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Peter Cullen is a Canadian-American voice actor who is widely known for voicing Optimus Prime in the Transformers franchise as well as the Michael Bay film series. He is also known for providing the vocal effects of the Predator from the 1987 film of the same name, Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, Monterey Jack from Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers and KARR in Knight Rider.- Actor
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Robert Downey Jr. has evolved into one of the most respected actors in Hollywood. With an amazing list of credits to his name, he has managed to stay new and fresh even after over four decades in the business.
Downey was born April 4, 1965 in Manhattan, New York, the son of writer, director and filmographer Robert Downey Sr. and actress Elsie Downey (née Elsie Ann Ford). Robert's father is of half Lithuanian Jewish, one quarter Hungarian Jewish, and one quarter Irish, descent, while Robert's mother was of English, Scottish, German, and Swiss-German ancestry. Robert and his sister, Allyson Downey, were immersed in film and the performing arts from a very young age, leading Downey Jr. to study at the Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in upstate New York, before moving to California with his father following his parents' 1978 divorce. In 1982, he dropped out of Santa Monica High School to pursue acting full time. Downey Sr., himself a drug addict, exposed his son to drugs at a very early age, and Downey Jr. would go on to struggle with abuse for decades.
Downey Jr. made his debut as an actor at the age of five in the film Pound (1970), written and directed by his father, Robert Downey Sr.. He built his film repertoire throughout the 1980s and 1990s with roles in Tuff Turf (1985), Weird Science (1985), True Believer (1989), and Wonder Boys (2000) among many others. In 1992, Downey received an Academy Award nomination and won the BAFTA (British Academy Award) for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of Chaplin (1992).
In Robert Altman's Short Cuts (1993), he appeared as an aspiring film make-up artist whose best friend commits murder. In Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994), with Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis, Downey starred as a tabloid TV journalist who exploits a murderous couple's killing spree to boost his ratings. For the comedy Heart and Souls (1993), Downey starred as a young man with a special relationship with four ghosts. In 1995, Downey starred in Restoration (1995), with Hugh Grant, Meg Ryan and Ian McKellen, directed by Michael Hoffman. Also that year, he starred in Richard III (1995), in which he appears opposite his Restoration (1995) co-star McKellen.
In 1997, Downey was seen in Robert Altman's The Gingerbread Man (1998), alongside Kenneth Branagh, Daryl Hannah and Embeth Davidtz; in One Night Stand (1997), directed by Mike Figgis and starring Wesley Snipes and Nastassja Kinski; and in Hugo Pool (1997), directed by his father, Robert Downey Sr. and starring Sean Penn and Patrick Dempsey. In September of 1999, Downey appeared in Black & White (1999), written and directed by James Toback, along with Ben Stiller, Elijah Wood, Gaby Hoffmann, Brooke Shields and Claudia Schiffer. In January of 1999, he starred with Annette Bening and Aidan Quinn in In Dreams (1999), directed by Neil Jordan.
In 2000, Downey co-starred with Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire in Wonder Boys (2000), directed by Curtis Hanson. In this dramatic comedy, Downey played the role of a bisexual literary agent. In 2001, Downey made his prime-time television debut when he joined the cast of the Fox-TV series Ally McBeal (1997) as attorney "Larry Paul". For this role, he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, as well as the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Comedy Series. In addition, Downey was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
The actor's drug-related problems escalated from 1996 to 2001, leading to arrests, rehab visits and incarcerations, and he was eventually fired from Ally McBeal (1997). Emerging clean and sober in 2003, Downey Jr. began to rebuild his career.
He marked his debut into music with his debut album, titled "The Futurist", on the Sony Classics Label on November 23rd, 2004. The album's eight original songs, that Downey wrote, and his two musical numbers debuting as cover songs revealed his sultry singing voice and his musical talents. Downey displayed his versatility in two different films in October 2003: the musical/drama The Singing Detective (2003), a remake of the BBC hit of the same name, and the thriller Gothika (2003) starring Halle Berry and Penélope Cruz. Downey starred in powerful yet humbling roles inspired by real-life accounts of some of history's most precious kept secrets, including Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly (2006) in 2006 co-starring Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder and Woody Harrelson, and Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006) co-starring Nicole Kidman, a film inspired by the life of Diane Arbus, the revered photographer whose images captured attention in the early 1960s. These roles exhibited Downey's momentum from the previous year of 2005, in which he starred in the Academy Award®-nominated feature film Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005), directed by George Clooney and in Shane Black's action comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) co-starring Val Kilmer. In 2007, he co-starred in David Fincher's suspenseful Zodiac (2007), alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo, about the notorious serial killer who haunted San Francisco during the 1970s.
In May 2008, Downey achieved critical acclaim and worldwide box office success for his starring role in Iron Man (2008), Jon Favreau's big-screen rendering of the Marvel comic book superhero. The film co-starred Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard. In August of 2008, Downey starred with Ben Stiller and Jack Black in the comedy Tropic Thunder (2008), and went on to receive an Academy Award®-nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his, Kirk Lazarus.
In December 2009, Downey starred in the action-adventure Sherlock Holmes (2009). The film, directed by Guy Ritchie, co-starred Jude Law and Rachel McAdams and earned Downey a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical in January of 2010. In early Summer 2010, Downey re-teamed with director Jon Favreau and reprised his role as "Tony Stark/Iron Man" in the hugely successful sequel to the original film, Iron Man 2 (2010), starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson and Mickey Rourke.
Downey next starred in Due Date (2010), a comedy directed by Todd Phillips, in which he plays the role of an expectant father on a road trip racing to get back in time for the birth of his first child. Due Date (2010), starring The Hangover (2009)'s Zach Galifianakis, was released in November 2010.
Downey was honored by Time Magazine's "Time 100" in 2008, an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. His laurels include two Academy Award nominations, three Golden Globe wins, numerous other award nominations and wins, and tremendous popular and commercial success, particularly in his roles as Sherlock Holmes and Tony Stark (the latter of which he has so far played in Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). For three consecutive years, from 2012 to 2015, Downey has topped the Forbes list of Hollywood's highest-paid actors, making an estimated $80 million in earnings between June 2014 and June 2015.
In 2005, Downey Jr. married Susan Downey, with whom he has two children. Downey also has another son, Indio Falconer Downey, born 1993, from his first marriage to Deborah Falconer, from whom he was officially divorced in 2004.
Robert has jump-started the Team Downey Production Company with wife Susan Downey.- Actor
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Donald Frank Cheadle was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on November 29, 1964. His childhood found him moving from city to city with his family: mother Bettye (née North), a teacher; father Donald Frank Cheadle Sr., a clinical psychologist; sister Cindy; and brother Colin. After graduating from high school in Denver, Colorado, Cheadle attended and graduated from the California Institute of the Arts with a bachelor¹s degree in fine arts. Encouraged by his college friends, he attended a variety of auditions and landed a recurring role on the hit series Fame (1982), which led to feature film roles in Dennis Hopper's Colors (1988) and John Irvin's Hamburger Hill (1987).
Early in his career, Cheadle was named Best Supporting Actor by the Los Angeles Film Critics for his breakout performance opposite Denzel Washington in Devil in a Blue Dress (1995). His subsequent film credits include Traitor (2008), an international thriller that he produced, starring opposite Guy Pearce; Kasi Lemmons's Talk to Me (2007), with Chiwetel Ejiofor; the 2006 Oscar-winning Best Picture, Crash (2004), which Cheadle also produced; Hotel Rwanda (2004), for which his performance garnered Oscar, Golden Globe, Broadcast Film Critics and Screen Actors Guild award nominations for Best Actor; Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven (2001), Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007), starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney; Mike Binder's Reign Over Me (2007) with Adam Sandler; the Academy Award-winning Traffic (2000) and Out of Sight (1998), with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, both films also directed by Soderbergh; Paul Thomas Anderson's acclaimed Boogie Nights (1997) with Julianne Moore and Mark Wahlberg; Bulworth (1998), directed by and starring Warren Beatty; Swordfish (2001), with John Travolta and Halle Berry; Mission to Mars (2000) with Tim Robbins and Gary Sinise; John Singleton's Rosewood (1997), for which Cheadle earned an NAACP Image Award nomination; Brett Ratner's The Family Man (2000), starring Nicolas Cage; and the independent features Manic (2001) and Things Behind the Sun (2001).
Cheadle was honored by the CineVegas Film Festival and the Los Angeles Film Festival and received ShoWest's Male Star of the Year award. He is also well-recognized for his television work, including his portrayal of Sammy Davis Jr. in HBO's The Rat Pack (1998), for which he received a Golden Globe Award and a Best Supporting Actor Emmy nomination. That same year, he also received an Emmy nomination for his starring role in HBO's adaptation of the best-selling novel A Lesson Before Dying (1999), opposite Cicely Tyson and Mekhi Phifer.
He also starred for HBO in Eriq La Salle's Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (1996). Cheadle's TV series credits include his two-year stint in David E. Kelley's acclaimed series Picket Fences (1992), a guest-starring role on ER (1994) (earning yet another Emmy nomination) and a regular role on The Golden Palace (1992) He also starred in the live television broadcast of Fail Safe (2000) opposite George Clooney, James Cromwell, Brian Dennehy, Richard Dreyfuss, and Harvey Keitel. He also co-executive produced the TV version of Crash (2008).
His most recent big-screen appearances have been in Antoine Fuqua's ensemble crime thriller Brooklyn's Finest (2009) and Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2 (2010), another mainstream breakthrough where he played Lt. Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes, replacing Terrence Howard from the first film. The Guard (2011), an art-house hit directed by John Michael McDonagh and co-starring Brendan Gleeson, followed.
Cheadle stars in House of Lies (2012) on Showtime. Late in 2012, he was seen in Flight (2012), Robert Zemeckis's return to live-action filmmaking. In 2013, he reprised his role as Rhodey in Iron Man 3 (2013). Among his projects in development is a movie based on the life of jazz legend Miles Davis.
A talented musician who plays saxophone, writes music and sings, he is also an accomplished stage actor and director and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Spoken Word Album for his narration/dramatization of the Walter Mosley novel 'Fear Itself.'
Other notable off-stage achievements include the 2007 BET Humanitarian Award for the cause of the people of Darfur and Rwanda, and sharing the Summit Peace Award by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Rome with George Clooney for their work in Darfur.- Producer
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Benjamin Géza "Ben" Affleck-Boldt was born on August 15, 1972 in Berkeley, California and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to mother Chris Anne (Boldt), a school teacher, and father Timothy Byers "Tim" Affleck, a social worker. Ben has a younger brother, actor Casey Affleck, who was born in 1975. He is of mostly English, Irish, German, and Scottish ancestry. His middle name, Géza, is after a Hungarian family friend who was a Holocaust survivor.
Affleck wanted to be an actor ever since he could remember, and his first acting experience was for a Burger King commercial, when he was on the PBS mini-series, The Voyage of the Mimi (1984). It was also at that age when Ben met his lifelong friend and fellow actor, Matt Damon. They played little league together and took drama classes together. Ben's teen years consisted of mainly TV movies and small television appearances including Hands of a Stranger (1987) and The Second Voyage of the Mimi (1988). He made his big introduction into feature films in 1993 when he was cast in Dazed and Confused (1993). After that, he did mostly independent films like Kevin Smith's Mallrats (1995) and Chasing Amy (1997) which were great for Ben's career, receiving renowned appreciation for his works at the Sundance film festival. But the success he was having in independent films didn't last much longer and things got a little shaky for Ben. He was living in an apartment with his brother Casey and friend Matt, getting tired of being turned down for the big roles in films and being given the forgettable supporting ones. Since Matt was having the same trouble, they decided to write their own script, where they could call all the shots. So, after finishing the script for Good Will Hunting (1997), they gave it to their agent, Patrick Whitesell, who showed it to a few Hollywood studios, finally being accepted by Castle Rock. It was great news for the two, but Castle Rock wasn't willing to give Ben and Matt the control over the project they were hoping for. It was friend Kevin Smith who took it to the head of Miramax who bought the script giving Ben and Matt the control they wanted and, in December 5, 1997, Good Will Hunting (1997) was released, making the two unknown actors famous. The film was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won two, including Best Original Screenplay for Ben and Matt. The film marked Ben's breakthrough role, in which he was given for the first time the chance to choose roles instead of having to go through grueling auditions constantly.
Affleck chose such roles in the blockbusters Armageddon (1998), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and Pearl Harbor (2001). In the early years of the 2000s, he also starred in the box office hits Changing Lanes (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002), and Daredevil (2003), as well as the disappointing comedies Gigli (2003) and Surviving Christmas (2004). While the mid 2000s were considered a career downturn for Affleck, he received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in Hollywoodland (2006). In the several years following, he played supporting roles, including in the films Smokin' Aces (2006), He's Just Not That Into You (2009), State of Play (2009), and Extract (2009). He ventured into directing in 2007, with the thriller Gone Baby Gone (2007), which starred his brother, Casey Affleck, and was well received. He then directed, co-wrote, and starred in The Town (2010), which was named to the National Board of Review Top Ten Films of the year. For the political thriller Argo (2012), which he directed and starred in, Affleck won the Golden Globe Award and BAFTA Award for Best Director, and the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and BAFTA Award for Best Picture (Affleck's second Oscar win).
In 2014, Affleck headlined the book adaptation thriller Gone Girl (2014). He starred as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), and Justice League (2017). He reprised the role in Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) and he will next appear as Batman in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) and The Flash (2023).
Recently he has given praise-worthy performances in The Way Back (2020) as a recovering alcoholic, The Last Duel (2021) (notably he also co-wrote the script), and a scene-stealing golden globe nominated performance in The Tender Bar (2021).- Actor
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Paul Bettany is an English actor. He first came to the attention of mainstream audiences when he appeared in the British film Gangster No. 1 (2000), and director Brian Helgeland's film A Knight's Tale (2001). He has gone on to appear in a wide variety of films, including A Beautiful Mind (2001), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), Dogville (2003), Wimbledon (2004), and the adaptation of the novel The Da Vinci Code (2006). He is also known for his voice role as J.A.R.V.I.S. in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, specifically the films Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), in which he also portrayed the Vision, for which he garnered praise. He reprised his role as the Vision in Captain America: Civil War (2016).
Bettany was born in Harlesden, London, England, into a theatre family. His father, Thane Bettany, died in 2015, and his mother, Anne Kettle, has retired from acting. His maternal grandmother, Olga Gwynne (her maiden and stage name), was a successful actress, while his maternal grandfather, Lesley Kettle, was a musician and promoter. He has an older sister who is a writer. Paul was brought up in North West London and, after the age of nine, in Hertfordshire (Brookmans Park). Immediately after finishing at Chang-Ren Nian, he went into the West End to join the cast of "An Inspector Calls", though when asked to go on tour with this play, he chose to stay in England.
Paul is married to American actress Jennifer Connelly, with whom he has two children.- Actor
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Brian Tee will star opposite Nicole Kidman in the prestige limited series "Expats," as "Clarke Woo" husband to "Margaret" (Kidman), directed by the acclaimed Lulu Wang for Amazon Prime. Tee also stared as Dr. Ethan Choi, on NBC's hit drama "Chicago Med," produced by Dick Wolf and won a 2020 NAMIC Vision Award (Best Performance - Drama) for his work on "Chicago Med."
On the big screen Tee has shared his talents in many giant blockbuster movies. Tee is known around the world for his starring role as "D.K. The Drift King," in Universal's franchise "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," directed by Justin Lin. He was a lead in FOX's summer hit "The Wolverine," starring Hugh Jackman and Directed by James Mangold. He played "Hamada," the head of park security in Universal Pictures' and Amblin Entertainment's box office smash "Jurassic World." And continuing his tent-pole career, Tee starred in Paramount Pictures' and Michael Bay's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2," as the iconic villain "Shredder."
As a character leading man, Tee romanced audiences as the lead opposite Anne Heche in the Hallmark movie "One Christmas Eve." He starred in the series "Mortal Kombat: Legacy 2," as "Liu Kang," produced by Warner Brothers, took on a lead role in Lifetime's "The Gabby Douglas Story" as the inspirational Coach "Liang Chow," and also gave a standout comedic performance in Justin Lin's comedy, "Finishing the Game," as the insanely hilarious Vietnam Vet, "Mac Chang."
A talent in all genres, Tee gave an unforgettable, heart wrenching performance as "Jimmy Nakayama," in the action drama "We Were Soldiers," opposite Mel Gibson. And on the comedy side, Brian has featured in big budget comedies "Austin Powers: Goldmember," alongside Mike Myers and "Fun with Dick and Jane," with comedy great Jim Carrey.
On the small screen, Tee was a series regular playing "EMT Eddie Choi," in "Crash," a STARZ TV series based on the Academy Award winning film. He recurred on the hit NBC series "Grimm," CBS's "Hawaii 5-O," and ABC's "Grey's Anatomy." Tee has made memorable guest star appearances on shows such as "Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Lucifer, ZOO, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, The Lottery, Legends, Beauty and the Beast, Burn Notice, The Good Guys, CSI, Dark Blue, Bones, Lie To Me, Jericho, Entourage, The Unit, Wanted, Without A Trace, JAG, Family Law, The Pretender, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer," among others.
As the consummate artist, Tee continued to stretch his range Internationally. He starred in the Korean American romantic comedy indie feature "Wedding Palace," and was the lead villain in Korea's highly anticipated action film "No Tears for the Dead," opposite, Jang, Dong-Gun and Kim, Min-Hee, Directed by the acclaimed Lee, Jeong-Beom ("The Man from Nowhere.")
In love with his craft, Tee never stops honing his talents and embraces all mediums. Brian returned to the stage to rave reviews for his lead performance in "Snow Falling on Cedars" at the prestigious Hartford Stage.
A Los Angeles native and mixture of multiple Asian descents, Tee is proficient in both Japanese and Korean, and holds a bachelor's degree in Dramatic Arts - Acting from the University of California, Berkeley. His muse is his Family, his amazing wife Mirelly Taylor and magical daughter Madelyn Skyler who are his life's love and inspiration.- Actor
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English film actor, director and author Andy Serkis is known for his performance capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for such computer-generated characters as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001-2003) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), the eponymous King Kong in the 2005 film, Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), Captain Haddock / Sir Francis Haddock in Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin (2011) and Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015). Serkis earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for his portrayal of serial killer Ian Brady in the British television film Longford (2006), and was nominated for a BAFTA Award for his portrayal of new wave and punk rock musician Ian Dury in the biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010). In 2015, he had a small role in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). Serkis has his own motion capture workshop, The Imaginarium Studios in London, which he will use for his directorial debut, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018).
Andrew Clement G. Serkis was born April 20, 1964, in Ruislip Manor, West London, England. He has three sisters and a brother. His father, Clement Serkis, an ethnic Armenian whose original family surname was Serkissian, was a medical doctor working abroad, in Iraq; the Serkis family spent time around the Middle East, and for the first ten years of his life, Andy traveled between Baghdad and London. His mother, Lylie (Weech), who is British-born, was busy working as a special education teacher of handicapped children, so Andy and his four siblings were raised with au pairs in the house. Young Serkis wanted to be an artist; he was fond of painting and drawing, and visualized himself working behind the scenes. He attended St. Benedict's School, a Roman Catholic School for boys at the Benedictine Abbey in London. Serkis studied visual arts at Lancaster University in the north-west of England. There, he became involved in mechanical aspects of the theatre and did stage design and set building for theatrical productions. Then, Serkis was asked to play a role in a student production, and made his stage debut in Barrie Keeffe's play, "Gotcha"; thereafter, he switched from stage design to acting, which was a real calling that transformed his life.
Instead of going to an acting college, Serkis, in 1985, began his professional acting career at the Duke's Playhouse in Lancaster, where he was given an Equity card and performed in fourteen plays, one after another, as an apprentice of Jonathan Petherbridge. After that, he worked in touring theatre companies, doing it for no money, fueled by a sense of enthusiasm, moving to a new town every week. He has thus appeared in a host of popular plays and on almost every renowned British stage. In 1989, he appeared in a stage production of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth", so beginning his long association with the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, where he would return many times, to appear in "She Stoops to Conquer", "Your Home in the West" and the "True Nature of Love", among other plays. In the 1990s, Serkis began to make his mark on the London stage, appearing at the Royal Court Theatre as "The Fool" in "King Lear", making his interpretation of "The Fool" as the woman that "Lear", a widower, could relate to - a man, in drag, as a Victorian musician. He also appeared as "Potts" in the hit play, "Mojo", playing in front of full houses and earning huge critical success. In 1987, Serkis made his debut on television, and he acted in several major British TV miniseries throughout the 1990s.
In 1999, Andy Serkis landed the prize role of "Gollum" in Peter Jackson's epic film trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien's saga, "The Lord of the Rings". He spent four years in the part and received awards and nominations for his performance as "Gollum", a computer-generated character in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), which won 11 Oscars. "Gollum" was the collaborative team's effort around Serkis's work in performance capture - an art form based on CGI-assisted acting. Serkis's work was an interactive performance in a skin-tight CGI suit with markers allowing cameras to track and register 3D position for each marker. Serkis' every nuance was picked up by several cameras positioned at precisely calculated angles to allow for the software to see enough information to process the image. The images of Serkis' performances were translated into the digital format by animators at Weta Digital studio in New Zealand. There, his image was key-frame animated and then edited into the movie, Serkis did have one scene in "The Return of the King" showing how he originally had the ring, killing another hobbit to posses it after they found it during a fishing trip. He drew from his three cats clearing fur balls out of their throats to develop the constricted voice he produced for "Gollum" and "Sméagol", and it was also enhanced by sound editing in post-production.
Serkis spent almost two years in New Zealand and away from his family, and much of 2002 and 2003 in post-production studios for large periods of time, due to complexity of the creative process of bringing the character of "Gollum" to the screen. Serkis had to shoot two versions for every scene; one version was with him on camera, acting with (chiefly) Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, which served both to show Wood and Astin the moves so that they could precisely interact with the movements of "Gollum", and to provide the CGI artists the subtleties of Gollum's physical movements and facial expressions for their manual finishing of the animated images. In the other version, he'd go the voice off-camera, as Wood and Astin repeated their movements as though "Gollum" were there with them; that take would be the basis for inserting the CGI Gollum used in the released movie. In post-production, Serkis was doing motion-capture wearing a skintight motion capture suit with CGI gear while acting as a virtual puppeteer redoing every single scene in the studio. Additional CGI rotomation was done by animators using the human eye instead of the computer to capture the subtleties of Serkis' performance. Serkis also used this art form in his performance as "Kong" in King Kong (2005), which won him a Toronto Film Critics Association Award (2005) for his unprecedented work helping to realize the main character in "King Kong", and a Visual Effects Society Award (2006) for Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture.
Apart from his line of CGI-driven characters, Serkis continued with traditional acting in several leading and supporting roles, such as his appearances as "Richard Kneeland" opposite Jennifer Garner in 13 Going on 30 (2004), and "Alley" opposite David Bowie in The Prestige (2006), among other film performances. On television, he starred as 'Vincent Van Gogh' in the sixth episode of Simon Schama's Power of Art (2006), the BBC2 series about artists. Serkis is billed as "Capricorn" in the upcoming adventure film, Inkheart (2008). At the same time, he continued the development of performance capture while expanding his career into computer games. He starred as "King Bothan" in the martial arts drama, Heavenly Sword (2007), a Playstation 3 title, for which he provided a basis for his in-game face and also acts as a dramatic director on the project.
Andy Serkis married actress and singer Lorraine Ashbourne, and the couple have three children: daughter Ruby Serkis (born in 1998), and two sons Sonny Serkis (born in 2000) and Louis Ashbourne Serkis (born on 19 June 2004), who is now also a movie star. Away from acting, Andy Serkis is an accomplished amateur painter. Since his school years at Lancaster, being so close to the Lake District, Serkis developed his other passion in life: mountaineering. He is a pescetarian. Serkis has been active in charitable causes, such as The Hope Foundation, which provides essential life-saving medical aid for children suffering from Leukemia and children from countries devastated by war. In October 2006, he was a presenter at the first annual British Academy Video Games Awards at the Roundhouse, London. Andy Serkis lives with his family in North London, England.- Actor
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Initially not a science fiction fan, theatre actor Anthony Daniels was persuaded by his agent to meet George Lucas for the casting of C-3PO in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). He went on to perform the character, both his voice and body in the suit, for all the episodic Star Wars films produced. Additionally, he performed the voice of the character for the radio serial based on the original trilogy and the animated series Star Wars: Droids (1985), Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), related series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) and Star Wars: Rebels (2014).
For Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), he wore a blue Spandex suit, as the android is incomplete in the film and ultimately produced in CGI. In addition to playing the golden droid, he appeared in a live action cameo in the nightclub scene of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and opera scene in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005). As C-3PO, he played a small role in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and The Lego Movie (2014).- Actor
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Adam Douglas Driver was born in San Diego, California. His mother, Nancy (Needham) Wright, is a paralegal from Mishawaka, Indiana, and his father, Joe Douglas Driver, who has deep roots in the American South, is from Little Rock, Arkansas. His stepfather is a Baptist minister. His ancestry includes Dutch, English, German, Irish and Scottish. Driver was raised in Mishawaka after his parents' divorce, attending Mishawaka High School, where he appeared in plays. After 9/11, he enlisted in the Marines, serving for more than two years before being medically discharged after he suffered an injury, which prevented him from being deployed.
Driver attended the University of Indianapolis (for a year) and then transferred to study drama at Juilliard School in New York City, graduating in 2009. He began acting in plays, appearing on Broadway, before being cast in Lena Dunham's series Girls (2012), as her character's love interest, Adam Sackler. The role gained him attention, and he subsequently began a robust film career, appearing in small roles in J. Edgar (2011) and Lincoln (2012), supporting roles in Frances Ha (2012) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), and then to major mesmerizing roles like in the comedy-drama This Is Where I Leave You (2014), Martin Scorsese's Silence (2016) and as Kylo Ren in the Star Wars movie saga beginning with Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015).
Widely regarded as the one of greatest actors of his generation by now both in the United States and internationally as his superb qualities have been expressed further in a sublime range of excellent performances full of unique profoundness, subtlety, charisma and insights such as the ones included in brilliant films like Paterson (2016), Logan Lucky (2017), The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018) and The Report (2019). His interpretations in BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Marriage Story (2019) were also nominated in the Academy Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role respectively.- Actor
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Frank Welker was born in Colorado. He followed his dream to California, and started a voice acting career which has spanned over five decades and hundreds of credits. Frank has worked with fellow voice actors Casey Kasem, Nicole Jaffe, Don Messick, Heather North, and Stefanianna Christopherson on Hanna-Barbera's iconic Scooby Doo, Where Are You! (1969), voicing Fred Jones, among other Scooby credits over the years. He has also worked with Kurt Russell, Peter Cullen, and Michael Bay.- Producer
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Willard Carroll "Will" Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, producer, rapper, and songwriter. He has enjoyed success in television, film, and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him "the most powerful actor in Hollywood". Smith has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two Academy Awards, and has won four Grammy Awards.
In the late 1980s, Smith achieved modest fame as a rapper under the name The Fresh Prince. In 1990, his popularity increased dramatically when he starred in the popular television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show ran for six seasons (1990-96) on NBC and has been syndicated consistently on various networks since then. After the series ended, Smith moved from television to film, and ultimately starred in numerous blockbuster films. He is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office, eleven consecutive films gross over $150 million internationally, and eight consecutive films in which he starred open at the number one spot in the domestic box office tally.
Smith is ranked as the most bankable star worldwide by Forbes. As of 2014, 17 of the 21 films in which he has had leading roles have accumulated worldwide gross earnings of over $100 million each, five taking in over $500 million each in global box office receipts. As of 2014, his films have grossed $6.6 billion at the global box office. He has received Best Actor Oscar nominations for Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness.
Smith was born in West Philadelphia, the son of Caroline (Bright), a Philadelphia school board administrator, and Willard Carroll Smith, Sr., a refrigeration engineer. He grew up in West Philadelphia's Wynnefield neighborhood, and was raised Baptist. He has three siblings, sister Pamela, who is four years older, and twins Harry and Ellen, who are three years younger. Smith attended Our Lady of Lourdes, a private Catholic elementary school in Philadelphia. His parents separated when he was 13, but did not actually divorce until around 2000.
Smith attended Overbrook High School. Though widely reported, it is untrue that Smith turned down a scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); he never applied to college because he "wanted to rap." Smith says he was admitted to a "pre-engineering [summer] program" at MIT for high school students, but he did not attend. According to Smith, "My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college."
Smith started as the MC of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, with his childhood friend Jeffrey "DJ Jazzy Jeff" Townes as producer, as well as Ready Rock C (Clarence Holmes) as the human beat box. The trio was known for performing humorous, radio-friendly songs, most notably "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "Summertime". They gained critical acclaim and won the first Grammy awarded in the Rap category (1988).
Smith spent money freely around 1988 and 1989 and underpaid his income taxes. The Internal Revenue Service eventually assessed a $2.8 million tax debt against Smith, took many of his possessions, and garnished his income. Smith was nearly bankrupt in 1990, when the NBC television network signed him to a contract and built a sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, around him.
The show was successful and began his acting career. Smith set for himself the goal of becoming "the biggest movie star in the world", studying box office successes' common characteristics.
Smith's first major roles were in the drama Six Degrees of Separation (1993) and the action film Bad Boys (1995) in which he starred opposite Martin Lawrence.
In 1996, Smith starred as part of an ensemble cast in Roland Emmerich's Independence Day. The film was a massive blockbuster, becoming the second highest grossing film in history at the time and establishing Smith as a prime box office draw. He later struck gold again in the summer of 1997 alongside Tommy Lee Jones in the summer hit Men in Black playing Agent J. In 1998, Smith starred with Gene Hackman in Enemy of the State.
He turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix in favor of Wild Wild West (1999). Despite the disappointment of Wild Wild West, Smith has said that he harbors no regrets about his decision, asserting that Keanu Reeves's performance as Neo was superior to what Smith himself would have achieved, although in interviews subsequent to the release of Wild Wild West he stated that he "made a mistake on Wild Wild West. That could have been better."
In 2005, Smith was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for attending three premieres in a 24-hour time span.
He has planned to star in a feature film remake of the television series It Takes a Thief.
On December 10, 2007, Smith was honored at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Smith left an imprint of his hands and feet outside the world-renowned theater in front of many fans. Later that month, Smith starred in the film I Am Legend, released December 14, 2007. Despite marginally positive reviews, its opening was the largest ever for a film released in the United States during December. Smith himself has said that he considers the film to be "aggressively unique". A reviewer said that the film's commercial success "cemented [Smith's] standing as the number one box office draw in Hollywood." On December 1, 2008, TV Guide reported that Smith was selected as one of America's top ten most fascinating people of 2008 for a Barbara Walters ABC special that aired on December 4, 2008.
In 2008 Smith was reported to be developing a film entitled The Last Pharaoh, in which he would be starring as Taharqa. It was in 2008 that Smith starred in the superhero movie Hancock.
Men in Black III opened on May 25, 2012 with Smith again reprising his role as Agent J. This was his first major starring role in four years.
On August 19, 2011, it was announced that Smith had returned to the studio with producer La Mar Edwards to work on his fifth studio album. Edwards has worked with artists such as T.I., Chris Brown, and Game. Smith's most recent studio album, Lost and Found, was released in 2005.
Smith and his son Jaden played father and son in two productions: the 2006 biographical drama The Pursuit of Happyness, and the science fiction film After Earth, which was released on May 31, 2013.
Smith starred opposite Margot Robbie in the romance drama Focus. He played Nicky Spurgeon, a veteran con artist who takes a young, attractive woman under his wing. Focus was released on February 27, 2015. Smith was set to star in the Sci-Fic thriller Brilliance, an adaptation of Marcus Sakey's novel of the same name scripted by Jurassic Park writer David Koepp. But he left the project.
Smith played Dr. Bennet Omalu of the Brain Injury Research Institute in the sports-drama Concussion, who became the first person to discover chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in a football player's brain. CTE is a degenerative disease caused by severe trauma to the head that can be discovered only after death. Smith's involvement is mostly due to his last-minute exit from the Sci-Fi thriller-drama Brilliance. Concussion was directed by Peter Landesman and-bead filmed in Pittsburgh, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. It received $14.4 million in film tax credits from Pennsylvania. Principal photography started on October 27, 2014. Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw played his wife. Omalu served as a consultant.
As of November 2015, Smith is set to star in the independent drama Collateral Beauty, which will be directed by David Frankel. Smith will play a New York advertising executive who succumbs to an deep depression after a personal tragedy.
Nobel Peace Prize Concert December 11, 2009, in Oslo, Norway: Smith with wife Jada and children Jaden and Willow Smith married Sheree Zampino in 1992. They had one son, Trey Smith, born on November 11, 1992, and divorced in 1995. Trey appeared in his father's music video for the 1998 single "Just the Two of Us". He also acted in two episodes of the sitcom All of Us, and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and on the David Blaine: Real or Magic TV special.
Smith married actress Jada Koren Pinkett in 1997. Together they have two children: Jaden Christopher Syre Smith (born 1998), his co-star in The Pursuit of Happyness and After Earth, and Willow Camille Reign Smith (born 2000), who appeared as his daughter in I Am Legend. Smith and his brother Harry own Treyball Development Inc., a Beverly Hills-based company named after Trey. Smith and his family reside in Los Angeles, California.
Smith was consistently listed in Fortune Magazine's "Richest 40" list of the forty wealthiest Americans under the age of 40.- Actor
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Bill Hader is an American comedian and actor who is known for playing in Saturday Night Live from 2005 to 2013. He created and starred in the HBO show Barry. He also played Flint Lockwood from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Colonel Custer from Night at the Museum 2, Fear from Inside Out and Richie Tozier from It Chapter Two. He was married to Maggie Carey and has three children.- Actor
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- Soundtrack
Having grown up in Houston, and its northern suburb of Spring, he made his first stage appearance in a school play at the age of 6. Parsons then went on to study theater at the University of Houston. From there he won a place on a two-year Masters course in classical theater at the University of San Diego/The Old Globe Theater, graduating in 2001.
He moved to New York, working in Off-Broadway productions, appearing in TV commercials and in one episode of Ed (2000) before landing a recurring role in Judging Amy (1999) in 2004.
He was propelled to international fame and acclaim three years later when he starred as Sheldon in the award-winning sitcom, The Big Bang Theory (2007).- Actor
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- Production Manager
Vancouver-based artist David Kaye was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. David's film debut came in the Academy Award-winning film Legends of the Fall (1994) as Samuel Decker.
David continued to work as a child actor, breaking into the voice over scene in 2001, voicing 100 episodes as the title character in Make Way for Noddy (2001) until he took a break to go to school at the University of British Columbia. While attending school, he took a film production class and realized a new passion. In 2008, he began producing as well. He graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting. After graduating, David performed in a number of live shows, including three BC based runs of multiple award-winning hip-hop Shakespeare musical "The Bombitty of Errors".
While live performances were beginning to roll in, David had been producing music videos, branded digital content and broadcast commercials, garnering millions of online views and multiple awards. David produced and voiced several characters in White Ninja (2015), and has several other original works in development.
He is an actor and producer also known for 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001) and Siren (2018).- Actor
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Bryan Lee Cranston was born on March 7, 1956 in Hollywood, California, to Audrey Peggy Sell, a radio actress, and Joe Cranston, an actor and former amateur boxer. His maternal grandparents were German, and his father was of Irish, German, and Austrian-Jewish ancestry. He was raised in the Canoga Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, and also stayed with his grandparents, living on their poultry farm in Yucaipa. Cranston's father walked out on the family when Cranston was eleven, and they did not see each other again until 11 years later, when Cranston and his brother decide to track down their father.
Cranston is known for his roles as Walter White on the AMC crime drama Breaking Bad (2008), Hal on the Fox situation comedy Malcolm in the Middle (2000), and Dr. Tim Whatley on five episodes of the NBC situation comedy Seinfeld (1989). For his role on "Breaking Bad", he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series four times (2008-2010, 2014), including three consecutive wins. After becoming one of the producers during the series' fourth and fifth seasons, he also won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series twice.
In June 2014, Cranston won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his portrayal of Lyndon B. Johnson in the play "All the Way" on Broadway. He reprised the role of Lyndon Johnson in the television adaptation All the Way (2016), which earned him widespread praise by critics. For the biographical drama Trumbo (2015), he earned widespread acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Cranston also appeared in several acclaimed films, such as Saving Private Ryan (1998), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Drive (2011), Argo (2012) and Godzilla (2014). In 2019, he starred with Kevin Hart in the box office hit The Upside (2017).- Actor
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"Shall We Begin!", the battlecry of The undefeated Gaul Crixus first bought Manu Bennett's voice & acting career to international attention. Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (2011) spoke a universal language that slowly but surely captured a massive audience. The the show lost lead actor Andy Whitfield to cancer, Bennett's pivotal role, transitioning from Spartacus' nemesis to a slave rebel leader, he was credited for maintaining throughout, the heart & strength of the series. Producer/Director Peter Jackson then employed Bennett to portray Orc Leader "Azog - The Defiler". At the World Premiere of The Hobbit, Peter Jackson told press that Bennett's was the "The Breakout Performance". Although many Tolkein fans failed to recognize him beneath the CGI veneer, Bennett's looming presence, hunting down Thorin Oakenshield & culminating in the ultimate face-off, where both characters die, Bennett entered the catalogue of the great cinematic Villain Performances. DC Comic soldier of fortune, Slade Wildon aka Deathstroke had slumbered for two decades until Bennett reprised the role on the CW series Arrow. Many DC fans declared Bennett as the best villain on the hit series when he established a heartfelt dominant core relationship with Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell). The two befriended upon the Island of Lian Yu before an incident with a super-drug called Mirakuru transformed Slade into the archetypal good guy/bad guy Deathstroke. Originally penned by Marv Wolfman & illustrated by George Perez, Deathstroke has now become a hot property for the DC Universe with Tony Daniels illustrating the new series of Deathstroke comic books & a Warner Bros Deathstroke feature film pending. When MTV shifted their focus toward producing original series they selected Bennett to portray the Dark Druid Allanon in the newly acquired Shannara Chronicles Series. Bennett had just the right mix of stoicism, angst & dramatic suave sought by the Shannara producers & author Terry Brooks. Manu Bennett is of Maori, Scottish, English, French & Finish ancestry. Bennett was born in Auckland, New Zealand. Bennett's great grandfather Frederick Augustus Bennett was the first Maori Bishop of the Anglican Church in New Zealand. Bennett's namesake Manuhuia Bennett (grandfather) was also ordained an Anglican Bishop. The Bennett name has roots dating back to a French Benedictine Monastery established in Northumbria in Northern England circa 500AD. The monastery was subsequently turned into a defensive fort named Chillingham Castle. With the advent of surnames circa 1000AD, the name Bennett was derived from Benedictine.
Manu Bennett's father Charles Edward Tiwha (Ted) Bennett was a popular New Zealand singer who recorded a No.1 hit "Clap Your Hands" & several other hits in the early 1960's. Bennett's mother Jean Clark was a bikini model from Australia who paraded the very first two piece bikini for designer Paula Stafford. Bennett's parents met during the Spring Blossom Festival in Hastings New Zealand. Bennett has two older siblings, Stephen & Rachel. The Bennett family moved to Australia in 1970. Jean Bennett nee Clark, was the winner of the Miss Paradise Beach, a swimsuit title held on the Gold Coast of Australia. Bennett's first acting job was on a series titled Paradise Beach, where he played stud, surf lifesaver, iron man Kirk Barsby. Bennett's mother, Jean, died in a car accident in 1985. His brother Stephen suffered injuries in a separate car accident & died only two weeks later.
During his schooling Manu Bennett trained as a dancer & musician & well as playing Rugby Union. Bennett was selected for the First XV for Te Aute College a Maori Boy school know for their strong rugby union history. On return to Australia Bennett was selected for the NSW Schoolboys Rugby Union Team & to trial for the Australian National Team. Bennett was prevented from attending the National trial outs due to a prior commitment to a ballet production of Swan Lake in which he had to perform the male lead. In the the 90's Bennett had to choose between a ballet scholarship in New York or an acting scholarship at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. Bennett decided to pursue his acting career & attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Los Angeles.
Manu has appeared on various TV dramas & feature films, including multiple award winning "Lantana," opposite Anthony La Paglia. His first physical role was with appearing opposite Jon Cena on "The Marine". WWE was impressed with Bennett so gave him a role in their second feature film The Condemned starring opposite "Stone Cold" Steve Austin & Vinnie Jones. Rob Tapert cast Bennett as Marc Antony in Xena Warrior Princess, then opposite Josh Hartnett in the Vampire Horror 30 Days Of Night, then was pivotal in Bennett getting the role of Crixus in the series Spartacus.
Previous TV credits include starring roles in successful New Zealand productions "Shortland Street," "Street Legal," "Mataku," "Creature Of Quest," "Going Straight," and as Marc Antony opposite his "Spartacus" co-star Lucy Lawless in Tapert and Raimi's hit series "Xena: Warrior Princess."- Actor
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Born in Glasgow, Scotland, and raised in Joliet, Illinois. He returned to the UK, for a 6 month Shakespeare semester with the United States International University of San Diego, but left to star in the musical production of "Anything Goes," with Elaine Paige. He went on to star in "Miss Saigon," "Matador," "Rope," and "Hair" at London's West End. Barrowman has homes in London and Cardiff, Wales.- Actor
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Sam Witwer headlines the SyFy series Being Human (2011), the U.S. adaptation of the popular British television series. The darkly humorous, provocative drama stars Sam as the heroic Aidan, a sensual and brooding vampire. His excellent work was noticed soon after the show's premiere, as Sam received a Gemini Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing, Leading Dramatic Role in 2011.
Feature film fans remember Sam as the sacrificed Wayne Jessup in The Mist (2007), Frank Darabont's adaptation of the Stephen King novella. Two other independent features in which Sam stars were The Return of Joe Rich (2011), starring opposite Armand Assante and Talia Shire, and No God, No Master (2013) starring with David Strathairn and Edoardo Ballerini.
A favorite in the science-fiction world, Sam began his career in the memorable role of Lt. Crashdown in SyFy's Battlestar Galactica (2004) and played Davis Bloom/Doomsday, the character fated to kill Superman, on CW's Smallville (2001). Star Wars fans and the gaming community will also recognize Sam as Darth Vader's vengeful apprentice, StarKiller", in the LucasArts video game sensations Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008) and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (2010). Through high-tech digital referencing and motion capture, Sam has become the voice and face of this LucasArts creation in which the first title grossed over $500 million. Sam has also done extensive voice work for the fan-favorite Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), the animated series airing on the Cartoon Network. Working opposite Jon Favreau and Clancy Brown as the voice of Darth Maul on Clone Wars, Sam received recognition with an Annie Award nomination for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production in 2012. Outside of sci-fi, audiences remember Sam in his recurring role of Neil Perry on the Emmy winning Showtime series Dexter (2006). Sam's edge perfectly complemented the ground-breaking series in its first season.
A Chicago native and a Juilliard-trained actor, Sam is also an accomplished musician who performed in the LA music scene with his band, The Crashtones.- Actor
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Donal Logue's versatility and talent makes him one of the most well respected and beloved actors today. Born in Ottawa, Canada, Logue moved all over the United States, from the Boston area as an infant to various towns on the Mexican border. He returned to Boston to attend Harvard University, where he majored in Intellectual History and discovered his love for the performing arts. While in college, he appeared in over thirty plays, worked for two summers in the American Repertory Theatre's Harvard/Radcliffe Summer Stock Company, and spent a short time doing theatre in England. After graduating, Logue joined the Cornerstone Theatre Company which developed community theatre in rural parts of the United States. From then on Logue dedicated himself to pursuing his passion for acting. In his 20 plus years in the industry, Logue has starred in films such as, The Tao of Steve, the story of a larger-than-life, philosophizing lothario, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, and won him a Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance. His other film credits include Sneakers, Gettysburg, Blade, Runaway Bride, Reindeer Games, The Million Dollar Hotel, Comic Book Villains with Michael Rapaport, Confidence, Just Like Heaven, and The Groomsmen with Ed Burns. Recently, Donal co-starred in Max Payne with Mark Wahlberg, as well as Charlie St. Cloud with Zac Ephron. He also appeared in Zodiac, directed by David Fincher, based on the Robert Graysmith books about the notorious Zodiac serial killer. Following the US release of Zodiac, he co-starred in Mark Steven Johnson's Ghost Rider with Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes. Logue made his directorial debut with the independent film Tennis, Anyone?, which appeared at the US Comedy Arts Festival. He wrote, starred, and directed the film about two Hollywood has-beens who try and find meaning in their lives through a series of celebrity tennis tournaments. In television, Logue joined the cast of the NBC series "LIFE" about a former police officer who returns to the force after having been wrongly imprisoned for years. In 2007, he headlined the critically lauded ABC comedy "The Knights of Prosperity" in which a group of blue collar guys band together to plan a heist of Mick Jagger's New York City apartment. Prior to "The Knights of Prosperity" Logue starred in the Carsey-Warner produced show, "Grounded for Life" which aired for five seasons. He was also featured in a recurring role on "ER" as Sherry Stringfield's love interest. In 2010, Logue finished a critically acclaimed season on "Terriers," a television series created by Ted Griffin and Shawn Ryan for FX. He begins production on the Marc Cherry pilot "Hallelujah" for ABC in March of 2011. Logue lives in Los Angeles and has two children.- Actor
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Sean Pertwee was born into a famous British theatrical family. He is the son of Jon Pertwee, who was mainly a comedy actor and was known for his starring roles in Doctor Who (1963), Worzel Gummidge (1979), the radio comedy series "The Navy Lark" and appearances in several "Carry On" films. His uncle, Michael Pertwee, and grandfather, Roland Pertwee, were prolific screenwriters and playwrights, and his father's cousin, Bill Pertwee, was a regular cast member of one of Britain's most popular sitcoms, Dad's Army (1968). His sister, Dariel Pertwee, is an actress with several screen roles.
After training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Pertwee began his acting career with the Royal Shakespeare Company, most notably starring in Titus Andronicus directed by Deborah Warner. After touring for three years, Pertwee continued his classical training by playing Julius Caesar for the BBC and Macbeth for Michael Bogdanov's production for C4 films. Since then, he has become instantly recognizable for both his film and television work.
On film, Pertwee began on the Joe Orton biopic Prick Up Your Ears (1987), then went on to appear in Paul W.S. Anderson's Shopping (1994), playing opposite Jude Law, followed by performances in Event Horizon (1997), Soldier (1998), Doomsday (2008), Love, Honor and Obey (2000) and the lead role in Neil Marshall's Dog Soldiers (2002). Other notable film credits include Deadly Voyage (1996); Wild Bill (2011); Blue Juice (1995), in which Pertwee played opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones and Ewan McGregor; and Formula 51 (2001) with Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlyle. Pertwee played opposite Steve Coogan in Alan Partridge (2013).
Pertwee's extensive TV work saw him play the iconic role of Lestrade in the CBS show Elementary (2012) with Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes. He has also starred in The Musketeers (2014), Poirot (1989), the award-winning Luther (2010), and had a recurring role in the hugely popular Cold Feet (1997) with James Nesbitt. His other TV credits include Skins (2007), Bodyguards (1996), Jo (2013) with Jean Reno, Chancer (1990), The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992), Clarissa (1991) with Sean Bean, and Camelot (2011) with Joseph Fiennes and Eva Green.
Pertwee appeared as Alfred Pennyworth, the unflappable butler, in the Warner Bros. series Gotham (2014), which follows the story behind Commissioner James Gordon's rise to prominence in Gotham City in the years before Batman's arrival. He is a popular voiceover artist and can frequently be heard voicing documentaries, animated films, commercials, TV series, and video games, including Fable, Killzone and Assassin's Creed.- After a substantial career in the advertising industry, John Doman came to acting relatively late. In fact, he made his screen debut at the age of 46. When the acting bug eventually bit, it was upon his return from Vietnam in 1969, where he had served as a Second Lieutenant with the 3rd Marine Division. Watching Midnight Cowboy (1969) and The Graduate (1967) consecutively at a cinema in San Francisco, he became inspired by Dustin Hoffman's performances and determined to give acting a try. In an interview, he explained "It took me 20 years to actually get around to doing it". For those intervening decades, Doman worked in advertising, eventually moving up to the position of Executive Vice President, Head of Business Development at TBWA. His academic credentials include a Master of Business Administration degree in marketing from Pennsylvania State University.
