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Steven P. Hamm is an American film actor known for Crisis in the Valley, Taken Over and Acts of Violence. After graduation from high school, he joined the Army as a helicopter mechanic. He eventually applied for and was accepted into rotary wing flight school and subsequently earned his flight wings. After multiple overseas deployments, including Iraq and Afghanistan, Steve decided to officially retire after 23 1/2 years. When Steve isn't on a film set, he is working as a Lifeflight helicopter pilot. Steve's breakout in film was a supporting role as "Anthony King" in the independent project "Crisis in the Valley". He since has been cast in numerous independent and commercial projects including a YouTube science fiction web-series known as"Cold Blooded" where he plays "Dr. Bradley"- Producer
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- Gilbert Francis Lani Damian Kauhi was born on October 17, 1937 on the Big Island of Hawaii. He was better known by the nickname his classmates gave him in high school, "Zulu". His most famous role was that of "Detective Kono Kalakaua" on the hit TV series, Hawaii Five-O (1968). The show helped launch a successful nightclub career. In 1971, he signed a 2.5 million contract to appear at C'est Si Bon Showroom in the Pagoda Hotel and Restaurant. After leaving Hawaii Five-O (1968), he wound up as a headliner for several years at Duke Kahanamoukou's in the International Market Place. After he left there in 1972, he performed at neighbor island hotels and did benefits. He even changed the spelling of his name to "Zoulou", saying it was the French Tahitian spelling. He eventually became a promotions manager for an automotive operation. He died in Hilo, Hawaii on May 3, 2004.
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- Actor
By August of 1994, Craig Ferguson was established as one of Great Britain's leading comedians - he had just had huge success at the Edinburgh Festival. In January 1995 he moved to Los Angeles where he now works as an actor-writer-director-producer-creator.- Tarzan "The Wonder Horse" was a star of Movies, Circus, and Rodeo.
When Ken Maynard bought Tarzan around 1925 for $50 in Newhall, California, he found his perfect co-star. Tarzan received billing in many of Maynard's movies from then on.
Ken named his prize steed Tarzan after the fictional hero of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels. This angered Burroughs, who sued Maynard. Ken settled out of court on the condition that his stallion be called Tarzan, The Wonder Horse.
To the delight of Buckaroos, young and old, Tarzan, The Wonder Horse was prominently listed on posters, lobby cards and in comic books for the next 15 years. He often had more screen time than the other co-stars in a Maynard Western. Of course, Tarzan was a better actor than many of them. The Wonder horse was a splendid horse, amazingly intelligent, and clever. The half Arabian and half American Saddle horse was strong and beautiful. Ken had an exceptional rapport with his prize mount. Maynard taught the horse all kinds of tricks that have never been duplicated in the movies.
Tarzan's film career began in earnest with the 1927 production of "Somewhere in Sonora" and lasted until his death in 1940. His last role was in "Lighting Strikes the Range." When Tarzan died, Ken was overwhelmed and his career, already confined to poverty row movies, took a nosedive. Tarzan was buried in a defunct stable in Hollywood Hills. His grave was lost to development, but his star will always shine bright. - Actor
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American actor who began as a child in Our Gang comedies and reappeared as a powerful adult performer of leading and character roles. Born in New Jersey, the young Mickey Gubitosi won a role in MGM's Our Gang series at the age of 5. As one of the more prominent children in the Gang, he gained attention for his cute good looks and his lovable, if somewhat melancholy, personality.
In 1940 he took on the stage name Bobby Blake (though he continued to use the name Mickey Gubitosi in the Our Gang series for another three years) and began playing child roles in a wide range of films. He gained a good deal of fame as the Indian sidekick Little Beaver in the Red Ryder series of Westerns. Though roles were sporadic as he grew to manhood, he was never long off the screen (except for a period of military service, 1954-56). But despite some fine work in films like Pork Chop Hill (1959) and Town Without Pity (1961), his career did not take off until his stunning portrayal of killer Perry Smith in In Cold Blood (1967). A number of telling performances in films of the next decade, stardom in a popular television series (Baretta (1975), and several ruefully comic appearances as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) made him a popular figure even as his personal difficulties increased.
Consumed with anger over his treatment by his family and the studio as a child, he denigrated his early work, suffered bouts of difficulty with drugs, and became known as a difficult, perfectionist person to work with. He quit his successful TV series Hell Town (1985) when his personal demons became overwhelming. After a self-imposed exile of nearly eight years, during which he struggled to right his life, he successfully returned to films and television work, appearing renewed and more confident in himself and his work.
In 2001, though, the murder of his wife, Bonnie Bakley, thrust Blake into the limelight in a different way. Admittedly having married Bakley through the coercion of her pregnancy, a routine Bakley had apparently tried with various other celebrities, Blake made no denial of his distaste for the woman, but was by all accounts thrilled with the daughter born to them. Blake was arrested for his wife's murder, but the presumption of innocence trumped when jurors didn't believe what they thought was flimsy evidence, and Blake was acquitted in a trial that made worldwide headlines. Reportedly broke from legal costs, Blake indicated hopefulness that he might be allowed to return to acting work.- Music Artist
- Actor
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Sting was born Gordon Matthew Sumner on 2 October, 1951 in Wallsend, North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, the eldest of four children of Audrey (Cowell), a hairdresser, and Ernest Matthew Sumner, an engineer and milkman. He received his name from a striped sweater he wore which looked like a bee. He grew up in the turmoil of the ship-building industry and wanted to become a musician very early. He played cruise ships, backing strippers in cabarets, and developed a love for the bass guitar. Having played in jazz/rock bands like "Last Exit" and other various groups, including a dixieland jazz group, he settled down with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers for a decade-long tenure with the smashing rock trio, The Police.
