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Seasoned Broadway performer Alan Cumming was brought to life on-screen for the first time as Sean Walsh in Circle of Friends, released on this day in 1995. The movie also stars a slightly awkward, deliberately dowdy Minnie Driver and an Irish-accented Chris O’Donnell. The movie, based on Maeve Binchy’s novel of the same name, never really received much in the way of popular acclaim but critics found the romantic comedy darling. Not only did it bring about a new audience for the movie’s protagonists, but for Englishman Colin Firth, who found international acclaim shortly thereafter with his roles in the BBC miniseries “Pride & Prejudice” and Anthony Minghella’s epic love story, The English Patient.

Quotable: “You mustn’t mess me about. I know I may look like a rhinoceros, but I’ve got quite a thin skin really.”–Minnie Driver as Bernadette ‘Benny’ Hogan, who, in the film’s 100-plus minutes, deals greatly with, and attempts to overcome, issues of image and self-worth.