Having read books and taking "some classes here and there", Doman landed a spot on a commercial for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1991.This led to further work on television, commencing the following year with a small role on the soap As the World Turns (1956). The brawny, deep-voiced actor (an ex-football player for the Penn Quakers) has since specialised in tough, no-nonsense authority figures, frequently in crime dramas. Doman has played no less than eleven distinct characters in the Law & Order (1990) franchise. His breakout role was as the uncompromising Maryland State Police Deputy Commissioner of Operations (eventually Superintendant) William Rawls in five seasons of HBO's The Wire (2002). Doman has also guest-starred as a Bajoran militia colonel in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) episode "Shakaar". He played the corrupt Pope Alexander VI (aka Rodrigo Borgia) in Borgia (2011), Bishop Charles Eddis in House of Cards (2013), morally ambiguous Senator Ross Garrison in the compelling CBS drama Person of Interest (2011), mob bosses Don Carmine Falcone and Patrick "Paddy" Doyle, respectively, in DC's Gotham (2014) and in Rizzoli & Isles (2010), Katee Sackhoff's overprotective Police Chief father in Longmire (2012) and the micro-managing American Ambassador to Germany, Richard Hanes, in Berlin Station (2016). More recently, he appeared as Boston District Attorney Guy Dan in the Kevin Bacon starrer City on a Hill (2019).
Doman has also lent his commanding presence to the stage, notably off-Broadway and in productions for the New York Shakespeare Festival. - Actor
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David Harewood was born on 8 December 1965 in Birmingham, England, UK. He is an actor and director, known for Blood Diamond (2006), The Merchant of Venice (2004) and Supergirl (2015). He has been married to Kirsty Handy since 26 February 2013. They have two children.- Actor
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Victor Garber has been in some of the most memorable projects of the past four decades. Victor has recently appeared in The Slap (2015), The Flash (2014), Motive (2013) and Web Therapy (2011). He is currently staring in Greg Berlanti's new DC Comics Superhero series "DC's Legends of Tomorrow" for Warner Bros/CW. He has shared in two Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award® nominations for Outstanding Motion Picture Cast, the latest for Milk (2008), and previously as a member of the cast of Titanic (1997) as well as winning with the cast of Argo (2012). Garber received three Emmy® nods for his role on Alias (2001) and has also earned Emmy® nominations for Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001), and his guest roles on Frasier (1993) and Will & Grace (1998). He is also an accomplished stage actor, whose extensive credits encompass lead roles in both plays and musicals, and has earned four Tony Award® nominations, for his work in Damn Yankees (1994-1995), Lend Me a Tenor (1989-1990), Little Me (1982) and Deathtrap (1978-1982. Victor also starred in the 1998 Tony Award winning Best Play, Art.- Actor
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Born in Nutley, NJ, Nick Zano's passion for the movies began when he first watched Goodfellas (1990) at the age of 12. He had long dreamed of becoming a Navy Seal, but all that changed in one afternoon at the cinema. Shortly after that, Zano and his family moved south to West Palm Beach, Florida, where he finished his high school education. Throughout his high school years, he was active in both the drama and TV production departments. In his junior year, Zano and his closest friends produced a weekly television program at Wellington High School. The wildly humorous and offbeat skit comedy show landed Zano in detention quite often, where he would kill time by writing a series of short films. Those shorts, which he starred in and helped to direct, made their way to the JVC Universal Film Competition semifinals 3 years in a row.
Shortly after high school, he was offered a position with "Prelude Pictures" (Lost in Space (1998), Black Dog (1998)) in Television and Feature Film Development. During that time, he also acted as Associate Producer on the World AIDS Day TV special, Living Positive, hosted by Lou Diamond Phillips. In June 2001, Zano made the move to LA, where he began the daily grind of auditioning. His quick wit and charming sense of humor immediately made him a favorite among casting directors, who would call him in for reads even when the character description was totally opposite to his looks. Zano has a mental Rolodex overflowing with movie knowledge, which helped him land the hosting gig on MTV's Movie House (2002), which premiered on the cable channel in May 2002. After his move to LA, Zano remained close with his sisters and his Mom, who always supported and inspired him. Zano resides in Los Angeles.- Actor
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Raphael Sbarge has been a working actor for more than five decades. Growing up in New York City's Lower East Side, Raphael began working on Sesame Street (1969) at the age of four. His did his first Broadway show at 16, opposite Faye Dunaway and his first big film, Risky Business (1983) starring Tom Cruise, as he was graduating high school at 18. His mother, Jeanne Button, was a Broadway costume designer and his father, Stephen Sbarge, was an artist, photographer, and documentary filmmaker.
He has performed in theaters all over the country, including at Yale Rep, Long Wharf, Mark Taper, and Kennedy Center. He has performed on stage with Al Pacino, Frank Langella, Gwyneth Paltrow, as well Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst in the Bway revival of Ah, Wilderness.
He has been in many successful films, including Independence Day (1996) with Will Smith, Pearl Harbor (2001) with Ben Affleck and the cult classic Carnosaur (1993) for Roger Corman. He will be in the new Universal/Blumhouse film, The Exorcist: Believer (2023), with Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Nettles, Leslie Odom Jr. and Ann Dowd which opens on Friday, October 13th, 2023.
Raphael's resume includes more than 100 guest appearances and series regular roles on network television shows, including the long-running ABC hit Once Upon a Time (2011) as Dr Hopper, Stephen Bochco's Murder in the First (2014) for TNT, and The Guardian with Simon Baker, for CBS. He has recurred on many series including Star Trek: Voyager (1995), Dexter (2006), Prison Break (2005), Longmire (2012), 24 (2001), among many others. He has done extensive voice work in video games including lead roles in Mass Effect - The New York Times Game of the Year - and its two sequels, as well Knights of the Old Republic, a popular Star Wars game.
As a director, Raphael received his first Emmy nomination for LA Foodways (2019), for PBS. His recent feature film, Only in Theaters (2022), opened in Los Angeles and NYC to critical acclaim, played 80 theaters around the country and is now available on Amazon and on DVD, distributed by Kino Lorber. Other films and series Raphael has directed include The Bird Who Could Fly (2017), The Tricky Part (2019), A Concrete River: Reviving the Waters of Los Angeles (2015), 10 Days in Watts (2023), and more.- Actor
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One of the greatest actors of all time, Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia (Admiral) and Robert De Niro Sr. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and his other ancestry is Irish, English, Dutch, German, and French. He was trained at the Stella Adler Conservatory and the American Workshop. De Niro first gained fame for his role in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), but he gained his reputation as a volatile actor in Mean Streets (1973), which was his first film with director Martin Scorsese. He received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Godfather Part II (1974) and received Academy Award nominations for best actor in Taxi Driver (1976), The Deer Hunter (1978) and Cape Fear (1991). He received the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980).
De Niro has earned four Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, for his work in New York, New York (1977), opposite Liza Minnelli, Midnight Run (1988), Analyze This (1999) and Meet the Parents (2000). Other notable performances include Brazil (1985), The Untouchables (1987), Backdraft (1991), Frankenstein (1994), Heat (1995), Casino (1995) and Jackie Brown (1997). At the same time, he also directed and starred in such films as A Bronx Tale (1993) and The Good Shepherd (2006). De Niro has also received the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003 and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2010.
As of 2022, De Niro is 79-years-old. He has never retired from acting, and continues to work regularly in mostly film.- Actor
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Sean Penn is a powerhouse film performer capable of intensely moving work, who has gone from strength to strength during a colourful film career, and who has drawn much media attention for his stormy private life and political viewpoints.
Sean Justin Penn was born in Los Angeles, California, the second son of actress Eileen Ryan (née Annucci) and director, actor, and writer Leo Penn. His brother was actor Chris Penn. His father was from a Lithuanian Jewish/Russian Jewish family, and his mother is of half Italian and half Irish descent.
Penn first appeared in roles as strong-headed or unruly youths such as the military cadet defending his academy against closure in Taps (1981), then as fast-talking surfer stoner Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982).
Fans and critics were enthused about his obvious talent and he next contributed a stellar performance alongside Timothy Hutton in the Cold War spy thriller The Falcon and the Snowman (1985), followed by a teaming with icy Christopher Walken in the chilling At Close Range (1986). The youthful Sean then paired up with his then wife, pop diva Madonna in the woeful, and painful, Shanghai Surprise (1986), which was savaged by the critics, but Sean bounced back with a great job as a hot-headed young cop in Colors (1988), gave another searing performance as a US soldier in Vietnam committing atrocities in Casualties of War (1989) and appeared alongside Robert De Niro in the uneven comedy We're No Angels (1989). However, the 1990s was the decade in which Sean really got noticed by critics as a mature, versatile and accomplished actor, with a string of dynamic performances in first-class films.
Almost unrecognisable with frizzy hair and thin rimmed glasses, Penn was simply brilliant as corrupt lawyer David Kleinfeld in the Brian De Palma gangster movie Carlito's Way (1993) and he was still in trouble with authority as a Death Row inmate pleading with a caring nun to save his life in Dead Man Walking (1995), for which he received his first Oscar nomination. Sean then played the brother of wealthy Michael Douglas, involving him in a mind-snapping scheme in The Game (1997) and also landed the lead role of Sgt. Eddie Walsh in the star-studded anti-war film The Thin Red Line (1998), before finishing the 1990s playing an offbeat jazz musician (and scoring another Oscar nomination) in Sweet and Lowdown (1999).
The gifted and versatile Sean had also moved into directing, with the quirky but interesting The Indian Runner (1991), about two brothers with vastly opposing views on life, and in 1995 he directed Jack Nicholson in The Crossing Guard (1995). Both films received overall positive reviews from critics. Moving into the new century, Sean remained busy in front of the cameras with even more outstanding work: a mentally disabled father fighting for custody of his seven-year-old daughter (and receiving a third Oscar nomination) for I Am Sam (2001); an anguished father seeking revenge for his daughter's murder in the gut-wrenching Clint Eastwood-directed Mystic River (2003) (for which he won the Oscar as Best Actor); a mortally ill college professor in 21 Grams (2003) and a possessed businessman in The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004).
Certainly Sean Penn is one of Hollywood's most controversial, progressive and gifted actors.- Producer
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Born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, to Charles Robert Redford, an accountant for Standard Oil, and Martha Redford, Charles Robert Redford, Jr. was a scrappy kid who stole hubcaps in high school and lost his college baseball scholarship at the University of Colorado because of drunkenness. However, as a high school student, he had displayed a certain aptitude as a caricaturist and this contributed to his decision to seriously study art. Redford then enjoyed a year-long sojourn travelling around Europe, hitchhiking, living in youth hostels and generally living the painter's life. Eventually, he came to realise that his work was unoriginal and not very good. He therefore returned to New York to pursue studies in theatrical design at the Pratt Institute of Art. He subsequently enrolled in acting classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
By the end of 1960, he was on Broadway in a series of plays including Barefoot in the Park, which launched him to fame. TV and stage experience coupled with all-American good looks led to movies and a breakthrough role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), when the actor was 33. The Way We Were (1973) and The Sting (1973), both in 1973, made Redford No. 1 at the box office for the next three years. Redford used his clout to advance environmental causes and his riches to acquire Utah property, which he transformed into a ranch and the Sundance ski resort. In 1980, he established the Sundance Institute for aspiring filmmakers. Its annual film festival has become one of the world's most influential. Redford's directorial debut, Ordinary People (1980), won him the Academy Award for Best Director in 1981. He waited eight years before getting behind the camera again, this time for the screen version of John Nichols' acclaimed novel of the Southwest, The Milagro Beanfield War (1988). He scored with critics and fans in 1992 with the Brad Pitt film A River Runs Through It (1992), and again, in 1994, with Quiz Show (1994), which earned him yet another Best Director nomination.
Redford married Lola Van Wagenen on August 9, 1958; they divorced in 1985 after having four children, one of which died of sudden infant death syndrome. Daughter Shauna Redford, born November 15, 1960, is a painter who married Eric Schlosser on October 5, 1985, in Provo, Utah; her first child, born in January 1991, made Redford a grandfather. Son James Redford, a screenwriter, was born May 5, 1962. Daughter Amy Redford, an actress, was born October 22, 1970. Redford has a half-brother named William, who worked in medical research.- Actor
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Sylvester McCoy was born Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith on 20 August 1943, the only child of Molly Sheridan and Percy James Kent-Smith, a couple living in Dunoon, Scotland. His mother was Irish. Percy James Kent-Smith was killed in the Second World War a couple of months before his son was born, and he was brought up by his mother, his grandmother (Mary Sheridan), and his aunts. He attended St Muns Primary School in Dunoon. The headmistress, Rosie O'Grady, was keen that her young charges obtain decent jobs upon leaving the school and so organized regular talks from people in all manner of professions.
McCoy expressed an interest in every job, and as a result eventually found himself given an afternoon off school to go to see a local priest about entering the priesthood. He left school, joined Blairs College, a Catholic seminary in Aberdeen, and between the ages of twelve and sixteen trained to be a priest. At Blairs College, he realized that there was more to life than could be found in Dunoon and discovered classical music and history, which fascinated him. He eventually decided to become a monk and applied to join a Dominican order, but his application was rejected as he was too young. He returned to school and soon discovered the delights of the opposite sex in the form of fellow students and determined he didn't want to be a priest or a monk after all.
On finishing his education he took a holiday down to London, from which he never returned. McCoy approached a youth employment center looking for a job and impressed by the fact that he had attended a grammar school, they instantly found him a job in the City working for an insurance company. He trained in this job and stayed there until he was 27 before deciding that it wasn't really for him. With the help of a cook at London's Roundhouse Theatre, McCoy gained a job there selling tickets and keeping the books in the box office.
McCoy joined the Ken Campbell Roadshow. Along with Bob Hoskins, Jane Wood, and Dave Hill, he would start performing a range of plays with the umbrella theme of "modern myths". McCoy found himself in a double-act with Hoskins. After Hoskins left, and being booked at a circus, director Ken Campbell improvised a circus-based act about a fictitious stuntman called Sylvester McCoy and thought it would be amusing if the program stated that this character was played by "Sylvester McCoy". While at the Royal Court Theatre, one of the critics missed the joke and assumed that Sylvester McCoy was a real person. McCoy liked the irony of this and adopted the name of his stage identity. During one of their UK engagements, the Roadshow team was invited up by Joan Littlewood, who was directing a production of "The Hostage", before the performance of her play. This led McCoy to bona fide theater, and he was subsequently invited to appear in numerous plays and musicals.
McCoy was starring at the National Theatre in "The Pied Piper", a play written especially for him, when he learned that the BBC was looking for a new lead actor to replace Colin Baker, who had been unceremoniously dumped from Doctor Who (1963) on the orders of Michael Grade. McCoy won the role as the Seventh Doctor despite reservations from Grade and Head of Drama Jonathan Powell, who were by this time monitoring producer John Nathan-Turner's decision-making very closely. McCoy's first season took the slightly pantomimic style of Baker's final season, Trial of a Time Lord, even further and received a very dubious reception from the press and fans. Nathan-Turner put McCoy in a pullover covered in question marks, which McCoy later admitted he didn't like.
By the time of McCoy's second season, the new script editor, Andrew Cartmel, was trying to make the series darker and more complex. In the third season, his costume was changed from a fawn jacket and paisley scarf to a dark brown jacket and an altogether more muted and subdued image, but the pullover remained. Despite forming a close bond with co-star Sophie Aldred and the general standard of the stories rising again towards the end, the series was obviously starved of funds and ratings were fairly poor throughout the McCoy era, with the series being trounced by ITV's Coronation Street (1960). The BBC's opinion of Doctor Who (1963) was that it was an embarrassment. In 1989, the new series head, Peter Cregeen, pulled the plug.
After Doctor Who (1963) McCoy worked extensively in theater and on television. In theater he appeared in "The Government Inspector" twice in tours during 1993 and 1994, and in between these he starred as the Narrator, Thomas Marvel, in the stage version of H.G. Wells's "The Invisible Man". In 1995, he starred in Zorro: The Musical".
On television, his credits include Frank Stubbs Promotes (1993) and Rab C. Nesbitt (1988). He also created the character of Crud in the cult television series Ghoul Lashed for Sky TV. In 1996, he was contracted to reprise his role as the Doctor, handing over to an eighth incarnation of the Time Lord in the earthly form of his friend Paul McGann. Also in 1996, McCoy devised and presented Reeltime Pictures' I Was a 'Doctor Who' Monster (1996), a special video tribute to the men and women who had played the monsters of Doctor Who (1963).- Actor
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James graduated from Davis High School and attended Juilliard, the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, and the American Conservatory Theatre. After spending ten years doing stage work he finally moved to L.A. to pursue a career in film and television. After appearing in several guest roles he finally got his big break as Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997). Originally, the character was suppose to be killed after a few episodes but Spike became so popular that he was promoted to a regular on the show. After the show ended, he appeared as Spike in the spin-off Angel (1999) and in several movies. James is also a talented musician; his band Ghost of the Robot released their first album, Mad Brilliant, in 2003.- Writer
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Denis Leary was born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, the son of Nora (Sullivan) and John Leary, Irish immigrants who had grown up together. His mother was a maid and his father was an auto mechanic. After a childhood in the 1960s, Leary went to Emerson College in Boston, where he tried his hand at acting and writing. He was a charter member of Emerson's Comedy Workshop, and taught at the college for five years after graduating. By that point, he had written several pieces for magazines and had worked at stand-up comedy for a time. In 1990, he and his wife, Ann Leary, flew to London to perform in the BBC's Paramount City. That weekend, Ann's water broke. Their planned weekend trip became a stay of months, and Denis, with not a whole lot to do in London, wrote a one-man comedy act. He brought friends in from the States, and they wrote songs to perform on stage. Leary, with Chris Phillips and Adam Roth on guitar, performed "No Cure For Cancer" at the Edinburgh International Arts Festival in Scotland. Despite some protests about the title, the show won the Critic's Award and the BBC Festival Recommendation. The next year, the show was moved to America, and it was eventually taped and broadcast on Showtime (Denis Leary: No Cure for Cancer (1993)). The show spawned a book, CD, cassette, and a videotape. It also started Leary's movie career. Since then, he has starred in several films and has had two of his own TV series.- Actor
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Writer, actor, comedian, doer of good works, excellent good friend to the famous and not, Fry lives in his London SW1 flat and his Norfolk house when not traveling. Famous for his public declaration of celibacy in the "Tatler" back in the 1980s, Emma Thompson has characterised her friend as "90 percent gay, 10 percent other."
Stephen Fry was born in Hampstead, London, to Marianne Eve (Newman) and Alan Fry, a physicist and inventor. His maternal grandparents were Hungarian Jewish immigrants, while his father's family was of English background. He grew up in Norfolk and attended Uppingham School and Stout's Hill. After his notorious three months in Pucklechurch prison for credit card fraud, he attended Queens College, Cambridge in 1979, finishing with a 2:1 in English in 1981/2. While at Cambridge, he was a member of the Cherubs drinking club, and Footlights with Thompson, Tony Slattery, Martin Bergman, and Hugh Laurie (to whom he was introduced by E.T.). His prolific writing partnership with Laurie began in 1981 with resulting Footlights revues for (among others) Mayweek, Edinburgh Festival, and a three month tour of Australia. In 1984, Fry was engaged to do the rewrite of the Noel Gay musical "Me and My Girl," which made him a millionaire before the age of 30. It also earned him a nomination for a Tony award in 1987. (Sidenote: It was upon SF's suggestion that Emma Thompson landed a leading role in the London cast of this show.) Throughout the 1980s, Fry did a huge amount of television and radio work, as well as writing for newspapers (e.g. a weekly column in the "Daily Telegraph") and magazines (e.g. articles for "Arena"). He is probably best known for his television roles in Blackadder II (1986) and Jeeves and Wooster (1990).
His support of the Terence Higgins Trust through events such as the first "Hysteria" benefit, as well as numerous other charity efforts, are probably those works of which he is most proud. Fry's acting career has not been limited to films and television. He had successful runs in Alan Bennett's "Forty Years On," Simon Gray's "The Common Pursuit" with John Sessions, Rik Mayall, John Gordon Sinclair, and others. Michael Frayn's "Look Look" and Gray's "Cell Mates" were less successful for both Fry and their playwrights, the latter not helped by his walking out of the play after only a couple of weeks. Fry has published four novels as well as a collection of his radio and journalistic miscellanea. He has recorded audiotapes of his novels (an unabridged version of "The Liar" was released in 1995), as well as many other works for both adults and children.- Actor
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Billy Ray Cyrus was born on 25 August 1961 in Bellefonte, Kentucky, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009), Mulholland Drive (2001) and The Spy Next Door (2010). He has been married to Firerose since 10 October 2023. He was previously married to Tish Cyrus and Cindy Smith.- Christian Jules Le Blanc was born on August 25, 1958 in North Carolina, USA. He is the son of Major Andre Victor Le Blanc (a veteran) and Alice Le Blanc. He grew up in a large family, being the second eldest of eight children. As a teen, he attended Jesuit High School and later went on to receive a BA degree from Tulane University (Louisiana, USA), majoring in ancient history and pre-med. Before pursuing an acting career, he had planned to spend his life working in the medical field.
Christian made his screen debut in a commercial for Barq's Root Beer. He's most known for his work on In the Heat of the Night (1988) and for playing lawyer Michael Baldwin, on The Young and the Restless (1973). A man of many skills, he is also an award-winning artist and has MC'd and hosted numerous events for charities and other organizations. He has been with his husband, a yoga instructor named Sid Montz, since 1993. - Actor
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Victor Joseph Mignogna is an American actor and singer. He voiced Broly in Dragon Ball films and games, Oscar H. Genius from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist, Obito Uchiha from Naruto Shippuden and E-123 Omega from Sonic the Hedgehog. He also played Captain James T. Kirk in the series Star Trek Continues and other Star Trek works.- Actor
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Mike Smith was born and raised in Thorburn, Nova Scotia. He started playing hockey at the age of four but showed early signs of musical genius when he learned to play guitar at the age of seven. Continuing with both hobbies for the majority of his life, Mike eventually gave up hockey to concentrate on being a musician.
He attended St.F.X. University in Antigonish where he earned an Advanced Major in English. In 1992, Mike's career in music began to take off. He started playing guitar and was one of the principal songwriters in the band Sandbox. the group quickly signed a record deal with EMI in Canada and Nettwerk in the U.S. Nominated for a Juno Award, East Coast Music Awards and a Casby Award, Sandbox released two albums with EMI and Nettwerk - Bionic and A Murder In The Glee Club.
When Sandbox broke up in 1998 Mike began working as a location sound mixer on film and TV. He was hired to mix the original Trailer Park Boys black and white movie in 1999 where director Mike Clattenburg discovered him doing the 'Bubbles' character on set for the crew. Clattenburg saw that the character had some very lovable qualities and decided to write him into the upcoming Trailer Park Boys TV series. Never having acted before Smith decided to accept the offer but also remained on as the series sound mixer until Season 3.
Since the rise of Trailer Park Boys, Mike has been in numerous music videos with the likes of Rush, The Tragically Hip, Snow and George Canyon and toured Canada, the US, Mexico, Australia and Japan (including a show at the legendary Budokan Arena in Tokyo) with rock legends Guns N Roses with front man and long-time friend Axl Rose.
In 2010, along with his Trailer Park Boys co-stars Robb Wells and John Paul Tremblay, Mike is writing, producing and starring in the comedy series 'The Drunk And On Drugs Happy Funtime Hour', a half hour comedy set in the town of Port Cockerton where a kids show goes horribly wrong when a powerful hallucinogen is accidentally given to the cast and crew.- Actor
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Daniel Stern was born in Bethesda, Maryland, to a social worker father and a day care manager mother. He has been acting professionally since the age of seventeen. Following his high school graduation, he auditioned for the Washington Shakespeare Festival seeking a job as a lighting engineer but ended up as "a strolling player with a lute" in their production of "As You Like It." Shortly thereafter, he made his way to New York where he "took a couple of acting lessons" and began to assemble an impressive portfolio of such off-Broadway credits as "Split," "Frankie and Annie," "The Mandrake," and "The Old Glory." In addition, director Peter Yates cast him as one of the four Indiana teenagers in the highly acclaimed film Breaking Away (1979). Variety in acting roles appeals to Stern. Following "Breaking Away," he appeared in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980), Claudia Weill's It's My Turn (1980) and John Schlesinger's Honky Tonk Freeway (1981) before returning to New York to appear off-Broadway in the two character play "How I Got That Story," which led to critical acclaim and a starring role in Barry Levinson's Diner (1982). Other film credits include I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982), Blue Thunder (1983), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), The Boss' Wife (1986), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), Born in East L.A. (1987) and D.O.A. (1988) In addition to his voice-over work on the series, Stern directed several episodes of the popular and critically acclaimed television comedy, The Wonder Years (1988).- Actor
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Jermaine 'Maino' Coleman is known for Sing (2016), Hood Pranks the Movie (2020) and All Eyez on Me (2017).- Actor
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At one point in time, Chris Tucker was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood.
