Stars of THE BRIDE! and Where You May Know Know Them From

The dead have something to say, but who’s saying it?

Discover the familiar faces in the bold, iconoclastic take on one of the world’s most compelling stories, with Maggie Gyllenhaal’s THE BRIDE!

Jessie Buckley (The Bride)

Leading lady of the moment, Jessie Buckley plays the titular character in THE BRIDE!, a murdered woman reborn due to Dr. Euphronius and Frank’s reincarnation of her.

Buckley has been making headlines for her role in Hamnet, released earlier this year, which is sweeping the 2026 awards season for Best Actress. Before this, the Irish actress has proven her exceptional range in multiple genres, from horror to comedy to musicals and even performance capture for a video game.

Buckley has worked with Maggie Gyllenhaal before, on the latter’s directorial debut The Lost Daughter (2021), starring as a young Leda (with the older version being played by Olivia Colman).

Christian Bale (Frank)

Bale plays Frank, a lonely creature looking for love. With the aid of Dr. Euphronius (Annette Bening), the pair create ‘The Bride’ (Buckley) and these outlaw lovers/partners in crime embark on a radical romance for the ages.

A legendary Batman actor, Bale is most known as the masked vigilante in Christopher Nolan’s critically acclaimed Dark Knight trilogy: Batman Begins (2007), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2010). The Dark Knight is Christian Bale’s highest rated film (9.1 IMDb), with The Prestige (2006) coming at second, with a score of 8.5.

An award-winning actor, Bale has accomplished an impressive portfolio of films from Empire of The Sun (1987) to Treasure Island (1990), and American Hustle (2013) to American Psycho (2000). He is widely credited for his dedication to his roles, and has accumulated 84 awards and 133 nominations for his acting so far.

Peter Sarsgaard (Det. Jake Wiles)

Peter Sarsgaard plays detective Jake Wiles in THE BRIDE!, alongside his colleague Myrna Mallow. Together the team must try to find Frank and The Bride, following the trail of clues the partners in crime unintentionally leave behind.

One for colourful titles, Sarsgaard has appeared in such films like Blue Jasmine (2013), Black Mass (2015) and 2011’s Green Lantern (as the villainous Hector Hammond). As well as the latter, Sarsgaard’s time within the DC Universe continued in 2022 with The Batman, starring as the corrupt District Attorney, Gil Colson.

Peter has previously collaborated with some of his fellow THE BRIDE! costars, including Penélope Cruz in the romantic drama The Elegy (2008), and with Jake Gyllenhaal in thriller series Presumed Innocent (2024).

Annette Bening (Dr. Euphronius)

Acting veteran Annette Bening has had a career in film and television spanning 40 years. Bening is widely recognised for her roles in ‘90s cult classics American Beauty (1999), Love Affair (1994) and Mars Attacks (1996).

More recently, much like her THE BRIDE! co-star Penélope Cruz, Bening has also starred in a Detective Poirot film, Death on the Nile (2022).

Annette Bening in THE BRIDE! plays the scientist Dr. Euphronius, who helps Frank gain a bride in reanimating a murdered woman.

Jake Gyllenhaal (Ronnie Reed)

Jake Gyllenhaal plays the Hollywood movie star Ronnie Reed in THE BRIDE!, someone who Frank idolises, even taking on a parasocial relationship with the Reed character to fill his century-long loneliness.

Jake Gyllenhaal is a master of thrillers, most known for his groundbreaking roles in the genre like Prisoners (2013), Zodiac (2007) and Rendition (2007). He’ll star in M. Night Shamylan’s Remain, heading to cinemas in 2027.

Penélope Cruz (Myrna Malloy)

Penélope Cruz is a renowned Spanish actress who started her career at 16 and went on to be nominated for multiple Academy Awards, even winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2008 for Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Cruz has also starred in the biopic Blow (2001) based on the life of American drug trafficker, George Jung, played by Johnny Depp. The pair went on to reunite a decade later for Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides (2011), and collaborated again in Murder on the Orient Express (2017).

For Sex and the City fans, viewers may have spotted the actress in Sex and the City 2 (2010) as Carmen Garcia Carron. Cruz reportedly took the cameo role due to her self-proclaimed status as a big fan of the show herself.

In THE BRIDE! Penélope Cruz plays aspiring detective Myrna Malloy, working on the case of Frank and his Bride alongside Detective Jake Wiles. However, in a culture of widespread sexism, Myrna must battle many obstacles along the way in order to become respected in a male-dominated field of work.

Maggie Gyllenhaal (Director)

Maggie Gyllenhaal is a renowned actor and filmmaker, most known for her roles in Secretary (2002), Donnie Darko (2001) and The Dark Knight (2008). THE BRIDE! is her second directorial project, based on Mary Shelley’s literary classic Frankenstein.

Jessie Buckley is not the only star of THE BRIDE! Maggie has worked with before. The director previously starred as Rachel Dawes, companion to Bruce Wayne, alongside Christian Bale in, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.

Maggie is no stranger to crime-filled dramas, having also produced and starred in HBO’s gritty crime drama, The Deuce (2017), playing self-made sex worker Eileen ‘Candy’ Merrell as well as portraying Valerie in Criminal (2004).

Other famous faces you might recognise…

Julianne Hough: American actress and dancer, known for Dancing with the Stars and Rock of Ages (2012).

Jeannie Berlin: American actress and screenwriter, in TV shows such as Succession (2018-2023) and The Night Of (2016).

Zlatko Buric: Croatian-Danish actor who you might have recently spotted in Superman (2025) as the corrupt President Vasil Ghurkos of Boravia.

If you want to see this glorious cast in action, see THE BRIDE! in cinemas now, find out more here.