Boardwalk Empire, the HBO series about the evolution of the seaside resort town in New Jersey, may have taken a while to root viewers to its story. But in its first dozen episodes, strong cast performances and the now expected liberal amounts of violence and nudity kept many tuned in to the exploits of county treasurer, Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), and the criminals, big and small, inside and out of government in prohibition era Atlantic City.
Those elements and brilliant cinematography, direction and writing also won the show a deserved bevy of awards, and easily secured a second season.
The corruption will continue in the autumn, when a young Benjamin Siegelbaum (who in later years will become known as Bugsy Siegel) joins a youthful Al Capone and Lucky Luciano in a cast of factual and fictional gangsters, government officials, their victims and the creepy, perverse Agent Van Alden (Michael Shannon) tasked with wiping out crime on the boardwalk and beyond.
Here's a peek at what we can expect in a few months, and we'll let you know when broadcast dates are announced for the US and UK...
The deposed king of the region, Commodore has passed the mantle to Nucky and his reign has Nucky’s mentor bitter and proud.
Coleman is a character actor who has a wide range with over 60 films to his credit. He is often typecast as a comic relief villain, the smarmy, devious foil to the main character. An early example of such features was his portrayal of an ethically absent Harrison Wilby in an Elvis Presley film, The Trouble with Girls.
Perhaps Coleman's most underrated performance to date was his role in the 1974 cult classic Bad Ronald, as he played the father of three girls who moved into a house which was occupied by a teenage murderer unbeknownst to them.
Coleman's fate in these types of roles was cemented with roles such as that of Franklin Hart, Jr. in 1980's Nine to Five, a sexist boss whose murder is fantasized about by his office employees (Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin). That role reunited him with actress Marian Mercer, with whom he also worked on the TV series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. He broke from this type somewhat in his portrayal of military computer scientist John McKittrick in WarGames (1983).
In smaller, earlier appearances, he played a U.S. Olympic skiing team coach in the Robert Redford 1969 film Downhill Racer, a high-ranking superior to firefighter Steve McQueen in The Towering Inferno (1974) and a wealthy Westerner whose champion horse is entered in a long-distance race against that of Gene Hackman and others in Bite the Bullet (1975).
In 1987 he received an Emmy award for his role in the TV Movie Sworn to Silence.
He was featured in the Academy Award-winning On Golden Pond (1981), playing the fiance of Chelsea Thayer Wayne (Jane Fonda) who visits Golden Pond to meet her parents, played by Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn. Coleman played a Hugh Hefner-ish magazine mogul in the comedy Dragnet (1987) with Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks, befuddled banker Milburn Drysdale in the theatrical version of The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) and a philandering father in You've Got Mail (1998).
Coleman has been married twice. He was married to Ann Courtney Harrell from 1957 to 1959 and to actress Jean Hale from 1961 to 1984. He has four children: Meghan, Kelly, Randy, and Quincy. He resides in the Brentwood district of Los Angeles.
Agent Nelson Van Alden
He’s the Eliot Ness before Eliot Ness. The God-loving (and fearing) senior Prohibition Agent with the Department of Internal Revenue, he will not rest until he uncovers the corruption that he believes to be the root of all evil. Interestingly, as his investigation into Nucky deepens, so does his fascination with Margaret Schroeder.
Michael Shannon
Shannon was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and is a grandson of entomologist Raymond Corbett Shannon. His mother, Geraldine Hine, is a lawyer, and his father, Donald S. Shannon, was an accounting professor at DePaul University. He was raised by his divorced parents in both Kentucky and Chicago, Illinois.Shannon began his career as a stage actor in Chicago, where he helped found the "A Red Orchid Theatre", where he still regularly performs. He has since worked with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Northlight Theatre, and other acting companies. Shannon originated the role of Peter Evans in Bug in 2004 and also starred in the 2006 film adaptation with Ashley Judd and Harry Connick, Jr, directed by William Friedkin. His roles in Bug, Killer Joe, and Man From Nebraska were written by Steppenwolf ensemble member Tracy Letts.
