The Mask of Zorro 1998 premiere
Friday July 10th, Samuel Goldwyn Theater 8949 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211
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- Producer
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Antonio Banderas, one of Spain's most famous faces, was a soccer player until breaking his foot at the age of fourteen; he is now an international movie star known for playing Zorro in the eponymous movie series.
He was born José Antonio Domínguez Banderas on August 10, 1960, in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain. His father, Jose Dominguez, was a policeman in the Spanish civil guards. His mother, Doña Ana Banderas Gallego, was a school teacher. Young Banderas was brought up a Roman Catholic. He wanted to play soccer professionally and made much success playing for his school team until the age of 14, albeit his dream ended when he broke his foot. At that time, he developed a passion for theatre after seeing the stage production of "Hair". Banderas began his acting studies at the School of Dramatic Arts in Málaga, and made his acting debut at a small theatre in Málaga. He was arrested by the Spanish police for performance in a play by Bertolt Brecht, because of political censorship under the rule of General Francisco Franco. Banderas spent a whole night at the police station, he had three or four such arrests while he was working with a small theatre troupe that toured all over Spain and was giving performances in small town theatres and on the street.
In 1979, at age 19, he moved to Madrid in pursuit of an acting career. Being a struggling young actor, he also worked as a waiter and took small modeling jobs. At that time, he joined the troupe at the National Theatre of Spain, becoming the youngest member of the company. Banderas' stage performances caught the attention of movie director Pedro Almodóvar, who cast the young actor in his movie debut Labyrinth of Passion (1982). Banderas and Almodovar joined forces in making innovative and sexually provocative movies during the 1980s. In 1984, Banderas made headlines in Spain with his performance as a gay man, making his first male-to-male on-screen kiss in Almodovar's Law of Desire (1987). Banderas' long and fruitful collaboration with Pedro Almodóvar eventually prepared him for international recognition that came with his work in the Academy Award-nominated film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988). In 1991, he appeared as an object of Madonna's affection in Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991).
In 1992, Banderas made his Hollywood debut with The Mambo Kings (1992). Because he did not speak English at that time, his dialogue for the movie was taught to him phonetically. Banderas shot to international fame with his sensitive performance as a lover of Tom Hanks' AIDS-infected lawyer in Philadelphia (1993), then played opposite Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994). Banderas further established himself as one of Hollywood's leading men after co-starring in Evita (1996) opposite Madonna in the title role. In 1998, he won acclaim for his portrayal of Zorro, opposite Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones, in The Mask of Zorro (1998). For the role as Zorro, Banderas took training with the Olympic national fencing team in Spain, and practiced his moves with real steel swords, then he used the lighter aluminum swords in the movie. He also took a month-long course of horse-riding before the filming. He later returned to the role in The Legend of Zorro (2005). In 1999, Banderas made his directorial debut in Crazy in Alabama (1999), starring his wife, Melanie Griffith. He received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros opposite Salma Hayek in Frida (2002). He voiced Puss in Boots in the Shrek franchise.
Banderas established himself as internationally known Latin heartthrob with charismatic looks, and was chosen as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world by People magazine in 1996. He won numerous awards and nominations for his works in film, including three ALMA awards and three Golden Globe nominations, among many other. From 1996 to 2014, Banderas was married to American actress Melanie Griffith and the couple have one daughter, Stella (born 1996). Outside of his acting profession, Banderas has been a passionate soccer fan and a staunch supporter of the Real Madrid Football Club. He shares time between his two residencies, one in the United States, and one in the South of Spain.- Actress
- Producer
Melanie Griffith was born on August 9, 1957 in New York City, to then model/future actress Tippi Hedren and former child actor turned advertising executive Peter Griffith. Her parents' marriage ended when she was four years old and Tippi brought Melanie to Los Angeles to get a new start. Tippi caught the eye of the great director Alfred Hitchcock, who gave her starring roles in The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). She married her then-agent, Noel Marshall, in 1964 (they divorced in 1982), and Melanie grew up with three stepbrothers. Meanwhile, her father married Nanita Greene and had two more children: Tracy Griffith and Clay A. Griffith.
Melanie also grew up with tigers and lions, as Tippi and Noel were raising them for the movie Roar (1981), in which the family later starred. Melanie's acting career, however, began as a model at just nine months old in a commercial and she later appeared as an extra in Smith! (1969) and The Harrad Experiment (1973), where she fell in love with her mother's co-star, Don Johnson. She was only 14 years old, while he was a 22-year-old with two annulled marriages. Tippi took a very liberal approach and allowed Melanie to move in with Don at a tender age. Even though Melanie didn't like modeling, she continued to do it to pay the bills. One day she went to meet with director Arthur Penn for what she thought was a modeling assignment. It was actually an audition for his film Night Moves (1975), and Penn gave her the role of a runaway nymphet. She was hesitant, but Johnson encouraged her to take the role. She agreed but was terrified of performing in front of the camera. Penn took a paternal interest in her, and she felt confident and gave a riveting performance, doing racy nude scenes. It immediately typecast her and led to more nymphet roles, with her beautiful nude body a permanent fixture in movies like Ha-Gan (1977) and Joyride (1977). She also married Johnson, eloping in 1976, but the union ended within six months.
Unfortunately, as her career progressed, she became increasingly dependent on drugs and alcohol, a fact well-known to studio executives, who stopped considering her for feature film roles. Melanie started doing television work, where she met her second husband, Steven Bauer, on the set of the TV movie She's in the Army Now (1981). He helped her to overcome her drug and alcohol problems and got her to take acting classes with Stella Adler in New York. The classes paid off, as director Brian De Palma cast her as a porno actress in his murder mystery Body Double (1984) and her sexy, funny performance won her rave reviews and the Best Supporting Actress Award by the National Society of Film Critics and a Golden Globe nomination. Jonathan Demme was so impressed with her performance that he gave her the female lead in Something Wild (1986) without even auditioning her. The film was a commercial failure but quickly became a cult favorite on video and cable, with Melanie again getting critical plaudits and a Golden Globe nomination.
The birth of her first child, Alexander, in 1985, didn't help to save her struggling marriage, and she and Bauer separated shortly thereafter. Melanie was given starring roles in Cherry 2000 (1987) and Stormy Monday (1988), but the films were barely released. Soon writers were asking when the public at large was going to take notice of this unique and talented actress. Melanie's career skyrocketed when Mike Nichols cast her as spunky secretary Tess McGill in Working Girl (1988), a box-office hit for which she received an Oscar nomination as Best Actress and won the Golden Globe Award as Best Actress in a Comedy. However, her ongoing substance abuse had almost destroyed her career yet again, and Nichols pushed her into a rehabilitation clinic. En route to the clinic she called ex-husband Johnson for support, and they reconciled after her release from the clinic. She got pregnant, divorced Bauer and remarried Johnson in 1989, and later that year their daughter Dakota Johnson was born. A sober Melanie now concentrated on her film career: her follow-up to "Working Girl" was John Schlesinger's Hitchcockian urban thriller Pacific Heights (1990). It was a moderate success, but most of the films she chose flopped badly, especially The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), which reunited her with director Brian De Palma. Even though she gave heartfelt performances in all her films, she was often miscast, with her breathy little-girl voice not helping matters in her role as a spy in Shining Through (1992) and as a homicide detective going undercover in the Hassidic Jewish community in New York City in A Stranger Among Us (1992).
Melanie was charming as a street hooker who befriends a group of elementary students in Milk Money (1994), but the film received negative reviews and performed dismally at the box office. She made a minor comeback with the critics for her supporting role as a desperate housewife in Nobody's Fool (1994), which reunited her with Bruce Willis, her co-star in "Bonfire", and Paul Newman, her co-star from The Drowning Pool (1975). She also earned a Golden Globe nomination for her work in the well-received TV miniseries Buffalo Girls (1995), followed by another hit film, the ensemble Now and Then (1995). Her personal life was making headlines again, though, as she left Johnson because of his own substance-abuse problems, reconciled with him briefly when he became sober, only to leave him again, this time for Antonio Banderas, her married co-star from Two Much (1995). Both she and Banderas created a scandal in 1995 with their torrid romance, and the tabloids followed their every move, including her divorce from Johnson and his divorce from wife Ana Leza. Melanie became pregnant with her third child, and she and Banderas married in 1996. Their daughter Stella Banderas was born, and the notorious couple were forgiven by the public and the media.
Melanie won strong reviews in independent films like Another Day in Paradise (1998), where she played a heroin-using criminal accomplice on the run, and the made-for-cable movie RKO 281 (1999), in which she portrayed actress Marion Davies, a part that garnered her Golden Globe and Emmy nominations as Best Supporting Actress. Melanie became dependent to pain killers, however, returning to rehab in 2000. She wrote about her struggle and recovery in her journal on her official website. Greenmoon Productions, the production company that she formed with Banderas, produced several flops, such as her starring vehicle Crazy in Alabama (1999), directed by Banderas. Her career took another blow when her TV series, Me & George (1998), never even aired. After making Cecil B. Demented (2000) and Forever Lulu (2000), Melanie did a voice-over role in Stuart Little 2 (2002) and played supporting roles in minor films Tempo (2003), as Sylvester Stallone's girlfriend in Shade (2003), and as Barbara Sinatra in All the Way (2003) with Dennis Hopper playing Frank Sinatra, but none of these films made a ripple at the box office. As a result, film and television offers dried up.
In 2003, a resourceful Melanie turned to the Broadway stage, and packed houses with her turn as the murderess "Roxie Hart" in the musical "Chicago," for which she received a rave review from the New York Times theater critic. It renewed her confidence, as she had never sang, danced or been on the Broadway stage before. In 2005 she surprised viewers by playing a mom to two grown women in the TV series Twins (2005), which was canceled after one season. She tried to resurrect her career with another attempt at a TV series, Viva Laughlin (2007), but it was canceled after just two episodes. Melanie didn't act again for the remainder of the decade, because, by self-admission, she couldn't obtain any worthwhile roles. In 2009, she was back in rehab after yet another relapse, emerging after a three-month stay. Professionally, she was faced with more disappointment in 2012 when This American Housewife (2012), a Lifetime series that Banderas produced for her to star in, never aired. She went back to the stage in 2012 and played Scott Caan's mother in a play that he wrote titled "No Way Around but Through." She impressed Caan enough to recommend her to producers of his television show Hawaii Five-0 (2010). Since 2014, she started playing a recurring role as his mother on the show.
Also in 2014, Melanie filed for divorce from Banderas citing "irreconcilable differences" after nearly twenty years together. She never publicly discussed her reasons for the divorce, and she didn't promote her feature film Automata (2014), the final time that she acted with Banderas. It took a year for the divorce to be finalized, during which time, she and Banderas made one important appearance together at their daughter Stella's high school graduation. She also made another public appearance with another ex-husband, Don Johnson, on Saturday Night Live (1975) to support their daughter Dakota, who was the host for that week. Dakota was promoting her star-making turn in Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), thus carrying on the family tradition of being a film actress. Melanie maintains close ties with her three children and her mother Tippi Hedren. She is involved in various charities, including raising funds for Tippi's Shambala preserve, a refuge for wild animals. Melanie also runs a non-profit organization for benefiting burned children. Melanie is single and her children are living on their own, so she has devoted most of her time to seeking out acting roles.- Actress
- Producer
- Composer
Maria Conchita Alonso was born Maria Concepcion Alonso Bustillo on June 29, 1957 in Cienfuegos, Cuba, but raised in Caracas, Venezuela. She was crowned Miss Teenager World in 1971 and later as Miss Distrito Federal became the first runner up in the Miss Venezuela 1975 competition placing later that year in the top seven of the Miss World 1975. She became a popular actress in Latin America, working in ten telenovelas (soap operas) and starred in a quartet of Venezuelan films. She was also a popular singer, and has three Grammy Award nominations.
In 1982, she emigrated to the United States, and made her Hollywood film debut in Paul Mazursky's Moscow on the Hudson (1984), opposite Robin Williams. She also starred in movies such as Touch and Go (1986), Extreme Prejudice (1987), The Running Man (1987), Colors (1988), Vampire's Kiss (1988), Predator 2 (1990) and The House of the Spirits (1993). In 1995, she was playing Aurora/Spider Woman in a Broadway production of "Kiss of the Spider Woman", making her the first South American woman to star on the Great White Way.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Catherine Zeta-Jones was born September 25, 1969 in Swansea, Wales (and raised in the nearby town of Mumbles), the only daughter of Patricia (nee Fair) and David James "Dai" Jones, who formerly owned a sweet factory. She attended Dumbarton House School (Swansea). Her father (the son of Bertram (1912-1970) and Zeta Davies Jones (1917-2008)) is of Welsh descent and her mother (the daughter of William (1921-2000) and Catherine O'Callaghan Fair (1920-2001) ) is of English, Irish, and Welsh ancestry. Her brothers are David Jones (born 1967), a development executive, and Lyndon Jones (born 1972), who works at her production company. Her birth name was simply Catherine Jones, but she added her paternal grandmother's name ("Zeta") so as to stand out from the many other young women with the exact same name.
She showed an interest early on in entertainment. She starred on stage in "Annie", "Bugsy Malone" and "The Pajama Game". At age 15, she had the lead in the British revival of "42nd Street". She was originally cast as the second understudy for the lead role in the musical but when the star and first understudy became sick the night the play's producer was in the audience, she was given the lead for the rest of the musical's production. She first made a name for herself in the early 1990s when she starred in the Yorkshire Television comedy/drama series The Darling Buds of May (1991). The series was a success and made her one of the United Kingdom's most popular television actresses.
She subsequently played supporting roles in several films including Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992), the miniseries Catherine the Great (1995) and a larger role as the seductive Sala in The Phantom (1996) before landing her breakthrough role playing the fiery Elena opposite Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas in The Mask of Zorro (1998). She starred in many big-budget blockbusters like Entrapment (1999), The Haunting (1999) and Traffic (2000), for which many believed she was robbed of an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as murderous vaudevillian Velma Kelly in the musical comedy Chicago (2002). She then appeared opposite George Clooney in Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Ocean's Twelve (2004) and reprised her starring role in the sequel The Legend of Zorro (2005).
