The 17th Annual CableAce Awards 1995 premiere

1. Linda Hamilton

Actress | Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Born in Salisbury, Maryland, USA, following high school Linda studied for two years at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, before moving on to acting studies in New York. In New York she attended acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg. Her first parts were small parts in TV series, with ...

2. James Cameron

Writer | Avatar: The Way of Water

James Francis Cameron was born on August 16, 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. He moved to the United States in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University before switching to English, and eventually dropping out. He then drove a truck to support his ...

3. Shelley Duvall

Actress | The Shining

Shelley Alexis Duvall was born in Fort Worth, Texas, the first child to Bobbie Ruth (Massengale, 1929-2020), a real estate broker, and Robert Richardson Duvall (1919-1994), a lawyer. At the time of her birth, her mother was visiting her grandmother in Fort Worth, though Duvall was raised in Houston...

4. Ted Turner

Writer | WCW Monday Nitro

Ted Turner was born on November 19, 1938 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA as Robert Edward Turner III. He is the founder of CNN, Turner Broadcast System (TBS) and Turner Network Television (TNT). He was previously married to Jane Fonda, Jane Shirley Smith and Judy Nye. He started in the business as a ...

5. Jane Fonda

Actress | Klute

Born in New York City to legendary screen star Henry Fonda and Ontario-born New York socialite Frances Seymour Brokaw, Jane Seymour Fonda was destined early to an uncommon and influential life in the limelight. Although she initially showed little inclination to follow her father's trade, she was ...

6. Robert Guillaume

Actor | Benson

Robert Peter Williams Guillaume was an actor from St. Louis, Missouri who was known for playing Rafiki from The Lion King, Benson DuBois from Soap and Benson, and Nathan Detroit from Guys and Dolls. He had five children from two marriages. He passed away in October 24, 2017 due to prostate cancer ...

7. Candice Bergen

Actress | Miss Congeniality

One cool, eternally classy lady, Candice Bergen was elegantly poised for trendy "ice princess" stardom when she first arrived on the '60s screen, but she gradually reshaped that débutante image in the '70s, both on- and off-camera. A staunch, outspoken feminist with a decisive edge, she went on to ...

8. Kirsten Dunst

Actress | Spider-Man

Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, who also holds German citizenship. She was born on April 30, 1982 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, to parents Inez (née Rupprecht), who owned an art gallery, and Klaus Dunst, a medical services executive. She has a younger brother named Christian Dunst, ...

9. Roger Ebert

Cinematographer | Siskel & Ebert & the Movies

Roger Joseph Ebert was the all-time best-known, most successful movie critic in cinema history, when one thinks of his establishing a rapport with both serious cineastes and the movie-going public and reaching more movie fans via television and print than any other critic. He became the first and ...

10. Brian Benben

Actor | Dream On

Charming, compactly built, extremely affable American actor Brian Edward Benben was born on June 18, 1956, in Winchester, Virginia, to Gloria Patricia (Coffman) and Peter Michael Benben Sr., a produce buyer. His paternal grandparents were Polish.

Deciding on an acting career while quite young, he ...

11. Madeleine Stowe

Actress | Twelve Monkeys

Madeleine Stowe was born in Los Angeles, California, to Mireya Maria (Mora Steinvorth) and Robert Alfred Stowe, a civil engineer. Her mother was a from a prominent political family in Costa Rica. Stowe grew up in Eagle Rock, a working-class neighborhood of Los Angeles. At age ten she started ...

12. Mario Van Peebles

Actor | How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass

Mario Van Peebles is a highly regarded director, actor, producer and writer. His directorial skills can be seen in the retelling of the epic mini-series "Roots" starring Forest Whitaker and Matthew Goode. Van Peebles has directed award-winning shows such as the recent hit "Empire" and "The Last ...

13. Melvin Van Peebles

Actor | The Shining

Melvin Van Peebles was born on August 21, 1932 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Shining (1997), Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) and Don't Play Us Cheap (1972). He was married to Maria Marx. He died on September 21, 2021 in Manhattan, New York City, New ...

14. Howie Mandel

Producer | Bobby's World

The story goes that huggable, highly affable stand-up comedian Howie Mandel began his show biz career by chance while catching amateur night at the Comedy Store on the L.A. Sunset Strip during a vacation. Goaded on by friends to try out, a producer spotted him, hired him for an appearance on a ...

15. Sela Ward

Actress | Independence Day: Resurgence

Hallelujah for Sela. Everyone's favorite "Sister" was born Sela Ann Ward, on July 11, 1956, in Meridian, Mississippi. Sela's parents were Annie Kate (Boswell) and Granberry Holland Ward, Jr., an electrical engineer; the three younger children in the family are Jenna (1957), Berry (1959) and Brock (...

