Minnie Driver
Minnie Driver first made a splash in America with back-to-back roles in the comedy "Grosse Pointe Blank" (1997) and the drama "Good Will Hunting" (1997). Born in London, Driver took to both music and singing as a young child. She attended boarding school in Hampshire but spent vacations with her father who lived in Barbados. Though her music group the Milo Roth Band signed a recording contract when Driver was just 19, her first professional success came just a short while later when she began auditioning for and landing roles on screen. She appeared on "The House of Elliott" (BBC, 1991-94), "Casualty" (BBC, 1986-), and "Lovejoy" (BBC, 1986-1994) in 1991 alone, and co-starred on the mini-series "Mrs. Wroe's Virgins" (BBC, 1993) just two years later. Driver landed her big break in 1995 when she was cast as in the lead role of "ugly duckling" Benny in the drama "Circle of Friends" (1995). Driver gained 25 lbs. For the role, impressing audiences with her nuance and vulnerability. Following the small movie's sleeper success, she quickly shed the weight and took her talents stateside, winning tremendous acclaim for her performance in "Good Will Hunting." Driver branched into producing the following year with the drama "At Sachem Farm" (1998), but she remained most well known and in-demand for her abilities as an actor. She starred in the beauty pageant comedy-drama "Beautiful" (2000) as well as in the British comedy "High Heel and Lowlifes" (2001) before finally returning to her passion for singing, releasing her first album Everything I've Got in My Pocket in 2004. That same year found Driver playing opera diva Carlotta in the big screen adaptation of the musical "The Phantom of the Opera" (2004), for which she also performed the additional song "Learn to be Lonely" during the credits. Driver moved into TV in 2007, starring opposite Eddie Izzard on the series "The Riches" (FX, 2007-08) and earning major acclaim for her performance from critics. She released her sophomore album Seastories also in 2007. Though "The Riches" was cancelled after just two seasons, Driver continued her upward trajectory, appearing with Hilary Swank in "Conviction" (2010) and starring in the science fiction mini-series "The Deep" (BBC, 2010). She released a third album, Ask Me to Dance in 2014, shortly before joining the cast of the TV adaptation of "About a Boy" (NBC, 2014-15). The show came to an end in 2016, but Driver did not miss a beat, taking on the role of Maya DiMeo on the series "Speechless" (ABC, 2016-19).