In November 2000, she married actor Michael Douglas. She gave birth to their son Dylan Michael in August 2000 followed by daughter, Carys, in April 2003. She was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to drama.- Actress
- Producer
Kim Delaney was born on November 29, 1958, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was raised in Roxborough. She is the daughter of Joan and Jack Delaney, who retired from Delphi Automotive, where he served as a committeeman for the United Auto Workers. She has four brothers: Ed Delaney and John Delaney, who are older than her, and Keith and Patrick Delaney, who are younger. As a cheerleader at John W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School in Philadelphia, she dreamed of being a court reporter and settling close to home. Kim began her modeling career working for the Elite agency while still in high school. After graduation, Kim continued to model in Philadelphia and then headed for New York City, quickly winning commercials. She studied acting in New York with William Esper. She auditioned for Dynasty (1981) and Dallas (1978) , but lost out. When she auditioned for All My Children (1970), however, she got the part of Jenny Gardner, and in August 1981 her acting career took off. In the spring of 1983, she made her busy schedule even busier by performing in an off-Broadway play directed by Dorothy Lyman. She has been nominated for many acting awards, winning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for playing Diane Russell on NYPD Blue (1993). She has continued to star in both television and theater, as well as in films such as Rules of Engagement (1997) and Mission to Mars (2000). Kim Delaney lives in Los Angeles, California.- Actress
- Producer
From working for the exacting Alfred Hitchcock to a film written by Edward D. Wood Jr., Tippi Hedren, the Minnesota blonde, has had a distinctive career. She was born Nathalie Kay Hedren in New Ulm, MN, to Dorothea (née Eckhardt) and Bernard Hedren, who ran a general store, and is of Swedish, Norwegian, and German descent. Tippi was working as a New York fashion model when she married her first husband, former actor and later advertising executive Peter Griffith, in 1952 (married until 1961). She gave birth to her only child, future star Melanie Griffith, on August 9, 1957. Alfred Hitchcock discovered Tippi, the pretty cover girl, while viewing a commercial on NBC's Today (1952) show. He put her under personal contract and cast her in The Birds (1963). In a cover article about the movie in Look magazine (Dec. 4, 1962), Hitchcock praised her; he also told the Associated Press: "Tippi Hedren is really remarkable. She's already reaching the lows and highs of terror". Her performance in the film earned her both the Golden Globe award and the Photoplay award as Most Promising Newcomer. Her next film was playing the title role in Hitchcock's Marnie (1964), where she played a challenging and difficult role of a frigid, habitual thief. The film wasn't as big a hit as "The Birds," and it would take years before she won well-deserved admiration for her work. The professional relationship with Hitchcock ended with mutual bitterness and disappointment during the filming of "Marnie." That year, she married her agent, Noel Marshall (married until 1982). Charles Chaplin cast her in a supporting role in his final film A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), which flopped. Thereafter, Tippi and her husband Marshall collected big cats and other wildlife for the film Roar (1981), which they starred in and produced. The film took 11 years and $17 million to make, but it only made $2 million worldwide. Nevertheless, the film was a turning point in her life; she became actively involved in animal rights, as well as a wide variety of humanitarian and environmental causes. She married her third husband, businessman Luis Barrenecha, in 1985 but divorced him seven years later. In 2002, she became engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes, but after six years and no wedding, the couple called it quits. Tippi has devoted much time and effort to charitable causes: she is a volunteer International Relief Coordinator for "Food for the Hungry". She has traveled worldwide to set up relief programs following earthquakes, hurricanes, famine and war, and has received numerous awards for her efforts, including the Humanitarian Award presented to her by the Baha'i Faith. As for animal causes, she is founder and president of The Roar Foundation. Onscreen, she continues to work frequently in films, theater and TV. She appeared in I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998), finally bringing to the big screen the last screenplay written by the late Edward D. Wood Jr. in 1974 (and featuring Wood regulars Maila Nurmi and Conrad Brooks, just about the only surviving members of Wood's stock company). She also enjoyed playing comedic roles, such as an abortion rights activist in Alexander Payne's satire Citizen Ruth (1996) and slapping Jude Law in I Heart Huckabees (2004). Tippi's contributions to world cinema have been honored with Life Achievement awards in France at The Beauvais Film Festival Cinemalia 1994; in Spain, by The Fundacion Municipal De Cine in 1995; and at the Riverside International Film Festival in 2007. In 1999, Tippi was honored as "Woman of Vision" by Women in Film and Video in Washington, D.C., and received the Presidential Medal for her work in film from Hofstra University. She enjoys spending time with her daughter and grandchildren: Alexander Bauer, Dakota Johnson and Stella Banderas.- Starting out in the slasher film Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland (1989) and in New York on the daytime soap Guiding Light (1952), Tracy Griffith was then cast as "Babe" in her first feature, The Good Mother (1988), starring Diane Keaton and Liam Neeson, and directed by Leonard Nimoy. Hollywood called and, soon after arriving in Los Angeles, she got her first starring role, opposite Lou Diamond Phillips, in the feature film, The First Power (1990). She went on to star with Rob Lowe in The Finest Hour (1991) and starred with Teri Hatcher in the comedy, All Tied Up (1993). Other starring roles include the Sundance-selected independent film, Joe & Joe (1996), and the action feature film, Skeeter (1993), for New Line Cinema and Crazy in Alabama (1999), a TriStar feature directed by Antonio Banderas - starring her half-sister, Melanie Griffith.
Television credits include playing Johnny Depp's girlfriend on 21 Jump Street (1987), starring with Lindsay Wagner on Lifetime's Their Second Chance (1997) and as Laura Dern's sister in the mini-series, The Siege at Ruby Ridge (1996). Tracy was a series regular on the ABC drama, The Monroes (1995), where she played Kelly Monroe, the renegade daughter of William Devane. Other television credits include co-starring in the CBS movie, Circle of Deceit (1998), with Janine Turner and Esai Morales, and the CBS movie, Murder in the Mirror (2000), where she plays the best friend of Jane Seymour. She was a featured guest star on TNT's Bull (2000). She has starred in pilot demos: "A Fork on the Road" for the Food Network as a chef/host and "Prowler Girls" which involved hitting the road ala "Thelma and Louise", driving a Plymouth Prowler. Tracy is a sushi-chef and worked for a year at the trend-setting Beverly Hills restaurant, Tsunami's. She was the "mystery guest" this year on To Tell the Truth (2000) and fooled them all about being a "sushiwoman".
She is also a certified dive-master and enjoys playing her guitar and singing. She has performed at several benefits to help raise money and awareness for her favorite causes: animal rights and endangered animal preservation. She attends fund-raising events with her friend, (Melanie's mom) Tippi Hedren, to support her efforts in maintaining the wild animal preserve, Shambala. She was proud to be the first Miss Hot Tomato for the 10th Annual Carmel Valley Tomato Festival, where she was an honorary culinary judge. She also performed at the event which donated proceeds to the American Red Cross and Boy's and Girl's Clubs. Tracy is at work on a screenplay. She wrote two cookbooks. On September 17, 2011, she married Mark Daley, President of Polo Ralph Lauren.
Tracy Griffith was born to Peter Griffith and his second wife Nanita Greene on October 19, 1965 in New York City. She joined half-sister Melanie Griffith and two years later, her brother Clay A. Griffith joined the family of entertainers. - Actor
- Composer
- Producer
Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937, in Margam, Wales, to Muriel Anne (Yeats) and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker. His parents were both of half Welsh and half English descent. Influenced by Richard Burton, he decided to study at College of Music and Drama and graduated in 1957. In 1965, he moved to London and joined the National Theatre, invited by Laurence Olivier, who could see the talent in Hopkins. In 1967, he made his first film for television, A Flea in Her Ear (1967).
From this moment on, he enjoyed a successful career in cinema and television. In 1968, he worked on The Lion in Winter (1968) with Timothy Dalton. Many successes came later, and Hopkins' remarkable acting style reached the four corners of the world. In 1977, he appeared in two major films: A Bridge Too Far (1977) with James Caan, Gene Hackman, Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Elliott Gould and Laurence Olivier, and Maximilian Schell. In 1980, he worked on The Elephant Man (1980). Two good television literature adaptations followed: Othello (1981) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982). In 1987 he was awarded with the Commander of the order of the British Empire. This year was also important in his cinematic life, with 84 Charing Cross Road (1987), acclaimed by specialists. In 1993, he was knighted.
In the 1990s, Hopkins acted in movies like Desperate Hours (1990) and Howards End (1992), The Remains of the Day (1993) (nominee for the Oscar), Legends of the Fall (1994), Nixon (1995) (nominee for the Oscar), Surviving Picasso (1996), Amistad (1997) (nominee for the Oscar), The Mask of Zorro (1998), Meet Joe Black (1998) and Instinct (1999). His most remarkable film, however, was The Silence of the Lambs (1991), for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor. He also got a B.A.F.T.A. for this role.- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Kobe Bean Bryant was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Bryant won five NBA championships, was an 18-time All-Star, a 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, a 12-time member of the All-Defensive Team, the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), and a two-time NBA Finals MVP. Bryant also led the NBA in scoring twice, and ranks fourth in league all-time regular season and postseason scoring. He was posthumously voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020 and named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.
Born in Philadelphia and partly raised in Italy, Bryant was recognized as the top American high-school basketball player while at Lower Merion. The son of former NBA player Joe Bryant, he declared for the 1996 NBA draft and was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the 13th overall pick; he was then traded to the Lakers. As a rookie, Bryant earned a reputation as a high-flyer by winning the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest, and was named an All-Star by his second season. Despite a feud with teammate Shaquille O'Neal, the pair led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002.
In 2003, Bryant was charged with sexual assault;with the alleged victim being a 19 year old hotel employee. Criminal charges were later dropped after the accuser failed to testify, and a lawsuit was settled out of court, with Bryant issuing a public apology and admitting to a sexual encounter while maintaining the interaction was consensual. The accusation briefly tarnished Bryant's reputation, resulting in the loss of several of his endorsement contracts.
After the Lakers lost the 2004 NBA Finals, O'Neal was traded and Bryant became the cornerstone of the Lakers. He led the NBA in scoring in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. On January 22, 2006, he scored a career-high 81 points; the second most points scored in a single NBA game, behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game. Bryant led the team to consecutive championships in 2009 and 2010, both times being named NBA Finals MVP. He continued to be among the top players in the league through the 2012-13 season, when he suffered a torn Achilles tendon at age 34. His next two seasons were cut short by injuries to his knee and shoulder, respectively. Citing physical decline, Bryant retired after the 2015-16 season. In 2017, the Lakers retired both his #8 and #24 jerseys, making him the only player in NBA history to have multiple jerseys retired by the same franchise.
The all-time leading scorer in Lakers history, Bryant was the first guard in NBA history to play 20 seasons. His 18 All-Star designations are the second most all time, and he has the most consecutive appearances as a starter. Bryant's four NBA All-Star Game MVP Awards are tied with Bob Pettit for the most in NBA history. He gave himself the nickname "Black Mamba" in the mid-2000s, and the epithet became widely adopted by the general public. He won gold medals on the 2008 and 2012 U.S. Olympic teams. In 2018, he won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for the film Dear Basketball (2017).
Bryant died, along with his daughter Gianna and seven others, in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, in 2020. A number of tributes and memorials were subsequently issued, including renaming the All-Star MVP Award in his honor.
He was. 5× NBA champion (2000-2002, 2009, 2010); 2× NBA Finals MVP (2009, 2010); NBA Most Valuable Player (2008); 18× NBA All-Star (1998, 2000-2016); 4× NBA All-Star Game MVP (2002, 2007, 2009, 2011); 11× All-NBA First Team (2002-2004, 2006-2013); 2× All-NBA Second Team (2000, 2001); 2× All-NBA Third Team (1999, 2005); 9× NBA All-Defensive First Team (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006-2011); 3× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2001, 2002, 2012)- Actor
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Seth Green has starred in numerous films and television series including the Austin Powers trilogy, The Italian Job (2003), Without a Paddle (2004), Party Monster (2003), Can't Hardly Wait (1998), Old Dogs (2009) and dozens more, including starring roles in Sexy Evil Genius (2013), The Story of Luke (2012) and Yellowbird (2014). He's portrayed Christopher Guest in Netflix's National Lampoon origin film, A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018), and he starred opposite Katie Holmes and Michael Caine in Dear Dictator (2017). Green made his feature film directorial debut with Changeland (2019) starring Green, Breckin Meyer, Brenda Song, Macaulay Culkin, Clare Grant and Randy Orton. He is the co-creator/executive producer/primary voice talent and a writer/director on Robot Chicken (2001), 2010 & 2016 Emmy® Award-winner for Outstanding Short Format Animation Program. Green has voiced Chris Griffin on Family Guy (1999) since the series' inception. Green has been singled out for many Emmy voiceover nominations for Adult Swim's Robot Chicken. The show, the network's highest-rated original program, and their specials have won numerous Annie Awards for writing and producing, including one for Green for directing. In 2011, Green and his partners created Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, a full-service animation studio with many other projects including: Crackle's SuperMansion, Adult Swim's Hot Streets (2016) and WWE's Camp WWE (2016). In December 2017, the company signed a two-year first-look deal with 20th Century Fox Film to develop animated and live-action projects. Green has always been fascinated by space travel and has done a PSA for NASA and designed the CASIS patch for ISS U.S. National Laboratory missions for research to benefit life on Earth.- Actor
- Music Department
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James David Van Der Beek was born on March 8, 1977 in Cheshire, Connecticut, as the oldest of three children of Melinda (Weber), a gymnastics studio owner and Broadway dancer, and Jim Van Der Beek, a cell phone company executive. He has a brother named Jared who was born in 1979, and a sister named Juliana who was born in 1981. James started acting at 13 after suffering a concussion playing football that prevented him from playing for a year on doctor's orders. He landed the role of Danny Zuko in his school production of "Grease." After that, the acting bug sank in and the next three years he spent time doing local theater. Around 16, he and his mother went to New York City to find an agent and possible auditions. A year later, he was cast in an off-Broadway play called "Finding the Sun." After doing another play called "Shenandoah" in 1994, James received an academic scholarship to Drew University in NJ, where he was working towards obtaining a major in English with a minor in sociology and also at that time he won the role of Rick Sanford in the movie Angus (1995). In 1996, he won a very small supporting role in I Love You, I Love You Not (1996) which starred Claire Danes. After that film his acting career was at a dead end and he decided to continue with his schooling and eventually made the Dean's list. The college experience soon became old for James, so he took some time off to travel and when he returned he auditioned for a role in Dawson's Creek (1998). He won the lead in the show, and his life changed forever. Though James has taken a hiatus from his college studies to shoot the series, he still plans to finish his degree. He has starred in several hit films over the past couple of years, like Varsity Blues (1999) andTexas Rangers (2001).- Actor
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Born May 29, 1979 in Redlands, California to Rick and Jeanine Jackson, Richard Lee Jackson began his acting career at age 12 after a visit to Universal Studios in Hollywood. After moving to Los Angeles at the age of 13 and working in various roles for TV and film, he garnered considerable recognition for his turn on the 2nd season premiere episode of Ally McBeal (1997).
Best known for his role as "Ryan Parker" on Saved by the Bell: The New Class (1993), he has also guest-starred in several network/syndicated series including; Boy Meets World (1993), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) and Baywatch (1989).
Last year (2004) he was featured in Hope Ranch (2002) with Lorenzo Lamas and Bruce Boxleitner and stars in the recently released Universal Film Bring It on: Again (2004). His feature film debut is in the MGM film Madison (2001), which stars Jim Caviezel.
Richard Lee has done several national and local TV appearances (Leeza, Regis and Kathy Lee, AM Northwest, Good Day Oregon, etc.) and interviews in several world-wide syndicated magazines such as Movieline and Teen People. He was also featured along with his brother, fellow actor Jonathan Jackson, in People's "Sexiest Man Alive Issue".
Along with acting, Richard is the drummer in the rock band Enation (with brother Jonathan on lead vocals and guitar). They are currently (2005) touring the West Coast and releasing their first record, "Identity Theft".
He was married to Raquel Torres on January 2nd, 2005 and lives in the Northwest when he is not working in Los Angeles.- Actor
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Jonathan Jackson was born in Orlando, Florida, to Jeanine (Sharp), an officer manager, and Dr. Rick Lee Jackson, a family doctor and country musician. He is the younger brother of actor/singer Richard Lee Jackson and Candice E. Jackson. His ancestry includes English, German, Finnish, Scottish, and Scandinavian (Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish).
Jackson's family moved to Washington state when he was very young. Jonathan gave serious thought to an acting career following a family visit to Universal Studios Hollywood in 1991. His parents decided to let their sons try their luck in acting for 6 months, and so Jonathan and Richard moved down to Los Angeles with their mother while their father stayed back in Washington with Candice. Soon after, Jonathan landed a Corn Pops commercial. He had a few commercials under his belt before he was chosen, from several hundred young hopefuls, for the sought-after role of Luke and Laura's son, "Lucky Spencer", on the series General Hospital (1963). His first air date was October 29, 1993. He stayed on the soap opera for 6 years as the original "Lucky", garnering 6 Daytime Emmy nominations and 3 Daytime Emmys for Younger Actor along the way. While shooting the soap, Jackson also made 5 movies. His film debut was with Christopher Lloyd in 1994's Camp Nowhere (1994). He also made two TV movies, The Legend of the Ruby Silver (1996) and The Prisoner of Zenda, Inc. (1996) in 1996.
In 1997, he took time from the soap to shoot what would become his breakthrough film role as Michelle Pfeiffer's troubled son "Vincent Cappadora" in The Deep End of the Ocean (1999). In 1998, he filmed several episodes for the ABC series Boy Meets World (1993). In 1999, he again took a short break from GH to film a supporting role in the independent film True Rights (2000). After leaving the soap in 1999, Jackson was cast in a variety of films. At one point, he was considered the favorite to play "Anakin Skywalker" in the Star Wars films. He has played son to Sissy Spacek, William Hurt, Treat Williams, JoBeth Williams, Barbara Hershey and Judy Davis, and romantic interest to Alexis Bledel, Carly Pope, Erika Christensen, Romola Garai and Agnes Bruckner. He has also played brother to Brian Austin Green and best friend to Cillian Murphy and Nick Stahl, and has also shared the screen with Al Pacino, David Arquette and Ben Kingsley. He was also cast in Walden Media's "The Dark is Rising" but his scenes were cut before the film was released. Jackson's other abiding passion has been his music. He has been the lead singer and guitarist in a number of bands, most recently for Enation. Jonathan first sang his own work on General Hospital (1963) and his music has since been featured in a number of his movies.