16. Rip Torn

Actor | Men in Black

Rip Torn was born Elmore Rual Torn Jr. on February 6, 1931 in Temple, Texas, the son of Thelma Mary (Spacek) and Elmore Rudolph Torn, who was an agriculturalist and economist, credited with popularizing the custom of eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day. "Rip" is a family name, taken by ...

17. Paula Poundstone

Actress | Home Movies

Paula Poundstone was born on December 29, 1959 in Huntsville, Alabama, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Home Movies (1999), Inside Out (2015) and Hyperspace (1984).

18. Brian Wilson

Soundtrack | Love & Mercy

Brian Douglas Wilson was born on June 20th 1942 and has gone on to become one of, if not the greatest, musical geniuses in the world. It was while growing up, while being physically and psychologically abused by his father, that he discovered music as a way of shutting out all hurt and pain that he...

19. Jeffrey Tambor

Actor | Transparent

Jeffrey Tambor starred in Amazon Studios hit series TRANSPARENT, playing family patriarch "Mort Pfefferman," who over the course of the show becomes the unforgettable "Maura." Tambor's groundbreaking performance earned him two Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a SAG Award and a Critics' Choice ...

20. David Hyde Pierce

Actor | Frasier

David Hyde Pierce was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. He is the youngest child of George and Laura Pierce (both deceased) and has two older sisters (Barbara and Nancy) and an older brother (Thomas). As a child, he was very interested in music (particularly piano) and regularly played the ...

21. Jamie Lee Curtis

Actress | Halloween

Jamie Lee Curtis was born on November 22, 1958 in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of legendary actors Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis. She got her big break at acting in 1978 when she won the role of Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978). After that, she became famous for roles in movies like Trading...

22. Meat Loaf

Actor | The Rocky Horror Picture Show

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" ...

23. John Henson

Producer | Gator and the Egg

John Henson started acting when he was eight years old and tried everything he could--even singing and dancing. It was at Boston University that he began performing improvisational comedy. He loved the adrenaline rush it gave him so he quit school at the age of 20 to do stand-up full time.

24. Jon Voight

Actor | Midnight Cowboy

Jon Voight is an American actor of German and Slovak descent. He has won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his role as paraplegic Vietnam War veteran Luke Martin in the war film "Coming Home" (1978). He has also been nominated for the same award other two times. He was first ...

25. Jeff Goldblum

Actor | Jurassic Park

Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum was born October 22, 1952 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of four children of Shirley (Temeles), a radio broadcaster who also ran an appliances firm, and Harold L. Goldblum, a doctor. His father was of Russian Jewish descent and his mother was of Austrian Jewish ancestry.

...

26. Laura Dern

Actress | Jurassic Park

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 ...

27. James Woods

Actor | Vampires

James Howard Woods was born on April 18, 1947 in Vernal, Utah, the son of Martha A. (Smith) and Gail Peyton Woods, a U.S. Army intelligence officer who died during Woods' childhood. James is of Irish, English, and German descent. He grew up in Warwick, Rhode Island, with his mother and stepfather ...

28. Nicollette Sheridan

Actress | Desperate Housewives

Nicollette Sheridan has won a worldwide audience with her past television and film roles. With her Golden Globe-nominated role of "Edie Britt," the blonde bombshell of Wisteria Lane, on ABC's hit show Desperate Housewives (2004); the show's cast won both the 11th (2005) and 12th (2006) Screen ...

29. Jennifer Grey

Actress | Dirty Dancing

Jennifer Grey is an American actress who starred in the film Dirty Dancing (1987) opposite Patrick Swayze, a sleeper hit that would become one of the biggest films of the 1980s. She had previously appeared with Patrick Swayze in John Milius's cold war drama Red Dawn (1984) as 'Toni,' one of the '...

30. Janeane Garofalo

Actress | Mystery Men

Janeane, the petite woman with the acerbic wit, was born in Newton, New Jersey, in 1964, to Joan, a secretary, and Carmine Garofalo, an Exxon executive. She is of Italian and Irish descent. Janeane had many jobs before breaking into show biz. She worked as a bike messenger, a shoe saleswoman, ...

31. Kathy Najimy

Actress | Hocus Pocus

Kathy Najimy was born and raised in San Diego, California. She is the daughter of Samia (Massery) and Fred Najimy, a postal worker, both of Lebanese ancestry. Kathy attended Crawford High School, and began her film career in the early 1990s, with several minor roles. Kathy got her breakthrough ...

32. Merel Poloway

Actress | Baby It's You

Merel Poloway was a young, tall, dark-haired dancer back in the 1960s to the late 1970s. She performed a lot of Broadway in her time as a young dancer. She did a bit of acting in the 1980s; she acted as the character, Ms. Katz in "Baby, It's You!" (1983). Raúl described Merel as someone who's "just...

