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- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Michelle Yeoh was born in Ipoh, Malaysia. She's the daughter of Janet Yeoh & Kian Teik Yeoh. She's of Hokkien descent, speaking English and Malay before Chinese. A ballet dancer since 4, she moved to London to study at the Royal Academy as a teen. After a brief dance career, she won the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant title in and the Miss Moomba beauty pageant title in Melbourne, Australia in the early 1980s. Her first on camera work was a 1984 commercial with martial arts star Jackie Chan. In 1985, she began making action movies with D&B Films of Hong Kong. She was first billed as Michelle Khan, then Michelle Yeoh. Never a trained martial artist, she relied on her dance discipline and on-set trainers to prepare for martial arts action scenes.
She uses many dance moves in her films and does most of her own stunts. In 1988, she married wealthy D&B Films executive Dickson Poon & retired from acting. Even though they divorced in 1992, she's close to Poon's second wife and a godmother to his daughter. When she returned to acting, she became very popular w/ Chinese audiences. She later became known to Western audiences through role in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and in the phenomenally successful Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). She turned down a role in a sequel to The Matrix (1999).
She has her own production company, Mythical Films. She trained with the Shen Yang Acrobatic team for her role in The Touch (2002), an English-language film she both starred in and produced. She hopes to use her company to discover and nurture new film-making talent. She also aspires to act in roles that combine both action and deeper spiritual themes.- Actress
- Writer
Kacey Rohl was born on 6 August 1991 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She is an actress and writer, known for White Lie (2019), Hannibal (2013) and Star Trek: Section 31 (2025).- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Born in Puducherry, India, and raised in the suburban Penn Valley area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, M. Night Shyamalan is a film director, screenwriter, producer, and occasional actor, known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots.
He is the son of Jayalakshmi, a Tamil obstetrician and gynecologist, and Nelliate C. Shyamalan, a Malayali doctor. His passion for filmmaking began when he was given a Super-8 camera at age eight, and even at that young age began to model his career on that of his idol, Steven Spielberg. His first film, Praying with Anger (1992), was based somewhat on his own trip back to visit the India of his birth. He raised all the funds for this project, in addition to directing, producing and starring in it. Wide Awake (1998), his second film, he wrote and directed, and shot it in the Philadelphia-area Catholic school he once attended--even though his family was of a different religion, they sent him to that school because of its strict discipline.
Shyamalan gained international recognition when he wrote and directed 1999's The Sixth Sense (1999), which was a commercial success and later nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Shyamalan team up again with Bruce Willis in the film Unbreakable (2000), released in 2000, which he also wrote and directed.
His major films include the science fiction thriller Signs (2002), the psychological thriller The Village (2004), the fantasy thriller Lady in the Water (2006), The Happening (2008), The Last Airbender (2010), After Earth (2013), and the horror films The Visit (2015) and Split (2016).- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Vera Farmiga is an American actress who has received an Academy Award nomination for her role in Up in the Air (2009) and Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her roles in Bates Motel (2013) and When They See Us (2019).
She was born Vera Ann Farmiga, the second of seven children, on August 6, 1973, in Clifton, New Jersey, USA, to Ukrainian parents. She did not speak English until the age of six, and was raised in the Ukrainian Catholic home of her mother, Luba (Spas), a schoolteacher, and her father, Michael Farmiga, a computer systems analyst. Her younger sister is actress Taissa Farmiga, who is 21 years her junior. Young Vera was a shy, nearsighted girl, who played piano and folk danced with a Ukrainian touring company in her teens.
In 1991, she graduated from Hunterdon Central Regional High School. Farmiga initially dreamed of becoming an optometrist, but she later changed her mind and studied acting at Syracuse University's School of Performing Arts, graduating in 1995. The following year, she began her professional acting career, making her Broadway debut as an understudy in the play "Taking Sides". Her stage credits included performances in "The Tempest", "Good", "The Seagull", and in a well-reviewed off-Broadway production of "Second-Hand Smoke" (1997). That same year, she made her television debut as the female lead, opposite a then-unknown Heath Ledger, in Fox's adventure series Roar (1997).
In 1998, Farmiga made her big screen debut in the drama Return to Paradise (1998), then played the daughters of Christopher Walken in The Opportunists (1999) and Richard Gere in Autumn in New York (2000). She starred as a working-class mother struggling to keep her life and marriage together while hiding her drug addiction in Down to the Bone (2004), for which she was awarded Best Actress from the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Farmiga's acting talent shone in a range of characters, from her role as a senator's daughter in The Manchurian Candidate (2004), the wife of a mobster in Running Scared (2006), a humorous prostitute in Breaking and Entering (2006), and a police psychiatrist in The Departed (2006).
