Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) New York Premiere
June 14,2004
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Michael Francis Moore was born in Flint, Michigan on April 23, 1954, and was raised in its Davison suburb. He is the son of Helen Veronica (Wall), a secretary, and Francis Richard Moore, who worked on an auto assembly line. He has Irish, as well as English and Scottish, ancestry.
Moore studied journalism at the University of Michigan-Flint, and also pursued other hobbies such as gun shooting, for which he even won a competition. Michael began his journalistic career writing for the school newspaper "The Michigan Times," and after dropping out of college briefly worked as editor for "Mother Jones."
He then turned to filmmaking, and to earn the money for the budget of his first film Roger & Me (1989) he ran neighborhood bingo games. The success of this film launched his career as one of America's best-known and most controversial documentarians. He has produced a string of documentary films and TV series predominantly about the same subject: attacks on corrupt politicians and greedy business corporations. He landed his first big hit with Bowling for Columbine (2002) about the bad points of the right to bear arms in America, which earned him an Oscar and a big reputation. He then shook the world with his even bigger hit Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), making fun of President George W. Bush. This is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. Michael is known for having the guts to give his opinion in public, which not many people are courageous enough to do, and for that is respected by many.- Producer
- Actress
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Serena Altschul was born on 13 October 1970 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a producer and actress, known for Queen of the Damned (2002), Josie and the Pussycats (2001) and CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley (1979).- Composer
- Actress
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Began career as a performance artist in the late 1960s, began recording in the late 1970s. Rose to popularity in early 1980s when 8-minute single, "O Superman" made it to No. 2 on the British pop charts. Early magnum opus was the two-night extravaganza "United States Parts I-IV" in 1983. Latest album "Life on A String" released in 2001. Laurie continues touring and being an active figure in the art world.- Additional Crew
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Richard Avedon was born on 15 May 1923 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director, known for Funny Face (1957), Chanel No. 5: Tomorrow's Woman (1966) and Gilda Live (1980). He was married to Evelyn Franklin and Doe Avedon. He died on 1 October 2004 in San Antonio, Texas, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in New York City. She was the daughter of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, a Romanian Jewish immigrant, and William Perske, who was born in New Jersey, to Polish Jewish parents. Her family was middle-class, with her father working as a salesman and her mother as a secretary. They divorced when she was five and she rarely saw her father after that.
As a school girl, she originally wanted to be a dancer, but later switched gears to head into acting. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, after attending She was educated at Highland Manor, a private boarding school in Tarrytown, New York (through the generosity of wealthy uncles), and then at Julia Richman High School, which enabled her to get her feet wet in some off-Broadway productions.
Out of school, she entered modeling and, because of her beauty, appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, one of the most popular magazines in the US. The wife of famed director Howard Hawks spotted the picture in the publication and arranged with her husband to have Lauren take a screen test. As a result, which was entirely positive, she was given the part of Marie Browning in To Have and Have Not (1944), a thriller opposite Humphrey Bogart, when she was just 19 years old. This not only set the tone for a fabulous career but also one of Hollywood's greatest love stories (she married Bogart in 1945). It was also the first of several Bogie-Bacall films.
After 1945's Confidential Agent (1945), Lauren received second billing in The Big Sleep (1946) with Bogart. The mystery, in the role of Vivian Sternwood Rutledge, was a resounding success. Although she was making one film a year, each production would be eagerly awaited by the public. In 1947, again with her husband, Lauren starred in the thriller Dark Passage (1947). The film kept movie patrons on the edge of their seats. The following year, she starred with Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, and Lionel Barrymore in Key Largo (1948). The crime drama was even more of a nail biter than her previous film.
In 1950, Lauren starred in Bright Leaf (1950), a drama set in 1894. It was a film of note because she appeared without her husband - her co-star was Gary Cooper. In 1953, Lauren appeared in her first comedy as Schatze Page in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953). The film, with co-stars Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable, was a smash hit all across the theaters of America.
After filming Designing Woman (1957), which was released in 1957, Humphrey Bogart died on January 14 from throat cancer. Devastated at being a widow, Lauren returned to the silver screen with The Gift of Love (1958) in 1958 opposite Robert Stack. The production turned out to be a big disappointment. Undaunted, Lauren moved back to New York City and appeared in several Broadway plays to huge critical acclaim. She was enjoying acting before live audiences and the audiences in turn enjoyed her fine performances.
Lauren was away from the big screen for five years, but she returned in 1964 to appear in Shock Treatment (1964) and Sex and the Single Girl (1964). The latter film was a comedy starring Henry Fonda and Tony Curtis. In 1966, Lauren starred in Harper (1966) with Paul Newman and Julie Harris, which was one of former's signature films.
Alternating her time between films and the stage, Lauren returned in 1974's Murder on the Orient Express (1974). The film, based on Agatha Christie's best-selling book was a huge hit. It also garnered Ingrid Bergman her third Oscar. Actually, the huge star-studded cast helped to ensure its success. Two years later, in 1976, Lauren co-starred with John Wayne in The Shootist (1976). The film was Wayne's last - he died from cancer in 1979. In late 1979, Lauren appeared with her good friend, James Garner, in a double episode, Lions, Tigers, Monkeys and Dogs (1979), of his Rockford Files series.
For Lauren's next film role, she appeared in a large ensemble film, HealtH (1980), which again paired her with James Garner, and in 1981, she played an actress being stalked by a crazed admirer in The Fan (1981). The thriller was absolutely fascinating with Lauren in the lead role, again playing opposite her good friend James Garner, making three straight screen roles with Lauren opposite James Garner. After that production, Lauren was away from films again, this time for seven years. In the interim, she again appeared on the stages of Broadway. When she returned, it was for the filming of 1988's Appointment with Death (1988) and Mr. North (1988). After 1990's Misery (1990) and several made for television films, Lauren appeared in 1996's My Fellow Americans (1996), a comedy romp with Jack Lemmon and James Garner as two ex-presidents and their escapades. In 1997, Lauren appeared in The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), in one of the best roles of her later career, opposite Barbra Streisand, where Lauren was nominated as Best Actress in a Supporting Role by both the Academy and the Golden Globes, winning the Golden Globe for the role.
Despite her age and failing health, she made a small-scale comeback in the English-language dub of Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle (2004) ("Howl's Moving Castle," based on the young-adult novel by Diana Wynne Jones) as the Witch of the Waste, and several other roles through 2008, but thereafter acting endeavors for the beloved actress became increasingly rare. Lauren Bacall died on 12 August 2014, five weeks short of her 90th birthday.- Actress
- Producer
- Executive
Award-winning veteran journalist Ashleigh Banfield is the host of "Banfield" on NewsNation.
"Banfield" airs weeknights at 10 p.m. ET, offering in-depth coverage of the day's top news stories. It also features Banfield interviewing newsmakers, politicians and celebrities.
Before joining NewsNation, Banfield, an Emmy, Telly, Iris, Gracie and National Headliner Award winner, served as a legal analyst and host for Court TV, as well as a regular contributor to Investigation Discovery's ID "Murder Mystery" series.
During her 30-year career, Banfield has served as host of the A+E prime-time series, "Live Rescue," host of "Primetime Justice with Ashleigh Banfield" on HLN, anchored "Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield" on CNN, and and co-anchored the CNN morning news show, "Early Start."
She has also served as a correspondent for ABC News, reporting for "Good Morning America," "20/20," "ABC World News Tonight," and "Nightline." Prior to ABC, Banfield anchored and hosted three programs on TruTV including the daily legal news program, "Banfield and Ford: Courtside," the weekly evening show, "Hollywood Heat," and the prime-time special series that she created and co-produced, "Disorder in the Court." As a correspondent for NBC News, Banfield reported for "The Today Show," "NBC Nightly News," and "Dateline." During this time, she also anchored several prime-time series on MSNBC, including "A Region in Conflict and Ashleigh Banfield: On Location."- Actress
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Joy Behar was born on 7 October 1942 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012), Hall Pass (2011) and Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). She has been married to Steve Janowitz since 11 August 2011. She was previously married to Joseph Behar.- Music Artist
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Tony Bennett, one of the legends of jazz and popular music who served during the Second World War and then developed a career spanning over half a century, is now giving another concert tour across the United States and Europe.
He was born Anthony (Antonio) Dominick Benedetto on August 3, 1926, in Astoria, Queens, in New York City. His father, Giovanni "John" Benedetto, was a grocer, his mother, Anna Maria (Suraci), was a seamstress, and his uncle was a tap dancer. His parents were both from poor farming families in Calabria, Italy. Young Tony gave a singing performance at the opening of the Triborough Bridge at the age of 10. He studied music and painting at the New York High School of Industrial Arts but dropped out at the age of 16. He had to support his family and he performed as a singing waiter in Italian restaurants.
During the Second World War Tony Bennett was drafted into the US Army. He served on the front lines until April 1945 and was involved in the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp at Landsberg, Germany. After the WWII he sang with the Army military band under the stage name "Joe Bari" until his discharge and return to the US in 1946. He studied the Bel Canto singing discipline at the American Theater Wing on the GI Bill and continued singing while waiting on tables at New York restaurants.
At the beginning of his career he drew from such influences as Judy Garland, Louis Armstrong, and Bing Crosby among others and eventually created his own style of singing. He also integrated jazz-style phrasing into his singing by imitating the instrumental solos with his own voice.
In 1949, Bennett was invited on a concert tour by Bob Hope, who suggested him to use the name Tony Bennett. In 1950, he was signed to Columbia Records and made his first big hit 'Because of You', produced by Mitch Miller with orchestration by Percy Faith. It sold over a million copies, reaching #1 in 1951 pop charts. His other #1 hits were 'Blue Velvet', 'Rags to Riches', and "Stranger in Paradise" in 1952-54. Bennett was able to do five to seven shows a day in New York to crowds of screaming teenagers.
In 1956, he hosted The Tony Bennett Show (1956), which replaced Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1948). He continued making recordings with the top jazz musicians of the day and his collaboration with Count Basie brought two albums, with 'Chicago' and 'Jeepers Creepers' becoming popular songs. His landmark concert at the Carnegie Hall in June of 1962 featured 44 songs and was accompanied by an all-star band. The same year he released 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco', which remained on the charts for a year and has become his signature song. The eponymous album became a gold record.
Bennett had a change of fortune after 1964, with strong competition from The Beatles and the British Invasion. In 1965, he separated from his first wife, artist Patricia Beech, with whom he had two sons. The marriage did not work under the pressures of being too much on the road and eventually ended in divorce. At the same time, his first acting role in the film The Oscar (1966) was not a success; he received poor reviews, and the film was lambasted by critics, ignored by audiences and became one of the biggest flops of the year. His singing career took a downturn when his bosses at Columbia Records, worried about competition from The Beatles, forced him to change his image and style, which pleased no one. He left Columbia in 1972. A brief contract with MGM Records yielded no hits, and Bennett was left without a recording job.
He married again. He started his own record company and made two highly praised albums with Bill Evans. He moved to England for a while, where he once performed for the Queen. Back in the US, Bennett found only one regular gig in Las Vegas, but no recording deals or concert tours. His debts grew to the point of bankruptcy, and the IRS was trying to seize his house in L.A. By the late 1970s, his second marriage to actress Sandra Grant, with whom he had two daughters, was failing. He also suffered from a drug addiction, and after an overdose in 1979, he called for help from his son Danny Bennett. Danny signed on as his father's manager, and it turned out to be a smart move.
Tony Bennett rejuvenated his career by bringing back his original style, tuxedo and the Great American Songbook. He staged a strong comeback during the 1980s and 1990s, signed with Columbia again, and made two gold albums in 1992 and 1993, and developed a surprising and loyal following among audiences in their 20s and 30s. He also received a Grammy Award, the first since 1962. He again performed and recorded with Frank Sinatra, and extended musical collaboration to gigs with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Elvis Costello, and k.d. lang among others. Bennet also appeared as himself on MTV's documentary series Unplugged (1989) in 1994 and 2000.
His resilience and successful comeback became a sensation in the modern day entertainment industry. Bennett appeared as himself in the films Analyze This (1999), The Scout (1994), and Bruce Almighty (2003). He has sold over 50 million records worldwide, was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame (1997), published an autobiography "The Good Life: The Autobiography of Tony Bennett" (1998), received a lifetime achievement award from ASCAP (2002), and was the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor in December of 2005. Honored by the United Nations with its Citizen of the World award, he is widely considered an International treasure.
On his 80th anniversary, Tony Bennett enjoyed congratulations from millions of fans from all over the world. In November 2006, Bennett hosted a Gala-party in his honor at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. There he enjoyed live performances by numerous celebrities. The party came to culmination when Mr. Bennett entertained his guests by singing his best known hits: 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco' and 'What A Good Life.'- Actress
- Writer
- Music Department
Performer, actress, singer and author Sandra Bernhard appeared as a series regular in season three of the immensely popular FX Television/Ryan Murphy show "POSE" reprising her role as brassy but caring Nurse Judy Kubrack, who works with H.I.V. / AIDS patients, following a memorable season one guest appearance and hugely successful second season. Bernhard has also done a special guest appearance on Ryan Murphy's "American Horror Story: Apocalypse", highlighting a successful, decades long television career.
She is also currently in her fifth year hosting her weekly radio show Sandyland on Sirius XM's Radio Andy channel 102, for which she won a broadcasting Gracie Award.
A pioneer of the one-woman show, Bernhard brings a completely unique and raucous mix of cabaret, stand-up, rock-n-roll, and social commentary to her live stage performances. Just last year she celebrated the 10 year anniversary of her iconic annual holiday shows at Joe's Pub in New York City, while she also continues to tour throughout the country and overseas.
Extremely notable past live stage shows, which she has performed both on and off-Broadway, include Without You I'm Nothing, I'm Still Here, Dammit, Everything Bad and Beautiful, and #blessed.
Bernhard's film credits include The King of Comedy, for which she was awarded Best Supporting Actress by the National Society of Film Critics, Track 29, Hudson Hawk, Dinner Rush, and the live performance film Without You I'm Nothing. Past television credits include Two Broke Girls, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Broad City, Difficult People, You're the Worst, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Will &Grace, The Sopranos, The Larry Sanders Show and Roseanne. Music albums include I'm Your Woman (Polygram, 1986), Excuses for Bad Behavior (Epic, 1994) and the world music album Whatever It Takes (Mi5, 2009). She has written three books: May I Kiss You on the Lips, Miss Sandra?, Confessions of a Pretty Lady, Love, Love and Love.- Actor
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A bold, blunt instrument of hatred and violence at the onset of his film career, Peter Boyle recoiled from that repugnant, politically incorrect "working class" image to eventually play gruff, gentler bears and even comedy monsters in a career that lasted four decades.
He was born on October 18, 1935, in Norristown, Pennsylvania, to Alice (Lewis) and Francis Xavier Boyle. He eventually moved to Philadelphia, where his father was a sought-after local TV personality and children's show host. His paternal grandparents were Irish immigrants, and his mother was of mostly French and British Isles descent. Following a solid Catholic upbringing (he attended a Catholic high school), Peter was a sensitive youth and joined the Christian Brothers religious order at one point while attending La Salle University in Philadelphia. He left the monastery after only a few years when he "lost" his calling.