33. Garry Shandling

Writer | The Larry Sanders Show

Garry Shandling was born on November 29, 1949 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The Larry Sanders Show (1992), It's Garry Shandling's Show. (1986) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). He died on March 24, 2016 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

34. Lea Thompson

Actress | Back to the Future

Lea Katherine Thompson was born May 31, 1961 in Rochester, Minnesota. She is the youngest of five children. Her parents are Barbara and Cliff Thompson. Since all her siblings were much older than her, Lea says it seemed like she had more than two parents. The family lived in the Starlight motel, ...

35. Bill Maher

Producer | Politically Incorrect

Bill Maher was born William Maher in New York City, New York, and grew up in River Vale, New Jersey. His father, William Aloysius Maher Jr., who was of Irish Catholic descent, was a radio announcer and news editor. His mother, Julie (Berman), was a nurse, who was of Jewish descent. Maher was raised...

36. Dennis Miller

Actor | The Net

Dennis Miller was born on November 3, 1953 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Net (1995), Joe Dirt (2001) and Murder at 1600 (1997). He has been married to Ali Espley since April 10, 1988. They have two children.

37. Mo Gaffney

Actress | Drop Dead Gorgeous

Mo Gaffney was born on November 5, 1958 in San Diego, California, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), Absolutely Fabulous (1992) and God Bless America (2011).

38. Mary Tyler Moore

Actress | Ordinary People

Mary Tyler Moore was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, on December 29, 1936. Moore's family relocated to California when she was eight. Her childhood was troubled, due in part to her mother's alcoholism. The eldest of three siblings, she attended a Catholic high school and married upon her graduation, in...

39. Anne Archer

Actress | Fatal Attraction

Anne Archer was nominated for an Academy Award®, a Golden Globe and the British (BAFTA) Academy Award for her role as Michael Douglas' sympathetic, tortured wife, "Beth Gallagher", in Adrian Lyne's 1987 thriller Fatal Attraction (1987). Archer is also well-known for her poignant Golden ...

40. Tony Danza

Actor | Don Jon

Tony Danza is an American actor, perhaps best known for starring on some of television's most beloved and long-running series, including "Taxi" (1978-1983) and "Who's the Boss?" (1984-1992).

Danza was born in Brooklyn, New York to Anne (Cammisa), a bookkeeper, and Matty Iadanza, a garbageman. His ...

41. Patrick Dempsey

Actor | Grey's Anatomy

Patrick will next be seen in Eli Roth's new feature film THANKSGIVING as well as Michael Mann's new film, FERRARI, in which he stars opposite Adam Driver and Penélope Cruz. He was just seen starring in the Disney+ feature film and sequel to ENCHANTED, DISENCHANTED, opposite Amy Adams and most ...

42. Bob Einstein

Writer | Super Dave

Bob Einstein was born on November 20, 1942 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Super Dave (1987), Bizarre (1979) and Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000). He was married to Roberta Marie Smith and Cathy Maureen Kilpatrick. He died on January 2, 2019 in Indian Wells, ...

43. Fyvush Finkel

Actor | Picket Fences

Fyvush Finkel was born on October 9, 1922 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Picket Fences (1992), Nixon (1995) and A Serious Man (2009). He was married to Gertrude (Trudi) Lieberman. He died on August 14, 2016 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.

44. Tony Goldwyn

Actor | Ghost

Actor, director, producer Tony Goldwyn just finished a sold-out run of director Ivo Van Hove's Broadway production of "Network" with Bryan Cranston and Tatiana Maslany. He can be seen on the Netflix series, "Chambers," starring with Uma Thurman. Recently he concluded his role as 'President ...

45. Marilyn Kentz

Actress | The Mommies

Marilyn Kentz is known for The Mommies (1993), Free Enterprise (1998) and The Sac (2000).

46. Caryl Kristensen

Actress | The Mommies

Caryl Kristensen is known for The Mommies (1993), The Sac (2000) and The Mommies: My Kid Beat Up Your Honor Student (1995).

47. Angela Lansbury

Actress | The Manchurian Candidate

Angela Lansbury was born in 1925 into a prominent family of the upper middle class living in the Regent's Park neighborhood of London. Her father was socialist politician Edgar Isaac Lansbury (1887-1935), a member of both the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Labour Party. Edgar ...

48. Jean Marsh

Actress | Willow

Born in London, Jean Marsh became interested in show business while taking dancing and mime classes as therapy for a childhood illness. After attending a charm school and working as a model, she started acting in repertory and took voice lessons. Her repertory work was supplemented by a number of ...

49. Paula Jai Parker

Actress | Hustle & Flow

Paula Jai Parker is from Cleveland, Ohio. She moved to Washington, D.C. in 1987 to study at Howard University. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, she moved to New York City and played a number of clubs. Her reputation as a comedian earned her a place on the FOX comedy program "The ...