In 1984, he went on to record solo albums, and holds a reputation as one of the most literate songwriters and talented musicians in the world. He has also delved into acting, having starred in such films as Quadrophenia (1979), Radio On (1979), Plenty (1985), Julia and Julia (1987) (aka Julia and Julia), Dune (1984), Bring on the Night (1985) (a documentary about the formation of his Blue Turtles jazz group), most recently, Gentlemen Don't Eat Poets (1995), where he plays a bisexual, conniving butler.
He received an honorary Doctorate of Music degree from Northumbria University in October 1992, and from Berklee College of Music in May 1994. He plays guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, piano, harmonica, saxophone and pan-flute, and he gave a name to his bass (Brian).
Sting is married to film producer Trudie Styler, and has six children with Trudie and ex-wife, actress Frances Tomelty. Sting owns a Jacobian castle in Wiltshire, which he calls "Lake House", where he records his albums, as well as a place in London, an apartment in New York, a place on the beach in Malibu, California, and a Renaissance Florentine Villa called "Palagio" in Figline Valdarno, Tuscany, Italy. Along with his wife Trudie and a Brazilian Indian, he started the Rainforest Foundation in 1989 to help save rainforests.- Writer
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Julia Whitty is known for Blue Reef Adventures (1996), Common Marine Life (1992) and Nature's Greatest Moments (1999).- Actor
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George Denis Patrick Carlin was born and raised in Manhattan, New York City, to Mary (Bearey), a secretary, and Patrick John Carlin, an advertising manager for The Sun; they had met while working in marketing. His father was from Donegal, Ireland, and his mother was Irish-American. His parents divorced when he was two months old, and he was raised by his mother. The long hours the mother worked left the young George by himself for long hours every day, providing him (in his own words), the time he needed to think about various subjects, listen to radio, and practice his impersonations, that where acclaimed by his mother and coworkers since an early age. Carlin started out as a conventional comedian and had achieved a fair degree of success as a Bill Cosby style raconteur in nightclubs and on TV until the late 1960s, when he radically overhauled his persona. His routines became more insightful, introducing more serious subjects. As he aged, he became more cynic and bitter, unintentionally changing his stage persona again in a radical way throughout the '90s. This new George Carlin, usually referred to as the late George Carlin, is one of the most acclaimed and enjoyed by the public and critics. Carlin's forte is Lenny Bruce-style social and political commentary, spiced with nihilistic observations about people and religion peppered with black humor. He is also noted for his masterful knowledge and use of the English language. Carlin's notorious "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine was part of a radio censorship case that made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1978.- Music Department
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Comedian, actor, composer and conductor, educated in New York public schools. He was a master of ceremonies in amateur shows, a carnival barker, daredevil driver and a disc jockey, and later a comedian in night clubs. By the mid-1950s he had turned to writing original music and recording a series of popular and best-selling albums with his orchestra for Capitol Records. Joining ASCAP in 1953, his instrumental compositions include "Melancholy Serenade", "Glamour", "Lover's Rhapsody", "On the Beach" and "To a Sleeping Beauty", among numerous others.- Princess Diana was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, and the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry. Diana's activism and glamour made her an international icon and earned her an enduring popularity.
Diana was born into the British nobility and grew up close to the royal family on their Sandringham estate. She did not distinguish herself academically, but was talented in music, dance, and sports.
Diana came to prominence in 1981 upon her engagement to Prince Charles, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, after a brief courtship. Their wedding took place at St Paul's Cathedral in 1981 and made her Princess of Wales, a role in which she was enthusiastically received by the public. The couple had two sons, the princes William and Harry, who were then second and third in the line of succession to the British throne. The couple separated in 1992, soon after the breakdown of their relationship became public knowledge. The details of their marital difficulties became increasingly publicized, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1996.
As Princess of Wales, Diana undertook royal duties on behalf of the Queen and represented her at functions across the Commonwealth realms. She was celebrated in the media for her unconventional approach to charity work. Her patronages initially centered on children and youth but she later became known for her involvement with AIDS patients and campaign for the removal of landmines. She also raised awareness and advocated ways to help people affected with cancer and mental illness. Considered to be very photogenic, she was a leader of fashion in the 1980s and 1990s. Media attention and public mourning were extensive after her death in a car crash in a Paris tunnel in 1997 and televised funeral. Her legacy has had a deep impact on the royal family and British society. - Actor
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A natural at portraying complex villains, anti-heroes, and charming heavies, Ian McShane is the classically trained, award-winning actor who has grabbed attention and acclaim from audiences and critics around the world with his unforgettable gallery of scoundrels, kings, mobsters and thugs.
And, now, a god as well!
McShane just completed his third season (as star and executive producer) on the hit Starz series, "American Gods," the TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel. As Mr. Wednesday, a shifty, silver-tongued conman, he masks his true identity - that of the Norse god of war, Odin, who's assembling a team of elders to bring down the new false idols. A series McShane calls "like nothing else I've seen on television."