Bent on an acting career, Boyle initially studied with guru Uta Hagen in New York. The tall (6' 2"), hulking, prematurely bald actor wannabe struggled through a variety of odd jobs (postal worker, waiter, bouncer) while simultaneously building up his credits on stage and waiting for that first big break. Things started progressing for him after appearing in the national company of "The Odd Couple" in 1965 and landing TV commercials on the sly. In the late 60s he joined Chicago's Second City improv group and made his Broadway debut as a replacement for Peter Bonerz in Paul Sills' "Story Theatre" (1971) (Sills was the founder of Second City). Peter's breakout film role did not come without controversy as the hateful, hardhat-donning bigot-turned-murderer Joe (1970) in a tense, violence-prone film directed by John G. Avildsen. The role led to major notoriety, however, and some daunting supporting parts in T.R. Baskin (1971), Slither (1973) and as Robert Redford's calculating campaign manager in The Candidate (1972). During this time his political radicalism found a visible platform after joining Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland on anti-war crusades, which would include the anti-establishment picture Steelyard Blues (1973). This period also saw the forging of a strong friendship with former Beatle John Lennon.
Destined to be cast as monstrous undesirables throughout much of his career, he played a monster of another sort in his early film days, and thus avoided a complete stereotype as a film abhorrent. His hilarious, sexually potent Frankenstein's Monster in the cult Mel Brooks spoof Young Frankenstein (1974) saw him in a sympathetic and certainly more humorous vein. His creature's first public viewing, in which Boyle shares an adroit tap-dancing scene with "creator" Gene Wilder in full Fred Astaire regalia, was a show-stopping audience pleaser. Late 70s filmgoers continued to witness Boyle in seamy, urban settings with brutish roles in Taxi Driver (1976) and Hardcore (1979). At the same time he addressed several TV mini-movie roles with the same brilliant darkness such as his Senator Joe McCarthy in Tail Gunner Joe (1977), for which he received an Emmy nomination, and his murderous, knife-wielding Fatso in the miniseries remake of From Here to Eternity (1979).
While the following decade found Peter in predominantly less noteworthy filming and a short-lived TV series lead as remote cop Joe Bash (1986), the 90s brought him Emmy glory (for a guest episode on The X-Files (1993)). Despite a blood clot-induced stroke in 1990 that impaired his speech for six months, he ventured on and capped his enviable career on TV wielding funny but crass one-liners in the "Archie Bunker" mold on the long-running sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond (1996). A major Emmy blunder had Boyle earning seven nominations for his Frank Barrone character without a win, the only prime player on the show unhonored. He survived a heart attack while on the set of "Everybody Loves Raymond" in 1999, but managed to return full time for the remainder of the series' run through 2005.
Following a superb turn as Billy Bob Thornton's unrepentantly racist father in the sobering Oscar-winner Monster's Ball (2001), the remainder of his films were primarily situated in frivolous comedy fare such as The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002), The Santa Clause 2 (2002), Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006), typically playing cranky curmudgeons. Boyle died of multiple myeloma (bone-marrow cancer) and heart disease at New York Presbyterian Hospital in 2006, and was survived by his wife Lorraine and two children. He was 71.- Writer
- Actor
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Tom Brokaw was born on 6 February 1940 in Webster, South Dakota, USA. He is a writer and actor, known for NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (1970), Dateline NBC (1992) and Toots (2006). He has been married to Meredith Lynn Auld since 17 August 1962. They have four children.- Tina Brown was born on 21 November 1953 in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, UK. She is a producer and writer, known for A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (2015), Three Piece Suite (1977) and Hillary Clinton: The Power of Women (2015). She was previously married to Harold Evans.
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Ellen Burstyn was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Correine Marie (Hamel) and John Austin Gillooly. She is of Irish, French/French-Canadian, Pennsylvania Dutch (German), and Native American ancestry.. She worked a number of jobs before she became an actress. At 14, she was a short-order cook at a lunch counter. After graduating from Detroit's Cass Technical High School, she went to Texas to model and then to New York as a showgirl on The Jackie Gleason Show (1952). From there, it was to Montreal as a nightclub dancer and then Broadway with her debut in "Fair Game (1957)". By 1963, she appeared on the TV series The Doctors (1963), but she gained notice for her role in Goodbye Charlie (1964). Ellen then took time off to study acting with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.
Her big break came when she was cast as the female lead in The Last Picture Show (1971). For this role, she received nominations for the Golden Globe and Academy Award. Next, she co-starred with Jack Nicholson in The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), giving a chilling performance. Then came The Exorcist (1973). She was again nominated for the Golden Globe and Academy Award. In 1974, she starred in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), for which performance she won the Oscar and BAFTA awards as Best Actress. For the Golden Globe, she was nominated but lost to Marsha Mason. The same year, she made history by winning a Tony Award for the Broadway play "Same Time, Next Year". She won praise and award nominations for her performances in the film versions of Same Time, Next Year (1978) and Resurrection (1980).
In "Resurrection", she played a woman with the power to heal. A succession of TV movies resulting in two Emmy nominations kept her going as did the series The Ellen Burstyn Show (1986). The TV movies continued through the 1990s. Also in the 1990s, she was cast in the supporting role in such movies as The Cemetery Club (1993), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), The Baby-Sitters Club (1995) and The Spitfire Grill (1996). In addition to her acting, She was the first woman president of Actor's Equity (1982-85).- Actor
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With charm to spare and dark, unassumingly handsome looks, British actor Ben Chaplin arrived on the Hollywood scene in smart and sexy fashion with the comedy The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996). While his habit for avoiding mainstream artificiality in favor of small, intense, independent vehicles is quite intact, in retrospect it looks as if he has purposely avoided glossy Hollywood stardom in search of quality work.
Chaplin was born Benedict John Greenwood in Windsor, England, where he was raised, the youngest of four children of Cynthia (Chaplin), a drama teacher, and Peter Greenwood, a civil engineer. He first developed an interest in acting while appearing in a school play. He attended London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, but did not conform well to the school's program layout and left after his first year to scout out the local theatre scene. A one-time statistician for the London Transport Authority during his fledgling years as a young actor, he made his TV debut in 1990. His first role of note occurred with a co-starring role in the TV-movie Bye Bye Baby (1992). This led to an introduction to film-making with a small part as a footman in the Merchant Ivory period drama The Remains of the Day (1993) starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. After a breakthrough playing a social misfit in the film Feast of July (1995) and a show-stopping, offbeat role in the BBC TV series Game-On (1995), Hollywood quickly took notice and he was offered the role of the photographer who gets caught between two women in The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996) co-starring Uma Thurman and Janeane Garofalo.
Just as in acting school, he was unwilling to conform to the Hollywood system and immediately sought out work on the London stage. Following theatre roles in "The Neighbour" (1993) and "Peaches" (1994), he earned winning reviews and an Olivier Award nomination for his compelling portrayal of Tom Wingfield opposite theatre legend Zoë Wanamaker in "The Glass Menagerie" on the London stage.
Quite in demand by this time for films he appeared alongside Jennifer Jason Leigh and Albert Finney in Washington Square (1997), Agnieszka Holland version of the Henry James novel that had previously appeared on screen as The Heiress (1949) starring Montgomery Clift and winning Olivia de Havilland the Academy Award for Best Actress of 1949. This period piece failed to achieve its predecessor's financial success or critical praise, but Ben did receive kudos for his touching performance in the role of Private Bell in Terrence Malick much-admired remake of The Thin Red Line (1998).
Since then Ben has concentrated on risk-taking and quality rather than on mainstream filming. In the exorcist-themed Lost Souls (2000) he played an atheistic crime writer deemed to become Satan himself; played a modest bank clerk who tangles with a Russian mail-order bride (Nicole Kidman) in Birthday Girl (2001); portrayed Sandra Bullock's rookie partner in the crimer Murder by Numbers (2002); and melded beautifully into a number of period pieces such as The Touch (2002), Stage Beauty (2004), The New World (2005) and Me and Orson Welles (2008).
The dark-eyed, thick-browed, soulful-eyed actor also showed off his transatlantic appeal on stage after making his 2003 Broadway debut in "The Retreat from Moscow" and earning a Tony nomination in the process. Recent filming has included a prime role in yet another portrait of Dorian Gray (2009).- Actor
- Producer
Vikram Chatwal is the founder of and visionary behind Vikram Chatwal Hotels, an international collection of upscale hotels located in the world's most desirable locations. His portfolio of properties includes names like Dream Hotels, Night Hotels, The Chatwal New York and the Plaza Hotel. Vikram got his start in the hotel industry in 1999, after spending several years working for Morgan Stanley in New York.
Mr. Chatwal is an international tastemaker. He was named one of the world's most eligible bachelors by Radar Magazine and received the Entrepreneur of the Year award at the first South Asia Media Awards in 2005; in 2006 he was featured on the cover of Forbes Asia. He has also appeared in a number of films and mingles with many of Hollywood's most influential individuals.- Actress
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Eight time Academy Award-nominated actress Glenn Close was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. She is the daughter of Elizabeth Mary H. "Bettine" (Moore) and William Taliaferro Close (William Close), a prominent doctor. Both of her parents were from upper-class families.
Glenn was a noted Broadway performer when she was cast in her award-winning role as Jenny Fields in The World According to Garp (1982) alongside Robin Williams. For this role, a breakthrough in film for Close, she later went on to receive an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The following year she was cast in the hit comedy The Big Chill (1983) for which she received a second Oscar Nomination, once again for Supporting Actress in the role of Sarah Cooper. In her third film, Close portrayed Iris Gaines a former lover of baseball player Roy Hobbs portrayed by Robert Redford, in one of the greatest sports films of all time, The Natural (1984). For a third time, Close was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Close went on to star in films like The Stone Boy (1984), Maxie (1985) and Jagged Edge (1985). In 1987 Close was cast in the box office hit Fatal Attraction (1987) for which she portrayed deranged stalker Alex Forrest alongside costars Michael Douglas and Anne Archer. For this role she was nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actress. The following year Close starred in the Oscar Winning Drama Dangerous Liaisons (1988) for which she portrayed one of the most classic roles of all time as Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil, starring alongside John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer. For this role she was nominated once again for the Academy Award and BAFTA Film Award for Best Actress. Close was favorite to win the coveted statue but lost to Jodie Foster for The Accused (1988). Close had her claim to fame in the 1980s. Close starred on the hit Drama series Damages (2007) for which she has won a Golden Globe Award and two Emmy Awards. In her career Close has been Oscar nominated eight times, won three Tonys, an Obie, three Emmys, two Golden Globes and a Screen Actors Guild Award.- Music Artist
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Judy Collins was born on 1 May 1939 in Seattle, Washington, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for Junior (1994), Hereditary (2018) and Starsky & Hutch (2004). She has been married to Louis Nelson since 16 April 1996. She was previously married to Peter A. Taylor.- Actress
- Writer
Catherine Crier was born on 6 November 1954 in Dallas, Texas, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Man of the Year (2006), CNN & Company (1992) and Spinning Into Butter (2007). She has been married to Christopher Wilson since 8 October 1994. She was previously married to Michael Barrett.- Producer
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Carson Daly was born on 22 June 1973 in Santa Monica, California, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for Josie and the Pussycats (2001), Session 9 (2001) and The Voice (2011). He has been married to Siri Pinter since 23 December 2015. They have three children.- Producer
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Few actors in the world have had a career quite as diverse as Leonardo DiCaprio's. DiCaprio has gone from relatively humble beginnings, as a supporting cast member of the sitcom Growing Pains (1985) and low budget horror movies, such as Critters 3 (1991), to a major teenage heartthrob in the 1990s, as the hunky lead actor in movies such as Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Titanic (1997), to then become a leading man in Hollywood blockbusters, made by internationally renowned directors such as Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan.
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio was born in Los Angeles, California, the only child of Irmelin DiCaprio (née Indenbirken) and former comic book artist George DiCaprio. His father is of Italian and German descent, and his mother, who is German-born, is of German, Ukrainian and Russian ancestry. His middle name, "Wilhelm", was his maternal grandfather's first name. Leonardo's father had achieved minor status as an artist and distributor of cult comic book titles, and was even depicted in several issues of American Splendor, the cult semi-autobiographical comic book series by the late 'Harvey Pekar', a friend of George's. Leonardo's performance skills became obvious to his parents early on, and after signing him up with a talent agent who wanted Leonardo to perform under the stage name "Lenny Williams", DiCaprio began appearing on a number of television commercials and educational programs.
DiCaprio began attracting the attention of producers, who cast him in small roles in a number of television series, such as Roseanne (1988) and The New Lassie (1989), but it wasn't until 1991 that DiCaprio made his film debut in Critters 3 (1991), a low-budget horror movie. While Critters 3 (1991) did little to help showcase DiCaprio's acting abilities, it did help him develop his show-reel, and attract the attention of the people behind the hit sitcom Growing Pains (1985), in which Leonardo was cast in the "Cousin Oliver" role of a young homeless boy who moves in with the Seavers. While DiCaprio's stint on Growing Pains (1985) was very short, as the sitcom was axed the year after he joined, it helped bring DiCaprio into the public's attention and, after the sitcom ended, DiCaprio began auditioning for roles in which he would get the chance to prove his acting chops.
Leonardo took up a diverse range of roles in the early 1990s, including a mentally challenged youth in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), a young gunslinger in The Quick and the Dead (1995) and a drug addict in one of his most challenging roles to date, Jim Carroll in The Basketball Diaries (1995), a role which the late River Phoenix originally expressed interest in. While these diverse roles helped establish Leonardo's reputation as an actor, it wasn't until his role as Romeo Montague in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996) that Leonardo became a household name, a true movie star. The following year, DiCaprio starred in another movie about doomed lovers, Titanic (1997), which went on to beat all box office records held before then, as, at the time, Titanic (1997) became the highest grossing movie of all time, and cemented DiCaprio's reputation as a teen heartthrob. Following his work on Titanic (1997), DiCaprio kept a low profile for a number of years, with roles in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) and the low-budget The Beach (2000) being some of his few notable roles during this period.
In 2002, he burst back into screens throughout the world with leading roles in Catch Me If You Can (2002) and Gangs of New York (2002), his first of many collaborations with director Martin Scorsese. With a current salary of $20 million a movie, DiCaprio is now one of the biggest movie stars in the world. However, he has not limited his professional career to just acting in movies, as DiCaprio is a committed environmentalist, who is actively involved in many environmental causes, and his commitment to this issue led to his involvement in The 11th Hour, a documentary movie about the state of the natural environment. As someone who has gone from small roles in television commercials to one of the most respected actors in the world, DiCaprio has had one of the most diverse careers in cinema. DiCaprio continued to defy conventions about the types of roles he would accept, and with his career now seeing him leading all-star casts in action thrillers such as The Departed (2006), Shutter Island (2010) and Christopher Nolan's Inception (2010), DiCaprio continues to wow audiences by refusing to conform to any cliché about actors.
In 2012, he played a mustache twirling villain in Django Unchained (2012), and then tragic literary character Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (2013) and Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).
DiCaprio is passionate about environmental and humanitarian causes, having donated $1,000,000 to earthquake relief efforts in 2010, the same year he contributed $1,000,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Society.- Actor
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Phil Donahue is an American media personality, writer, film producer, and the creator and host of Donahue (1967). His television program, later known as Donahue, was the first talk show format that included audience participation. The show had a 29-year run on national television in America that began in Dayton, Ohio, and ended in New York City in 1996.
His shows have often focused on issues that divide liberals and conservatives in the United States, such as abortion, consumer protection, civil rights and war issues. His most frequent guest was Ralph Nader, for whom Donahue campaigned in 2000. Donahue also briefly hosted a talk show on MSNBC from July 2002 to March 2003.
Phil Donahue is one of the most influential talk show hosts and has been called the "king of daytime talk." Oprah Winfrey has stated, "If it weren't for Phil Donahue, there would never have been an Oprah Show."
In 1996, Donahue was ranked #42 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.- Actor
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Richard Dreyfuss is an American leading man, who has played his fair share of irritating pests and brash, ambitious hustlers.
