Anna Gunn

Anna Gunn is a two-time Emmy Award-winner for her performance as ‘Skyler White’ on AMC’s Breaking Bad. Gunn also starred as ‘Martha Bullock’ on HBO’s Deadwood and ‘Detective Ellie Miller’ on FOX’s Gracepoint. Her film work includes Nobody’s Baby opposite Gary Oldman, Enemy of the State, Kevin Smith's Red State and the independent Sassy Pants. On stage, Gunn originated leading roles in Donald Margulies’ “Time Stands Still” and Alan Alda’s “Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie.” Her additional stage credits include “Sex with Strangers,” “The Rehearsal,” “Measure for Measure,” “Hysteria,” and “The Beggar’s Opera.” Gunn can next be seen in Clint Eastwood’s Sully, alongside Tom Hanks.

James Purefoy

James Purefoy’s career began with a decade of performing with the most prestigious theatre companies in England including the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. He has starred in a diverse range of dramas on both big and small screens, such as: A Knight’s Tale, Vanity Fair, Solomon Kane, The Philanthropist, Episodes and John Carter. He appeared as ‘Mark Antony’ in HBO’s series Rome and as ‘Joe Carroll’ in the hit U.S series The Following. Aside from Equity, this year he will also star in the Sundance TV series Hap and Leonard, Roots for the History Channel and in Ben Wheatley's High Rise.

Alysia Reiner

Alysia just finished filming season 4 of ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, won a SAG award for her role as “FIG,” the tough as nails assistant warden as part of the amazing ensemble cast, and can be seen in seasons 1, 2 and 3 now on NETFLIX. She just started filming season 1 of BETTER THINGS for F/X, brought to you by the inimitable Louie CK & Pamela Adlon. Additionally you can catch her as D.A. PARKS in Shonda Rhimes' breakout hit HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER, and Lilian Izikoff on ROSEWOOD, and Fiona in Michael Showalter's new series SEARCH PARTY as well.

Equity was Alysia's 7th independent feature as an actress shot in 2015, but the first in her life as actress and producer. Alysia loves working as a change maker for women, and has been invited to the WHITE HOUSE and UN to speak about women and entrepreneurship. Additionally she was just awarded the Sarah Powell Huntington Leadership Award by the Women’s Prison Association, was recognized as an INTELLIGENT OPTIMIST in Ode Magazine and profiled by New York Women in Film and Television as a woman to watch.

She lives in Harlem, with her husband (actor David Alan Basche, an actor and associate producer on the film) and daughter Livia Charles, who is named after her father Charles - who inspired her to produce this film.

Sarah Megan Thomas

Sarah Megan Thomas has made a name for herself in the entertainment industry as one of the brightest and most determined in all fields. As an actress, producer, and writer, she has a mission to tell stories about strong and complex women.

Sarah co-founded the company Broad Street Pictures in 2015 alongside Alysia Reiner with EQUITY as their inaugural project. The company is dedicated to telling stories from more perspectives than have reached the screen thus far. Speaking to Sarah’s major understanding of the industry, Broad Street has an impressive list of creative partners including Bloomberg, Geena Davis, New York Women in Film and Television, and The Creative Coalition.

Sarah also starred opposite James Van Der Beek in Ben Hickernell’s BACKWARDS, a drama about romance in the competitive world of professional rowing. She wrote and produced BACKWARDS.

A graduate of Williams College, Sarah then trained at both RADA and Drama Studio London. On stage, Sarah has starred in various off-Broadway productions including the whimsical gender-bending Love’s Labour’s Lost (The New York Times review: "Once you hear Berowne(a)’s (Sarah Megan Thomas') immortal cry of longing ‘Oh my little heart!’ spoken by a woman, you may wonder why Shakespeare didn’t think of that"), and the New York premiere production of Summit Conference. Summit Conference was extended twice due to popular demand.

Sarah is an advocate for charitable causes, most notably Minding Your Mind, a charity that educates children in school about mental health problems to relieve the stigma. She’s an accomplished athlete in her personal life, enjoying nearly all sports from basketball to pilates, and she has even climbed to the top of Mt. Rainer in Washington.

Sarah currently resides in downtown New York City with her husband and her son.