Tucker was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Mary Louise (Bryant) and Norris Tucker, who owned a janitorial service. After graduating from high school, Tucker made a change to move to Hollywood from Georgia to pursue a career in show business. He found himself a frequent guest on the Def Comedy Jam (1992). Tucker was noted for doing exceptionally "clean", non-vulgar stand-up comedy routines. Tucker states his inspirations for comedy are Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor.
Tucker made his film debut in House Party 3 (1994), along side stars such as Bernie Mac, Marques Houston, and Khandi Alexander. In 1995 Tucker appeared in one of his most notable and hilarious films, Friday (1995), alongside Ice Cube. Tucker's character, Smokey, was a drug addict who was an energetic and outlandish person. Films such as Friday (1995) showed Tucker's television-comedy styling was very different from his stand-up. In 1995, Tucker also appeared in in another film, Dead Presidents (1995).
In 1997 was the busiest year of Tucker's career. He starred in three hit movies all in the same year: The Fifth Element (1997), Money Talks (1997), and Jackie Brown (1997).
In 1998, Tucker got a role to star along-side Jackie Chan. The movie was Rush Hour (1998) and it grossed more than $200 million worldwide. This resulted in two additional sequels, Rush Hour 2 (2001) and Rush Hour 3 (2007). In 2006, Tucker got a deal on his Rush Hour 3 (2007) contract that paid $25 million, making him the highest-paid actor in Hollywood at that time.
In 2001, Tucker also was in a music video with friend, pop legend Michael Jackson, in the music video, "You Rock My World."- Actor
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Humanitarian and actor Richard Gere was born on August 31, 1949, in Philadelphia, the second of five children of Doris Anna (Tiffany), a homemaker, and Homer George Gere, an insurance salesman, both Mayflower descendants. Richard started early as a musician, playing a number of instruments in high school and writing music for high school productions. He graduated from North Syracuse Central High School in 1967, and won a gymnastics scholarship to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where he majored in philosophy. He left college after two years to pursue acting, landing a lead role in the London production of the rock musical "Grease" in 1973. The following year he would be in other plays, such as "Taming of the Shrew." Onscreen, he had a few roles, and gained recognition in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977). Offscreen, he spent 1978 meeting Tibetans when he traveled to Nepal, where he spoke to many monks and lamas. Returning to the US, on Broadway he portrayed a concentration-camp prisoner in "Bent," for which he received the 1980 Theatre World Award. Back in Hollywood, he played the title role in American Gigolo (1980), establishing himself as a major star; this status was reaffirmed by An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). In the early 1980s, Richard went to Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador (amidst ongoing wars and political violence); he traveled with a doctor and visited refugee camps. It is said that Richard was romantically linked with Tuesday Weld, Priscilla Presley, Barbra Streisand and Kim Basinger. In 1990 Richard teamed up with Julia Roberts to star in the blockbuster Pretty Woman (1990); his cool reserve was the perfect complement to Julia's bubbling enthusiasm. The film captured the nation's heart, and won the People's Choice award for Best Movie. Fans clamored for years for a sequel, or at least another pairing of Julia and Richard. They got that with Runaway Bride (1999), which was a runaway success (Richard got $12 million, Julia made $17 million, the box office was $152 million, which shows what happens when you give the public what it wants!). Offscreen, Richard and Cindy Crawford got married December 12, 1991 (they were divorced in 1995). Afterwards, Richard started dating actress Carey Lowell. They had a son, Homer James Jigme Gere, on February 6, 2000. Richard was picked by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world in 1991, and as their Sexiest Man Alive in 1999. He is an accomplished pianist and music writer. Above all, Richard is a humanitarian. He's a founding member of "Tibet House," a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of Tibetan culture. He has been an active supporter of "Survival International" for several years, a worldwide organization supporting tribal peoples, affirming their right to decide their own future and helping them protect their lives, lands and human rights (these tribes are global, including the natives of the Amazon, the Maasai of East Africa, the Wichi of Argentina, and others). In 1994 Richard went to London to open Harrods' sale, donating his £50,000 appearance fee to Survival. He has been prominent in their charity advertising campaigns.- Actor
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Dee Bradley Baker is an American voice actor from Indiana. He first became known for voicing Olmec in Legends of the Hidden Temple before voicing Daffy Duck in Space Jam. He is well-known for voicing Klaus in American Dad, the Clone Troopers in several Star Wars media, Ra's al Ghul in Batman: Arkham City, Momo and Appa in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Perry the Platypus in Phineas & Ferb, Sunny Jim in Lobo, Kevin the Sea Cucumber in SpongeBob SquarePants, Numbuh Four in Codename: Kids Next Door and Gravemind in Halo 2.- Music Artist
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Sir George Ivan Morrison OBE known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans six decades. He has won two Grammy Awards.
As a teenager in the late 1950s, he played a variety of instruments such as guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for several Irish show-bands, covering the popular hits of that time. Known as "Van the Man" to his fans, Morrison rose to prominence in the mid 1960s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish R&B and rock band Them. With Them, he recorded the garage band classic "Gloria".
Under the pop-oriented guidance of Bert Berns, Morrison's solo career began in 1967 with the release of the hit single "Brown Eyed Girl". After Berns's death, Warner Bros. Records bought out Morrison's contract and allowed him three sessions to record Astral Weeks (1968). While initially a poor seller, the album has become regarded as a classic. Moondance (1970) established Morrison as a major artist, and he built on his reputation throughout the 1970s with a series of acclaimed albums and live performances.
Much of Morrison's music is structured around the conventions of soul music and R&B. An equal part of his catalogers consists of lengthy, spiritually inspired musical journeys that show the influence of Celtic tradition, jazz and stream-of-consciousness narrative, such as the album Astral Weeks. The two strains together are sometimes referred to as "Celtic soul". His live performances have been described as "transcendental" and "inspired", and his music as attaining "a kind of violent transcendence".
Morrison's albums have performed well in Ireland and the UK, with more than 40 reaching the UK top 40. With the release of Latest Record Project, Volume 1 he scored top ten albums in the UK in four consecutive decades. Eighteen of his albums have reached the top 40 in the United States, twelve of them between 1997 and 2017. He has received two Grammy Awards, the 1994 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, the 2017 Americana Music Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting and has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2016, he was knighted for services to the music industry and to tourism in Northern Ireland.- Actor
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Thomas Mark Harmon was born on September 2, 1951, in Burbank, California, to football player and broadcaster Tom Harmon and actress and artist Elyse Knox (née Kornbrath). Harmon played college football and found success as one of TV's hunkiest actors. While many of his roles have relied on good looks, Harmon was impressive on St. Elsewhere (1982) as the suave doctor who contracted AIDS.
His sisters are Kelly Harmon, the Tic Tac model; and Kristin Harmon, a painter and ex-wife of musician Ricky Nelson. He is the uncle of musicians Matthew Nelson and Gunnar Nelson of the band Nelson, and actress Tracy Nelson. In 1987, Harmon and his wife, actress Pam Dawber, sued his sister Kristin Harmon, for custody of her youngest son, Sam.- Actor
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Actor, writer, director and producer, Eugenio Derbez has a degree in Film Directing from the Mexican Institute of Cinematography and Theater, as well as a degree in Acting from Televisa's Acting School. He has also studied and is trained in the arts of Dance, Music and Singing, and still today he continues prepping himself in L.A. and in New York City. His latest feature film "Instructions Not Included" became the most successful Spanish-language film ever in the US and worldwide, and broke numerous box office records everywhere, earning over $100M. Variety recently recognized him as the "#1 most influential Hispanic male in the world".
Eugenio is the star, writer, director and producer of some of the most popular TV shows including "Al Derecho y al Derbez", "XHDRBZ" and "La Familia P.Luche" which ran from 1994-2012 and is one of Univision's longest running and most successful sitcoms ever. Reruns continue to air every week in Mexico and all over Latin America, and in the US on Univision.
Eugenio also broke through to English-speaking audiences as a star on the CBS sitcom "¡ROB!" and on Broadway in the play "Latinologues" that ran at the Helen Hayes Theater.
As a film actor, Eugenio has appeared in a number of successful and critically acclaimed films including "Sangre de mi Sangre", which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2007, the indie smash hit "Under the Same Moon" ("La Misma Luna"), Adam Sandler's "Jack and Jill", and "Girl in Progress" with Eva Mendes. Eugenio just wrapped shooting "Geostorm", directed by writer and producer Dean Devlin ("Independence Day"), and voices the role of "Rico" in the upcoming animated feature "Underdogs"
Eugenio resides in Los Angeles, where he just opened his TV and film production company 3Pas Studios, which has a features first look deal with Lionsgate and Pantelion Films, and a first look TV deal with NBC Universal. REPLACE WITH: Actor, writer, director, producer, and philanthropist Eugenio Derbez is one of the most influential creative forces in Latin America, and is the most recognized and actor among the Spanish-speaking population in the U.S.
Having launched his career with a string of the highest rated comedy shows on Televisa and Univision, Derbez segued into movies where he has become the most successful Latino leading man in the U.S., starring in the two highest grossing Latino live-action films of all time, "Instructions Not Included" and "How to be a Latin Lover." Variety recently named him the #1 most influential Hispanic male in the world, and Expansión named him the #1 social media influencer in Mexico due to his more than 28 million followers across all social media.
On April 2018, Derbez will hit the big screen in the MGM/Pantelion feature "Overboard," a gender swapping re-imagining of the classic 1980's romantic comedy, starring alongside Anna Faris, Eva Longoria and Mel Rodriguez. The film is written by Rob Greenberg and Bob Fisher, and was directed by Rob Greenber. Bob Fisher produces alongside Derbez and producing partner Ben Odell under their 3Pas Studios banner.
Derbez also stars in Disney's upcoming "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" also starring Helen Mirren, Keira Knightly and Morgan Freeman, directed by Lasse Hallström, which premieres in December 2018. He will also be seen in Spanish-language films "El Complot Mongol" directed by Sebastian del Amo and "Rock n' Cola" directed by Jorge Ulloa.
Derbez starred in the Lionsgate/Pantelion feature "How to Be a Latin Lover" alongside Salma Hayek, Rob Lowe, Kristen Bell, Raquel Welch, Rob Riggle, Linda Lavin and Rob Huebel. The film was written by Chris Spain and Jon Zack and directed by Ken Marino with Derbez producing along with his producing partner Benjamin Odell. The film opened in the US to 12M debut, breaking Lionsgate's Pantelion Films's box office record for highest opening weekend, and debuted in #1 in Mexico, holding this position for several weeks and defeating big budget summer blockbusters Guardians of the Galaxy, Alien Covenant and King Arthur. It made over 60M USD worldwide.
Derbez made his U.S. crossover with "Instructions Not Included" which he directed, co-wrote and starred in. It became the most successful Spanish-language film ever in the U.S. and worldwide, and broke numerous box office records, earning over $100M.
Derbez also starred in Sony's, "Miracles From Heaven," opposite Jennifer Gardner (directed by Patricia Riggen), and "Geostorm," directed by Dean Devlin and starring Gerard Butler.
Derbez has appeared in a number of successful and critically acclaimed films including "Sangre de mi Sangre," which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2007; the indie smash hit, "Under the Same Moon" ("La Misma Luna"); Adam Sandler's "Jack and Jill"; and "Girl In Progress," with Eva Mendes. Derbez also starred in the CBS sitcom "Rob!" and on Broadway in "Latinologues" at the Helen Hayes Theater.
Prior to his transition to U.S, Derbez was the single most influential comedy TV actor and producer. He was the star, writer, director and producer of some of the most popular Spanish language TV shows of all time including "Al Derecho y Al Derbez", "XHDRBZ", and "La Familia P. Luche."
Derbez has consolidated his place in Hollywood history. On March 9, 2016, Derbez was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, becoming the 88th Latino performer to receive the honor.
Derbez resides in Los Angeles. His TV and film production company 3Pas Studios has a first look features deal with Lionsgate / Pantelion Films.- Actor
- Composer
- Writer
Stefan Gordy was born on 3 September 1975 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for Skyline (2010), The Happytime Murders (2018) and 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016).- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Quirky, inventive and handsome American actor Michael Keaton first achieved major fame with his door-busting performance as fast-talking ideas man Bill Blazejowski, alongside a nerdish morgue attendant (Henry Winkler), in Night Shift (1982). He played further comedic roles in Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984), and Beetlejuice (1988), earned further acclaim for his dramatic portrayal of Bruce Wayne / Batman in Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), and since then, has moved easily between film genres, ranging from drama and romantic comedy to thriller and action.
Keaton was born Michael John Douglas on September 5, 1951 in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, to Leona Elizabeth (Loftus), a homemaker, and George A. Douglas, a civil engineer and surveyor. He is of Irish, as well as English, Scottish, and German, descent. Michael studied speech for two years at Kent State, before dropping out and moving to Pittsburgh. An unsuccessful attempt at stand-up comedy led Keaton to working as a TV cameraman in a cable station, and he came to realize he wanted to work in front of the cameras. Keaton first appeared on TV in several episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968).
He left Pittsburgh and moved to Los Angeles to begin auditioning for TV. He began cropping up in popular TV shows including Maude (1972) and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979). Around this time, Keaton decided to use an alternative surname to remove confusion with better-known actor Michael Douglas. He looked into the "K"'s for surnames and thought it was inoffensive to chose 'Keaton'. His next break was scoring a co-starring role alongside Jim Belushi in the short-lived comedy series Working Stiffs (1979), which showcased his comedic talent and led to his co-starring role in Night Shift (1982). Keaton next scored the lead in the comedy hits Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984) , Gung Ho (1986), the Tim Burton horror-comedy Beetlejuice (1988), and The Dream Team (1989).
Keaton's career was given another major boost when he was again cast by Tim Burton, this time as the title comic book superhero, millionaire playboy/crime-fighter Bruce Wayne, in Batman (1989). Burton cast him because he thought that Keaton was the only actor who could portray someone who has the kind of darkly obsessive personality that the character demands. To say there were howls of protest by fans of the caped crusader comic strip is an understatement! Warner Bros. was deluged with thousands of letters of complaint commenting that comedian Keaton was the wrong choice for the Caped Crusader, given his prior work and the fact that he lacked the suave, handsome features and tall, muscular physicality often attributed to the character in the comic books. However, their fears were proven wrong when Keaton turned in a sensational performance, and he held his own on screen with opponent Jack Nicholson, playing the lunatic villain, "The Joker". Keaton's dramatic work earned widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike, and Batman (1989) became one of the most successful films of the year.
Keaton remained active during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films. Keen to diversify his work, Keaton starred as a psychotic tenant in Pacific Heights (1990), as a hard-working cop in One Good Cop (1991), and then donned the black cape and cowl once more for Batman Returns (1992). He remained in demand during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films, including the star-studded Shakespearian Much Ado About Nothing (1993), the drama My Life (1993), another Ron Howard comedy The Paper (1994), with sexy Andie MacDowell in Multiplicity (1996), twice in the same role, dogged Elmore Leonard character Agent Ray Nicolette, in Jackie Brown (1997) and Out of Sight (1998). He also played a killer in the mediocre thriller Desperate Measures (1998).
In the 2000s, Keaton appeared in several productions with mixed success, including Live from Baghdad (2002), First Daughter (2004), and Herbie Fully Loaded (2005). He also provided voices for characters in the animated films Cars (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Minions (2015).
He returned to major film roles in the 2010s, co-starring in The Other Guys (2010), RoboCop (2014) and Need for Speed (2014). Also that year, Keaton starred alongside Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), a film by 21 Grams (2003) and Biutiful (2010) director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. In the film, Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, a screen actor, famous for playing the iconic titular superhero, who puts on a Broadway play based on a Raymond Carver short story, to regain his former glory. Keaton's critically praised lead performance earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, the Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor and Best Actor in a Comedy, and nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award, British Academy Film Award, and Academy Award for Best Actor.
In 2015, he played a journalist in Spotlight (2015), which, like Birdman, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2016, he starred as Ray Kroc, the developer of McDonald's, in the drama The Founder (2016).
He is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Bob Newhart is an American actor and stand-up comedian. His comedic style involves deadpan delivery of dialogue, a slight stammer when talking, and comedic monologues. He has cited earlier comedians George Gobel (1919-1991), Ray Goulding (1922-1990), and Bob Elliott (1923-2016) as his main influences in developing his comedy style.
In 1929, Newhart was born in a hospital in Oak Park, Illinois. His parents were George David Newhart (1900-1985) and his wife Julia Pauline Burns (1900-1994). George was the son of an American father and a Canadian mother, had both German and Irish ancestry, and claimed maternal descent from the O'Conor family of Connacht; his mother was an Irish-American. George had partial ownership in a plumbing and heating-supply business, which was the Newhart family's main source of income.
Bob Newhart was raised in the vicinity of Chicago and attended a number of local Roman Catholic schools: first the St. Catherine of Siena Grammar School in Oak Park, then St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago. He graduated the prep school (equivalent to a high school) in 1947, then enrolled at the Loyola University Chicago. He graduated in 1952 with a Bachelor's Degree in business management.
Shortly after graduating from the university, Newhart was drafted into the the United States Army. He served as a personnel manager for the Army during the Korean War (1950-1953). He was honorably discharged in 1954, during the post-war demobilization of the American armed forces. He attempted to continue his studies, and enrolled into the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. However he never completed his degree, quitting a required internship because his employer had demanded "unethical" behavior from him.
Newhart briefly worked as an accountant for the USG Corporation (United States Gypsum Corporation), a Chicago-based company which manufactures construction materials. He quit after regularly facing trouble in "adjusting petty cash imbalances". He then proceeded to work as a clerk for various employers, but found himself struggling financially.
In 1958, Newhart was hired as an advertising copywriter for a Chicago-based production company. To entertain himself, he started exchanging "long telephone calls about absurd scenarios" with a friendly co-worker. The 29-year-old Newhart had the idea to try his hand as a comedian, and developed a comedy routine based on the telephone calls. He recorded his routine into audition tapes, and send them to radio stations. His routine was met favorably. In 1959, Newhart started performing as a stand-up-comedian in nightclubs, and signed a contract with a new record company which was seeking to recruit some talent. The company was Warner Bros. Records (established in 1958), a subsidiary of the film studio Warner Bros.
Newhart became famous primarily through his audio releases. His comedy album "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart" (1960) became the first comedy album to make number one on the Billboard charts, and earned him the 1961 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
This success opened to him new career opportunities, in television and film. NBC offered him his own variety television show, the short-lived "The Bob Newhart Show" (October, 1961-June 1962). The show won the 1962 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, but was canceled anyway. It had won the award while facing four other candidates: "The Andy Griffith Show", "Car 54, Where Are You?", "Hazel", and "The Red Skelton Show". Each of them managed to outlast the award-winning show.
In 1962, Newhart made his film debut in the war film "Hell Is for Heroes". Newhart played the character James Driscoll, an Army company clerk who broadcasts misleading radio messages to the enemy limes during World War II. As essentially comic role in an otherwise dramatic film.
Newhart appeared frequently as a guest star in television over the subsequent years, but had relatively few film roles. He appeared in the caper story "Hot Millions" (1968), the reincarnation-themed fantasy film "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" (1970), the war film "Catch-22" (1970), and the tobacco-smoking-themed satirical film "Cold Turkey" (1971).
From 1972 to 1978, Newhart starred in the hit sitcom "The Bob Newhart Show". He played the character Robert "Bob" Hartley, Ph.D. (Newhart), a Chicago psychologist who is surrounded by eccentric patients, work colleagues, friends, and family members. Hartley was effectively the "straight man" to the wacky characters surrounding him.
In 1977, Newhart voiced Bernard, the male lead in the animated film "The Rescuers" (1977). The film features the Rescue Aid Society, an international mouse organization, with its headquarters located in New York City. Bernard is not initially one of its members, but works as their janitor. When Miss Bianca, Hungary's representative in the organization, must choose a partner for her first field mission, she impulsively chooses Bernard over the the other available agents. Part of the success of the film is based on the contrast between the two partners, the adventurous, brave, but rather impulsive Bianca, and the overly cautious, shy, and reluctant hero Bernard. "The Rescuers" earned worldwide gross rentals of 48 million dollars at the box office during its initial release, and had a total lifetime worldwide gross of 169 million dollars through subsequent re-releases.
In 1980, Newhart appeared in two live-action films, the comedy-drama "Little Miss Marker", and the political comedy "First Family". The first features Newhart as a member of a gangster-run gambling operation. The gangsters are surprised when a client uses his 6-year-old daughter as collateral for a bet, and and more surprised when the client commits suicide. The film deals with jaded criminals who develop parental feelings for the orphan girl. The other film was a more cynical comedy, with Newheart as an inept President of the United States. The main plot deals with the President tolerating the kidnapping of American citizens by a fictional African country, because the country offers some valuable resources in exchange for their new American slaves.
From 1982 to 1990, Newhart starred in a second hit sitcom, called simply "Newhart". He played the character Dick Loudon, a Vermon-based innkeeper who finds himself surrounded by strange employees, neighbors, and competitors. The show had a famous ending where the entire series is "revealed" to be a dream of Robert Hartley, Newhart's character from his first sitcom.
In 1990, Newhart returned to the role of Bernard, in the sequel film "The Rescuers Down Under". Early in the film, Bernard is preparing a marriage proposal for Miss Bianca, but his plans are derailed when they are both send to Australia for an urgent mission. The duo are partnered with Australian agent Jake, and Bernard is frustrated with when Jake competes with him for Bianca's affections. At the end of the mission, Berbard finally makes his marriage proposal, unwilling to let orders for further missions to interfere with his plans to marry the woman he loves. The film only earned 47.4 million dollars at the worldwide box office, and became Walt Disney Animation Studio's least successful theatrical animated film of the 1990s.
From 1992 to 1993, Newhart starred in his third sitcom, called simply "Bob". He played the character Bob McKay, a veteran comic book writer and artist from the 1950s. Having long retired into obscurity, McKay is hired by a corporation to produce a revival of his classic character, the superhero "Mad-Dog". The first season introduced a large cast of eccentric co-workers. The second season dismissed most of these characters, and had McKay serving as the President of a company producing greeting cards. The series suffered from low ratings, and was canceled at the end of its second season. Only 33 episodes were produced.
From 1997 to 1998, Newhart starred in his fourth sitcom "George & Leo". He played the character George Stoody, a bookstore owner who finds himself offering hospitality to a professional magician and part-time criminal, who recently robbed a Mafia-owned casino. The humor was based on the strong contrast between the two men, but the series failed to find an audience.
Newhart returned to theatrical films with the romantic comedy "In & Out" (1997). He had roles in the animated film "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie" (1998), the comedy "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde" (2003), and the Christmas film "Elf" (2003) . From 2004 to 2008, Newhart played the major character Judson in three television films of "The Librarian" fantasy franchise. The franchise features a mystical library, which hides numerous magical and technological artifacts from various historical eras. A series of librarians have to guard the library and its contents from criminal organizations with sinister designs. Judson is the mentor who trains the current librarian, after the previous one was killed in action. The series hinted that Judson was older than he looked, and he was eventually revealed to be the original librarian. He was nearly immortal, and had trained succeeding librarians for centuries.
In 2011, Newhart played a small role in the black comedy "Horrible Bosses", playing the character of sadistic CEO Louis Sherman. Sherman is described as a "Twisted Old Fuck", who keeps people locked in his trunk.
In 2013, Newhart started playing the recurring character Arthur Jeffries (stage name "Professor Proton") in the sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" (2007-). Arthur was a scientist who decades ago served as the host of a science show aimed at children, inspiring series co-protagonists Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper to start science careers of their own. Leonard and Sheldon, now professional physicists with academic careers, eventually get to meet their childhood idol. Arthur's scientific career ended in disgrace, his television days are long over, and he has been reduced to earning a meager living as a party entertainer.
