Transatlantic is inspired by Julie Orringer's novel The Flight Portfolio, which tells the true story of the international gang of young heroes, Varian Fry, Mary Jayne Gold, Albert Hirschman and the Emergency rescue Committee (ERC), who risked their lives to rescue over 2000 refugees during World War II.
Set in Marseille in 1940, after the fall of Paris, Transatlantic follows the adventures of the ERC, who help writers, artists and other refugees escape Nazi-occupied France, despite the perilous dangers they face.
Occupying a villa at the edge of the city, the threat of mortal danger leads to unexpected collaborations and passionate love affairs.
Here is everything you need to know about the Transatlantic cast...
Transatlantic cast: who's who in the World War II period drama
Gillian Jacobs as Mary Jayne Gould
Gillian Jacobs plays Mary Jayne Gould, a rich heiress from Chicago who is funding the ERC using her trust fund. She understand peoples' assumptions about her and uses them to her advantage. She feels liberated in Europe and her work with the ERC gives her a sense of control and adventure that she lacked back at home.
Gillian is best known for her role as Britta Perry in the sitcom Community and has also starred in Girls, The Fear Street Trilogy and Love.
Cory Michael Smith as Varian Fry
Cory Michael Smith stars as Varian Fry, a Harvard-educated American journalist who is driven by his moral outrage to help others escape harm. He saw the Nazi violence first-hand as a foreign correspondent in 1930s Berlin and has been trying to raise awareness ever since. After spending his whole life hiding his true self, it has prepared him well for the covert activities of the ERC.
Cory is well known for playing The Riddler in the TV series Gotham and has had roles in 1985, Wonderstruck, Call Jane and Carol.
Lucas Englander as Albert Hirschmann
Lucas Englander is Albert Hirschmann, a German Jewish refugee who has been fleeing Nazi persecution since 1933 and has already been a freedom fighter all over Europe by the time he reaches Marseille in 1940. Underneath his adventurous bravado, he has a hidden belief that he will never be safe after spending a lifetime of running from violence.
Lucas has previously starred in The Witcher, Catherine the Great and Parlement.
Deleila Piasko as Lisa Fittko
Deleila Piasko portrays Lisa Fittko, the ERC's action hero. She's a fierce and unrelenting anti-fascist warrior who helps refugees escape on foot over the Pyrenees.
She is a child of the Austro-Hungarian Jewish intelligentsia and a Socialist, who believes that Jews and the other oppressed people of Europe must depend on themselves to save themselves. Despite her dominant attitude, she's introverted and struggles to open up to her colleagues. She also has many secrets.
Deleila is known for her roles in Hamilton, Boys Are Us, Stasikomödie and Sternenberg.
Ralph Amoussou as Paul Kandjo
Ralph Amoussou plays Paul Kandjo, a West African public intellectual and political radical who is hiding in plain sight by working as a concierge at the Hotel Splendide. A diligent mastermind behind closed doors, he secretly arranges armed resistance to Vichy and sees defeating the Nazis as the stepping stone to dismantling the colonies.
Ralph has appeared in a number of TV and film projects throughout his acting career, including the Netflix horror series MARIANNE, Man Like Mobeen, The Three Musketeers: Chapter I and II, The Love We Need and Missions.
Amit Rahav as Thomas Lovegrove
Amit Rahav is Thomas Lovegrove, a Kibbutz-born Zionist who was helping Jews escape to Palestine until Paris was destroyed. Along with many others, Thomas got stuck in Europe and fled to Marseille where he now works as a spy for Margaux at the British Special Operations Executive. He opens his house to the ERC and has an interest in Varian.
Amit is best known for playing Yanky Shapiro in the Netflix series Unorthodox and has also featured in Dig, Mishpacha Sholetet and Flashback.
Corey Stoll as Graham Patterson
Corey Stoll plays the role of Graham Patterson, an American Consul General in Marseilles who is the ERC's fiercest rival. As an ardent isolationist, he thinks Nazi victory is inevitable and follows the mandate of American neutrality, so will do whatever it take to ensure that his country won't be involved in another devastating war — even if that means sentencing millions of European refugees to death.
Corey earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role of Congressman Peter Russo in House of Cards and has a jam-packed acting resume, starring in The Strain, Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Midnight in Paris, Billions and West Side Story.
Alexa Karolinski as Hannah Arendt
Alexa Karolinski stars as Hannah Arendt, a German-American historian and political philosopher who was saved by the ERC. She is considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century.
Alexa is the creator of TV drama Unorthodox, with Transatlantic seemingly being her first acting job. She has also been a producer on Oma & Bella and El camino más largo.
Who else stars in Transatlantic?
Also starring in Transatlantic are...
- Grégory Montel as Philippe Frot
- Lolita Chammah as Mademoiselle Letoret
- Yoli Fuller as Souleymane Toure
- Nadiv Molcho as Bill Freier
- Jodhi May as Peggy Guggenheim
- Ronit Asheri as Bella Chagall
- Luke Thompson as Hiram 'Harry' Bingham
- Alexander Fehling as Max Ernst
- Moritz Bleibtreu as Walter Benjamin
- Henriette Confurius as Lena Fischmann
- Jonas Nay as Walter Mehring
Transatlantic is available to watch on Netflix now.
