Happy birthday to all our Gemini readers!
Saturday, June 6, 2020 at 11:02AM 
by Nathaniel R
Today is my birthday! I don't want anything this year beyond these three things. 1) Safety and continued stamina for all the Black Lives Matter protestors. 2) Good health and continued stamina for the essential workers and anyone battling COVID-19. And 3) Strategic genius and continued stamina for anyone involved in the upcoming elections who wants to right this ship and get that family of narcissist sociopaths and (just as importantly) their legion of enablers out of office. A big ask, I know, but if you dont ask for what u want, how u gonna get it?
OH NO WAIT I DO WANT ONE MORE THING. FROM YOU. In the comments please tell us the very first time you realized you loved an actress too much*.
Reading these over the weekend will surely put a huge smile on my face. Happy early or belated birthday to all you Geminis reading, too! Twin power!
* There is no such thing as "too much" but you know what I mean.
Reader Comments (55)
That would be the first time someone told me they didnt think Winona Ryder was a good actress.
Definite flames on the side of my face, right there.
First of all many happy returns of the day and wishing you a very Happy Birthday from a fellow Gemini!! I hope all your wishes come true! Hard to say that I hope any of them come to fruition more than the others but the last in particular is one that I hold to most dearly as well.
It was a Saturday morning when I was a very young kid, we won't go into how long ago that was...suffice it to say that there were only three main channels and we had an antenna to get the special UHF channels, and I turned on the morning movie-"Blackbeard, the Pirate"-and instantly fell hard for the damsel in distress-Linda Darnell! It's been an ongoing love affair ever since.
Blessedly on one of those funky UHF channels-channel 48 to be exact-there was a show hosted by Bernie Herman devoted to classic (simply referred to as older at the time) films and I combed the TV Guide to catch any of her films that they were showing. It's also how I discovered so many of the films I love now.
Terrible to admit it now but I faked being sick once just so I could stay home from school because there was a showing of her film "City Without Men" and I hadn't seen it! So maybe that was the moment. Or it could have been when I stayed up on a school night until 5:30 AM just because the aptly named "Night Without Sleep" was playing on the Late, Late Show! Or it could be watching "This is My Love" every single time (that would work out to about 20 times!) it showed when it was the Movie of the Week on Channel 17, another of our UHF options.
Now that I've finally managed to see all her films I'm not quite so obsessive-the last Angels of Darkness I had to settle for seeing in the original Italian (which I don't speak) without subtitles but I was so happy to find it at last I didn't care. The story was easy enough to follow plus it had Valentina Cortese, Guiletta Masina and Anthony Quinn in the cast so I was good! But if I run across one of her films playing I still stop and watch and I still watch A Letter to Three Wives every couple of months.
Enjoy you day!!!
I already kinda memorized Meryl Streep's lines in Doubt by then, but seeing her in Julie & Julia for the first time with that high-pitched voice and just bouncing joy just sealed it for me.
I just fell in love with her and her creation. Her character's skill of flipping eggs cooked in butter became my thing; I was doing the same thing, cooking eggs and flipping them all the time.
By then, I knew I was gonna watch anything she appears in.
I knew she was a great actress before, but when I finally fixed a blind spot by watching An Education, I've been crazy for Carey Mulligan's talents.
Happy birthday, fellow geminis!
My birthday's in 3 days. 8)
The first time I lrealized I loved an actress (never too much-just right) was Gillian Anderson as Agent Dana Scully in The X-Files around 1993/94 I think. What an amazing character and performance. She even shined trough the messy 2nd movie.
I had huge admiration for Meryl in TDWP already, but I absolutely loved her singing, dancing and doing splits (at the age of near 60!) in MM! so SO MUCH! And that feeling came to stay and will never leave. <3
Happy birthday Nathaniel!!! I love this site and it's weird to think The Film Experience has been part of my daily life for two decades now.
In terms of an actress I loved too much for the first time, it might have been Vivien Leigh. I was OBSESSED with her in A Streetcar Named Desire-I taped the performance off of AMC, and eventually it was the first movie I ever bought with my own money on VHS. I would just pretend to be Blanche DuBois, randomly finding movements in her performances I could copy in real life. Some 25 years after the fact, it's still my favorite performance in all of cinema.
Happy Birthday, Nathaniel! Hope you are safe and healthy. Love this message and this blog. Very thankful for your brain! Hope you get time today for some cake. :)
Happy birthday!
