LOUISO, Todd 1970-

PERSONAL: Born 1970, in Cincinnati, OH. Education: New York University, graduated 1992.

CAREER: Actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. Actor in films, including Seasonal Differences, 1987; (as preppy boy number one) Stella, Samuel Goldwyn, 1990; (as bellboy) Billy Bathgate, Buena Vista, 1991; (as Trent Potter) Scent of a Woman, United International Pictures, 1992; (as FAO White) Apollo 13, Universal, 1995; (as Ophelia) The Fifteen-Minute Hamlet, 1995; (as Chad the nanny) Jerry Maguire, 1996; (as Marvin Isherwood) The Rock, Buena Vista, 1996; (as Steve) Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag, Orion, 1997; (as Bob Harper) A Cool, Dry Place, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1998; (as Dick) High Fidelity, Buena Vista, 2000; and (as Jason) The Cutting Room, 2001. Directed film Love Liza, 2002.

Actor in television series, including (as Brian Doolan) Phenom, American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), 1993; and (as Andy Sparks) Chicago Hope, 1998-99. Actor in television specials, including (as Brian) That Funny Fat Kid, syndicated, 1986; and (as Jake) Narc, syndicated, 1988. Played Bradley in made-for-television movie Letter to My Killer, USA Network, 1995; played Harold Brown in television pilot Hollywood Division, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 1995. Guest star on Law & Order, National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 1991; The Critic (animated), Fox, 1994, and Fired Up, NBC, 1997.

AWARDS, HONORS: Best short film, New York Film Festival, for Love Liza.

WRITINGS:

(Adapter, with Michael Goldberg and Ethan Tucker) The Fifteen-Minute Hamlet (screenplay; based on the play by Tom Stoppard), 1995.

SIDELIGHTS: Todd Louiso is an actor who is best known for his roles as Chad, the sensitive, romantic nanny in Jerry Maguire, and as Dick, the shy record store clerk in High Fidelity. However, Louiso is also an aspiring director who won an award for the first film he directed. Additionally, he has written a screenplay, The Fifteen-Minute Hamlet. This adaptation of Tom Stoppard's famous play, which actually clocks in at twenty-two minutes, features Shakespeare as a film director trying to trim his original, several hours' long Hamlet down to fifteen minutes to meet the demands of his producer. Louiso also played Ophelia, Hamlet's love interest, in the film. (In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the lovelorn Ophelia drowns herself in a river, but to save time The Fifteen Minute Hamlet's Ophelia uses a bucket.) In the canon of screen adaptations of Hamlet, The Fifteen Minute Hamlet's "tongue-in-cheek" approach is "underappreciated," a reviewer wrote in Book.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Back Stage West, April 6, 2000, Jamie Painter, profile of Louiso, p. 10.

Book, May-June, 2002, review of The Fifteen-MinuteShakespeare, pp. 65-67.

Daily Variety, January 23, 2002, Todd McCarthy, review of Love Liza, pp. 10-11; May 7, 2002, Dana Harris, "Actor-Filmmaker Todd Louiso Has Signed with the William Morris Agency for Representation as a Director and Writer," p. 17.

Entertainment Weekly, April 25, 1997, Bruce Fretts, review of Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag, p. 50; March 31, 2000, Owen Gleiberman, review of High Fidelity, p. 36; January 10, 2003, Lisa Schwarzbaum, review of Love Liza, p. 50.

Films in Review, January-February, 1997, Rocco Simonelli, review of Jerry Maguire, p. 87.

Maclean's, April 10, 2000, Brian D. Johnson, review of High Fidelity, p. 79.

Newsweek, April 3, 2000, David Ansen, review of High Fidelity, p. 78.

New York, April 10, 2000, Peter Rainer, review of High Fidelity, pp. 85-86.

People, April 10, 2000, review of High Fidelity, p. 35.

Premiere, April, 2002, Sean M. Smith, "Rocky Mountain High: The Sundance Film Festival Is a Ten-Day Marathon of Screening, Shmoozing, Selling, and Stargazing," pp. 64-72.

Variety, March 20, 2000, Joe Leydon, review of HighFidelity, p. 26; January 28, 2002, Todd McCarthy and Joe Leydon, review of Love Liza, p. 32.

online

American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre,http://www.americantheatre.com/ (February 6, 2003), "American Cinematheque's Independent Film Series."

Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers,http://www.aivf.org/ (February 6, 2003), Andrea Meyer, "Dynamic Duo: Todd Louiso and Philip Seymour Hoffman."

Filmbug,http://www.filmbug.com/ (February 6, 2003), "Todd Louiso."

Film Festival Reporter, http://www.filmfestivalreporter. com/ (February 6, 2003), Cole Smithey, "'Love Liza' Director Todd Louiso."

Filmmaker Online,http://www.filmmaker.com/ (February 6, 2003), Mary Glucksman, "Letter from an Unknown Woman?"

Hollywood.com,http://www.hollywood.com/ (February 6, 2003), "Todd Louiso: Biography."*