Sweethearts aren’t always flirty and fun. Sometimes they know how to get down to business. Maybe it’s just this town. It has the power to transform every girl into a strong woman, sharing her opinions, accomplishments, and plans. New York moves even Hollywood’s loveliest ladies to profess what really, well, moves them.

For Malin Akerman, that means bringing a unique global view to the table. Born in Sweden, Akerman’s parents moved to Canada when she was two. Her father moved back to Sweden when she was six, so all those school vacations became three months a year of visiting dad in Europe. “It’s interesting – Sweden and Canada, politically, are quite similar. There’s no big difference in national healthcare; there is similar neutrality when it comes to wars. Culturally, Sweden is a little bit more conservative. I grew up in Toronto. It’s an ethnically diverse city with freedom and individualism and a mix of cultures.” Akerman grew up the child of two continents, of two cultures. “Whenever I was in Canada, I knew that I had been brought up very Swedish. I can’t pinpoint it, but I knew I was a little bit different. But then, whenever I’d go to Sweden, I’d feel a little different there too.” Years later, the fruit of all that dual-habitation is a bright and understanding mind. “I really appreciate it now. It really opened my eyes to the world.”

Now living in America with a residency green card, Akerman navigates the severe political differences of the USA. “I personally feel like universal healthcare is great. You know, in Sweden, you can pay for a better spot in line, you can pay for better health care options, but you can always go [to the doctor] if you have a problem.”

Culturally, America fares a little better. “Every country has its pros and cons. One thing that I really love is that it does definitely breed entrepreneurs and individuals. There’s incentive to do better and be better… it’s the American Dream kind of thing – it’s really true.” Alright, that hackneyed phrase that conjures up images of bootstraps and peace marches, assembly lines and the smell of new money; that old jargon actually still has quite a bit of merit. “I never understood that phrase until I lived in America. I’m also spending most of my time in LA and New York, but I just feel like everything is doable. It really inspires me.”

There’s no denying New York weaves its spell of dreams-to-be-accomplished on everybody, no matter if you’re here to film a show, or just to see one. “New York has so much culture, so much history. You can really feel it when you walk through the streets.When I visited, I went to see two plays on Broadway. Everywhere else, you go to dinner and a movie. In New York, you go to dinner and a play. It’s unique and lovely.”

Clearly, we’re dealing with a unique and lovely girl. And what does she turn her international attention to next? Africa. Akerman is currently working closely with Opportunity International, an organization that arranges microfinancing for small businesses. Reaching out to assist people with no identification cards, bank accounts, or loans, Opportunity International acts like a bank. And 71% of its benefactors are women. “It brings people in as groups, vouching for one another. Then the group helps pay off the interest, collectively.” With loans from $50 into the $1,000 range, women can start a business, sustain a family, and send their kids to school. Akerman has been to Africa twice to put boots on the ground and see how things work. “The moment they get money, they send their kids to school – that’s where my heart is, kids being our future. It’s important to teach them properly and inspire them to want to make the world a better place.”

Perhaps one of the most wonderful attributes Akerman shares about Africa is its people. “You come back, and all of a sudden, everyone’s on their Blackberry. Everyone has something to do. In Africa, it’s very much like everyone lives by the minute. They’re there in the present. There’s nothing else to be done. Asking how everyone knows each other in the community is really beautiful. They welcome you right in and tell you stories. They laugh, they’re relaxed – even though they don’t have much they seem happy. From an outsider’s point of view, they have so much to face. They know that as well, they’re in dire need of more financial security. But at the base of them and their search is a beautiful people, living in the moment.”

Working with organizations like Opportunity International has put Akerman in contact with some remarkable people. She finds role models everywhere. “I look up to – oh, wow – a lot of people. Anywhere from my parents and their struggles and how far they’ve come in life, to a former sex slave from Cambodia who breaks into brothels and saves young girls, to Bill Gates, to Dennis Littky. People who are revolutionaries really inspire me. Those are my idols.”

But then, she admits, she’d also go crazy if she got to meet a legendary singer. In fact, “I was just at the White House Correspondence Dinner, and I was in the same room as the President of America. He was laid back and telling funny stories, and there were so many powerful people there. It was just really exciting.” And seated next to her at dinner? Mayor Bloomberg of New York. “He’s such a charming man. We had a lovely table with many wonderful people. I felt like the greenest person there. I left thinking, ‘I’ve got to learn everything.’ You get so inspired by all these people. I just love people who are doing something, people who are trying to make the world a better place. That takes a smart person, and a person with a lot of guts.”

