes the best point? Who's right? Whose food is better? It goes on and on."
Vanessa finds herself drawn to Ozzy, the young man she left behind who works in her father's store. Ozzy is played by Jay Hernandez, familiar to audiences from roles in films including World Trade Center and Friday Night Lights. "Being a part of a family movie that dealt with these issues was a unique experience," he says. "I didn't have to act. I had these experiences. I've seen them play out in my family."
Melonie Diaz, who recently appeared in the Jack Black comedy, Be Kind Rewind, plays Jesse's ex, Marissa, who was left behind when he impulsively enlisted. "He just ripped her heart apart," says Diaz. "It's really complex because sometimes in life you do things because you need to and you act on instinct. And that's what Jesse did when he went to the war, because he couldn't take what was happening in his life with the family and the store."
Diaz says that the Rodriguez clan reminds her very much of her family. "The movie really reflects our cultural background and how we interact with each other as family," she says. "What's very recognizable is that this family has a lot of bold characters. Everybody has something to say; everybody wants to be heard. There's a lot of room for drama, as you can see. And it's like that with my family."
Alfred Molina says that boundless energy was evident on the set as well. "Our rehearsals were very boisterous and very loud and dynamic," he says. "And that's to do with the nature of the actors involved. The great thing is that the energy didn't have to be manufactured. Alfredo, our director, created time for us to rehearse, without the pressure of filming. So we were able to create some of that dynamic, away from the camera as it were, and when we shot the scenes, we arrived with something extra to offer."
With such a powerful cast, it might seem that the personalities would overwhelm the material, but Messing says it was exactly the opposite. "You rarely see a big ensemble cast with so many actors who usually play leading roles. Because there isn't one star, everyone is on the same level. That makes the story the star."
Each of the cast members came to the set anticipating a special experience and left feeling the shoot had been a gift of sorts. As Luis Guzmán says, "To be able to come together with this cast on such a project was awesome. I've had an incredible amount of joy and delight and fun working on this movie with them. You know, we just fed off each other so much, and complemented each other so, so well."

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

The story for Nothing Like the Holidays had been percolating in producer Robert Teitel's mind for almost five years. A partner in State Street Pictures and producer of such hit films as Soul Food and Barbershop, Teitel grew up about 15 minutes from Humboldt Park, Chicago's best known Puerto Rican neighborhood. "My grandma, my cousins, my aunts all grew up there. My mom would take my brother and me there in the summers. It seemed natural to do a family story and set it in the neighborhood that my family grew up in."
Teitel says for years he was asked by relatives, "'When are you going to do a movie about Humboldt Park?' I heard it so many times, I told Freddy Rodriguez about it. Fred and I have been friends for around twelve years, and I knew Freddy grew up right outside Humboldt Park."
Rodriguez, an award-winning actor best known for his Emmy®-nominated role as ambitious mortician Federico Diaz on "Six Feet Under," has been friendly with both Teitel and his partner, writer-director George Tillman, Jr., for more than a decade. "We're all from Chicago," says Rodriguez. "Bob and I left Chicago around the same time, we had our first projects out around the same time, and we always talked about doing something together. We kicked around a couple ideas, but this one was always in Bob's head. He asked me to come on board as executive producer and help put it together."
Rene M. Rigal, State Street Pictures' president of production, had been pitching an idea to Teitel since his first job interview. "In that meeting, we started riffing an idea for Nothing Like the Holidays. We started talking about a family and how we wanted to make it an American family that happens to be Latino."
"With a strong personal connection to the material, the producers had very specific ideas about the movie's screenplay. "I wanted a story with a lot of heart and a lot of drama," says Teitel. "We gave it to the writer, Rick Najera, and he gave us a draft. Then I went to my wife, Alison Swan. She would always come back here with me to Humboldt Park for Christmas and she saw my crazy family and saw what was going on at Christmastime, so she was the perfect person to mesh it all together."
Teitel acknowledges that a lot of the details in the film are based on his own family. "My dad owned a small auto paint store and I grew up in that. I had to grapple with whether or not to take over the store or go to Hollywood. A lot of the same kinds of things that Freddy's character is dealing with in the film. So, it's really close to my heart."
Director Alfredo De Villa had impressed the producers with his work on three previous films, notably the acclaimed independent production Washington Heights. "He really captured that specific neighborhood in New York," says Teitel. "I felt like this was a natural progression for him. As soon as we met him, everybody embraced him. His ideas were totally in tune with ours, so it was an easy connection."
Although the filmmakers met with a number of talented directors before offering the film to De Villa, says Rodriquez, "I go with my gut, and my instincts told me that he really got what we were going for in this film and he got wonderful performances from his actors in his earlier films. I was confident he would get the same kind of performances out of all of us."
De Villa was attracted to the film's emphasis on family and community. "It says that these things are sometimes more important than individual needs," the director says. "It really sounded truthful to me. By embracing the authenticity of this unique community, we allowed the movie to become broader and speak about larger themes of unity."
Teitel adds: "My goal is for this film to be received as a universal film. People will see bits and pieces of their family in this film. It doesn't matter what race or religion you are, you're going to see your family on the screen."
"It's kind of what George and I did with Soul Food," the producer continues. "We were fortunate enough to make this movie that crossed over universally. People of all ethnicities would come up to us and say, 'That was my family!'"
De Villa believes the questions at the heart of Nothing Like the Holidays will strike a universal chord. "As a culture, it feels like America is in a time of transition. That's when it's most important for families to come together. When there's that emotional union or communion, it gives you a sense of purpose that you might not have when you are just on your own."
Nothing Like the Holidays, says Rigal, is ultimately about coming home. "As in a lot of American families, each of the Rodriguezes has been living a very different life with its own unique set of personal challenges. When the kids come home for the first time in three years, they bring all their problems with them. And the thing they think they can depend on most, the foundation of family, is completely thrown into chaos. But no matter what obstacles, no matter what things we deal with, no matter what the trauma within the family, the only thing that'll get us through is the family."

