audition

TORONTO — An actor from last year’s Toronto International Film Festival has been turning heads around town this week: Inde Navarrette, whose “Obsession” went from a modest 2025 Midnight Madness slot to a box office behemoth.

But if you had to pick this year’s Navarrette, who would it be? Among the breakout names of TIFF 2026 is unquestionably Rosalind Eleazar, the London-born 38-year-old star of “Misty Green,” the first film written and directed by Chris Rock since 2014’s “Top Five” and among the most notable world premieres at this year’s festival.

Misty is a Hollywood survivor who was never able to make the most of her own success, winning an Emmy a few years back but now losing the apartment she has been living in because the widow of the man she was cheating with wants it back. With her bad attitude and personal problems, Misty has burned many bridges along the way. There’s a chance she could be cast in a remake of “Dreamgirls” that would turn everything around for her, but Misty’s brother, Jay (Daniel Kaluuya, in his first major screen role since 2022’s “Nope”), was recently released from a mental facility and needs monitoring.

Though there are comedic moments along the way, “Misty Green” is very much a character study, as well as an unsparring examination of the systemic pressures on Black women in Hollywood — one executive interrupts Misty’s audition to ask if she is “mixed.” She does herself no favors, frequently self-sabotaging and getting in her own way.

“Being an actor is hard,” Eleazar said in an interview at The Times’ photo and video studio in Toronto on Sunday with a sense of well-earned candor. “I could totally relate to Misty’s journey and the setbacks and the constant picking yourself back up after multiple rejections and just going again. And trying not to have armor because as an actor you want to keep yourself open and you don’t want to harden too much. But it can be easy to harden yourself to an industry that can be unforgiving.”

Though “Misty Green” is Eleazar’s first lead in a film, she has had a steadily building career. She is probably most familiar to American audiences from her role as an MI5 agent on the Apple TV series “Slow Horses.” But soon she will likely be known for the explosive announcement that is “Misty Green.” The film will go on to play at the New York Film Festival and the London Film Festival and be released by distributor A24 on Oct. 9.

“It can be easy to harden yourself to an industry that can be unforgiving,” Eleazar says.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

After her movie’s TIFF world premiere in a coveted Saturday night slot at Roy Thompson Hall, Eleazar was included among those celebrated at the annual TIFF Tribute Awards, a fundraising gala put on by the festival. She was recognized alongside such actors as Helen Mirren, Penélope Cruz and Isabelle Huppert, whom she called “extraordinary company.”

“I grew up watching them and admired their work,” Eleazar says earlier in the day. “It’s just such an honor to be considered amongst heavyweights like that. Dame Helen Mirren. Crikey.”

With a warm smile she adds, “Just went very British.”

In accepting the prize, Eleazar recalled how when she came to Toronto for the premiere of her first feature film, 2019’s “The Personal History of David Copperfield,” she stepped away from a party to call her mother at 4 a.m. London time. Not wanting to make that same mistake again, she made sure her mother was there with her in Toronto for this year’s Sunday gala, sitting at a table with Eleazar’s husband, the actor and producer Gabriele Lo Giudice.

Eleazar performs two songs in the film, a heartbreakingly vulnerable cabaret version of Radiohead’s “Creep” and a stripped-down, tender reading of “One Night Only” from “Dreamgirls.” (Eleazar does not consider herself a singer and took vocal lessons before shooting.) Then, in a scene in which Misty demands she be allowed to finish an audition, she flashes into someone else in a bit of pure craft that leaves those in the room astonished.

It was important that Misty be seen as someone who is in fact immensely talented, who may even be worth all the bother and strife that she brings along with her.

“I think we’ve seen movies before where the character isn’t talented and it’s about the hustle and the dream of making it in Hollywood,” says Eleazar. “But I think it’s really interesting seeing someone that cannot get out of their own way — someone that is railing against the industry and is fighting Hollywood, fighting herself, fighting the people around her. It becomes quite a universal subject. It is about our industry but it’s also just about someone who is trying to escape herself.”

Despite Misty’s obvious talents, acting simply may not be the best career for her anymore; it strains her emotional and mental health and enables her substance abuse. Over the course of her own career, Eleazar has at times had to check in with herself to make sure she was heading down the right path.

“There are definitely times that I’ve questioned it,” she says. “For me it does really feed my soul and therefore, at my low points, I’ve managed better. But it can be really heavy. And maybe I shouldn’t but I feel like I’m pretty happy being an actor.”

Chris Rock and Rosalind Eleazar in the movie “Misty Green.”

(A24)

To land the role, after a few meetings with Rock over Zoom, Eleazar flew herself from London to Los Angeles so she could read in the room. As it happened, it made for an intense few days: First she had a chemistry read with Ralph Fiennes in the U.K. for a stage role (she would appear opposite Fiennes in “Small Hotel” in 2025) and then immediately flew to L.A. to read with Rock.

“What a mad, amazing three days,” she recalls. Similarly, Eleazar would be ending her whirlwind few days in Toronto by heading to Los Angeles to be with the “Slow Horses” team for the Emmys on Monday.

In introducing her tribute on Sunday night, Rock recalled when Eleazar auditioned for the part.

“The room just changed,” he said. “She was funny, she was dangerous, she was moving and completely in command. Misty Green is a woman whose life is coming apart. Rosalind never played her as a victim. She made you see the intelligence, the appetite and the fight underneath all the chaos. The audition was supposed to help me decide who to play Misty, but halfway through, the decision had already been made.”

“It becomes quite a universal subject,” Eleazar says of Chris Rock’s latest movie. “It is about our industry but it’s also just about someone who is trying to escape herself.”