He was born Richard Stephen Dreyfus in Brooklyn, New York, to Geraldine (Robbins), an activist, and Norman Dreyfus, a restaurateur and attorney. His paternal grandparents were Austro-Hungarian Jewish immigrants, and his mother's family was Russian Jewish.
Richard worked his way up through bit parts (The Graduate (1967), for one) and TV before gaining attention with his portrayal of Baby Face Nelson in John Milius' Dillinger (1973). He gained prominence as a college-bound young man in American Graffiti (1973) and as a nervy Jewish kid with high hopes in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974). By the latter part of the 1970s Dreyfuss was established as a major star, playing leads (and alter-egos) for Steven Spielberg in two of the top-grossing films of the that decade: Jaws (1975) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). He won a Best Actor Oscar in his first romantic lead as an out-of-work actor in The Goodbye Girl (1977). Dreyfuss also produced and starred in the entertaining private eye movie The Big Fix (1978). After a brief lull in the early 1980s, a well-publicized drug problem and a string of box-office disappointments (The Competition (1980), Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981), The Buddy System (1984)), a clean and sober Dreyfuss re-established himself in the mid-'80s as one of Hollywood's more engaging leads. He co-starred with Bette Midler and Nick Nolte in Paul Mazursky's popular Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986). That same year he provided the narration and appeared in the opening and closing "bookends" of Rob Reiner's nostalgic Stand by Me (1986). He quickly followed that with Nuts (1987) opposite Barbra Streisand, Barry Levinson's Tin Men (1987) in a memorable teaming with Danny DeVito, and Stakeout (1987) with Emilio Estevez. Dreyfuss continued working steadily through the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, most notably in Mazursky's farce Moon Over Parador (1988), Spielberg's Always (1989), Postcards from the Edge (1990) and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990). He appeared as a member of an ensemble that included Holly Hunter, Gena Rowlands and Danny Aiello in the romantic comedy Once Around (1991) and as a pop psychiatrist, the author of several successful self-help books, who is driven to the edge by nutcase Bill Murray in the popular comedy What About Bob? (1991). Dreyfuss has also remained active in the theater ("Death and Maiden", 1992) and on TV. In his next project he starred the thriller Silent Fall (1994) with John Lithgow and Linda Hamilton, being the film debut of Liv Tyler, Steven Tyler's daughter (Aerosmith's lead vocals). Just later Dreyfuss made Another Stakeout (1993), sequel of Stakeout (1987) where was team again with Emilio Estevez accompanied of Rosie O'Donnell, the adaptation of Neil Simon's play Lost in Yonkers (1993) and followed with a supporting turn as the querulous political opponent in The American President (1995). Dreyfuss received some of the best notices of his career as a determined, inspiring music teacher coping with a deaf son and the demands of his career in Mr. Holland's Opus (1995). Closing the 20th century he was in Sidney Lumet's Night Falls on Manhattan (1996) with Andy Garcia, the crime comedy Mad Dog Time (1996) as the mob boss Vic, the screwball comedy Krippendorf's Tribe (1998) about an anthropologist who creates a false lost New Guinea tribe for not losing his job in the university, TV movie Lansky (1999) about the infamous mob boss to end, the too TV movie Fail Safe (2000) playing The President, and The Crew (2000), about four older mobsters retired in Miami, partnering with Hollywood legends Burt Reynolds, Dan Hedaya and Seymour Cassel.
His start in the 21st century was with the adaption of Luis Sepúlveda's novel The Old Man Who Read Love Stories (2001), playing an old man to must to hunt a female jaguar turned crazy. It was followed by the supporting apparition in the comedy Who Is Cletis Tout? (2001) and another TV movie about 1981 Ronald Reagan's shooting The Day Reagan Was Shot (2001). After the short-lived TV series The Education of Max Bickford (2001) about a teacher in a women's college where his daughter is student, Dreyfuss returned to cinema in Silver City (2004) and the box-office bomb Poseidon (2006) with Kurt Russell, Emmy Rossum and Josh Lucas. Playing former vice-president Dick Cheney in the Oliver Stone's biopic W. (2008) and Irv, the cunning tourist in Greece turned in assistant of a troubled tour guide in My Life in Ruins (2009), Dreyfuss participated in low-budget productions as Leaves of Grass (2009) and The Lightkeepers (2009), for making a cameo in the wild and crazy Piranha 3D (2010) about prehistoric men-eater piranhas that make a bloodbath in a spring break. Returning to first line playing evil Alexander Dunning in the actioner RED (2010), his further productions included Paranoia (2013) as Liam Hemsworth's father partnering Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman, road movie Cas & Dylan (2013) opposites Tatiana Maslany and the biopic TV mini-series Madoff (2016) about the infamous multi-billion-dollar and hustler Bernie Madoff. Tireless and always implied in new projects, Dreyfuss played George, the funny online date of Candice Bergen in Book Club (2018), the comedy and road movie The Last Laugh (2019) with Chevy Chase, and the set in wilderness thriller Daughter of the Wolf (2019) with Gina Carano and Brendan Fehr. Making his 73rd birthday in 2020, Dreyfuss is an example of talent, diversity and love for his work, touching not only all the genres in cinema but leaving an unforgettable footprint at any of them.- Actress
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Susie Essman was born on 31 May 1955 in Mount Vernon, New York, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000), Bolt (2008) and Cop Out (2010). She has been married to Jim Harder since 13 September 2008.- Actress
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Linda Evangelista is a Canadian fashion model and one of the top supermodels from the 1990s. She is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential models of all time, and has been featured on over 700 magazine covers. Evangelista is primarily known for being the longtime "muse" of photographer Steven Meisel, as well as for coining the phrase "We don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day." She holds the record for her multiple appearances on the cover of Vogue Italia, all of which were photographed by Meisel.
Evangelista's modelling career began in 1984 when she signed with Elite Model Management after having moved from her native Canada to New York City. Upon the suggestion of photographer Peter Lindbergh, Evangelista had her hair cut short in 1988. The haircut, nicknamed "The Linda", not only sparked many copies worldwide, but it also benefited Evangelista's career and helped usher in the era of the supermodel.
Described as the "chameleon" of the fashion industry, and as a key figure among the five supermodels, Evangelista was one of the most famous women in the world during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. Unlike her colleagues, she chose not to diversify into other ventures outside of modelling. She retired from her career in 1998 and made a comeback three years later, this time working only sporadically. Her achievements as a model led to her being voted as "The Greatest Supermodel of All Time" by the viewers of the television show Fashion File in 2008.- Harold Evans is known for Double Jeopardy (1999), The Final Destination (2009) and The Great Debaters (2007).
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Terri Sue "Tovah" Feldshuh is an American actress, singer, and playwright. She has been a Broadway star for more than four decades, earning four Tony Award nominations. She has also received two Emmy Award nominations for Holocaust and Law & Order, and appeared in such films as A Walk on the Moon, She's Funny That Way, and Kissing Jessica Stein. In 2015-2016, she played the role of Deanna Monroe on AMC's television adaptation of The Walking Dead.- Actor
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Critically hailed for his forceful, militant, authoritative figures and one of Hollywood's most talented and versatile performers, Laurence (John) Fishburne III has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a number of NAACP Image honors.
Born in Augusta, Georgia on July 30, 1961, to Hattie Bell (Crawford), a teacher, and Laurence John Fishburne, Jr., a juvenile corrections officer. His mother transplanted her family to Brooklyn after his parents divorced. At the age of 10, the young boy appeared in his first play, "In My Many Names and Days," at a cramped little theater space in Manhattan. He continued on but managed to avoid the trappings of a child star per se, considering himself more a working child actor at the time. Billing himself as Larry Fishburne during this early phase, he never studied or was trained in the technique of acting.
In 1973, at the age of 12, young Laurence won a recurring role on the daytime soap One Life to Live (1968) that lasted three seasons. He subsequently made his film debut in the ghetto-themed Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975). At 14 Francis Ford Coppola cast him in Apocalypse Now (1979), which filmed for two years in the Philippines. Laurence didn't work for another year and a half after that long episode. A graduate of Lincoln Square Academy, Coppola was impressed enough with Laurence to hire him again down the line with featured roles in Rumble Fish (1983), The Cotton Club (1984) and Gardens of Stone (1987).
Throughout the 1980s, he continued to build up his film and TV credit list with featured roles despite little fanfare. A recurring role as Cowboy Curtis on the kiddie show Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986) helped him through whatever lean patches there were at the time. TV guest appearances at this time included "Trapper John," "M*A*S*H*," "Hill Street Blues," "Miami Vice," "Spenser: For Hire" and "The Equalizer."
With the new decade (1990s) came out-and-out stardom for Laurence. A choice lead in John Singleton's urban tale Boyz n the Hood (1991) catapulted him immediately into the front of the film ranks. Set in LA's turbulent South Central area, his potent role as a morally minded divorced father who strives to rise above the ignorance and violence of his surroundings, Laurence showed true command and the ability to hold up any film.
On stage, Laurence would become invariably linked to playwright August Wilson and his 20th Century epic African-American experience after starring for two years as the eruptive ex-con in "Two Training Running." For this powerful, mesmerizing performance, Laurence won nearly every prestigious theater award in the books (Tony, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Theatre World). It was around the time of this career hallmark that he began billing himself as "Laurence" instead of "Larry." More awards and accolades came his way. In addition to an Emmy for the pilot episode of the series "Tribeca," he was nominated for his fine work in the quality mini-movies The Tuskegee Airmen (1995) and Miss Evers' Boys (1997).
On the larger screen, both Laurence and Angela Bassett were given Oscar nominations for their raw, seething portrayals of rock stars Ike and Tina Turner in the film What's Love Got to Do with It (1993). To his credit, he managed to take an extremely repellent character and make it a sobering and captivating experience. A pulp box-office favorite as well, he originated the role of Morpheus, Keanu Reeves' mentor, in the exceedingly popular futuristic sci-fi The Matrix (1999), best known for its ground-breaking special effects. He wisely returned for its back-to-back sequels.
Into the millennium, Laurence extended his talents by making his screenwriting and directorial debut in Once in the Life (2000), in which he also starred. The film is based on his own critically acclaimed play "Riff Raff," which he staged five years earlier. In 1999, he scored a major theater triumph with a multi-racial version of "The Lion in Winter" as Henry II opposite Stockard Channing's Eleanor of Acquitaine. On film, Fishburne has appeared in a variety of interesting roles in not-always-successful films. Never less than compelling, a few of his more notable parts include an urban speed chess player in Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993); a military prisoner in Cadence (1990); a college professor in Singleton's Higher Learning (1995); a CIA operative in Bad Company (1995); the title role in Othello (1995) (he was the first black actor to play the part on film); a spaceship rescue team leader in the sci-fi horror Event Horizon (1997); a Depression-era gangster in Hoodlum (1997); a dogged police sergeant in Clint Eastwood's Mystic River (2003); a spelling bee coach in Akeelah and the Bee (2006); and prominent roles in the mainstream films Predators (2010) and Contagion (2011). He returned occasionally to the theatre. In April 2008, he played Thurgood Marshall in the one-man show "Thurgood" and won a Drama Desk Award. It was later transferred to the TV screen and earned an Emmy nomination.
In the fall of 2008, Fishburne replaced William Petersen as the male lead investigator on the popular CBS drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), but left the show in 2011 to refocus on films and was in turn replaced by Ted Danson. Having since had a regular role as "Pops" in the comedy Black-ish (2014), he has also been seen on the bigger screen in the Superman movies Man of Steel (2013) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) as Daily Planet chief Perry White; played a hired assassin in the thriller Standoff (2016); portrayed a minister and former Vietnam War vet in Last Flag Flying (2017); and essayed the role of a revengeful prison warden in Imprisoned (2018).
Fishburne has two children, Langston and Montana, from his first marriage to actress Hajna O. Moss. In September 2002, Fishburne married Cuban-American actress Gina Torres.- Writer
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- Actor
Al Franken is best known for nearly two decades of work on Saturday Night Live (1975). During that time he wrote, performed in and produced hundreds of sketches, including "Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley" and "The Final Days," a piece about the last days of Richard Nixon's presidency. A noted political commentator and satirist, Franken also produced and starred in the NBC sitcom LateLine (1998) and wrote four books about politics, including "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot." A graduate of Harvard, Franken lives in Minnesota with his wife and two kids. In 2008, Franken ran for the Senate as a Democrat, and won after an extremely close race.- Kim Garfunkel is known for Longshot (2001) and Celebrity Page (2013). She has been married to Art Garfunkel since 18 September 1988. They have two children.
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Humanitarian and actor Richard Gere was born on August 31, 1949, in Philadelphia, the second of five children of Doris Anna (Tiffany), a homemaker, and Homer George Gere, an insurance salesman, both Mayflower descendants. Richard started early as a musician, playing a number of instruments in high school and writing music for high school productions. He graduated from North Syracuse Central High School in 1967, and won a gymnastics scholarship to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where he majored in philosophy. He left college after two years to pursue acting, landing a lead role in the London production of the rock musical "Grease" in 1973. The following year he would be in other plays, such as "Taming of the Shrew." Onscreen, he had a few roles, and gained recognition in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977). Offscreen, he spent 1978 meeting Tibetans when he traveled to Nepal, where he spoke to many monks and lamas. Returning to the US, on Broadway he portrayed a concentration-camp prisoner in "Bent," for which he received the 1980 Theatre World Award. Back in Hollywood, he played the title role in American Gigolo (1980), establishing himself as a major star; this status was reaffirmed by An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). In the early 1980s, Richard went to Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador (amidst ongoing wars and political violence); he traveled with a doctor and visited refugee camps. It is said that Richard was romantically linked with Tuesday Weld, Priscilla Presley, Barbra Streisand and Kim Basinger. In 1990 Richard teamed up with Julia Roberts to star in the blockbuster Pretty Woman (1990); his cool reserve was the perfect complement to Julia's bubbling enthusiasm. The film captured the nation's heart, and won the People's Choice award for Best Movie. Fans clamored for years for a sequel, or at least another pairing of Julia and Richard. They got that with Runaway Bride (1999), which was a runaway success (Richard got $12 million, Julia made $17 million, the box office was $152 million, which shows what happens when you give the public what it wants!). Offscreen, Richard and Cindy Crawford got married December 12, 1991 (they were divorced in 1995). Afterwards, Richard started dating actress Carey Lowell. They had a son, Homer James Jigme Gere, on February 6, 2000. Richard was picked by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world in 1991, and as their Sexiest Man Alive in 1999. He is an accomplished pianist and music writer. Above all, Richard is a humanitarian. He's a founding member of "Tibet House," a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of Tibetan culture. He has been an active supporter of "Survival International" for several years, a worldwide organization supporting tribal peoples, affirming their right to decide their own future and helping them protect their lives, lands and human rights (these tribes are global, including the natives of the Amazon, the Maasai of East Africa, the Wichi of Argentina, and others). In 1994 Richard went to London to open Harrods' sale, donating his £50,000 appearance fee to Survival. He has been prominent in their charity advertising campaigns.- Actress
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Academy Award-winner Lee Grant was born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal on October 31, 1925 in Manhattan, New York City, to Witia (Haskell), a teacher and model, and Abraham Rosenthal, an educator and realtor. Her father was of Romanian Jewish descent, and her mother was a Russian Jewish immigrant. Lee made her stage debut at age 4 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, playing the abducted princess in "L'Orocolo". After graduating from high school, she won a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, where she studied acting with Sanford Meisner. When she was a teenager Grant established herself as a formidable Broadway talent when she won The Critics' Circle Award for her portrayal of the shoplifter in "Detective Story". She reprised the role in the film version (Detective Story (1951), a performance that garnered her the Cannes Film Festival Citation for Best Actress as well as her first Academy Award Nomination. Immediately following her screen debut, however, Lee became a victim of the McCarthy-era blacklists in which actors, writers, directors, etc., were persecuted for supposedly "Communist" or "progressive" political beliefs, whether they had them or not. Except for an occasional role, she did not work in film or television for 12 years. In 1965 Lee re-started her acting career in the TV series Peyton Place (1964), for which she won an Emmy Award as Stella Chernak, and she later garnered her first Academy Award for Shampoo (1975), also receiving Academy Award nominations for The Landlord (1970) and Voyage of the Damned (1976). Since 1980 Lee has been concentrating on her directorial career, which began as part of the Women's Project at The Americal Film Institute (AFI); her adaptation of August Strindberg's, "Stronger, The" was consequently selected as one of the 10 best films ever produced for AFI. In 1987 she received an Academy Award for the HBO documentary, Down and Out in America (1985) and directed Nobody's Child (1986) for CBS, for which she received the Directors Guild Award. In 1983 she received the Congressional Arts Caucus Award for Outstanding Achievement in Acting and Independent Filmmaking. Subsequently, Women in Film paid tribute to her in 1989, with its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award. Both the New York City Council and the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors have recognized Ms. Grant for the contribution her films have made to the fight against domestic violence.- Actor
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Bryant Gumbel was born on 29 September 1948 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Contact (1997), The Weather Man (2005) and Main Street (1985). He has been married to Hilary Quinlan since 24 August 2002. He was previously married to June Carlyn Baranco.- Producer
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Following her success as a top fashion model for the Ford Modeling Agency and Revlon cosmetics, Hutton was selected to play the only major female character in Paper Lion (1968). After a semi-successful starring role in American Gigolo (1980), Hutton's modeling career took a slide in the 1980s, and she was relegated to B-movie roles. Her modeling career was resuscitated in 1989 with photos in catalogs for Barneys and J. Crew. In 1995, she started a new job as talk show host.- Actress
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Naturally brunette/blue-eyed beauty Amy Davis Irving was born in Palo Alto, California. She is the youngest of three children, and the daughter of influential theatrical/television director and producer Jules Irving, and actress Priscilla Pointer. Her father was of Russian Jewish descent, and her mother's ancestry includes English, Scots-Irish, Welsh, Jewish, and German.