FINDING THE REAL HUMBOLDT PARK

Humboldt Park is located at the original boundaries of the city of Chicago. The area has always has been an entry point for ethnic communities. "First it was German, Jewish and Scandinavian, then later on it became Polish and Russian, and then, of course, from the 1950s until today, it has been a predominantly Puerto Rican community," says Enrique Salgado, Executive Director of the Division Street Business Development Association. "Humboldt Park actually has a diverse population. There's a large Latino community here that includes Mexican, Salvadoran, Colombian, Guatemalan and a significant African-American community."
When the filmmakers started scouting locations, word got out that they were making a film about Humboldt Park. "A couple of people from the neighborhood were a little nervous at first," says Teitel.
As the area's unofficial spokesperson, Salgado was instrumental in helping the filmmakers gain access to the heart of the community. "I got a phone call from one of the location directors asking for assistance in finding some locations for a possible film that would be made here," he remembers. "When I asked for more information, the filmmakers not only sent me a script, they also asked for input about whether or not it accurately portrayed our community. I offered to give them a tour and show them the community through our eyes."
Taking the tour were Bob Teitel and the film's location managers and designers. For two hours, Salgado led them through some of the area's businesses and homes, introduced them to community leaders and gave them a historical overview of Humboldt Park. "People became really excited about the movie," says Salgado. "When they found out who the actors were, it was even more exciting because Freddy Rodriguez is from the community. It also brought business in for local companies, which was great."
Humboldt Park's people take particular pride in Paseo Boricua, the area's main thoroughfare, which is framed by a unique monument erected in 1995. Two Puerto Rican flags, constructed of steel and weighing 45 tons apiece, reach 56 feet across, 59 feet high and 59 feet into the ground. "We created two gateways into the community that span it from one end to the other," says Salgado. "They're the world's largest monument to any flag in the world and the only monument to the Puerto Rican flag. They were designed to last over five hundred years."
Once a year, the Paseo is shut down for a one-day celebration that attracts over 200,000 people to displays of Puerto Rican history and culture. A nearby mural, one of many in Humboldt Park, contains a visual history of Puerto Ricans in Chicago. "When you look at this mural, if you're from the community, you recognize key people, business owners, shop owners, statues, flags, buildings that are actually on the street," says Salgado. "It shows the essence of who we are as Puerto Ricans, here in Chicago, in Humboldt Park and on Paseo Boricua."
During the shoot, the filmmakers got an even better sense of the spirit of the residents of this unique community, says Teitel. "The people are so proud of their neighborhood. One time a kid outside a house where we were shooting came up to me. He didn't even know who I was. We just started talking. He looked at all the chairs in the row, with everybody's name on it, and he said, 'Look at this: Alfred Molina, John Leguizamo, Freddy Rodriguez, Jay Hernandez, Luis Guzmán, Debra Messing, Elizabeth Peña, Vanessa Ferlito, Melonie Diaz.'
"And he goes, 'They're all here in my neighborhood making a movie. This is unbelievable. Who'd ever thought about a movie in Humboldt Park? I didn't think anybody even knew we existed in here.' Little things like that went on during the shoot that gave me a lump in my throat. Makes you feel really good about it, you know what I mean?"
The film marked the first time Humboldt Park native Freddy Rodriguez shot in Chicago. "I've been gone for almost fifteen years, when I was shooting on the street, people were coming up to me and they're saying, 'Hey, I went to grammar school with you,' or, 'I know your cousin,' or 'I went to high school with your wife.'
"My aunt and uncle were extras on the film, and it's just kind of weird when I'm preparing to do a scene and I look over and I see my aunt and uncle in the background. It's been a reality check, you know? I feel like I've come full circle with this film."
Rene Rigal was one of the few people at State Street Pictures who had not worked in Chicago before. "Bob told me, 'You're going to love the people,'" he says. "I think they respected the fact that we were telling a story about a family. I mean, we were filming on the streets and they would open up their houses. I can't tell you how many times people came with food from their kitchen and fed us in the freezing cold. It's a great community. It was one of those films where no one ran back to their trailers."
On one of the coldest days of Chicago's coldest winter in decades, Teitel met a woman on the street who invited him into her home for hot chocolate. "I didn't even know her," he says. "I walked in the house, and there's Luis Guzmán, Jay Hernandez and Freddy playing dominoes, while Alfred Molina and John Leguizamo are in the kitchen talking to the family. That's an image I won't forget and it's what I'll always cherish about making this movie. Everybody was so inviting."
One of Humboldt Park's cherished traditions, the parranda, takes center stage in one of the most exciting and authentic scenes in the film. Parranda is a traditional Puerto Rican Christmas celebration that takes place on January 6, also known as Three Kings Day.
"It is our term for Christmas carolers," explains Luis Guzmán. "It celebrates life, it celebrates the season. I know when I go to Puerto Rico to celebrate Christmas, it's six weeks of that, seven days a week."
According to Teitel, no film about Christmas in Humboldt Park would be complete without including the annual celebration. "It's something I had never experienced but I'd read about it and heard about it and we felt like we needed to include that in the film to make it as authentic as possible."
It starts off with one family going to another house to carol outside. The residents invite them inside and the Christmas caroling continues. "They serve you drinks and food and once you're done, both families go on from there," says Freddy Rodriguez. "Then you go to somebody else's house and you repeat the same thing there at that house and that family goes with you.
"I remember my parents doing it all the time," Rodriguez continues. "There might be a group of fifty people going to somebody's house at three in the morning, knocking on the door. I remember being five and having maybe thirty people arrive. My mom had to wake up and put hors d'oeuvres together and serve Puerto Rican rum. It's a great memory to have and I'm so happy that we got to put that in the film."
"I always tell people that it's taking caroling and adding fun to it," says Enrique Salgado. "It's a gift to the family, so you actually go to their house, and you ring their doorbell and when they open their doors, there's music and it turns into a party, but the party just doesn't end there. The party goes from there to the next person's house, to the next person's house, to the next person's house. And it becomes one huge, community celebration that goes through the night."
It was the perfect opportunity to involve the residents of Humboldt Park directly in the film. "All the extras were from the community," says De Villa. "About a hundred and fifty people participated. They had no camera experience, so we just had to kind of keep it real, and they did great."
The whole concept was new to Debra Messing, but she was quickly caught up in the spirit. "Where have I been?" asks the actress. "This is the place to be on Christmas Eve. There is something very telling about a culture that goes from house to house singing for each other and playing music. These people are generous of spirit and clearly consider everybody part of their larger family."
Guzmán says the tradition represents the community as a whole in celebration. "The family is celebrating with the community, and the community is celebrating with the family. And it's a way that we get to know our neighbors better. You can be asleep and it's one o'clock in the morning, and there's this innocent knock on the door. You open the door, and then forty people are singing. And, of course, you must invite them in. And you've got to give them something to drink, and something to eat, and it's a party, and they sing songs". The filmmakers used a combination of practical locations and sets built on a soundstage to shoot Nothing Like the Holidays' interior scenes. It fell to production designer Dan Clancy to create the film's colorful and authentic settings. "I did a lot of research, going to people's homes, walking through the neighborhood," says Clancy. "It's a cool community and a close community full of incredibly creative people."
De Villa says the production was fortunate to have most of the community open their houses to the filmmakers. "We probably took over a thousand photos of people's living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms. We looked at everything and learned what the most common type of house would be for a family of this economic level living in the community for thirty years. We used that research to design the interior and exterior of the Rodriguez house."
Clancy consulted with experts, went to private homes and visited the local bodegas and coffee shops to get to know the real people of Humboldt Park. "It was the director's vision to keep it as authentic as possible. I needed to see the way the people dressed, the way they shopped, the way they decorated their homes. It was all really colorful, which is reflected in the film's bright palette. In the Rodriguez house, Alfredo insisted that each drawer, each cabinet, each closet, be filled with the real clothes that they wore. We had to have the right colors. Every little detail that you can think of was covered."
Clancy and his crew built the Rodriguez's store from scratch. "We created it to be Division Street in miniature, with a coffee shop and a bakery within the grocery store. They play dominoes there. It became more of a community center."
Clancy's efforts resulted in a bodega so realistic that it fooled even longtime residents of Humboldt Park. "When we were shooting those scenes, there were people coming by all the time and trying to get into the store," says Teitel. "This store had been closed for a year and a half. We'd say, 'No, I'm sorry, we're shooting,' and they'd say 'But look at all the people inside. Look, everything's up.'"
To capture the Rodriguez family and their vibrant community on film, De Villa brought in award-winning cinematographer Scott Kevan, whose credits have ranged from Paul W.S. Anderson's summer sci-fi thriller Death Race to the acclaimed horror drama Bug to the kinetic, crowd-pleasing dance film Stomp the Yard.
For Kevan, the biggest challenge was finding visual ways to underscore the film's emotional subtext, which threads a fine line between comedy and drama.
"Throughout the film we had to maintain a richness and contrast that gave images some depth but not make them so dark and dreary that it bled the fun and comedy out of the script. There are a lot of moments that are very dramatic where the tension is broken through comedy-and vice verse."
As an example, Kevan sites the dinner table scene where Elizabeth Pena's character announces she plans to leave her husband. "There's a warmth to that scene-it's a family meal with a lot of joking-but then halfway through, it takes a twist. To highlight that, we kept the light in a pool around the dinner table, so there was a serious tone to it but it still had warmth of family gathering."
The cinematographer contrasts that sequence with the scenes in the hospital, which were intentionally almost devoid of color.
"Also, in the back office of the grocery store, where Alfred Molina's character has a couple very serious conversations with his son, played by Freddie Rodriguez, we tended to let the scenes go darker and have more contrast to give them a heavier feel, whereas the scenes in the front of the store were lighter and more colorful."
Costume designer Susan Kaufmann brought the same rigorous attention to detail to the characters' wardrobes. "I spent a lot of time walking through the neighborhoods for research to see the patterns in the way people looked in Humboldt Park," she says. "Everyone shops in the same stores these days, but different cultures wear things in different ways. They buy different sizes, different colors, they accessorize it differently.
"Almost every woman, young or old, had on a coat with a fur hooded collar and lots of hoop earrings, lots of tight, tight jeans tucked into boots," according to Kaufman. "And there was a very specific color pattern. I didn't see one woman who wasn't wearing pink or purple."
For each character, Kaufman developed a signature style that reflected their world view. "For example, I wanted Edy to have a sense of his culture and neighborhood, so we dressed him in guayaberas - traditional Puerto Rican shirts. With Anna, as she transitions in the film, we let her turn into a little more of a hot mama for a little while.
"My general goal was to define the characters, so that people can get a quick sense of who they are."
To provide the film's soundtrack, director De Villa turned to acclaimed DJ and remixer Paul Olkenfold, a two-time Grammy winner whose credits include works for U2, the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Madonna and The Cure.
Olkenfold said he was attracted to the film's universal themes and what he saw as its potential to reach audiences beyond the U.S. Although Olkenfold's feature film work has been focused primarily on such blockbuster action pictures as Collateral, Pirates of the Caribbean, Die Another Day and The Bourne Identity, he says he was pleased with the opportunity to work on an intimate and often funny drama such as Nothing Like the Holidays."The music was a big challenge for me because it's primarily a comedy but I'm happy that the director and producers believed that I could do this genre of film."