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

There is something poetic about the fact that playing a mid-career actress struggling to land her next job may be the very thing that brings Eleazar wider recognition.

“It’s kind of meta, isn’t it?” she says with a laugh. “Look, I’m so happy that people are responding to the film and my performance. That really is the cherry on top because for me — I know it sounds rather cheesy — but I literally felt like I won once I did that film. I had such a great time exploring who she was and working with Chris and Daniel and Adam [Driver] and that cast. So everything else is just so lovely.”

In accepting her own tribute award on Sunday, Helen Mirren went off-script from her prepared remarks to say how moved she had been by Eleazar’s earlier speech, adding, “It’s exciting to see the generations coming up, especially women.”

As Rock succinctly added in his speech, “Misty Green wishes she could be Rosalind Eleazar.”

Regardless of what happens with “Misty Green” commercially or throughout awards season, Eleazar will continue tending her steady climb. Production will begin soon on season 7 of “Slow Horses” and Eleazar is currently shooting a film role that she isn’t yet allowed to talk about.

But Misty and the experience of bringing her to life on the screen will remain transformative.

“It almost reminded me of like a Shakespearean character in a way,” Eleazar says. “She’s so self-destructive and flawed and contradictory and at times it’s hard to get onside with her. We see it a lot of the time with male roles and I’d love to see it more with female roles — these really complex and messy characters.”

Peter Cullen, the voice actor whose regal timbre as the heroic Optimus Prime in the “Transformers” franchise and deep tone as the gloomy Eeyore in “Winnie the Pooh” projects who was beloved by generations, has died. He was 85.

Cullen died Wednesday in his Los Angeles home, his agent Kevin Motley confirmed to The Times on Thursday. A cause of death was not given.

He “passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family — and held in the hearts of his many friends and countless fans worldwide,” his family said in a statement. They ask “that you honor his remarkable legacy by serving your communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and loyalty and always remember ‘be strong enough to be gentle.’ ”

A prolific voice actor whose work spanned television shows, movies, video games and even theme park rides, Cullen amassed more than 200 credits over his career. This includes the eponymous giant ape in the 1976 remake of “King Kong,” the villainous vehicle KARR (Knight Automated Roving Robot) in the “Knight Rider” TV series and the clicks and trills of the deadly alien hunter in the original “Predator” film.

But Cullen is best known for his work in animation and children’s cartoons in the 1980s and ‘90s.

His signature role was Optimus Prime, the leader of a heroic faction of sentient alien robots known as Autobots who battle the villainous Decepticons in the “Transformers” franchise. Cullen often spoke about how his voice for the leader — who transforms into a truck — was inspired by his older brother, Larry, a Marine who had served in Vietnam.

On the day of his “Transformers” audition, Cullen had mentioned to Larry, his roommate at the time, that he was on his way to try out to be the voice of “a hero truck.”

Larry responded, “Well, if you’re gonna be a hero, be a real hero. Don’t be a jerk … Be strong enough to be gentle. Be understanding. Be compassionate, and be able to kick ass — in a good way,” Cullen previously told The Times.

“He said it in a voice that was subdued and calm,” Cullen continued. “He’s 13 months older and 6 inches taller. Made of steel. He was my hero. [His words] weighed heavily on me. So I’m at the audition reading the breakdown of the character and what I have to say in the audition. I can just feel Larry’s words coming out of my mouth. So, I took his sound — my first words were, ‘My name is Optimus Prime.’ ”

“Transformers” voice actors Peter Cullen, left, and Frank Welker at the 2024 Comic-Con Fan Expo in Rosemont, Ill.

(Rob Grabowski / Invision/Associated Press)

Cullen originated the role in the 1980s animated “Transformers” series, referred to by fans as “G1” or “Generation 1.” The era also includes the big-screen “The Transformers: The Movie” (1986), which featured the beloved character’s controversial death, but the character eventually returned after fan outcry.

When “Transformers” jumped to live action in Michael Bay’s 2007 film, Cullen was once again tapped to voice Optimus Prime. He continued through the follow-up films, including “Revenge of the Fallen” (2009), “Dark of the Moon” (2011), “Age of Extinction” (2014) and “The Last Knight” (2017), as well as the 2018 prequel “Bumblebee” and “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” (2023).

He told NPR that returning to play Optimus Prime in these films was “like slipping into an old pair of shoes that you hid in the back of your closet.”

Cullen was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for his work as Optimus Prime in the TV series “Transformers: Prime” in 2011 and won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Children’s and Family Emmy Awards in 2023.

Peter Claver Cullen was born on July 28, 1941, in Montreal, to American parents Henry and Muriel Cullen. One of four children, he graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1963. He later did Shakespeare for a summer in Stratford, Ontario, before working for a year at the Crest Theatre in Toronto as a member of the repertory company, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

He told NPR he discovered his talent for doing different voices while working on a farm as a child and imitating animals.

Besides Optimus Prime, one of Cullen’s favorite roles was Eeyore, the endearing but pessimistic donkey from “Winnie the Pooh.” Cullen first voiced the character in “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” series, which aired from 1988–1991. He continued his work as Eeyore through numerous franchise installments, including “The Tigger Movie” (2000), “Piglet’s Big Movie” (2003) and “The Book of Pooh” series.

“I enjoyed doing Eeyore because he was simply charming,” Cullen said to NPR. “And I get an awful lot of reactions from, especially, young kids, when I go up and just say [in Eeyore’s voice], ‘Hello. Thanks for noticing me.’ And to see their faces light up, that to me is one of the great joys.”

Cullen is survived by his four children, Angus, Claire, Pilar and Clay, according to the Associated Press.