In 2010, Farmiga received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in Up in the Air (2009). In 2011, she made her directorial debut with the drama Higher Ground (2011), in which she also appeared in the leading role. Although the film had a limited release, Farmiga's direction and performance received attention at several festivals. In 2013, she began starring in the drama thriller series Bates Motel (2013), for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in the first season. In 2019, she received a second Primetime Emmy Award nomination, this time in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie category, for her role in the drama miniseries When They See Us (2019).
Farmiga was formerly married to actor Sebastian Roché, whom she met during production of Roar (1997). The two eloped to the Bahamas after the series ended in 1997. They separated and subsequently divorced in 2004. On September 13, 2008, she married musician Renn Hawkey, with whom she has two children, son Fynn McDonnell (b. 2009) and daughter Gytta Lubov Hawkey (b. 2010). Farmiga lives with her family in Hudson Valley, New York. Her other activities, outside her acting profession, include reading, playing piano, boxing, jujitsu, and spending time with her pet angora goats.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Rory J. Scovel is an American comedian, writer and actor from Greenville, South Carolina. He released his first stand-up album, Dilation, in 2011. He has since released two hour-long stand-up specials, Rory Scovel: The Charleston Special in 2015 and Rory Scovel Tries Stand-Up for the First Time in 2017 on Netflix and one 75 minutes long special Live Without Fear in 2021 on YouTube. Outside of stand-up comedy, he is known for acting in the TruTV show Those Who Can't and in the 2018 movie I Feel Pretty, as well as writing for The Eric Andre Show. Since 2021, Scovel has been starring in the Apple TV+ series Physical.- Actress
- Soundtrack
The second of four children, Australian actress Melissa George was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1976. The daughter of Pamela, a nurse, and Glenn George, a construction worker, Melissa initially expressed interest in various forms of dance rather than acting. During her childhood, George studied tap, ballet, and jazz, later transitioning into professional rollerskating - similar to figure skating on ice.
By age 16, George had won several awards at various National Rollerskating Championships in Australia, and subsequently began modeling after dropping out of high school. George met a casting agent while doing modeling work, and was given a role on the popular Australian soap opera Home and Away (1988); George moved to Sydney and worked on the show for three years until deciding to pursue other projects.
In 1996, George left Australia and moved to Los Angeles in search of bigger roles. She garnered various supporting parts in films such as Dark City (1998) and Steven Soderbergh's crime thriller The Limey (1999), before landing a key part in David Lynch's acclaimed neo noir mystery film, Mulholland Drive (2001). While in Bali in 1998, George met future husband, Chilean filmmaker Claudio Dabed; the two were married in late 2000.
The early 2000s would have George playing bit parts in several American television shows, including Friends (1994) and Monk (2002), ultimately landing a recurring role on the hit Alias (2001) alongside Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan. Through the later part of the decade, George had roles in various horror and thriller films, beginning with the 2005 version of The Amityville Horror (2005), as well as the commercially-successful thriller Derailed (2005) alongside Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston and Vincent Cassel.
George finished the decade with several more horror films, including Turistas (2006) and 30 Days of Night (2007), as well as independent horror titles such as The Killing Gene (2007), The Betrayed (2008) and Triangle (2009). George was also active in television work, landing a role on the popular medical drama Grey's Anatomy (2005). Her greatest critical success would come with a role on In Treatment (2008), playing the love interest of Gabriel Byrne, which would garner her a Golden Globe nomination in 2009.