So when you’ve got the smarts and the guts, what do you do with them? Akerman’s number one item on her bucket list? “It’s an easy one: to have kids of my own. Well,” she catches herself, “not easy. Also, I would love to open my own school with Dennis Littky’s curriculum.” She references the education visionary for the second time, evidencing her real interest in the man who has opened 65 charter schools that take drop-outs and class failures and boost them to a 99% graduation rate. “He’s changing the way we educate kids. It’s fascinating.” Rounding out the bucket list is a dream borne of international-mindedness – and an Italian husband – “Perhaps, when I’m older, I’ll own an olive orchard in Italy. In the meantime, I want to see the world.”

So where can we see this continent-trekking, sometimes-flirty, sometimes-serious sweetheart? “I just finished the pilot for an ABC show called The Smart One, so my future is in limbo right now.” In the meantime, Rock of Ages comes out in June. “Filming that was a great experience. It’s an amazing cast and every single person, honestly everyone, sang their own songs. I assure you that Mary J. Blige can definitely sing. And Adam Shankman’s comedic timing is brilliant. Everyone can relate to this film. And the music is great! It’s all the hair bands: Bon Jovi and Journey and Foreigner and Def Leppard. Stuff I grew up on.”

Well, every serious girl needs a little fluff in her life. Especially if it comes with some rockin’ 80s costumes. But Akerman has some great perspective to share. “If you’re constantly striving to be a successful person, as opposed to a successful actor or lawyer or accountant, that makes all the difference. Find time to work on balance. We all get strength from that. Check in on yourself, and look somewhere else when you’re hitting the same wall. I like to think everything happens for a reason. So believe, and keep trekking forward.”

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A man who’s always looking for the next project, the next experience, actor Willem Dafoe says, “fulfillment is a very slippery word.” So much so that Willem Dafoe prefers to speak through his work. He feels we shouldn’t care so much what actors think. He justifies his aloofness: “If people are bringing too much to who they are outside of the screen or theater then it interferes with how [people] perceive them within these stories, so I am kind of loathe to say too much. Sometimes I want to say that it doesn’t matter who I am or what I think. It’s what I do.”
A born performer, Dafoe fell into acting early in life. Often playing the psychotic, disturbed, or otherwise doomed roles, he has worked hard to challenge himself and get behind interesting films – blockbusters and independent pieces alike. “Success is a relative word; if you become used to doing one thing, you become known for one thing and you’re always sucked into repeating yourself,” he reflects. He’s taken some risks in his work (2009’s wildly controversial and disturbing Antichrist is just one); but that’s not how he sees it. “Risk adds a connotation of bravery to it… of course I like it, but at the same time, risk is what firemen do.” It seems he considers the constant search for challenge and newness in his line of work is a necessity in order to grow and improve. “… Many actors with a kind of linear success don’t get better. Sometimes they get worse,” he says.

Dafoe was one of the founding members of The Wooster Group, the New York-based experimental theater collective. He created and performed in all of the group’s works from 1977 through 2005, both in the U.S. and internationally, and he continues to be active in the theater scene. “[With theater] there’s a certain kind of musicality, a certain kind of poeticism, a certain kind of stamina, that you don’t necessarily need in film, just because it’s a mediated performance and they can cut and put it together.”

His first feature role was in Kathryn Bigelow’s The Loveless. From there, he went on to perform in over 70 films in Hollywood (Spider-Man, The English Patient), independent cinema in the U.S. (The Boondock Saints, American Psycho), and abroad. He has chosen projects for the diversity of roles and especially the opportunity to work with strong directors, including Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, David Lynch, and others.

Married to Italian director and actress Giada Colagrande, he has an obvious affinity for travel. “I toured a lot when I was with the theater group, which is something people don’t know in the States because it wasn’t a big commercial theater. I always had kind of a gypsy life.”

Dafoe has been nominated twice for an Academy Award (for Platoon and Shadow Of The Vampire) and once for a Golden Globe. His upcoming films include The Hunter and John Carter for Disney. In The Hunter, Dafoe plays a mercenary sent from Europe by a mysterious biotech company to the Tasmanian wilderness on a hunt for the last Tasmanian tiger. “It was an expansive role. I had to learn how to do this bush craft and hunting stuff and I knew I would be by myself with the camera crew and the wilderness in Tasmania. I liked the passion of the director. It was a project he developed for ten years.”

Of the underlying environmental issues related to The Hunter, Dafoe reflects, “Our relationship with nature is changing. Things are going faster now so we’re more conscious of it and we have to deal with it. We have a bigger world view now, too. It’s that goddamn information age.”

