Despite his dedication to the junior-high students who fill his classroom, idealistic teacher Dan Dunne leads a secret life of addiction that the majority of his students will never know. But things change when a troubled student Drey makes a startling discovery of his secret life, causing a tenuous bond between the two that could either end disastrously or provide a catalyst of hope.
08-11-2006
1h 47m
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Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Director:
Ryan Fleck
Writers:
Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Production:
Hunting Lane Films, Journeyman Pictures, Original Media, Silverwood Films, Traction Media
Revenue:
$4,911,725
Budget:
$700,000
Key Crew
Producer:
Anna Boden
Executive Producer:
Charlie Corwin
Executive Producer:
Doug Dey
Producer:
Lynette Howell Taylor
Producer:
Rosanne Korenberg
Locations and Languages
Country:
US
Filming:
US
Languages:
en
Main Cast
Ryan Gosling
Ryan Thomas Gosling (born November 12, 1980) is a Canadian actor. Prominent in independent film, he has also worked in blockbuster films of varying genres, and has accrued a worldwide box office gross of over 1.9 billion USD. He has received various accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards and a BAFTA Award.\n\nBorn and raised in Canada, he rose to prominence at age 13 for being a child star on the Disney Channel's The Mickey Mouse Club (1993–1995), and went on to appear in other family entertainment programs, including Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1995) and Goosebumps (1996). His first film role was as a Jewish neo-Nazi in The Believer (2001), and he went on to star in several independent films, including Murder by Numbers (2002), The Slaughter Rule (2002), and The United States of Leland (2003).\n\nGosling gained wider recognition and stardom for the 2004 romance film The Notebook. This was followed by starring roles in a string of critically acclaimed independent dramas including Half Nelson (2006), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Gosling co-starred in three mainstream films in 2011, the romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love and the action drama Drive, all of which were critical and commercial successes. He then starred in the acclaimed financial satire The Big Short (2015) and the romantic musical La La Land (2016), the latter of which won him the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and a second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Further acclaim followed with the science fiction thriller Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and the biopic First Man (2018). In addition to acting, he made his directorial debut in 2014's Lost River.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Shareeka Epps (born July 11, 1989) is an American actress. She starred in the 2006 film Half Nelson, alongside Ryan Gosling.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Shareeka Epps, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Anthony Dwane Mackie (born September 23, 1978) is an American actor. Mackie made his film debut starring in the music drama film 8 Mile (2002). He was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor for his performance in the LGBT drama Brother to Brother (2004), and in the same year, he appeared in the psychological thriller The Manchurian Candidate, the Spike Lee TV film Sucker Free City, and the sports film Million Dollar Baby. Mackie starred in Half Nelson (2006); in 2008, Mackie both appeared in the action thriller Eagle Eye and was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Hurt Locker. He portrayed Tupac Shakur in Notorious (2009) and later starred in Night Catches Us (2010), The Adjustment Bureau, and Real Steel (both 2011).
He achieved global recognition for portraying Sam Wilson, Falcon, and Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and most recently starring in the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021). During this period, Mackie also starred in the period crime film Detroit (2017), The Hate U Give (2018), the horror film Synchronic (2019), and The Banker (2020).
Away from film, Mackie has performed in Broadway and off-Broadway adaptations, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Drowning Crow, McReele, A Soldier's Play, and Carl Hancock Rux's Talk, for which he won an Obie Award in 2002. Mackie portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in the HBO television film All the Way (2016) and portrayed Takeshi Kovacs in the Netflix series Altered Carbon (2020). He starred as protagonist John Doe in the Peacock series Twisted Metal (2023–present).
Description above from the Wikipedia article Anthony Mackie, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Starla Benford was born on October 8, 1964 in Austin, Texas, USA. She is an actress, known for United 93 (2006), Half Nelson (2006) and A Perfect Murder (1998).
Denis O'Hare (born January 17, 1962) is an American stage and screen actor, best known for his roles in the plays Take Me Out and Sweet Charity, for his portrayal of vampire Russell Edgington on the series True Blood and his different roles on American Horror Story, and for his supporting roles in such films as Milk, Changeling, and Dallas Buyers Club.
Deborah Rush (born April 10, 1954) is an American actress. She has worked in television, film and on Broadway. In 1984, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for Michael Frayn's comedy Noises Off. She also acted in Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. In 2003 she acted in the comedy film American Wedding, as Mary Flaherty, Michelle Flaherty's mom. In December 2008, she joined the cast of the Broadway revival of Blithe Spirit.
