The Pursuit of Happyness 2006 (NY) premiere

1. Will Smith

Willard Carroll "Will" Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, producer, rapper, and songwriter. He has enjoyed success in television, film, and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him "the most powerful actor in Hollywood". Smith has been nominated for five Golden ...

2. Jaden Smith

Actor | The Karate Kid

Jaden Smith is an actor, known for The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), The Karate Kid (2010) and After Earth (2013). In addition to being an actor he is also a dancer, songwriter and rapper who won an MTV award for his performance in The Pursuit of Happyness. He co-starred with his father Will Smith ...

3. Thandiwe Newton

Actress | Crash

Thandiwe Newton was born in London. She is the daughter of Zimbabwean mother Nyasha, a health-care worker from the Shona tribe, and British father Nick Newton, who worked as a lab technician. She lived in Zambia until political unrest caused her family to move back to the UK, where she lived in ...

4. Cedric The Entertainer

Actor | Barbershop

Cedric the Entertainer is an African-American comedian and actor known for being one of the Original Kings of Comedy. He is also known for his roles in the Barbershop trilogy, the Madagascar trilogy, The Steve Harvey Show, Ice Age, Planes, The Soul Man and The Neighborhood. He has had three ...

5. Gabriele Muccino

Director | Seven Pounds

Gabriele Muccino was born on May 20, 1967 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for Seven Pounds (2008), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) and The Last Kiss (2001). He has been married to Angelica Russo since December 22, 2012. They have one child. He was previously married to ...

6. Raoul Felder

Actor | Go Jimmy Go

Raoul Felder was born on May 13, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for Go Jimmy Go (2001), One Angry Man (2010) and Katz's: That's All (2010).

7. Eva Mendes

Actress | The Other Guys

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, ...

8. Bernadette Peters

Actress | The Jerk

Throughout her illustrious career, Bernadette Peters has dazzled audiences and critics with her performances on stage and television, in concert, and on recordings. She is one of the most critically-acclaimed Broadway performers, having received nominations for seven Tony Awards, winning two, and ...

9. Max Minghella

Actor | The Handmaid's Tale

Max Giorgio Choa Minghella is an English-born actor and filmmaker. He was born in Hampstead, London, England, the son of choreographer Carolyn Choa and the late Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella. He is the half-brother of Hannah Minghella, who has also worked in film.

Minghella is a former ...

10. Gregg Bello

Actor | The Thomas Crown Affair

Gregg Bello was born in New York City, New York, USA. Gregg is an actor and producer, known for The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), The Wrestler (2008) and Noah (2014).

11. Jonathan Demme

Director | The Silence of the Lambs

Jonathan Demme was born on February 22, 1944 in Baldwin, Long Island, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Rachel Getting Married (2008) and Philadelphia (1993). He was married to Joanne Howard and Evelyn Purcell. He died on April 26, 2017 in ...

12. Kyle MacLachlan

Actor | Twin Peaks: The Return

The "boy next door, if that boy spent lots of time alone in the basement", is how Rich Cohen described Kyle MacLachlan in a 1994 article for "Rolling Stone" magazine. That distinctly askew wholesomeness made MacLachlan a natural to become famous as the alter ego of twisted director David Lynch.

...

13. Desiree Gruber

Producer | Project Runway

Desiree Gruber was born in 1969 in the USA. She is a producer and executive, known for Project Runway (2004), Seriously Funny Kids (2011) and Stylista (2008). She has been married to Kyle MacLachlan since April 20, 2002. They have one child.

14. Lesley Stahl

Actress | Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Lesley Stahl was born on December 16, 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.

15. Al Sharpton

Actor | Mr. Deeds

Al Sharpton was born on October 3, 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.

16. Tia Texada

Actress | The Unit

Tia Texada, is an American actor best known for her role as Cruz on NBC's critically acclaimed series Third Watch, and her recurring role as an undercover agent Ribera on The Unit for CBS. Other roles include, In Plain Sight, Saving Grace, Chuck for NBC, HBO's Mind of the Married Man, Everybody ...

17. Terrence Howard

Actor | Crash

Terrence Howard was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Anita Jeanine Williams (née Hawkins) and Tyrone Howard. He was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. His love for acting came naturally, through summers spent with his great-grandmother, New York stage actress Minnie Gentry. He later began his acting career ...