Amy was brought up in the world of theater. She was put on stage from the time she was nine-months-old, her father was the director and her mother was the actress, they didn't want baby sitters for their children, so if she wasn't performing, she would stay in the wardrobe department or her mother used to put her in the second row center where she could watch her. And, before she was 10-years-old, she had already worked in several plays. At a young age, Amy Irving was trained at the American Conservatory Theater and Britain's London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (L.A.M.A.D.A.). She made her off-Broadway debut at the age of 17 and, from that moment to date, she received critical acclaim, appearing in such plays as: "Heartbreak House" (1983), "The Road to Mecca" (1988), "Broken Glass" (1994), "The Three Sisters" (1997), "The Guys" (2002), "Ghosts" (2002) and "Celadine" (2004), among others.
In 1976, Amy made her film debut, playing "Sue Snell", one of her most unforgettable characters in Stephen King's Carrie (1976), a classic in the horror genre, taken to the big screen by director Brian De Palma. For the next few years, Irving continued working in important films, The Fury (1978), also directed by De Palma, Voices (1979) and The Competition (1980). Later, in 1983, she gave a fine performance as "Hadass", in Barbra Streisand's Yentl (1983); earning an Oscar nomination. Two of her best opportunities arrived in the late 80s, when she played "Anna Anderson" in Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986) and "Isabelle Grossman" in the romantic comedy, Crossing Delancey (1988); she received a Golden Globe nomination for each movie.
Amy was married to director Steven Spielberg from 1985 to 1989 and she has a son with him, Max Spielberg. And, in 1990, after her divorce, she met Brazilian director Bruno Barreto while they were working on A Show of Force (1990). They wed a few years later and they have a son (Gabriel). In 1997, Irving made a guest appearance on Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry (1997) and, in 1999, she came back in the sequel of Carrie (1976), The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999).
Unfortunately, her film opportunities narrowed in the 90s. However, in the year 2000, she surprised the whole world again when she performed as "Mary Ann Simpson", a very funny and sensual, at the same time, English teacher in the film, Bossa Nova (2000). She managed to capture this peculiar character very well. After this romantic comedy, Amy had a great opportunity, playing "Barbara Wakefield", Michael Douglas' wife in Traffic (2000), the film was a huge success and she won an Actor Award, shared with the rest of the cast. Then, this beautiful and talented actress continued working in remarkable films such as 13 Conversations About One Thing (2001), with her Carrie (1976) co-star, Sissy Spacek, in the Walt Disney production, Tuck Everlasting (2002) and in the horror film, Hide and Seek (2005), along with Robert De Niro. Recently, she had an important part as "Emily Sloane" in the very-known show, Alias (2001).
In addition to her talents as an actress, she is a great dancer and also showed off her vocal talents, singing in films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Honeysuckle Rose (1980), Rumpelstiltskin (1987) and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991).
Nowadays, Amy Irving continues working on stage in Broadway productions and spends most of her time with her friends and family, especially with her two children.- Elizabeth Jagger was born on 2 March 1984 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for Igby Goes Down (2002), Love Advent (2011) and Marks and Spencer James Bond 'Die Another Day' Television Commercial (2006).
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Benjamin Ivan Jelen (pronounced Yellin) was born on July 8th, 1979 in Scotland, UK. He has lived in Scotland, England, Texas, New Jersey, and New York. He plays the piano, violin, and guitar. In college he earned a biology degree from Rutgers University... but instead, he decided to be a singer.
After graduation, he committed entirely to music and made the move to Manhattan. Joseph Janus was very impressed by Ben's music. So he listened to Ben's demo. Within days, Janus signed on as Ben's manager and a scheduled a meeting to with Guy Oseary, the head of Madonna's Maverick Recording Company.
Few young artists possess the ability to write, produce, and perform their own material on their first album, but Jelen was offered the opportunity to do just that. He partnered with respected producers like The Matrix (Avril Lavigne, Christina Aguilera, Liz Phair) and the Berman Brothers. Legendary mixer, Jack Joseph Puig (No Doubt, Beck, Black Crowes) heard Ben's rough cut only once before moving the singer/songwriterís project to the top of his long waiting list.- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Costume Designer
Donna Karan was born on 2 October 1948 in Long Island, New York, USA. She is a costume designer, known for E! Mysteries & Scandals (1998), The 47th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1995) and Peter Marino: Beauty and Power.- Actress
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Gayle King was born on 28 December 1954 in Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Queen & Slim (2019) and The Boss (2016). She was previously married to William G. Bumpus.- Actor
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Robert Klein was born on 8 February 1942 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Two Weeks Notice (2002), One Fine Day (1996) and The Back-up Plan (2010). He was previously married to Brenda Boozer.- Jill Krementz was previously married to Kurt Vonnegut Jr..
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Padma Lakshmi was born on 1 September 1970 in Madras, Tamil Nadu, India. She is a producer and actress, known for Glitter (2001), Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) and Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi (2020). She was previously married to Salman Rushdie.- Music Department
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Sasha Lazard is known for Princess Mononoke (1997), Blind (2016) and Queen of the Damned (2002). She has been married to Michael Mailer since 15 May 2004. They have one child.- Director
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Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. At a very young age, he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. Lee came from artistic, education-grounded background; his father was a jazz musician, and his mother, a schoolteacher. He attended school in Morehouse College in Atlanta and developed his film making skills at Clark Atlanta University. After graduating from Morehouse, Lee attended the Tisch School of Arts graduate film program. He made a controversial short, The Answer (1980), a reworking of D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915), a ten-minute film. Lee went on to produce a 45-minute film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983) which won a student Academy Award. In 1986, Spike Lee made the film, She's Gotta Have It (1986), a comedy about sexual relationships. The movie was made for $175,000, and earned $7 million at the box office, which launched his career and allowed him to found his own production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. His next movie was School Daze (1988), which was set at a historically black school, focused mostly on the conflict between the school and the Fraternities, of which he was a strong critic, portraying them as materialistic, irresponsible, and uncaring. With his School Daze (1988) profits, Lee went on to make his landmark film, Do the Right Thing (1989), a movie based specifically his own neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. The movie portrayed the racial tensions that emerge in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood on one very hot day. The movie garnered Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay, for Danny Aiello for supporting actor, and sparked a debate on racial relations. Lee went on to produce and direct the jazz biopic Mo' Better Blues (1990), the first of many Spike Lee films to feature Denzel Washington, including the biography of Malcolm X (1992), in which Washington portrayed the civil rights leader. The movie was a success, and garnered an Oscar nomination for Washington. The pair would work together again on He Got Game (1998), an excursion into the collegiate world showing the darker side of college athletic recruiting, as well as the 2006 film Inside Man (2006). Spike Lee's role as a documentarian has expanded over the years, highlighted by his participation in Lumière and Company (1995), the Oscar-nominated 4 Little Girls (1997), to his Peabody Award-winning biographical adaptation of Black Panther leader in A Huey P. Newton Story (2001), through his 2005 Emmy Award-winning examination of post-Katrina New Orleans in When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006) and its follow-up five years later If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise (2010). Through his production company 40 Acres and A Mule Filmworks, Lee continues to create and direct both independent films and projects for major studios, as well as working on story development, creating an internship program for aspiring filmmakers, releasing music, and community outreach and support. He is married to Tonya Lewis Lee, and they have two sons, Satchel and Jackson.- Actor
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Sean Lennon was born on 9 October 1975 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for Monster-in-Law (2005), Going the Distance (2010) and Ava's Possessions (2015).- Producer
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Barry Lee Levinson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Violet (Krichinsky) and Irvin Levinson, who worked in furniture and appliance. He is of Russian Jewish descent. Levinson graduated from high school in 1960, attended college at American University in Washington, DC. He did well, but decided he wanted to go to Los Angeles. In LA, Levinson worked for the Oxford Company, studying acting, improvisation, and production; worked in comedy clubs, where he learned how to write; and began dating Valerie Curtin. In 1967, won a job writing for a local TV comedy show. He eventually performed his material on the show, winning a local Emmy. In the 70s, Levinson wrote for The Carol Burnett Show (1967) -- and won two Emmys in three years. Mel Brooks hired him for Silent Movie (1976), then, High Anxiety (1977). Levinson and Curtin married in 1975. They co-wrote: _...And Justice for All (1979)_, and other scripts. While Curtin performed in San Francisco, he wrote Diner (1982). MGM bought it and, with a budget of under $5 million, Levinson directed. Curtin and Levinson divorced in 1982. Levinson met Dianna Rhodes while he was filming Diner (1982). She lived in Baltimore, with her two children Patrick and Michelle Levinson. Levinson and Rhodes later married and had two more children, Sam Levinson and Jack Levinson. Proving himself as a director with The Natural (1984), he tackled his most ambitious project to that time in Rain Man (1988). Levinson went on to place his stamp on films like Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), and Bugsy (1991). After his many successes, Toys (1992) did poorly. Levinson had a hit with Disclosure (1994) in 1994, the same year the Levinsons moved to Marin County in Northern California to get away from the Hollywood scene.- Actor
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Author and former Rolling Stone editor Kurt Loder is MTV News' Anchor. As MTV's chief news correspondent, his responsibilities include celebrity interviews, in-depth coverage of the music scene and writing and reporting the MTV News updates seen each hour. Loder is the host of MTV News 1515, MTV's weekly program that takes a look at music, entertainment and pop culture issues. He also anchored "Week In Rock" and "MTV News Presents," a weekly showcase for MTV News special programming. He also hosts numerous MTV News specials covering a wide array of subjects relevant to young people, including "Straight Dope," "Hate Rock," "The Cult Question," and "Smashed." Raised in New Jersey, Loder lived in Europe for several years, working as a journalist and, occasionally, a musician. Returning to the States, he wound up as an editor at Circus Magazine in the late seventies, and in 1979, moved to Rolling Stone. (Much of his other work for that magazine is featured in Rolling Stone Interviews Of The Eighties, a book which he also annotated.) He has been a contributing editor to both Rolling Stone and Esquire, and is a member of the nominating committee of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.- Actress
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Born in New York City, Tina was still in her teens when she burst upon the national scene by starring on Broadway in the critically acclaimed box-office success "Li'l Abner", based on the famous comic strip character created by Al Capp. Stellar reviews caught the attention of Hollywood and Tina signed up for her first feature film, God's Little Acre (1958), which was an entry in the Venice Film Festival. It was at this point in her career that she began studying with Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio in New York because she believed it was "time to develop and deepen my knowledge of the craft . . . Lee Strasberg," says Tina, "had the most dynamic effect on me. He influenced my life as no other man ever has."
After several more films, Tina returned to Broadway to star with Carol Burnett in "Fade in, Fade Out". She continued her work in Hollywood, starring in the CBS sitcom Gilligan's Island (1964) as Ginger Grant. Moving among Broadway, television and motion pictures, she next starred in The Happy Ending (1969), directed by Richard Brooks, The Stepford Wives (1975) with Katherine Ross and Dog Day (1984), with Lee Marvin and French actress Miou-Miou. Tina was cast as a regular on the first season of Dallas (1978) and has profuse credits in made-for-TV films for ABC and NBC, including Friendships, Secrets and Lies (1979), The Day the Women Got Even (1980), Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby (1976) and the famed ABC movie Nightmare in Badham County (1976).
In 1991 Tina appeared in Johnny Suede (1991), in which she co-starred with Brad Pitt. The film marked the debut of director Tom DiCillo, and won the 1992 Gold Leopard Award for Best Picture at the 44th International Film Festival at Lorcano, Switzerland. Other film and television work followed, including Stephan Elliott Welcome to Woop Woop (1997) and Growing Down in Brooklyn (2000), and she guest-starred in the syndicated television series L.A. Heat (1996).
In 2004 she received the coveted TVLand Pop Culture Icon Award in Los Angeles, which was aired nationally. She has made numerous television appearances, from The Rosie O'Donnell Show (1996) to Entertainment Tonight (1981) and Access Hollywood (1996).
A unique opportunity pursued Tina in 2005 with IGT (International Game Technology) in conjunction with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, when she inked a six-figure deal in exchange for 80 lines of voice-over work for a highly publicized gaming machine, a MegaJackpots product with the chance to win $1 million. The slot machines appeared in casinos from coast-to-coast as well as internationally.
Tina is an active member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a lifetime member of the Actors Studio. As a literacy and academic advocate, she became a volunteer teacher at Learning Leaders, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing tutoring to New York City school children. It has been her passion to help young students gain not only literary skills, but also confidence, self-determination and proof of their own potential. Besides continuing her volunteer work in literacy, she has written several books. Her first book, a personal memoir on her first eight years entitled "Sunday", was published in 1998. She followed Sunday, with a children's book, "When I Grow Up", published in 2007. "Teaching children the skill of reading and a love for the written word is important because this will remain with them throughout their lives. If we can reach children at an early age, I believe it will make a difference. This thought brings me tremendous joy." Says Tina. She embarked on a book tour that included New York City and then continued to New Jersey, Long Island, Connecticut, Philadelphia and the Festival of Books at UCLA. Her third book, "What Does a Bee Do?" was published in 2009 (available only at Amazon.com) and was inspired by The Colony Collapse Disorder, otherwise known as Honey Bee Depopulation Syndrome. The book continues to be an educational tool for children, as well as adults and was recently approved by Joel Klein, chancellor of New York City Public Schools, and is tentatively awaiting on the E-Catalog for principals in the fall of 2010. An animated version of "What Does a Bee Do?" is in development.
