Wes Bentley

Born on September 4, 1978 in Jonesboro (Arkansas), Wesley Cook Bentley was the third of four children born to David and Cherie, both Methodist preachers. Like so many others, long before making movies, he was taking his first steps in theatrical performances at his high school in Arkansas. He dreamed of being a Hollywood actor from a young age, so he decided to prepare for it at the Juilliard School in New York.

He made his film debut in Jonathan Demme ‘s Beloved , where he appeared briefly as a teacher’s nephew. He had a much larger role in the uninspired White River Kid , where the title referenced his character, a young criminal who kidnaps two rogues ( Antonio Banderas and Bob Hoskins ).

Shortly after, he hit the big time in American Beauty , where he delivered a memorable supporting role as Ricky Fitts, the introspective son of the neighbor (a military man played by Chris Cooper ), who deals marijuana.

Although Bentley did not receive any of the film’s eight Oscar nominations (it ultimately won five), it gained some popularity and great prestige in the business world. However, as he later admitted, he fell into drug hell, which allowed him to act only sporadically, according to later terrible confessions, what was necessary to pay the bills and his dealers.

She landed a significant role in The Forgiveness , directed by Michael Winterbottom , and was opposite Heath Ledger in The Four Feathers (2002) , yet another adaptation of AEW Mason ‘s famous colonial adventure novel . He was also the enemy of Nicolas Cage in Ghost Rider , and a dangerously disturbed man in the horror film Parking 2 .

He fell in love with actress Jennifer Quanz, a co-star in Carving Out Our Name , with whom he married. But the actor’s problem with narcotics increased, to the point that he ended up divorcing and moving into an apartment alone, where he worsened. He was arrested in 2008, and the judge made him enter a rehabilitation program, but he did not take it very seriously.

Finally, in 2009, he ended up accepting that he had a problem. She made up her mind to get well and went back into rehab with more enthusiasm. She rediscovered love, and joined the producer Jacqui Swedberg, with whom she had a child. In addition, she tried to resume her career, first in the theater, with the play “Venus in Fur”, by David Ives, which was staged in New York.

Roland Joffé , veteran director of the mission, entrusted him with a difficult role in Encontrarás dragones , where he played Manolo, a childhood friend of the founder of Opus Dei, who leaves the seminary and allows himself to be invaded by hatred and resentment. He assures the actor that the hopeful plot of the film helped him face his own dragons.

Now, Bentley faces its future with optimism. For the moment he is not doing badly, since he has been signed to play the evil Seneca Crane, the main promoter of the cruel competition to which the title alludes in The Hunger Games , a production that hits theaters with force. In Lovelace , he plays Larry Marchiano, husband of the leading porn star.