It's a comment that also befits McShane's critically-acclaimed role of the charismatic, menacing and lawless 19th century brothel-and-bar keep, Al Swearengen, in the profound and profane HBO western series "Deadwood," which ran for just 36 episodes over three seasons from 2004-06. For his work on the series' second season, McShane won the 2005 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Drama (in addition to Emmy and Screen Actors Guild nominations as Outstanding Lead Dramatic Actor). He also received the Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Drama for his work in the show's debut season (with a second nomination in 2005).
It is a role and performance the New York Times dubbed "one of the most interesting villains on television." And, a recent online poll called Swearengen a more compelling onscreen gangster over the likes of Tony Soprano and Michael Corleone. After a twelve-year hiatus from portraying maybe his most iconic character ("it was the most satisfyingly creative three years of my professional career" he says), McShane recently reprised the unforgettable rogue when HBO resurrected the 1870s western in a two-hour telefilm, "Deadwood: The Movie," nominated for the Outstanding Television Movie Emmy.
At an age when many successful thespians turn to cameo appearances and character parts, McShane's busy career (which dates back to 1962) also includes three very different starring roles on the big screen. He was seen alongside David Harbour in Neil Marshall's reimagined comic book epic, "Hellboy." McShane also co-starred with Gary Carr in the Dan Pritzker drama, "Bolden," the biopic of musician Buddy Bolden, the father of jazz and a key figure in the development of ragtime music (McShane portrays Bolden's nemesis, Judge Perry). And, he reprised his role (reuniting with Keanu Reeves) as Winston, the suave and charming owner of the assassins-only Tribeca hotel in the latest installment of director Chad Stahelski's action trilogy, "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum," which opened to enormous box office success.
Years before his triumphant role in "Deadwood," McShane had compiled a long and diverse career on both British and American television. He produced and starred in the acclaimed series "Lovejoy" for the BBC (and A&E in the U.S.), directing several episodes during the show's lengthy run. The popular Sunday night drama (which attracted 18 million viewers weekly during its run from 1990-94) saw McShane in the title role of an irresistible, roguish Suffolk antiques dealer. He would reunite with the BBC by producing and starring in the darker and more serious drama, Madson.
He collected a second Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Miniseries for his portrayal of the scheming Waleran Bigod in Starz's Emmy-nominated "Pillars of the Earth." The production, which originated on the U.K.'s Channel 4, was based on Ken Follett's bestselling historic novel about the building of a 12th-century cathedral during the time known as "the Anarchy" after King Henry I had lost his only son in the White Ship disaster of 1120. It's a character McShane says "would fit into the Vatican."
He is also well-known to TV audiences for his roles in FX's "American Horror Story," Showtime's "Ray Donovan" and, more recently, Amazon's "Dr. Thorne" and HBO's juggernaut, "Game of Thrones" ("I loved the character and did it because my three grandkids, big fans of the show, wouldn't have forgiven me if I hadn't"). And, he first worked with "American Gods" producer Michael Green on the short-lived NBC drama, "Kings," a show (inspired by The Book Of Samuel) he calls "far too revolutionary for network television."
Other notable small screen roles include his appearance in David Wolper's landmark miniseries "Roots" (as the British cockfighting aficionado), "Whose Life Is it Anyway?," Heathcliff in the 1967 miniseries "Wuthering Heights" and Harold Pinter's Emmy-winning "The Caretaker." McShane has also played a variety of real-life subjects like Sejanus in the miniseries "A.D.," the title role of Masterpiece Theater's "Disraeli: Portrait of A Romantic" and Judas in NBC's "Jesus of Nazareth" (directed by Franco Zeffirelli).
McShane, who shows no signs of slowing down in a career now entrenched in its sixth decade ("acting is the only business where the older you get, the parts and the pay get better"), began his career during Britain's New Wave Cinema of the early 1960s. He landed his first lead role in the 1962 English feature "The Wild and the Willing," which also starred another acting upstart and fellow Brit - McShane's lifelong friend, the late John Hurt. McShane later revealed that he had ditched class at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to audition for the role.
Since that 1962 motion picture debut, McShane has enjoyed a fabulous run of character roles such as the sinister Cockney mobster, Teddy Bass, opposite Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley in "Sexy Beast"; the infamous pirate, Blackbeard, alongside Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"; and Richard Burton's bi-sexual partner, Wolfie, in the 1971 heist film, "Villain." He gave Hayley Mills her first onscreen kiss as a smoldering gypsy in 1965's "Sky West and Crooked," was part of the stellar ensemble cast (James Mason, James Coburn, Dyan Cannon) in the Stephen Sondheim-Anthony Perkins scripted big screen mystery, "The Last of Sheila," and played a retired sheriff with a violent past opposite Patrick Wilson in the gritty drama, "The Hollow Point."
Other film credits include Guy Hamilton's all-star WWII epic, "The Battle of Britain," the romantic comedy "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium," "Pottersville," "Hercules," "Snow White and the Huntsman" and "Jawbone" (reuniting with fellow Brit Ray Winstone in both), "Jack the Giant Slayer," Woody Allen's "Scoop," Rodrigo Garcia's indie drama "Nine Lives" (Gotham Award nominee for Best Ensemble Performance) and the darkly perverse crime drama, "44 Inch Chest," a film in which McShane not only starred, but also produced.