Though a veteran of television in both Australia and the United States, George has achieved considerable success in her film career, which has hardly spanned over a decade.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Romola Garai was born on 6th August 1982. She is an English actress-writer-director who has worked extensively on film, television and theatre. As an actress she is known for her performances in films such as Atonement (2007), Angel (2007), I Capture the Castle (2003) and (Suffragette). On television her work includes her BAFTA nominated performance in The Crimson Petal and the White (2011), The Hour (2012), Born to Kill (2017) and The Miniaturist (2017). As a director her work includes the Sundance Best International Short Film nominated Scrubber. her debut feature, the horror film Amulet, will premiere in the Midnight Madness section at Sundance 2020.- Actor
- Producer
At his young age, Ty Simpkins has proudly accomplished more than most in the world of entertainment - he has starred in two of the biggest blockbusters of all time. Simpkins can be seen opposite Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt in Universal's dinosaur box office monster hit Jurassic World. Prior, he starred opposite Robert Downey Jr. in Disney/Marvel's Iron Man 3, which holds the record as the sixth highest grossing superhero film. Simpkins will reprise his role from that film in Avengers: Endgame. He stars in the psychological drama Meadowland opposite Olivia Wilde, Elizabeth Moss and Luke Wilson, which premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival. Simpkins plays the role of 'Adam,' a special needs child who often gets in trouble at school. He also stars in the thriller Hangman alongside his sister Ryan Simpkins, which premiered at SXSW 2015. Simpkins has been acting since he was born, first appearing as an infant on the iconic soap opera series "One Life to Live." Ty made his feature debut in Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds starring alongside Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning. Simpkins starred in the psychological horror flick Insidious, which grossed close to $100 million worldwide, and also starred in its sequel. Previously, Ty was featured in films such as the award-winning Revolutionary, New Line's Pride and Glory, opposite Colin Farrell and Edward Norton, and Little Children starring Kate Winslet.
Ty lives in California with his family. He is the youngest of 3 children; Ty loves participating in sports, he has 2 dogs, and 3 cats which he shares with his sister, Ryan Simpkins.- Brook Sill was born on 6 August 1996 in Duncan, South Carolina, USA. She is an actress, known for Stranger Things (2016), Outer Banks (2020) and Blood Behind Us (2025).
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Soleil Moon Frye began acting at the age of two, after seeing her father, veteran actor Virgil Frye, and brother, Meeno Peluce, on TV. Her father got her an agent, Herb Tannen & Associates in Hollywood, and her career soon took off. Her mother, Sondra Peluce, became her manager. At age eight, she became known worldwide as the title character in the Punky Brewster (1984) TV series on NBC. Since that show ended, she has appeared in numerous movies, directed a film and written a screenplay for a movie about experiences a group of teenagers encounter in a café.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Ever Carradine was born on 6 August 1974 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for The Requiem Boogie (2024), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) and Bubble Boy (2001). She has been married to Coby Brown since 1 October 2005. They have two children.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Scott MacArthur was born on 6 August 1979 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for The Righteous Gemstones (2019), No Hard Feelings (2023) and The Mick (2017).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Leland Orser was born on 6 August 1960 in San Francisco, California, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Taken (2008), Se7en (1995) and Alien Resurrection (1997). He has been married to Jeanne Tripplehorn since 14 October 2000. They have one child. He was previously married to Roma Downey.- Actress
- Producer
Merrin Dungey was born on 6 August 1971 in Sacramento, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Alias (2001), The King of Queens (1998) and Deep Impact (1998). She has been married to Kevin Ryder since 31 December 2023. She was previously married to Matthew Drake.- Producer
- Actress
- Production Manager
The woman who will always be remembered as the crazy, accident-prone, lovable Lucy Ricardo was born Lucille Desiree Ball on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York, the daughter of Desiree Evelyn "DeDe" (Hunt) and Henry Durrell "Had" Ball. Her father died before she was four, and her mother worked several jobs, so she and her younger brother were raised by their grandparents. Always willing to take responsibility for her brother and young cousins, she was a restless teenager who yearned to "make some noise". She entered a dramatic school in New York City, but while her classmate Bette Davis received all the raves, she was sent home; "too shy". She found some work modeling for Hattie Carnegie's and, in 1933, she was chosen to be a "Goldwyn Girl" and appear in the film Roman Scandals (1933).
She was put under contract to RKO Radio Pictures and several small roles, including one in Top Hat (1935), followed. Eventually, she received starring roles in B-pictures and, occasionally, a good role in an A-picture, like in Stage Door (1937) or The Big Street (1942). While filming Too Many Girls (1940), she met and fell madly in love with a young Cuban actor-musician named Desi Arnaz. Despite different personalities, lifestyles, religions and ages (he was six years younger), he fell hard, too, and after a passionate romance, they eloped and were married in November 1940. Lucy soon switched to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where she got better roles in films such as Du Barry Was a Lady (1943); Best Foot Forward (1943) and the Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy vehicle Without Love (1945). In 1948, she took a starring role in the radio comedy "My Favorite Husband", in which she played the scatterbrained wife of a Midwestern banker. In 1950, CBS came knocking with the offer of turning it into a television series. After convincing the network brass to let Desi play her husband and to sign over the rights to and creative control over the series to them, work began on the most popular and universally beloved sitcom of all time.
