Former President Trump on Monday named freshman Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate for the 2024 presidential election.
Vance has been serving the United States as a senator since 2023, but he has had some Hollywood ties, having published an autobiography, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and a Culture in Crisis,” in 2016.
Vance’s memoir was released on Netflix and was made into a film of the same name in 2020. Directed by Ron Howard, Hillbilly Elegy stars Gabriel Basso, Amy Adams, Glenn Close and Haley Bennett.
President Trump on Monday nominated J.D. Vance as his 2024 running mate. (Getty Images)
Close was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as Vance’s “Mamaw.”
Amy Adams and Glenn Close respond to criticism of Netflix’s ‘Hillbilly Elegy’
Below are some of the key people in Vance’s life and the Hollywood stars who played them.
Gabriel Basso – JD Vance
Basso plays the role of Vance in the Netflix film. Born in December 1994, Basso is known for his roles in “Super 8,” “Kings of Summer” and Netflix’s “The Night Agent.”
Gabriel Basso, Amy Adams and Haley Bennett in “Hillbilly Elegy.” (Netflix)
Basso charts Vance’s life as a Yale Law School student who receives an urgent phone call and returns to his hometown in Ohio to confront “three generations of his family history and his own future.” IMDb.
Gabriel Basso played J.D. Vance in Hillbilly Elegy. (Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
Amy Adams – Bev
Amy Adams played J.D.’s mother, Beverly “Bev” Vance, in the Netflix film. Bev was a mother of two who struggled with drug addiction.
In 2020, Adams Entertainment Weekly She talked about how she prepared for the role, which included talking to Vance’s family and Bev herself.
“My character is someone who would have witnessed this and I’m excited to see the deeper side of it than just the mistakes she made, because that was really important to me,” Adams told the outlet at the time.
Amy Adams played J.D. Vance’s mother, Bev, in Hillbilly Elegy. (Netflix)
Amy stressed the importance of accurately portraying Bev’s struggle with addiction.
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“Some of the people I care about very much have struggled with addiction. This is a story about a lot of people who really struggled and it was really important to me to see the humanity in that struggle,” Adams said.
Amy Adams was “terrified” about accurately portraying the role of Bev Vance. (Axel/Bauer Griffin/FilmMagic)
Adams said she was “intimidated” by the pressure, but was ultimately glad she decided to take the role.
“The role was a challenging but exhilarating experience,” she told the outlet at the time.
Glenn Close – Mamaw
Glenn Close played the role of Bev’s mother, Vance’s “Mamaw,” and played a major role in raising JD.
In 2020, she also spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the almost unrecognizable transformation she underwent to accurately portray her role in Hillbilly Elegy.
Amy Adams and Glenn Close star in “Hillbilly Elegy.” (Netflix)
“I wanted to change my face a little bit, mainly for me as an actress, because I didn’t want to be distracted by people knowing it was Glenn Close’s face,” she told the outlet.
In an interview, Close agreed with Adam about the importance of accurately portraying Vance’s family.
Glenn Close said playing “Mamaw” Vance was “one of the great experiences” of her career. (Fraser Harrison/Getty Images)
“I defined the whole psychological and emotional picture for myself, and I didn’t want to repeat myself as an actor, so I took it slowly, step by step. It’s been one of the greatest experiences of my career,” Close told the outlet.
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Haley Bennett – Lindsay Vance
Haley Bennett played the role of Lindsay Vance, J.D.’s sister, in Hillbilly Elegy.
Haley Bennett plays Vance’s sister, Lindsay Vance. (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for the BFI)
Bev gave birth to Vance’s sister just a few weeks after graduating from high school. Britannica.
Haley is an American actress who has appeared in films such as The Girl on the Train, Swallow, Music and Lyrics, and The Equalizer.
Freida Pinto – Usha
Freida Pinto played Vance’s wife, Usha Chirukuri, in Hillbilly Elegy. People MagazineUsha and JD met while attending Yale Law School and married in 2014, a year after they graduated.
Freida Pinto played Vance’s wife Usha in Hillbilly Elegy. (Taylor Hill/WireImage)
The couple have three children: sons Euan and Vivek, and daughter Mirabelle.
JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance have been married since 2014 and have three children. (Luke Charette/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Frida is an Indian actress born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, who has appeared in films such as Slumdog Millionaire, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Immortals, and Intrusion.
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