ABOUT THE CAST

JOHN LEGUIZAMO (Mauricio) is a multi-faceted performer and Emmy Award winner whose diverse career defies categorization. With boundless energy and creativity, his work in film, theatre, television and literature covers a variety of genres while continually threatening to create a few of his own. Leguizamo recently completed two highly anticipated films: M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, opposite Mark Wahlberg which released earlier this year, and Righteous Kill, opposite Oscar® winners Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Leguizamo also starred in the independent films Where God Left His Shoes, Franc Reyes' The Ministers and The Take. His next project is on Broadway in David Mamet's "American Buffalo".
He was recently seen in Love in the Time of Cholera, the screen adaptation of celebrated writer Gabriel García Márquez's novel. Directed by Mike Newell, the film also starred Javier Bardem, Benjamin Bratt and Giovanna Mezzogiorno. Leguizamo preceded this project with a leading role in Spike TV's limited series "The Kill Point," playing the leader of a gang of thieves who happen to be a team of U.S. soldiers just back from Iraq. Leguizamo also earned rave reviews for his role as a popular TV reporter willing to sacrifice everything to get the story of a notorious serial killer in Crónicas. The film screened at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and 2004 Toronto Film Festival and was also honored as an "Un Certain Regard" selection at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
Raised in New York City, Leguizamo studied acting with Lee Strasberg and Wynn Handman at New York University. His motion picture credits include George Romero's Land of the Dead, Ed Burns' The Groomsmen, Lies & Alibis, Assault on Precinct 13, Sueño (opposite Elizabeth Peña), Spun, Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge (ALMA nomination, Best Supporting Actor), Spike Lee's Summer of Sam, Seth Zvi Rosenfeld's King of the Jungle (ALMA nomination, Best Lead Actor), the cult hit Spawn, Doctor Dolittle, Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way with Al Pacino and Sean Penn, as well as De Palma's 1988 war saga Casualties of War, also with Penn. For his performance as a sensitive drag queen in To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar, Leguizamo garnered a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
The versatile performer also starred in and directed HBO's "Undefeated." Leguizamo's directorial debut, the film follows a young Latino boxer dealing with love and career success. The versatile Leguizamo also appeared as a guest star in 12 episodes of NBC's cornerstone drama, "ER," during the 2005-2006 season. Other television credits include the ABC miniseries, "Arabian Nights," where he played both The Ring Genie and The Lamp Genie in the literary classic. Leguizamo set a precedent by creating and starring in the first Latino comedy/variety show, the Emmy Award-winning "House of Buggin'" for FOX.
In addition to his work in front of the camera, Leguizamo earned raves behind the microphone in Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, in which he reprised his voice role from the original animated hit Ice Age as Sid the Sloth. The films co-starred Ray Romano, Denis Leary and Queen Latifah.
A highly talented stage performer, Leguizamo created an Off-Broadway sensation as the writer and performer of his one-man show, "Mambo Mouth," in which he portrayed seven different characters. He received Obie, Outer Critics Circle and Vanguardia Awards for his performance. The play's HBO special led to his first television comedy special, Comedy Central's "The Talent Pool," for which he received a CableACE Award.
Leguizamo's second one-man show, "Spic-O-Rama," had an extended sold-out run in Chicago at the Goodman and Briar Street theaters before opening in New York. The play received numerous accolades, including the Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award for Best American Play and the Lucille Lortel Outstanding Achievement Award for Best Broadway Performance. Leguizamo received the Theatre World Award for Outstanding New Talent, as well as a Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance. "Spic-O-Rama" also aired on HBO, receiving four CableACE Awards.
"Freak," Leguizamo's third one-man show, ended a successful run on Broadway in 1998. For the show, billed as a "Semi-Demi-Quasi-Pseudo Autobiography," Leguizamo won the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Solo Performance. A special presentation of "Freak," directed by Spike Lee, aired on HBO and earned Leguizamo the Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Music Program, as well as a nomination for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special.
When Leguizamo returned to Broadway in 2001 with "Sexaholix: a Love Story," he was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and the show received a Tony nomination for Best Special Theatrical Performance. It also aired as an HBO special in 2002.
Additional stage credits include "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "La Puta Vida" at the New York Shakespeare Festival and "Parting Gestures" at INTAR.
Also an accomplished author, Leguizamo penned his autobiography, Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends. Harper Collins released the fast-paced, hilarious and poignant memoir in October 2006.
Leguizamo was the recipient of the 2002 ALMA Award for Entertainer of the Year.

FREDDY RODRIGUEZ (Jesse) has quickly emerged as one of Hollywood's most dynamic and exceptional young actors, earning an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor, two Alma Awards, three Imagen Awards, a Nosotros Award and two SAG Awards (for Best Ensemble Drama) for his role as Federico Diaz, the artful mortician, in HBO's award-winning drama "Six Feet Under." His busy schedule on the big screen recently included the Quentin Tarantino-Robert Rodriguez collaboration Grindhouse, in which he played the action hero star of Rodriguez's segment, the zombie thriller Planet Terror.
A Chicago native (from the Bucktown neighborhood adjacent to Humboldt Park), Rodriguez began acting as a teenager. By age 14, he starred in the pilot production of the city's Whirlwind Performance Company, a theater group composed of youth at risk. Because of his outstanding work with the company, he received a two-year scholarship to the summer arts program at the Chicago Center for the Gifted. Majoring in drama at Chicago's Lincoln Park High School (which specializes in the performing arts), he became heavily involved in Chicago's early hip-hop scene as a backup dancer and choreographer, and also starred in more than 20 theater productions in his hometown.
Following his six-season run on the acclaimed HBO series, "Six Feet Under," Rodriguez returned to series television as Giovanni, love interest of America Ferrera's title character in an extended guest arc on ABC's hit series "Ugly Betty." While working on "Ugly Betty," Rodriguez simultaneously starred in the feature film Bottle Shock, chronicling the birth of the Napa wine industry, which premiered to great reviews at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
The actor was also seen in the critically acclaimed indie drama Bobby, for writer and director Emilio Estevez. The story is a fictionalized account of 22 people whose lives intersect in the 16 hours leading up to and including the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy at Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel. Rodriguez gave a powerful and moving performance as Jose Rojas, a hard-working busboy at the hotel who is at Kennedy's side when the fatal shot is fired. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where it received a seven-minute standing ovation, and earned excellent reviews at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Upon its release in late 2006, the film was honored with Best Ensemble Cast at the Hollywood Film Festival, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Drama and a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
Adding to his independent film credits, Rodriguez starred opposite Christian Bale and Eva Longoria Parker in Harsh Times, for filmmaker David Ayer. He also starred opposite Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard and Jeffery Wright in Lady in the Water for director M. Night Shyamalan. His other film credits include Wolfgang Petersen's Poseidon, with Josh Lucas and Kurt Russell; Dreamer, opposite Dakota Fanning and Kurt Russell, Steve Gaghan's Havoc, with Anne Hathaway; Alfonso Arau's A Walk in the Clouds, with Keanu Reeves; Dead Presidents, directed by the Hughes brothers; Payback, with Mel Gibson; and the HBO telefilm "For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story," opposite Andy Garcia.