With I Love Lucy (1951), she and Desi promoted the 3-camera technique now the standard in filming sitcoms using 35mm film (the earliest known example of the 3-camera technique is the first Russian feature film, "Defence of Sevastopol" in 1911). Desi syndicated I Love Lucy. Lucille Ball was the first woman to own her own studio as the head of Desilu Productions.
Lucille Ball died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, age 77, of an acute aortic aneurysm on April 26, 1989 in Los Angeles, CA.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Jason O'Mara was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. Soon after graduating from Trinity College Dublin with a BA in Drama and Theatre he moved to London, England, to further pursue his acting career. Time spent in British repertory theater led to leading roles in acclaimed productions at some of Britain and Ireland's great theaters, including The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Almeida, The Donmar, London's West End (Apollo and Comedy Theatres) and the Gate Theatre, Dublin. Concurrently, he appeared in many British TV series for both the BBC and ITV. A permanent move to the US in 2002 resulted in Jason becoming a major presence on American and international screens, both big and small.
In 2017 Jason won the Irish Film and Television Award (IFTA) for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the real life character of Sgt. Jack Prendergast in the film 'The Siege Of Jadotville'.
Jason is an ambassador for The Lir, Ireland's National Academy of Dramatic Art at Trinity College Dublin and for The Movember Foundation, the global men's health charity organization.
He lives in Los Angeles and visits Ireland as often as possible.
You can follow Jason on Twitter @jason_omara and Instagram @jasonomaraofficial and Facebook.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Robert Mitchum was an underrated American leading man of enormous ability, who sublimated his talents beneath an air of disinterest. He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Ann Harriet (Gunderson), a Norwegian immigrant, and James Thomas Mitchum, a shipyard/railroad worker. His father died in a train accident when he was two, and Robert and his siblings (including brother John Mitchum, later also an actor) were raised by his mother and stepfather (a British army major) in Connecticut, New York, and Delaware. An early contempt for authority led to discipline problems, and Mitchum spent good portions of his teen years adventuring on the open road. He later claimed that on one of these trips, at the age of 14, he was charged with vagrancy and sentenced to a Georgia chain gang, from which he escaped. Working a wide variety of jobs (including ghostwriter for astrologist Carroll Righter), Mitchum discovered acting in a Long Beach, California, amateur theater company. He worked at Lockheed Aircraft, where job stress caused him to suffer temporary blindness. About this time he began to obtain small roles in films, appearing in dozens within a very brief time. In 1945, he was cast as Lt. Walker in Story of G.I. Joe (1945) and received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor. His star ascended rapidly, and he became an icon of 1940s film noir, though equally adept at westerns and romantic dramas. His apparently lazy style and seen-it-all demeanor proved highly attractive to men and women, and by the 1950s, he was a true superstar despite a brief prison term for marijuana usage in 1949, which seemed to enhance rather than diminish his "bad boy" appeal. Though seemingly dismissive of "art," he worked in tremendously artistically thoughtful projects such as Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter (1955) and even co-wrote and composed an oratorio produced at the Hollywood Bowl by Orson Welles. A master of accents and seemingly unconcerned about his star image, he played in both forgettable and unforgettable films with unswerving nonchalance, leading many to overlook the prodigious talent he can bring to a project that he finds compelling. He moved into television in the 1980s as his film opportunities diminished, winning new fans with The Winds of War (1983) and War and Remembrance (1988). His sons James Mitchum and Christopher Mitchum are actors, as is his grandson Bentley Mitchum. His last film was James Dean: Race with Destiny (1997) with Casper Van Dien as James Dean.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Ella Raines was born in Snoqualmie Falls, Washington, in 1920. After graduating from high school, she enrolled at the University of Washington as a drama student and participated in many plays. Following graduation, she traveled to New York and the lights of Broadway. She was eventually signed by Howard Hawks and played in Corvette K-225 (1943) as the love interest of Randolph Scott. She appeared in many A pictures very quickly, including Tall in the Saddle (1944) opposite John Wayne. She co-starred in many other films opposite such stars as Vincent Price, William Powell and Brian Donlevy (turning in a good performance as a spunky garage owner in director Arthur Lubin's underrated Impact (1949)). In the early 1950s she had her own TV series, Janet Dean, Registered Nurse (1954), and also had a short-lived recording career during that period. She died in 1988.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Jeremy Ratchford was born on 6 August 1965 in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. He is an actor, known for Cold Case (2003), Fly Away Home (1996) and Angel Eyes (2001).- Actress
- Director
- Writer
In her iconic role as Sgt Dee Dee McCall, from 1984 to 1990, she helped to make the NBC hit series "Hunter" a true international hit with a fan base around the world. Her strong portrayal became a powerful positive influence for many women and helped to change how women were seen in crime dramas for television.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Leslie Odom Jr. was born on 6 August 1981 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Hamilton (2020), One Night in Miami... (2020) and Central Park (2020). He has been married to Nicolette Robinson since 1 December 2012. They have two children.- Dane DiLiegro has had quite the journey on his way to Hollywood.