While also making his professional theatre debut in 1962 ("Infanticide in the House of Fred August," Arts Theatre, London), McShane appeared onstage in the original 1965 production of Joe Orton's "Loot." Two years later, he starred alongside Ian McKellen and Judi Dench in the hit stage play, "The Promise," a production which transferred to Broadway in 1967 (with Eileen Atkins replacing Dench). He would return to Broadway one more time forty years later (2008), starring in the 40th anniversary staging of Harold Pinter's "The Homecoming," for which he shared a Drama Desk Award as Best Cast Ensemble.
McShane also returned to the West End boards in 2000, charming audiences as the seductive, sex-obsessed Darryl Van Horne while making his musical stage debut in Cameron Mackintosh's "The Witches of Eastwick," an adaptation of the 1987 film. At the esteemed Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles, he appeared in Harold Pinter's "Betrayal," and John Osborne's "Inadmissible Evidence," earning a pair of Los Angeles Drama Critics' Awards for Lead Performance in the process. He also starred in the world premiere of Larry Atlas' "Yield of the Long Bond."
In addition to his work in front of the camera, McShane is also well-known for his voiceover work, with his low, distinctive baritone on display in a variety of projects. He voiced the eccentric magician, Mr. Bobinsky, in Henry Selick's award nominated "Coraline" (scripted by "American Gods" author Neil Gaiman), lent a sinister air to Tai Lung, the snow leopard adept at martial arts, in "Kung Fu Panda" (Annie Award nominee), and created the notorious Captain Hook in "Shrek the Third." He also narrated Grace Jones' 1985 album, Slave to the Rhythm, succumbing to producer Trevor Horn's request to take the job because, per Horn," Orson Welles was dead, and I needed a voice." The album sold over a million copies worldwide. In the virtual reality domain, he recently lent his voice to the award- winning VR animated short "Age of Sail" in the role of the elderly sailor, William Avery, adrift alone in the North Atlantic.
After almost sixty years entertaining audiences across the performance spectrum, McShane admits he did not set out for a career in the footlights while growing up in Manchester, England (he was actually born in Blackburn). It was by unexpected circumstances after McShane broke his leg playing soccer that he ended up performing in the school play production of Cyrano De Bergerac where he met his life-long friend and teacher, Leslie Ryder. Before he knew it, he auditioned for the Royal Academy of Arts where he was accepted and then left a term early to appear in the film, "The Wild and The Willing".
McShane never looked back.- Actress
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Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson in the Chelsea section of Manhattan on November 13, 1955. Her mother, Emma (Harris), was a teacher and a nurse, and her father, Robert James Johnson, Jr., was a clergyman. Whoopi's recent ancestors were from Georgia, Florida, and Virginia. She worked in a funeral parlor and as a bricklayer while taking small parts on Broadway. She moved to California and worked with improv groups, including Spontaneous Combustion, and developed her skills as a stand-up comedienne. Goldberg came to prominence doing an HBO special and a one-woman show as Moms Mabley. She has been known in her prosperous career as a unique and socially conscious talent with articulately liberal views. Among her boyfriends were Ted Danson and Frank Langella. Goldberg was married three times and was once addicted to drugs.
Goldberg had her first big film starring role in The Color Purple (1985). She received much critical acclaim, and an Oscar nomination for her role and became a major star as a result. Subsequent efforts in the late 1980s were, at best, marginal hits. These movies mostly were off-beat to formulaic comedies like Burglar (1987), The Telephone (1988) and Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986). She made her mark as a household name and a mainstay in Hollywood for her Oscar-winning role in the box office smash Ghost (1990). Whoopi Goldberg was at her most famous in the early 1990s, making regular appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). She admitted to being a huge fan of the original Star Trek (1966) series and jumped at the opportunity to star in "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
Goldberg received another smash hit role in Sister Act (1992). Her fish-out-of-water with some flash seemed to resonate with audiences and it was a box office smash. Whoopi starred in some highly publicized and moderately successful comedies of this time, including Made in America (1993) and Soapdish (1991). Goldberg followed up to her success with Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), which was well-received but did not seem to match up to the first.
As the late 1990s approached, Goldberg seemed to alternate between lead roles in straight comedies such as Eddie (1996) and The Associate (1996), and took supporting parts in more independent minded movies, such as The Deep End of the Ocean (1999) and How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998). Goldberg never forgot where she came from, hosting many tributes to other legendary entertainment figures. Her most recent movies include Rat Race (2001) and the quietly received Kingdom Come (2001). Goldberg contributes her voice to many cartoons, including The Pagemaster (1994) and Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990), as Gaia, the voice of the earth. Alternating between big-budget movies, independent movies, tributes, documentaries, and even television movies (including Theodore Rex (1995)).
Whoopi is accredited as a truly unique and visible talent in Hollywood. Perhaps she will always be remembered as well for Comic Relief, playing an integral part in almost every benefit concert they had. Whoopi is also the center square in Hollywood Squares (1998), sometimes hosts the Academy Awards, and is an author, with the book "Book."- Producer
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Actor, father, motorbike fanatic: Charley Boorman is the epitome of the modern adventurer in pursuit of fresh challenges away from the success of his personal life. Choosing two wheels as his preferred mode of transport, Charley harnessed the challenges of a 'round the World trip with Ewan McGregor. Now his sights are set on the unyielding sands of the desert.