Although Dafoe’s not quick to part with his opinions – as he quips, “I have a lot of opinions and I don’t like to lean on them,” – he did, however, impart some of the reasoning behind is wariness of our increasing dependence on technology, saying access to an almost infinite supply of information at our fingertips creates “the illusion that we’re freer than we are.” He adds, “It gets us away from our animal selves and our social selves. I mean, go to any Starbucks and no one is ever talking to each other.”

John Carter is a film about a Civil War vet transplanted to Mars, where he discovers a lush, wildly diverse planet and falls prisoner to 12-foot tall green aliens. He escapes, only to find himself the would-be savior of the other Mars inhabitants. Dafoe plays Tars Tarkas, one of the CGI aliens. “The story of John Carter is almost 100 years old and the writing is pretty seminal; you can almost trace back a lot of science fiction writers and their imaginings of outer space,” Dafoe points out.

The computer animation aspect of John Carter was a welcome challenge. “When you’re working with someone like Andrew Stanton who has a very clear idea of the process that’s required and how he’s approaching the story, it becomes a game. He can set you with aims of what he needs to accomplish and you become an accomplice to help him.”

Is Dafoe interested in getting behind the camera? “Not really. I like collaborating, but I like being the doer; I like being the thing. The director has to watch, has to delegate. They don’t get to be the doer and that’s all of it for me. Also, I feel more comfortable being a little irresponsible and the actor…is not as responsible for the story or the impact.”

According to Dafoe, part of the craft of acting relies on trusting the director, and the vision for the film or performance. “If I make something good, I want people to see it – but I’m totally driven by my personal reasons. I’d never envision what a performance is going to accomplish and if I do, I’m usually in the wrong place. Usually I’m too busy sorting out what it is and inhabiting it to worry about what people will take away from it.”

Dafoe says he speaks best through his performances; his creative process is a deeply sincere one. “I do it the best I can and in a way that hopefully every moment has a kind of integrity, so no matter how they cut it, shoot it, order it, it will hold up and reflect some sort of intention.” Being positive of the direction of a film, or even your place in it, isn’t necessary: “It’s human nature to be off-balanced. I think when you’re a little off-balance and unsure, that’s when the most interesting things happen.”

Ultimately, Dafoe says he “feels best when I’m applying myself – and thinking in a broader, more expansive way. I think you’re liberated by telling stories, even if they are dark stories, by giving yourself to someone else’s point of view; you’ll find commonality and comfort and love, really.”

Dark and disturbed, fantastic and futuristic, or anywhere in between – here’s to more of Dafoe’s uniquely unforgettable brand of storytelling.

“I believe in education more than anything else.”

Alice Eve fires off a declarative sentence that makes a statement about her upbringing, her aspirations, and her perspective. Boasting an Oxford degree in English and a bi-continental upbringing, it’s clear that this spring’s breakout star is about more than just smiling on the silver screen.

“I express myself in conversation, and I thought English is less about facts and dates than history. As my English teacher put it: you say you’ll read the classics your whole life. You may as well put three years aside to actually do it.” A remarkable combination of brains and beauty, Alice Eve has indeed read all the classics, all the way back to The Wanderer and The Seafarer. “I was crap at learning Anglo-Saxon, so I didn’t like them at all, then. But of course, I love them now.”

The Oxford-Grad-cum-actor recalls matriculating at the prestigious University. “I didn’t have any interest in going, and my father told me, ‘You can’t get in and not go.’ And I thought, ‘Really? This sucks.’” But that encouragement from her parents – encouragement she still receives today – is a something she cherishes. “It became cool for a bit in the 60’s to hate your parents. It was a bit harder to love the strict, rigid war children. But now our parents are from a different era… marijuana-smoking hippies… They’re easy to love!”

Both her parents are actors – they even played her parents in She’s Out of My League – so it may not be such a surprise that Alice ended up in front of the camera. And she’ll tell you nothing else was ever an option. “Everybody starts kind of deciding what they want to do around 16 or 17. Everybody was talking about wanting to be a doctor or a lawyer, curating, or run a gallery. I thought, ‘That sounds like horse shit. I want to be an actress.’” And so, by process of elimination, she found her course in life. “Sometimes knowing what you don’t like helps you know yourself more than knowing what you like.”

But even actresses can benefit from old-fashioned schoolwork. Alice’s days at University were pivotal to her life, in that they taught her an important lesson: how to be dedicated to something. “I’ve forgotten half of what I learned. But [higher education] is a good thing to do, especially at one of the more rigorous Universities. They never let you take your foot off the gas.”

