is one of the greatest actors of our time — a man who, in the course of a 50-year career, has appeared in dozens of movies and played an unbelievable range of characters: from an 18th-century womanizing viscount, to an ex-CIA assassin, to a French couturier, to Harvey Weinstein.

He turns himself so convincingly into each character that many viewers assume John is those characters in real life. His eclectic range of screen and stage portrayals has lent him such an aura of mystery and unknowability that a cult movie in 1999 imagined what it was like Being John Malkovich. John is also a director of plays and movies, a producer, a fashion designer, a writer, a painter, a winemaker, a restaurant and nightclub owner, and so much else besides.

But in real life, he is, above all, a human being. He has lived through the gamut of experiences and emotions, joys and sorrows that all of us human beings live through from the moment of our birth. Those experiences and emotions, joys and sorrows have given him the depth, empathy, and rich inner life required to impersonate a multiplicity of characters with such prowess. They have also given him knowledge and wisdom about human existence and the human condition that he is eager to share with you as part of HelloGenius — and which will help set you on your own path to self-realization.

Farah is a journalist, author, and broadcaster shaping conversations on the arts, society, and politics.

As a contributing writer for The New York Times, she covers art, film, music, and ideas. She is also the author of Takedown: Art and Power in the Digital Age — on the overlap of contemporary art and politics.

Beyond journalism and books, she curates and moderates high-profile discussions for The New York Times and for institutions around the world. She is also the host of the CultureBlast podcast.

Previously, she was an arts correspondent of Bloomberg and a contributing writer for The Wall Street Journal and Time Magazine.