Charley Boorman has been riding motorcycles since he was seven years old. The son of renowned film director John Boorman, he grew up on a farm in Ireland and used to ride through the fields on his first motorbike and took part in schoolboy motor cross and Enduro races. The bike bug remained with Charley and, for four years, he ran a motorcycle race team and spent the years riding with David Jeffries and Matt Llewelyn.
In 2004, Charley and his best mate Ewan McGregor came up with the madcap idea of circumnavigating the globe on motorbikes. After months of intense preparations when at times, it looked like the project would not get off the ground, the pair set off from London in April 2004.
Over the next three grueling months, they traveled through three continents and fifteen countries. Long Way Round (2004) was the realisation of a dream born out of two friends' love of motorbikes, the freedom of the open road, and the adrenaline rush of an extreme challenge. Their entire journey was filmed for Long Way Round (2004), a unique television series that was broadcast on Sky One in the UK and Bravo (USA) and spawned a best-selling DVD, book and CD soundtrack. It has now sold the world over into many territories including Australia, Canada, Japan, France, Spain, and Italy.
Following the overwhelming success of Long Way Round (2004), Charley has become an icon in the motorcycling world. On the Long Way Round (2004), UK Tour Charley visited motorcycle and adventure exhibitions plus BMW dealerships across the UK to talk about his adventures. Each event was a sell-out as crowds flocked to catch a glimpse of Charley and have their book or DVD signed. A similar tour of the southern hemisphere is to take place this winter.
Next up, Charley is taking on the desert with one of the World's harshest challenges: the Lisbon-Dakar Rally. This is not just a race out of Europe via the Iberian Peninsula and down through West Africa. This is one of the most physically and emotionally demanding battles across inhospitable terrain, alone, to achieve the impossible. But for Charley, it is, as for many others, one of the most romantic and dangerous races known to man.
It remains the only race open to both amateur and professional bikers and for a first time participant like Charley, finishing the race in Dakar will be the ultimate goal.- Actor
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Ewan Gordon McGregor was born on March 31, 1971 in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland, to Carol Diane (Lawson) and James Charles McGregor, both teachers. His uncle is actor Denis Lawson. He was raised in Crieff. At age 16, he left Morrison Academy to join the Perth Repertory Theatre. His parents encouraged him to leave school and pursue his acting goals rather than be unhappy. McGregor studied drama for a year at Kirkcaldly in Fife, then enrolled at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama for a three-year course. He studied alongside Daniel Craig and Alistair McGowan, among others, and left right before graduating after snagging the role of Private Mick Hopper in Dennis Potter's six-part Channel 4 series Lipstick on Your Collar (1993). His first notable role was that of Alex Law in Shallow Grave (1994), directed by Danny Boyle, written by John Hodge and produced by Andrew Macdonald. This was followed by The Pillow Book (1995) and Trainspotting (1996), the latter of which brought him to the public's attention.
He is now one of the most critically acclaimed actors of his generation, and portrays Obi-Wan Kenobi in the first three Star Wars episodes. McGregor is married to French production designer Eve Mavrakis, whom he met while working on the television series Kavanagh QC (1995). They married in France in the summer of 1995, and have four daughters. McGregor formed a production company, with friends Jonny Lee Miller, Sean Pertwee, Jude Law, Sadie Frost, Damon Bryant, Bradley Adams and Geoff Deehan, called "Natural Nylon", and hoped it would make innovative films that do not conform to Hollywood standards. McGregor and Bryant left the company in 2002. He was awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to drama and charity.
Ewan made his directorial debut with American Pastoral (2016), an adaptation of Philip Roth's book, in which Ewan also starred.
In 2018 McGregor won an Golden Globe for his work in the TV Series Fargo.- Actor
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Laconic, dark and handsome were the essential attributes for Hollywood western leading men in the 50s and 60s. James Drury fit the bill, keeping in mind that his most famous screen persona - that of the stalwart Shiloh estate ranch foreman known only as 'the Virginian' - took a while to properly develop. In the original 30-minute pilot way back in 1958, the Virginian appeared rather more like a genteel dandy than a tough cowboy. Four years later, the NBC network approved a revamped version of the series and Drury, now looking the part, was on his way to popular success. Though his career may have fallen short of outright stardom, he endeared himself with TV audiences for almost a decade and went on to enjoy a fair cult status beyond the final episode of The Virginian (1962) in March 1971.