DEBRA MESSING (Sarah) is best known for her role on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series "Will & Grace," captivating television audiences worldwide for eight seasons with her comedic brilliance as Grace Adler, an interior designer whose best friend and soul mate is gay. For her work on the popular sitcom, Messing won the 2003 Emmy Award, earned four Golden Globe nominations, three additional Emmy nominations, two American Comedy Award nominations and one individual People's Choice Award nomination. She also collected TV Guide's Actress of the Year in a Comedy Series honor in 2001. On the motion picture screen, Messing recently wrapped filming on a remake of George Cukor's 1939 film, The Women, which centers on a group of gossipy high society women whose personal lives collide. Messing commandeers the role of Edith Potter alongside Hollywood powerhouses Annette Bening, Meg Ryan, Jada Pinkett Smith, Eva Mendes, Cloris Leachman and Candice Bergen.
Raised in a quiet community outside Providence, Rhode Island, Messing devoted much of her childhood to musical theatre, performing in numerous productions at both school and camp, which ignited her interest in the stage. She received her liberal arts education at Brandeis University, where she majored in Theatre Arts. Messing spent half of her junior year studying in London's prestigious B.E.S.G.L. program, which featured dramatic arts teachers recruited from distinguished institutions such as the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Cambridge University and Oxford University. Upon graduating Summa Cum Laude from Brandeis University, she was accepted into NYU's elite Graduate Acting Program and received her M.F.A. three years later.
Messing garnered much excitement in New York over her portrayal of Harper Pitt in the pre-Broadway workshop of Tony Kushner's Tony Award-winning play "Angels in America: Perestroika." She then left New York for Seattle to star as Cecily in "The Importance of Being Earnest" at the Intiman Theatre. Upon her return, she was cast as both Mary-Louise Parker's and Polly Draper's understudy in the New York premiere of John Patrick Shanley's critically acclaimed Off-Broadway play, "Four Dogs and a Bone," at the Manhattan Theatre Club. She next went on to co-star in Paul Rudnick's Off-Broadway play "The Naked Truth."
Messing also co-starred onstage with Maria Tucci in the two-woman, highly acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Donald Margulies' "Collected Stories," which premiered at The Manhattan Theatre Club and was chosen as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
After "Will & Grace" ended its lengthy run, Messing starred in USA Network's six-hour television event, "The Starter Wife," with Joe Mantegna, Miranda Otto and Judy Davis. The miniseries, directed by Jon Avnet and based on Gigi Levangie Grazer's bestselling novel, drew 5.4 million viewers in its two-hour debut on May 31, 2007 to give the cable network its best launch for an original series in three years. It picked up 10 Emmy nominations, including Messing's for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. Because of this highly successful run, Messing will reprise her role as Molly Kagan in a new "The Starter Wife" regular series for the network airing in the fall of 2008.
Messing can be seen co-starring in Ed Burns' film Purple Violets, the first feature film released exclusively on iTunes. Written and directed by Burns, co-starring Selma Blair and Patrick Wilson, the film tells the story of four friends from college who unexpectedly run into one another more than a decade after parting ways. It was screened in the Spotlight category at the 6th Annual Tribeca Film Festival in April 2007.
Messing's recent film work also includes two romantic comedies, The Wedding Date, opposite Dermot Mulroney, and the box office hit Along Came Polly, with Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston. In 2002, Messing co-starred in Woody Allen's comedy, Hollywood Ending, opposite Allen and Tea Leoni, and The Mothman Prophecies, opposite Richard Gere and Laura Linney.
Messing portrayed Mary Magdalene in the four-hour CBS miniseries "Jesus," directed by Roger Young and co-starring Gary Oldman, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Jeroen Krabbe and Jeremy Sisto. She starred as a young bio-anthropologist in the 1998 ABC thriller series "Prey" and displayed her comedic skills for two seasons as Stacey in the FOX comedy "Ned and Stacey," which also starred Thomas Haden Church. Additional credits include recurring roles on the hit television series "NYPD Blue" and "Seinfeld," appearing in the latter as Jerry's ideal but elusive love, Beth Lookner.
During her free time, Messing supports charities such as The Gay Men's Health Crisis, AmFAR and Best Friend's Pet Sanctuary.

ALFRED MOLINA (Edy) is an accomplished London-born character actor whose diverse and distinguished gallery of performances has led to a lengthy and triumphant career in films, television and the stage. In 2002, Molina won rave reviews and nominations for the British Academy Award (BAFTA), the Screen Actors Guild Award, the Broadcast Film Critics prize and the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for his Best Supporting Actor turn as the hedonistic Mexican artist Diego Rivera in Frida, the docudrama about the life of Frida Kahlo starring Oscar nominee Salma Hayek. Upcoming screen roles include The Lodger; Pink Panther 2, opposite Steve Martin; An Education, alongside Emma Thompson, Peter Sarsgaard and Orlando Bloom; and Marble City.
Following Molina's education at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, he quickly gained membership in England's prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company, where he performed both in classics like "Troilus and Cressida" and new original works like "Frozen Assets" and "Dingo." In 1979, he won acclaim (and a Plays and Players Award as Most Promising New Actor) as The Maniac in "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" at London's Half Moon Theatre.
Two years later, Molina found himself on the big screen in an auspicious, albeit brief, debut as the devious, traitorous guide, Satipo, who betrays Indiana Jones in the exciting opening sequence of Steven Spielberg's landmark adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Molina's Mediterranean heritage (Spanish father, Italian mother) has allowed the dark-haired, dark-eyed talent the versatility to play a wide range of nationalities, which he put to great use in his early screen appearances in the '80s. Molina played distinctive characters like the Russian sailor in Chris Bernard's Letter to Brezhnev (1985) and the young Greek in Peter Yates' Eleni (1986). During the decade, he also co-starred in Mike Leigh's Meantime (1983), Richard Donner's Ladyhawke (1985) and Dusan Makavejev's Manifesto (1989). He won great notices for his portrait of a vengeful, murderous Kenneth Halliwell, playwright Joe Orton's gay lover, in Stephen Frears' 1987 drama, Prick Up Your Ears.
Molina's career continued to soar in the following decade, with roles as an unhappy upper class husband in Mike Newell's Enchanted April, the joyous painter Titorelli in David Jones' 1993 adaptation of Kafka's novel The Trial and the duplicitous Persian spouse in Not Without My Daughter. He reteamed with director Donner in the comic western Maverick and played the small but pivotal role of a crazed drug dealer in Paul Thomas Anderson's Oscar-nominated Boogie Nights (1997). Molina joined Anderson once again for his epic ensemble drama Magnolia (1999), collecting SAG nominations for both as part of the films' ensemble casts. He also continued to display his ability to embody a variety of nationalities, playing a Cuban immigrant in Mira Nair's The Perez Family (1995) and a Greek-American lawyer in Barbet Schroeder's drama Before and After (1996). Other films over this ten-year span include Roger Donaldson's sci-fi thriller Species, Jon Amiel's comic thriller The Man Who Knew Too Little, Bernard Rose's Anna Karenina, Woody Allen's Celebrity and Stanley Tucci's The Impostors.
During the current decade, Molina collected his third SAG Ensemble Cast nomination for Lasse Hallström's whimsical, Oscar-nominated romantic comedy Chocolat and reunited with Hallström opposite Richard Gere in The Hoax. He also turned heads as the villainous Dr. Otto Octavius, a.k.a. Dr. Octopus, in Sam Raimi's blockbuster sequel, Spider-Man 2. Molina co-starred in such films as Identity, Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes, Ron Howard's adaptation of one of the most popular books of all time, The Da Vinci Code, Isabel Coixet's My Life Without Me, Eric Till's biographical drama Luther, the bilingual suspense thriller Crónicas, Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare adaptation As You Like It, François Girard's Silk and John Irvin's The Moon and the Stars.
On television, Molina starred in two CBS sitcoms. He played a washed-up writer sought out by his estranged daughter in "Bram and Alice" (2002), and Jimmy Stiles in "Ladies' Man," on which he also served as one of the producers. His other television work includes the acclaimed 1983 miniseries "Reilly: Ace of Spies," "Miami Vice," the BBC telefilm "Revolutionary Witness," Granada TV's "El C.I.D.," the BBC miniseries "Ashenden" (based on Peter Mayles' bestseller, A Year in Provence), the Hallmark Channel's "Joan of Arc" (as narrator), and guest appearances on "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit" and "Monk."
Despite his thriving film and television career, Molina has never wandered far from the stage for long. He returned to the RSC to give a much-praised performance as Petruchio in "Taming of the Shrew" (1985) and earned an Olivier nomination for his work in the British production of David Mamet's "Speed the Plow." In his Broadway debut as the good-natured Yvan in Yasmina Reza's "Art" (1998, starring with Alan Alda and Victor Garber), Molina collected the first of his two Tony Award nominations (for Best Actor in a Dramatic Play). He made his Broadway debut as the Irish chatterbox Frank Sweeney in Brian Friel's play "Molly Sweeney" (1995-96), and most recently triumphed as Tevye in the 2004 revival of "Fiddler on the Roof," for which he earned his second Tony nod (Best Actor in a Musical).