Although acting is his favorite activity, Jonathan also participates in most sports, including basketball, baseball and rollerblading. He also enjoys playing the guitar.- Producer
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Gale Anne Hurd was born on October 25, 1955 in Los Angeles, California. After graduating from Stanford University, she joined New World Pictures as executive assistant to Roger Corman, the company president. She worked her way up through various administrative positions and eventually became involved in production. She formed her own production company, Pacific Western Productions, in 1982 and went on to produce a number of box-office hits including The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986) and The Abyss (1989). All were directed by James Cameron, whom she later married and divorced. She also later married and divorced Brian De Palma. She is currently the recording secretary for the Producers Guild of America.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Jennifer Love Hewitt was born in Waco, Texas, to Patricia Mae (Shipp), a speech-language pathologist, and Herbert Daniel Hewitt, a medical technician. She has English, Italian, French, Scottish, and German ancestry. She got her first name from her older brother Todd Daniel Hewitt (b. November 8, 1970), who picked the name after a little blonde girl on whom he'd had a crush. Her mother selected Jennifer's middle name, Love (which she goes by offstage), from her best college friend. Her parents separated when she was six months old and her mother raised her in Killeen, Texas.
Hewitt made her official performing debut at age 3 when she sang at a livestock show. At age 5, she was taking tap, jazz, and ballet lessons, which led to her joining the Texas Show Team, who toured the Soviet Union and Europe. When she was 10 her family moved to Los Angeles with encouragement from talent scouts, while Todd stayed behind to finish high school in Texas Jennifer quickly found commercial work and a role on Disney's Kids Incorporated (1984) in 1989. She went through a series of television flops before finally hitting it big on Party of Five (1994) in 1995.- Julieta Rosen was born on 8 November 1962 in Mexico. She is an actress, known for The Mask of Zorro (1998), Timeless Love (2010) and Contrato con la muerte (1985).
- Actor
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- Producer
Matt Letscher attended the University of Michigan and received a BA in Theatre, but it was a pair of workshops with the legendary Uta Hagen that cemented his love of the craft. His career since has ranged from stage to screen, beginning with a role in Jeff Daniel's original play The Tropical Pickle, which premiered at the Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea, MI. He's been honored to work with directors Spike Jonze, Atom Egoyan, James Mangold and Bart Sher and writers Lanford Wilson, Beth Henley, Neil Simon, and Greg Berlanti, among many others.
As a writer, his plays Sea Of Fools and Gaps In The Fossil Record received productions at The Purple Rose Theatre and Pacific Resident Theatre, respectively. His pilot, Gentrification(co-written with Nipper Knapp and Andrew Newberg) won the award for Best Writing at the 2010 New York Television Festival.- Producer
- Actress
- Writer
Janice Dickinson was born on 15 February 1955 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She is a producer and actress, known for Bob Thunder: Internet Assassin (2015), Wassup Rockers (2005) and Charmed (1998). She has been married to Dr. Robert Gerner since 10 December 2016. She was previously married to Albert Gerston, Simon Fields and Ron Levy.- Becky has been in over 60 national commercials. She has been in many TV shows, including "Highway to Heaven", "L.A. Law", "Beverly Hills, 90210", "Step By Step", "Boy Meets World", "Sister Sister", and "Days of our Lives". She had a recurring role, Kristen, on "Brotherly Love". Becky has been seen recently on "Space Cases" as Suzee, before landing the role of Elizabeth "Lizzie" Webber on "General Hospital". At the age of 16, Becky had to make a choice between having a career as a competitive ice-skater, or being an actress. Becky resides in Los Angeles near her family.
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- Executive
- Manager
Sid Sheinberg was born on 14 January 1935 in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA. He was a producer and executive, known for What Lola Wants (2015), For Richer or Poorer (1997) and The Devil's Tomb (2009). He was married to Lorraine Gary. He died on 7 March 2019 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.- Lorraine Gary was born on August 16th, 1937 in New York. Lorraine was raised in Los Angeles. At age 16, she won a best actress award in a competition at the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse. She was offered a scholarship to enroll at the Pasadena Playhouse, but declined said offer and attended Columbia University as a political science major, instead. Lorraine began her acting career in the late 60s doing guest appearances on several popular TV shows. Gary achieved her greatest and most enduring fame with her excellent portrayal of Sheriff Roy Scheider's caring and concerned wife in the first two "Jaws" pictures. Lorraine further demonstrated her considerable versatility with funny performances in the amusing comedies Car Wash (1976), Zero to Sixty (1978) and 1941 (1979). Among the television programs she's done guest spots on are The Rookies (1972), Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969), Kojak (1973), Ironside (1967), The F.B.I. (1965), The Virginian (1962), McCloud (1970) and Dragnet 1967 (1967). She came out of voluntary retirement to assume a rare substantial starring role in the regrettably dreadful Jaws: The Revenge (1987) but, alas, hasn't acted in anything since that ill-received feature. She's been married to MCA president Sid Sheinberg for 60 years. Her sons, Bill Sheinberg and Jonathan Sheinberg are both film producers. Moreover, Marty McFly's mother in Back to the Future (1985) was named after Lorraine Gary.
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Louis Diamond Phillips is an American actor and film director. His breakthrough came when he starred as Ritchie Valens in the biographical drama film La Bamba (1987). For Stand and Deliver (1988), Phillips was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won an Independent Spirit Award. Phillips made his Broadway debut with the 1996 revival of The King and I, earning a Tony Award nomination for his portrayal of King Mongkut of Siam. Phillips' other notable films include Young Guns (1988), Young Guns II (1990), Courage Under Fire (1996), The Big Hit (1998), Brokedown Palace (1999), Che (2008), and The 33 (2015). In the television series Longmire, he played a main character named Henry Standing Bear. He played New York City Police Lieutenant Gil Arroyo on Prodigal Son on FOX from 2019 to 2021.- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Actress
Paula Wagner has worked in the top ranks of the entertainment industry as a talent agent, film producer, and studio executive. She develops and produces film, theatre, and television projects through her production company Chestnut Ridge Productions (CRP).
Wagner began her career as an agent at Creative Artists Agency where she spent 15 years representing some of some of Hollywood's top actors, directors, and writers. In 1993 she began a new phase of her career as a producer when she launched Cruise/Wagner Productions with Tom Cruise, her former CAA client. For more than a decade, C/W produced critically acclaimed films with international appeal, including the Mission: Impossible franchise films I, II, and III, Without Limits, The Others, The Last Samurai, Vanilla Sky and Steven Spielberg's War Of The Worlds, which Wagner executive produced.
Wagner was co-owner and CEO of United Artists Entertainment from 2006 to 2008. During her tenure, UA released the Robert Redford political thriller Lions for Lambs and the World War II thriller Valkyrie.
Wagner's current film projects include Marshall (2016), starring Chadwick Boseman and Josh Gad and directed by Reggie Hudlin, based on a crucial case in the early career of U.S Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Also in development under the CRP banner is Sylvia Robinson: The Story of the Mother of Hip-Hop, which is being set up at Warner Bros., as well as the China/US co-production Moon Flower of the Flying Tigers, an epic WWII romantic drama based on a true story.
Wagner's producing credits for Broadway include TONY Award-nominated The Heiress starring Jessica Chastain & David Strathairn, Grace starring Paul Rudd & Michael Shannon and Terrence McNally's TONY Award-nominated play Mothers and Sons.
Wagner is a member of the PGA, the AMPAS, and the Broadway League. She serves on the boards for Film Forum in NY, the American Cinematheque, and the National Film Preservation Foundation. She travels the world as a visiting guest artist, and has lectured at Universities around the country, including the Harvard Business School and UCLA's School of Theatre, Film and Television. She is an adjunct faculty member and Lifetime Trustee of Carnegie Mellon University, her alma mater.
Wagner is married to Rick Nicita, CEO of management and production company RP Media. They have two sons, Zachary and Jesse.- Producer
- Additional Crew
Rick Nicita was born on 15 December 1945 in the USA. He is a producer, known for Dream House (2011), Hacksaw Ridge (2016) and Street Rat Allie. He has been married to Paula Wagner since 27 October 1984. He was previously married to Wallis Nicita.- Actress
- Director
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Maitland Ward (born Ashley Maitland Welkos, on February 3, 1977 in Long Beach, California). She began her career as "Jessica Forrester" on The Bold and the Beautiful (1987), where she appeared for three years. From there, she guest-starred on Home Improvement (1991).
Maitland is also well-known as "Rachel McGuire" from the hit prime-time series, Boy Meets World (1993). She starred on the ABC comedy for three years.
She also appeared in the independent film, Dish Dogs (2000), a romantic comedy in which she co-stars with Brian Dennehy, Matthew Lillard and Sean Astin.
In 2004, she starred in the comedy White Chicks (2004) with the Wayans Brothers.
Since 2004, Maitland has been seen in the CBS comedy Out of Practice (2005). Maitland was also the lead in the untitled Michael Jacobs pilot. In 2007, she guest-starred on Rules of Engagement (2007) on CBS, opposite David Spade.
In October of 2006, she married John T. Baxter and the wedding was profiled in the New York Times Society Pages. In 2007, Maitland was accepted to NYU and studied Theatre while pursuing roles on the stage. She lived in New York City for two years before relocating back to Los Angeles in the spring of '09.- Producer
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Walter F. Parkes was born on April 15, 1951 in Bakersfield, California. He attended Yale University and it was graduated cum laude in 1973. He made its first film project The California Reich (1975), which was made in 1975.
He met Laurie MacDonald in 1982 and the next year, wrote the script for the film WarGames (1983) with Lawrence Lasker, of which received a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination. The success led to a deal with Paramount Pictures, with no films coming out. In 1985, he produced Volunteers (1985) with Richard Shepherd, and in 1987 reunited with Lasker on the film Project X (1987), of which Lasker become a full time partner for four years. Both of them continue its success with True Believer (1989), Awakenings (1990) and Sneakers (1992). Both of them tried to sign a deal with Columbia when its deal with Paramount ended. Both of them produced the TV show Eddie Dodd (1991) with Clyde Phillips.
In 1991, both Lasker and Parkes part ways, in order that Parkes to partner with MacDonald, who left Columbia in the establishment of a production company Aerial Pictures. Aerial had a two year deal at Columbia Pictures, and it was briefly transferred to 20th Century Fox in 1993. Aerial's only product was a little known TV show Birdland (1994) for ABC.
In 1993, both Parkes and MacDonald was approached by Steven Spielberg to run Amblin Entertainment, thus completely shuttering Aerial Pictures down. He oversaw production of Little Giants (1994), Twister (1996) and Men in Black (1997), the latter of which was originated at Aerial.
In 1994, Parkes and MacDonald was approached to start up the DreamWorks studio and served as co-heads of film production. He oversaw more than a few films during his tenure, serving his positions as producer or executive producer, like The Peacemaker (1997), Deep Impact (1998), Gladiator (2000), The Ring (2002) and A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004).
In 2005, while Parkes and MacDonald completed production on a few DreamWorks films like The Island (2005) and Just Like Heaven (2005), the duo started up Parkes/MacDonald Productions with a deal at DreamWorks. At that time, Parkes and MacDonald produced these leftover projects originated by DreamWorks like The Lookout (2007) and The Kite Runner (2007) as well as Tim Burton's adaptation of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), the Asian film remake The Uninvited (2009) and the comedy Dinner for Schmucks (2010).
In 2009, Parkes and MacDonald partnered with Image Nation, and in 2010, signed a television deal with NBCUniversal to produce its television shows. The duo's contributions were the two Men in Black installments: Men in Black³ (2012) and Men in Black: International (2019), the third installment in the "Ring" franchise, Rings (2017) and original projects like Flight (2012) and Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016) as well as television shows like Crossbones (2014) and The Slap (2015).
In 2016, he was a founding partner and chairman in the virtual reality studio Dreamscape Immersive, with Kevin Wall, Caecila Charbonnier, Sylvian Chaugé and Ronald Menzel.
Both Parkes and MacDonald were currently working on future projects like "Gladiator 2" and "Barbie".- Actor
- Soundtrack
Stuart Wilson was born in Guildford, Surrey in England, on December 25th, 1946. He went to thirteen different schools, as his father served in the Royal Air Force and travelled around the world. After the RAF, his father worked as an engineer in the copper mines in Rhodesia. Stuart moved to London in the mid-sixties and trained at RADA. After RADA, he began working in repertory in Liverpool and at the RSC. His career took off when he played "Johann Strauss, Jr." in the The Strauss Family (1972), in which his character aged from 14 to 74. He continued to have a successful television career, playing various roles, including "Vronsky" in Anna Karenina (1977) and "Major Jimmy Clarke" in The Jewel in the Crown (1984). In the late 1980s, Stuart moved to Hollywood, where he landed roles in The Age of Innocence (1993) with Martin Scorsese, Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) and Roman Polanski's Death and the Maiden (1994). Stuart Wilson occasionally returns to the London stage and, in 2002, played "Antony" in "Antony and Cleopatra" at the RSC.- Actor
- Soundtrack
José Pérez was born in 1940 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for The Mask of Zorro (1998), The Way of the Gun (2000) and Calucci's Department (1973).- Actress
- Writer
Meg Tilly was set on being a dancer, and at 17 connected to the Connecticut Ballet Company and later Throne Dance Theatre. It was in this capacity that she had her screen debut in Alan Parker's Fame (1980). Unfortunately, an injury to her back cut short her plans for a dance career, and a small appearance in the TV series Hill Street Blues (1981) turned her towards acting (her dancing skills were not all forgotten, as was evident in The Big Chill (1983) and Psycho II (1983)). She received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Agnes of God (1985), and nobody doubted that she was on her way to stardom. One step on the road to that status was her being cast in Milos Forman's Amadeus (1984) as Constanza, but again her body interfered, and seven weeks into the production with her foot in a cast were more than the producers could accept, and she was replaced. Her "consolation", was a role in Forman's next project Valmont (1989), didn't do her career much good. Since then she has averaged a movie a year, and with the exception of Leaving Normal (1992), none have tapped the enormous reservoir of talent she has.- Producer
- Writer
Laurie MacDonald began her career as a documentary and news producer at KRON, the NBC affiliate in San Francisco. She later joined Columbia Pictures, where she served as a Vice President of Production. After four years, MacDonald started her own production company with her husband, screenwriter, and producer Walter Parkes. Together they have produced the Men In Black series, Gladiator, Flight, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, The Ring, The Mask of Zorro, Twister and Amistad, as well as the screen adaptations of The Kite Runner and Steven Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, and many others. In total, films produced or executive produced by MacDonald and Parkes have grossed over $6B globally.
MacDonald and Parkes became the co-heads of Amblin Entertainment in 1994 and just two years later were named co-presidents for the feature division of newly formed DreamWorks Studios. During their tenure, the fledgling studio won, for only the second time in Academy history, three consecutive Best Picture Oscars: American Beauty, Gladiator, and A Beautiful Mind, the latter two in partnership with Universal Studios.
In 2008, they left their executive positions at DreamWorks Studios for an overall producing deal under their namesake company Parkes + MacDonald where they produced The Trial of Chicago 7, written by Aaron Sorkin. Two years later MacDonald and Parkes formed a partnership with ImageNation Abu Dhabi for the development and production of films in the international market. Under this alliance, they produced films along with two feature length documentaries, He Named Me Malala and Free Solo, the latter of which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.- Director
- Producer
- Actor
Martin Campbell knows how to entertain an audience when he steps behind the camera. When he directed The Mask of Zorro (1998), the movie earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations and launched the international careers of Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Next, when he helmed Vertical Limit (2000), the film was well received by the critics and earned over $200 million in worldwide box-office sales. In addition, Campbell is credited with rejuvenating the James Bond franchise when he directed GoldenEye (1995), Pierce Brosnan's first outing as the famed British spy, which went on to gross more than $350 million. He also directed Daniel Craig's debut Bond feature as well, Casino Royale (2006).