James Child Drury was born not in the American West, but in New York, the son of Beatrice (Crawford) and James Child Drury. His father, from an Irish family, was a professor who lectured in marketing and advertising at New York University. Young James spent some of his formative years on a family ranch in Salem, Oregon, where he learned to become an expert rider. His maternal grandfather, John Hezekiah Crawford, of Kentucky, educated him in the ways of the woodsman and taught him marksmanship. James began to act in school plays, toured with a theatrical company by the age of twelve and then studied drama at his father's university. Curiously, he completed his senior year at UCLA studying not acting but horticulture and animal husbandry. Upon graduation, he was signed to a contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and made his first screen appearance a year later in 1955. Aside from playing junior army officers and assorted teenagers in films for 20th Century Fox and Disney, Drury quickly found a comfortable niche in TV westerns (which, no doubt, had much to do with his expertise in horsemanship). He had guest appearances in just about all the famous ones: The Texan (1958), Bronco (1958), Have Gun - Will Travel (1957), Lawman (1958), Cheyenne (1955), Gunsmoke (1955), Rawhide (1959) and Wagon Train (1957). He also made the little seen, yet unsold pilot for The Virginian. A strong performance as one of a quartet of villainous brothers in Sam Peckinpah's seminal western Ride the High Country (1962) led to a seven-year contract with Universal. He (along with Doug McClure) auditioned for their respective roles in The Virginian soon after, finding out that the parts were indeed theirs just two days prior to shooting. In 1966, Drury fronted a band, the Wilshire Buffalo Hunters, touring Vietnam for three weeks as part of the USO.
Despondent after The Virginian ended its run, Drury played a sheriff in the pilot for the comedy western series Alias Smith and Jones (1971) and then starred in Firehouse (1974), a short-lived ABC adventure drama set at a Los Angeles fire station. After the cancellation of Firehouse, Drury seemed to become even more disheartened and made only a few more sporadic TV appearances thereafter. However, he managed to reinvent himself as a successful businessman, first as co-owner of a ranch raising Appaloosa horses (his steed in The Virginian had been a white Appaloosa named Joe D), then as proprietor of a company recycling asphalt, and latterly, having moved to Texas, in the oil and natural gas business. He was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers in 1991.
James Drury died from natural causes on April 6, 2020, in Houston, Texas. He was 85.- Writer
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Luc Besson spent the first years of his life following his parents, scuba diving instructors, around the world. His early life was entirely aquatic. He already showed amazing creativity as a youth, writing early drafts of The Big Blue (1988) and The Fifth Element (1997), as an adolescent bored in school. He planned on becoming a marine biologist specializing in dolphins until a diving accident at age 17 which rendered him unable to dive any longer. He moved back to Paris, where he was born, and only at age 18 did he first have an urban life or television. He realized that film was a medium which he could combine all his interests in various arts together, so he began taking odd jobs on various films. He moved to America for three years, then returned to France and formed Les Films de Loups - his own production company, which later changed its name to Les Films de Dauphins. He is now able to dive again.- Actor
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Garrett McNamara is known for GMac Big Wave Attack: North Canyon (2012), ZON North Canyon Show 2011: Nazare Calling (2012) and Pipe (2011).- Writer
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- Music Department
For the past twenty years, award-winning creator, executive producer and writer Chuck Lorre has conquered the entertainment industry with hit shows like Grace Under Fire (1993), Dharma & Greg (1997), Roseanne (1988) and Cybill (1995) as well as the number 1 comedy on television and four year People's Choice Award winner, Two and a Half Men (2003) and sophomore series The Big Bang Theory (2007). A native of Long Island, Lorre got his start as a guitarist/singer, touring the country and writing several hundred pop songs that, as he puts it, "helped keep him out of the big time" (Debbie Harry's top 40 hit "French Kissin' in the USA" being the lone exception). After more than a decade on the road, Lorre decided to turn his attention to television. He began writing animation scripts for DIC and Marvel Productions, as well as writing and producing the themes and scores for such animated series as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987).
A spec primetime script soon led to freelance work on the syndicated comedy Charles in Charge (1984) and eventually to a staff job on the NBC sitcom My Two Dads (1987), starring Paul Reiser. Lorre's big break came in 1991, when he became a supervising producer on the ABC/Carsey-Werner hit comedy Roseanne (1988). Over the next two seasons, during which he was upped to co-executive producer, Lorre helped bring the show to the height of its critical and popular acclaim, shattering one sacred cow after another in the process.
Since then, Lorre has dominated network television by single-handedly keeping the multi-camera sitcom alive in creating hit series that generate mass appeal. He continues to break television records with Two and a Half Men (2003) as it is the number one off-network sitcom in syndication for the 2007-2008 season among households, which consistently ranks number one on a weekly basis and is the fastest-growing A-tier sitcom in syndication history since the introduction of barter ratings in the 1988-89 season. During this season, the rebroadcast of the show has delivered more viewers than first-run episodes of nearly every other sitcom. He is also responsible for creating an online buzz when he established the unprecedented idea to illustrate his thoughts by airing messages for a split second on his vanity card at the end of his shows.