ELIZABETH PEÑA (Anna) is reunited with director Alfredo De Villa after co-starring in his 2007 drama, Adrift in Manhattan. She was recently seen in the indie comedy How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer.
Although she spent her early years in Cuba, Peña was born in New Jersey, raised in Manhattan, and returned to her hometown at the age of eight. A graduate of the famed High School of Performing Arts, the aspiring actress went on to appear in more than 40 Off-Broadway shows and toured for two years as Shakespeare's Juliet before commencing her film and television career. She has worked with such renowned theater companies as Joseph Papp's Public Theater and La Mama in New York City as well as San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater.
Peña began her work on the big screen with roles in El Super, Times Square and They All Laughed. After co-starring in the Salsa-themed musical Crossover Dreams (1985) opposite Ruben Blades, she won raves and attention for her memorable performance as the maid-turned-revolutionary in Paul Mazursky's satire Down and Out in Beverly Hills.
Peña's impressive and diverse gallery of film work includes the battered wife of Ritchie Valens' half-brother in La Bamba, the doomed friend of policewoman Jamie Lee Curtis in Kathryn Bigelow's thriller Blue Steel, and as Tim Robbins' temperamental lover in Adrian Lyne's disturbing Jacob's Ladder. After a supporting role in The Waterdance and the lead in Dead Funny, Peña won further acclaim and an Independent Spirit Award for her turn as a schoolteacher and former lover of the town sheriff (played by Chris Cooper) in John Sayles' award-winning drama, Lone Star.
Peña co-starred opposite Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in Brett Ratner's hit buddy comedy Rush Hour and appeared in rocker Dee Snyder's offbeat horror film Strangeland. She played the therapist of Oscar nominee Felicity Huffman's preoperative transsexual in Transamerica. Other credits include Tortilla Soup, with Hector Elizondo and the comedy Sueño, with John Leguizamo. Peña also appeared in the features *batteries not included, Gridlock'd, Vibes, Across the Moon, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, Impostor and Andy Garcia's epic story of 1950s Cuba, The Lost City.
In addition to her series regular part in Showtime's "Resurrection Blvd.," for which she also directed an episode, Peña maintains a busy presence in the TV medium. She co-starred in the 1986 police sitcom "Tough Cookies," played the title role in the short-lived "I Married Dora" two years later, and portrayed an aggressive secretary on the John Sayles-created legal drama "Shannon's Deal" in 1990. She has also turned in strong performances in several telefilms, miniseries and anthologies, including the Emmy award-winning "Drug Wars: The Camarena Story" (1990), the AIDS drama "Roommates" (1994), the HBO movie "The Second Civil War" (1997) and "Aldrich Ames: Traitor Within" (1998), in which she played Ames' wife in the true-life spy tale.
The actress has also guest-starred on such series as "Cagney & Lacey," "T.J. Hooker," "Hill Street Blues," "Boston Public," "CSI: Miami," "Numb3rs," "Without a Trace," HBO's "Dream On" and "L.A. Law," on which she had the recurring role of Jinx Baldasseri.
As a voice actor, Peña has lent her distinctive vocals to such animated projects as "Justice League," "Maya & Miguel" and, most notably, "The Incredibles," in which she played the bad-girl-gone-good, Mirage.She can next be seen in two independent features Becoming Eduardo and Por Vida with Danny Glover and Snoop Dogg.

VANESSA FERLITO (Roxanna) is reunited with co-star John Leguizamo after having appeared with him in the HBO telefilm "Undefeated" (his directorial debut), in which she played the ambitious, aspiring singer Lizette Sanchez.
The Brooklyn native debuted on the big screen as an Internet sex worker in the independent drama On_Line, which premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. She also appeared in Spike Lee's critically acclaimed drama 25th Hour, opposite Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosario Dawson and Anna Paquin, and the indie feature, The Tollbooth, directed by Deborah Kirschner.
More recently, Ferlito co-starred as Kirsten Dunst's best friend in Sam Raimi's hit sequel, Spider-Man 2, played one of a quintet of university cheerleaders under the protection of a wily Texas Ranger in Man of the House and co-starred in Quentin Tarantino's acclaimed film Death Proof, part of the ambitious double feature Grindhouse.
Her television credits are equally impressive, with guest-starring roles on three of the medium's most popular series: "Law & Order," "Third Watch" and HBO's Emmy-winning "The Sopranos." She co-starred in a 10-episode arc on FOX's riveting series, "24," in the recurring role of Claudia, the wife of a crime-lord under investigation by CTU agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland). She played Det. Aiden Burn in the debut season of the popular Jerry Bruckheimer franchise, "CSI: NY," opposite Gary Sinise.

JAY HERNANDEZ (Ozzy) burst onto the scene as the charismatic lead opposite Kirsten Dunst in John Stockwell's teen romance, Crazy/Beautiful. This was quickly followed by a starring role in Disney's popular sports biopic, The Rookie, opposite Dennis Quaid, and John Dahl's thriller, Joy Ride, with Steve Zahn and Paul Walker.
He next starred opposite Ice Cube in the action hit, Torque, played a firefighter alongside stars John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix in Jay Russell's drama, Ladder 49, and portrayed real-life high school football star Brian Chavez in Peter Berg's acclaimed gridiron drama Friday Night Lights. He also completed a starring role for director Ivan Passer and executive producer Milos Forman in the historical epic Nomad and changed course with his starring role in Eli Roth's grisly horror pics Hostel and its sequel. More recently, Hernandez appeared in the Rodriguez-Tarantino cult favorite Grindhouse, the mockumentary Live! and Oliver Stone's acclaimed docudrama, World Trade Center.
Upcoming projects include Neil LaBute's police drama Lakeview Terrace, opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Patrick Wilson, the horror-thriller Quarantine and Neil Abramson's war film American Son, reuniting with his Nothing Like the Holidays co-star Melonie Diaz.
Born and raised in Montebello, California, Hernandez was in Hollywood with his parents when he was "discovered" in classic movie fashion. The Hernandez family shared a serendipitous elevator ride with talent manager Howard Tyner and by the time they reached the lobby, a career was born. His first acting job was in the independent feature Living the Life. Hernandez made his television debut as Antonio Lopez, a high school basketball player, in NBC's Saturday morning comedy series "Hang Time."
Departing the show after two seasons, Hernandez moved to MTV in the role of pizza delivery guy Eddie on the popular late-night serial "Undressed" and also co-starred in the pilot of the PBS drama, "American Family," created by Gregory Nava and starring Edward James Olmos, Sonia Braga and Raquel Welch. He also starred in the recent ABC-TV series "Six Degrees."

LUIS GUZMÁN (Johnny), one of the industry's most respected actors, was born in Puerto Rico and raised on Manhattan's ethnically diverse Lower East Side. Before formally pursuing an acting career (a vocation he did not purposely seek), Guzmán was discovered by filmmaker Robert M. Young, who scoured New York's neighborhoods to populate the background of his gritty 1977 prison drama, Short Eyes, in which Guzmán played an unnamed inmate. The actor appears in the 2008 feature releases Yes Man, starring Jim Carrey; Fighting, with Terrence Howard and Channing Tatum; He's Just Not That Into You, opposite Drew Barrymore and Scarlett Johansson; The Cleaner, alongside Samuel L. Jackson; and Maldeamores, produced by Benicio Del Toro.
After graduating from City College, Guzmán worked as a youth counselor at the Henry Street Settlement House. During his time as a social worker, he began performing in street theatre and independent films, earning his first big screen lead in Bette Gordon's 1983 feminist investigation of the porn industry, Variety. At the insistence of playwright Miguel Piñero (who penned the play "Short Eyes"), he next won a role in the second-season opener of Michael Mann's popular TV series "Miami Vice."
Guzmán became a favorite of director Sidney Lumet, who first cast the New Yorker in his 1989 caper comedy Family Business, then reteamed with the actor twice more: in the acclaimed cop drama Q&A, which starred Nick Nolte and Timothy Hutton, and the 1993 drama Guilty as Sin. The new decade brought Guzmán a steady stream of roles in a diverse slate of movies, including Anthony Minghella's romantic comedy, Mr. Wonderful; Brian De Palma's epic crime drama Carlito's Way, opposite Al Pacino and Sean Penn; and Nigel Finch's historical docudrama Stonewall.
As his resume grew, so did his popularity with other filmmakers like Steven Soderbergh, who cast Guzmán as a convict whose planned escape is foiled by George Clooney in Out of Sight, and as Terence Stamp's partner in the crime drama, The Limey. For the latter film, Guzmán earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He also played Don Cheadle's wise-cracking partner in the sweeping Oscar-winning drama Traffic, for which he shared a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the film's ensemble cast.
For Oscar-nominated director Paul Thomas Anderson, Guzmán played a wannabe porn star in Boogie Nights (1997) and a game show contestant in Magnolia (1999). Guzmán earned two more SAG nominations as part of Anderson's stellar ensemble cast in both films. He was reunited with Anderson in the offbeat 2002 comedy Punch-Drunk Love, co-starring Adam Sandler.
Other motion picture credits include Ridley Scott's cross-cultural crime thriller Black Rain; Brad Silberling's Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, alongside Jim Carrey; True Believer, with James Woods; The Hard Way, with Woods and Michael J. Fox; Robert Wise's Rooftops; Brian De Palma's Snake Eyes; Philip Noyce's The Bone Collector; The Cowboy Way, opposite Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland; The Salton Sea, opposite Val Kilmer; Dreamer, with Kurt Russell; Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation; the actioner War, with Jet Li and Jason Statham; Soderbergh's Welcome to Collinwood, with George Clooney; Kevin Reynolds' swashbuckler, The Count of Monte Cristo; the comedy Anger Management, alongside Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler; Confidence, with Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Weisz and Edward Burns; Waiting..., with Ryan Reynolds; and Renny Harlin's Cleaner, opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Ed Harris.
On television, Guzmán was part of the ensemble cast on the gritty HBO prison drama "Oz" (playing the inmate El Cid), guest-starred on such shows as "Law & Order," "Frasier," "Homicide: Life on the Streets" and "Walker, Texas Ranger," and embodied the recurring role of Hector Martinez, the father of cop Nicholas Turturro, on ABC's acclaimed drama "NYPD Blue."