Besides being an accomplished actress and author, she recorded an album, "It's Time for Tina", a sultry warm and breathy collection of standards. The enchanting album features music from saxophone legend Coleman Hawkins and lyrics and music by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, Jule Styne and Cole Porter. She also made her debut as a visual artist when she exhibited her paintings at the Ambassador Galleries, and later with newer works at the notable Gallery Stendhal in Soho. Most recently she exhibited her original paintings at the Patterson Museum of Art. Tina Louise continues to live in New York City.- Director
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Sidney Lumet was a master of cinema, best known for his technical knowledge and his skill at getting first-rate performances from his actors -- and for shooting most of his films in his beloved New York. He made over 40 movies, often complex and emotional, but seldom overly sentimental. Although his politics were somewhat left-leaning and he often treated socially relevant themes in his films, Lumet didn't want to make political movies in the first place. Born on June 25, 1924, in Philadelphia, the son of actor Baruch Lumet and dancer Eugenia Wermus Lumet, he made his stage debut at age four at the Yiddish Art Theater in New York. He played many roles on Broadway in the 1930s and also in the film ...One Third of a Nation... (1939). After starting an off-Broadway acting troupe in the late 1940s, he became the director of many television shows in the 1950s. Lumet made his feature film directing debut with 12 Angry Men (1957), which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and earned three Academy Award nominations. The courtroom drama, which takes place almost entirely in a jury room, is justly regarded as one of the most auspicious directorial debuts in film history. Lumet got the chance to direct Marlon Brando in The Fugitive Kind (1960), an imperfect, but powerful adaptation of Tennessee Williams' "Orpheus Descending". The first half of the 1960s was one of Lumet's most artistically successful periods. Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962), a masterful, brilliantly photographed adaptation of the Eugene O'Neill play, is one of several Lumet films about families. It earned Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson, Dean Stockwell and Jason Robards deserved acting awards in Cannes and Hepburn an Oscar nomination. The alarming Cold War thriller Fail Safe (1964) unfairly suffered from comparison to Stanley Kubrick's equally great satire Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), which was released shortly before. The Pawnbroker (1964), arguably the most outstanding of the great movies Lumet made in this phase, tells the story of a Holocaust survivor who lives in New York and can't overcome his experiences in the Nazi concentration camps. Rod Steiger's unforgettable performance in the title role earned an Academy Award nomination. Lumet's intense character study The Hill (1965) about inhumanity in a military prison camp was the first of five films he did with Sean Connery. After the overly talky but rewarding drama The Group (1966) about young upper-class women in the 1930s, and the stylish spy thriller The Deadly Affair (1967), the late 1960s turned out to be a lesser phase in Lumet's career. He had a strong comeback with the box-office hit The Anderson Tapes (1971). The Offence (1973) was commercially less successful, but artistically brilliant - with Connery in one of his most impressive performances. The terrific cop thriller Serpico (1973), the first of his films about police corruption in New York City, became one of his biggest critical and financial successes. Al Pacino's fascinating portrayal of the real-life cop Frank Serpico earned a Golden Globe and the movie earned two Academy Award nominations (it is worth noting that Lumet's feature films of the 1970s alone earned 30 Oscar nominations, winning six times). The love triangle Lovin' Molly (1974) was not always convincing in its atmospheric details, but Lumet's fine sense of emotional truth and a good Blythe Danner keep it interesting. The adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (1974), an exquisitely photographed murder mystery with an all-star cast, was a big success again. Lumet's complex crime thriller Dog Day Afternoon (1975), which Pauline Kael called "one of the best "New York" movies ever made", gave Al Pacino the opportunity for a breathtaking, three-dimensional portrayal of a bisexual man who tries to rob a bank to finance his lover's sex-change operation. Lumet's next masterpiece, Network (1976), was a prophetic satire on media and society. The film version of Peter Shaffer's stage play Equus (1977) about a doctor and his mentally confused patient was also powerful, not least because of the energetic acting by Richard Burton and Peter Firth. After the enjoyable musical The Wiz (1978) and the interesting but not easily accessible comedy Just Tell Me What You Want (1980), Sidney Lumet won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for his outstanding direction of Prince of the City (1981), one of his best and most typical films. It's about police corruption, but hardly a remake of Serpico (1973). Starring a powerful Treat Williams, it's an extraordinarily multi-layered film. In his highly informative book "Making Movies" (1995), Lumet describes the film in the following way: "When we try to control everything, everything winds up controlling us. Nothing is what it seems." It's also a movie about values, friendship and drug addiction and, like "Serpico", is based on a true story. In Deathtrap (1982), Lumet successfully blended suspense and black humor. The Verdict (1982) was voted the fourth greatest courtroom drama of all time by the American Film Institute in 2008. A few minor inaccuracies in legal details do not mar this study of an alcoholic lawyer (superbly embodied by Paul Newman) aiming to regain his self-respect through a malpractice case. The expertly directed movie received five Academy Award nominations. Lumet's controversial drama Daniel (1983) with Timothy Hutton, an adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's "The Book of Daniel" about two young people whose parents were executed during the McCarthy Red Scare hysteria in the 1950s for alleged espionage, is one of his underrated achievements. His later masterpiece Running on Empty (1988) has a similar theme, portraying a family which has been on the run from the FBI since the parents (played by Christine Lahti and Judd Hirsch) committed a bomb attack on a napalm laboratory in 1971 to protest the war in Vietnam. The son (played by River Phoenix in an extraordinarily moving, Oscar-nominated performance) falls in love with a girl and wishes to stay with her and study music. Naomi Foner's screenplay won the Golden Globe. Other Lumet movies of the 1980s are the melancholic comedy drama Garbo Talks (1984); the occasionally clichéd Power (1986) about election campaigns; the all too slow thriller The Morning After (1986) and the amusing gangster comedy Family Business (1989). With Q&A (1990) Lumet returned to the genre of the New York cop thriller. Nick Nolte shines in the role of a corrupt and racist detective in this multi-layered, strangely underrated film. Sadly, with the exception of Night Falls on Manhattan (1996), an imperfect but fascinating crime drama in the tradition of his own previous genre works, almost none of Lumet's works of the 1990s did quite get the attention they deserved. The crime drama A Stranger Among Us (1992) blended genres in a way that did not seem to match most viewers' expectations, but its contemplations about life arouse interest. The intelligent hospital satire Critical Care (1997) was unfairly neglected as well. The courtroom thriller Guilty as Sin (1993) was cold but intriguing. Lumet's Gloria (1999) remake seemed unnecessary, but he returned impressively with the underestimated courtroom comedy Find Me Guilty (2006) and the justly acclaimed crime thriller Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007). In 2005, Sidney Lumet received a well-deserved honorary Academy Award for his outstanding contribution to filmmaking. Sidney Lumet tragically died of cancer in 2011.- Actor
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John Buffalo Mailer is an award winning screenwriter, journalist, playwright, actor, and producer. In October of 2000 he founded Back House Productions in New York City with three other Wesleyan graduates, including the TONY Award Winning Director for Hamilton, Thomas Kail. Back House became the 1st resident theater company of The Drama Bookshop's Arthur Seelan Theater in 2001, where they developed several plays including the 2008 TONY Award Winner for Best Musical, In The Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda. John has been published in three books of collected essays, has published two plays, has had four feature screenplays produced, and has been an editor for four national magazines including the infamous High Times. The New York Premiere of John's first play, Hello Herman, was Directed by Thomas Kail in 2002, and was published by Dramatists Play Services in the Spring of 2010 after the LA premiere. Smith and Krauss included an excerpt from Hello Herman in their Best Monologues of 2011 publication, and the feature film starring Norman Reedus was released in 2012, earning the screenplay the Social Relevance Award at the 2012 Monaco International Film Festival. As an actor, he cut his teeth at The Actors Studio at the age of twelve and went on to perform in a dozen plays in New York City throughout the 2000's. As a screen actor, Buffalo has appeared opposite Shia LaBeouf in Oliver Stone's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Paul Giamatti and Ellen Burstyn in Matthew Barney's River Of Fundament, Tony Sirico in Friends And Romans, Alec Baldwin, Demi Moore, and Dylan McDermott in Blind (which he also wrote), Sienna Miller in Private Life Of A Modern Woman, and can be seen in the upcoming features set for release in 2020, The Second Sun, American Terrorist, and DieRy (the second two of which he also wrote and produced). John is the Creative Director of Mailer Tuchman Media, a development and production company.- Producer
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Michael Mailer has been directing, producing and writing extensively in the independent film world since graduating Harvard University. He established Michael Mailer Films in 2004 to focus on both independent, character-driven films and larger, concept-oriented pictures. Michael is best known for Heart of Champions (2021), Blind (2016), Black & White (1999), Two Girls and a Guy (1997), The Ledge (2011), and Empire (2002).- Actress
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Elaine May (born under the name Elaine Iva Berlin) is an American actress, comedian, film director, playwright, and screenwriter from Philadelphia. Her professional career started in the 1950s and is still ongoing. She has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. She is best remembered for directing the Cold War-themed action comedy "Ishtar" (1987). She won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director, but the film has had a vocal minority of critics who defend its quality.
In 1932, May was born to a Jewish-American family. Both her parents were theatrical actors. Her father Jack Berlin was also a theater director and led his own traveling Yiddish theater company. Her mother was actress Ida Aaron. May made her stage debut c. 1935, at the age of 3. Her father had decided to include her in his performances. As a a child actress, she was reportedly cast in the roles of boys.
The theater company toured extensively, and May was part of their tours. She kept changing schools, enrolling for a few weeks and then moving to another city. May reputedly hated school, but loved reading books on her own. Her favorite topics were fairy tales and mythology.
Jack Berlin died c. 1942, and May's career as a child actress consequently ended. She was left in the custody of her mother. The duo settled in Los Angeles, and May eventually enrolled in Hollywood High School. In 1946, May dropped out of school. In 1948, she married her her first husband, the toy inventor Marvin May. She was only 16-years-old at the time of her marriage. She would later keep her husband's surname as her professional name.
In 1949, May had her only child, Jeannie Brette May. Jeannie would later become a professional actress in her own right, under the name Jeannie Berlin. May and her husband separated c. 1950, and she received a divorce in 1960. She started supporting herself through a series of odd jobs.
In 1950, May was interested in attending college, but most colleges in California required applicants to have high school diplomas. As a high school dropout, she did not have the necessary diploma. Learning that the University of Chicago did not use this requirement, she hitch-hiked her way to Chicago, At the time her personal fortune consisted of 7 dollars.
Once she arrived in Chicago, May started informally taking classes at the university by auditing, sitting in without enrolling. She habitually engaged in discussions with her instructors. She once had a fight with a philosophy instructor because of their different interpretations of the motives behind Socrates' apology. May was introduced to aspiring actor Mike Nichols (1931-2014),who was also attending the University. They bonded over their shared passion for the theater.
In 1955, May became one of the charter members of the Compass Players, a Chicago-based improvisational theater group. Nichols joined the group shortly after. The two of them formed a working partnership, jointly developing improvised comedy sketches. May helped the Compass Players to become a highly popular comedy troupe, due to her talent for satire. She helped in the training of novice members of the group.
In 1957, Nichols was asked to leave the Compass Players. His popularity had outshone most members of the group, and had caused internal conflicts. May left the group with him. They then decided to form their own stand-up comedy team, "Nichols and May". Their improvisational skills, and ability to come up with fresh material allowed them to impress their audience.
In 1960, the comedy duo made their Broadway debut, with the show "An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May". A recording of the show won the 1962 "Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album". "Nichols and May" became very popular in New York City, performing in sold-out shows. They also started making appearances in radio and television, and even recorded commercials.
May was reportedly surprised with her own success. She had spend much of her adult life in near-poverty, but she was now earning a regular income from show business. She joked in an interview that she was practically barefoot when she arrived in New York, and now had to get used to wearing high heels.
In 1961, the duo was at the height of their fame. But they decided to dissolve their partnership in order to pursue solo careers. Nichols started working as a Broadway stage director, while May started her new career as a playwright. Her most successful play was "Adaptation" (1969), which she also directed. For her work as a theatrical director, she won the 1969 "Outer Critics Circle Award, Best Director".
May made her debut as a film director with the black comedy "A New Leaf" (1971). It was an adaptation of a short story by Jack Ritchie (1922-1983), depicting the story of an impoverished patrician who marries a wealthy heiress for her money. The main character initially considers murdering his wife to inherit her wealth, but first he has to protect her from other predators who were after her money.
Her first film found little success at the box office, but was praised by critics and was nominated for the "Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy". It later earned a reputation as a cult classic, and in 2019 it was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry.
Her second film was the romantic comedy "The Heartbreak Kid" (1972). It concerns a newlywed man who falls madly in love with a younger woman while on his honeymoon. He pursues his romantic interest obsessively despite all signs that his love is unrequited, and despite the disapproval of the woman's protective father. The film was critically acclaimed, and has at times been listed in retrospectives concerning the funniest American films.
In an unusual career move, her third film was not a comedy. It was the rather bleak gangster film "Mikey and Nicky" (1976). It depicts a small-time mobster whose life is in danger, resorting to asking for help from his childhood friend. While creating this film, May got involved in a legal dispute with the film studio Paramount Pictures. The studio eventually decided to only allow a limited release for the film. The film found a niche audience in the home video market, but May's career as a director suffered from this dispute. She was effectively blacklisted.
May decided to focus on her screenwriting career. She found success with the script to the fantasy-comedy "Heaven Can Wait" (1978), about the afterlife of a man who died prematurely. The film was based on a 1938 play by Harry Segall (1892-1975), and also served as a remake to the classic film "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" (1941) which was based on the same play. The film earned about 99 million dollars at the worldwide box office, and was a critical hit. May was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, but the award was instead won by rival screenwriter Oliver Stone (1946-).
During the early 1980s, May mainly worked as an uncredited script doctor. She "polished" scripts by other screenwriters. Her greatest success in this role was the romantic comedy "Tootsie" (1982), for which she wrote several additional scenes. She attempted her comeback as a director with the action comedy "Ishtar" (1987), which became a box office flop for the film studio Columbia Pictures. The film's failure reportedly convinced Columbia's parent company Coca-Cola to sell the under-performing studio to Sony.
"Ishtar" was derided at the time as the worst film of its era by many critics, but was also defended by a vocal minority of critics. It has since attracted a cult audience, who consider this to be a great film. However the film's failure ended May's career as a film director and damaged her reputation. She also ceased working as a screenwriter for several years, reduced to working as an actress again.
May made her comeback as a screenwriter with the comedy film "The Birdcage" (1996), a remake of the European comedy "La Cage aux Folles" (The Cage of Madwomen, 1978). In the film, the openly gay parents to a young man have to pretend to be straight in an attempt to impress their son's prospective in-laws. The film earned about 185 million dollars at the worldwide box office, the greatest hit in May's career up to that point. She was nominated for the "Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay", but the award was instead won by rival screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton (1955-).
May found more critical success with her next screenplay, for the political film "Primary Colors" (1998). It was an adaptation of the roman à clef novel "Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics" (1996) by Joe Klein (1946-). The novel itself was a fictionalized version of Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, and depicts an idealistic campaign worker's disillusionment with the politician. The film's cast were nominated for several awards. May herself received her second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, but the award was instead won by rival screenwriter Bill Condon (1955-).
May largely retired from screenwriting since the end of the 1990s. As an actress, she had a supporting role in the crime-comedy "Small Time Crooks" (2000). The film concerned nouveau riche criminals, who attempt to socialize with the American upper class. For this role, she won the "Best Supporting Actress Award" at the National Society of Film Critics Awards.