Born in New Zealand, Campbell moved to London where he began his career as a cameraman. He went on to produce the controversial British feature Scum (1979), as well as Black Joy (1977), which was selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Campbell made his directorial debut on the British police action series The Professionals (1977) and continued with the popular BBC series Shoestring (1979) and Thames TV's Minder (1979)
Considered one of the U.K.'s top directors by the mid-'80s, he directed the highly praised British telefilm, Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983). For his work on Edge of Darkness (1985), a five-hour BBC miniseries about nuclear contamination in England that depicted murder and high-ranking corruption, he won six BAFTA awards.
Campbell's first Hollywood movie was Criminal Law (1998) and he went on to direct Defenseless (1991) and No Escape (1994). Some of his American credits include directing HBO's Cast a Deadly Spell (1991) and two episodes of NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street (1993), among others. He also directed the epic romance Beyond Borders (2003) starring Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen.- Music Artist
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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.- Leslie Aday was born on 21 May 1951 in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. Leslie was previously married to Meat Loaf.
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Amanda Lee Aday (born January 21, 1981) is an American actress. Born in New York City, Aday is best known for her recurring role as Dora Mae Dreifuss on the first season of the 2003-2005 HBO series Carnivàle.
Aday is the daughter of actor/musician Meat Loaf and Leslie Aday and sister of singer Pearl Aday. She attended Stagedoor Manor, a summer theatre/dance camp in the Catskill Mountains in New York, from 1990 through 1996, and then graduated from the prestigious Idyllwild Arts Academy in California. She then majored in theatre at the California Institute of the Arts. Amanda's film roles include Crazy In Alabama, The Mummy An' The Armadillo, South Dakota, & The Trials of Cate McCall. In addition to her work on Carnivàle, she has guest starred on the hit TV shows Boston Public, ER, Private Practice, and 'My Name Is Earl. She will appear in the upcoming film "The Shangri-La Suite" as Gladys Presley, Elvis' mother.- Production Designer
- Set Decorator
- Art Director
Clay A. Griffith was born to former actors Peter Griffith and Nanita Greene. He has an older sister actress Tracy Griffith and an older half-sister actress Melanie Griffith. He grew up in New York and the Virgin Islands. When he was eighteen, his sister Melanie helped him gain entry into the film industry by being an assistant art director in a film that she starred in Something Wild (1986). They worked together again on Pacific Heights (1990), in which Clay was one of the set decorators. That was the last time they worked together, since Clay forged his own path in the film industry. He has enjoyed a long-standing association with filmmaker Cameron Crowe, which began almost three decades ago on the romantic comedy "Say Anything" (as Crowe's assistant on the filmmaker's directorial debut), and continued on to Crowe's new romantic comedy, "Aloha," on which he served as production designer.
These titles have bookended Griffith's work with Crowe, first as a set decorator ("Singles," "Jerry McGuire"), then as production designer on Crowe's Oscar®-winning, semi-autobiographical music extravaganza, "Almost Famous," for which Griffith himself earned an Art Directors Guild nomination (Contemporary Film category). Since that 2000 project, Griffith has designed Crowe's "We Bought A Zoo" and "Elizabethtown" and the TV pilot/series "Roadies."
He has been a set decorator on such memorable and influential films as "Dirty Dancing," "Mystic Pizza," David Fincher's "Se7en," " Nora Ephron's "Sleepless in Seattle" and James L. Brooks' 1997 Oscar®-nominated Best Picture, "As Good As It Gets" Coincidentally, he had once been a script reader at Brooks' Gracie Films.
Following his debut as production designer on "Almost Famous," Griffith has gone on to design such motion pictures as "Radio," "Sweet Home Alabama," "Domestic Disturbance," "Lucky You," "Meet Dave," "A Thousand Words," and Ed Zwick's latest films "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" and biopic "Trial By Fire. " Griffith recently finished the much- anticipated Craig Brewer period biopic "Dolemite is my Name" premiering at TIFF." In addition, he worked on cataclysmic thriller "Greenland".
He is married to Heather Griffith, with whom he has a child- Micha Espinosa is known for Super Force (1990), Catherine's Grove (1997) and Are You Lonesome Tonight (1992).
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
- Actor
Bob Anderson was born on 15 September 1922 in Gosport, Hampshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) and The Mask of Zorro (1998). He was married to Pearl Anderson. He died on 1 January 2012 in West Sussex, England, UK.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
José María de Tavira was born on 27 September 1983 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He is an actor and director, known for The Mask of Zorro (1998), 100 metros (2008) and Rosario Tijeras (2016).- María Fernández Cruz is known for The Mask of Zorro (1998).
- Mónica Fernández Cruz is known for The Mask of Zorro (1998).
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Tony Amendola is a near 40 year veteran of film and television. Among his film credits are Ted Demme's Blow with Johnny Depp; Martin Campbell's The Mask of Zorro alongside Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas; and John Sayles's Lone Star, with Chris Cooper. Other memorable works include Annabelle and The Meddler with Susan Sarandon.
On television, Amendola has had recurring roles as the iconic Gepetto in ABC's Once Upon a Time, as well as Edouard Kagame in Continuum and Master Bra-tac in STARGATE SG1.Other TV guest appearances include roles on Blackbird, Law and Order, Dexter, Seinfeld, The Practice, Will & Grace and Shooter.
Amendola spent the first 12 years of his professional life in the theatre. Appearing Off-Broadway in an acclaimed production of Filumena and in leading roles on the stages of America's top regional theatres, including the Mark Taper Forum,Berekely Repertory, American Conservatory Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Utah Shakespeare, La Jolla Playhouse and the Old Globe. His stage credits include Cyrano, Iago, Uncle Vanya, Shylock, Salieri, Lear. Disney Hell premiere First Night series Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Tony's VO/MO-CAP work includes recurring role in World Of Warcraft, Black OPS, and Star Wars: Fallen Jedi. In addition, he is a founding member and past Co-Artistic Director of the Antaeus company, a well-respected Los Angeles theatre dedicated to producing the Classics.
Born in New Haven, Connecticut into a blue-collar family, Tony was the first member of his family to attend college. He grew up on the East Coast before heading west to follow his dreams. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Pedro Armendáriz Jr. was born on 6 April 1940 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was an actor and producer, known for Licence to Kill (1989), Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) and The Mask of Zorro (1998). He was married to Lucía Gómez de Parada. He died on 26 December 2011 in New York City, New York, USA.- Victor Rivers was born in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba. He is known for The Mask of Zorro (1998), The Air I Breathe (2007) and Hulk (2003). He has been married to Mim Eichler Rivas since 1988. They have one child.
- Diego Sieres is known for The Mask of Zorro (1998), Nunca te olvidaré (1999) and El juego de la vida (2001).
- Actor
- Transportation Department
- Additional Crew
William Marquez was born on 14 March 1943 in Cuba. He is an actor, known for Bedazzled (2000), The Mask of Zorro (1998) and Forever Young (1992).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
This tall, sandy-haired, mustachioed actor from Texas, born Justus McQueen, adopted the name of the character he portrayed in his first film, Battle Cry (1955). Jones, with his craggy, gaunt looks, first appeared in minor character roles in plenty of WWII films including The Young Lions (1958), The Naked and the Dead (1958), Hell Is for Heroes (1962) and Battle of the Coral Sea (1959). However, 1962 saw him team up with maverick director Sam Peckinpah for the first of Jones' five appearances in his films. Ride the High Country (1962) saw Jones play one of the lowlife Hammond brothers. Next he appeared alongside Charlton Heston in Major Dundee (1965), then Peckinpah cast him, along with his real-life friend Strother Martin, as one of the scummy, murderous bounty hunters in The Wild Bunch (1969). Such was the chemistry between Jones and Martin that Peckinpah teamed them again the following year in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), and Jones' final appearance in a Peckinpah film was in another western, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973). Two years later Jones directed the cult post-apocalyptic film A Boy and His Dog (1975) starring a young Don Johnson. He has continued to work in Hollywood, and as the lines on his craggy face have deepened, he turns up more frequently as crusty old westerners, especially in multiple TV guest spots. He turned in an interesting performance as a seemingly good ol' boy Nevada cowboy who was actually a powerful behind-the-scenes player in state politics who leaned on Robert De Niro's Las Vegas mob gambler in Martin Scorsese's violent and powerful Casino (1995).- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
The award-winning Canadian-American character actor Maury Chaykin was born on July 27, 1949 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Professor Irving J. Chaykin and his wife Clarice. Irving Chaykin, an American citizen, taught accountancy at the City College of New York. The former Clarice Bloomfield, his mother, was born in Winnipeg, raised in Montreal, and educated at the Beth Israel Hospital nursing school in Newark, New Jersey. Because of his parents, Maury held dual Canadian and American citizenship.
He was raised in New York City but moved to Toronto after graduating from the State University of New York, Buffalo, where he studied drama. His uncle, George Bloomfield, made his name in Canada as a movie and television writer, director and producer. Maury would later star in two theatrical movies, one TV movie and 14 TV episodes directed by his uncle.
Maury made his debut in the 1975 Canadian film Me (1975). In his 35-year-long career, he appeared in over 150 parts in films and TV series shot in Canada and the U.S. He was best known for his eccentric role as Kevin Costner's commanding officer in the Oscar-winning Dances with Wolves (1990), three films of Atom Egoyan, including The Sweet Hereafter (1997), and his role as Nero Wolfe on cable TV. (His uncle George Bloomfield directed some of the Nero Wolfe episodes.)
He won a Genie Award, the Canadian equivalent of the Oscar, as Best Supporting Actor for his performance as a has-been rock star in Whale Music (1994) and two Gemini Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Emmy. Recently, he had a semi-recurring role as a movie producer based on Harvey Weinstein in the cable-TV series Entourage (2004) and a regular role on the Canadian TV series Less Than Kind (2008).
Chaykin was suffering from kidney disease in the last years of his life. He died on his 61st birthday, July 27, 2010, at Toronto General Hospital, surrounded by members of his family. He was married to the Canadian actress Susannah Hoffmann, by whom he had a daughter, Rose.- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Production Manager
Born in Houston, Texas, raised and educated in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Doug Claybourne first came into the film business from a background of advertising and art direction studies after obtaining a BS degree from the University of Tulsa. Thereafter came two years of post graduate study at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles before Claybourne turned to film. It took a six month stint as an assistant art director on The City of San Francisco magazine and a working relationship with the owner, Francis Coppola, to convince Claybourne to make the switch official.
Early in 1976, during his first semester of film school after exiting City magazine, Claybourne, prompted by a quote attributed to Coppola, "...the problem with most film students is, they're afraid to take risks," Claybourne offered to work "at no charge" for the next eight weeks, just to find out if the movie business was something he really wanted to pursue over the long term. The film was Apocalypse Now (1979) and eight weeks turned out to be 3 1/2 years.
Falling back on his Vietnam, Marine Corps experience, he joined the Coppola unit in the Philippines as a production assistant wrangling helicopters. Later he became the assistant director on the 2nd unit, coordinating the shooting of helicopter and patrol boat footage. Eventually, he graduated to the main unit taking over as Coppola's 1st assistant director. He stayed on after shooting as the post production coordinator and special assistant to the producers during the remaining two and a half years of production and post production until the release in August 1979.
Claybourne's mentor association with Coppola and Zoetrope continued through the years with "The Black Stallion" (1979) (assistant director), "The Escape Artist" (1982) (producer), "The Black Stallion Returns" (1983) (producer/assistant director), "Rumble Fish" (1983) (producer), "Peggy Sue Got Married" (1986), (assistant director) and "Jack" (1996), as executive producer.
The Zoetrope relationship also produced the 1992 Emmy and ACE award winning documentary, "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse" (1991), which Claybourne conceived with George Zaloom and executive produced with his long time associate Fred Roos. "Hearts of Darkness" was directed by Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper with the original documentary footage directed and shot by Eleanor Coppola.
Claybourne also produced "Ernest Saves Christmas" (1988) for Disney's Touchstone banner as a birthday present for his daughter Signe Laurin, born December 6.
In July of 1998, Claybourne completed work on "The Mask of Zorro" (1998) for 'Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and Tristar Pictures. Zorro filmed on location in multiple locations across Mexico. The picture was nominated for two Golden Globes, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Antonio Banderas along with two academy awards nominations for Sound and Sound Effects achievement.
Claybourne met Rob Cohen while doing a favor for a friend, as an assistant director during the making of "The Legend of Billie Jean." This meeting led to a three picture producing association with the Taft/Barish company and more recently to The Fast and the Furious (2001) with Cohen directing. This film became Doug's son's favorite movie and his birthday present at 14. It was also touted as a "cultural phenomenon" as it opened to a phenomenal June 22, 2001 weekend of $41.7 million with a negative cost of $39 million dollars.
Other movies with Cohen were Light of Day (1987) with 'Michael J. Fox and Serpent and the Rainbow, (1988) with Wes Craven directing and the opportunity to meet and share producing credit with David Ladd.
Claybourne completed production on "North Country," with Charlize Theron, Fran McDormand, Sissy Spacek and Woody Harrelson with Niki Caro directing in New Mexico and Minnesota in 2004. Thereafter he produced the documentary "Every Twenty One Seconds...8 stories of Brain Injuries:" written and directed by his partner, writer/director Laura Napier which completed post in November 2005. The documentary is narrated by Woody Harrelson and was released in 2006. This is one of the first documentaries outlining the challenge of traumatic brain injury to veterans.
Doug executive produced "Nights in Rodanthe" with Diane Lane and Richard Gere which was released in 2008 to a $72 million world wide gross and his 3rd picture with Ms. Lane.
Doug continues to actively develop projects for his production company, Poetry & Pictures Inc. while pursuing his passion for writing poetry and painting in watercolors. He has written more than twenty five books of poetry, since 1995, only one of which has he self published.
That book is entitled "One hundred love sonnets and one sad poem..." It was given as a wrap gift following filming of "The Mask of Zorro." It was written as one poem per day during the hundred days of filming.