Whenever I first saw Clue as a child, I fell so hard for Madeline Kahn. (Flames! On the side of her face!) I’ve watched that movie dozens of times since and she still always delights me.
Happy Birthday,I am in an impossible love with Sigourney Weaver,I know it's impossible cos I think she is great in Everything and that can't be true.
i''ll answer this two ways. First, by the time I was a teen I was thinking everything should be named/built in honor of Madeline Kahn - like a statue in every town square. Secondly, I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point I came to find Marilyn Monroe and Ingrid Bergman utterly captivating. Watching them was a dream-like experience.
In 1996 when I got in line to be the first to meet Jaclyn Smith at K-Mart. First in line by about 4 hours!
Happy birthday, Nathaniel!
I think I will give you two answers. When I was a kid, I LOVED Miss Mary Ann on Romper Room and Samantha on Bewitched equally. They were both magical! And much later on, I kind of became obsessed with Isabella Rossellini, a love I hold to this day.
Wishing all happiness and love and a fulfillment of all three birthday wishes!
Happy birthday!
I would say Michelle Pfeiffer in Ladyhawke. Such sublime beauty. Although the love did not last. It was replaced by Glenn Close (Dangerous Liasons and Fatal Attraction).
Have to agree the double whammy of fatal attraction and dangerous liaisons ... they slayed me and have done ever since ...glenn close
With pretty much every guy I ever dated, I made them watch Beatrice Straight’s big scene in NETWORK. They all probably thought I had ulterior motives (you’re not gonna scorn me, fella!!) when in actuality I wanted to break down the scene and allow them to bear witness to a masterclass in actressing.
Happy Birthday Nathaniel! Thank you for always being an invaluable resource for all things Oscar. For my actress memory... I have been a lifelong Michelle Pfeiffer pfan ever since BATMAN RETURNS. One of the all-time great performances in the history of the medium. Every frame she’s in is layered with nuance and detail, from a twitch of her eye to where she places her arms. I notice something new every time I watch it! Ever since then I’ve loved actresses too* much, and Pfeiffer will always hold a special place in my heart because of her Selina Kyle/Catwoman.
Happy birthday, Nathaniel! I don't post much these days, but thank you for everything that you do on this site. You are a wonderful writer and also do a great job of finding excellent people to contribute to your site. I wish for all of the same things that you are wanting -- let's hope these things happen and actively do things to make them a reality.
I'm not entirely sure how to answer your question! I think the FIRST actress I loved was actually Kim Basinger (!), mostly because I was obsessed with the first two Batman movies as a kid. When the first Tim Burton Batman came out I thought it was the best movie ever made LOL. I watched it again this year with my husband and still really enjoyed it. I think I realized I liked her too much when I found a way to see several of her (many) stinkers which I would not have wanted to see if she wasn't in them--this includes The Marrying Man and Cool World.
it was a short-lived love, because I quickly moved on to Michelle Pfeiffer, and then it was Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman. Those three have remained favorites of mine.
Happy Birthday Nathaniel!! Hope all your wishes come true!!! Take care =)
First time I knew I loved an actress....Was that perfect, BEAUTIFUL 2001 year from Nicole Kidman. As a 10 year old I was mesmerized with Satine’s introduction in Moulin Rouge, which also was my first “grown-ups musical”and as a fan of horror movies from young age with The Others was the perfect combo of contrasting performances. Love at first sight. That’s were my love for actresses began.
A few years later I found your site in its old blogspot format and haven’t stop reading ever since!! Thanks!
I think mine might have been Sally Field, beginning with Norma Rae. She was so small and yet such a fireball and passion and strength. It's how I viewed my mother at the time, or at least how I needed to in a very terrible period, and I think it's where and when I began to align and associate with actresses and struggles in a very personal way.
Happy Birthday Nathaniel! Thank you for your energy and for keepong this great platform that is The Film Experience, i have been following you guys since I was a teenager, in the old website, now I am 30!
Well i guess my first actress love was Sarah Michelle Gellar in Buffy, i just thought it was such a fun and fierce performance, i wanted to be her so much.
But I also loved Julia Roberts in the late 90s and 2000 (My Best Friend's Wedding, Nothing Hill, Erin Brokovich) One day my 4th Grade teacher called my mom to address my bad behaviour after told her "you got two wrong feet and fucking ugly shoes". I was obsessed in quoting Erin Brokovich at the time, which out of context was so mean and rude bless my young self.