May lived in retirement until joining the cast of the television mini-series "Crisis in Six Scenes" (2016), her first television role in several decades. The series was created by Woody Allen (1935-), who happened to be an old friend of May.
In 2018, May made a theatrical comeback in Broadway. She played the elderly gallery owner Gladys Green in a revival of the play "The Waverly Gallery" (2000) by Kenneth Lonergan (1962-). In the play, Gladys shows early signs of Alzheimer's disease, and her family has to deal with her mental decline. May received critical acclaim for this role. For this role, she won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. At age 87, she was the second-oldest winner of a Tony Award for acting.
As of 2021, May is 89-years-old. She is no longer very active, but she reportedly has plans to direct another film. She remains a popular actress.- Actor
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Malachy McCourt entered the world in Brooklyn, New York - where his parents lived at the time - and was raised in Limerick, Ireland. He managed to fail every subject in school, except English and recess. In 1952, he returned to the United States and worked as a longshoreman, dishwasher, and laborer. Soon after, he became an actor, then established the first singles bar in America. He then began a tumultuous radio career in 1970 on WNYC, WMCA and WBAI. They said he was outrageous, opinionated. and a disgrace to the Irish, which were all quite true. Aside from temporary stints on WABC, WOR and WNYC, he was asked to do a regular show since he got fired in 1976, which celebrated the 200th anniversary of free speech in America.
Malachy appeared on stage in plays such as "DA", "The Hostage", "Mass Appeal", "Inherit the Wind", and "A Child's Christmas in Wales" On television, he was a semi-regular on The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar (1957), with Jack Paar and Merv Griffin. He appeared in the soap operas Ryan's Hope (1975), One Life to Live (1968), as well as The Dain Curse (1978) and other made-for-TV movies. On screen, was seen in She's the One (1996), The Devil's Own (1997), Reversal of Fortune (1990), Green Card (1990), The Field (1990), and The Molly Maguires (1970). He later starred in Edward Burns's Ash Wednesday (2002), followed by another star turn in The Guru (2002). Malachy was the author of "A Monk Swimming", which was on the best- seller lists for months in the U.S., Europe and Australia. His second book, "Singing My Him Song", was published in October of 2000 by Harper Collins. Malachy and his brother, Frank McCourt, developed, staged, and acted in "A Couple of Blaguards", which was performed in St. Petersburg, Florida. The play got produced throughout the US, Australia and the UK.
Malachy was happily married to Diana and is the proud father of five and grandfather of three. He lived in New York City, where he wrote a weekly column for The West Side Spirit: "Sez I To Myself."- Actor
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John McEnroe is a former professional American tennis player, born in Wiesbaden, West Germany in 1959.
Breaking many records, McEnroe is regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, though he is perhaps equally, if not more known, for his losses of temper on the court. His outbursts became so infamous that he titled his 2002 autobiography "You cannot be serious" after his most-known phrase, and observed in the book as he got older that: "There were times I felt like an old circus act, in a show that was attracting less and less interest. "
Since retiring from the sport, McEnroe has worked as a commentator, and often parodied his own public persona, playing fictional versions of himself in commercials, and movies including You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008), Anger Management (2003) and Jack and Jill (2011).
McEnroe was formerly married to actress Tatum O'Neal from 1986 to 1994, and is presently married to singer Patty Smyth.- Actress
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Eva Mendes is an American actress, model and businesswoman. She began acting in the late 1990s. After a series of roles in B movies such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998) and Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000), she made a career-changing appearance in Training Day (2001). Since then, Mendes has co-starred in films such as All About the Benjamins (2002), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Ghost Rider (2007), We Own the Night (2007), Stuck on You (2003), Hitch (2005), opposite Will Smith. and The Other Guys (2010). She has appeared in several music videos for artists like Will Smith. Mendes has been a model and ambassador for Cocio chocolate milk, Magnum ice cream, Calvin Klein, Cartier, Thierry Mugler perfume, Reebok, Campari apéritif, Pantene shampoo, Morgan, and Peek & Cloppenburg. She designs a fashion collection for New York & Company and is also the creative director of CIRCA Beauty, a makeup line sold at Walgreens.
Eva de la Caridad Méndez was born in Miami, Florida, to Cuban parents Eva Pérez Suárez and Juan Carlos Méndez, and was raised by her mother in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake after her parents' divorce. Mendes grew up a Roman Catholic and at one time even considered becoming a Catholic nun. Her mother worked at Mann's Chinese Theatre and later for an aerospace company, and her father ran a meat distribution business. Mendes had one older brother, Juan Carlos Méndez, Jr. (1963-2016), who died from throat cancer. She has an older sister, Janet, and a younger paternal half-brother, Carlos Alberto "Carlo" Méndez. She attended Hoover High School in Glendale, and later studied marketing at California State University, Northridge, but left college to pursue acting under coach Ivana Chubbuck. Mendes began her acting career after a talent manager saw her photo in a friend's portfolio. Her first film appearance was in the direct-to-video Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998). Mendes was disappointed in her performance and she hired an acting coach. She then appeared in the films A Night at the Roxbury, My Brother the Pig, Urban Legends: Final Cut, and Exit Wounds. Mendes' breakthrough role came when she appeared in Antoine Fuqua's crime thriller Training Day (2001), playing the girlfriend of Denzel Washington's character. This then led to roles in All About the Benjamins (2002), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) (which earned her a nomination at the Teen Choice Awards), Out of Time (2003), and Stuck on You (2003).
She was the female lead in the 2005 film Hitch, making her one of the first minority actors to play the lead in a hit romantic comedy. Mendes subsequently starred in The Wendell Baker Story (2005) with Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell, with Luke Wilson directing, as well as Guilty Hearts (2002), Trust the Man (2005), Ghost Rider (2007), We Own the Night (2007), Live! (2007), and Cleaner (2007). In 2008, she was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for her performance in the all-female comedy film The Women. Mendes then appeared in The Spirit, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, The Other Guys (2010), Last Night (2010), Fast Five (2011), and a spoof short film for Funny or Die. In 2012, Mendes visited Sierra Leone and was featured in the PBS documentary Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. In 2012, she starred in the crime drama film The Place Beyond the Pines, with Entertainment Weekly describing her performance as "quietly heartbreaking". The following year, she appeared in the HBO comedy film Clear History (2013). Mendes appeared in the Pet Shop Boys' music video for "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)" in 1996, Aerosmith's music video for "Hole in My Soul" in 1997, and Will Smith's music video for "Miami" in 1998.
She also appeared in the music video for The Strokes' "The End Has No End" in 2004, and appeared nude in a print advertisement for Calvin Klein's Secret Obsession perfume, an ad which was banned in the United States. In December 2007, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) used a nude photo of Mendes for their anti-fur campaign. She also modeled in a Morgan campaign. Mendes was a spokesmodel for the 2008 Campari calendar. In July 2008, she was announced as the international face of Australia's 30 Days of Fashion & Beauty event. She made guest appearances in that country at the month-long festival in September. Mendes has been a spokesperson for Calvin Klein, Magnum, and the chocolate milk brand Cocio. She also promoted Thierry Mugler's Angel fragrance, Reebok shoes, and Pantene shampoo. In 2011, Mendes appeared in a Peek & Cloppenburg clothing catalog. Mendes has a line of bed linens and dinnerware that is sold at Macy's. In 2010, Mendes sang on "Pimps Don't Cry," a song featured in The Other Guys, and performed a duet with CeeLo Green on "Pimps Don't Cry." In 2011, she recorded a version of "The Windmills of Your Mind."
Along with acting, Eva is employed by Revlon Cosmetics as an international spokeswoman. She joins such elite actresses and models as Julianne Moore, Halle Berry and Cindy Crawford, who appear in Revlon's television and print ads. She is also a passionate supporter and active participant in Revlon's fight against breast cancer. Eva's goals are to improve her acting skills by working with such contemporary directors as Steven Soderbergh, Spike Jonze, Pedro Almodóvar, Robert Rodriguez, Carl Franklin, John Singleton, and Antoine Fuqua and learning from such renowned directors as Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni.
She was the creative director of the makeup brand CIRCA Beauty, which launched exclusively at Walgreens in 2015.
Eva has two children with her partner Ryan Gosling.- Actor
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- Director
EMMY Award winning actor-producer David Millbern first emerged as a child actor in such iconic commercials as McDonald's "Glasses to Go" and was the smile behind their "Sundae Smile" campaign, among many others.
By 17, David had already studied and worked with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in NYC. After graduating from Northwestern University, a contract role playing 'Lance Hirt' on ABC's General Hospital brought him to L.A. David's first film was a lead in Roger Corman's "The Slumber Party Massacre", which became a cult favorite. Next was a lead in "Sorceress" also for Corman and when honored by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences a few years ago, Corman mentioned his fondness for David's work in both films. More feature film roles followed including Sir Ian McKellen's doctor in the Oscar winning "Gods And Monsters", Mariel Hemingway's captor in "In Her Line Of Fire", and Alfred Molina's match in "Texas Rangers". David also starred along with the late Irrfan Khan in "Bokshu, the Myth" shot in India.
MOWs include leads in Past Obsessions, An Accidental Christmas, Fatal Reunion for Lifetime; Christmas Do-Over, I'll Remember April, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus for Freeform; and Ice Spiders, Chupacabra: Dark Seas for SYFY. David starred in Amanda and the Alien for Showtime, and Error in Judgment and Sanctimony, both for HBO. David created the voice of 'Lt. Louie Nichols' in the award-winning animated series Robotech.
After receiving his first EMMY nomination for producing The Ribbon of Hope Celebration along with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, David dove head first into his love of storytelling by becoming an actor-producer hyphenate. David produced the female thriller feature, "The Nurse" and the comedic parody, "Hush Up Sweet Charlotte". He also produced the sit-com, From here! on OUT, starring EMMY winner Juliet Mills and received his second EMMY nomination for the feature documentary, "A Long Road to Freedom: The Advocate Celebrates 50 Years", narrated by Laverne Cox. David created and was the host of the game show Modd Couples on Hulu and wrote and directed the series Falling for Angels and Now What?!, both for Here TV. He produces Food Fetish, Behind the Bar and Girls' Voices Now, for which he won the Daytime EMMY Award this year for Outstanding Short Form Children's Programing. David has also received the prestigious Sabre Award and is the first recipient of the OTTX Impact Award for his social justice work.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Richard Melville Hall was born September 11, 1965, in the Manhattan, New York City, in the Harlem neighborhood to Elizabeth McBride (née Warner) and James Frederick Hall. His mother was a medical secretary and his father a professor of chemistry. The nickname Moby was assigned by his father, and was a reference to the book "Moby-Dick". Moby claims that Herman Melville, the author of "Moby-Dick" is his Great-Great-Great-Uncle. Moby's father died in a car accident when he was two years old after which his mother moved them first to San Francisco in 1969, and then between the Connecticut towns of Darien and Stratford.
At the age of nine, Moby began to play classical guitar and piano and then studied jazz, music theory, and percussion. In 1983, he joined the punk band the Vatican Commandos as a guitarist. Moby formed AWOL, known as a post punk group, and released a self-titled EP where he is credited as Moby Hall. Moby studied philosophy at the University of Connecticut and began to move from classical instruments toward electronic music, starting as a DJ for the college radio station WHUS. He transferred to State University of New York at Purchase, continuing to study philosophy and gaining interest in photography, but dropped out of college completely to pursue a DJ career.
In addition to music, Moby also started "Little Idiot Collective", a combination clothing store, comics store, and animation studio, a raw and vegan restaurant called "TeaNY" and his last venture, Little Pine, is a vegan restaurant in Los Angeles from which all profits are donated to animal welfare causes.
Today, Moby is known as an electronic music pioneer, vegan, and activist championing causes to bring awareness to animal welfare and climate change.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Gretchen Mol was born November 8, 1972, in Deep River, Connecticut, the daughter of a school principal, James Mol, and his artist wife, Janet. Deep River is a small community located on the Chester Bowles Highway (Rt. 9), nine miles northwest of Old Saybrook (home of the legendary Katharine Hepburn), within commuting distance of New York City. The young Gretchen was bit by the acting bug and participated in high school theatrics, then moved to the Big Apple as a teenager to study acting and musical theater at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and at the William Esper Studio.
Although only 5'6" tall--too short for a traditional modeling career--her unique beauty brought her modeling jobs as she pursued her dream of becoming a professional actress. She began appearing in magazines in 1994, meanwhile working at such time-honored Manhattan jobs as restaurant hat-check girl. It was while working that gig she was discovered by a talent agent. The agent landed her her first acting job, a TV commercial for Coca-Cola. She continued to hone her acting skills in summer stock, appearing in such productions as "Bus Stop," "No Exit," and "Godspell."
The 23-year-old Gretchen made her film debut in Spike Lee's Girl 6 (1996), a small role that came to her, as luck would have it, after she had gone for an audition for the soap opera Guiding Light (1952). Her career began to take off, and she appeared in small parts, mostly "girlfriend" roles, in such films as Rounders (1998) starring 'Matt Damon' (qav) and in Woody Allen's Celebrity (1998), opposite Kenneth Branagh and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Gretchen was touted as the "Next Big Thing" after appearing on the cover of the September 1998 issue of "Vanity Fair." Her most memorable role up to that time was as a mobster's moll in the minor cult classic Donnie Brasco (1997), which was mostly remembered for cinematic turns by Al Pacino, Johnny Depp and Anne Heche. Nonetheless, her beauty and presence led "Vanity Fair" to hype the beautiful blonde, heralding the arrival of a major new star. She seemed poised to move up to featured roles. but the announcement turned out to be premature. Brunette Angelina Jolie proved to be Hollywood's Next "It" girl.
During the seven years that followed the "Vanity Fair" cover story, Mol continued to appear in films and on the stage, including the part of Jennie in the London and New York productions of Neil LaBute's "The Shape of Things" in 2001 (she also appeared in the film version, The Shape of Things (2003)). The good reviews she got proved that she was not just another pretty face. In 2004 she displayed her singing and dancing chops by playing Roxie Hart in the Broadway production of "Chicago."
She worked steadily, appearing in another small role in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (1999), and eventually won the lead in David E. Kelley TV series Girls Club (2002). The series bombed, however, and was canceled after only two episodes. Nevertheless, the intervening period allowed her to develop as an actress. In 2004 the blonde beauty finally had the role that proved to be her acting breakthrough: brunette 1950s "stag queen" Bettie Page in The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). Many brunettes have gone blonde, but Mol--the blonde who went brunette--rocked the screen with her presence. Her embodiment of the legendary Page garnered excellent reviews and propelled the flick into art house hit status.
Mol married film director Tod Williams on June 1, 2004, and they became parents a little over three years later, when a son, Ptolemy John Williams, was born on October 10, 2007.- Actor
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Michael John Myers was born in 1963 in Scarborough, Ontario, to Alice E. (Hind), an officer supervisor, and Eric Myers, an insurance agent. His parents were both English, and had served in the Royal Air Force and British Army, respectively.