Doug completed "The Rainbow Prince" in 2022, a passion project that took 5 years to finance and see to completion. The film answered his youngest daughter's question, "Where are all the brown princesses that look like me?" There were none 5 years ago, so she and her Mom, Laura Napier wrote the book of the same title. Laura wrote the script and we made the 35 minute short film to screen in schools in five key markets to give kids new models to foster conversation about heroes of all colors. "Once upon a time a Brown Princess saves the Prince."- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Executive
David Foster was born in 1929 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and executive, known for The Core (2003), The Mask of Zorro (1998) and The Thing (1982). He was married to Jackie Ann Pattiz. He died on 23 December 2019 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Writer
- Producer
John Eskow is known for The Mask of Zorro (1998), Air America (1990) and Pink Cadillac (1989). He is married to Allison Eskow. They have two children.- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Ted Elliott was born on 4 July 1961 in Santa Ana, California, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Shrek (2001), The Lone Ranger (2013) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Terry Rossio was born on July 2, 1960 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. He is a writer, known for Godzilla VS. Kong (2021), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Aladdin (1992), and Shrek (2001). Additional credits for Rossio include Deja Vu, G-Force, Lovestruck, The Long Ranger and Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Randall Jahnson is known for S.O.Z: Soldados o Zombies (2021), The Doors (1991) and The Mask of Zorro (1998).- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
James Horner began studying piano at the age of five, and trained at the Royal College of Music in London, England, before moving to California in the 1970s. After receiving a bachelor's degree in music at USC, he would go on to earn his master's degree at UCLA and teach music theory there. He later completed his Ph.D. in Music Composition and Theory at UCLA. Horner began scoring student films for the American Film Institute in the late 1970s, which paved the way for scoring assignments on a number of small-scale films. His first large, high-profile project was composing music for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), which would lead to numerous other film offers and opportunities to work with world-class performers such as the London Symphony Orchestra. With over 75 projects to his name, and work with people such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Oliver Stone, and Ron Howard, Horner firmly established himself as a strong voice in the world of film scoring. In addition, Horner composed a classical concert piece in the 1980s, called "Spectral Shimmers", which was world premiered by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Horner passed away in a plane crash on June 22, 2015, two months short of his 62nd birthday.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Phil Meheux was born on 17 September 1941 in Sidcup, Kent, England, UK. He is a cinematographer and actor, known for Casino Royale (2006), The Saint (1997) and The Core (2003).- Editor
- Editorial Department
- Actor
Thom Noble was born and raised in London. Educated at Westminster School. He began his professional career in the world of book publishing, then moving to the story department of Pinewood studios. Here he became interested in film editing and in the early1960s worked on several British films as an assistant editor, taking his first credit as sole editor on Francois Truffaut's "Fahrenheit 451". After that he edited and directed 2nd Unit for several Westinghouse pictures until meeting up with Ted Kotcheff. In the 1980s he moved to Hollywood and started working with Ted on a regular basis editing films like "First Blood," "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz", "Who's Killing The Great Chefs of Europe".etc. He went on to win an Oscar for "Witness" and a nomination for "Thelma and Louise". Recently he has been supervising the editing of several Indian and Chinese movies.- Music Department
- Composer
- Producer
Jim Steinman was born on 1 November 1947 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer and producer, known for Footloose (1984), The Mask of Zorro (1998) and Anastasia (1997). He died on 19 April 2021 in Danbury, Connecticut, USA.- Music Department
- Sound Department
- Soundtrack
Simon Rhodes is known for Skyfall (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Attended St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Glasgow in the 1970's . James McAvoy also attended this school in the 1990's. This school has quite a few famous alumnus, including footballers, actors , singers, composers and broadcasters . It originally opened in 1957 , but was demolished after the turn of the century and has now been re-built .- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Will Jennings was born on 27 June 1944 in Kilgore, Texas, USA. He is a composer, known for Titanic (1997), An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) and A Beautiful Mind (2001).- Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
Marco Antonio Muñiz (born September 16, 1968), known professionally as Marc Anthony, is an American singer, actor, and producer. Anthony is also the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. The two-time Grammy Award and six-time Latin Grammy Award winner has sold more than 12 million albums worldwide. He is best known for his Latin salsa numbers and ballads. Anthony has won numerous awards and his achievements have been honored through various recognitions. He was the recipient of the 2009 Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) Chair's Award. He also received the "2009 CHCI Chair's Lifetime Achievement Award" on September 16, 2009. He holds the Guinness World Record for best-selling tropical/salsa artist and the most number-one albums on the Billboard Tropical Albums year-end charts.
Marco Antonio Muñiz, known by his stage name Marc Anthony, was born in New York City to parents from Guayama, Puerto Rico. His mother Guillermina was a housewife, his father, Felipe Muñiz, a musician and hospital lunchroom worker. Anthony's parents named him after Mexican singer Marco Antonio Muniz. Anthony grew up in East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem and El Barrio, and is the youngest of eight children. He was raised Roman Catholic.
His musical education began at home, where he learned to sing in both Spanish and English under the guidance of his father, Felipe, himself a professional guitarist. As a child, Anthony listened to a variety of musical genres and performers, including rock, rhythm and blues, pop stars José Feliciano (Puerto Rico), Air Supply (United States), as well as salsa legends Héctor Lavoe (Puerto Rico), Willie Colón (Puerto Rico), and Rubén Blades (Panama), among others. According to Anthony, renowned Puerto Rican percussionist and bandleader Tito Puente in particular wielded a profound personal and professional influence throughout his life.- Actress
- Composer
- Writer
Tina Arena was born on 1 November 1967 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is an actress and composer, known for The Mask of Zorro (1998), One Fine Day (1996) and Driven (2001). She was previously married to Ralph Carr.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson in the Chelsea section of Manhattan on November 13, 1955. Her mother, Emma (Harris), was a teacher and a nurse, and her father, Robert James Johnson, Jr., was a clergyman. Whoopi's recent ancestors were from Georgia, Florida, and Virginia. She worked in a funeral parlor and as a bricklayer while taking small parts on Broadway. She moved to California and worked with improv groups, including Spontaneous Combustion, and developed her skills as a stand-up comedienne. Goldberg came to prominence doing an HBO special and a one-woman show as Moms Mabley. She has been known in her prosperous career as a unique and socially conscious talent with articulately liberal views. Among her boyfriends were Ted Danson and Frank Langella. Goldberg was married three times and was once addicted to drugs.
Goldberg had her first big film starring role in The Color Purple (1985). She received much critical acclaim, and an Oscar nomination for her role and became a major star as a result. Subsequent efforts in the late 1980s were, at best, marginal hits. These movies mostly were off-beat to formulaic comedies like Burglar (1987), The Telephone (1988) and Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986). She made her mark as a household name and a mainstay in Hollywood for her Oscar-winning role in the box office smash Ghost (1990). Whoopi Goldberg was at her most famous in the early 1990s, making regular appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). She admitted to being a huge fan of the original Star Trek (1966) series and jumped at the opportunity to star in "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
Goldberg received another smash hit role in Sister Act (1992). Her fish-out-of-water with some flash seemed to resonate with audiences and it was a box office smash. Whoopi starred in some highly publicized and moderately successful comedies of this time, including Made in America (1993) and Soapdish (1991). Goldberg followed up to her success with Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), which was well-received but did not seem to match up to the first.
As the late 1990s approached, Goldberg seemed to alternate between lead roles in straight comedies such as Eddie (1996) and The Associate (1996), and took supporting parts in more independent minded movies, such as The Deep End of the Ocean (1999) and How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998). Goldberg never forgot where she came from, hosting many tributes to other legendary entertainment figures. Her most recent movies include Rat Race (2001) and the quietly received Kingdom Come (2001). Goldberg contributes her voice to many cartoons, including The Pagemaster (1994) and Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990), as Gaia, the voice of the earth. Alternating between big-budget movies, independent movies, tributes, documentaries, and even television movies (including Theodore Rex (1995)).
Whoopi is accredited as a truly unique and visible talent in Hollywood. Perhaps she will always be remembered as well for Comic Relief, playing an integral part in almost every benefit concert they had. Whoopi is also the center square in Hollywood Squares (1998), sometimes hosts the Academy Awards, and is an author, with the book "Book."- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
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).- Producer
- Actress
- Director
Deborah Kaye Allen was born in Houston, Texas, to African-American parents, Vivian Elizabeth (Ayers), a poet and art director, and Andrew Arthur Allen, an orthodontist. As a child, Debbie, her older brother, Andrew (called Tex), and her older sister, actress Phylicia Rashad, lived in Mexico to escape US racism. Their mother decided to live there to give the Allen children a brief experience of not having to endure the chronic racism and segregation that was typical of Texas during the 1950s. Debbie and Phylicia are fluent in Spanish.
Debbie graduated from Jack Yates Senior High School in Houston, TX in 1967. She graduated cum laude from Howard University in 1971 with a BFA in Classical Greek Literature, Speech, and Theater from Howard University. She used her experiences from attending Historically Black College Howard to inform her production and direction of the TV show A Different World (1987).
Although her parents divorced, Debbie remained extremely close to her father until his death. With Phylicia she has production company "D.A.D." which stood for "Doctor Allen's Daughters". Her Pulitzer-nominated poet mother Vivian is, the artistic and free spirit that has influenced and encouraged the remarkable creativity that so marks Allen as a performer.- Producer
- Actress
- Director
Since melting audiences' hearts at the age of just six in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Drew Barrymore has emerged as one of the most beloved and singularly gifted actresses of her generation. Born in Culver City, California to John Drew Barrymore and Jaid Barrymore, the clutches of fame were near inescapable for young Drew, her father being a member of the esteemed showbiz dynasty fronted by stage star Maurice Barrymore, his thespian wife Georgiana and their three children: Lionel Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, and John Barrymore.
Tailgating a turbulent adolescence that saw her grapple with insobriety, substance abuse, and cutthroat media vitriol, a diligent Barrymore threw herself into her career throughout the early-mid nineties, first with a succession of 'bad girl' parts in cultish B-pictures like Poison Ivy (1992), Guncrazy (1992) and - fittingly - Bad Girls (1994); then warmly received turns in prestige vehicles such as Boys on the Side (1995), Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You (1996), and Wes Craven's game-changing Scream (1996). Equal portions of goofball - The Wedding Singer (1998), Never Been Kissed (1999), Charlie's Angels (2000) - and gravitas - Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), Donnie Darko (2001), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) - came next, with a Golden Globe-grabbing pièce de résistance - her divine incarnation of Edith Bouvier Beale in Grey Gardens (2009) - confirming that her skill set was every bit as forceful and far-reaching as imagined.
Having already set in motion a bunch of lucrative projects via production house Flower Films (co-est. with Nancy Juvonen in '95), Barrymore fastened an additional string to her bow when she spearheaded the sports dramedy Whip It (2009), her glowingly appraised directorial debut. Fresh off a healthy run of movie parts at the launch of the 2010s, her star turn as zombified suburban realtor Sheila Hammond - a tour de force at once dizzy and detailed - on Netflix's Santa Clarita Diet (2017) saw her step with trademark resolve into newer territory still: the flourishing world of small screen entertainment, a metamorphosis she continues to espouse with her role as compère of spirited daytime staple The Drew Barrymore Show (2020).- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Kim Basinger was born December 8, 1953, in Athens, Georgia, the third of five children. Both her parents had been in entertainment, her dad had played big-band jazz, and her mother had performed water ballet in several Esther Williams movies. Kim was introspective, from her father's side. As a schoolgirl, she was very shy. To help her overcome this, her parents had Kim study ballet from an early age. By the time she reached sweet sixteen, the once-shy Kim entered the Athens Junior Miss contest. From there, she went on to win the Junior Miss Georgia title, and traveled to New York to compete in the national Junior Miss pageant. Kim, who had blossomed to a 5' 7" beauty, was offered a contract on the spot with the Ford Modeling Agency. At the age of 20, Kim was a top model commanding $1,000 a day. Throughout the early 1970s, she appeared on dozens of magazine covers and in hundreds of ads, most notably as the Breck girl. Kim took acting classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse, performed in various Greenwich Village clubs, and she sang under the stage name Chelsea. Kim moved to Los Angeles in 1976, ready to conquer Hollywood. Kim broke into television doing episodes of such hit series as Charlie's Angels (1976). In 1980, she married Ron Snyder (they divorced in 1989). In movies, she had roles like being a Bond girl in Never Say Never Again (1983) and playing a small-town Texan beauty in Nadine (1987). Her breakout role was as photojournalist Vicki Vale in the blockbuster hit Batman (1989). There was no long-orchestrated campaign on her part to snag this plum role, Kim was a last-minute replacement for Sean Young. This took her to a career high.
With perhaps too much disposable income, Kim headed up an investment group that purchased the entire town of Braselton, in her native Georgia, for $20 million (she would later have to sell it). In 1993, Kim married Alec Baldwin, and in 1995 they had a daughter, Ireland Eliesse. Kim took some time off to stay at home with her child. Kim, who loves animals and is a strict vegetarian, devoted energy to animal rights issues, and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), even posing for some ads. In 1997, Kim gave an Oscar-winning performance in the film noir classic L.A. Confidential (1997). Kim's salary for I Dreamed of Africa (2000) was $5,000,000, putting her firmly in the category of big-name movie star. And no doubt there are still many great things ahead, in the career of cover girl turned Oscar-winning actress Kim Basinger.- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Multi-talented, multi-award-winning actress Kathleen (Doyle) Bates was born on June 28, 1948, and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. She is the youngest of three girls born to Bertye Kathleen (Talbot), a homemaker, and Langdon Doyle Bates, a mechanical engineer. Her grandfather was author Finis L. Bates. Kathy has English, as well as Irish, Scottish, and German, ancestry, and one of her ancestors, an Irish emigrant to New Orleans, once served as President Andrew Jackson's doctor.
Kathy discovered acting appearing in high school plays and studied drama at Southern Methodist University, graduating in 1969. With her mind firmly set, she moved to New York City in 1970 and paid her dues by working everything from a cash register to taking lunch orders. Things started moving quickly up the ladder after giving a tour-de-force performance alongside Christopher Walken at Buffalo's Studio Arena Theatre in Lanford Wilson's world premiere of "Lemon Sky" in 1970, but she also had a foreshadowing of the heartbreak to come after the successful show relocated to New York's off-Broadway Playhouse Theatre without her and Walken wound up winning a Drama Desk award.
By the mid-to-late 1970s, Kathy was treading the boards frequently as a rising young actress of the New York and regional theater scene. She appeared in "Casserole" and "A Quality of Mercy" (both 1975) before earning exceptional reviews for her role of Joanne in "Vanities". She took her first Broadway curtain call in 1980's "Goodbye Fidel," which lasted only six performances. She then went directly into replacement mode when she joined the cast of the already-established and highly successful "Fifth of July" in 1981.
Kathy made a false start in films with Taking Off (1971), in which she was billed as "Bobo Bates". She didn't film again until Straight Time (1978), starring Dustin Hoffman, and that part was not substantial enough to cause a stir. Things turned hopeful, however, when Kathy and the rest of the female ensemble were given the chance to play their respective Broadway parts in the film version of Robert Altman's Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982). It was a juicy role for Kathy and film audiences finally started noticing the now 34-year-old.
Still and all, it was the New York stage that continued to earn Kathy awards and acclaim. She was pure textbook to any actor studying how to disappear into a role. Her characters ranged from free and life-affirming to downright pitiable. Despite winning a Tony Award nomination and Outer Critic's Circle Award for her stark, touchingly sad portrait of a suicidal daughter in 1983's "'night, Mother" and the Obie and Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for her powerhouse job as a romantic misfit in "Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune," Kathy had no box-office pull, however, and was never a strong consideration when the roles transferred to the screen. Her award-winning stage went to established film stars. First Sissy Spacek took over her potent role as the suicidal Jessie Cates in 'night, Mother (1986), then Michelle Pfeiffer seized the moment to play her dumpy lover character in Frankie and Johnny (1991). It would take Oscar glory to finally rectify the injustice.
It was Kathy's fanatical turn as the drab, chunky, porcine-looking psychopath Annie Wilkes, who kidnaps her favorite author (James Caan) and subjects him to a series of horrific tortures, that finally turned the tide for her in Hollywood. With the 1990 shocker Misery (1990), based on the popular Stephen King novel, Bates and Caan were box office magic. Moreover, Kathy captured the "Best Actress" Oscar and Golden Globe award, a first in that genre (horror) for that category. To add to her happiness she married Tony Campisi, also an actor, in 1991.
Quality film scripts now started coming her way and the 1990s proved to be a rich and rewarding time for her. First, she and another older "overnight" film star, fellow Oscar winner Jessica Tandy, starred together in the modern portion of the beautifully nuanced, flashback period piece Fried Green Tomatoes (1991). She then outdid herself as the detached and depressed housekeeper accused of murdering her abusive husband (David Strathairn) in Dolores Claiborne (1995). Surprisingly, she was left out of the Oscar race for these two excellent performances. Not so, however, for her flashy political advisor Libby Holden in the movie Primary Colors (1998), receiving praise and a "Best Supporting Actress" nomination.
Kathy has continued to work prolifically on TV as a 14-time Emmy winner or nominee thus far. She has also taken to directing a couple of TV-movies on the sly. As most actors, she has been in hit and miss TV shows. On the hit side, she has earned a Golden Globe and Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Jay Leno's manager playing tough politics in The Late Shift (1996) and played to the hilt the cruel-minded orphanage operator, Miss Hannigan, in Annie (1999) for which she also earned an Emmy nom. She has done some eye-catching, offbeat turns on regular series such as Six Feet Under (2001) (for which she also earned a DGA award for helming an episode), The Office (2005), Harry's Law (2011) and especially American Horror Story (2011) for which she won an Emmy as Ethel Darling. She also won an Emmy for a guest episode on the hit sitcom Two and a Half Men (2003).