18. Tovah Feldshuh

Actress | Just My Luck

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, ...

19. Damon Dash

Producer | State Property 2

Damon Dash sent himself to boarding school because he wanted a better education than he was receiving at the time. As a result, his "street credibility" was initially questioned at the onset of his career.

Dash received his official start in the music industry when he produced 90's rap group, ...

20. Rachel Roy

Self | Under the Gunn

Rachel Roy was born on January 15, 1974 in Monterey, California, USA. She was previously married to Damon Dash.

21. André Leon Talley

Actor | Sex and the City

André Leon Talley was born on October 16, 1948 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He was an actor, known for Sex and the City (2008), The September Issue (2009) and Empire (2015). He died on January 18, 2022 in White Plains, New York, USA.

22. Gina Gershon

Actress | Bound

Since making her uncredited debut as a dancer in Beatlemania (1981), Gina Gershon has established herself as a character actress and one of the leading icons of American camp. For it was fourteen years after her movie debut that Gina made movie history as the predatory bisexual who was the leading ...

23. Lucy Liu

Actress | Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Born to immigrants in New York City, Lucy Liu has always tried to balance an interest in her cultural heritage with a desire to move beyond a strictly Asian-American experience. Her mother, Cecilia, a biochemist, is from Beijing & her father, Tom Liu, a civil engineer, is from Shanghai. Once ...

24. Jada Pinkett Smith

Actress | The Matrix Revolutions

Jada Koren Pinkett Smith was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Robsol Grant Pinkett, Jr., a contractor, and 'Gammy' Adrienne Banfield Norris, a nurse. They divorced after only a few months of marriage. Her father is of African-American descent and her mother is of Afro-Caribbean ancestry (from ...

25. Michael Mann

Producer | The Insider

As a director, screenwriter, and producer, four-time Academy Award nominee Michael Mann has established himself as one of the most innovative and influential filmmakers in American cinema. After writing and directing the Primetime Emmy Award-winning television movie The Jericho Mile (1979), Mann ...

26. Akiva Goldsman

Writer | A Beautiful Mind

Akiva Goldsman was born on July 7, 1962 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for A Beautiful Mind (2001), Batman & Robin (1997) and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022).

27. James Lassiter

Producer | Seven Pounds

James Lassiter is known for Seven Pounds (2008), Hitch (2005) and The Harder They Fall (2021).

28. Amy Pascal

Producer | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Amy Pascal is an American film producer and executive for Sony Pictures. She produced several Spider-Man films and spin-offs including the Venom film series, the 2016 Ghostbusters remake, the Jumanji sequels, Little Women and The Post. She got acclaim for producing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse...

29. Rinko Kikuchi

Actress | Babel

Rinko was born Kikuchi Yuriko in Hadano just south of Tokyo. The town is known mainly for its green tea and public baths. She is the youngest of three siblings. After being scouted on the street, she began modeling in her hometown and subsequently began acting under her birth name before switching ...

30. Donna Karan

Costume_department | E! Mysteries & Scandals

Donna Karan was born on October 2, 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.

31. Chris Gardner

Producer | The Pursuit of Happyness

Chris Gardner was born on February 9, 1954 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), The Promotion (2008) and Maya Angelou And Still I Rise (2016). He was previously married to Sherry Dyson.

32. Edie Falco

Actress | The Sopranos

Edith Falco, called Edie, was born on July 5, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York, to Judith Anderson, an actress, and Frank Falco, a jazz drummer. She is of Italian (father) and Swedish, English, and Cornish (mother) descent. Edie grew up on Long Island and attended SUNY Purchase, where she was trained in ...

33. Steve Tyrell

Music_department | Flight of the Navigator

Steve Tyrell was born on December 19, 1944 in Palo Pinto County, Texas, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Flight of the Navigator (1986), The Client (1994) and Blast from the Past (1999). He was previously married to Stephanie Tyrell.

34. Steve Tisch

Producer | Forrest Gump

Steve Tisch is an American film and television producer and sports employee that was born on February 14, 1949 on Lakewood Township, New Jersey.