MELONIE DIAZ (Marissa) was raised on New York's Lower East Side. She attended the Henry Street Settlement and the Professional Performing Arts High School, two outlets that have helped the 24-year-old talent to emerge as one of the industry's rising young stars.
Dubbed "The Queen of Sundance" at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Diaz returned to Park City with four films: contemporary war drama American Son, in which she stars opposite Nick Cannon and Jay Hernandez; Michel Gondry's eagerly anticipated comedy Be Kind Rewind, alongside stars Jack Black and Mos Def; the dark comedy Assassination of a High School President, with Bruce Willis; and Andrew Fleming's comedy Hamlet 2, with Catherine Keener and Steve Coogan.
Diaz's vast and varied list of films includes performances in Raising Victor Vargas, Tom DiCillo's Double Whammy, Catherine Hardwicke's Lords of Dogtown, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (earning her a 2007 Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress), Feel the Noise, I'll Come Running and The Beautiful Ordinary.
Diaz's theatre work in New York includes "Love, Medea" at the Bullet Space, The Hip-Hop Theater Festival at Greenwich Village's "P.S.122" and "Woman Who Outshone the Son" at the NYC Fringe Festival. She is currently completing her degree in Film Production at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

ALFREDO DE VILLA (Director) made his motion picture directorial debut with the drama Washington Heights, which won critical praise and several film festival honors. Written be De Villa and Nat Moss (with additional dialogue by acclaimed Dominican fiction writer Junot Diaz), the film premiered at the first Tribeca Film Festival in New York City and won a Special Mention for acting and directing.
Among other awards, Washington Heights won the Audience Award for Best Fiction Narrative Film from the IFP/Los Angeles Film Festival; the Grand Prize from the New York Latino Film Festival; Grand Prize at the 2002 Austin Film Festival; Grand Prize at the Cine Festival (the nation's oldest Latino film festival) in San Antonio; Best First Film in the Muestra Internacional de Cine en Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Best Regional Feature Film from the Rhode Island International Film Festival; and Best Actor and Best Score at the Milan International Film Festival.
The film also played in over 50 international film festivals, including the San Sebastian International Film Festival, the Hamptons International Film Festival, the Hawaii International Film Festival, The Mar de la Plata International Film Festival and Festival of Three Continents in Nantes, France. De Villa himself was nominated for an Open Palm Award for Best Director at the 2003 IFP/Gotham Awards.
A native of central Mexico, De Villa earned a B.A. from the University of Miami, then followed with his M.F.A. from the Film Division of Columbia University, with special emphasis on directing.
The director followed the triumph of his debut feature with the romantic drama Yellow, starring Roselyn Sanchez, Bill Duke, D.B. Sweeney, Manny Perez, Sammi Rotibi and Jaime Tirelli. He most recently helmed Adrift in Manhattan, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival in Dramatic Competition and boasts a cast that includes Heather Graham, William Baldwin, Dominic Chianese, Victor Rasuk and Elizabeth Peña.
Before directing his first feature film, De Villa took part in the Sundance Filmmakers Lab in 2000 with a script he co-wrote with Nat Moss called "Angel." He also directed four short films, winning the Directors Guild of America Best Latino Director Award in 1995 and 1999 (the only filmmaker to have ever won the award twice) for two of these achievements, Neto's Run and Joe's Egg. His documentary short Interiors: The Doorman was purchased by HBO Signature.
In addition to his work on the big screen, De Villa is also a renowned commercial director in association with La Banda Films, a production company based in Los Angeles.

ROBERT TEITEL (Producer) is a homegrown Chicago filmmaker who, along with partner and Columbia College classmate George Tillman, Jr., has produced an eclectic, acclaimed and highly profitable string of motion pictures over the last decade. His first major film production was Soul Food, shot on location in Chicago for just $7 million. Written and directed by Teitel's colleague Tillman, Jr., the film earned over $43 million at the box office and featured an ensemble cast that included Vanessa Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Brandon Hammond, Nia Long, Mekhi Phifer, Irma P. Hall and Michael Beach. Its impressive commercial success spawned an hour-long episodic series airing on Showtime. Teitel currently runs State Street Pictures with Tillman, readying a diverse slate of upcoming projects that includes Notorious, the saga of gangsta rapper Notorious B.I.G., which is being directed by Tillman, Jr.
Teitel grew up in the Chicago suburb of Mt. Prospect. He majored in Film and Marketing at Columbia College, where he and George Tillman, Jr. formed a production company called Menagerie Films. While there, Teitel produced the 1992 film Paula, a 30-minute short directed by his new partner that won several awards, including the Student Academy Award. Teitel also produced several music videos under the Menagerie umbrella. He began his producing career with the 1995 film Scenes for the Soul, which was written and directed by Tillman Jr. For the film, Teitel raised $150,000 and, upon its completion, sold the film rights to Savoy Pictures for $1 million.
After the success of Soul Food, Teitel next produced the drama Men of Honor (also directed by Tillman, Jr.), which starred Academy Award® winners Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding, Jr. and earned over $100 million in worldwide receipts.
He followed these victories by returning to his hometown with the acclaimed comedy Barbershop, the most profitable African-American themed film of all time with a domestic gross of more than $75 million. Widely praised by moviegoers and critics alike, the film, like Soul Food, featured an ensemble cast. Stars included Ice Cube, Anthony Anderson, Cedric the Entertainer, Keith David, Sean Patrick Thomas, Eve and Troy Garity. And, like Soul Food, the film gave birth to a namesake Showtime TV series.
The original was soon followed by a sequel, Barbershop 2: Back in Business, which opened atop the box office in its opening weekend with $24.2 million to top its popular predecessor. Teitel depicted a similar milieu the following year with the release of Beauty Shop (2005), directed by Bille Woodruff and starring Queen Latifah, Alicia Silverstone, Djimon Hounsou, Mena Suvari, Kevin Bacon, Andie MacDowell, Alfre Woodard and Bryce Wilson.
Teitel stayed in Chicago for his next project, Roll Bounce, the energetic comedy romance starring Bow Wow, Chi McBride, Mike Epps and Nick Cannon in a story that depicted the roller rink craze of the 1970s.

GEORGE TILLMAN, JR. (Producer) was inspired to pursue a career in films after seeing the African-American comedy Cooley High, filmed on location in Chicago. The Milwaukee native first dabbled with experimental videos, which led to the creation of a program for local cable access called "Splice of Life." He moved 90 miles south to Chicago to study filmmaking at Columbia College. There, he directed his first film, a 30-minute short entitled Paula, about an African-American single mother who inspires those around her. The film won numerous student awards, including a Student Academy Award and a Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame Award. It also marked the beginnings of his ongoing collaboration with producing partner Robert Teitel. Tillman is currently preparing a biopic of the controversial rapper Notorious B.I.G. entitled Notorious, which is set to go before the cameras this year in New York City for Fox Searchlight.
After graduating from college, Tillman supported himself as a production assistant in Chicago before he and Teitel raised $150,000 to make a feature-length film called Scenes for the Soul, the first in a trilogy of stories about black life in Milwaukee. The film attracted the attention of two producers, Doug McHenry and George Jackson, who brought it to Savoy Pictures for a sale to the tune of $1 million dollars.
Tillman followed this success as writer and director with Soul Food, the endearing comedy-drama about members of an African-American family whose personal and familial issues are not on the menu at the weekly Sunday dinner table. Inspired by memories of family gatherings during his middle class childhood in Milwaukee, Tillman also produced the film with partner Teitel and executive producer Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds. The project, budgeted at $7 million, earned over $43 million at the domestic box office. Its success also spawned an hour-long episodic series on Showtime.
Tillman next directed the WWII biopic Men of Honor, an epic story inspired by the life of Carl Brashear, a man who battled the obstacles of racism, lack of education and the loss of his leg to become the United States Navy's first African-American master deep-sea diver. The film starred Oscar-winning actors Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Robert De Niro with an ensemble cast that included Charlize Theron, Michael Rapaport, Lonette McKee, Glynn Turman and Hal Holbrook.
Before returning to the director's chair, Tillman turned his attention to producing. In addition to his role as executive producer of the beloved "Soul Food: The Series" for Showtime, he co-produced (with partner Teitel) the hit film Barbershop. Directed by Tim Story, this inspired comedy depicted a day in the life of a Southside Chicago barbershop. The film starred Ice Cube, Anthony Anderson, Sean Patrick Thomas, Eve and Cedric the Entertainer. It concluded its domestic run with gross earnings topping $75 million, making it the most profitable African-American themed film of all time. Tillman later served as executive producer on the Showtime TV series based on the film.
Tillman also produced the 2004 hit sequel Barbershop 2: Back in Business, directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan. The film opened atop the box office with almost $25 million. This was followed in 2005 by Beauty Shop, directed by Bille Woodruff and starring Queen Latifah, Alicia Silverstone, Djimon Hounsou, Mena Suvari, Kevin Bacon, Andie MacDowell, Alfre Woodard and Bryce Wilson; and the romantic comedy Roll Bounce, a look at the roller rink craze of the 1970s.