Myers' television career really started in 1988, when he joined Saturday Night Live (1975), where he spent six seasons. He brought to life many memorable characters, such as Dieter and Wayne Cambell. His major movies include Wayne's World (1992), Wayne's World 2 (1993), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), the Austin Powers movies and The Cat in the Hat (2003).- Director
- Producer
- Actress
Accomplished Film Director/Writer/Producer Mira Nair was born in India and educated at Delhi University and at Harvard. She began her film career as an actor and then turned to directing award-winning documentaries, including So Far From India and India Cabaret. Her debut feature film, Salaam Bombay! was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1988; it won the Camera D'Or (for best first feature) and the Prix du Publique (for most popular entry) at the Cannes Film Festival and 25 other international awards. Her next film, Mississippi Masala, an interracial love story set in the American South and Uganda, starring Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury, won three awards at the Venice Film Festival including Best Screenplay and The Audience Choice Award. Subsequent films include The Perez Family (with Marisa Tomei, Anjelica Huston, Alfred Molina and Chazz Palminteri), about an exiled Cuban family in Miami; and the sensuous Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, which she directed and co-wrote. Nair directed My Own Country based on Dr. Abraham Verghese's best-selling memoir about a young immigrant doctor dealing with the AIDS epidemic. Made in 1998, My Own Country starred Naveen Andrews, Glenne Headly, Marisa Tomei, Swoosie Kurtz, and Hal Holbrook, and was awarded the NAACP award for best fiction feature. Nair returned to the documentary form in August 1999 with The Laughing Club of India, which was awarded The Special Jury Prize in the Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels 2000. In the summer of 2000, Nair shot Monsoon Wedding in 30 days, a story of a Punjabi wedding starring Naseeruddin Shah and an ensemble of Indian actors. Winner of the Golden Lion at the 2001 Venice Film Festival, Monsoon Wedding also won a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and opened worldwide to tremendous critical and commercial acclaim. Nair's next feature was an HBO original film, Hysterical Blindness. Set in working class New Jersey in 1987, the film stars Uma Thurman, Juliette Lewis, Gena Rowlands. Thurman and Lewis play single women looking for love in all the wrong places, while Rowlands, who plays Thurman's mother, adds to her daughter's hysteria when she finds Mr. Right in Ben Gazarra. The film received great critical acclaim and the highest ratings for HBO, garnering an audience of 15 million, a Golden Globe for Uma Thurman, and 3 Emmy Awards. Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Nair joined a group of 11 renowned filmmakers, each commissioned to direct a film that was 11 minutes, 9 seconds and one frame long. Nair's film is a retelling of real events in the life of the Hamdani family in Queens, whose eldest son was missing after September 11, and was then accused by the media of being a terrorist. 11.09.01 is the true story of a mother's search for her son who did not return home on that fateful day. In May 2003, Nair helmed the Focus Features production of the Thackeray classic, Vanity Fair, a provocative period tale set in post-colonial England, in which Reese Witherspoon plays the lead, Becky Sharp. The film is scheduled to release in Fall 2004. Nair's upcoming projects include Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul for HBO, and Hari Kunzru's The Impressionist, and there are also plans to take Monsoon Wedding to Broadway. Mirabai Films is establishing an annual filmmaker's laboratory, Maisha, which will be dedicated to the support of visionary screenwriters and directors in East Africa and India. The first lab, which is only for screenwriters, will be launched in August 2005 in Kampala, Uganda.- Director
- Actress
- Composer
Yoko Ono was born on Saturday, February 18th, 1933, in her ancestral estate in Tokyo, Japan. Her father, Eisuke Ono, was the descendant of a 9th Century Emperor of Japan. Her mother, Isoko Yasuda Ono, was the granddaughter of Zenijiro Yasuda, the founder of Yasuda Bank. Yoko was two years old when she was brought to California, and joined her father for the first time. She returned to Japan before WWII and survived the bombings of Tokyo in 1945. Yoko went to school with Emperor Hirohito's two sons. Though boys and girls were separated, Yoko was visited by Emperor's son Yoshi, and in turn she visited the boy's school in defiance of the rules. In the early 50s she and her parents moved to New York. She went to Sarah Lawrence College, where she was particularly adept in music, with her perfect pitch and untamed creativity. She married a Julliard student, Toshi Ichiyanagi, and moved to Manhattan. Her admiration with Franz Kafka, Vincent van Gogh, and Arnold Schönberg gave root and was fertilized by the New York avant-garde scene. In 1960, Yoko Ono & her friend La Monte Young staged the legendary loft events on Chambers Street. She also provided the loft for John Cage and his ground-braking classes of experimental music. She collaborated with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Nam June Paik, George Maciunas and Fluxus. Yoko cut herself from her parents and was on her own, working as a waitress, an apartment manager, and a music teacher in New York's public schools.
In 1962, after separating from Toshi, she gave in to her parents and returned to Japan. There, she heavily suffered from a clinical depression, and was locked up in a mental hospital. Anthony Cox went to Japan and managed to release Yoko Ono from captivity. She married Cox in Tokyo, later in the year, and their daughter, (as she became a mother), Kyoko, was born on Saturday, August 3rd, 1963. Cox became her artistic assistant. But in 1964 they separated and Cox returned to New York. Yoko joined him later in 1964 with Kyoko. She dreamed up the concept for 'Bottoms' (1966), completed only after 365 friends and volunteers provided their naked buttocks for close-ups. Her ad was "Intelligent-looking bottoms wanted for filming. Possessors of unintelligent-looking ones need not apply." Yoko promoted 'Bottoms' (1966) by being tied to a bronze lion in London's Trafalgar Square. While there, she first met her future husband-to-be (also 3rd & last), John Lennon at her art show in London on Wednesday evening, November 9th, 1966. At first they were very impressed with each other's intellect, personalities & everything else followed later. They married. John was lambasted by the British public. Yoko lost her daughter Kyoko (second ex-husband Cox kidnapped Kyoko in 1971 & hid her with an alias name Rosemary in the cult The Walk) for 27 years. Finally in 1998, Yoko and Kyoko reunited. John and Yoko were together 24/7 for six years until their fifteen-month break in 1973-74. Back together again, they sustained attacks from the media, politicians and all kinds of harassment. John and Yoko created art, music & had a son, Sean Lennon, on Wednesday, October 9th, 1975. They nourished each other's artistic nature with enough humor to survive through almost everything. Until Yoko Ono became a widow!- Music Artist
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He formed the group The Velvet Underground with Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, second guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Maureen Tucker in New York in 1965. The group soon became a part of Andy Warhol's Factory scene, which housed a great number of the most freaked and experimental artists at the time. The German singer and actress Nico sang in the group for a short period-- but the original line-up began to split up. The group, at its best, made only four original albums: "The Velvet Underground & Nico" (1967), "White Light/White Heat" (1968), "The Velvet Underground" (1969), and "Loaded" (1970). They stand today as milestones in the history of rock.
In 1970, Lou Reed began his solo career. His second album, "Transformer" (1972), was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, long-time admirers of the Velvets. That year, he had his first--and still only--top 20 song, "Walk on the Wild Side." Through the 1970s, he made a prolific number of albums with "Berlin" (1973), "Rock 'n' Roll Animal" (1974), and "Street Hassle" (1978) as the artistic highlights of this period. On St. Valentine's Day 1980, Lou Reed married Sylvia Morales, and that was another turning point in his career. The following album, "The Blue Mask" (1982), stands as one of his best and most composed. In 1989, he made "New York"--a love letter to his city with its good and bad, and with a heavy criticism of American thought.
In the 1990s, he continued to be one of the most sharp-tongued rock 'n' roll poets of his time. In 1990, he once again collaborated with ex-Velvet-partner John Cale. Their album, "Songs for Drella," was a very personal tribute to friend and artist Andy Warhol, who had recently died. In 1993, The Velvet Underground was re-formed with its original line-up, and toured in Europe in 1993. In 1997, Lou Reed, along with former Velvet band mates John Cale, Maureen Tucker, and the late Sterling Morrison were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
Lou Reed stood as one of the most important songwriters of our time and has served as inspiration to a multitude of artists such as David Bowie, Nick Cave, Sonic Youth, Nine Inch Nails, U2, David Byrne and Patti Smith.- Writer
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Political commentator Bill O'Reilly was born on September 10, 1949 in New York City, to Winifred Angela (Drake) and William James O'Reilly. He was born into a classic Irish Catholic family and attended private Catholic schools.
O'Reilly attended Marist College and studied history. Bill was also in the football club as a punter and wrote for the school newspaper. O'Reilly studied abroad at the University of London, and after coming home played semi professional baseball before graduating with a bachelors in history in 1971.
O'Reilly studied broadcast journalism at Boston University after some time as a teacher in Florida. O'Reilly interned with different newspapers and stations while earning his masters. In the mid 90's O'Reilly earned a degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. O'Reilly's early career included anchor jobs in Scranton, Denver, Portland, Hartford, and Boston. In this time he won a local Emmy and was praised for excellence in investigative reporting.
O'Reilly worked as a WEBS anchor and won a second local Emmy before earning the spot of correspondent for CBS network news. He later worked as a correspondent and assignment reporter for ABC.
O'Reilly became a news star when he was an anchor on "Inside Addition" where he covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and the murder of Joel Steinberg. After leaving the team, he earned his 3rd degree from the Kennedy School of government in 1995.
In 1996, O'Reilly launched "The O'Reilly Factor" the show he has anchored for 17 years. Since then he has used his show to report top political stories and it has become the #1 Cable News Show on TV.
In addition to reporting the news, O'Reilly often dissects it. He has made accusations against organizations and figures for corruption, and has broken barriers in news. He often goes head to head with organizations, politicians, and celebrities in the social media. He has called out judges for court rulings he found to be poor and he has even accused people of being unAmerican.
One of his most famous rivals is the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). In 1997, 10 year-old Jeffery Curley was kidnapped and murdered by two men. His body was molested and dumped off. The two men claimed they had gotten the inspiration from literature they had read in a library from the NAMBLA, a radical organization that condones male on boy rape and sexual contact. The ACLU then defended the NAMBLA and the men responsible. Outraged, O'Reilly used his media power to shed light on the issue.
However, his most famous head to head encounter was with organizations that raised money for 9/11 victims. Some faulty finances and numbers lead people to believe these organizations stole this money. O'Reilly publicly accused this organization and came head to head,with actor George Clooney, who claimed that O'Reilly was mistaken. Others that are often implicated as O'Reilly "rivals" are Michael Moore, George Soros, Alec Baldwin, and Susan Sarandon. He is also playfully rivaled on late night television with comics Jon Stewart, David Letterman, and Jay Leno.
O'Reilly has some core political beliefs that lean to the right, although he is a registered Independent. O'Reilly has written books and spoken about cultural traditions such as marriage, abortion, and patriotism. He has come to conflicts with Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and George Soros on issues like these.
O'Reilly has also published books about history and politics. He lives in New York and is the father of two children. His wife Maureen and he divorced in 2011.- Actor
- Producer
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Born in West Covina, California, but raised in New York City, Tim Robbins is the son of former The Highwaymen singer Gil Robbins and actress Mary Robbins (née Bledsoe). Robbins studied drama at UCLA, where he graduated with honors in 1981. That same year, he formed the Actors' Gang theater group, an experimental ensemble that expressed radical political observations through the European avant-garde form of theater. He started film work in television movies in 1983, but hit the big time in 1988 with his portrayal of dimwitted fastball pitcher "Nuke" Laloosh in Bull Durham (1988). Tall with baby-faced looks, he has the ability to play naive and obtuse (Cadillac Man (1990) and The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)) or slick and shrewd (The Player (1992) and Bob Roberts (1992)).- Writer
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He married the actress Padma Lakshmi, the hostess of "Padma's Passport," and dedicatee of his eighth novel, "Fury" (2001), on 17th April 2004. The late Ayatollah Khomeini declared a fatwa against him for the novel "The Satanic Verses" on 14th February 1989. He is currently completing a ninth novel. Prior to becoming a full time novelist, he enjoyed a successful advertising career as a copywriter with Ayer Barker in London until 1982.- Producer
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- Actress
Robin Ruzan was born on 22 February 1964 in Forest Hills, New York, USA. She is a producer and writer, known for Wayne's World (1992), Better Things (2016) and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999). She was previously married to Mike Myers.- Actress
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Chloë Sevigny is an Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress and director who is known for her groundbreaking work across film, television and theatre. Sevigny has spent her career working with innovative and revolutionary filmmakers and artists including Lars von Trier, Jim Jarmusch, Mary Harron, David Fincher and Whit Stillman and Luca Guadagnino. She continues that work with several upcoming projects: Sevigny can be currently seen in We Are Who We Are, for HBO/Sky, which was created, written and directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name). The eight-episode drama is a coming of age story about a group of American soldiers on an Army base in Italy. We Are Who We Are is being produced by Wildside and Apartment Pictures and distributed by Freemantle. Alice Braga, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Kid Cudi also star. In 2021 Sevigny will begin production on the second season of the Natasha Lyonne hit Russian Doll for Netflix. In the first season, Chloë made an appearance as Leonora, mother to Natasha's character Nadia. The second season will be an origin story in which Chloë's character is heavily featured. Russian Doll was created by Natasha Lyonne, Amy Poehler and Leslye Headland. Sevigny was last seen on the big screen in Queen and Slim, directed by Melina Matsoukas and written by Lena Waithe, with the original idea by James Frey. The film stars Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith. The film is about a black man and black woman on a first date that goes awry after the two are pulled over by a police officer at a traffic stop. They kill the police officer in self-defense and go on the run, rather than turn themselves in. Chloë's character plays a pivotal role in deciding their fate. The film was released in the US by Universal in November 2019. Opening the 2019 Cannes Film Festival was Jim Jarmusch's third film for Focus Features and Universal Pictures International, The Dead Don't Die. The zombie-comedy boasts a cast including Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Adam Driver, Steve Buscemi and Selena Gomez. Sevigny plays a small-town police officer, with Murray and Driver, in a town under zombie attack. Carter Logan and Animal Kingdom produced. Sevigny previously worked with Jarmusch on Broken Flowers and Ten Minutes Older Sevigny has now made the move into directing with three critically acclaimed short films: Her most recent, White Echo, premiered in competition at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, at which Sevigny was the only American female director in Competition. Chloë's directorial debut, Kitty, also debuted at Cannes in 2016 and her second short entitled Carmen, proved equally successful at the 2017 Venice Film Festival. Recent past projects include: The Act, on Hulu, a true-crime anthology series written by Michelle Dean and Nick Antosca and directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre (Mustang). The Act tells the true story of Gypsy Blanchard, a girl (Joey King) trying to escape the toxic relationship she has with her overprotective mother, played by Patricia Arquette. Chloë played Mel, who serves as the moral compass of the story. Lizzie, which premiered at Sundance 2018 after being developed and produced by Sevigny. The film, in which she starred with Kristen Stewart, was released by Roadside Attractions in September 2018. Lean On Pete, directed by Andrew Haigh, which was released domestically in May 2018 by A24. Sevigny co-starred with Steve Buscemi in a coming of age story starring Charlie Plummer, based on the acclaimed novel by Willy Vlautin. Golden Exits, directed by Alex Ross Perry, Oren Moverman's The Dinner, and Miguel Arteta's Beatriz at Dinner. The critically acclaimed television series Bloodline is recently aired its third and final season on Netflix. On stage, Sevigny was most recently seen in the New Group's Downtown Race Riot written by Seth Zvi Rosenfeld and directed by Scott Elliot. Sevigny was previously seen in The New Group's productions of What the Butler Saw and Hazelwood Junior High. Sevigny has also appeared in many celebrated indie and cult-favorite films like, The Last Days of Disco, American Psycho, Gummo, Dogville, Party Monster, Broken Flowers and Love & Friendship, and has appeared in television hits such as American Horror Story, Portlandia and Big Love, for which she won a Golden Globe. Sevigny made her film debut in the controversial Kids, directed by Larry Clark and written by Harmony Korine. For her performance in Kimberly Peirce's Boys Don't Cry, Chloë received nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe among many others. She makes her home in New York. 10/2020- Actor
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Film and stage actor and theater director Philip Seymour Hoffman was born in the Rochester, New York, suburb of Fairport to Marilyn (Loucks), a lawyer and judge, and Gordon Stowell Hoffman, a Xerox employee, and was mostly of German, Irish, English and Dutch ancestry. After becoming involved in high school theatrics, he attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, graduating with a B.F.A. degree in Drama in 1989.