After he attended Tuffs University, he was a producer for Columbia Pictures. He was production assistant on two 1971 movies Cry Uncle (1971) for Troma and ...

35. Howard Stringer

Producer | CBS Reports

Howard Stringer was born in 1942 in Cardiff, Wales, UK. He is a producer and director, known for CBS Reports (1959), Wool and Doctor Zhivago.

36. Todd Black

Producer | Antwone Fisher

Todd Black was born on February 9, 1960 in Dallas, Texas, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for Antwone Fisher (2002), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) and The Great Debaters (2007).

37. Jason Blumenthal

Producer | Seven Pounds

Jason Blumenthal is known for Seven Pounds (2008), The Man from Toronto (2022) and The Pursuit of Happyness (2006).

38. Matt Tolmach

Producer | Morbius

Matthew Tolmach is an American film producer who is known for producing Sony films including The Amazing Spider-Man duology starring Andrew Garfield, the Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man films starring Tom Holland, Rough Night, the Jumanji sequels and Sony's Spider-Man Universe, a series of ...

39. Jeff Blake

40. Amy Baer

Producer | Brian Banks

Amy Baer's three decade entertainment career is multi-faceted - experience with major studios, an entrepreneurial start-up, and traditional producing. Collectively, the films she has supervised and/or produced have grossed over $2 billion worldwide.

Currently (2022), Baer is President of Landline ...

41. Doug Belgrad

Producer | Gran Turismo

Doug Belgrad is known for Gran Turismo (2023), Charlie's Angels (2019) and The Pope's Exorcist (2023).

42. Valerie Van Galder

Mortal Kombat

Valerie Van Galder is known for Mortal Kombat (1995), Eddie the Eagle (2015) and The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996).

43. Brian Howe

Actor | The Newsroom

Brian Howe was born on December 31, 1957 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Newsroom (2012), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) and Westworld (2016).

44. Dan Castellaneta

Actor | The Simpsons

Daniel Louis Castellaneta is an American actor, voice actor, comedian and television writer. Castellaneta is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series The Simpsons (1989) (as well as other characters on the show such as Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, ...

45. James Karen

Actor | The Return of the Living Dead

Veteran Broadway, TV and film actor James Karen was encouraged as a young man to take up an acting career by U.S. Congressman Daniel J. Flood, who was an amateur actor himself. In 1947 Karen made his Broadway debut in "A Streetcar Named Desire", which led to appearances in over 20 Broadway ...

46. Kurt Fuller

Actor | Midnight in Paris

Born in San Francisco and raised in the agricultural heartland of California's San Joaquin Valley, Fuller became passionate about acting while attending UC Berkley, where he received a degree in English literature. After graduating, he made the move to Los Angeles with everything he owned stuffed ...

47. Takayo Fischer

Actress | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Takayo Fischer was born on November 25, 1932 in Hardwick, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), Moneyball (2011) and The Pursuit of Happyness (2006). She has been married to Sy Fischer since November 29, 1980. They have three children.

48. Mark Christopher Lawrence

Actor | The Island

Mark Christopher Lawrence was born on May 22, 1964 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Island (2005), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and K-PAX (2001).

49. DeVon Franklin

Actor | Jesus Revolution

DeVon Franklin is an award-winning Film & TV producer, best-selling author, in-demand preacher and spiritual success coach. A recognized authority on spirituality, faith and the entertainment business, Franklin is committed to using the power of media as an inspirational tool. Beliefnet calls him ...

50. Steve Conrad

Writer | Patriot

Steve Conrad was born in 1968 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Patriot (2015), Wonder (2017) and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013).

51. Andrea Guerra

Composer | Hotel Rwanda

Andrea Guerra was born in October 1961 in Santarcangelo di Romagna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He is a composer and producer, known for Hotel Rwanda (2004), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) and Nine (2009).

52. Phedon Papamichael

Cinematographer | Nebraska

Phedon Papamichael, an award winning Cinematographer, was born in Athens, Greece and moved with his family to Germany, where in 1982 he completed his education in Fine Arts, in Munich. Working as a photojournalist brought Phedon to NYC in 1983, where he started crossing over into cinematography.

His...

53. Hughes Winborne

Editor | Crash

Hughes Winborne is known for Crash (2004), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Ghost in the Shell (2017).