Now, with She’s Out of My League, Sex and the City 2 (in which she played the buxom Irish nanny), and a few episodes of wooing Vincent Chase in Entourage, Alice is shifting into high gear. Her fans have a variety of movies to look forward to this year. She’s excited to be starring opposite John Cusack in The Raven this April. “It’s a cool script that I read, about Edgar Allen Poe. He was a poet, so of course that appeals to me, but also that it was being presented in a format that was entertaining. I love to be entertained and also I love some kind of highbrow baseline to work from.” She’ll also be appearing as a young Agent Oh in Men in Black III; in the thriller ATM; and in Decoding Annie Parker. Not to mention, she’s currently shooting the Star Trek sequel, due out in 2013.

Though she once chose acting because of its involved and social nature, Alice has found that while navigating an impressive film schedule, she values alone time, too. “I prioritize being alone, as much as I can be. I’m not a reclusive crazy psychopath, but I need a few hours alone in the day or I’ll wake them up at night and get them then and that’s not productive.”

And yet she still finds time to promote education, taking the encouragement her parents gave her and paying it forward. What moves her? “Children who don’t have the opportunity to be educated or whose education has been compromised for one reason or another. The plight of the helpless child is a universally inexcusable concept. What are we here for if not to leave it to them, you know?” Putting her passion into action, Alice tutors at a learning center in downtown LA. “Any kid I can get my hands on I try to teach how to read. That moves me. Kids that, for whatever reason – whether it’s poverty or even just not being encouraged in the home – [don’t learn]. I feel that’s problematic. And really, [learning] is the only thing that liberates you from your parents.”

Having spent her youth skipping between LA and England, Alice had quite a unique upbringing. As a result, she still holds both cities dear. “It’s still weird to me. Two affiliations, two homes, two cultures that I believe and support and love both of them. My friend calls it living between ancient Greece and ancient Rome – obviously England being Greece. Whenever you land in one city, you have winsome longings for the traits and idiosyncrasies of the other.”

Except for when it comes to politics and dating. These are two areas in which Alice’s opinions are categorically British. “American politics is a popularized, hyperbolized, sensationalized forum. It should be about finding the best way to run a country. I don’t care if he has extra-marital affairs, or if she’s straight or gay. I just care that they will do the best job they can.” The tendency of American political pundits to pry into personal lives is a phenomenon she’d rather do without. “In England, it’s different. In England you say, “I have a wife. Don’t ask any more questions.”

As for dating, having just turned 30, Alice is confidently single. “I don’t know if I’m fabulous, but I like being single. I have a lot of girlfriends, guy friends, gay friends… I like feeling completely autonomous and self-sufficient.” Don’t get her wrong though – “I love men. I don’t plan on never dating again, but I like taking some time away from that. There’s this thing in America where you can date more than one person.” You can’t do that in London? “No, of course not! It’s so weird that you’d shop around for your heart. It’s the one area that isn’t commercial.”

And what does Ms. Eve have to say about New York City? “I did a play on Broadway, Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll. It was fantastic. It’s a great place to live, in so many ways. It’s alive, it’s positive, it’s got a forward thrust, it’s cool-looking… that epicness… You never get the epic scope of London in the same way. It’s because you’re going up in tall buildings all the time in New York, seeing everything from way up high.”

In fact, one of her favorite New York parks is elevated. “I love High Line Park. It’s a nice little walk, and Stella McCartney is down there, too. It’s nice to see they took someplace old and recreated it to make it young and cool again. That’s why we love history, I guess? They say the first time history repeats itself, it’s a tragedy, and the second time it’s a comedy. But the High Line. It’s wonderful.”

Personal Chef 2012
Moves Magazine’s Fifth Annual Challenge to benefit City Harvest (cityharvest.org).

The Competition
Moves’ Personal Chef 2012 – three news anchors, three Top Chefs, three main ingredients, three courses prepared in thirty minutes, three celebrity judges to taste it all.

The Place
The prestigious James Beard House in the West Village, NYC.

The Judges
James Beard president Susan Ungaro, celebrity chef and entrepreneur Rocco Dispirito, and TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles’ star Sasha Alexander.

The Results
Check out next issue to see the winning team and photos from the competition.

Moves Magazine’s ninth Power Women Awards Night highlighted our 2011 choices with some of our most notable nominees to date. Hosted at Riverpark restaurant in Midtown East, the black-tie event gave us the opportunity to introduce our famous names and faces to our worthy representatives and unsung heroines. It’s what makes our mix unique!