Interesting millennium filming have included a Catholic school's Mother Superior in the comic drama Bruno (2000); Jesse James' mother in American Outlaws (2001); a quirky, liberal mom in About Schmidt (2002) for which she earned another "Best Supporting Actress" Oscar nomination; a brief but potent turn as Gertrude Stein in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris (2011); Queen Victoria in the adventurous remake of Around the World in 80 Days (2004); wacky parent types in the comedies Failure to Launch (2006) and Relative Strangers (2006); Mother Claus in the seasonal farce Fred Claus (2007); an over-gushy foster mother in the dramedy The Great Gilly Hopkins (2015); and a wrenching performance as the mother of a suspected terrorist in Richard Jewell (2019) for which she earned her third "Best Supporting Actress" Oscar nomination.
Divorced from husband Campisi since 1997, Kathy has been the Executive Committee Chair of the Actors Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors.- 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.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Roberto Benigni was born on 27 October 1952 in Manciano La Misericordia, Castiglion Fiorentino, Tuscany, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Life Is Beautiful (1997), The Tiger and the Snow (2005) and Down by Law (1986). He has been married to Nicoletta Braschi since 26 December 1991.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Annette Bening was born on May 29, 1958 in Topeka, Kansas, the youngest of four children. Her family moved to California when she was young, and she grew up there. She graduated from San Francisco State University and began her acting career with the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, eventually moving to New York where she acted on the stage (including a Tony-award nomination in 1987 for her work in the Broadway play "Coastal Disturbances") and got her first film roles, in a few TV movies.
As is so often the case, her first big-screen role was in a forgettable movie, this one The Great Outdoors (1988), in which she had little screen time. However, her next work onscreen was in Milos Forman's Valmont (1989), a film adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' "Les Liaisons Dangereuses". Unfortunately, de Laclos' story had also just served as the source of a more Hollywoodized and successful movie version, Dangerous Liaisons (1988), which had been released the previous year, and Foreman's treatment went little noticed. Bening's career turned an important corner the following year when she co-starred with Anjelica Huston and John Cusack in Stephen Frears's powerful, entertaining screen adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel The Grifters (1990), and her artful turn as a con artist gained her the first of several Academy award nominations. On the strength of this performance Warren Beatty cast Bening as Virginia Hill, Bugsy Siegel's fiery actress moll, in his Bugsy (1991), the story of Siegel's founding of Las Vegas. Although the movie itself did not fare well, it resulted in a relationship with Beatty which led to Bening's pregnancy and then her marriage to Beatty in 1992 - it was the second marriage for Bening, who had been separated from her first husband since 1986 but did not finalize her divorce until 1991. The couple then collaborated on the extravagant flop Love Affair (1994), though the next year her career rebounded with her turn as Queen Elizabeth in the highly-regarded 1995 production of Richard III (1995). Notable performances have since included an obsessive, pushy real estate agent in American Beauty (1999), and as the eponymous character in István Szabó's screen adaptation of the W. Somerset Maugham novel Being Julia (2004) - both were duly noted by the Academy, with Oscar nominations.
Bening has great poise and screen presence and, at her best, can turn in a very strong performance. Although her resume often features long stretches of mediocre productions before the next good part turns up, when it does, it proves worth the wait. Bening has four children with Beatty.- Music Department
- Composer
- Sound Department
Michael Blakey, born in London, England, studied music in Madrid and Berlin. Coming to the United States with a vast array of musical experience as an accomplished drummer, hit making music producer and music promoter, Blakey made his life long passion for the entertainment industry his business. He became the head of Music Production at the famous Hansa Tonstudio in West Berlin and in house session drummer. Over his career, he has successfully created three record labels as well as being involved with numerous gold and platinum selling records. In 1999, Blakey co-founded 2KSounds and was one of the first to integrate the Internet into daily operations for the successful distribution of music. Soon after going public in early 2002, 2KSounds entered into a joint venture with Virgin Records and Mr. Blakey was appointed the President of the Record Division. Throughout his career Blakey produced and promoted music for many Record Labels and Motion Picture companies as well as producing songs for movies, including Disney's Cinderella II. Blakey was honored by Cambridge Who's Who for demonstrating dedication, leadership and excellence in all aspects of production, promotion, marketing and all related areas of the entertainment industry. Now having teamed up with renowned comedian Ron White to create OMGVIP (Organica Media Group) creating VIP Fan Experiences, Blakey has already signed several artists to the company including Scott Baio, The Temptations, LeAnn Rimes, Maluma, Henry Rollins, Toad The Wet Sprocket and many others. Michael Blakey is also the head of Electra Star Management, a boutique management company based in Hollywood.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Cate Blanchett was born on May 14, 1969 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, to June (Gamble), an Australian teacher and property developer, and Robert DeWitt Blanchett, Jr., an American advertising executive, originally from Texas. She has an older brother and a younger sister. When she was ten years old, her 40-year-old father died of a sudden heart attack. Her mother never remarried, and her grandmother moved in to help her mother.
Cate graduated from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1992 and, in a little over a year, had won both critical and popular acclaim. On graduating from NIDA, she joined the Sydney Theatre Company's production of Caryl Churchill's "Top Girls", then played Felice Bauer, the bride, in Tim Daly's "Kafka Dances", winning the 1993 Newcomer Award from the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle for her performance. From there, Blanchett moved to the role of Carol in David Mamet's searing polemic "Oleanna", also for the Sydney Theatre Company, and won the Rosemont Best Actress Award, her second award that year. She then co-starred in the ABC Television's prime time drama Heartland (1994), again winning critical acclaim. In 1995, she was nominated for Best Female Performance for her role as Ophelia in the Belvoir Street Theatre Company's production of "Hamlet". Other theatre credits include Helen in the Sydney Theatre Company's "Sweet Phoebe", Miranda in "The Tempest" and Rose in "The Blind Giant is Dancing", both for the Belvoir Street Theatre Company. In other television roles, Blanchett starred as Bianca in ABC's Bordertown (1995), as Janie Morris in G.P. (1989) and in ABC's popular series Police Rescue (1994). She made her feature film debut in Paradise Road (1997).
Cate married writer Andrew Upton in 1997. She had met him a year earlier on a movie set, and they didn't like each other at first. He thought she was aloof, and she thought he was arrogant, but then they connected over a poker game at a party, and she went home with him that night. Three weeks later he proposed marriage and they quickly married before she went off to England to play her breakthrough role in films: the title character in Elizabeth (1998) for which she won numerous awards for her performance, including the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama. Cate was also nominated for an Academy Award for the role but lost out to Gwyneth Paltrow. 2001 was a particularly busy year, with starring roles in Bandits (2001), The Shipping News (2001), Charlotte Gray (2001) and playing Elf Queen Galadriel in the "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy. She also gave birth to her first child, son Dashiell, in 2001. In 2004, she gave birth to her second son Roman.
Also, in 2004, she played actress Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's film The Aviator (2004), for which she received an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress. Two years later, she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress for playing a teacher having an affair with an underage student in Notes on a Scandal (2006). In 2007, she returned to the role that made her a star in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). It earned her an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. She was nominated for another Oscar that same year as Best Supporting Actress for playing Bob Dylan in I'm Not There (2007). In 2008, she gave birth to her third child, son Ignatius. She and her husband became artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company, choosing to spend more time in Australia raising their three sons. She also purchased a multi-million dollar home in Sydney, Australia and named it Bulwarra and made extensive renovations to it. Because of her life in Australia, her film work became sporadic, until Woody Allen cast her in the title role in Blue Jasmine (2013), which won her the Academy Award as Best Actress. She ended her job as artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company, while her husband continued there for two more years before he too resigned.
In 2015, she adopted her daughter Edith in her father's homeland of the United States. That same year, she and her husband sold their multi-million dollar home in Australia at a profit and moved to America. Reasons varied from her wanting to work more in America to wanting to familiarize herself with her late father's American heritage. She played the title role of Carol (2015), a 1950s American housewife in a lesbian affair with a younger woman, for which she received an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. While most actresses might slow down in their forties, Blanchett did the opposite by stretching her boundaries even further, such as when she played 13 different characters in Manifesto (2015) and then making her Broadway debut in 2017 in "The Present", which is her husband's adaptation of Chekhov's play "Platonov" for which she earned a Tony nomination as Best Actress in a Play. Also in 2017, she was selected for the highest honor in her birth country: the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
After forty years of hard work on stage and both television and film, there are not many other actresses who deserved the success, recognition and stardom which Brenda Blethyn has now achieved.
Born in 1946 in Ramsgate, Kent, England, she started her career at British Rail in the 1960s. Saving money during her time there, she took a risk and enrolled herself at the at The Guildford School of Acting in Guildford, Surrey, England and then left her British Rail years behind. Her risk had paid off, by the mid-1970s she was working on stage, eventually joining the National Theatre Company in 1975.
It was the 1980s, however that saw Brenda move onto the small screen when she appeared in a BBC2 Playhouse presentation called Grown-Ups (1980), playing the character Gloria. Other work in television quickly followed and this kept her working throughout the 1980s.
She still remained relatively unknown with the viewing public during the 1980s, despite her consistent work and superb acting abilities. It was not until the dawn of the 90s that her career took off. In 1990, she played the supporting cast member role of Mrs Jenkins in film based on the Roald Dahl novel The Witches (1990), with Anjelica Huston, Jane Horrocks and Mai Zetterling. Film work now became the order of the day in the early 90s, appearing in both A River Runs Through It (1992) and the television film The Bullion Boys (1993). It was then back to a TV series in 1994, with Outside Edge (1994), working on this production for its two-year run.
It is without a doubt that 1997 will be remembered as her biggest year to date. She was cast by her old friend Mike Leigh in the film Secrets & Lies (1996) as Cynthia Rose Purley, opposite highly talented Marianne Jean-Baptiste. The film received storming reviews and Blethyn won a BAFTA Film Award and subsequently received an Academy Award nomination for her role, along with Jean-Baptiste.
Although Brenda came home from the Oscars empty handed, her profile in Hollywood and Britain soared as a result of the nomination and her appearance on The 69th Annual Academy Awards (1997).
Film roles then came thick and fast following Secrets & Lies (1996). Brenda was nothing short of superb in Little Voice (1998). A second Academy Award nomination followed but once again she was the bridesmaid rather than the bride at the Oscars. Since 1996, she has found a new home in film and she has worked consistently in the medium.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Writer
Andrea Bocelli, as born in Lajatico, Italy, in 1958, is one of the greatest singing talents in the world today. He has been blind since age 12, owing to congenital glaucoma and a blow to the head while tending goal during a soccer game. Andrea did not begin his singing career until the late 1980s, when he began performing in piano bars throughout Italy. Before then he earned a law degree from the University of Pisa. In 1993 he was signed to a record contract after a scout heard him sing during a party. That was the beginning of a spectacular career, which saw him team with some of the best voices in the business. Andrea has worked with the likes of Luciano Pavarotti and Sarah Brightman, and has sung for the Pope. Perhaps his best-known hit is "Con Te Partirò [Time To Say Goodbye]", a duet with Sarah Brightman. Bocelli has also done "Vivo Per Lei," which means "I Live For Her". The song has been translated many times, and Bocelli has teamed up with many different singers in the translations. He himself sings the Italian and Spanish versions, and sings in Italian on the French and German versions of the song. Hélène Ségara, Marta Sánchez, Sandy and Judy Weiss have all teamed with him on different versions of the song. He has even worked with Céline Dion, teaming up with her for the song "The Prayer." Andrea met Enrica Cenzatti in 1987, and they married in 1992. They have two sons: Amos (b 22-Feb-1995) and Matteo (b 8-Oct-1997).- Actress
- Producer
Nicoletta Braschi was born on 19 April 1960 in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. She is an actress and producer, known for Life Is Beautiful (1997), Happy as Lazzaro (2018) and Johnny Stecchino (1991). She has been married to Roberto Benigni since December 1991.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Nicolas Cage was born Nicolas Kim Coppola in Long Beach, California, the son of comparative literature professor August Coppola (whose brother is director Francis Ford Coppola) and dancer/choreographer Joy Vogelsang. He is of Italian (father) and Polish and German (mother) descent. Cage changed his name early in his career to make his own reputation, succeeding brilliantly with a host of classic, quirky roles by the late 1980s.
Initially studying theatre at Beverly Hills High School (though he dropped out at seventeen), he secured a bit part in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) -- most of which was cut, dashing his hopes and leading to a job selling popcorn at the Fairfax Theater, thinking that would be the only route to a movie career. But a job reading lines with actors auditioning for uncle Francis' Rumble Fish (1983) landed him a role in that film, followed by the punk-rocker in Valley Girl (1983), which was released first and truly launched his career.
His one-time passion for method acting reached a personal limit when he smashed a street-vendor's remote-control car to achieve the sense of rage needed for his gangster character in The Cotton Club (1984).
In his early 20s, he dated Jenny Wright for two years and later linked to Uma Thurman. After a relationship of several years with Christina Fulton, a model, they split amicably and share custody of a son, Weston Cage (b. 1990). He also has a son with his ex-wife, Alice Kim Cage.- Actress
- Producer
- Art Director
Kate Capshaw was born Kathleen Sue Nail in Fort Worth, Texas, to Beverley Sue (Simon), a beautician and travel agent, and Edwin Leon Nail, an airline employee. Capshaw worked as a teacher with an MA in Learning Disabilities. Her desire to be an actress led her to New York where she landed a role on the soap The Edge of Night (1956). She met her future husband, Steven Spielberg while beating out 120 actresses for the female lead in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
Mariah Carey was born in Long Island, New York on March 27, 1969. Her parents are Patricia Hickey (Irish-American) and Alfred Roy Carey (African-American/Venezuelan). Mariah attended Greenlawn's Harborfields High School. In June 1990, Mariah made her debut with her self-titled album, Mariah Carey which entered at #73, but on August 4, 1990 it reached #1. Her 1990 self-titled debut album went multi-platinum and spawned an extraordinary four consecutive #1 singles: "Vision of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Someday" and "I Don't Wanna Cry," and led to Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Vocalist. Her 1993 album titled Music Box went ten-times platinum. On September 30, 1995, she made music history. Her single "Fantasy" from her 1995 Daydream album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first female artist to accomplish a number one debut in the U.S. Her other Daydream's single "One Sweet Day" remained for 16 weeks at the top of the charts. She is the only artist since The Beatles to have so many #1 singles and albums. With "Heartbreaker", the first single from her 1999 album Rainbow and also her 14 #1 single, she became the only artist to top the charts in each year of the 1990s, and with "Heartbreaker" at its 60th week atop the Billboard's charts, she pushed ahead of The Beatles's 59-week record as the only artist with the most cumulative weeks spent atop Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart.
Following "Heartbreaker," her second single "Thank God I Found You" also from her Rainbow album became her 15th #1. "We Belong Together" from her 2005 album The Emancipation of Mimi became her 16th #1 single and was also her first #1 without any guest artists since her song "My All" (also a #1 single) captured the top spot in May 1998. The single "Don't Forget About Us" also from her 2005 album Emancipation of Mimi became her 17th #1 single, tying her with Elvis Presley's 17 #1 singles. Three more Grammy Awards were gained from The Emancipation of Mimi album. She is the most successful selling female artist in music history and is the only female artist to have the most #1 singles and albums and also holds the record for straight #1 singles and albums each year. Along with numerous awards and incredible vocal range, she also composes all of her own material, with the exception of song covers.
In April 2008, the single "Touch My Body" became her 18th #1 single, pushing her ahead of Elvis Presley's 17 #1 singles. Now she is the only artist since The Beatles to have as many number one singles and the only singer alive likely to succeed them.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Jim Carrey, Canadian-born and a U.S. citizen since 2004, is an actor and producer famous for his rubbery body movements and flexible facial expressions. The two-time Golden Globe-winner rose to fame as a cast member of the Fox sketch comedy In Living Color (1990) but leading roles in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), Dumb and Dumber (1994) and The Mask (1994) established him as a bankable comedy actor.