He made his feature film debut in the indie production Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole (1991) as Phil Hoffman, and his first role in a major release came the next year in My New Gun (1992). While he had supporting roles in some other major productions like Scent of a Woman (1992) and Twister (1996), his breakthrough role came in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997).
He quickly became an icon of indie cinema, establishing a reputation as one of the screen's finest actors, in a variety of supporting and second leads in indie and major features, including Todd Solondz's Happiness (1998), Flawless (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia (1999), Almost Famous (2000) and State and Main (2000). He also appeared in supporting roles in such mainstream, big-budget features as Red Dragon (2002), Cold Mountain (2003) and Mission: Impossible III (2006).
Hoffman was also quite active on the stage. On Broadway, he has earned two Tony nominations, as Best Actor (Play) in 2000 for a revival of Sam Shepard's "True West" and as Best Actor (Featured Role - Play) in 2003 for a revival of Eugene O'Neill (I)'s "Long Day's Journey into Night". His other acting credits in the New York theater include "The Seagull" (directed by Mike Nichols for The New York Shakespeare Festival), "Defying Gravity", "The Merchant of Venice" (directed by Peter Sellars), "Shopping and F*@%ing" and "The Author's Voice" (Drama Desk nomination).
He was the Co-Artistic Director of the LAByrinth Theater Company in New York, for which he directed "Our Lady of 121st Street" by Stephen Adly Guirgis. He also directed "In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings" and "Jesus Hopped the A Train" by Guirgis for LAByrinth, and "The Glory of Living" by Rebecca Gilman at the Manhattan Class Company.
Hoffman consolidated his reputation as one of the finest actors under the age of 40 with his turn in the title role of Capote (2005), for which he won the Los Angeles Film Critics Award as Best Actor. In 2006, he was awarded the Best Actor Oscar for the same role.
On February 2, 2014, Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in an apartment in Greenwich village, New York. Investigators found Hoffman with a syringe in his arm and two open envelopes of heroin next to him. Mr. Hoffman was long known to struggle with addiction. In 2006, he said in an interview with "60 Minutes" that he had given up drugs and alcohol many years earlier, when he was age 22. In 2013, he checked into a rehabilitation program for about 10 days after a reliance on prescription pills resulted in his briefly turning again to heroin.- Actress
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Molly Shannon has become one of Hollywood's most sought-after talents on television and the silver screen.
Shannon spent six seasons as a member of the repertory company on "Saturday Night Live," primarily known for the eclectic characters she created, such as Mary Katherine Gallagher and Sally O'Malley. She is also praised for her parodies of Courtney Love, Liza Minnelli, Helen Madden and Terry Rialto. In 2000, she received an Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program." Prior to joining "SNL," Shannon appeared at The Up Front Comedy Theater in Los Angeles in "The Rob and Molly Show," an improvisational show she co-wrote with Rob Muir. Additionally, Molly was awarded the 2017 Independent Spirit Award for "Best Supporting Actress" for her performance in the highly acclaimed drama Other People, written and directed by SNL writer, Chris Kelly. Shannon received rave reviews for her portrayal of Joanne, a mother who is struggling with terminal cancer whose son moves home to take care of her.
Shannon's extensive film credits include Zach Braff's A Good Person; Spin Me Round; the Academy Award-nominated film, Promising Young Woman; Wild Nights with Emily; Private Life; Half Magic; The Little Hours; Fun Mom Dinner; The Layover; We Don't Belong Here; Me, Earl and the Dying Girl; Life After Beth; the 5th installment of the popular Scary Movie franchise; the animated comedy, Hotel Transylvania and the sequel Hotel Transylvania 2; Bad Teacher; Superstar, portraying everybody's favorite Catholic schoolgirl Mary Katherine Gallagher; Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette; Year of the Dog; Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby; Evan Almighty; Igor; Little Man; Scary Movie 4; Ron Howard's How the Grinch Stole Christmas; A Night at the Roxbury; Analyze This; Happiness; Never Been Kissed; The Good Boy!; Serendipity; Osmosis Jones; The Santa Clause 2 and Wet Hot American Summer.
Her television credits include Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider's "The Other Two" (her portrayal of the entrancingly hilarious Pat Dubek earned Molly a nomination in the comedy supporting actress category at the 2021 Critics' Choice Awards;" "I Love That For You," which earned her a nomination in the supporting television actor category at the Film Independent Spirit Awards; Mike White's critically acclaimed limited series, "The White Lotus;" "Divorce," opposite Sarah Jessica Parker; a guest starring role on NBC's revival of "Will & Grace," for which she received a Primetime Emmy nomination, the "Wet Hot American Summer" miniseries for Netflix, an eight-episode series which served as a prequel to the cult comedy classic film of the same name (that Shannon also starred in); a guest arc on the HBO series, "Enlightened" for which she received an Emmy nomination for 'Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.' She also made several guest appearances on "Raising Hope," CBS's "Life in Pieces," HBO's comedy "Getting On," the ABC Rebel Wilson comedy, "Super Fun Night," the IFC mini-series "The Spoils of Babylon" alongside Tobey Maguire and Kristen Wiig, "Up All Night," "The Middle;" Lisa Kudrow's "Web Therapy;" a recurring guest starring role on the Fox hit "Glee," the TBS animated series "Neighbors from Hell," the U.S. version of the popular Australian sitcom "Kath and Kim," as well as "Cracking Up," "Will & Grace," "Sex and the City," "Seinfeld," "Pushing Daisies," and "30 Rock," among many others. Her television movies include "More of Me," "12 Days of Christmas Eve" and "The Music Man."
Shannon's critically acclaimed memoir, Hello, Molly! was released by HarperCollins in April 2022 and garnered respect from both critics and readers alike. The hilariously candid and heartbreaking book tells the story of resilience and redemption through the eyes of Molly, both before and after the childhood tragedy that would end up shaping her entire life. The memoir received numerous accolades in addition to becoming a New York Times bestseller. In 2011, Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS, released Molly's first children's picture book, Tilly the Trickster. The book tells the tale of Tilly, "a mischief maker of the best kind-one who learns her lesson but never lets the reader stop having fun."
In 2010, Shannon made her Broadway debut replacing Tony Award winner Katie Finneran in the hit musical "Promises, Promises" alongside Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth.
In 2018, Shannon teamed up with Will Ferrell to provide commentary on the 2018 Rose Parade in character as eccentric broadcasters, Cord Hosenbeck and Tish Cattigan. Presented by Funny or Die, the parody, The 2018 Rose Parade Hosted by Cord & Tish was live streamed on Amazon Prime Video. The duo returned to cover Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's nuptials with The Royal Wedding Live with Cord and Tish! which aired on HBO and this year, they covered the Rose Parade for the second year in a row.
Born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Molly earned a BFA in drama from New York University's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. She lives in California with her husband and two children.- Actor
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Al Sharpton was born on 3 October 1954 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Mr. Deeds (2002), Malcolm X (1992) and Get on Up (2014). He was previously married to Kathy Jordan and Marsha Tinsley.- Producer
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Russell Simmons was born on 4 October 1957 in Queens, New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for The Nutty Professor (1996), Dude, Where's My Car? (2000) and It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010). He was previously married to Kimora Lee Simmons.- Actor
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Lori is a Golden Globe winning actress for her role as cast member in Robert Altman's " Shortcuts". She won 'ShoWest Newcomer of the Year' for her role as Ariel Moore in the film "Footloose", and was nominated for best supporting actress for an Indie Spirit Award for "Trouble in Mind." Lori 's documentaries have won 5 Emmys, a Peabody, been short-listed for an Oscar, and have won well over twenty film festivals, including Toronto Hot Docs.
After the huge success of Herb Ross' "Footloose", Singer went on to act in such films as Robert Altman's "Short Cuts," John Schlesinger's "The Falcon and the Snowman," "Warlock," "The Man with One Red Shoe," with Tom Hanks, Alan Rudolph's "Trouble in Mind," and "Equinox," to name a few. In 2015, Lori enjoyed a cameo in Michael Almereyda's "Experimenter" about the Stanley Milgram experiment. Lori substantially contributed to, and went on to Executive Produce " Mea Maxima Culpa; Silence in the House of God", directed by the highly acclaimed Alex Gibney, which won four Prime Time Emmys, a Peabody, and the London Documentary Film Festival. Lori went on to play the title vocal role as Linda Bishop in " God Knows Where I Am" which won Toronto Hot Docs, an Emmy and 20 film festivals. Lori Singer recently starred in "Rachel Hendrix" which is to be released in 2024 and won the Woodstock Film Festival in Fall of 2023. She also acted in a film written and directed by Mary Bronstein to be released in Spring 2025.- Actress
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Sultry-voiced singer/songwriter Patty Smyth was born on June 26, 1957 in New York City. She's of Irish descent. Her show business enthusiast mother not only worked as a trapeze artist and onetime manager for legendary rock'n'roll guitarist Link Wray, but also ran and/or owned several prominent nightclubs in Greenwich Village. Patty performed her first stage music gig at age fifteen at New York's Folk City and honed her craft by playing musical sets at the club Catch A Rising Star. Smyth supported herself by working as a waitress in a steak house prior to landing her breakthrough gig as the lead singer of the rock band Scandal in 1981. Scandal released their self-titled debut EP in 1982; said EP beget the moderately successful hit songs "Goodbye to You," "Love's Got a Line on You," and "Hands Tied." This was followed by the full-length album "The Warrior" in 1984. The rousing titular track soared to #7 on the Billboard pop charts and the album sold over a million copies. Patty embarked on a solo career after Scandal broke up in the mid 80s. She released her first solo album "Never Enough" in 1987. Her self-titled second album came out in 1992 and went gold that same year. Smyth scored a substantial hit with "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough," a poignant duet with Don Henley which peaked at #2 on the Billboard pop charts. Patty sang and co-wrote the song "Look What Love Has Done" for the comedy "Junior;" this song was nominated for Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Awards. Smyth went on to co-write and sing the song "Wish I Were You" for the soundtrack of the blockbuster movie "Armageddon." In 2004 Scandal got back together; the group subsequently embarked on a small reunion tour in 2005. The former wife of punk rock icon Richard Hell, Patty has been married to actor husband John McEnroe since 1997 and is the mother of three children.- Producer
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Martha Stewart was born on 3 August 1941 in Nutley, New Jersey, USA. She is a producer and actress, known for Bad Moms (2016), Men in Black II (2002) and Pixels (2015). She was previously married to Andrew Stewart.- Lesley Stahl was born on 16 December 1941 in Lynn, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress, known for Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021), Eagle Eye (2008) and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023). She was previously married to Aaron Latham and Dr. Jeffrey Gordon.
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Tara Subkoff was born on 10 December 1972 in Westport, Connecticut, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for #Horror (2015), The Cell (2000) and The Killer Inside Me (2010). She has been married to Urs Fischer since 24 October 2014. They have one child.- Writer
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Sara Switzer is known for The Third Date (2003) and The Sandra Bernhard Experience (2001).- Director
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Julie Taymor is an Academy Award-nominated director, known for such films as Frida (2002) and Across the Universe (2007).
She was born on December 15, 1952, in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Her father, Melvin Lester Taymor, was a gynecologist. Her mother, Elizabeth Bernstein, was a teacher of political science. Young Taymor was fond of international folklore and mythology, and also developed a passion for theatre. She spent her formative years living in several countries. As a teenager, during the 1960s, she lived in Sri Lanka and India with the Experiment in International Living program, then studied acting in Paris, at the mime school of Jacques Lecoq. From 1969 to 1974, she studied theatre and mythology at Oberlin College, graduating in 1974 with a degree in folklore and mythology.
During the 1970s, Taymor lived in Japan, studying the art of puppetry and Japanese theatre. Then, she spent five years in Indonesia, working as director of international theatre with Asian, European, and American actors. Back in the USA, she worked on and off Broadway. There, she achieved her first success with staging a fairy tale, "The King Stag", and then toured 66 cities across the world, including Los Angeles, Venice, Tokyo, and Moscow.
In the 1990s, Taymor directed several classic operas. Her 1992 production of Igor Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex" in Japan earned the Emmy Award. Then, she directed the 1993 production of "The Magic Flute" by 'Wolfgang Mozart', in Florence, with conductor Zubin Mehta, and the acclaimed 1994 production of "Salome" in St. Petersburg, Russia, with conductor Valery Gergiev.
In New York, she continued a stellar theatrical career, directing such productions as William Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" and "Juan Darién: A Carnival Mass" at the Lincoln Center. In 1997, Taymor directed a massive Walt Disney Company's production of "The Lion King" on Broadway, for which she also co-designed over a 100 costumes and masks of animals, and earned two Tony Awards.
Her film, Frida (2002), received six Oscar nominations, and two Oscars, for make-up and for the music score by Elliot Goldenthal. Taymor continued her success with the 2004 production of "The Magic Flute" at the Metropolitan Opera (which is now in repertoires at the Met), and the 2006 staging of "Grendel" at the Los Angeles Opera and, later, at the Linolcn Center Festival. Taymor's experience with cross-genre and cross-cultural productions came to culmination in her latest film, Across the Universe (2007). It is a musical set in the 1960s England, Vietnam, and America, where a love story and social protest are intertwined with over thirty songs by The Beatles.
Outside of her directing profession, Taymor amassed puppets, masks and folk art from around the world. As an artist, she has been involved in making puppets, masks, costumes and stage sets. Since 1980, Julie Taymor has been a long-time collaborator with the Oscar-winning composer, Elliot Goldenthal, and the couple lives in Manhattan.- Actor
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Highly talented, lightly built American actor who always looks unsettled and jumpy has become a favourite of cult/arthouse film aficionados with his compelling performances in a broad range of cinematic vehicles.
Turturro was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian-American parents, Katherine (Incerella), a jazz singer, and Nicholas Turturro, a construction worker and carpenter, who was born in Giovinazzo. His brother, also named Nicholas Turturro, is an actor, and actress Aida Turturro is his cousin.
Turturro has become a regular in the thought provoking films of Spike Lee and the off the wall comedies of Joel Coen & Ethan Coen. His wonderful performances include as the highly agitated "Pino" in Do the Right Thing (1989), as an intellectual playwright in Barton Fink (1991), a pedophile tenpin bowler in The Big Lebowski (1998), a confused boyfriend in Jungle Fever (1991) and as the voice of Harvey the dog in Summer of Sam (1999).
Turturro has continued to appeal to audiences despite his unconventional looks and the often annoying onscreen mannerisms of his characters which he used to great effect in films such as his blue collar tale of warring brothers in the construction business, Mac (1992), as the irate, dumped game show contestant, Herbie Stempel, in Robert Redford's dynamic Quiz Show (1994). One of modern American cinema's gems of acting, Turturro remains in strong demand for his high calibre thespian talents.- Writer
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Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was born on 11 November 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Back to School (1986), Slaughterhouse-Five (1972) and General Electric Theater (1953). He was married to Jill Krementz and Jane Marie Cox. He died on 11 April 2007 in New York City, New York, USA.- Producer
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Harvey Weinstein was born on March 19, 1952, in Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York, USA, the first of two boys born to Max and Miriam Weinstein. He is a film producer, known for Pulp Fiction (1994), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and Gangs of New York (2002). He has been married and divorced twice; most recently from Georgina Chapman and previously from Eve Chilton.- Actor
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Brian Williams was born on 5 May 1959 in Ridgewood, New Jersey, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (1970), 30 Rock (2006) and Family Guy (1999). He has been married to Jane Gillian Stoddard since 7 June 1986. They have two children.