In January 2009, Lorre kicked off the New Year when he was honored with the NATPE Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award for exhibiting extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the process of creating television programming and in evoking the spirit of Brandon Tartikoff's generosity. In February, Lorre was presented with the 2009 Television Showman of the Year Award at the 46th Annual ICG Publicists Awards Ceremony, which recognizes individuals whose creative accomplishments reflect the finest qualities of what has traditionally been defined as showmanship. In March 2009, Lorre was awarded with his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his life-long contribution of both public and peer appreciation that has forever added to the entertainment industry. Lorre will also be presented with the David Angell Humanitarian Award on behalf of the American Screenwriters Association for demonstrating his charitable efforts at the Venice Family Clinic. The David Angell Humanitarian Award is presented to an individual in the entertainment industry who contributes to global well being through their donation of time, expertise, or other support to improve the human condition. This award is an annual reminder of David Angell's legacy of kindness and selflessness, and a celebration of friends and colleagues in the entertainment industry who share those gifts.- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Donald P. Bellisario was born in North Charleroi in Pennsylvania. His father ran the tavern, where he grew up listening to the war stories of vets returning from WWII. He had a fifteen-year career in advertising before moving to Hollywood. He broke into television as the story editor for Black Sheep Squadron (1976). His most celebrated works to date are NCIS (2003), Magnum, P.I. (1980), Quantum Leap (1989), and JAG (1995). He has been married four times, and has seven children (one of whom is deceased), two stepchildren, and eight grandchildren.- Producer
- Writer
- Actor
Taika Waititi, also known as Taika Cohen, hails from the Raukokore region of the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand, and is the son of Robin (Cohen), a teacher, and Taika Waititi, an artist and farmer. His father is Maori (Te-Whanau-a-Apanui), and his mother is of Ashkenazi Jewish, Irish, Scottish, and English descent. Taika has been involved in the film industry for several years, initially as an actor, and now focusing on writing and directing.
Two Cars, One Night is Taika's first professional film-making effort and since its completion in 2003 he has finished another short "Tama Tu" about a group of Maori Soldiers in Italy during World War 2. As a performer and comedian, Taika has been involved in some of the most innovative and successful original productions seen in New Zealand. He regularly does stand-up gigs in and around the country and in 2004 launched his solo production, "Taika's Incredible Show". In 2005 he staged the sequel, "Taika's Incrediblerer Show". As an actor, Taika has been critically acclaimed for both his Comedic and Dramatic abilities. In 2000 he was nominated for Best Actor at the Nokia Film Awards for his role in the Sarkies Brother's film "Scarfies".
Taika is also an experienced painter and photographer, having exhibited both mediums in Wellington and Berlin, and a fashion designer. He attended the Sundance Writers Lab with "Choice", a feature loosely based on "Two Cars, One Night".
Taika became a blockbuster director with his film Thor: Ragnarok (2017), and received critical acclaim, and a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, for his film Jojo Rabbit (2019).- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Offbeat funnyman Martin Mull was born on August 18, 1943, in Chicago, Illinois, the oldest of three children of Betty, an actress and director, and Harold Mull, a carpenter. He was raised in Ohio. The blond-maned, blue-eyed comedian with the sad, droopy mustache first came in contact with the arts by honing in on his innate talents as a painter. In order to pay his art school tuition, he started organizing bands. At around the same time, he discovered that stand-up comedy was another way to allow his creative juices to flow.
Martin's early recognition as a humorist led to a recording contract, and, over the years, he would be Grammy-nominated several times for a number of eccentric comedy albums. His gimmick and allure came in the form of a dry, humorless delivery and a bland, highly conservative-looking demeanor, which masked a sly, witty and ultra-hip philosophy.
Gaining popularity in the 1970s, he finally broke into TV with the cult soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976) in which he played Garth Gimble, a volatile wife abuser whose comeuppance occurred in the form of an aluminum Christmas tree (impaled) in his home closet. Martin was so popular on the show that he was resurrected in the spin-off series Fernwood Tonight (1977) as twin brother Barth Gimble, who was a co-host of the town's television program along with Fred Willard's Jerry Hubbard character.
After this peak, Martin became a sought-after guest on the talk show circuit, not to mention variety specials and TV movies. He tried his hand at producing and starring in his own sitcom Domestic Life (1984) but the series failed. He also added his special brand of merriment to films over the years, some of them being decent, such as FM (1978), Serial (1980), Mr. Mom (1983) and Clue (1985) in the role of the tweedy-looking Colonel Mustard, while most have been either formula schtick or just plain drivel, as in Take This Job and Shove It (1981), Rented Lips (1987), which he produced and wrote, Cutting Class (1989), Far Out Man (1990) with Cheech & Chong, and Mr. Write (1994).
Martin's extensive TV credits include starring roles in the comedy series His & Hers (1990) co-starring Stephanie Faracy as a fellow doctor; and The Jackie Thomas Show (1992) starring Tom Arnold; and recurring comedy roles including a restaurant boss in the hit "domestic goddess" series Roseanne (1988); a principal in Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996); a high school teacher in The Ellen Show (2001); plus 'Til Death (2006), Life in Pieces (2015), I'm Sorry (2017), Arrested Development (2003), The Cool Kids (2018) and The Ranch (2016). Martin has also lent his voice to the animated comedies Family Dog (1993), Teamo Supremo (2002), Danny Phantom (2003) and American Dad! (2005). Millennium film credits include featured roles in The Year That Trembled (2002), Come Away Home (2005), Relative Strangers (2006), Killers (2010), And They're Off (2011) and A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018).
Martin's first passion has always been art and the distinguished multi-media artist's work has been showcased in galleries throughout the world. He also authored the book "Painting, Drawing and World," which is a compilation of ten years of his work. Mull is married to a composer and musician, Wendy, and they have a daughter, Maggie Mull.- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Thalmus Rasulala was born on 15 November 1936 in Miami, Florida, USA. He was an actor and assistant director, known for New Jack City (1991), Above the Law (1988) and The Last Hard Men (1976). He was married to Shirlyn Mozingo and Martha Roberts. He died on 9 October 1991 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.- Paula Kahumbu is known for Searching for Amani (2024), Secrets of the Elephants (2023) and The Last Animals (2017).