Born in Massachusetts, he was a four-year starter for the NCAA Division I University of New Hampshire Wildcats basketball team. While attending UNH, Dane won a gold medal at the 2009 summer Maccabiah Games in Israel. He graduated with the second all-time rebounding record, Dane went on to put his 6'8" 245lb frame to use and play eight years of professional basketball playing for top-level teams in Italy and Israel.
While in Italy, Dane lived with and served as an apprentice for world-famous Tuscan butcher Dario Cecchini over a five year period. He is still heavily involved in culinary arts and maintains a YouTube channel surrounding food and travel.
In the summer of 2019, Dane retired from professional basketball to pursue acting. Within two weeks, he booked his first acting role as Muscle Monster in the Netflix show Sweet Home. He also appeared in The Walking Dead and Side Hustle. In 2021, Dane portrayed the titular character Ba'al in the fifth episode of American Horror Stories opposite Billie Lourde.
Additionally, Dane starred across Doja Cat in her music video Get Into It (Yuh).
Dane starred in Prey (2022) as The Predator and appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3.
Dane will appear in Tom Delonge's upcoming feature film Monsters of California, and Lucasfilm's upcoming Star Wars show, Skeleton Crew.
Dane lives in Los Angeles, and attends the Stella Adler Academy. He continues to pursue his dream of starring in film in television shows despite his large stature. - Jennifer Lyons was born in Pasadena, California to a family of entertainers. Her mother is an inspiring and creative school principal who has brought arts programs to under-served communities, her father was a flamenco guitarist, and her grandparents were a singing and dancing Vaudeville team. Having been inspired by her legendary uncle, Actor James Best, known for his beloved character Rosco P. Coltrane, she went on to study film acting at his school and had the privilege of being taught by musical theater genius Dorothy Best, her Aunt. Her love for performing was apparent from a very young age, when she would dance for her family while her dad played guitar. Jennifer is a classically trained ballet dancer and studied various forms of dance for 17 years. She has performed in the U.S., Europe, and China. Her love for the stage broadened into musical theatre in high school and college. Not too soon after, she landed a recurring role on an NBC show as a Ballet dancer. Her career has continued to broaden into various roles in popular TV shows and feature films. She is best known for her comedic timing but still loves gritty drama when it comes her way.
- Stunts
- Actress
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Monique Ganderton was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Monique has always been adventurous. She achieved high levels of track and field, equestrian show jumping and is also a certified snowboard instructor. Monique was involved in diving, gymnastics, softball, figure skating, equestrian and later various Martial Arts. Monique has always been an avid writer and artist and thought about going into journalism prior to performing.
Monique was discovered at a local shopping mall in Edmonton by a modeling agent and agreed to give it a try. Monique relocated to Toronto and began taking acting classes and working as a background performer to learn about film-making. Monique booked her first acting role on TV show Mutant X, which also happened to require a stunt. She was seen as a natural athlete and the stunt coordinators encouraged her to also train to become a stunt performer.
Monique continued to audition and she pursued stunt work adamantly. She landed her first Stunt gig on feature film, "The Recruit". Monique then packed up for the west coast to reunite with family, friends and her love of nature. She booked Stunt roles on Irobot, Xmen 3, Tron, and many other notable films and TV shows. Monique later moved to California to pursue an international career. She proceeded to win stunt awards performing as Charlize Theron's stunt double in Atomic Blonde. This feature also gave Monique her first Stunt coordinating credit. She then went on to Stunt Coordinate Avengers Infinity war and Endgame making her the first female stunt coordinator for Marvel Studios.
Monique supports many charities Dirty Dog Squad, Mustang heritage foundation, Wild Horse Preservation campaign, Wild Horse Freedom Federation, Wild Horses In Need , Southern Conservation Trust and in Canada Alzheimer's society of Alberta, BC Cancer foundation and Wild Horses of Alberta Society. Monique most recently was a part of the Georgia wild mustang TIP training program where she gentled two wild mustangs in Georgia, USA.