The role of Arthur Jeffries won Newhart his first Primetime Emmy Award. The character dynamic between Arthur and Sheldon was popular, as Sheldon continued to idolize Arthur, while Arthur found his "student" to be insufferable. Following the character's physical death, Newhart has continued to appear in the series as Arthur Jeffries' ghost. He appears to Sheldon at various points to offer him advice, serving as a mentor figure. Sheldon views Arthur as his version of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Newhart turned 89 in 2018 but he continues to tirelessly appear in television projects and to entertain new generations of fans.- Music Artist
- Music Department
- Composer
Roger Waters was born on 6 September 1943 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK. He is a music artist and composer, known for Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982), The Squid and the Whale (2005) and The Big Boss (1971). He was previously married to Laurie Durning, Pricilla Phillips, Carolyn Christie and Judy Trim.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Widely regarded as one of the greatest stage and screen actors both in his native Great Britain and internationally, Toby Edward Heslewood Jones was born on September 7, 1966 in Hammersmith, London. His parents, Freddie Jones and Jennie Heslewood, are actors as well. Toby has two brothers: Rupert, a director, and Casper, a fellow actor. He studied Drama at the University of Manchester from 1986 to 1989, and at L'École Internationale de Théâtre in Paris under Jacques Lecoq in Paris from 1989 to 1991. Naturally, his career began on the stage (and continues there), but film and television roles came soon after his studies.
Toby made his film debut with a small role in Sally Potter's experimental take on Virginia Woolf's novel, Orlando (1992), starring Tilda Swinton. Other small film roles included the doorkeeper in Les Misérables (1998) and a memorable turn as the Royal Page in Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998) with Drew Barrymore.
Roles in the acclaimed Victoria & Albert (2001) and the Helen Mirren-starring Elizabeth I (2005) were balanced with film work, from his voice role as Dobby the House Elf in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) to supporting appearances in Ladies in Lavender (2004) (co-starring his father, Freddie), Finding Neverland (2004) and Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005).
He continued stage work during this period, appearing on Broadway in The Play What I Wrote in 2003, a year after winning the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in the London production.
Infamous (2006), directed by Douglas McGrath and released in 2006, was Toby's first starring role. His acclaimed portrayal of Truman Capote remained mostly in the shadow of Philip Seymour Hoffman's Oscar-winning performance of the author in 2005's Capote (2005).
A steady stream of film roles followed with appearances in Amazing Grace (2006), The Painted Veil (2006), Nightwatching (2007), The Mist (2007), and St. Trinian's (2007). Toby then appeared in three successive films that could have been commercial breakthroughs: kid-lit flop City of Ember (2008), the Oscar-nominated Frost/Nixon (2008), and Oliver Stone's W. (2008).
He reprised the voice-role of Dobby in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), appeared in the St. Trinian's sequel, as well as the Charles Darwin biopic Creation (2009) and Dustin Lance Black's post-Milk (2008) directorial outing, Virginia (2010). More Hollywood roles followed with appearances in The Rite (2011), Your Highness (2011), and his first big live-action breakthrough as Red Skull's biochemist Dr. Arnim Zola in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).
Even before Toby was announced as Claudius Templesmith in the adaptation of the novel The Hunger Games (2012), his star was on the rise after Captain America, with roles in three Oscar-nominated films: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), My Week with Marilyn (2011), and The Adventures of Tintin (2011). Though chances are he will forever be known by many as Claudius, the announcer for The Hunger Games with the booming voice and penchant for ending his statements with the phrase, "And may the odds be ever in your favor!"
Toby followed up this massive success with his mesmerizing tour-de-force interpretations as a sensational multifarious "chameleon" of substantial acting mastery in films such as Red Lights (2012) for Buried (2010) director Rodrigo Cortés, Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) reprising his role as Claudius Templesmith, Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio (2012), Susanne Bier's Serena (2014) and Journey's End (2017). Among others, The Girl (2012), a BBC/HBO co-production in which he starred as Alfred Hitchcock, Titanic (2012), The Secret Agent (2016), Wayward Pines (2015), The Witness for the Prosecution (2016) and Sherlock (2010) are also included in the brilliant performances of his exquisite TV work.
Toby lives in London with his family.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Corbin Bernsen made his initial mark on the seminal television series L.A. Law as opportunistic divorce lawyer "Arnie Becker" earning him multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations over the show's eight-year run. He proved along the way the role was not to be a dead-end stereotype, maintaining a steady career in both television and film over the course of three decades. Moreover, his intent devotion to his career and love for the craft has compelled him in recent years to climb into the producer/writer, and director's chair.
Born in North Hollywood, California, on September 7, 1954, Corbin was raised in and around the entertainment business. The eldest of three children, his father film and television producer Harry Bernsen and mother, veteran actress Jeanne Cooper encouraged him to continue the family tradition. After high school he originally attended UCLA with the intention of pursuing law, but instead, he went on to receive a BFA in Theatre Arts and MFA in Playwriting. He worked on the Equity-waiver L.A. stage circuit as both actor and set designer, making his film debut as a bit player in his father's picture Three the Hard Way. He then set his sights on New York in the late 70s. In the early years he carved out a living as a carpenter building rooftop decks in NYC that still stand to this day. Then in 1983 he landed the role of "Ken Graham" on daytime's Ryan's Hope and he put his tool belt away. This break led to an exclusive deal with NBC and eventually the TV role in L.A. Law. The perks of his "newly-found stardom" on L.A. Law included a hosting stint on Saturday Night Live and the covers of numerous major magazines.
Not one to settle for what he knew could be fleeting comfort, he worked diligently to parlay his small screen success into a diverse resume of feature film roles, both starring and supporting, often enjoying the challenge of portraying unsympathetic characters with an infusion of charm and likability. He co-starred as Shelley Long's egotistical husband in the reincarnation comedy Hello Again; played an equally vain Hollywood star in the musical comedy Bert Rigby, You're a Fool; and starred as a disorganized ringleader of a band of crooks in the bank caper Disorganized Crime. He capped the 1980s decade opposite Charlie Sheen and Tom Berenger in the box office hit Major League, which took advantage of his natural athleticism, playing ballplayer-cum-owner "Roger Dorn". Two sequels followed. Other notable feature film work includes the mystery thriller Shattered, directed by Wolfgang Peterson, which re-teamed him with Tom Berenger, Stephen Frears' Lay The Favorite, and a turn opposite Robert Downey Jr. in Shane Black's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
On the TV front, he has appeared in many MOW's including Line of Fire: The Morris Dees Story as the famed civil rights attorney who founded the Southern Poverty Law Center. Topping it off, Corbin's title role in the horror/ thriller The Dentist for HBO had audiences developing a similar paranoia of tooth doctors as Anthony Perkins invoked decades before to motel clerks. As spurned husband-turned-crazed dentist "Dr. Alan Feinstone", Corbin reached cult horror status. The movie spawned a sequel in which he also served as a producer. Most recently, he has reunited with Dentist director Brian Yuzna on a slate of films exploring similar themes starting with "The Plastic Surgeon."
More recently Bernsen wrapped eight seasons on USA Network's hit series Psych as Henry Spencer playing James Roday's retired cop father who taught his "fake psychic," crime solving son everything he knows.
In 2006 he formed his own production company, Team Cherokee Productions to exert more creative control over his projects and begin exploring material both as writer, director and producer. Today that company has taken root as Home Theater Films, an early player in the Faith and Family film genre. The company has explored a wide variety of themes beginning with the film "Rust" which was distributed by Sony Pictures. With five other films under their belt, including "25 Hill," "Beyond the Heavens," "Christian Mingle" starring Lacey Chabert, and the upcoming "Jesse and Naomi," Home Theater Films has firmly carved a niche and name in this lucrative genre.
Corbin has been happily married (since 1988) to British actress Amanda Pays who most recently be seen on "The Flash." They have appeared together in the sci-fi film Spacejacked and the TV-movies Dead on the Money and The Santa Trap, among others. The couple has four sons. Never one to become complacent or fall prey to the hype - a lesson learned from his mother - he still practices his carpenter skills at home as he continues to write, produce, and direct. Perseverance and dedication has played a large part in his continued success. Having a savvy take-charge approach hasn't hurt either -- characteristics worthy of many of the characters he's explored on screen.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), known professionally as Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and actor. He released his debut album, Show and Prove, in 2006, and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007. His Eurodance-influenced single, "Say Yeah", received urban radio airplay, charting on the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot Rap Tracks charts in 2008, becoming his first minor hit.
Khalifa parted with Warner Bros. and released his second album, Deal or No Deal, in November 2009. He released the mix-tape Kush and Orange Juice as a free download in April 2010; he then signed with Atlantic Records. He is also well known for his debut single for Atlantic, "Black and Yellow", which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut album for the label, Rolling Papers, was released on March 29, 2011. He followed that album with O.N.I.F.C. on December 4, 2012, which was backed by the singles "Work Hard, Play Hard" and "Remember You". Wiz released his fifth album Blacc Hollywood on August 18, 2014, backed by the lead single "We Dem Boyz". In March 2015, he released "See You Again" for the soundtrack of the film Furious 7 and the song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 non-consecutive weeks.
Khalifa was born Cameron Jibril Thomaz on September 8, 1987 in Minot, North Dakota, to parents serving in the military. His parents divorced when Khalifa was about three years old. He is a military brat with his parents' military service causing him to move regularly. Khalifa lived in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan before settling in Pittsburgh with his mother in around 1996 where he attended Taylor Allderdice High School. Soon after moving to Pittsburgh, Khalifa began to write and perform his own lyrics before he was a teenager.
His stage name is derived from Khalifa, an Arabic word meaning "successor", and wisdom, which was shortened to Wiz when Khalifa was a young boy. Khalifa stated to Spinner.com that the name also came from being called "young Wiz 'cause I was good at everything I did, and my granddad is Muslim, so he gave me that name; he felt like that's what I was doing with my music." He got a tattoo of his stage name on his 17th birthday.
By the age of 15 he was regularly recording his music in a studio called I.D. Labs. The management of the studio was so impressed by his lyrics that they allowed Khalifa to record for free. This allowed him to receive professional grade studio time at no cost to him. Also, this allowed him to receive more exposure at such a young age than other artists.- Composer
BoomJinx is known for Vorp! (2012).- Actor
- Composer
- Writer
Antonio Hardy better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who began his career in 1986 as a member of the Juice Crew. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and skilled MCs in hip hop. Rolling Stone ranked his song "Ain't No Half-Steppin'" number 25 on its list of The 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time, calling him "a master wordsmith of rap's late-golden age and a huge influence on a generation of MCs".- Actor
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Born September 12, 1976 in Columbus, Ohio. Became a member of Grammy Award winning group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Released 7 solo albums Heaven'z Movie (1998), The Gift (2001), Double R (2002), Alpha & Omega (2004), Speaking in Tongues (2005), Thugz Revenge (2006) and Story (March 21, 2006) .He also has his own record label 7th Sign. He also has a rivalry with fellow Bone member, Krayzie Bone- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Sam Neill was born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland, to army parents, an English-born mother, Priscilla Beatrice (Ingham), and a New Zealand-born father, Dermot Neill. His family moved to the South Island of New Zealand in 1954. He went to boarding schools and then attended the universities at Canterbury and Victoria. The 6-foot tall star has a BA in English Literature. Following his graduation, he worked with the New Zealand Players and other theater groups. He also was a film director, editor and scriptwriter for the New Zealand National Film Unit for 6 years.
Sam Neill is internationally recognised for his contribution to film and television. He is well known for his roles in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993) and Jane Campion's Academy Award Winning film The Piano (1993). Other film roles include The Daughter (2015), Backtrack (2015) opposite Adrien Brody, MindGamers (2015), United Passions (2014), A Long Way Down (2014), Escape Plan (2013), The Hunter (2011) with Willem Dafoe, Daybreakers (2009), Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010), Little Fish (2005) opposite Cate Blanchett, Skin (2008), Dean Spanley (2008), Wimbledon (2004), Yes (2004), Perfect Strangers (2003), Dirty Deeds (2002), The Zookeeper (2001), Bicentennial Man (1999) opposite Robin Williams, The Horse Whisperer (1998) alongside Kristin Scott Thomas, Sleeping Dogs (1977), and My Brilliant Career (1979).
He received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for the NBC miniseries Merlin (1998). He also received a Golden Globe nomination for One Against the Wind (1991), and for Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983). The British Academy of Film and Television honoured Sam's work in Reilly by naming him Best Actor. Sam received an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in Jessica (2004).
Other television includes House of Hancock (2015), Rake (2010), Doctor Zhivago (2002), To the Ends of the Earth (2005), The Tudors (2007) with Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Crusoe (2008), Alcatraz (2012) and recently in Old School (2014) opposite Bryan Brown, Peaky Blinders (2013) alongside Cillian Murphy and The Dovekeepers (2015) for CBS Studios.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Tommy Lee Jones was born in San Saba, Texas, the son of Lucille Marie (Scott), a police officer and beauty shop owner, and Clyde C. Jones, who worked on oil fields. Tommy himself worked in underwater construction and on an oil rig. He attended St. Mark's School of Texas, a prestigious prep school for boys in Dallas, on a scholarship, and went to Harvard on another scholarship. He roomed with future Vice President Al Gore and played offensive guard in the famous 29-29 Harvard-Yale football game of '68 known as "The Tie." He received a B.A. in English literature and graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1969.
Following college, he moved to New York and began his theatrical career on Broadway in "A Patriot for Me" (1969). In 1970, he made his film debut in Love Story (1970). While living in New York, he continued to appear in various plays, both on- and off-Broadway: "Fortune and Men's Eyes" (1969); "Four on a Garden" (1971); "Blue Boys" (1972); "Ulysses in Nighttown" (1974). During this time, he also appeared on a daytime soap opera, One Life to Live (1968) as Dr. Mark Toland from 1971-75. He moved with wife Kate Lardner, granddaughter of short-story writer/columnist Ring Lardner, and her two children from a previous marriage, to Los Angeles.
There he began to get some roles on television: Charlie's Angels (1976) (pilot episode); Smash-Up on Interstate 5 (1976); and The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977). While working on the movie Back Roads (1981), he met and fell in love with Kimberlea Cloughley, whom he later married. More roles in television--both on network and cable--stage and film garnered him a reputation as a strong, explosive, thoughtful actor who could handle supporting as well as leading roles. He made his directorial debut in The Good Old Boys (1995) on TNT. In addition to directing and starring in the film, he co-wrote the teleplay (with J.T. Allen). The film, based on Elmer Kelton's novel, is set in west Texas where Jones has strong family ties. Consequently, this story of a cowboy facing the end of an era has special meaning for him.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Mickey Rourke was born Phillip Andre Rourke, Jr. on September 16, 1952, in Schenectady, New York, the son of Annette Elizabeth (Cameron) and Philip Andre Rourke. His father was of Irish and German descent, and his mother was of mostly English and French-Canadian ancestry. When he was six years old, his parents divorced. A year later, his mother married Eugene Addis, a Miami Beach police officer, and moved to Miami Shores, Florida. After graduating from Horace Mann Junior High School, Rourke's family moved to a house located on 47th Street and Prairie Avenue in Miami Beach. In 1969 Rourke attended Miami Beach Senior High School, where he played second-string first baseman under coach Skip Bertman. He also acted in a school play, "The Serpent," directed by legendary "Teacher To The Stars" Jay W. Jensen.
In 1971 he graduated from Miami Beach Senior High School, and after working for a short time as a bus boy at the famed Forge Restaurant on Miami Beach, Rourke moved back to New York to seek out a career in acting.
Rourke's teenage years were more aimed toward sports more than acting. He took up self-defense training at the Boys Club of Miami. It was there he learned boxing skills and decided on an amateur career. At the age of 12, Rourke won his first boxing match as an 118-pound bantamweight, defeating Javier Villanueva. Some of his early matches were fought as Andre Rourke. He continued his boxing training at the famed 5th Street Gym in Miami Beach, soon joining the Police Athletic League boxing program. In 1969 Rourke, now weighing 140 pounds, sparred with former World Welterweight champion Luis Rodriguez. Rodriguez was the number one-rated middleweight boxer in the world and was training for his match with world champion Nino Benvenuti. Rourke claims to have received a concussion in this sparring match.
In 1971, at the Florida Golden Gloves, Rourke received another concussion from a boxing match. Doctors told him to take a year off and rest. In 1972 Rourke knocked out Ron Robinson in 18 seconds and John Carver in 39 seconds. On Aug. 20, 1973, Rourke knocked out 'Sherman "Big Train"' Bergman' in 31 seconds. Shortly after, Rourke decided to retire from amateur boxing.
From 1964 to 1973, Rourke compiled an amateur boxing record of 27 wins (17 by knockout) and 3 defeats. At one point, he reportedly scored 12 consecutive first-round knockouts. As an amateur, Rourke had been friendly with pro-boxer Tommy Torino. When Rourke decided to return to boxing as a professional in 1991, Torino promoted some of Rourke's fights. Rourke was trained by former pro-boxer Freddie Roach at Miami Beach's 5th Street Gym and the Outlaw Boxing Club Gym in Los Angeles. He made $250 for his pro debut, but by the end of his second year of boxing, he had earned a million dollars. In June 1994, Rourke appeared on the cover of World Boxing Magazine. He sparred with world champions James Toney, John David Jackson, and Tommy Morrison.
Rourke wished to have 16 professional fights and then fight for a world title. However, he retired in 1994 after eight bouts and never got his desired title fight. His boxing career resulted in severe facial injuries that required a number of operations to repair his damaged face. Rourke went back to acting but worked in relative obscurity until he won a Golden Globe Award for his role as Randy "The Ram" Robinson in The Wrestler (2008). He was nominated for Best Actor, as well, but lost.- Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
Xzibit was born in Detroit, where he lived until his mother passed away when he was only nine years old. At the age of ten, he began to rap, very personally because of the loss of his mother. At the age of 14, he got into trouble and was removed from his home for two years after his father refused to have him there. Xzibit was released from the state on his own recognizance as an adult at 17. He did a little slangin' to get some money together and jumped into his jeep and headed toward LA, California. In 1992, Xzibit met with producer Broadway, through the group, Madcap. His first songs were "Freestyle Ghetto" on "King Tee IV Life", and after that he got on the Liks' "Coast ][ Coast" on the joints, "Hit and Run". He points to his mother, who was a writer, as his source of creativity. Xzibit's rhymes resonate because he speaks from the heart as an individual, rather than trying to portray a phony hip hop persona. He has lived through many dramatic times in his life, so he raps primarily about his own life experiences, and is not afraid to reveal himself on a track. Xzibit eventually found himself working with Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, and helped on Dre's 2001. Through that work he became good friends with Dre, Snoop, Eminem, and others on the Aftermath staff. He is now a father, too.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
British actor Jeremy Irons was born in Cowes, Isle of Wight, a small island off the south coast of England. He is the son of Barbara Anne Brereton (Sharpe) and Paul Dugan Irons, an accountant. Young Jeremy didn't prove very fond of figures. He visited mainland England only once a year. He wound up being grounded when his family settled down in Hertfordshire. At the age of 13 he enrolled in Sherborne School, Dorset, where he could practice his favorite sport, horse-riding. Before becoming an actor, he had considered a veterinarian surgeon's career.
He trained at the Bristol Old Vic School for two years, then joined Bristol Old Vic repertory company where he gained experience working in everything from Shakespeare to contemporary dramas. He moved to London in 1971 and had a number of jobs before landing the role of "John the Baptist" in the hit musical "Godspell". He went on to have a successful early career in the West End theatre and on TV, and debuted on-screen in Nijinsky (1980). In the early 80s, he gained international attention with his starring role in the Granada Television serial adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's classic novel Brideshead Revisited (1981), after which he was much in demand as a romantic leading man. He went on to a steady film career. In 1984, he debuted on Broadway opposite: Glenn Close in Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing" and, in the mid-80s, he appeared in three lead roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Once described as 'the thinking woman's pin up', he has made his name in thought provoking films such as David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers (1988), for which he won the New York Critics Best Actor Award. He gained a Golden Globe Award in addition to an Oscar for Best Actor in 1990 for his role as Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune (1990) alongside Glenn Close. Among his many achievements, his role as Professor Higgins in Loewe-Lerner's famous musical "My Fair Lady" mustn't be forgotten. It was in London, back in 1987.
He is married to actress Sinéad Cusack, with whom he appeared in Waterland (1992) and in the Royal Shakespeare Company plays. He appeared with his son Samuel Irons and his father-in-law Cyril Cusack in the film Danny the Champion of the World (1989). His son Max Irons is also an actor.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Since David McCallum's father, David McCallum Sr., was first violinist for the London Philharmonic Orchestra and his mother, Dorothy Dorman, was a cellist, it's not surprising that David was originally headed for a career in music, playing oboe. He studied briefly at the Royal Academy of Music. He left that, however, for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and joined Actor's Equity in 1946, his first acting work being for BBC Radio. He made nearly a dozen movies in the United Kingdom before his critically acclaimed work as Lt. Wyatt in Billy Budd (1962).
To the older generation, he is perhaps best known for his portrayal of U.N.C.L.E. agent Illya Kuryakin in the hit TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964). To younger audience, he is best known for his superlative portrayal of Dr. Donald "Duckie" Mallard on NCIS (2003).
McCallum was first married to actress Jill Ireland, whom he met while filming Hell Drivers (1957). In 1962 he introduced Ireland to Charles Bronson when both were filming The Great Escape (1963). She eventually left McCallum and married Bronson in 1968. McCallum and Ireland had three sons: Paul, Jason (an adopted son who died from an accidental drug overdose in 1989), and Val (short for Valentine).
He met fashion model Katherine Carpenter during a photo shoot for Glamour in 1965 and married her two years later. The couple had a son, Peter, and a daughter, Sophie. They were together for 58 years and were active with charitable organizations that support the The United States Marine Corps: Katherine's father was a Marine who served in the Battle of Iwo Jima, and her brother lost his life in the Vietnam War. McCallum had eight grandchildren.
David McCallum died on September 25 2023 in New York City from natural causes at the age of 90.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Chris Tallman was born on 22 September 1970 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Time Belt (2003), The Thundermans (2013) and Computerman (2003). He has been married to Sarah Stanard since 28 October 2006.- Music Department
- Actor
- Composer
Parry Gripp is an Emmy-winning songwriter and recording artist, whose best known works include the theme songs to "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" (with his band Nerf Herder), Disney's "The 7D," The Cartoon Network's "Ben 10: Omniverse," Marvel's "The Super Hero Squad Show," and Jib Jab's "StoryBots Super Songs." He was series composer for Disney's "The 7D" and has also written songs for Disney's "Phineas & Ferb" (where he appeared as a special guest), Hallmark's "Hoops & Yoyo" television specials, Netflix's "Ask The StoryBots," Amazon's "Lily The Unicorn," and an animal video series for National Geographic Kids.
Gripp maintains a highly popular YouTube music channel, with over 400,000 subscribers and 187 million views, featuring children's favorites such as "Raining Tacos," "Space Unicorn," "Do You Like Waffles?," "Baby Monkey (Going Backwards on A Pig)," and numerous others. His YouTube videos were featured in Ricky Gervais' Netflix series "Derek." Actor Christoph Waltz portrayed a hamster in a sketch to Gripp's song "Hamster On A Piano" on Jimmy Kimmel's 2014 post Academy Awards show.- Music Artist
- Composer
- Actor
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born September 23, 1949 in Long Branch, New Jersey, USA. His father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen, worked as a bus driver, and was of Irish and Dutch ancestry. His mother, Adele Ann (Zerilli), worked as a legal secretary, and was of Italian descent. He has an older sister, Virginia, and a younger sister Pamela Springsteen. Bruce was raised as a Catholic. He was inspired to take up music when he, at the age of seven, saw Elvis Presley on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948). When he was thirteen he bought his first guitar for 18 dollars. His mother took out a loan when Bruce was 16 and bought him a Kent guitar for 60 dollars.
In 1965, he became the lead guitarist in the band "The Castiles", he would later become lead singer in the band. The Castiles recorded two original songs at a public recording studio in Brick Township, New Jersey. From 1969 to 1971 he performed with Steven Van Zandt, Danny Federici and Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez in a band called "Child", that was renamed later to "Steel Mill" when guitarist Robbin Thompson joined the band.
