Max Minghella

Max Giorgio Choa Minghella (born 16 September 1985)[1] is an English actor and filmmaker. He has appeared in several American films, making his debut in Bee Season (2005) before starring in Art School Confidential (2006), The Social Network (2010) and The Internship (2013). Minghella currently stars as Nick Blaine in the Hulu drama series The Handmaid's Tale.

Max Minghella
Minghella in 2017
Born
Max Giorgio Choa Minghella

(1985-09-16) 16 September 1985
Hampstead, London, England
Alma materColumbia University
OccupationActor
Years active1999－Present
Parent(s)Anthony Minghella

Early life and education

Minghella was born in Hampstead, London, the son of director Anthony Minghella (1954–2008) and dancer and choreographer Carolyn Jane Choa.[2] His father was born in Ryde, Isle of Wight, and was of Italian descent, and his mother was born in Hong Kong. His maternal grandfather was of three-quarters Han Chinese and one-quarter Jewish descent, and his maternal grandmother was of Chinese, English, Irish, Parsi, and Swedish ancestry.[3] His maternal great-grandfather was Hong Kong legislator Sir Robert Kotewall, and his maternal great-great-grandfather was Calcutta-born businessman Emanuel Raphael Belilios.

Minghella spent time on his father's film sets while growing up, of which he has "fond memories" and has said that he felt "no pressure" by his father to succeed in the entertainment industry.[4] He was educated at St Anthony's Preparatory School and University College School in Hampstead. He then attended Columbia University, which he considered his "first priority", and studied history,[5] graduating in 2009. He typically worked on films only during his summer break. He said that he felt like "an English boy at an American school", that he kept to himself, and that most of his fellow students did not know that he was an actor.[3][6]

Career

Minghella was inspired to become an actor during his late teenage years, after seeing a production of the play This Is Our Youth in London's West End; he subsequently dropped out of the University College School to pursue an acting career, and attended the National Youth Theatre.[5] He did not always want to become an actor. He said: "I thought it was sort of embarrassing to say you wanted to be an actor – it was, like, uncool. And growing up I was massively concerned with seeming cool. I thought up until about age 16 that I was going to be a music video director."[7]

Minghella had an uncredited appearance as an extra in his father's film Cold Mountain.[8] His first professional role was in Bee Season, playing the son of a dysfunctional Jewish American family. The film was released in November 2005 to mostly mixed reviews and low box office, grossing only $1 million in its limited release,[9][10] although critics remarked that Minghella was "a talented young actor to watch, delivering a strong performance".[11]

Minghella's other November 2005 role was the political thriller Syriana in which he played the son of George Clooney's CIA agent character. In 2006, he starred in the Daniel Clowes adaptation Art School Confidential, a comedy directed by Terry Zwigoff. He got the part after meeting Zwigoff when he visited the set of Bee Season.[3] His film Elvis and Anabelle, a dark romantic drama in which he plays an undertaker's son, premiered at the South by Southwest film festival in 2007. He described it as "a really sweet film".[3] He was to play Art Bechstein in the film version of writer Michael Chabon's novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, but dropped out of the project due to his university schedule.[12]

The press reported in 2007 that Minghella was cast in Beeban Kidron's Hippie Hippie Shake, a film about writer Richard Neville set in 1960s London.[13] In March 2008, it was announced that he would star in Alejandro Amenábar's second English language film, Agora.[14] The film is set in 4th century Egypt and revolves around Hypatia of Alexandria. Later in 2008, Minghella played a pompous film director in How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, and was seen in a segment of the dark comedy Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.[15]

In David Fincher's The Social Network, the 2010 film about the origins of Facebook,[16] he plays Divya Narendra, one of the Harvard upperclassmen who sues Mark Zuckerberg for stealing the idea behind Facebook. In June 2010, Minghella was cast in the Russian science-fiction film The Darkest Hour, released in December 2011.[17] He appeared in the ensemble dramedy 10 Years (2012). The following year, he had a supporting role as Graham Hawtrey in the comedy The Internship.