The moment Christian start singing to Satine, I was done, eternal love to Nicole Kidman, that magnetic and delicate awe expression moment, I felt in love. Little did I know at the time she is the real deal, I only knew her as Tom's wife and I think I had only seen her in Practical Magic. Top5 of my all-time favorites movie moments in a movie theater ♥
Happy birthday, Nathaniel. I hope you have a great day full of stamina and love :)
When I paid $$$ for a VHS copy of Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris — a cheesy & sadly forgotten Angela Lansbury TV movie from the 90s.
Happy Birthday, Nathaniel! I hope you get all your wishes, along with one more--another Oscar nom for La Pfeiffer.
All the best!
I really hope you can have a great and fun birthday
My first thought was Sissy Spacek in Carrie but I guess that was the first time that I loved a performance.
When I realized that i loved an actress after watching her previously in many films that must be Julianne Moore in Magnolia, the performance could it be feel is a little over the top but I think was intentional, in any case THAT was the moment I realized I enjoy everything she does.
One of my favorite performances of her is The English Teacher, a bit unpopular film but her comic talent here is priceless.
Happy birthday nathaniel ❤️ Wish you all the best
Saw Natalie Wood when I was 12 yo in Rebel. Went home and masturbated for the first time. Have loved her to this very day
Happy Birthday Nat😜😜😜😜
The herbal medication Robinson Buckler mailed to me along with the prescriptions cured me from herpes and i am Negative For More Info on how to get cured Contact Robinson Buckler now on EMAIL ……………. Robinsonbuckler (@) yahoo. com_______________________________Thank you 🙏🙏🙏
Happy birthday! I fell in love with Emma Thompson in Howard’s End. Her character Margaret Schlagel became a kind of role model and her Oscar acceptance speech sealed the deal.
I suppose maybe seeing Nanny McPhee, which a I thought was dreadful, was when I first realized I loved her too much... Weird to think that she wasn’t just the star but the screenwriter. It was a passion project for her. Maybe I’m just too old for kid movies... she didn’t make it for me.
Tilda Swinton in Orlando was a revelation to young queer me. The fascination continues to this day.
Neve Campbell as Bonnie in THE CRAFT, when she whoops with joy in the back seat. You could dismiss it as a crush, but it wasn’t that.
Happy birthday from a Gemini Rising
I was always more drawn to female-driven stories, and there were always actresses that I admired, mainly on TV, but Whoopi Goldberg and Michelle Pfeiffer were two standouts from THE MOVIES that I remember being very fond of. However, It wasn't until catching Moulin Rouge! on cable that the spark of ACTRESSEXUALITY was really ignited in me: a Kidmaniac was born.
It was at that time that I was beginning to understand movies as more than just entertainment, and so my discovery of the artform is intrinsically linked to my discovery of my favorite actress. Following her career lead me to films like Birth and Dogville, the kind of movies that I didn't know people were making! It made me curious to check out other types of cinema from all over the world.
And so through the years and (many) ups-and-downs of her career, my love for Nicole has endured. I love Nicole Kidman so much that I imported the Canadian blu-ray of "Grace of Monaco" (under the title "Princess Grace") because it was only receiving a DVD release in the US.
Hey, if I'm gonna watch my fave in a flop, I'm gonna watch it in the highest resolution possible!
Happy Birthday, Nat!!!
I realized I loved Joan Allen too much while watching The Upside of Anger. It was the first year I started following awards season religiously — I remember I kept checking IMDB every day to see how many awards Allen had amassed so far and was baffled that lesser performances kept being trumpeted over hers. It was also the first time I realized awards don't have perfect taste :shrug:
The 1-2-3 punch of The Hours, Moulin Rouge and Far From Heaven, all discovered by me around the same time, made me fall deeply in love with Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore. They are my favorite working actresses to this day.
Happy Birthday Nathaniel! I have a lot of favorite actresses, but I’ll go with a fun story: When I was in high school, over the summer break we had to write a paper and submit using a pseudonym. Alas, I was a big fan of Halle Berry at the time (due to “B*A*P*S” and “The Rich Man’s Wife”), plus “Die Another Day” was just coming out so I used her name. Nonetheless, when we got back to school and my teacher was passing the papers back, she said the one by Halle Berry got like the highest score. All my classmates were bewildered as to who would choose that name, so when I revealed myself, people were shocked and delighted. Afterwards, I’d get people asking me about her, or if she somehow came into conversation, I’d get a wink or smile.
