Varian Fry rescues more than 2,000 artists from Nazi persecution during World War II. Stars William Hurt, Julia Ormond and Matt Craven. (2001).

More about William Hurt (courtesy of Biography.com.)

Hurt started out as a stage actor, first appearing in a regional Shakespearean festival. He then joined the Circle Repertory Company in New York. After appearing in numerous productions, Hurt won an Obie Award for his performance in My Life in 1977. In 1980, he made his film debut in Altered States. Hurt plays a scientist who experiments on himself with disturbing results.

The following year, Hurt proved himself as a more traditional leading man type in the crime thriller Body Heat. He co-starred opposite Kathleen Turner in the film, which helped make both of them stars. In 1983, Hurt appeared in the popular ensemble dramatic comedy The Big Chill. The movie follows a group of former college friends who reunite for a funeral. The cast also includes Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum and Kevin Kline.

Two years later, Hurt gave one of the most remarkable performances of his career in Kiss of the Spider Woman. In the film, he plays Luis, a homosexual drag queen who is imprisoned in a South American jail. Raul Julia plays his cellmate, a political prisoner. Luis tells stories to try to escape from his dreary existence. To prepare for the role, Hurt studied with a dance teacher and developed his own approach to the character. After some struggling, Hurt decided that Luis “really is a woman. He’s just caught in a man’s body,” he told NPR in a radio interview. All his hard work paid off. Hurt won raves for his work on Kiss of the Spider Woman, and even won the 1986 Academy Award for best actor.

Hurt’s film career continued to thrive with a string of impressive performances. In 1986, he received another Academy Award nomination for his turn as a teacher at a deaf school in Children of a Lesser God. His character in the film becomes involved with a deaf woman, played by Marlee Matlin. The following year, Hurt starred in the drama Broadcast News with Holly Hunter, which earned him another Oscar nomination. He went on to give another great performance in The Accidental Tourist (1988), starring alongside Geena Davis.

In the 1990s, Hurt worked steadily on a range of projects. He worked with Woody Allen on the 1990 romantic comedy Alice, starring Mia Farrow, and then starred in Wim Wenders’s futuristic tale, Until the End of the World, in 1991. In 1996, Hurt starred in a film adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Anna Paquin. He also appeared in the big screen version of the popular science-fiction television series Lost in Space in 1998.

In his later years, Hurt has drifted away from his leading man status. He has tackled character and supporting roles in a number of films. In the 2005 political drama Syriana, Hurt plays a former CIA operative. That same year, he earned yet another Oscar nomination—this time for best supporting actor—for his short turn in A History of Violence. In the film, Hurt plays a crime boss who catches up with his brother and tries to settle old score.