You can see Monique Acting in Avengers Infintiy War as Proxima, Zombieland: Double Tap, 'Xmen Apocalypse', Indie film 'The Hunted' and Tv Series 'Unreal'. Monique will also be performing stunts in upcoming 'The coldest City', where she stunt doubles Charlize Theron. Monique's previous acting body of work includes 'American Ultra', 'Smallville', 'The 100', 'Tomorrow people', 'Sleepy Hollow', pilot 'Inseparable' and 'Twilight : Eclipse', 'Hansel and Gretel', among others.
In the future Monique hopes to use her writing and performing experience to create and direct projects.
Monique has stunt doubled Charlize Theron, Sigourney Weaver, Tricia Helfer, Bridget Moynahan, Leelee Sobieski, Darryl Hannah, Famke Jensen, Rebecca Romijn, Karen Cliché, Stacy Keibler, Amanda Tapping, Mandy Moore, Monica Schnarre, Amelia Cooke and Jane Lynch.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born in Denver, Co, 6 August, 1925 and originally named Barbara Jane Bates, Barbara was the eldest of 3 daughters born to a postal clerk and RN.
Rather shy, her mother initially sent Barbara to study ballet. By her late teens, the young beauty began to model clothes as a teen out of high school.
Fighting off a life-long paralyzing shyness,she managed to be persuaded to enter a local beauty contest, with the winner receiving 2 round-trip train tickets to Hollywood.
Barbara won the contest, and with that the demure but very troubled young woman was on the first steps of her career.
Once in California, she met Cecil Coan, a United Artists publicist. Coan, a married man with children who was more than two decades older than Barbara, fell hard for the young beauty. He promised to guide her career and make her a star.
He proved his worth and dedication to her when he left his wife and married Barbara.
Groomed in obscure starlet bits, it wasn't until Warner Bros. signed her in 1947 and perpetuated an appealing girl-next-door image when her career started happening. It took some time before the actress started making strides apart from the bobby-soxxer ingénue.
She turned heads and supported herself initially as a pin-up girl, a job she didn't enjoy. She rose in rank after a number of bit parts and, during her peak as a lead and second lead, appeared opposite a number of stars, including Bette Davis in June Bride (1948), Danny Kaye in The Inspector General (1949), Rory Calhoun in I'd Climb the Highest Mountain (1951), and even Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis in their comedy,The Caddy (1953) just to name a few.
Much of Barbara's work in the above films was routine. Barbara's on-and-off-screen life started unraveling not long afterward. Succumbing to extreme mood shifts, insecurity, ill health and chronic depression to the point of being taken off important film assignments. By age 30, the promise she had once shown was no longer considered, and she and her husband Coen, who made all of Barbara's decisions for her, tried to salvage her career in England.
Things looked promising at first, when she was picked up by the Rank Organisation and co-starred with John Mills and Michael Craig in a couple of dramatic suspense films, but the films were mediocre. She again started showing signs of instability to the point where she was dropped from 2 films and the Rank Organisation was forced to drop her.
The couple returned to Hollywood, where old friend Rory Calhoun cast her in a picture he was producing and starring in called Apache Territory (1958).
Emotionally unable to withstand the pressures of Hollywood any more, Barbara abandoned her career, save for an appearance in The Loaded Tourist (1962),starring Roger Moore.
Nothing was heard of Barbara until her March 1969 death. It was learned she'd returned to her hometown of Denver and worked in various jobs, including stints as a secretary, dental assistant and hospital aide. Her much older husband and chief supporter, Cecil Coan, died of cancer in January 1967, and Barbara fell apart.
Although she remarried in December of 1968 to a childhood friend, sportscaster William Reed, she remained increasingly despondent. She committed suicide just 4 months later. She was found dead in her car by her mother in her mother's garage of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Interestingly, the one role she'll always be identified with is also one of the smallest parts given her during her brief tenure as leading lady.
In the very last scene of All About Eve (1950). Barbara turns up in the role of Phoebe, a devious school girl and wannabe actress who shows startling promise as a future schemer along the lines of her equally ruthless idol, Eve Harrington, superbly played by Anne Baxter.
Barbara's image is enshrined in the picture's very last scene - posing in front of a 3-way mirror while clutching Baxter's just-received acting award. It's this brief, moment for which she'll best be remembered.