David Alan Basche

David just finished 4 seasons (yeah, four!) of the hit sitcom "The Exes" on TV Land, starring with Wayne Night and Donald Faison. Recently you’ve also seen him on shows like “Elementary,” “Chicago PD,” “Blindspot” and coming this Summer is the Wall Street movie "EQUITY," which he also helped produce.

And while David's been a series regular on many TV comedies and dramas (like The Starter Wife, Lipstick Jungle, Three Sisters, Oh Grow Up, and more) he's also worked in film for Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Paul Greengrass, Shawn Levy, Robert Zemeckis, Michael Patrick King, George Nolfi and more. He's flirted with Julia Roberts, stolen Tom Cruise's wife, berated Brooke Shields, married (and divorced) Debra Messing, chased Matt Damon all over New York, yelled at some boxing robots with Hugh Jackman, and snubbed Sarah Jessica and Mr. Big.

Yes yes yes he loves the theater, too! On stage, two of his most notable performances were starring in the Naked Angels production of the Drama Desk Nominated play “SnakeBit,” and performing for over a year with Eli Wallach in the original New York production of the two character play “Visiting Mr. Green.” Regional appearances include Williamstown, Hartford Stage, New Jersey Shakespeare, Rhode Island Playwright’s Theatre, Iowa Shakespeare, Hartford Theatre Works, the Yale School of Drama Cabaret, the Boston Majestic Theatre, and the White River Theatre Festival.

David is also an outspoken environmentalist, and has been featured on TV's "World's Greenest Homes" and "Renovation Nation," as well as in various magazines like Dwell, Gotham, and The Nest. He's involved with many charities including The Cancer Support Community, SAY: Stuttering Association for the Young, Actors for Autism, and Cycle For Survival. And he is a proud EMERSON COLLEGE graduate.

Nate Corddry

Nate Corddry’s first television job was as a correspondent on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” Following that, he was cast as a series regular on “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" for Aaron Sorkin. Recent television credits include Comedy Bang Bang, the Adult Swim comedy, The Hindenburg Explodes, a starring role in the Chuck Lorre, comedy series, "Mom" opposite Anna Farris and Allison Janney, the David E. Kelley series “Harry’s Law" opposite Kathy Bates and Nate voiced a series lead role in the Disney XD animated television series “Tron: Uprising.” Corddry’s film credits include "The Circle" with Tom Hanks and Emma Watson, "Ghostbusters" directed by Paul Feig, "Equity" opposite Anna Gunn that premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, "St. Vincent" with Bill Murray, “The Heat” with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, “Girl Most Likely,” with Kristin Wiig, "Katie Says Goodbye" “The Invention of Lying,” “Yogi Bear” and “6 Souls" opposite Julianne Moore. Corddry is the creator and host of "Reading Aloud", a #1 on iTunes podcast that presents live renditions of contemporary literature. Nate has performed on stage for several seasons with the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. He hails from Weymouth, Mass and currently resides in Los Angeles.

Samuel Roukin

Samuel Roukin’s background in British theater includes roles in Trevor Nunn’s Hamlet at The Old Vic; Bijan Sheibani’s The Kitchen at the National Theatre; and Sir Nicholas Hytner’s His Dark Materials and Henry IV Parts 1 & 2. Roukin also spent a season at The Royal Shakespeare Company in the lead role of Pip in Declan Donnellan’s adaptation of Great Expectations. Most recently on Broadway, Roukin played Valvert in The Roundabout Theatre’s production of Cyrano de Bergerac.

Roukin can currently be seen on AMC's Turn as the villainous "Captain John Simcoe" and he will recur on the next season of Salem. His television credits include guest star and recurring roles on multiple series, including Housewife, 49, Appropriate Adult, and Richard II, produced by Sam Mendes. Roukin’s film debut was in the Oscar®-nominated film Happy-Go-Lucky, directed by Mike Leigh. Other films include Jane Campion’s Bright Star and David Yates’ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Roukin is a native of Southport, England, was trained at The University of Hull, and earned a distinction from Bristol Old Vic.

Lee Tergesen

Lee Tergesen is perhaps best known as ‘Tobias Beecher’ from the HBO prison series OZ, a role he played for six seasons; he also worked with HBO on the award-winning miniseries GENERATION KILL and BURY MY HEART ON WOUNDED KNEE. Other notable credits include television appearances on HOUSE, NCIS: NEW ORLEANS, PERSON OF INTEREST, CRIMINAL MINDS, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, and THE BIG C, among many others. Most recently, Lee has been recurring on hit shows such as THE AMERICANS, AMERICAN HORROR STORY: FREAK SHOW, and THE STRAIN. Select film credits include MONSTER (opposite Charlize Theron), THE FORGOTTEN (with Julianne Moore), WAYNE’S WORLD, SHAFT, POINT BREAK, and RED TAILS.