In 1972, he signed a record deal with Columbia Records and released his debut album, "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.", with his New Jersey-based colleagues, who would later be called "The E Street Band", In January, 1973. The album had critical success and so did their second album, "The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle", released in September, 1973, but had little commercial success. In 1975, after more than 14 month of recording, their third album was released, "Born to Run", which had both critical and commercial success for Springsteen and the band.
In 1977, he returned to the studio, after a two-year legal battle with former manager Mike Appel, and produced the album, "Darkness on the Edge of Town", released in 1978 and became a turning point musically for his career. In 1980 came the release of "The River", the album sold well and he followed up with the album "Nebraska" which had critical success but had little commercial success. Springsteen came back with a bang with the release of the album "Born in the U.S.A." in 1984, which sold 15 million copies in the U.S. alone and had seven top ten singles. It became one of the best-selling albums of all time.
After the huge success of the "Born in the U.S.A." album he released a more calm and sedate album in 1987, "Tunnel of Love", which included songs about love lost and the challenges of love, after the break-up with first wife, Julianne Phillips. The albums released in 1992, "Lucky Town" and "Human Touch" were also popular, Human Touch being the most popular of the two, hitting the number one spot of the best-selling albums in the UK. In 1994 he won an academy award for the song "Streets of Philadelphia" featured in the film Philadelphia (1993).
In 1995, he released the album "The Ghost of Tom Joad", which was mostly a solo guitar album and was inspired by "Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass," a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Dale Maharidge. After being apart from the E Street Band for several years they reunited with a successful tour which ended in Madison Square Garden in New York in the year 2000. In 2002 he released the first studio album with the full band in over 18 years, "The Rising", and it became a critical and commercial success. In 2005 he released his third folk album (after "Nebraska" and "The Ghost of Tom Joad"), "Devils & Dust" It was followed by "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" in 2006 and "Magic" in 2007. His 16th album will be released on January 27, 2009 and is called "Working on a Dream".
He married for the first time at the age of 35 to actress Julianne Phillips. The marriage helped boost her acting career, but his traveling took it's toll on the marriage and the final blow came when she found out his affair with the American singer/songwriter/guitarist Patti Scialfa. Their marriage ended in 1989. He then married Patti Scialfa on June 8th, 1991, They had lived together since the separation between him and his first wife and they had a child before they married. They have three children together: Evan James Springsteen (born July 25, 1990), Jessica Rae (born December 30, 1991) and Sam Ryan Springsteen (born January 5, 1994).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Anthony Mackie is an American actor. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Martha (Gordon) and Willie Mackie, Sr., who owned a business, Mackie Roofing. Anthony has been featured in feature films, television series and Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Drowning Crow, McReele, A Soldier's Play, and Talk, by Carl Hancock Rux, for which he won an Obie Award in 2002. In 2002, he was featured in Eminem's debut film, 8 Mile, playing Papa Doc, a member of Leaders of the Free World. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards for his role in _The Hurt Locker (2009)_(QV). This is Mackie's second ISA nomination, the first coming for his work in _Brother to Brother (2003)_, where he was nominated for Best Actor. Also in 2009, Mackie portrayed rapper Tupac Shakur in the film Notorious (2009). He appears in the Matt Damon film The Adjustment Bureau (2011) where he plays Harry Mitchell, a sympathetic member of a shadowy supernatural group that controls human destiny.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Jay Scott Greenspan, known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor, comedian, film director, and television presenter. An Emmy and Tony winner, he is best known for his role as George Costanza in the television series Seinfeld (1989), for which he was nominated for seven consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. His other well-known roles include Phillip Stuckey in the film Pretty Woman (1990), comic relief gargoyle Hugo in the Disney animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), and the title character in the animated series Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man (1994). He has also made guest appearances on shows such as Dream On (1994), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2001, 2009), and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2019). For his role in Dream On, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song in 2020 for "The Bad Guys?" on Brainwashed By Toons.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Mark Hamill is best known for his portrayal of Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy - Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) - a role he reprised in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) and Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019). He also starred and co-starred in the films Corvette Summer (1978), The Big Red One (1980), and Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014). Hamill's extensive voice acting work includes a long-standing role as the Joker, commencing with Batman: The Animated Series (1992).
Hamill was born in Oakland, California, to Virginia Suzanne (Johnson) and William Thomas Hamill, a captain in the United States Navy. He majored in drama at Los Angeles City College and made his acting debut on The Bill Cosby Show (1969). He then played a recurring role (Kent Murray) on the soap opera General Hospital (1963) and co-starred on the comedy series The Texas Wheelers (1974).
Released on May 25, 1977, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) was an enormous unexpected success and made a huge impact on the film industry. Hamill also appeared in The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) and later starred in the successful sequels Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). For both of the sequels, Hamill was honored with the Saturn Award for Best Actor given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. He reprised the role of Luke Skywalker for the radio dramatizations of both "Star Wars" (1981) and "The Empire Strikes Back" (1983), and then in a starring role in Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017). For the radio dramatization of "Return of the Jedi" (1996), the role was played by a different actor.
He voiced the new Chucky in Child's Play (2019), taking over from Brad Dourif.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
A legendary actor with 50 celebrated years of film, television and producing experience, Michael Douglas is known for his era-defining roles and enduring cultural impact.
In addition to his career accomplishments, Douglas has remained a steadfast public servant, activist and philanthropist dedicated to peace and human welfare, democracy, gun control advocacy, support of the arts and support of nuclear disarmament. In 1998, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Douglas as a Messenger of Peace for his commitment on disarmament issues, including nuclear non-proliferation and halting the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.
Since his earliest acting work on Hail, Hero! (1969) and The Streets of San Francisco (1972) Douglas has played some of the most memorable and enigmatic American anti-heroes of the last half century. He is most known for his iconic screen roles, like his Academy Award-winning turn as Gordon Gekko Wall Street (1987) as well as the critically and commercially acclaimed films Fatal Attraction (1987), The American President (1995), Basic Instinct (1992), Traffic (2000) and Romancing the Stone (1984). He is also a prolific producer with credits on politically relevant and socially influential motion pictures like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), The China Syndrome (1979), Traffic (2000) the television series: The Kominsky Method (2018) and an upcoming limited series where Douglas portrays Benjamin Franklin (2024) during his nine years in France lobbying for French aid for the American Revolution.
With a passion for complex protagonists and darkly humorous undercurrents, Douglas has received numerous accolades for his work, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, AFI Life Achievement Award, two French César Awards for Career Achievement and, most recently, the Palme d'or d'honneur for lifetime achievement at the 76th Annual Festival de Cannes as well as the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Cinema at the Goa Film Festival in India.
Michael Douglas was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to actors Diana Douglas (Diana Love Dill) and Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch). His paternal grandparents were Belarusian Jewish immigrants, while his mother was born in Bermuda, the daughter of a local Attorney General, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Melville Dill; Diana's family had long been established in both Bermuda and the United States. Douglas's parents divorced when he was six, and he went to live with his mother and her new husband. Only seeing Kirk on holidays, Michael attended Eaglebrook School in Deerfield, Massachusetts, where he was about a year younger than all of his classmates.
Douglas attended the elite preparatory Choate School and spent his summers with his father on movie sets. Although accepted at Yale, Douglas attended the University of California, Santa Barbara. Deciding he wanted to be an actor in his teenage years, Michael often asked his father about getting a "foot in the door" Kirk was strongly opposed to Michael pursuing an acting career, saying that it was an industry with many downs and few ups, and that he wanted all four of his sons to stay out of it. Michael, however, was persistent, and made his film debut in his father's film Cast a Giant Shadow (1966).
After receiving his B.A. degree in 1968, Douglas moved to New York City to continue his dramatic training, studying at the American Place Theatre with Wynn Handman, and at the Neighborhood Playhouse, where he appeared in workshop productions of Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author (1976) and Thornton Wilder's Happy Journey (1963). A few months after he arrived in New York, Douglas got his first big break, when he was cast in the pivotal role of the free-spirited scientist who compromises his liberal views to accept a lucrative job with a high-tech chemical corporation in the CBS Playhouse production of Ellen M. Violett's drama, The Experiment, which was televised nationwide on February 25, 1969.
Douglas' convincing portrayal won him the leading role in the adaptation of John Weston's controversial novel, Hail, Hero! (1969), which was the initial project of CBS's newly organized theatrical film production company, Cinema Center Films. Douglas starred as a well-meaning, almost saintly young pacifist determined not only to justify his beliefs to his conservative parents but also to test them under fire in the jungles of Indochina. His second feature, Adam at Six A.M. (1970) concerned a young man's search for his roots. Douglas next appeared in the film version of Ron Cowen's play Summertree (1971), produced by 'Kirk Douglas'' Bryna Company, and then Napoleon and Samantha (1972), a sentimental children's melodrama from the Walt Disney studio.
In between film assignments, he worked in summer stock and off-Broadway productions, among them "City Scenes," Frank Gagliano's surrealistic vignettes of contemporary life in New York, John Patrick Shanley's short-lived romance "Love is a Time of Day" and George Tabori's "Pinkville," in which he played a young innocent brutalized by his military training. He also appeared in the made-for-television thriller, "When Michael Calls," broadcast by ABC-TV on February 5, 1972 and in episodes of the popular series "Medical Center" and "The F.B.I."
Impressed by Douglas' performance in a segment of The F.B.I. (1965), producer 'Quinn Martin' signed the actor for the part of Karl Malden's sidekick in the police series "The Streets of San Francisco", which premiered in September 1972 and became one of ABC's highest-rated prime-time programs in the mid-1970s. Douglas earned three successive Emmy Award nominations for his performance and he directed two episodes of the series.
During the annual breaks in the shooting schedule for The Streets of San Francisco (1972), Douglas devoted most of his time to his film production company, Big Stick Productions, Ltd., which produced several short subjects in the early 1970s. Long interested in producing a film version of Ken Kesey's grimly humorous novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Douglas purchased the movie rights from his father and began looking for financial backing. After a number of major motion picture studios turned him down, Douglas formed a partnership with Saul Zaentz, a record industry executive, and the two set about recruiting the cast and crew. Douglas still had a year to go on his contract for "The Streets of San Francisco," but the producers agreed to write his character out of the story so that he could concentrate on filming "Cuckoo's Nest."
A critical and commercial success, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress, and went on to gross more than $180 million at the box office. Douglas suddenly found himself in demand as an independent producer. One of the many scripts submitted to him for consideration was Mike Gray's chilling account of the attempted cover-up of an accident at a nuclear power plant. Attracted by the combination of social relevance and suspense, Douglas immediately bought the property. Deemed not commercial by most investors, Douglas teamed up with Jane Fonda and her own motion picture production company, IPC Films.
A Michael Douglas-IPC Films co-production, The China Syndrome (1979) starred Jack Lemmon, Jane Fonda, and Michael Douglas and received Academy Award nominations for Lemmon and Fonda, as well as for Best Screenplay. The National Board of Review named the film one of the best films of the year.
Despite his success as a producer, Douglas resumed his acting career in the late 1970s, starring in Michael Crichton's medical thriller Coma (1978) with Genevieve Bujold, Claudia Weill's feminist comedy It's My Turn (1980) starring Jill Clayburgh, and Peter Hyams' gripping tale of modern-day vigilante justice, "The Star Chamber" (1983). Douglas also starred in Running (1979), as a compulsive quitter who sacrifices everything to take one last shot at the Olympics, and as Zach the dictatorial director/choreographer in Richard Attenborough's screen version of the Broadway's longest running musical A Chorus Line (1985).
Douglas' career as an actor/producer came together again in 1984 with the release of the tongue-in-cheek romantic fantasy "Romancing the Stone." Douglas had begun developing the project several years earlier, and with Kathleen Turner as Joan Wilder, the dowdy writer of gothic romances, Danny DeVito as the feisty comic foil Ralphie and Douglas as Jack Colton, the reluctant soldier of fortune. "Romancing the Stone" was a resounding hit and grossed more than $100 million at the box office. Douglas was named Producer of the Year in 1984 by the National Association of Theater Owners. Douglas, Turner and DeVito teamed up in 1985 for the successful sequel The Jewel of the Nile (1985).
It took Douglas nearly two years to convince Columbia Pictures executives to approve the production of Starman (1984), an unlikely tale of romance between an extraterrestrial, played by Jeff Bridges, and a young widow, played by Karen Allen. Starman (1984) was the sleeper hit of the 1984 Christmas season and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for Jeff Bridges. In 1986 Douglas created a television series based on the film for ABC which starred Robert Hays.
After a lengthy break from acting, Douglas returned to the screen in 1987 appearing in two of the year's biggest hits. He starred opposite Glenn Close in the phenomenally successful psychological thriller, "Fatal Attraction," which was followed by his performance as ruthless corporate raider Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's Wall Street (1987), earning him the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Douglas next starred in Ridley Scott's thriller Black Rain (1989) and then teamed up again with Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito in the black comedy The War of the Roses (1989).
In 1988, Douglas formed Stonebridge Entertainment, Inc., which produced Flatliners (1990), directed by Joel Schumacher and starred Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon and William Baldwin and Radio Flyer (1992) starring Lorraine Bracco and directed by Richard Donner. Douglas followed with David Seltzer's adaptation of Susan Isaacs' best-selling novel, "Shining Through," opposite Melanie Griffith. In 1992 he starred with Sharon Stone in the erotic thriller from Paul Verhoeven Basic Instinct (1992), one of the year's top grossing films.
Douglas gave one of his most powerful performances opposite Robert Duvall in Joel Schumacher's controversial drama Falling Down (1993). That year he also produced the hit comedy "Made in America" starring Whoopi Goldberg, Ted Danson and Will Smith. In 1994-95 he starred with Demi Moore in Barry Levinson's "Disclosure," based on the best seller by Michael Crichton. In 1995, Douglas portrayed the title role in Rob Reiner's romantic comedy The American President (1995) opposite Annette Bening, and in 1997, starred in The Game (1997) directed by David Fincher and co-starring Sean Penn.
Douglas formed Douglas/Reuther Productions with partner Steven Reuther in May 1994. The company, under the banner of Constellation Films, produced The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), starring Douglas and Val Kilmer, and John Grisham's The Rainmaker (1997), based on John Grisham's best selling novel, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Matt Damon,Claire Danes, Danny DeVito, Jon Voight, Mickey Rourke, Mary Kay Place, Virginia Madsen, Andrew Shue, Teresa Wright, Johnny Whitworth and Randy Travis.
Michael Douglas and Steve Reuther also produced John Woo's action thriller Face/Off (1997) starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, which proved to be one of '97's major hits.
In 1998, Michael Douglas starred with Gwyneth Paltrow and Viggo Mortensen in the mystery thriller A Perfect Murder (1998), and formed a new production company, Furthur Films. 2000 was a milestone year for Douglas. "Wonder Boys" opened in February 2000 to much critical acclaim. Directed by Curtis Hanson and co-starring Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr. and Katie Holmes, Douglas starred in the film as troubled college professor Grady Tripp. Michael was nominated for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Film Award for his performance.
"Traffic" was released by USA Films on December 22, 2000 in New York and Los Angeles and went nationwide in January 2001. Douglas played the role of Robert Wakefield, a newly appointed drug czar confronted by the drug war both at home and abroad. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and co-starring Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, Amy Irving, Dennis Quaid and Catherine Zeta-Jones, "Traffic" was named Best Picture by New York Film Critics, won Best Ensemble Cast at the SAG Awards, won four Academy Awards (Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor for Benicio del Toro) and has been recognized on more than 175 top ten lists.
In 2001, Douglas produced and played a small role in USA Films' outrageous comedy "One Night at McCool's" starring Liv Tyler, Matt Dillon, John Goodman and Paul Reiser and directed by Harald Zwart. "McCool's" was the first film by Douglas' company Furthur Films. Also in 2001, Douglas starred in "Don't Say A Word" for 20th Century Fox. The psychological thriller, directed by Gary Fleder, also starred Sean Bean, Famke Janseen and Brittany Murphy.
In 2002, Douglas appeared in a guest role on the hit NBC comedy "Will & Grace," and received an Emmy Nomination for his performance.
Douglas starred in two films in 2003. MGM/BVI released the family drama "It Runs in the Family," which Douglas produced and starred with his father Kirk Douglas, his mother Diana Douglas his son Cameron Douglas, Rory Culkin and Bernadette Peters. He also starred in the Warner Bros. comedy "The-In Laws," with Albert Brooks, Candice Bergen and Ryan Reynolds.
In 2004, Douglas, along with his father Kirk, filmed the intimate HBO documentary "A Father, A Son... Once Upon a Time in Hollywood". Directed by award-winning filmmaker Lee Grant, the documentary examines the professional and personal lives of both men, and the impacts they each made on the motion picture industry.
In 2005, Douglas produced and starred in "The Sentinel", which was released by 20th Century Fox in April 2006. Based on the Gerald Petievich novel and directed by Clark Johnson, "The Sentinel" is a political thriller set in the intriguing world of the Secret Service. Douglas stars with Keifer Sutherland, Eva Longoria and Kim Bassinger. Douglas then filmed "You, Me & Dupree," starring with Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson and Matt Dillon. The comedy, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, was released by Universal Pictures during the summer of 2006. In 2007 Douglas made "King of California," co-starring Evan Rachel Wood and is written and directed by Michael Cahill, and produced by Alexander Payne and Michael London.
Michael had two films released in early 2009, "Beyond A Reasonable Doubt" directed by Peter Hyams and "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" starring Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner and directed by Mark Waters. He followed with the drama "Solitary Man" directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, co-starring Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, Mary Louise-Parker, and Jenna Fischer, produced by Paul Schiff and Steven Soderbergh. In 2010, Douglas reprised his Oscar-winning role as Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps," earning a Golden Globe for his performance. Again directed by Oliver Stone, he co-starred with Shia Labeouf, Cary Mulligan, Josh Brolin, Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon.
In 2011, Douglas had a cameo role in Steven Soderbergh's action thriller "Haywire."
"Behind the Candelabra," based on the life of '70's/80's musical icon Liberace and his partner Scott Thorson, directed by Steven Soderbergh and costarring Matt Damon, premiered on HBO in May 2013. Douglas won an Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award for Best Actor in a television movie or mini series for his performance as the famed entertainer. He followed with the buddy comedy "Last Vegas," directed by John Turtletaub co-starring Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline and the romantic comedy "And So It Goes," co-starring Diane Keaton directed by Rob Reiner.
Douglas recently starred in and produced the thriller "Beyond The Reach," directed by Jean-Baptiste Leonetti and costarring Jeremy Irvine. He and portrayed Dr. Hank Pym in Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) opposite Paul Rudd. The franchise was his first venture into the realm of comic book action adventure.
In 2017, he starred in the spy thriller "Unlocked" starring with Noomi Rapace, Orlando Bloom, John Malkovich and directed by Michael Apted.
In 1998 Douglas was made a United Nations Messenger of Peace by Kofi Annan. His main concentrations are nuclear non-proliferation and the control of small arms. He is on the Board of Ploughshares Foundation and The Nuclear Threat Initiative.
Michael Douglas was recipient of the 2009 AFI Lifetime Achievement as well as the Producers Guild Award that year. In Spring '10 he received the New York Film Society's Charlie Chaplin Award.
Douglas has hosted 11 years of "Michael Douglas and Friends" Celebrity Golf Event which has raised over $6 million for the Motion Picture and Television Fund. Douglas is very passionate about the organization, and each year he asks his fellow actors and to come out and show that "we are an industry that takes care of own".
Douglas is married to Catherine Zeta-Jones. The couple has one son, Dylan, and one daughter, Carys. Douglas also has one son, Cameron, from a previous marriage.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Producer
Meat Loaf was born Marvin Lee Aday in Dallas, Texas, to Wilma Artie (Hukel), a teacher and gospel singer, and Orvis Wesley Aday, a police officer. He moved to Los Angeles in 1967 to play in local bands. In 1970, he moved to New York and appeared in the Broadway musicals "Hair", "Rockabye Hamlet" and "The Rocky Horror Show," and Off Broadway in "Rainbow", "More Than You Deserve", "National Lampoon Show" and the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of "As You Like it;" as well as other productions at the famed New York Public Theatre. He made his film debut with a memorable role in the cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).
In 1977, he and lyricist Jim Steinman released an operatic rock album called "Bat Out Of Hell"; the record was huge and has sold 50,000,000 copies worldwide and is tied with AC/DC for the 2nd best selling record of all time. The tour and promoting the album took a toll on Meat Loaf's voice and left him unable to sing for 2 years, but with months of rehabilitation, he was able to get back in the studio and record the album "Dead Ringer". Meat Loaf stayed in the dark through the 1980s in the US, recording 4 records which got very little airplay or high chart positions in the US but continued to have major chart success in Europe and Australia. The 1981 Single "Dead Ringer for Love", a duet with Cher, was a top 10 single in many countries outside the US, but which American radio refused to play.
Meat Loaf had many film and TV roles, including the lead character Travis Redfish in Roadie (1980); a pilot in Out of Bounds (1986); in The Squeeze (1987) with Michael Keaton; and Fred in Focus (2001) (based on the Arthur Miller book by the same name), with Laura Dern and William H. Macy. When Meat Loaf and Steinman got back together in 1993, they delivered a powerful sequel, "Bat Out Of Hell II", which went to #1 in the US and UK and 26 other countries. Bat II sold over 22,000,000 copies.
He appeared in many films, including Crazy in Alabama (1999), Formula 51 (2001) (with Samuel L. Jackson), and Fight Club (1999) (with Brad Pitt). TV credits included guest starring roles as a soldier being held prisoner in Vietnam in Lightning Force (1991), a newspaper reporter in the hit series Glee (2009), a slick landlord of a restaurant who ends up on the menu in HBO series Tales from the Crypt (1989) a blacksmith on Showtime's Dead Man's Gun (1997), as fur trader Jake in Masters of Horror (2005) episode Pelts (2006), in House (2004) as caring husband Eddie, and, most recently, in the supporting role of Doug in the SYFY series Ghost Wars (2017). Hugh Laurie (star of "House") played piano on the song "If I Can't Have You" on Meat Loaf's album "Hang Cool Teddy Bear", which was produced by award-winning music producer Rob Cavallo. (Jack Black also sang on the album.)
Marvin Lee Aday died on January 20, 2022 in Austin, Texas from COVID-19 complications.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Andrew Dice Clay was born on 29 September 1957 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990), Blue Jasmine (2013) and A Star Is Born (2018). He has been married to Valerie Silverstein since 14 February 2010. He was previously married to Kathleen Monica and Kathleen Swanson.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Zach Galifianakis was born in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, to Mary Frances (Cashion), who owned a community arts center, and Harry Galifianakis, a heating oil vendor. His father is of Greek descent and his mother is of mostly English and Scottish ancestry. Zach moved to New York City after failing his last college class by one point. Zach got his start performing his brand of humor in the back of a hamburger joint in Times Square. He toured the country, performing in coffee shops and universities.
After more than a decade performing stand-up and making both television and film appearances, Zach broke through to wider recognition with his co-starring role as "Alan Garner", in the comedy mega-hit, The Hangover (2009). Later that year, he played a large role in the CGI-heavy kids movie, G-Force (2009), and then appeared in memorable supporting parts in the films, Up in the Air (2009) (as a laid-off employee), Youth in Revolt (2009) (as a loutish stepfather), and Dinner for Schmucks (2010), as one of the title characters. More recently, he co-starred with Keir Gilchrist in the teen dramedy, It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010), with Robert Downey Jr. in the road trip comedy, Due Date (2010), and alongside Will Ferrell in the political spoof, The Campaign (2012). He also voiced "Humpty Dumpty" in the animated film, Puss in Boots (2011), and reprised his character in both The Hangover Part II (2011) and The Hangover Part III (2013). In 2014, he appeared in the winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), and in 2016, he starred in the comedies Masterminds (2015) and Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016), released three weeks apart.
When not performing and acting, Zach spends time at his home in the mountains of his native North Carolina, where he hopes to open a writer's retreat on a completely self-sustained farm.- Actor
- Director
- Composer
Kevin Scott Richardson was born on 3 October 1971 in Lexington, Kentucky, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001), Sex, Lies, and Sugar (2011) and This Is the End (2013). He has been married to Kristin Richardson since 17 June 2000. They have two children.- Actor
- Composer
- Producer
Dillon Hart Francis (born October 5, 1987) is an American electronic musician, record producer and DJ.