50. Helen Shaver

Actress | Desert Hearts

Helen Shaver has built a lasting legacy, both behind and in front of the camera. She has directed hundreds of hours of television ranging from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) to Castle (2009), from The Unit (2006) to The Outer Limits (1995). Her film, Summer's End (1999), a Showtime ...

51. Ron Silver

Actor | Timecop

Ron Silver was born on July 2, 1946 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Timecop (1994), Reversal of Fortune (1990) and Find Me Guilty (2006). He was married to Lynne Miller. He died on March 15, 2009 in New York City, New York, USA.

52. Scott 'Carrot Top' Thompson

Actor | Chairman of the Board

Scott 'Carrot Top' Thompson was born on February 25, 1965 in Cocoa Beach, Florida, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Chairman of the Board (1997), Savannah and Dennis the Menace Strikes Again! (1998).

53. Ray Walston

Actor | Popeye

Ray Walston started his acting career as a spear carrier with a local stock company. When the family moved to Houston, Texas, Walston's father wanted to teach him the oil business, but Walston instead joined a traveling repertory company (selling tickets as well as acting). He went on to associate ...

54. Veronica Webb

Actress | Someone Like You...

The youngest of three daughters born to Doug, an electrician who died in 1993, and Marion, a nurse, Webb graduated in 1983 from Detroit's Waldorf School. Moving to New York City to study design the same year, Webb got her modeling start after a makeup artist saw her in a housewares boutique.

55. Lynn Whitfield

Actress | Madea's Family Reunion

With roots leading back to Louisiana southern aristocracy, lovely leading lady Lynn Whitfield was born in 1953, the eldest of four children and a third-generation BFA graduate from Howard University. Her dentist father was instrumental in developing Lynn's initial interest in acting as he was a ...

56. Robert Levine

Producer | Being Mary Tyler Moore

Robert Levine was born on September 22, 1954 in Mineola, New York, USA. He is a producer, known for Being Mary Tyler Moore (2023), The Dick Van Dyke Show - Celebrating the 60th Anniversary (2021) and The 3rd Annual Television Academy Hall of Fame Awards (1986). He was previously married to Mary ...

57. Terry Jastrow

Producer | The Squeeze

Terry Jastrow has been the Producer and / or Director of some of the world's greatest events over the last 30 years. Mr. Jastrow is also a Screenwriter, Playwright, Theatrical Director and Acting Teacher. The following is a partial list of his accomplishments: In Film / Television, Mr. Jastrow has ...

58. Merel Poloway

Actress | Baby It's You

Merel Poloway was a young, tall, dark-haired dancer back in the 1960s to the late 1970s. She performed a lot of Broadway in her time as a young dancer. She did a bit of acting in the 1980s; she acted as the character, Ms. Katz in "Baby, It's You!" (1983). Raúl described Merel as someone who's "just...

59. Kay Koplovitz

Actress | FTL Newsfeed

Kay Koplovitz is known for FTL Newsfeed (1992), Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical (2001) and Sophisticated Ladies (1982).

60. Marlee Matlin

Actress | CODA

Marlee Beth Matlin was born on August 24, 1965 in Morton Grove, Illinois, to Libby (Hammer) and Donald Matlin, an automobile dealer. She has two older brothers. Her family is of Russian Jewish and Polish Jewish descent.

Marlee lost much of her hearing at the age of eighteen months. That did not stop...

61. Steve Smith

Camera_department | Paycheck

Steve Smith was born in 1955 in Texas, USA. He is known for Paycheck (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and Fantastic Four (2005). He has been married to Helen Shaver since October 9, 1988. They have one child.

62. Matthew Blankman

Trees Lounge

Matthew Blankman is known for Trees Lounge (1996).

63. John Hendricks

Self | The 16th Annual Genesis Awards

64. Jeffrey Bewkes

Self | A Tribute to Sheila Nevins: Newhouse Mirror Awards

Jeffrey Bewkes was born on May 25, 1952 in Paterson, New Jersey, USA. He is an executive.

65. Michael Fuchs

Producer | In the Gloaming

Michael Fuchs is known for In the Gloaming (1997), Sportscene (1979) and Thrill Sports (1980).

66. Keith Olbermann

Writer | SportsCenter

Author / sportswriter / radio commentator / TV pundit Keith Olbermann's first book, "The Major League Coaches", was published when he was 14. He began his career as a play-by-play announcer for WHTR while he was still in high school. Beginning college at age 16, he graduated with a Bachelors of ...

67. Dick Schaap

Writer | Lombardi

Dick Schaap was born on September 27, 1934 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Lombardi, Semi-Tough (1977) and New York Illustrated (1966). He was married to Patricia McLeod and Madeleine Gottlieb. He died on December 21, 2001 in New York City, New York, USA.