James Eugene Carrey was born on January 17, 1962 in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, and is the youngest of four children of Kathleen (Oram), a homemaker, and Percy Carrey, an accountant and jazz musician. The family surname was originally "Carré", and he has French-Canadian, Scottish, and Irish ancestry. Carrey was an incurable extrovert from day one. As a child, he performed constantly, for anyone who would watch, and even mailed his résumé to The Carol Burnett Show (1967) at age 10. In junior high, he was granted a few precious minutes at the end of each school day to do stand-up routines for his classmates (provided, of course, that he kept a lid on it the rest of the day).
Carrey's early adolescence took a turn for the tragic, however, when the family was forced to relocate from their cozy town of Newmarket to Scarborough (a Toronto suburb). They all took security and janitorial jobs in the Titan Wheels factory, Jim working 8-hour shifts after school let out (not surprisingly, his grades and morale both suffered). When they finally deserted the factory, the family lived out of a Volkswagen camper van until they could return to Toronto.
Carrey made his stand-up debut in Toronto after his parents and siblings got back on their feet. He made his (reportedly awful) professional stand-up debut at Yuk-Yuk's, one of the many local clubs that would serve as his training ground in the years to come. He dropped out of high school, worked on his celebrity impersonations (among them Michael Landon and James Stewart), and in 1979 worked up the nerve to move to Los Angeles. He finessed his way into a regular gig at The Comedy Store, where he impressed Rodney Dangerfield so much that the veteran comic signed him as an opening act for an entire season. During this period Carrey met and married waitress Melissa Womer, with whom he had a daughter (Jane). The couple would later go through a very messy divorce, freeing Carrey up for a brief second marriage to actress Lauren Holly. Wary of falling into the lounge act lifestyle, Carrey began to look around for other performance outlets. He landed a part as a novice cartoonist in the short-lived sitcom The Duck Factory (1984); while the show fell flat, the experience gave Carrey the confidence to pursue acting more vigorously.
Carrey also worked on breaking into film around this time. He scored the male lead in the ill-received Lauren Hutton vehicle Once Bitten (1985), and had a supporting role in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), before making a modest splash with his appearance as the alien Wiploc in Earth Girls Are Easy (1988). Impressed with Carrey's lunacy, fellow extraterrestrial Damon Wayans made a call to his brother, Keenen Ivory Wayans, who was in the process of putting together the sketch comedy show In Living Color (1990). Carrey joined the cast and quickly made a name for himself with outrageous acts (one of his most popular characters, psychotic Fire Marshall Bill, was attacked by watchdog groups for dispensing ill- advised safety tips).
Following his time on In Living Color (1990), Carrey's transformation from TV goofball to marquee headliner happened within the course of a single year. He opened 1994 with a starring turn in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), a film that cashed in on his extremely physical brand of humor (the character's trademark was talking out his derrière). Next up was the manic superhero movie The Mask (1994), which had audiences wondering just how far Carrey's features could stretch.
Finally, in December 1994, he hit theaters as a loveable dolt in the Farrelly brothers' Dumb and Dumber (1994) (his first multi-million dollar payday). Now a box-office staple, Carrey brought his manic antics onto the set of Batman Forever (1995), replacing Robin Williams as The Riddler. He also filmed the follow-up to his breakthrough, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), and inked a deal with Sony to star in The Cable Guy (1996) (replacing Chris Farley) for a cool $20 million--at the time, that was the biggest up-front sum that had been offered to any comic actor. The movie turned out to be a disappointment, both critically and financially, but Carrey bounced back the next year with the energetic hit Liar Liar (1997). Worried that his comic shtick would soon wear thin, Carrey decided to change course.
In 1998, he traded in the megabucks and silly grins to star in Peter Weir's The Truman Show (1998) playing a naive salesman who discovers that his entire life is the subject of a TV show, Carrey demonstrated an uncharacteristic sincerity that took moviegoers by surprise. He won a Golden Globe for the performance, and fans anticipated an Oscar nomination as well--when it didn't materialize, Carrey lashed out at Academy members for their narrow-minded selection process. Perhaps inspired by the snub, Carrey threw himself into his next role with abandon. After edging out a handful of other hopefuls (including Edward Norton) to play eccentric funnyman Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon (1999), Carrey disappeared into the role, living as Kaufman -- and his blustery alter-ego Tony Clifton -- for months (Carrey even owned Kaufman's bongo drums, which he'd used during his audition for director Milos Forman). His sometimes uncanny impersonation was rewarded with another Golden Globe, but once again the Academy kept quiet.
An indignant Carrey next reprised his bankable mania for the Farrelly brothers in Me, Myself & Irene (2000), playing a state trooper whose Jekyll and Hyde personalities both fall in love with the same woman (Renée Zellweger). Carrey's real-life persona wound up falling for her too--a few months after the film wrapped, the pair announced they were officially a couple. By then, Carrey had already slipped into a furry green suit to play the stingy antihero of Ron Howard's How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000).
Although Carrey maintains a foothold in the comedy world with films such as Bruce Almighty (2003) and Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), he is also capable of turning in nuanced dramatic performances, as demonstrated in films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and the drama/comedy Yes Man (2008). In 2013, he costars with Steve Carell in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013).
Carrey has one child with his first wife, Melissa Carrey, whom he divorced in 1995. He married actress Lauren Holly in 1996, but they split less than a year later.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Lanky, charismatic and versatile actor with an amazing grin that put everyone at ease, James Coburn studied acting at UCLA, and then moved to New York to study under noted acting coach Stella Adler. After being noticed in several stage productions, Coburn appeared in a handful of minor westerns before being cast as the knife-throwing, quick-shooting Britt in the John Sturges mega-hit The Magnificent Seven (1960). Sturges remembered Coburn's talents when he cast his next major film project, The Great Escape (1963), where Coburn played the Australian POW Sedgwick. Regular work now came thick and fast for Coburn, including appearing in Major Dundee (1965), the first of several films he appeared in directed by Hollywood enfant terrible Sam Peckinpah.
Coburn was then cast, and gave an especially fine performance as Lt. Commander Paul Cummings in Arthur Hiller's The Americanization of Emily, where he demonstrated a flair for writer Paddy Chayefsky's subtle, ironic comedy that would define his performances for the rest of his career.
The next two years were a key period for Coburn, with his performances in the wonderful 007 spy spoof Our Man Flint (1966) and the eerie Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966). Coburn followed up in 1967 with a Flint sequel, In Like Flint (1967), and the much underrated political satire The President's Analyst (1967). The remainder of the 1960s was rather uneventful for Coburn. However, he became associated with martial arts legend Bruce Lee and the two trained together, traveled extensively and even visited India scouting locations for a proposed film project, but Lee's untimely death (Coburn, along with Steve McQueen, was a pallbearer at Lee's funeral) put an end to that.
The 1970s saw Coburn appearing again in several strong roles, starting off in Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), alongside Charles Bronson in the Depression-era Hard Times (1975) and as a disenchanted German soldier on the Russian front in Peckinpah's superb Cross of Iron (1977). Towards the end of the decade, however, Coburn was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which severely hampered his health and work output for many years. After conventional treatments failed, Coburn turned to a holistic therapist, and through a restructured diet program, made a definite improvement. By the 1990s he was once again appearing regularly in both film and TV productions.
No one was probably more surprised than Coburn himself when he was both nominated for, and then won, the Best Supporting Actor Award in 1997 for playing Nick Nolte's abusive and alcoholic father in Affliction (1997). At 70 years of age, Coburn's career received another shot in the arm, and he appeared in another 14 films, including Snow Dogs (2002) and The Man from Elysian Fields (2001), before his death from a heart attack in November of 2002. Coburn's passions in life included martial arts, card-playing and enjoying Cuban cigars (which may have contributed to his fatal heart attack).- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Bill Condon was born on 22 October 1955 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Dreamgirls (2006), Gods and Monsters (1998) and Kinsey (2004).- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Bill Conti was born on 13 April 1942 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for For Your Eyes Only (1981), Rocky (1976) and The Karate Kid Part II (1986). He is married to Shelby Cox. They have two children.- Actor
- Art Director
- Soundtrack
Born in Córdoba, he later moved to Madrid. There he started to study dance at the age of 12. When he was 15 years old, he joined the 'Ballet Nacional de España' (Spanish National Ballet) and reached the soloist category. With this company he travelled all over the world and acted in theatres like the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow. After leaving the 'Ballet Nacional', he participated in a series of shows together with stars like Maya Plisetskaya, Silvie Guillem, and Peter Schauffuß, and collaborated with different companies and shows as a guest star or choreographer. Among these works were the choreography of 'Carmen' in Verona, his participation in the 'Tokyo Summer Flamenco Festival', several shows at the New York Lincoln Center and his participation in the edition of 'Don Quijote' together with the 'Caracas Ballet'. In 1992, after a performance at the Champs Elysées Theatre in Paris, he created his own ballet company: 'Joaquín Cortés Ballet Flamenco'. With his first show with this new company, 'Cibayí' was also presented in Japan, France, Italy, Venezuela and the USA. Pedro Almodóvar made him debut in cinema, with a role in his film The Flower of My Secret (1995). Later, he repeated his cinema experience with Flamenco (1995), a film that put together the top flamenco stars of the moment. His second show, 'Pasión Gitana', was released in 1995, with the participation of Giorgio Armani as the costume designer. This show has been seen by more than one million people, and it was the first dance show to close the prestigious 'Spoleto Festival' (Italy) after its 48 years of existence. In 1996 Joaquín started his first tour across the USA, where he was, among other places, in the Radio City Music Hall (New York) and the Universal Amphitheatre (Los Angeles). In 1997 he made a music album with his own group 'The Gipsy Passion Band', in which he participated as musical concept director and percussion collaborator. In 1998 'Pasión Gitana' was presented in the festivals of Sydney, Tokyo, Canada and New York. In 1999 he presented his third show: 'Soul'. In 2000 he was the first actor in the film _Gitano (2000)_. In 2001 he presented his fourth show, 'Live', including several choreographies from 'Cibayí' (1992), 'Pasión Gitana' (1995) and 'Soul' (1999).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Kevin Michael Costner was born on January 18, 1955 in Lynwood, California, the third child of Bill Costner, a ditch digger and ultimately an electric line servicer for Southern California Edison, and Sharon Costner (née Tedrick), a welfare worker. His older brother, Dan, was born in 1950. A middle brother died at birth in 1953. His father's job required him to move regularly, which caused Kevin to feel like an Army kid, always the new kid at school, which led to him being a daydreamer. As a teen, he sang in the Baptist church choir, wrote poetry, and took writing classes. At 18, he built his own canoe and paddled his way down the rivers that Lewis & Clark followed to the Pacific. Despite his present height, he was only 5'2" when he graduated high school. Nonetheless, he still managed to be a basketball, football and baseball star. In 1973, he enrolled at California State University at Fullerton, where he majored in business. During that period, Kevin decided to take acting lessons five nights a week. He graduated with a business degree in 1978 and married his college sweetheart, Cindy Costner. He initially took a marketing job in Orange County. Everything changed when he accidentally met Richard Burton on a flight from Mexico. Burton advised him to go completely after acting if that is what he wanted. He quit his job and moved to Hollywood soon after. He drove a truck, worked on a deep sea fishing boat, and gave bus tours to stars' homes before finally making his own way into the films. After making one soft core sex film, he vowed to not work again if that was the only work he could do. He didn't work for nearly six years, while he waited for a proper break. That break came with The Big Chill (1983), even though his scenes ended up on the cutting room floor -- he was remembered by director Lawrence Kasdan when he decided to make Silverado (1985). Costner's career took off after that.- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Matthew Paige Damon was born on October 8, 1970, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Kent Damon, a stockbroker, realtor and tax preparer, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University. Matt has an older brother, Kyle, a sculptor. His father was of English and Scottish descent, and his mother is of Finnish and Swedish ancestry. The family lived in Newton until his parents divorced in 1973, when Damon and his brother moved with his mother to Cambridge. He grew up in a stable community, and was raised near actor Ben Affleck.
Damon attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and he performed in a number of theater productions during his time there. He attended Harvard University as an English major. While in Harvard, he kept on skipping classes to pursue acting projects, which included the TNT original film, Rising Son (1990), and prep-school drama, School Ties (1992). It was until his film, Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), was expected to be a big success that he decided to drop out of university completely. Arriving in Hollywood, Matt managed to get his first break with a part in the romantic comedy, Mystic Pizza (1988). However, the film did not do too well and his film career failed to take off. Not letting failure discourage him from acting, he went for another audition, and managed to get a starring role in School Ties (1992). Up next for Matt was a role as a soldier who had problems with drug-addiction in the movie, Courage Under Fire (1996). Matt had, in fact, lost forty pounds for his role which resulted in health problems.
The following year, he garnered accolades for Good Will Hunting (1997), a screenplay he had originally written for an English class at Harvard University. Good Will Hunting (1997) was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, one of which, Matt won for Best Original Screenplay along with Ben Affleck. In the year 1998, Matt played the title role in Steven Spielberg's film, Saving Private Ryan (1998), which was one of the most acclaimed films in that year. Matt had the opportunity of working with Tom Hanks and Vin Diesel while filming that movie. That same year, he starred as an earnest law student and reformed poker player in Rounders (1998), starring opposite Edward Norton and John Malkovich. The next year, Matt rejoined his childhood friend, Ben Affleck and fellow comedian, Chris Rock, in the comedy Dogma (1999).
Towards the end of 1999, Matt played "Tom Ripley", a working-class young man who tastes the good life and will do anything to live it. Both Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow also starred in the movie. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) earned mixed reviews from critics, but even so, Matt earned praise for his performance. Matt lent his voice to the animated movie, Titan A.E. (2000) in the year 2000, which also earned mixed reviews from the public. He also starred in two other movies, All the Pretty Horses (2000) and the golf comedy-drama, The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000), starring alongside Will Smith. In the year 2003, he signed on to star in The Informant! (2009) by Steven Soderbergh and the Farrelly Brothers' Stuck on You (2003). He also starred in Gerry (2002), a film he co-wrote with his friends, Gus Van Sant and Casey Affleck. One of Matt's most recognizable work to date is his role in the "Bourne" movie franchise. He plays an amnesiac assassin, "Jason Bourne", in The Bourne Identity (2002), The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). Another praised role is that as "Linus Caldwell" in the "Ocean's" movie franchise. He had the opportunity to star opposite George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Don Cheadle in Ocean's Eleven (2001). The successful crime comedy-drama eventually had two other sequels, Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). Among other highly acclaimed movies that Matt has been a part of are Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm (2005), George Clooney's Syriana (2005), Martin Scorsese's The Departed (2006) and Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd (2006).