Equity and the Real World of Wall Street

EQUITY is fiction, but its story is firmly grounded in reality. From background research to factchecking, networking, mentoring, and, most critically, funding, the production benefited from support and investment from real-life finance professionals—mostly women, but also a few key men. These Wall Street and business veterans enriched the EQUITY story with decades of experience and perspective reaching from the early days of women in executive positions to the post-financial crisis era of heightened scrutiny and regulations. The EQUITY concept and script resonated with these advisors and investors who wanted to contribute to bringing the film to life.

Producers Alysia Reiner and Sarah Megan Thomas liken their quest for support from the financial community to the ‘roadshow’ undertaken by start-up companies in search of capital and buzz. Sarah Megan Thomas wrote an initial round of cold-call letters to senior executives on Wall Street - one yielded a positive response from a prominent male business leader at a major bank (who chooses to remain anonymous). This executive supports women in finance, and after meeting Sarah and hearing about the film, he made introductions, and doors began to open (it was much further down the networking line that investors began to commit actual funds).

Executive Producer Candy Straight emerged as lead investor and recruiter, helping the producers create the kind of formal business plan that proved compelling to potential investors. Months of networking, ‘meet and greet’ parties, ‘sizzle reel’ screenings, and close scrutiny (not only by potential investors but also by some of their firms’ Compliance departments) yielded the support the producers needed to take EQUITY into production.

The following statistics illustrate some of the inequities women in the financial services industry still face—while the capsule bios of investors portray the real-life professionals who have forged successful careers within that world.

Women in Financial Services: Fact Sheet

Women are underrepresented and undercompensated on Wall Street, in the U.S. banking and finance industry, and across the executive suites of corporate America:

Wall Street: Percentage of women at the 22 largest U.S. Investment Banks/Financial firms:
CEOs: 0% (there has never been a female CEO at these 22 firms)
Executive Level Officials: 16.6%
First/Mid-Level Officials: 30.9%

Standard and Poor’s 500: Percentage of women at the 89 firms in Finance:
CEOs: 2.1%
Executive Level Officials: 29.3%
First/Mid-Level Managers: 46.1%

Corporate America: Percentage of women at Standard and Poor’s 500 (all firms):
CEOs: 4.0%
Executive Level Officials: 25.1%
First/Mid-Level Managers: 36.8%

[source: Catalyst: http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-ceos-sp-500]

Women in financial services face disparities based on gender in:

Income: According to a 2015 Bloomberg Businessweek survey that tracked M.B.A. graduates from 2007 to 2009, the women earned, six to eight years later, on average 20 percent less thanthe guy who sat next to them in class; even more tellingly, female graduates of Columbia’s business school, a significant proportion of whom land on Wall Street, earned nearly 40 percent less.
[source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-20/the-real-cost-of-an-mba-isdifferent- for-men-and-women]

Advancement Opportunity: According to a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) data analysis, it is less than half as likely for a woman in financial services to progress from a middle to a senior level position as it is for a man.
[source: Oliver Wyman, Women in Financial Services, p. 8, Exhibit 4, http://www.oliverwyman.com/insights/publications/2014/dec/women-in-financialservices. html#.VwulexMrKCQ]

Leadership: While no female executive has ever served as CEO of the 22 largest U.S. banks and investment firms, women have been close to the top of Wall Street firms before, only to get derailed. Some examples are: Zoe Cruz (president of Morgan Stanley) and Sallie Krawcheck (head of Citigroup Global Wealth Management).
[source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-26/one-of-these-women-may-winthe- struggle-to-run-wall-street-firm]

Family Pay Penalty: Parenthood and marriage also impose a pay penalty on women while they award a bonus to men. In the United States, unmarried women earn 96 cents to an unmarried man’s dollar, but married women with at least one child earn 76 cents to the married father’s dollar.
[source: United Nations, Progress of the World's Women 2015-2016, p. 98, http://progress.unwomen.org/en/2015/]