Jay Olcutt Sanders (born April 16, 1953) is an American actor. He is noted for his TV roles as Bill Weller on Blindspot, Jack Bryant on Manhunt, Chief Tom Lidell on The Sinner, Det. John Maynard on Widows, Capt. Joseph Hannah on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and mob lawyer Steven Kordo in NBC's detective series Crime Story (1986-1988), as well as his film roles on The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Green Lantern (2011), and the Alex Cross films starring Morgan Freeman.
He has appeared in many other notable films, including Glory (1989), Mr. Destiny (1990), JFK (1991), Angels in the Outfield (1994), The Big Green (1995), Daylight (1996), The Matchmaker (1997), For Richer or Poorer (1997), Tumbleweeds (1999), Music of the Heart (1999), Half Nelson (2006), Cadillac Records (2008), and Revolutionary Road (2008).
He is also known as the narrator for the PBS series Wide Angle from 2002–2009 and has served as narrator for a number of Nova episodes and documentary specials starting in 2007.
He is the voice of D.S. McKenna in the Red Dead Redemption video game series.
Ron Cephas Jones (January 8, 1957 – August 19, 2023) was an American actor, best known for his role as William Hill in the drama series This Is Us (2016–2022), which earned him four consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning twice for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2018 and 2020.
Sharon Washington is an American stage, TV, film, and voice actress. She received her MFA from the Yale School of Drama and her BA from Dartmouth College.
Sharon got her start doing soap operas such as the 1996 season of "One Life to Live" in addition to having a recurring role on the mini-series follow-up "Heaven & Earth: North & South, Book III".
She has had guest star appearances in TV series including Power Book III: Raising Kanan, and in the final season of Madam Secretary. She’s also had recurring roles in For Life, City On A Hill, The Code, Gotham, Law & Order: SVU, and Damages.
Other television credits include the Hulu series The Looming Tower, Blue Bloods, The Blacklist, Golden Boy, White Collar, Royal Pains, NYC 22, Law & Order and Law & Order: CI. She has appeared in numerous television commercials both on-camera and voice-over and is an accomplished audiobook and documentary film narrator.
Sharon played Lena in the webseries Hustling for which she was awarded an Indie Series award for Best Supporting Actress (2015). Her film appearances include Joker, The Bourne Legacy, Michael Clayton, Wiener Dog, Rocksteady, Taking Chance, Freedomland, The School of Rock, Half Nelson, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Malcolm X, and Die Hard With A Vengeance. She also appeared in the short film Approaching A Breakthrough, directed by Noah Pritzker, which premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
She is the narrator of several documentary series for Animal Planet, Discovery, NOVA and TV One. Sharon played Lena in the webseries Hustling for which she was awarded an Indie Series award for Best Supporting Actress (2015). She has also narrated a diverse range of PBS, Nova, National Geographic and Discovery Channel programs. She voiced different characters in two installments of the successful Grand Theft Auto video game saga.
Sharon added playwright to her resumé, writing and performing her solo play Feeding The Dragon which received it’s world premiere at City Theatre in Pittsburgh followed by a production at Hartford Stage and from there to a successful run Off-Broadway at Primary Stages at the Cherry Lane Theater in the Spring of 2018 where she was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show and won an Audelco Award for Solo Performance.
On Broadway, she appeared as The Lady in the critically-acclaimed The Scottsboro Boys musical by Kander & Ebb directed by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman. A role she originated at The Vineyard Theatre and The Guthrie.
Other Off-Broadway credits include roles in Dot at the Vineyard Theatre, written by Colman Domingo and also directed by Susan Stroman; While I Yet Live by Billy Porter at Primary Stages; Luce by JC Lee at Lincoln Center Theater (LCT3); and Wild With Happy also by Colman Domingo at the Public Theater for which she received a Lucille Lortel Award nomination and an Audelco Award.
She has worked many times on the New York Shakespeare Festival stage including playing Lady Anne to Denzel Washington's Richard III and Valeria to Christopher Walken's Coriolanus; as well as in the award-winning adaptation of Caucasian Chalk Circle directed by George C. Wolfe and Stuff Happens directed by Daniel Sullivan.
Adepero Oduye hails from Brooklyn, New York City by way of Nigeria. She is a graduate of Cornell University; and has studied acting with Wynn Handman, Austin Pendleton, and Susan Batson. Her name is pronounced "Add-eh-pair-o Oh-due-yay."
Her theatre credits include Danai Gurira's play Eclipsed, at the Yale Repertory Theatre; The Bluest Eye, at the Hartford Stage and Long Wharf Theatres; and Fela!, in the AEA workshop, directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones.
Ms. Oduye first starred for writer/director Dee Rees as Alike in the award-winning short film Pariah. Among the other shorts that she has starred in are Gabriele Zamparini's Water; Russell Costanzo's The Tested; and Nadiah Hamzah's Sub Rosa.