RICK NAJERA (Screenwriter) is an award-winning writer, actor, director and producer with credits in film, television, theatre and Broadway. An internationally renowned pioneer of comedy and one of the most produced Latino playwrights in the country, Najera has twice been honored by Hispanic Magazine as one of the "100 Most Influential Latinos in America." Notable writing credits include "Latinologues™" on Broadway, his newest comedic stage play "Sweet 15" and the groundbreaking television comedies "Mad TV" and "In Living Color." Najera earned two consecutive Writers Guild of America Award nominations in 2003 and 2004 for his work on "Mad TV."
On the corporate side, Najera is currently Vice President of Development for LATV, a bilingual television network that launched nationally in April 2007. He recently created, developed and executive produced three cutting-edge comedies for the fledgling network: "The Homies Hip-Hop Show" (the first nationally syndicated Latino stop-motion animation series), "Caesar and Chuy" (as co-creator), and "Mas Comedy" (a half-hour compilation of Latino stand-up comedians and hilarious comedy sketches).
Najera stars in the upcoming film Universal Remote, written and directed by Gary Hardwick, and can also be seen in the upcoming Spanish-language movie Ladron Que Roba A Ladron. Najera co-starred in National Lampoon's Pledge This! with Paris Hilton and plays a lead role in How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival. He also appeared in the feature film A Day Without a Mexican, guest starred on NBC's Emmy-winning "The West Wing" and was an original cast member on the WB pilot, "The Help," with Tori Spelling.
Najera grew up on the stage and graduated from The American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) and the Warner Bros. comedy writing program. He landed writing assignments on the groundbreaking comedy sketch show "In Living Color" and "Robert Townsend's Television and Culture Clash" for FOX. He moved on to "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" and "Ponderosa" for Pax Television, work for which he was nominated for an ALMA Award as Best Writer. He also wrote a comedy special with Whoopi Goldberg that was filmed in San Diego and a telenovela (soap opera) for the Spanish network Televisa, which was filmed in English.
Najera has authored numerous plays, including "Latin's Anonymous," "Peculiar People," "A Quiet Love," "The Pain of the Macho," and most recently "Sweet 15: Quinceañera." Three of his plays are compiled in his book Pain of the Macho, which is required reading in the curriculum of several universities.
Najera's award-winning comedy, "Latinologues™" ran on Broadway in New York City for 16 weeks and 137 performances and has been featured at Showtime's Latino Laugh Festival, HBO's Aspen Comedy Festival, the Big Stinkin' Comedy Fest in Austin and successful runs at major theaters across the country, including The Bailiwick Theatre in Chicago, South Coast Rep, San Diego Rep, Coronet Theatre, Alley Theatre and dozens of others.

ALISON SWAN (Screenwriter) is an accomplished writer and director who earned an M.F.A. degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she won the Spike Lee Fellowship.
Swan began her entertainment career at Thirteen/WNET, the PBS affiliate in New York, working on producer John Heminway's series "Travels." She later worked for producer Robert Stigwood on his motion picture adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage hit Evita, subsequently becoming Vice President of Development for Stigwood's production company, RSO Films, in Los Angeles. While there, she wrote a television movie, "Visions of Freedom," a fictional account of the historic all-black battalion decorated for valor during the American Civil War.
Swan made her first film as an undergraduate student, a documentary entitled Solidarity Forever that followed the joys and struggles of a union family during a paper mill strike in Maine. Her first mainstream feature film, Mixing Nia, a drama about a woman's search for racial identity starring Karyn Parsons, Eric Thal and Isaiah Washington, won a top prize at the Acapulco Black Film Festival as well as the Audience Choice honor for Swan at the Bermuda International Film Festival.
Most recently, Swan has developed a number of screenplays for 20th Century Fox and Showtime.

RENE M. RIGAL (Executive Producer) is a native of Puerto Rico who began his career in front of the camera before making the transition from performing to producing. He is currently partnered with filmmakers Bob Teitel and George Tillman, Jr. in their State Street Pictures production company as Vice President of development and production. Future projects for Rigal include a feature on famed surfer Bobby Martinez and the urban thriller Stephon's Corner, just two of several projects in development that he will co-produce for State Street.
A graduate of the University of California in Santa Barbara, Rigal found his way down to Los Angeles after graduation, where he began his acting career in the late 1990s, both onstage (the 1998 Actor's Circle Theatre presentation of "Forty Deuce," which he also co-produced) and onscreen (TV's "Providence," among other credits). While working on such projects as "Partners" and "In Pursuit," he became fascinated with the behind-the-scenes workings of film and television, focusing his career on producing.
His first producing credit was Fish in a Barrel, a comic version of Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs depicting the misfortunes of four petty thieves who somehow manage to steal $4 million worth of diamonds. Rigal also played Sammy, one of the quartet of burglars.
Following the tragedy of 9/11 (he was in Manhattan at the time, about to screen Fish in a Barrel), Rigal and producing partner Jennifer Stander traveled the country with a camera to record citizens' observations and reactions to the deadly terrorist attack in NYC. Concluding their transcontinental journey in Los Angeles, they approached actor Martin Sheen to narrate their efforts, which became the hour-long documentary "We the People."

REID BRODY (Executive Producer) is co-founder of 2DS Productions, whose first film is Nothing Like the Holidays. Brody is also the founder and president of Filmworkers Club, a post-production services provider with facilities in Chicago, Dallas and Nashville. Filmworkers Club has several additional operating units, including Astro Lab, Chicago's only full-service motion picture film laboratory; Vitamin, a digital production studio; and Lift, a motion graphics design studio.
Brody has directed several short films, including The Pitch, which premiered at Dances With Films, and Vanilla City, which was made into a feature in 2001. Most recently he co-directed a short film for 2DS Productions titled Martini Girls.

SCOTT KEVAN (Director of Photography) graduated with an M.F.A. from the American Film Institute in 1998 (receiving the Mary Jane Pickford Award for Excellence) after earning his undergraduate degree in film studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Even before completing his studies with the prestigious AFI, he had gained invaluable experience in his craft by traveling the world shooting time-lapse images for documentaries. Most recently, he completed work on a throwback to '60s biker flicks, Hell Ride, produced by Quentin Tarantino, which premiered at this year's Sundance festival; Paul W.S. Anderson's sci-fi thriller Death Race, starring Jason Statham; and Renny Harlin's crime thriller Cleaner, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Ed Harris.
While still a student in the AFI studies program, the Detroit native was simultaneously shooting his first narrative feature, Splendor Falls, winner of the Works in Progress Completion Award at the Independent Film Project (IFP) Market.
Less than five years later, Kevan had compiled several feature film credits as a cinematographer, including the award-winning 2002 film, Wednesday's Child, the first film in IFP's New Vision Program and The Woman Every Man Wants, which captured the Best Cinematography honor at the 2001 No Dance Film Festival.
In just a decade, Kevan has directed the camera work on over two dozen movies, including Eli Roth's well-received horror film Cabin Fever, the psychological thriller Deepwater, the true-life horror tale Borderland, the comedies If I Had Known I Was a Genius and Bug (winning a Best Cinematography prize at the Ashland Film Festival), as well as the hit musical Stomp the Yard.
His career achievements resulted in a profile in the industry trade publication The Hollywood Reporter, which cited Kevan as "one of the brightest and most talented cinematographers under 35" in their special 2007 "Next Generation" issue.
Early projects as a cinematographer include Rockin' Good Times, Dust, Briar Patch, Sticky Fingers, Good for Nothing, The Trip, The Job, Rx, The Hollow, the independent Chinese period drama Beauty Remains, the road movie Simple Lies, the camp-driven horror flick Tamara and the telefilm "Roswell: Cover-ups and Close Encounters." His resume also includes work as a gaffer and camera operator on assorted projects in the early 1990s, including his first professional assignment, Odile & Yvette at the Edge of the World.