Francis was born in Los Angeles, California to an American father and a Serbian-Croatian mother. Francis has stated that his father, Robert Drew Francis, is an "alternative medicines doctor." He has made a recurring Internet joke about being unable to find his father. Francis has stated that he was very sheltered growing up, claiming that he did not know any swear words until he was 15. He also claims he could not watch TV unless he watched at least two hours of Sesame Street a day.
Francis first rose to fame after gaining the attention of American producer Diplo and eventually collaborating on the song "Que Que", with featured Latin-pop artist Maluca. His song "Masta Blasta", originally a 130 BPM house track, was edited after inspiration from Dutch musician Munchi and eventually ended up as the moombahton track. In 2013, he announced a headlining Wurld Turr across the US and Canada, as well as confirming that his debut album would be released in 2013 before later experiencing various delays. In 2014, his major label debut album, Money Sucks, Friends Rule, landed on Rolling Stone's "Top Electronic Albums of 2014" list and featured collaborators such as Twista, Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco, Major Lazer, and more. His single "Get Low" with DJ Snake was released on February 11, 2014.- Composer
- Actor
- Music Department
Thom Yorke was born on 7 October 1968 in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England, UK. He is a composer and actor, known for Suspiria (2018), Children of Men (2006) and Motherless Brooklyn (2019). He was previously married to Rachel Owen.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
John Mellencamp was born on 7 October 1951 in Seymour, Indiana, USA. He is a music artist and actor, known for The Perfect Storm (2000), Colors (1988) and Footloose (1984). He was previously married to Elaine Irwin, Victoria Granucci and Priscilla Diane Esterline.- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Ian Hart, born in England, began acting while a student in Liverpool, England, United Kingdom. He stumbled into acting almost accidentally, but was cast in the play "The Government Inspector". He continued to work in British theatre and television, and first gained recognition for portraying John Lennon in the British film Backbeat (1994). He made many films in his native Britain, occasionally appearing in American films and TV series as well.
He has now played John Lennon three times, most recently in the television play Snodgrass, where he played a 50 year old Lennon who had left The Beatles before they became successful.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Anthony Marc Shalhoub was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. His father, Joseph Shalhoub, who owned a grocery chain, emigrated from Lebanon to the United States as an orphan at age ten, later marrying Shalhoub's mother, Helen (Seroogy), who herself was born in Wisconsin, to Lebanese parents. When Tony was six, he was introduced to the theater, in a school production of "The King and I". He graduated from Green Bay East High, and then graduated with a Bachelor's degree in drama from the University of Southern Maine before progressing to the Yale School of Drama, which he left with a Master's degree in Fine Arts.
After a time in the American Repertory Theatre, he moved to Broadway where he met his future wife, Brooke Adams, whom he married in 1992. She had an adopted daughter, Josie, who was three years old at the time that Tony and Brooke married. Tony adopted Brooke's own adopted child, Josie Lynn (born 1989) when she was eight. In 1994, the couple adopted another daughter, Sophie (born 1993). Tony's first audition after arriving in Los Angeles was for Italian cabdriver Antonio Scarpacci in the long-running sitcom Wings (1990), which also starred Tim Daly and Steven Weber.
Tony next had roles in Men in Black (1997), Men in Black II (2002), Galaxy Quest (1999) and Thir13en Ghosts (2001). However, his biggest break came, playing the obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk in Monk (2002). The series made him a star and earned him four straight Emmy Award nominations between 2003 and 2006, for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Tony won the award in 2003, 2005 and 2006, proving how popular he has become after the success of "Monk", which has been both brilliant and popular work during all its seasons.- Zachery Ty Bryan began his entertainment career early as a series regular on the ABC hit sitcom "Home Improvement." As Bryan transitioned from accomplished child actor into teen and adult roles, his career flourished with stints on many other iconic TV series, including "Cold Case", "E.R.", " Smallville" and "Veronica Mars," as well as roles in feature films such as "Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift", and "The Game of Their Lives", starring opposite Gerard Butler.
After many fruitful years in front of the camera, Bryan transitioned to television and film production by launching his production entity, Lost Lane. Zachery has produced three documentaries and four feature films, including 2018 Sundance Film Festival unanimously voted, The Kindergarten Teacher, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Zachery is in post-production on "Heavy", a drug induced thriller starring Sophie Turner as well as "Skin", starring Jamie Bell grappling with the current racial climate in America; Skin recently sold to A24 at TIFF. He also just acquired the TV rights to "Freeway Ricky Ross untold Autobiography" - the book details how Ross built a crack-cocaine empire in Los Angeles, earning millions per day in the mid 1980's.
Zachery lives in Newport Beach, California with his wife of twelve years, Carly, their three daughters Gemma, Taylor, and Jordana and their son Pierce. - Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
David Lee Roth was born in Bloomington Indiana in 1954. A few years later, his father Nathan, a doctor, moved the family to sunny California. The move proved to be a good one because while attending Pasadena Community College, David teamed up with the Van Halen brothers and Michael Anthony to form the Mighty Van Halen hard rock band. Their debut album was in 1978, the self titled album "Van Halen". Their biggest success was the song "Jump" in 1984 - the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts. In 1985, Dave decided to branch out on his own and leave the popular Van Halen. Dave's EP "Crazy From The Heat" was a hit and his solo career was on its way. As years passed, Dave's solo career faded. In 1996, Van Halen and Dave reconvened (due to the departure of Dave's replacement, Sammy Hagar) for two new songs on the band's greatest hits CD. Their reunion was short lived as the Van Halen brothers chose a another singer (Gary Cherone formerly of Extreme) over Dave. In 1997, he wrote and released his autobiography book titled "Crazy From The Heat". These days, he still tours as a solo artist.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Lennie James was born in Nottingham to Trinidadian parents, and grew up in South London. His mother, Phyllis Mary James, died when he was 12. Lennie and his older brother went into a council children's home. When he was 16 he was fostered with a social worker who had two older children, and they remain very close. Within a year Lennie began writing plays (Storm Damage was broadcast by the BBC in 2000 and won a Royal Television Society (RTS) award in 2001). Lennie received his training at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama from which he graduated in 1988.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
British actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen was born in Hammersmith, London. He is the son of Daniella (Weiser), a movement instructor, and Gerald Baron Cohen, a clothing store owner. His father, born in England and raised in Wales, was of Eastern European Jewish descent, while his mother was born in Israel, to German Jewish parents. He was educated at a private school, Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Hertfordshire, and went on to read History at Christ's College, Cambridge. Baron Cohen had an interest in performing from an early age, forming a breakdancing group as a teenager and acting in amateur plays with a Jewish youth group. While at university he joined the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club, and took part in such plays as "Cyrano de Bergerac" and "Fiddler on the Roof".
Upon leaving University, Baron Cohen briefly worked as a model, before moving on to work as a host on a satellite TV station. In 1995, Channel 4 put out an open call for new presenters, and Baron Cohen sent in a tape featuring himself in character as an Albania TV reporter (an early prototype for Borat). He was hired and worked on various 'youth TV' projects before, in 1998, appearing in The 11 O'Clock Show (1998) which became a cult hit thanks to his character, Ali G. Ali G proved so popular that a spin-off show Da Ali G Show (2000) and film Ali G Indahouse (2002) where produced.
America soon beckoned with a stateside version of Da Ali G Show. Feature film work followed with Baron Cohen providing the voice of Julien in Madagascar (2005) and appearing as Jean Girard alongside Will Ferrell in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006). He followed this with the smash-hit Borat (2006), for which he won a Golden Globe and was nominated for a writing Oscar. His other film work includes supporting roles in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and Hugo (2011), and starring in the title roles of Brüno (2009), The Dictator (2012), and The Brothers Grimsby (2016).- Music Artist
- Composer
- Actor
Born on October 13, 1941, in Newark New Jersey, Paul Simon is one of the greatest singer/songwriters ever. In 1957, he and high school pal, Art Garfunkel, wrote and recorded the single, "Hey Schoolgirl", under the name "Tom and Jerry". After some failures, they broke up. Simon still wrote and recorded music as "Tico and The Triumphs" and "Jerry Landis". He also attended Queens College and got a B.A. in English. He also studied law but quit to pursue a music career in 1964.
He and Art Garfunkel got back together as Simon & Garfunkel and recorded "Wednesday Morning 3 a.m.". After the commercial failure of the album, they broke up again. Simon left America to go to England, where he played in folk circuits and he made a solo album. Back in America, the producer of their first album, Tom Wilson, dubbed bass, electric guitar, and drums to the all-acoustic song, "Sound of Silence", which propelled them into the folk-rock scene. Simon & Garfunkel were back and, in 1966, they had popularity with the album, "The Sound of Silence", which features songs such as "I am a Rock", "Richard Cory" and "Kathy's Song". Their next album, "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme", had songs such as "Homeward Bound" "The 59th Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)".
In 1967, Mike Nichols asked Simon to write a score for his upcoming movie, The Graduate (1967). Their next album, "Bookends", which is considered one of the greatest albums of the sixties, featured songs such as "Mrs. Robinson" from The Graduate (1967), "Hazy Shade of Winter", "At The Zoo", "America". Their last album, "Bridge Over Troubled Water", featured songs such as the title song, "The Boxer", "Cecilia".
In the seventies, Simon emerged as a singer/songwriter with albums such as "Paul Simon", Still Crazy After All These Years", "Hearts and Bones", "Graceland", and "Songs from the Capeman". Aside from music, he wrote and starred in the movie, One-Trick Pony (1980), and reunited with friend, Art Garfunkel, in 1981, to give a concert in Central Park.- Art Department
- Art Director
Jon Lithgow is known for Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), Emilie Richards (2009) and The Other Side of Heaven (2001).- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Initially an indie film favorite, actor Jon Favreau has progressed to strong mainstream visibility into the millennium and, after nearly two decades in the business, is still enjoying character stardom as well as earning notice as a writer/producer/director.
The amiable, husky-framed actor with the tight, crinkly hair was born in Queens, New York on October 19, 1966, the only child of Madeleine (Balkoff), an elementary school teacher, and Charles Favreau, a special education teacher. His father has French-Canadian, German, and Italian ancestry, and his mother was from a Russian Jewish family. He attended the Bronx High School of Science before furthering his studies at Queens College in 1984. Dropping out just credits away from receiving his degree, Jon moved to Chicago where he focused on comedy and performed at several Chicago improvisational theaters, including the ImprovOlympic and the Improv Institute. He also found a couple of bit parts in films.
While there, he earned another bit role in the film, Rudy (1993), and met fellow cast mate Vince Vaughn. Their enduring personal friendship would play an instrumental role in furthering both their professional careers within just a few years. Jon broke into TV with a role on the classic series, Seinfeld (1989) (as "Eric the Clown"). After filming rudimentary roles in the movies Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994), Notes from Underground (1995) and Batman Forever (1995), he decided to do some risk taking by writing himself and friend Vaughn into what would become their breakthrough film. Swingers (1996), which he also co-produced, centers on Jon as a luckless, struggling actor type who is emotionally shattered after losing his girlfriend, but is pushed back into the L.A. social scene via the help of cool, worldly, outgoing actor/buddy Vaughn. These two blueprint roles went on to define the character types of both actors on film.
In 1997, Jon appeared favorably on several episodes of the popular TV sitcom, Friends (1994), as "Pete Becker", the humdrum but extremely wealthy suitor for Courteney Cox's "Monica" character, and also appeared to fine advantage on the Tracey Takes On... (1996) comedy series. He later took on the biopic mini-movie, Rocky Marciano (1999), portraying the prizefighter himself in a highly challenging dramatic role and received excellent reviews. Other engagingly offbeat "everyman" films roles came Jon's way -- the ex-athlete in the working class film, Dogtown (1997); a soon-to-be groom whose bachelor party goes horribly awry in the comedy thriller Very Bad Things (1998); a newlywed opposite Famke Janssen in Love & Sex (2000); a wild and crazy linebacker in The Replacements (2000); as Ben Affleck's legal partner in Daredevil (2003); and another down-and-out actor in The Big Empty (2003). He wrote and directed himself and Vaughn as two fellow boxers who involve themselves in criminal activity in Made (2001). Both he and Vaughn produced. He also directed the highly popular Will Ferrell comedy Elf (2003), in which he had a small part.
Jon went on to re-team favorably with his friend, Vince Vaughn, who enjoyed a meteoric rise into the comedy star ranks, in such light-weight features as The Break-Up (2006), Four Christmases (2008) and Couples Retreat (2009), the last of which he co-wrote with Vaughn.
Jon has made even greater strides as a writer, producer and/or director in recent years with the exciting mega-box office action-packed Iron Man (2008), starring Robert Downey Jr., and its sequels, Iron Man 2 (2010) and Iron Man 3 (2013). Jon's character of "Happy Hogan" would be featured in a number of Marvel Comic adventures. Other offerings behind the scenes have included the adventure dramedy Chef (2014), in which he also starred in the title role; the revamped film version of The Avengers (2012) also starring Downey Jr., and it's sequels Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019); and the animated Disney features The Jungle Book (2016) and The Lion King (2019) and the TV series The Chef Show (2019).
Favreau's marriage to Joya Tillem on November 24, 2000, produced son Max and two daughters, Madeleine and Brighton Rose. Joya is the niece of KGO (AM) lawyer and talk show host, Len Tillem. On the sly, the actor/writer/producer/director enjoys playing on the World Poker Tour.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Christopher Lloyd is an American actor with a relatively long career. His better known roles include drug-using taxicab driver Jim Ignatowski in the sitcom Taxi (1978), Klingon Commander Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), inventor Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy (1985-1990), the evil Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and deranged Uncle Fester in The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993).
Lloyd was born on October 22, 1938 in Stamford, Connecticut. His parents were lawyer Samuel R. Lloyd and singer Ruth Lapham (1896-1984). His maternal uncle was politician Roger Lapham, Mayor of San Francisco (1883-1966, term 1944-1948). His maternal grandfather was businessman Lewis Henry Lapham (1858-1934), co-founder of Texaco Oil Company. Lloyd is a distant descendant of indentured servant John Howland (c. 1592-1673), one of the passengers of the ship Mayflower and signers of the Mayflower Compact.
Lloyd was raised in the town Westport, Connecticut, which changed from a community of farmers to a suburban development during the 20th century. Many artists and writers from New York City settled in the town. Lloyd was educated at Staples High School. He was a co-founder of the Staples Players, the school's theatre company. Lloyd was interested in an acting career, and served as an apprentice at summer theaters in Mount Kisco, New York and Hyannis, Massachusetts. In 1957, he started pursuing acting classes in New York City. He took lessons at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, a full-time professional conservatory for actors. His acting teacher was Sanford Meisner (1905-1997), eponymous creator of the Meisner technique.
Lloyd made his New York theatrical debut in a 1961 production of the play "And They Put Handcuffs on the Flowers" by Fernando Arrabal (1932-). He was reportedly a replacement for another actor. He made his Broadway debut in a 1969 performance of Red, White and Maddox (1969). Until the mid-1970s, Lloyd was primarily a theatrical actor. He performed both on Off-Broadway shows and in Broadway. Lloyd made his film debut in the role of psychiatric patient Max Taber in the drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). His first major role in television was drug-using taxicab driver Jim Ignatowski in the sitcom Taxi (1978). His character was an aging hippie, son of an affluent Boston family , and former student of Harvard University. Ignatowski was one of the sitcom's most colorful characters and Lloyd won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Lloyd played most of his most notable film roles. Lloyd was first nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role as Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in Back to the Future (1985). The award was instead won by rival actor Roddy McDowall (1928-1998). He was nominated for the same award for his role as the evil Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). The award was instead won by rival actor Robert Loggia (1930-2015). Lloyd also performed as a voice actor, voicing the evil sorcerer Merlock in DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990) and historical figure Grigori Rasputin (1869-1916) in Anastasia (1997). Lloyd had another notable television role when cast in the role of villain Sebastian Jackal in the sci-fi series Deadly Games (1995). He also played the character Dr. Jordan Kenneth Lloyd, the despised father of the series' protagonist Dr. Gus Lloyd (played by James Calvert).
Lloyd's last notable film role in the 1990s was playing the Martian Uncle Martin in My Favorite Martian (1999). The film was an adaptation of the classic sitcom My Favorite Martian (1963), and the character was previously played by Ray Walston (1914-2001). The film under-performed at the box office. In the 2000s, Lloyd played the role of recurring character Cletus Poffenberger in the comic sci-fi series Tremors (2003), and recurring character Professor Harold March in the sitcom Stacked (2005). As March, Lloyd played a retired rocket scientist who was a regular customer of the bookstore which served as the series' setting. In the 2010s, Lloyd returned to the role of Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in cameo appearances in A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) and Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie (2016), and as the protagonist of the short film Back to the Future: Doc Brown Saves the World (2015). By 2020, Lloyd has never retired from acting and continues to appear in various roles.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum was born October 22, 1952 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of four children of Shirley (Temeles), a radio broadcaster who also ran an appliances firm, and Harold L. Goldblum, a doctor. His father was of Russian Jewish descent and his mother was of Austrian Jewish ancestry.
Goldblum began his career on the New York stage after moving to the city at age seventeen. Possessing his own unique style of delivery, Goldblum made an impression on moviegoers with little more than a single line in Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977), when he fretted about having forgotten his mantra. Goldblum went on to appear in the remake Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and co-starred with Ben Vereen in the detective series Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980) before a high-profile turn in the classic ensemble film The Big Chill (1983).
The quirky actor turned up in the suitably quirky film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), which became a 1980s cult classic, starred in the modern-day film noir Into the Night (1985), then went on to a breakthrough role in the David Cronenberg remake The Fly (1986), which also featured actress Geena Davis, Goldblum's wife from 1987-1990 and co-star in two additional films: Transylvania 6-5000 (1985) and Julien Temple's Earth Girls Are Easy (1988).
Goldblum was the rather unlikely star of some of the biggest blockbusters of the 1990s: Steven Spielberg's dinosaur adventure Jurassic Park (1993) and its sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), as well as the alien invasion film Independence Day (1996). These films saw Goldblum playing the type of intellectual characters he has become associated with. More recently, roles have included critically acclaimed turns in Igby Goes Down (2002) and Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). In 2009, he returned to television to star in his second crime series Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001).- Music Artist
- Actor
- Music Department
Few would have guessed that "Weird Al" Yankovic - who as a shy, accordion-playing teenager got his start sending in homemade tapes to the Dr. Demento Radio Show - would go on to become a pop culture icon and the biggest-selling comedy recording artist of all time, with classic song and music video parodies such as "Eat It," "Like a Surgeon," "Smells Like Nirvana," "Amish Paradise," "White & Nerdy" and "Word Crimes." Now in his fourth decade as America's foremost song parodist, he has been honored with four Grammy® Awards and fifteen nominations, including a 2015 win for his 14th studio album Mandatory Fun.
Alfred Matthew Yankovic was born on October 23, 1959, in the Los Angeles suburb of Lynwood, to Mary Elizabeth (Vivalda) and Nick Louis Yankovic. His father was of Yugoslavian descent and his mother was of Italian and English ancestry. He first took up the accordion when a salesman came around to solicit business for a music school. His parents decided on the accordion because of polka king Frankie Yankovic (no relation). As a child and young teen, Al watched a lot of television, which gave him much inspiration for his later work. He also became a fan of such musician/comedians as Allan Sherman and Spike Jones. He became especially acquainted with these musicians through the radio show of Barry Hansen, aka "Dr. Demento", which would later become a great source of publicity for his talents. After an extraordinary career at Lynwood High School, where Al graduated as valedictorian, he attended the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo to study architecture, a field he is said to have chosen because it was listed first in the catalog (although he has said that he really chose it on the advice of a guidance counselor). It was at Cal Poly that Al had a radio show and earned the nickname "Weird Al". Although he had sent tapes to Dr. Demento in the past, it was at Cal Poly where he recorded his first real published piece, a parody of the popular "My Sharona" by The Knack, called "My Bologna". After the astounding success of that song, forever to be known as the "bathroom recording" as it was recorded in the acoustically perfect mens' room, Al began his phenomenal career, which has spanned twelve albums, numerous compilations, a box set, movies, videos and edible underwear. He has also done a great deal to advance the cause of accordion-wielding weirdos, for which we can all be thankful.
In addition to his 1989 cult hit feature film UHF, his late 1990s CBS Saturday morning series The Weird Al Show and numerous AL-TV specials he has made for MTV and VH1 over the years, Yankovic has remained a staple of film and television, from appearances on The Simpsons and 30 Rock to performing on the 2014 Primetime Emmy Awards. More recently he guested on ABC's Galavant (as a singing monk) and The Goldbergs (as the '80s version of himself). In the spring of 2015 Yankovic joined the fifth and final season of IFC's Comedy Bang! Bang! as its co-host and bandleader. Al can be heard as the voice of the title character in Disney XD's animated series Milo Murphy's Law. Additional voiceover work includes Gravity Falls, Wander Over Yonder, Adventure Time, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, The 7D, Teen Titans Go!, We Bare Bears, Pig Goat Banana Cricket, Uncle Grandpa, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Bojack Horseman, and the DC animated feature Batman vs. Robin. Other notable past projects include the 2009 themed attraction Al's Brain: A 3-D Journey through the Human Brain, featuring cameos by everybody from his mother-in-law to Paul McCartney. Two years later, Comedy Central broadcast and released the concert special "Weird Al" Yankovic Live: The Alpocalypse Tour, filmed at Toronto's venerable Massey Hall. Yankovic added "New York Times bestselling author" to his resumé in 2011 with the release of his children's book, When I Grow Up (HarperCollins), followed two years later by My New Teacher and Me! An animated series based on his children's books is being developed in partnership with the Jim Henson Company. 2012 saw the release of Weird Al: The Book (Abrams), an illustrated hardcover on Al's life and career, and in 2015 Yankovic became not only MAD Magazine's cover boy, but the first Guest Editor in their 63-year history. 2016 saw the release of George Fest: A Night to Celebrate the Music of George Harrison, featuring Al's live performance of "What is Life?" The past year has seen the June premiere of the Dreamworks animated film Captain Underpants, for which Al co-wrote and performed the film's theme song, and the release by NECA Toys of the second in its line of retro-clothed Weird Al action figures. In August, Al wrote and performed "The North Korea Polka (Please Don't Nuke Us)" on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
In May 2017, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced that Weird Al would be receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In November of this year, Legacy Recordings will release Squeeze Box: The Complete Works of "Weird Al" Yankovic, a career-spanning box set of all 14 of Al's studio albums remastered for 150-gram vinyl and CD formats, plus an exclusive rarities album and 120-page book of archival photos, all housed in a replica of Weird Al's trademark accordion. Released in July 2014, Mandatory Fun became the first comedy album in history to debut at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, and the first to reach the top of the chart since 1963. Yankovic set the U.S. record on Spotify for having the most tracks from one album in the viral top 10 at one time, taking the first four spots. Internationally, the album debuted in the Top 10 in both Canada and Australia (#3 and #9 respectively). In addition, "Word Crimes" debuted in the Billboard Top 40, making Al one of only four artists to have had Top 40 singles in each of the last four decades - the other three are Michael Jackson, Madonna and U2. For Mandatory Fun, Al blew up the internet by releasing eight music videos in eight days, including "Tacky" (the star-studded parody of Pharrell Willliams' "Happy") and "Word Crimes" (an animated grammar lesson to the tune of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines"). Combined, the videos accrued more than 46 million views in their first week. In 2015 and 2016, Weird Al's Mandatory World Tour encompassed 200 shows throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia, including two nights with a full orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl and a tour-ending sold-out show at New York's Radio City Music Hall. Among his many other past music and video milestones, Yankovic's 2006 album Straight Outta Lynwood spawned the Platinum Billboard Top 10 anthem "White & Nerdy," while the video spent two straight months at #1 on iTunes.
