Artists Rep.'s LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT Opens, 8/13

Artists Repertory Theatre has announced Academy Award winner William Hurt will join the cast of LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT as James Tyrone. LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT will be performed August 13 through 29.

Hurt received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science fiction feature Altered States (1980), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year. He subsequently landed the leading role as a sleazy lawyer in the well-received film noir Body Heat (1981).

In 1985, Hurt garnered substantial critical acclaim and multiple acting awards, including an Academy and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor, for portraying a homosexual window dresser in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985). He went on to receive another two Academy Award nominations for his lead performance in Children of a Lesser God (1986) and Broadcast News (1987). Hurt remained an active stage actor throughout the 1980s, appearing in numerous Off-Broadway productions including Henry V, Fifth of July, Richard II, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. He also received his first Tony Award nomination in 1985 for the Broadway play Hurlyburly.

After playing a diversity of character roles in the following decade, Hurt earned his fourth Academy Award nomination for his supporting performance in David Cronenberg's crime thriller A History of Violence (2005). His other notable films in recent years have included A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Syriana (2005), The Good Shepherd (2006), Mr. Brooks (2007), Into the Wild (2007), The Incredible Hulk (2008), and the upcoming Robin Hood (2010).

LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT is written by EuGene O'Neill, the play earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1957. The action of the play covers a fateful, heart-rending day from around 8:30 am to midnight, in August 1912 at the seaside Connecticut home of the Tyrones - the autobiographical representations of O'Neill himself, his older brother, and their parents at their home, Monte Cristo Cottage.

For more information, visit www.artistsrep.org.