In November 2013, it was announced that Minghella would be playing Richie Castellano in the second season of the Fox sitcom The Mindy Project.[18] In 2013, he appeared in the music video for "Shot at the Night" by The Killers.[19]

Minghella has been playing the role of Nick Blaine, an Eye in Gilead and the love interest of June Osborne, in Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale since 2017.[20]

Minghella made his directorial debut with 2018's Teen Spirit, a musical, from his own screenplay.[21]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1999 Toy Boys Danny Short film
1999 Let the Good Times Roll Boy with dog Short film
2005 Bee Season Aaron Naumann
2005 Syriana Robby Barnes
2006 Art School Confidential Jerome Platz
2007 Elvis and Anabelle Elvis
2008 How to Lose Friends & Alienate People Vincent Lepak
2009 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men Kevin (Subject No. 28)
2009 Agora Davus
2010 The Social Network Divya Narendra Hollywood Film Festival for Ensemble of the Year
Palm Springs International Film Festival Ensemble Cast Award
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Central Ohio Film Critics Association for Best Ensemble
Nominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble
2011 The Ides of March Ben Harpen Nominated—Central Ohio Film Critics Association for Best Ensemble
2011 10 Years AJ
2011 The Darkest Hour Ben
2013 The Internship Graham Hawtrey
2013 Horns Lee Tourneau
2014 About Alex Isaac
2014 Not Safe for Work Thomas Miller
2015 Into the Forest Eli
2016 The 9th Life of Louis Drax Screenwriter and producer
2016 Fluffy Mark Mason Short film
2018 Teen Spirit Director and screenwriter
2021 Spiral Detective William Schenk

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2013–2017 The Mindy Project Richie Castellano 7 episodes
2017–present The Handmaid's Tale Nick Blaine Main role
gollark: So do you have some code already written and need help debugging/improving it, or is this a "write all my code for me given a vague description" sort of thing?
gollark: What *exactly* is causing you problems? Also, this probably isn't urgent.
gollark: You should come up with a more specific question.
gollark: ÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆ
gollark: I don't know much about old CC versions but they're generally backward-compatible for programs.

References
  1. "Max Minghella". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  2. Roy, Donald (27 November 2015). "Minghella, Anthony (1954–2008), playwright, screenwriter, and film director". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/100058. (subscription required)
  3. Roman, Julian (8 May 2006). "Max Minghella Talks Art School Confidential". MovieWeb. Archived from the original on 27 November 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  4. Pearlman, Cindy. "Film director's son makes his own busy career". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 30 April 2006.
  5. Ghorbani, Liza (14 May 2006). "The Talented History Student". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  6. Day, Elizabeth (23 October 2011). "Max Minghella: 'At first it was difficult to be taken seriously'". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  7. Cerula, Erica. "The Social Network's Max Minghella". Details. United States (October 2010). Archived from the original on 19 February 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  8. Petruzzi, Elissa (20 November 2005). "The Max Factor". USA Weekend. Archived from the original on 27 November 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  9. "Bee Season". The Numbers. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  10. "Bee Season (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  11. Douglas, Edward. "Bee Season Movie Review". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on 27 November 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  12. "Interview with Rawson Marshall Thurber". Pajiba. 5 July 2006. Archived from the original on 27 November 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  13. Dawtrey, Adam (2 May 2007). "'Hippie' grooves for Universal". Variety. Archived from the original on 27 November 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  14. Max Minghella Prepares for Earth's 'Darkest Hour' Archived 24 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  15. McLovin/Red Mist Becomes Evil Ed in 'Fright Night' Redo!! Archived 24 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  16. Rich, Katey (20 October 2009). "New Social Network Cast Announced on Facebook, Of Course". Cinema Blend. Archived from the original on 27 November 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  17. Home Max Minghella Set for The Darkest Hour Archived 10 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  18. "Mindy Project Scoop: Social Network Actor Max Minghella to Play Danny's Bro". TVLine. 28 October 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  19. Coulehan, Erin (27 September 2013). "The Killers Give Lovers a Chance in 'Shot at the Night'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  20. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/interview-max-minghella-nick-handmaids-tale-teen-spirit-directorial-debut-nkmtn6qbw
  21. Lodderhose, Diana (30 January 2017). "Max Minghella Teams With 'La La Land' Producer For Directorial Debut 'Teen Spirit' – Berlin".
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