Adrien Brody

Adrien Brody is a New York actor who is known to international audiences as the star of Roman Polanski's 2002 film, The Pianist. Brody started in small roles in the late 1980s and early '90s, finally gaining notice for his performance in Spike Lee's movie Summer of Sam (1999). He carried The Pianist in 2002 and won an Oscar for Best Actor; after his acceptance speech he startled TV viewers with an enthusiastic, impromptu kiss with that year's Best Actress winner, Halle Berry. His other films include The Thin Red Line (1998, with Nick Nolte), M. Night Shyamalan's The Village (2004, with Sigourney Weaver), Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong (2005) and Hollywoodland (2006, with Diane Lane).