In his personal life, Matt is now happily married to Argentine-born Luciana Barroso, whom he met in Miami, where she was working as a bartender. They married in a private civil ceremony on December 9, 2005, at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau. The couple have four daughters Alexia, Luciana's daughter from a previous relationship, as well as Isabella, Gia and Stella. Matt is a big fan of the Boston Red Sox and he tries to attend their games whenever possible. He has also formed great friendships with his Ocean's co-stars, George Clooney and Brad Pitt, whom he works on charity projects with. He and actor Ben Affleck have remained lifelong friends and collaborators.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Blythe Danner was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Katharine (Kile) and Harry Earl Danner, a bank executive. She has German, as well as English and Irish, ancestry. Danner studied acting and got her degree from Bard College and began her career in Boston theater companies. By 25, she won the Theater World Award for her work in Molière's "The Miser", at Lincoln Center. She also won the 1970 Tony award for her role in "Butterflies Are Free". She made her film premiere in the same year in the television production of Dr. Cook's Garden (1971). For 25 years, she has been a regular performer at the Williamstown Summer Theater Festival. She has also been nominated for Tonys for performances in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Betrayal". Married to director Bruce Paltrow, she is the mother of two acting children, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jake Paltrow.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
As a child, Geena dreamed of being an actress. While in high school, she felt left out and had low self-esteem because, at 6 feet, she was the tallest girl in school. After high school graduation, Geena entered New England College in New Hampshire and then transferred the next year to Boston University, where she majored in drama. In 1977, she left BU and moved to New York to start her career. Her career consisted of sales clerk and waitress. She worked at Ann Taylor, where she eventually rose to Saturday window mannequin while trying to get a job with a modeling agency. Eventually signed by the Zoli Agency, she wound up as a model in the Victoria Secret's Catalogue. Ever vigilant, Sydney Pollack was looking for new talent in the catalog when he spotted Geena and cast her in Tootsie (1982). With good reviews, Geena moved to Los Angeles where she was cast as Wendy in the short-lived but critically acclaimed television series Buffalo Bill (1983) with Dabney Coleman. A starter marriage to restaurant manager Richard Emmolo dissolved around this time. Her next appearance on television was in her own series Sara (1985), which was also good, but soon canceled. Geena then returned to the big screen in the below-average Transylvania 6-5000 (1985) followed by the successful Chevy Chase movie Fletch (1985). From there on, she was on a roll with second husband Jeff Goldblum in the horror remake The Fly (1986). More successful were Tim Burton's dark comedy Beetlejuice (1988) and The Accidental Tourist (1988). For the last film, she was the surprise winner of the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. More fun movies followed with the flying-saucer-in-the-pool Earth Girls Are Easy (1988) and everyone-loves-a-clown Quick Change (1990) with Bill Murray. The very successful Thelma & Louise (1991), directed by Ridley Scott, again garnered nominations for the Academy Award and Golden Globe. A League of Their Own (1992), with Tom Hanks and directed by Penny Marshall, was the turning point as her next film, Hero (1992), was only average. Then she married director Renny Harlin and they set up a production and development company called "The Forge". Their first film was Speechless (1994), which flopped at the box office. Undeterred, Renny decided to film the big-budget Cutthroat Island (1995), starring Geena as pirate leader Morgan, which also flopped. Geena has since starred in the thriller The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) and played Eleanor Little in Stuart Little (1999) and Stuart Little 2 (2002). She's also returned to TV, headlining The Geena Davis Show (2000) and Commander in Chief (2005). Both shows were canceled after one season, but she won a Golden Globe for the latter. In 2008, after being missed from the big screen for some years, Geena ventured to Sydney, Australia, playing the foul-mouthed mother of Harry Cook and Harrison Gilbertson to shoot the dark comedy Accidents Happen (2009).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
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.- Actress
- Music Department
- Director
Dame Judi Dench was born Judith Olivia Dench in York, England, to Eleanora Olive (Jones), who was from Dublin, Ireland, and Reginald Arthur Dench, a doctor from Dorset, England. She attended Mount School in York, and studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, and at Old Vic Theatre. She is a ten-time BAFTA winner including Best Actress in a Comedy Series for A Fine Romance (1981) in which she appeared with her husband, Michael Williams, and Best Supporting Actress in A Handful of Dust (1988) and A Room with a View (1985). She received an ACE award for her performance in the television series Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill (1985). She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1970, a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1988 and a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in 2005.- Actress
- Producer
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Laura Dern was born on February 10, 1967 in Los Angeles, the daughter of actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd. Dern was exposed to movie sets and the movie industry from infancy, and obtained several bit parts as a child. Her parents divorced when Dern was two and Dern lost contact with her father for several years as a result.
Her parents' background and her own early taste of the movie-making world soon convinced the young Dern to pursue acting herself. Like so many young actors, her decision may have been influenced by social awkwardness -- the child of 1960s counterculture parents, she was steeped in Eastern mysticism and political radicalism, and was seen as an oddball by her more conservative classmates. Even before her teens, she had achieved most of her impressive 5' 10" height and was rail-skinny with a slouching posture.. Perhaps the nine-year-old Dern found refuge by studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute.
The first success for the young Dern came in 1980, with a role in Adrian Lyne's Foxes (1980), a teen movie starring Jodie Foster. She followed this with several small parts, or parts in small movies, such as Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982) and Teachers (1984), as a student who has an affair with a teacher. (Her mother objected to her active presence on movie sets at age thirteen, which required Dern to sue for emancipation so she could play her role in "The Fabulous Stains"). Her next roles, as the blind girl who befriends the deformed boy in Mask (1985), and as a teen-aged girl whose sexual awakening collides with a mysterious older man in Smooth Talk (1985), gave her career an important boost. Dern appeared to have made it with a leading role in David Lynch's acclaimed Blue Velvet (1986), but it was four years before her next notable film, and this was the bizarre Wild at Heart (1990), also directed by Lynch.
The following year, Dern starred in Rambling Rose (1991), which would become her signature performance, as a sexually-precocious, free-spirited young housemaid in the South in the 1930s. Dern earned an Oscar nomination for her performance, and so did her mother and co-star, Diane Ladd. Dern continues to win prominent roles on the big screen, often in smaller, highly-regarded human dramas such as October Sky (1999), I Am Sam (2001) and We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004), although she is perhaps most widely known for her repeat role as Ellie Sattler in the summer adventure movies Jurassic Park (1993) and Jurassic Park III (2001), or for her guest performance on Ellen (1994), as the woman to whom Ellen finally comes out as a lesbian.
Dern's pre-teen gawkiness matured into lithe beauty, but this doesn't prevent Dern from fearlessly throwing herself into a wide variety of roles which are sometimes unflattering, an excellent example being her unflinchingly comic portrayal of an intensely annoying loser whose pregnancy becomes a social and political football in Citizen Ruth (1996). This results in Dern being one of the most interesting actors working in Hollywood today.
Having previously dated such Hollywood talent as Treat Williams, Renny Harlin, Kyle MacLachlan, Jeff Goldblum and Billy Bob Thornton, Dern eventually married musician Ben Harper in 2005. Early in her career, Dern was roommate to Marianne Williamson, the spirituality guru. Dern attended two days of college at UCLA and one semester at USC.- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
Hailing from the small town of Charlemagne, Québec, Céline Dion has become one of the all-time greatest singers. Céline was born in 1968, the youngest of 14 children. Early in childhood, she sang with her siblings in a small club owned by her parents. From these early experiences, Céline gained the know-how to performing live. At the age of 12, Dion composed a song in her native French and sent it to a record company, where it garnered the attention of René Angélil, a respected manager. Angélil believed in Céline so much that he actually mortgaged his house in order to finance her debut album. Already very popular and successful internationally, Céline burst onto the U.S. stage when she recorded the theme song to Disney's hit Beauty and the Beast (1991). The song garnered a Grammy and an Oscar, and from this point Céline has brought forth hit after hit. Her 'Falling Into You' album, released in 1996, became the best-selling album of that year, selling more than 25 million copies worldwide. In 1999, Dion took a hiatus in order to begin a family. She returned to the spotlight in 2002, releasing yet another hit album. Starting in 2003, Céline began a three-year commitment to perform in an arena built for her in Las Vegas.- Actor
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Dave Foley dropped out of an alternative high school to do stand-up comedy. He met Kevin McDonald at an improv class and, while employed as movie ushers, they began working as a comedy team. In 1984 they merged with another team to form "The Kids in the Hall". Foley made his film debut at 22 as the lead in the Canadian film High Stakes (1986).- Actor
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Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois, to Dorothy (Nidelman), a radio actress, and Christopher Ford (born John William Ford), an actor turned advertising executive. His father was of Irish and German ancestry, while his maternal grandparents were Jewish emigrants from Minsk, Belarus. Harrison was a lackluster student at Maine Township High School East in Park Ridge Illinois (no athletic star, never above a C average). After dropping out of Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he did some acting and later summer stock, he signed a Hollywood contract with Columbia and later Universal. His roles in movies and television (Ironside (1967), The Virginian (1962)) remained secondary and, discouraged, he turned to a career in professional carpentry. He came back big four years later, however, as Bob Falfa in American Graffiti (1973). Four years after that, he hit colossal with the role of Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). Another four years and Ford was Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
Four years later and he received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for his role as John Book in Witness (1985). All he managed four years after that was his third starring success as Indiana Jones; in fact, many of his earlier successful roles led to sequels as did his more recent portrayal of Jack Ryan in Patriot Games (1992). Another Golden Globe nomination came his way for the part of Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive (1993). He is clearly a well-established Hollywood superstar. He also maintains an 800-acre ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Ford is a private pilot of both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, and owns an 800-acre (3.2 km2) ranch in Jackson, Wyoming, approximately half of which he has donated as a nature reserve. On several occasions, Ford has personally provided emergency helicopter services at the request of local authorities, in one instance rescuing a hiker overcome by dehydration. Ford began flight training in the 1960s at Wild Rose Idlewild Airport in Wild Rose, Wisconsin, flying in a Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer, but at $15 an hour, he could not afford to continue the training. In the mid-1990s, he bought a used Gulfstream II and asked one of his pilots, Terry Bender, to give him flying lessons. They started flying a Cessna 182 out of Jackson, Wyoming, later switching to Teterboro, New Jersey, flying a Cessna 206, the aircraft he soloed in. Ford is an honorary board member of the humanitarian aviation organization Wings of Hope.
On March 5, 2015, Ford's plane, believed to be a Ryan PT-22 Recruit, made an emergency landing on the Penmar Golf Course in Venice, California. Ford had radioed in to report that the plane had suffered engine failure. He was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where he was reported to be in fair to moderate condition. Ford suffered a broken pelvis and broken ankle during the accident, as well as other injuries.- Actor
- Producer
- Art Department
Brendan James Fraser was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Canadian parents Carol Mary (Genereux), a sales counselor, and Peter Fraser, a journalist and travel executive. He is of Irish, Scottish, German, Czech, and French-Canadian ancestry. As his parents frequently moved, Brendan can claim affinity with Ottawa, Indianapolis, Detroit, Seattle, London and Rome. His early exposure to theatre, particularly in London, led him to Seattle's Cornish Institute. After graduation he found a minor role as Sailor #1 in River Phoenix's Dogfight (1991), then somewhat more substantial roles in Encino Man (1992) and School Ties (1992). He expresses a preference for playing "fish out of water" men. Five more years of supporting work led finally to the title role in George of the Jungle (1997), a role which fully utilized his charm and beefy good looks, as well as offering him a chance to show off his comic talents. He describes this role as the one which dramatically altered his career. Critical raves for his role in Gods and Monsters (1998) pointed to yet another dimension to his dramatic persona.- Music Artist
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- Music Department
Peter Gabriel was educated at Charterhouse School, Surrey, England. He was the lead singer of leading progressive rock band Genesis from its inception until he left in 1975 for a successful solo career as a singer-songwriter, soundtrack composer and innovator in visual presentation of music, music videos and digital methods of recording and distributing music. He also became well-known as an anti-apartheid activist, for his efforts to bring different styles of international music to the attention of the West by establishing the WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) Festival, his own Real World label and recording studios as well as the addition of world music performers and styles into his own music.
He has also worked extensively for Amnesty International as well as many other humanitarian efforts, such as founding his own human rights organization Witness and co-founding, with Richard Branson and Nelson Mandela, world human rights advocacy group The Elders in July 2007. His dedication to humanitarian causes was recognized with the Nobel Peace Laureates' Man of Peace Award in 2006 and Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience honour in 2008. His career in music has been cited as an inspiration by many artists, including U2, R.E.M., Kate Bush, Moby, Marillion, Simple Minds, It Bites, Elbow, Darren Hayes (of Savage Garden) and Michael Glabicki (of Rusted Root).
His greatest commercial success came with the "So" album in 1986, which was a worldwide smash and earned him the British Phonographic Industry Award for British Male Solo Artist the following year. His lasting impact on music has been recognized by the Music Industry Trusts' Award in 2004, the Frankfurt Music Prize, the first Pioneer Award at the BT Digital Music Awards, the Q Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007, the BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) Icon Award in 2007, the MIDEM Personality of the Year in 2008 and the Polar Music Prize in 2009. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010. In 2014, he became the first and so far only Genesis member to join it as a solo artist when Chris Martin from Coldplay inducted him.- Actor
- Producer
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One of Hollywood's most private and guarded leading men, Andy Garcia has created iconic characters while at the same time staying true to his acting roots and personal projects.
Garcia was born Andrés Arturo García Menéndez on April 12, 1956, in Havana, Cuba, to Amelie Menéndez, a teacher of English, and René García Núñez, an attorney and avocado farmer. Garcia's family was relatively affluent. However, when he was two years old, Fidel Castro came to power, and the family fled to Miami Beach. Forced to work menial jobs for a while, the family started a fragrance company that was eventually worth more than a million dollars. He attended Natilus Junior High School and later at Miami Beach Senior High School. Andy was a popular student in school, a good basketball player and good-looking. He dreamed of playing professional baseball. In his senior year, though, he contracted mononucleosis and hepatitis, and unable to play sports, he turned his attention to acting.
He studied acting with Jay W. Jensen. Jensen was a South Florida legend, counting among his numerous students, Brett Ratner, Roy Firestone, Mickey Rourke, and Luther Campbell. Following his positive high school experiences in acting, he continued his drama studies at Florida International University.
Soon, he was headed out to Hollywood. His first break came as a gang member on the very first episode of the popular TV series Hill Street Blues (1981). His role as a cocaine kingpin in 8 Million Ways to Die (1986) put him on the radar of Brian De Palma, who was casting for his gangster classic The Untouchables (1987). At first, he envisioned Garcia as Al Capone's sadistic henchman Frank Nitti, but fearing typecasting as a gangster, Garcia campaigned for the role of "George Stone", the Italian cop who gets accepted into Eliot Ness' famous band of lawmen. Garcia's next notable role came in Black Rain (1989) by acclaimed director Ridley Scott, as the partner of police detective Michael Douglas. He then co-starred with Richard Gere in Internal Affairs (1990), directed by Mike Figgis. In 1989, Francis Ford Coppola was casting for the highly anticipated third installment of his "Godfather" films. The Godfather Part III (1990) included one of the most sought-after roles in decades, the hot-headed son of "Sonny Corleone" and mob protégé of "Michael Corloene", "Vincent Mancini". A plum role for any young rising star, the role was campaigned for by a host of actors. Val Kilmer, Alec Baldwin, Vincent Spano, Charlie Sheen, and even Robert De Niro (who wanted the role changed to accommodate his age) were all beaten out by the up-and-coming Garcia. His performance was Oscar-nominated as Best Supporting Actor, and secured him international stardom and a place in cinematic history. Now a leading man, he starred in such films as Jennifer 8 (1992) and Hero (1992). He won raves for his role as the husband of Meg Ryan in When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) and gave another charismatic gangster turn in Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995). He then returned in Night Falls on Manhattan (1996), directed by Sidney Lumet, as well as portraying legendary mobster Lucky Luciano in Hoodlum (1997). In perhaps his most mainstream role, he portrayed a cop in the action film Desperate Measures (1998). Garcia then starred in a few lower-profile projects that didn't do much for his career, but things turned around in 2001, with the first of many projects being his role as a cold casino owner in Ocean's Eleven (2001), directed by Steven Soderbergh. Seeing his removal from Cuba as involuntary, Garcia is proud of his heritage which influences his life and work. One such case is his portrayal of renowned Cuban trumpet player Arturo Sandoval in For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000). He is an extremely private man, and strong believer in old-fashioned chivalry. Married to his wife, Maria Victoria, since 1982, the couple has three daughters. One of the most talented leading men around, Garcia has had a unique career of staying true to his own ideals and thoughts on acting. While some would have used some of the momentum he has acquired at different points in his career to get rich off lightweight projects, Garcia has stayed true to stories and films that aspire to something more. But with a presence and style that never seem old, a respect from directors and film buffs, alike, Andy Garcia will be remembered for a long time in film history.- Producer
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Ms. Gigliotti is one of only nine women to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. She received the 1998 Oscar for producing Shakespeare In Love. She received three additional Academy Award nominations for Best Picture: Hidden Figures (2016), Silver Linings Playbook (2013), and The Reader (2008). She is President of Tempesta Films, a film production company based in New York. Ms. Gigliotti is a governor of the Executives Branch.- John Glenn was an Officer of United States Marines with the rank of Major before chosen to become part of the Mercury 7 program.
He was awarded five Distinguished Flying Crosses. Made record setting Coast to Coast flights in the late 1950s.
He named his spacecraft (capsule) Friendship 7 and it is on display at the Smithsonian Institute Air and Space museum, directly underneath Chuck Yeager's "Glamerous Glennis" Bell X-1.