PAUL OAKENFOLD (Music) has been touted as one of the world's leading DJs and remixers by various media authorities including CNN, Rolling Stone, BPM, Remix and more. A two-time Grammy nominee, Oakenfold has had music featured in prominent ad campaigns for Diet Coke, Saab, Hummer and Toyota. His 2004 mix album "Another World" went gold, making it one of the top-selling dance albums of all time. In total, Oakenfold's releases have sold almost two million copies in the U.S. alone.
Film credits include music for Nobel Son, Collateral, Swordfish, The Matrix Reloaded, Pirates of the Caribbean, Die Another Day, Planet of the Apes, The Bourne Identity and Shrek II. TV credits include music for "Alias," "Big Brother" and "Las Vegas."
Oakenfold was born in London, England. Before becoming a major force in the music industry, he graduated from the Westminster Technical culinary institute, becoming a certified chef. His music career began as an A&R consultant for Profile Records and Def Jam, where he signed artists including Salt-n-Pepa, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Will Smith.
Oakenfold's remix credits include, among many others, works for U2, The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Salt-n-Pepa and The Cure.
As a touring musician, Oakenfold has performed in hundreds of venues around the world. Locations include the Great Wall of China, the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles (a sold-out performance) and Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. Other foreign territories the DJ has appeared in include Cypress, Lebanon, Ibiza, South Korea and more. Oakenfold is known as one of the most well traveled electronic touring artists in the world.
Oakenfold was the star of the Spike TV series "The Club" and had a cameo appearance in the feature film The Rules of Attraction. He scored the video games "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent," inspired by the James Bond series, and "The Bourne Conspiracy," based on the blockbuster film trilogy.

DAN CLANCY (Production Designer) is one of Chicago's top motion picture and television set decorators. Nothing Like the Holidays marks his first as a production designer in a career spanning 20 years. He served as set decorator on Steve Conrad's comedy The Promotion and Ben Stiller's forthcoming comedy Tropic Thunder.
Raised on Chicago's northwest side, Clancy graduated from Southern Illinois University with a degree in advertising and graphic design. He set out to conquer the ad world before fate brought him into the entertainment arena, where he began his career on the set decorating "swing gang" for Brian De Palma's 1987 gangster epic, The Untouchables.
Less than three years later, he scored his first set decorator credit on the John Hughes classic Home Alone. He has also served as set decorator on such films as Return to Me, P.J. Hogan's Unconditional Love, the Teitel and Tillman production Barbershop 2: Back in Business, the Michael Bay remake of The Amityville Horror, Peyton Reed's hit comedy The Break-Up, Joel Schumacher's thriller The Number 23 and the Chicago portion of the Mel Gibson crime saga, Payback. He was also assistant set decorator on Tim Burton's whimsical fable, Big Fish.
As the art department's swing gang foreman (or "leadman"), Clancy has compiled an impressive list of film and television credits that include The Weather Man, Road to Perdition, Red Corner, My Best Friend's Wedding, Rosewood, Primal Fear, A Family Thing, While You Were Sleeping, With Honors, Straight Talk, Hoffa and several John Hughes productions, including Miracle on 34th Street, Dennis the Menace, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Curly Sue and Uncle Buck.

SUSAN KAUFMANN (Costume Designer) received her Bachelor's Degree in Costume Design from Chicago's Columbia College and her Associate Degree in Fashion Design from Harper College in suburban Palatine, IL. The Chicago native enjoyed a long and rewarding collaboration with the late Oscar-winning director Robert Altman. She designed the wardrobe for his Chicago-lensed dance drama, The Company, and also worked with the legendary filmmaker as costume supervisor on Dr. T and the Women, Cookie's Fortune and The Gingerbread Man.
Kaufmann has designed the costumes for such features as Harold Ramis' noirish thriller The Ice Harvest, Doug Ellin's Kissing a Fool, Christian Otjen's Reeseville, Jon Purdy's Joshua and Randall Fried's urban sports drama, Heaven Is a Playground. Most recently, she served as designer on the drama Drunkboat, starring John Malkovich and John Goodman; Michael Keaton's directorial debut, The Merry Gentleman; Charles Carner's comedy Witless Protection; Steve Conrad's comedy The Promotion and the horror thriller The Strangers.
Before graduating to designer, she served as wardrobe supervisor on P.J. Hogan's hit comedy My Best Friend's Wedding and costume supervisor on Stephen Gyllenhaal's courtroom drama, Losing Isaiah and Michael Apted's thriller Blink, all filmed on location in Chicago. Other big screen credits include the heartwarming Notre Dame-set sports drama Rudy and the blaxploitation satire Original Gangstas.
Her design work for television includes the current FOX drama "Prison Break" and two other Chicago-based series, "Cupid" and the sitcom "What About Joan." Her telefilm credits include David Burton Morris' "The Three Lives of Karen," "Two Fathers: Justice for the Innocent" and "Sherman's March." She also recently completed wardrobe designs for two Chicago-based TV pilots, "Family Practice" and "The Beast."

AMY E. DUDDLESTON (Editor) has enjoyed a long association with director Gus Van Sant, beginning as first assistant editor on his 1991 drama My Own Private Idaho. She reteamed with the esteemed filmmaker as an associate editor on the quirky comedy Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and his widely praised 1995 black comedy To Die For before graduating to editor in 1998 on his shot-by-shot remake of Hitchcock's 1960 classic, Psycho. She edited Isabel Coixet's upcoming drama Elegy.
A graduate of the University of Arizona with a B.F.A. in Fine Arts Studies, the Tucson native began her career at the age of 18 as an intern in the editing room of Revenge of the Nerds. In addition to numerous short films and commercials, other early assistant-editorial credits include Corrina, Corrina, Prancer, A Rage in Harlem and two projects for director Jonathan Kaplan: the prison drama Brokedown Palace and the thriller Unlawful Entry.
Duddleston gained her first solo film editor credit on Lisa Cholodenko's short Souvenir, which led to another lengthy collaboration that included the filmmaker's acclaimed 1998 romantic drama High Art, which premiered at the Sundance and Cannes festivals. The film earned numerous awards and nominations including honors from the Sundance and Deauville Film Festivals, the GLAAD Media Awards and the Independent Spirit Awards (a Best First Feature nod). She continued her association with Cholodenko on her 2001 drama Laurel Canyon and most recently cut Cholodenko's Showtime movie, "Cavedweller."
Her other credits as film editor include Crocodile Tears, A Time for Dancing, Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her, Welcome to Collinwood, Dandelion, Lies & Alibis, Chad Lowe's comedy-drama Beautiful Ohio and, most recently, Mama's Boy. She has also edited several episodes of HBO's provocative series "Big Love."

JOHN CONIGLIO (Editor) is known as "the fixer" for his talent with structure and pacing, as well as a rare ability to bring out a film's soul so it shines to its fullest. He recently edited two features in the horror genre: The Echo, for Vertigo Entertainment (The Ring, The Departed), which premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and was also selected for the 2008 Toronto Film Festival; and the indie Grace, starring Jordan Ladd.
Nothing Like the Holidays is the fourth film Coniglio has worked on with director Alfredo de Villa. Their collaborations include Adrift in Manhattan (Sundance Film Festival, Dramatic Competition 2007), Yellow and Washington Heights (Austin Film Festival, Best Feature; Tribeca Film Festival, Special Mention; L.A. International Film Festival, Audience Award).
A native of North Hollywood, Coniglio began his training as an apprentice editor to director Robert Greenwald on a series of telefilms. He then went on to work as an assistant editor for Peter Berger, ACE on numerous studio features including Internal Affairs, Dead Again, Hocus Pocus and Star Trek: Insurrection.
In 2000, Coniglio edited the acclaimed short film Seraglio, which won the Deauville Film Festival Grand Jury Prize and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Dramatic Short. The following year, Coniglio worked as an associate editor on the family hit Cats & Dogs for director Larry Guterman. In 2005, he co-edited Guterman's Son of the Mask with editor Malcolm Campbell. He also co-edited "Home Alone 4" with Mike Stevenson for ABC Network.