Happy Birthday, Nathaniel. I hope these wishes come true!!!
I would have to guess, although there is varying degrees of talent there, but the first would be both "Charlie's Angels" and Princess Leia. Unlike Lou Grant, I DO like Spunk!
I think it was when I realized that Barbara Bach can't act for shit. I was SO completely in love with her in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME that this was probably my fifth or sixth viewing.
I was on holiday in the early 2000s and saw Batman Forever and became enamoured with one Nicole Kidman.
Happy Birthday, Nathaniel! I'm a fellow gemini as well!
I was around 9 years old when I watched Stepmom with Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon over the Christmas holiday. I know the movie was panned, but it holds a special place in my heart since I've been.a Juliaholic ever since! No one tops her 90s/early 2000s mega-movie stardom goddess power! I hope for another Erin Brockovich-level screen role for her to sink her teeth into.
Happy birthday, from one Gemini to another (even though I don't believe in astrology)! I hope you're having a fun time celebrating . . . with friends? A bottle of wine? Your favorite film?
My obsession with acting started when I saw Shirley MacLaine in "Terms of Endearment." She demonstrated what performing could be. She made me want to become an actor, because I wanted to be able to make people laugh and cry. And I'm still here, trying do just that.
Happy birthday!!! I’ve been reading your wonderful blog for years and it is easily my favourite.
I don’t remember the exact first time I watched Batman Returns but Michelle Pfeiffer was my first actress obsession, thanks to her Selina Kyle. That transformation scene! I ran around as a little boy pretending to be Catwoman with my imaginary whip. I had the VHS (now worn out), action figure, puzzle, happy meal toy, collectable cup and I’m sure more.
Whoopi Goldberg and Anjelica Huston are my childhood actress obsessions. Whoopi made it possible to believe I could be an entertainer without restrictions. Huston was class personified and very queer with her femininity.
Police recently harassed John Cusack at a protest. And all I could do in response is espouse dialogue from The Grifters about him not having the stomach for it.
BVR : the lack of awards attention for Joan Allen in The Upside of Anger still baffles me. Her best screen performance by a mile.
Ani di : that is one of the funniest things I have read in a long tim! Hopefully your fourth grade teacher was pop culture savvy but I somehow doubt it! 🤣🤣🤣
*time!
Julianne Moore! I saw Magnolia in middle school (WAY too early to comprehend something like that). I was mesmerized by her scene at the pharmacy, and then proceeded to work backwards and check out Safe, Short Cuts & Boogie Nights from my library. Totally hooked by the red headed acting goddess. Soon after, she got the Hannibal role and filled up many articles from my Entertainment Weekly subscription. Going back to Magnolia, I had one of those tape recorders with the mini-cassette tapes and recorded all of Julianne's scenes and would listen to the Julianne-only version of Magnolia.
Happy birthday Nathaniel
The first time I saw an actress was Julia Roberts in Erin brokovich and pretty woman. I fell right into a obession with her
Happy birthday from another Gemini in Spain
Happy happy birthday Nathaniel ... bit late but you should celebrate yourself anyway for at least a week ;-) I wish you a wonderful & adventurous year ahead and that whatever is out there will hear your wishes for the change thats in the air ....
I don't know how old I was (I hope only 10) when I realised that my Doris Day poster wasn't as a cool contrast next to Farah Farcett & John Travolta as I thought ... so I had to man up and be proudly embarrassed !
There was a scene in one of her movies where she is trapped outside her house with her ridiculous nightgown caught in the door while being packed up with groceries (incl. eggs & honey) that are slowly descending to the floor while all neighbours passing ... Rock Hudson meanwhile is taking a hot shower with a thermometer in his mouth. I don't know why - but I laughed so hard that I had what my friend would call now a Tena Lady moment ... I understood great comedic timing and fell in love with everything around screwball comedies of the 40's & 50's ... which led to Hitch and then the roads where open ... First loves - are hard to explain - but its fantastic how they stick around in your heart. I still defend her no matter what.
In this spirit ... Thank you so much for sharing your passion and inside and your wonderful, creative and humble brain. There are honestly not even a handful of websites I adore and visit - but your TFE are pure joy - always putting a smile on my face or letting me have a bit of me-time...
Very grateful that you were born ;-) - we love u !
Liz