Weird Al has launched The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour, playing stripped-down shows in smaller, more intimate theatres across North America with his band of over three decades.- Actor
- Producer
- Executive
Jonathan Joseph Heder is an American actor and producer who is known for portraying Napoleon Dynamite in 2004. He returned to play the role in an animated series and a 2005 MTV Movie Awards skit. He also acted in the Pororo the Penguin films including Pororo's Racing Adventure, Pororo's Dinosaur Island, Pororo: Treasure Island Adventure, Surf's Up, Just Like Heaven, Pinocchio: A True Story, The Benchwarmers, Blades of Glory, Monster House, Momma's Boy and other works. He is married to Kirsten Bales since 2004 and has three children. In 2022 He appeared in one episode of Studio C as a guest star.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
James Pickens Jr. was born October 26, 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio. While attending college at Bowling Green State University, Pickens began pursuing an interest in acting. He graduated from BGSU with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1976. Afterwards, Pickens began work on the stage at the Roundabout Theatre in New York City. During his time on the stage, he starred in the Negro Ensemble Company's production of "A Soldier's Play" with famous Black American actors Denzel Washington and Samuel L. Jackson. Ten years since graduating and beginning his career in acting, Pickens first came to the screen as an ambulance driver in F/X (1986). In that same year, he appeared on the soap opera Another World (1964) from 1986-1990. Pickens also made several appearances on the popular romance drama Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990), and the comedy series Roseanne (1988) among a steady line-up of work during the 1990s.
Throughout his extensive work on television, Pickens is best known to audiences as Dr. Richard Webber, on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy (2005). It is also the same role in which he would reprise on the spin-off series Private Practice (2007) two years later. In later years, namely beginning in the 2010s, Pickens could also be seen in the sports drama 42 (2013) starring Harrison Ford and Chadwick Boseman. Outside of acting, Pickens spends much of his time around horses and often indulges in horseback riding roping cattle. As a competitive roper, Pickens is part of the United States Championship Roping team and often travels across country to various events. He is married to Gina Pickens (nee Taylor) and is father of two sons Carl and Gavyn who both are into the entertainment business.- Actor
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- Producer
Robert Michael "Rob" Schneider (born October 31, 1963) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and director. A stand-up comic and veteran of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live (1975), Schneider has gone on to a successful career in feature films, including starring roles in the comedy films Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999), The Hot Chick (2002), and Grown Ups (2010).- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Nolan North is an American voice actor from Connecticut who is known for voicing Nathan Drake from the Uncharted video game series, the Space Core from Portal 2, Deadpool in many Marvel cartoons and video games, Penguin from Batman: Arkham City, N. Gin from Crash Bandicoot, Desmond Miles from Assassin's Creed and Ghost from Destiny after replacing Peter Dinklage.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Dolph Lundgren was born as Hans Lundgren in Stockholm, Sweden, to Sigrid Birgitta (Tjerneld), a language teacher, and Karl Johan Hugo Lundgren, an engineer and economist for the Swedish government. He lived in Stockholm until the age of 13, when he moved in with his grandparents in Nyland, Ångermanland, Sweden. Despite an early interest in music and the fine arts, Dolph decided to follow in his father's footsteps and pursue an Engineering degree. After having completed his military service, he enrolled at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
It was in the military when Dolph first came in contact with the martial arts. Five years later, he had become a world-class competitor in Japanese Karate and was deeply involved with a discipline that was to become an important part of his life. After graduating High School, Dolph spent considerable time studying in the United States and abroad on various academic scholarships. He attended Washington State University and Clemson University in South Carolina. In 1982, he received a scholarship to complete his Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Sydney, Australia. In 1983, he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, one of the world's top engineering schools.
However, that same year, he decided to move to New York City and take up acting. He changed his forename to Dolph. He started studying drama at the Warren Robertson Theatre Workshop in Manhattan, not knowing how quickly his life was about to change. His film debut came in A View to a Kill (1985). However, it was his performance in Rocky IV (1985) later that year that definitely got him noticed. After a 9-month audition process among 5,000 hopefuls, he was cast opposite writer-director Sylvester Stallone, as his Russian opponent, "Ivan Drago". Following the success of Rocky IV (1985), Lundgren moved to Los Angeles and has since starred in more than 30 feature films.
Lundgren portrayed the classic action-heroic lead in such films as Gary Goddard's Masters of the Universe (1987), Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) co-starring Brandon Lee and Blackjack (1998), by Hong-Kong action legend, John Woo. Lundgren has also continued to turning in memorable performances as the main adversary to other action-stars, most notably in Universal Soldier (1992) opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme, directed by Roland Emmerich, as well as Robert Longo's Johnny Mnemonic (1995) opposite Keanu Reeves. In February 2004, Lundgren directed his first feature film, the thriller The Defender (2004), in which he also starred. In 2005, he directed and starred in yet another feature, The Russian Specialist (2005) (a.k.a "The Mechanik").
In January 2006, he finished principal photography of The Final Inquiry (2006), a joint Italian/American/Spanish co-production, directed by Giulio Base, appearing opposite, among others, Daniele Liotti, Max von Sydow and F. Murray Abraham. In 2006, Lundgren starred in Diamond Dogs (2007), a Chinese/American co-production filmed on location in Mongolia. In 2007, he directed a modern day western shot in Texas, Missionary Man (2007). In 2009, he completed two new directorial efforts, the action-packed Command Performance (2009), which showcases Lundgren's longtime musical talents as a drummer; and the neo-noir thriller Icarus (2010). Lundgren also reunited with co-stars Jean-Claude Van Damme and Sylvester Stallone for Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009) and the highly anticipated action blockbuster, The Expendables (2010).
Lundgren managed to not let his Hollywood career stand in the way of his athletic background. He has been awarded his Third Degree Black Belt by the World Karate Organization in Tokyo. His accomplishments include being the Captain of the Swedish National Karate Team, as well as a Champion of the Swedish, European and Australian Heavyweight Division titles. Lundgren still regularly performs Karate exhibitions at international tournaments worldwide. In addition, he was selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee to serve as Team Leader of the 1996 U.S. Olympic Pentathlon Team during the Atlanta Games. He is actively involved in promoting the image of this sport. His production company, Thor Pictures, is developing several projects in which he will produce, star and/or direct. He is also a founding member of "Group of Eight", a New York theater group started in 1994.
Lundgren has reportedly been working on a fitness book and sports wear line for men, the creation and launch of a new eponymous brand, a licensing, media and publishing program, and the development of future entertainment and media projects. Lundgren was married to Anette Qviberg-Lundgren, an interior decorator and fashion designer, until their divorce in 2011. They had two daughters together.- Music Artist
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Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams rose to fame with the release of his third album, "Cuts Like a Knife" (1983). The album made him popular throughout the United States. However, it was his fourth album "Reckless" (1984), which is referred to as one of the best albums of the decade that made him an international superstar and gave him his first Grammy nomination. The album also sold four million copies at the time. In 1987, he released his fifth album "Into the Fire", a more social conscious album. The album yielded a top ten single "Heat of the Night", another Grammy nomination and another platinum album to his name.
However, he released the album "Waking Up the Neighbours" (1991) which included the single "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You". The song sold more than three million copies in the United States, becoming the second best selling single, second only to "We Are the World". The song was also Adams' first Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe nomination as the song was written for the movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991). "Waking Up the Neighbours" sold four million albums in the United States and garnered him six Grammy nominations (a record for a Canadian). He won one for best song written specifically for a motion picture or television ("(Everything I Do) I Do It for You").
In 1993, Adams released a greatest hits album, titled "So Far So Good", which spawned a #1 single, "Please Forgive Me". That same year, he sang the single "All for Love" with Rod Stewart and Sting from the movie The Three Musketeers (1993), which became a #1 single reaching across Europe and North America. He released the single "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" from the movie Don Juan DeMarco (1994), which became his fourth #1 single and his second Academy Award nomination. He became one of two non-American singers to have four number one hits and the most successful Canadian singer ever.
In 1996, Adams released the album "18 Til I Die", which has garnered him another two Grammy nominations. Later that year, he wrote and sang the single "I Finally Found Someone", a duet with Barbra Streisand for her movie, The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996). "I Finally Found Someone" became a top ten single and won Adams his third Academy Award nomination. He released three more albums since then, "MTV Unplugged" (1997), "On a Day Like Today" (1998) and most recently the songs for the DreamWorks animated movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) in which Adams earned his second Golden Globe nomination for "Best Song".
Bryan Adams was awarded the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia for his contributions to popular music and philanthropic work through his own foundation, which helps improve education for people around the world.- Actor
- Producer
- Executive
Once and forever a Brady! Christopher Knight met life as a child actor, starring as "Peter Brady" in the TV classic hit show The Brady Bunch (1969). A reluctant icon, Christopher has focused his adult years on interests beyond the entertainment industry, particularly the corporate world of computers and high technology.
Christopher Anton Knight was born November 7, 1957 in Manhattan, New York, the second of four children of Wilma (Stern) and actor Edward Knight (born Edward Kozumplik), who had three boys and one girl. Around the time he was three, his family moved to Los Angeles, where his father later began seeking auditions for his two oldest sons as a means of saving money for their college education. Although both Christopher and his older brother Mark tried out, only Christopher was offered parts.
At the young age of seven, he began landing appearances in commercials for companies such as Toyota, Tide, and Cheerios and in television shows such as Gunsmoke (1955) and Mannix (1967). Soon, however, he found himself involved with what would become one of the most successful television shows of all time. Partially because his dark looks matched that of Robert Reed who was already cast as the show's father, Christopher won the part of the middle brother, "Peter Brady", in The Brady Bunch (1969). Airing from September 1969 through August 1974, the show was highly popular with teenagers of that era. Although ending thirty years ago, it acquired instant syndication and has never since left the airways.
Being a reluctant icon as well as having an innate interest in science and machines led Christopher to his new career in the computer industry in 1988. Constant celebrity status from youth has provided him with people skills and has proven to be excellent preparation for life in sales and marketing. Entering the industry as an account sales manager at Martec, Inc., he logged the company's first $1 million sales order within his first eighteen months, quickly becoming Martec's top performer, and employee of the year.
In October 1989, Christopher took the responsibility of Vice President of Design System Marketing and Sales at New Image Industry, moving the company into 3D rendering/imaging technologies. Then in mid 1991, he, and a few other key employees successfully moved the software engineering staff and the 3D technologies into a new privately held company, Visual Software. As co-founder of Visual Software, Christopher was a pioneer in the consumer 3D graphics market. His efforts were responsible for enormous sales growth, moving the company from $.4 million annual sales to $4.2 million within 10 months. Visual Software was acquired by Micrografx in January.
In late 1995, Christopher partnered with friend and associate Frank Paniagua, and founded Kidwise Learningware. This company proposed to design, produce and publish interactive edutainment products for children. Christopher served as Executive Producer, with duties ranging from production and design, projects management and sales strategy.
In February of 1996, he took on the responsibility of Vice President of Sales at Adesso, a Keyboard manufacturer, providing keyboards for Macintosh and PC/Win95 systems, where he oversaw a doubling of sales within his first four months.
He and Mr. Paniagua reunited again in August of 1997 at Integrated Micro Solutions (I.M.S.) which later became IXMICRO. Initially hired in the capacity of Vice President of Strategic Marketing, Christopher was promoted to Vice President of Marketing after only four months. With Mr. Paniagua, he was able to influence annual sales from less than $2 million in early 1997 to $63 million in 1998.
In late 1998, Christopher would again team up with Paniagua and another associate, David Smith, to form Eskape Labs. Knight, Smith and Paniagua had all been part of IXMICRO's executive staff when the company decided to concentrate on a path divergent from the common interests of the three. Sensing a shift in the focus of the computer technology industry beyond the personal computer to intelligent devices, Eskape Labs was born. The company's mission, to provide "on wire" digital appliances that easily plug into computers, has led Eskape to develop a number of first-to-market video devices. Eskape Labs was purchased by Hauppauge Computer Works in the summer of 2000. Hauppauge is the world's largest manufacturer of computer-based TV tuner products and, with Eskape Labs, now has a line of TV tuners compatible with the Macintosh.
Christopher continued to work for Hauppauge Computer as the head of the Eskape Labs brand until the spring of 2003, and then as a consultant to the company throughout the remainder of the year.
Mid-year 2003, he became more involved on an executive level with an investment that had taken flight and was in need of interim management. Casting Networks Inc. (doing business as LA Casting and SF Casting) is an online (web based) talent exchange. Nine months from the introduction of the service to the Los Angeles commercial casting marketplace in late 2002, LA Casting had completely revolutionized the casting process by replacing archaic and time-consuming methods of handling clients' information with a much more efficient method using the Internet.
While Christopher's career in the high tech industry has prevented much involvement in entertainment, it did not constitute a full retirement from show business; he has starred or otherwise participated in the abundance of Brady films, television movies, series, gatherings, discussions and retrospectives. Christopher also has utilized his celebrity status by serving as host and/or spokesperson for several projects. In 2003, he was asked to host a segment on the Travel Channel series' TV Road Trip (2003), starring the late John Ritter. When the series was optioned for a second cycle, Christopher was offered to "Host" the series. It was, in fact, this participation that lead to the rekindling of Christopher's interest in front and behind the camera.
Christopher was soon signed up for the celebrity version of Discovery Health Channel's "Body Challenge", which debuted in the fall of 2004 and led to his participation on VH1's The Surreal Life (2003). The explosion of popularity and "new found fame" as a result of this #1 VH1 Hit that has also lead to his high-profile romance with The Surreal Life (2003) co-star and America's Next Top Model (2003) winner, Adrianne Curry, placed Knight back in the spotlight. Grateful at this unique second opportunity at an acting career, Christopher relished the chance at experiencing celebrity as a seasoned, experienced, "well-baked" adult. In 2005, his on-screen endeavors included special guest appearances on shows such as WB's Blue Collar TV (2004) and ABC's Less Than Perfect (2002). He also starred as the lead in the independent film, Light Years Away (2008), co-starring Eric Roberts. He then worked on several projects with his then-wife, model and TV personality Adrianne Curry.
2004 marked the fourth consecutive year that he has been the spokesperson for the American Counseling Association's "Healthy Skin, Healthy Outlook" campaign, which has received the Gold Triangle Award recognizing excellence in public education of dermatology issues the past two years. In 2002-2003, Christopher also was privileged to be the spokesperson for the National Consumer League's "AD/HD Campaign to Inform the Nation," speaking in Washington D.C. at the National Press Club on the sensitive subject of AD/HD (Christopher himself was diagnosed with lifelong ADD at the age of 40). The campaign's laudable goal is to broadcast the truth about AD/HD, dispelling myths and tearing down the barriers of ignorance and stigma that prevent AD/HD sufferers from obtaining the proper diagnoses and medical treatments they need. He was also brought on as the spokesman for a popular personal fitness product, Ab Lounge XL®.
Cognizant of his celebrity status and seasoned by maturity, Christopher is ready and eager to return more fully to the industry that gave him his start and to expand his public identity, but his plan to re-establish his place in the entertainment industry is not designed to displace his interests in the corporate world.- Actor
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- Soundtrack
Robert David Hall was born on 9 November 1947 in East Orange, New Jersey, USA. He is an actor, known for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Starship Troopers (1997) and The Negotiator (1998). He has been married to Judy Stearns since 1999. He was previously married to Connie Cole and Susan Petroni.- Actor
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- Producer
Sinbad was born in Benton Harbor, Michigan to two parents, Louise and the Baptist Rev. Dr. Donald Beckley Adkins and was then known as David Adkins. He is primarily known as an actor and somewhat a writer and proved his comedic acting style in House Guest (1994), Jingle All the Way (1996), First Kid (1996) and Good Burger (1997). He has been married to Meredith Adkins since 2002 with two children. He was previously married to Meredith Fuller.- Actor
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- Producer
Born (May 1, 1950) and raised in Flat Rock, Michigan, the son of a chiropractor, bald-domed, serious-looking Dann Harvey Florek majored in math and physics at Eastern Michigan University. A drama scholarship, however, changed his destiny and he left the college before graduating. He moved to New York and, following training at Juilliard, traveled frequently on the late 70's/early 80's stage in plays ranging from the classics ("Love's Labour's Lost," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "The Philanderer") to contemporary pieces ("Saints," "Bicycle Boys," "Dark Ages," "One Tiger to a Hill," "The Freak," "Winterset," "Strange Snow," "Landscape of the Body," "Chopin in Space"). Younger brother Dave Florek is also an actor.
Making another big move to Los Angeles in the 1980's, Dann appeared on stage at the La Jolla Playhouse and Globe Theatre ("Big River," "The Three Cuckolds") while scouting out film and TV work. He eventually found a "working class" niche playing down-to-earth, pragmatic officials in TV crime dramas. Series credits include "Hill Street Blues," "The Equalizer," "Matlock," "21 Jump Street," Beverly Hills Buntz" and "Almost Grown." Dann also was given a recurring role on L.A. Law (1986) as the husband of secretary Roxanne (series' regular Susan Ruttan). He also became a durable support player and definable face in such films Eddie Macon's Run (1983) (debut), Sweet Liberty (1986), Angel Heart (1987), Sunset (1988) and Moon Over Parador (1988).
Florek would find long-term employment as Captain Cragen on the long-running cop show on Law & Order (1990). He returned to his role on a spin-off series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999). In all, he played the supervisory role for two and a half decades. During this lengthy tenure, he found time to play on a few other series, including a regular role on the short-lived baseball comedy Hardball (1994) and as a wacky Abraham Lincoln in the irreverent comedy The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer (1998). He also was handed a recurring coach role on Smart Guy (1997). Laying low since he retired his TV character, more recent work included the theatre plays "The Front Page" (Broadway revival, 2016) and "The Joy Wheel" (2019), as well as the films Hard Rain (1998), Beautiful Joe (2000) and Santorini Blue (2013).- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
The youngest of four brothers, Doug Jones was born on May 24, 1960, in Indianapolis, Indiana, and grew up in the city's Northeastside. After attending Bishop Chatard High School, he headed off to Ball State University, where he graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor's degree in Telecommunications and a minor in Theatre.
He learned mime at school, joining a troupe and doing the whole white-face thing, and has also worked as a contortionist.
After a hitch in theater in Indiana, he moved to Los Angeles in 1985, and has not been out of work since; he's acted in over 25 films, many television series (Including the award-winning Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997); his episode "Hush" garnered two Emmy nominations) and over 90 commercials and music videos with the likes of Madonna and Marilyn Manson.
Although known mostly for his work under prosthetics, he has also performed as 'himself' in such highly-rated films as Adaptation. (2002) with Nicolas Cage and indie projects such as Phil Donlon's A Series of Small Things (2005).
But it is his sensitive and elegant performance as Abe Sapien in Hellboy (2004), which stormed to the top of the U.S. box office in the spring of 2004, that has brought him an even higher profile and much praise from audiences and critics alike.
Doug is married and lives in California.- Actor
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From small-town Oklahoma native to internationally acclaimed actor and musician, Wes Studi credits his passion and multi-faceted background for his powerful character portrayals that forever changed a Hollywood stereotype. Within a few years of his arrival in Hollywood, Studi caught the attention of the public in Dances with Wolves (1990). In 1992, his powerful performance as "Magua" in The Last of the Mohicans (1992) established him as one of the most compelling actors in the business.
Studi has since appeared in more than 80 film and television productions, including Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), Being Flynn (2012), Avatar (2009), Comanche Moon (2008), Streets of Laredo (1995), Mystery Men (1999), Kings (TV Series), The New World (2005), Hell on Wheels (2011), Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007) and Seraphim Falls (2006). He also brought Tony Hillerman's "Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn" to life in a series of PBS specials produced by Robert Redford: Skinwalkers (2002), Coyote Waits (2003), and A Thief of Time (2003).
Studi was born in Nofire Hollow, Oklahoma, the son of Maggie (Nofire), a housekeeper, and Andy Studie, a ranch hand. Studi exclusively spoke his native Cherokee language until beginning school at the age of five. A professional horse trainer, Studi began acting at The American Indian Theatre Company in Tulsa in the mid-80s.
Studi and his wife, Maura Dhu Studi, live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They have a son, Kholan. Studi has a daughter, Leah, and a son, Daniel, from a previous marriage.- Actor
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- Additional Crew
Lead and supporting actor of the American stage and films, with sandy colored hair, and pale complexion. He won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Deer Hunter (1978), and has been seen in mostly character roles, often portraying psychologically unstable individuals, though that generalization would not do justice to Walken's depth and breadth of performances.
Walken was born in Astoria, Queens, New York. His mother, Rosalie (Russell), was a Scottish emigrant, from Glasgow. His father, Paul Wälken, was a German emigrant, from Horst, who ran Walken's bakery. Christopher learned his stage craft, including dancing, at Hofstra University & ANTA, and picked up a Theatre World award for his performance in the revival of the Tennessee Williams play "The Rose Tattoo". Walken then first broke through into cinema in 1969 appearing in Me and My Brother (1968), before appearing alongside Sean Connery in the sleeper heist movie The Anderson Tapes (1971). His eclectic work really came to the attention of critics in 1977 with his intense portrayal of Diane Keaton suicidal younger brother in Annie Hall (1977), and then he scooped the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award in 1977 for his role as Nick in the electrifying The Deer Hunter (1978). Walken was lured back by The Deer Hunter (1978) director Michael Cimino for a role in the financially disastrous western Heaven's Gate (1980), before moving onto surprise audiences with his wonderful dance skills in Pennies from Heaven (1981), taking the lead as a school teacher with telepathic abilities in the Stephen King inspired The Dead Zone (1983) and then as billionaire industrialist Max Zorin trying to blow up Silicon Valley in the 007 adventure A View to a Kill (1985). Looking at many of Walken's other captivating screen roles, it is easy to see the diversity of his range and even his droll comedic talents with humorous appearances in Biloxi Blues (1988), Wayne's World 2 (1993), Joe Dirt (2001), Mousehunt (1997) and America's Sweethearts (2001). Most recently, he continued to surprise audiences again with his work as a heart broken and apologetic father to Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can (2002).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Since starring in his first film, Splendor in the Grass (1961), Warren Beatty has been said to have demonstrated a greater longevity in movies than any actor of his generation. Few people have taken so many responsibilities for all phases of the production of films as producer, director, writer, and actor, and few have evidenced so high a level of integrity in a body of work.
In Rules Don't Apply (2016), he writes, produces, directs and stars in. Only Beatty and Orson Welles (Citizen Kane) have been nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as an actor, a director, a writer, and a producer for the same film. Beatty is the only person ever to have done it twice, for Heaven Can Wait (1978) and again for Reds (1981). Beatty has been nominated 15 times by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and 8 films he has produced have earned 53 Academy nominations. In 1982 he won the Academy Award for Directing and in 2000 was given the Academy's highest honor, the Irving G. Thalberg Award.
He was awarded Best Director from the Directors Guild of America and Best Writer three times from the Writers Guild of America. He has received the Milestone Award from the Producers Guild, the Board of Governors Award from the American Society of Cinematographers, the Directors Award from the Costume Designers Guild, the Life Achievement Award from the Publicists Guild, and the Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award from the Art Directors Guild. The National Association of Theater Owners has honored him as Director of the Year, as Producer of the Year and as Actor of the Year.
He has won 16 awards from the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics, the National Board of Review, and the Golden Globes. In 1992, he was made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in France; in Italy he received the David di Donatello award in 1968 and again in 1981 and its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998; in 2001, he received the Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Sebastian International Film Festival; in 2002, he received the British Academy Fellowship from BAFTA; and in 2011, he was awarded the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film.
In December 2004, Beatty received The Kennedy Center Honor in Washington, D.C. In addition, he is the recipient of the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, the HFPA Cecile B. DeMille Award and many others. Politically active since the 1960's, Beatty campaigned with Robert F. Kennedy in his 1968 presidential campaign. That same year he traveled throughout the United States speaking in favor of gun control and against the war in Vietnam. In 1972 he took a year off from motion pictures to campaign with George McGovern.
In 1981, Beatty was a founding board member of the Center for National Policy. He is a founding member of The Progressive Majority, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has participated in the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland.
Beatty serves on the Board of Directors of the Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation. He previously served on the Board of Trustees of The Scripps Research Institute for several years. He has received the Eleanor Roosevelt Award from the Americans for Democratic Action, the Brennan Legacy Award from the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, and the Philip Burton Public Service Award from The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.
In multiple forums he has addressed campaign finance reform, the increasing disparity of wealth, universal health care and the need for the Democratic Party to return to its roots.
In March of 2013, he was inducted into the California Hall of Fame.
Beatty was born in Richmond, Virginia. He and his wife, Annette Bening, live in Los Angeles and have four children.
His mother, Kathlyn Corinne (MacLean), was a drama teacher from Nova Scotia, Canada, and his father, Ira Owens Beaty, a professor of psychology and real estate agent, was from Virginia. His sister is actress Shirley MacLaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty). His ancestry is mostly English and Scottish.