Shannon made his film debut with a small role in Groundhog Day in 1993 as a wedding groom. Later, he had roles in Jesus' Son, Pearl Harbor, 8 Mile and Vanilla Sky. He played the villain in Kangaroo Jack. After a role in Bad Boys II, he had a major role in Grand Theft Parsons as the hippie, Larry Oster-burg. In 2006, he played the leader of a prison white supremacist group, Lynard, in Let's Go to Prison.
Shannon has appeared in several shows in the West End in London, including a production of Woyzeck directed by Sarah Kane. In 2008, Shannon was featured in the off-Broadway production of Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Little Flower of East Orange, presented by LAByrinth Theater Company and The Public Theater, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and also featuring Ellen Burstyn.
Shannon's role in Revolutionary Road, also starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio, earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He portrayed Doc Cross Williams in the film adaptation of Jonah Hex. Shannon will play a corrupt cop in the upcoming film Premium Rush, directed by David Koepp. In the 2010 HBO television show Boardwalk Empire, Shannon plays the role of Federal Prohibition agent Nelson Van Alden. He is currently starring as Felix Artifex in Mistakes Were Made at the Barrow Street Theatre in New York City through February 27th. He has recently been cast as the villain General Zod in Zack Snyder's Superman reboot, Superman: The Man of Steel.
The Irish immigrant that Nucky meets while speaking at the Women’s Temperance League is moved by his moxie. She opens up to Nucky about being married to Hans Schroeder, an alcoholic and brutal gambler. Just as shrewed as Nucky, Margaret eventually proves that she can hold her own — especially in her troubled domestic situation.
Kelly Macdonald
was born 23 February 1976 is a Scottish actress, known for her role in the independent film Trainspotting and mainstream releases such as Nanny McPhee, Gosford Park, Intermission and No Country for Old Men. On television, she is known for her roles in Boardwalk Empire, The Girl in the Café and State of Play
.
Macdonald's career began while working as a barmaid. She saw a leaflet advertising an open casting session for Trainspotting and decided to audition, winning the part of Diane, the underage seductress to Ewan McGregor's Renton. Other roles include Mary O'Neary in Two Family House and an actress playing Peter Pan in Finding Neverland. She also had major roles in Robert Altman's British period piece Gosford Park, where she played an artistocrat's maid, as well as in Intermission (2003), as Deirdre.
On television, her highest-profile roles have been in two BBC dramas, the Paul Abbott serial State of Play (2003) and the one-off Richard Curtis piece The Girl in the Café (2005).Both of these were directed by David Yates, and both also starred Bill Nighy. For her performance in The Girl in the Café, Macdonald was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2006, and won an Emmy.
Macdonald starred in the 2005 film Nanny McPhee, as the scullery maid Evangeline, and has since had supporting roles in A Cock and Bull Story (2006), and the Coen Brothers' Academy Award-winning No Country for Old Men, (2007), Her agent was originally unsure she was right for the latter part, and Macdonald is reported as having to "fight for the role".Her persistence paid off, however, as she was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress. Other films where she had supporting roles include Choke (2008), as Dr. Paige Marshall, the film which was adapted by Clark Gregg from the 2001 Chuck Palahniuk novel, In the Electric Mist (2009) (based on James Lee Burke's In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead (1993)), as Kelly Drummond, alongside Tommy Lee Jones and John Goodman and Skellig (2009), as Louise. She also played the lead in The Merry Gentleman(2008), as Kate Frazier. She currently plays Margaret Schroeder on HBO's Boardwalk Empire. Her next project is the romantic comedy The Decoy Bride opposite David Tennant.
In 2011, she will play the Grey Lady, revealed to be Helena Ravenclaw, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II, the final film of the Harry Potter franchise.
James “Jimmy” Darmody
Nucky’s driver and right-hand man, Darmody is every bit as ambitious as he is cunning. The former Princeton student and World War I veteran wants bigger opportunities and is perfectly willing to create them for himself.