- Koko was born on 9 April 2005 in Dunolly, Victoria, Australia. He was an actor, known for Red Dog (2011), Koko: A Red Dog Story (2019) and Inside Film Awards (1999). He died on 18 December 2012 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Known outside her native country as the "Spanish enchantress," Penélope Cruz Sánchez was born in Madrid to Eduardo Cruz, a retailer, and Encarna Sánchez, a hairdresser. As a toddler, she was already a compulsive performer, re-enacting TV commercials for her family's amusement, but she decided to focus her energies on dance. After studying classical ballet for nine years at Spain's National Conservatory, she continued her training under a series of prominent dancers. At 15, however, she heeded her true calling when she bested more than 300 other girls at a talent agency audition. The resulting contract landed her several roles in Spanish TV shows and music videos, which in turn paved the way for a career on the big screen. Cruz made her movie debut in El laberinto griego (1993) (The Greek Labyrinth), then appeared briefly in the Timothy Dalton thriller Framed (1992). Her third film was the Oscar-winning Belle Epoque (1992), in which she played one of four sisters vying for the love of a handsome army deserter. The film also garnered several Goyas, the Spanish equivalent of the Academy Awards. Her resume continued to grow by three or four films each year, and soon Cruz was a leading lady of Spanish cinema. Live Flesh (1997) (Live Flesh) offered her the chance to work with renowned Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar (who would later be her ticket to international fame), and the same year she was the lead actress in the thriller/drama/mystery/sci-fi film Open Your Eyes (1997), a huge hit in Spain that earned eight Goyas (though none for Cruz). Her luck finally changed in 1998, when the movie-industry comedy The Girl of Your Dreams (1998) won her a Best Actress Goya. Cruz made a few more forays into English-language film, but her first big international hit was Almodóvar's All About My Mother (1999), in which she played an unchaste but well-meaning nun. As the film was showered with awards and accolades, Cruz suddenly found herself in demand on both sides of the Atlantic. Her next big project was Woman on Top (2000), an American comedy about a chef with bewitching culinary skills and a severe case of motion sickness. While in the US, she also signed up to star opposite Johnny Depp in the drug-trafficking drama Blow (2001) and opposite Matt Damon in Billy Bob Thornton's All the Pretty Horses (2000). Cruz says she's wary of being typecast as a beautiful young damsel, but it's hard to imagine disguising her wide-eyed charms and generous nature. Fortunately, with Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky (2001) (a remake of Open Your Eyes (1997)) and a John Madden collaboration looming in her future, Damsel Penelope isn't likely to disappear just yet.- Che was born in Flagstaff Arizona and is an enrolled tribal member of the Navajo Nation. As a youth he attended an arts school where he took theater and choir from elementary through his middle school years. He made his first on screen role at the age of 27 as the supporting character "Keith" in the horror movie "Dark Ground" by C&C filming productions. He later went on to film the movie "Heartland" by Big Picture Ranch productions in 2019 where he played the role of "Akicita" sharing the screen along side Irene Bedard, David Arquette, Mariel Hemingway and Amy Smart. Che landed his first lead role in 2021 in the movie "Glastenbury" where he plays the role of "Takota Powers" by Two Dogs filming productions. In his personal life Che has been known for his activism around indigenous environmentalism and his work as a indigenous cultural consultant in drug and alcohol sobriety programs and facilities across the country.
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- Additional Crew
- Writer
Actor/Community Leader and enrolled member of the Notoweega Nation. Dancing Elk Started dancing at 6, Professional Ballet Dancer at 16. Later he moved into Musical Theater and performing in National and International Productions, Television Commercials and Industrial's as well as Staged Plays. Dancing Elk is honored to have worked with some of the most known personalities and professionals in the industry. He has appeared in over 100 Theatrical and Television Productions. Acquiring many skills along the way, from Combat and Weapons to Roller Blading.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Stunts
David Midthunder is an enrolled tribal member at the Fort Peck Indian reservation in Montana. Midthunder graduated from Stewart Indian School in Nevada and went on to pursue a degree in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Utah. He is best known for playing the leading role of "Famous Shoes" in Larry McMurtry's Comanche Moon, and for playing "David Ridges", Longmire's nemesis on seasons 2 and 3 of Longmire. Outside of acting, Midthunder is known for his love of solo sports such as surfing, skateboarding, dirt biking, and horse riding.- Kerry Knuppe is an enrolled Oglala Lakota Sioux tribal member from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. She moved to Los Angeles after breaking into the film industry with her lead performance in SXSW Audience Award winner Skills Like This Skills Like This (2007). At the 2022 Red Nation Film Festival, Kerry won the Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role award for her lead performance in the film On Sacred Ground On Sacred Ground (2023) about the 2016 Standing Rock-Dakota Access Pipeline protest. Kerry's other recent film leads include Nicolas Cage Nicolas Cage's western The Old Way The Old Way (2023), Universal's RIPD 2: Rise of the Damned R.I.P.D. 2: Rise of the Damned (2022) with Jeffrey Donovan Jeffery Donaven, & All Those Small Things All Those Small Things (2021) with James Faulkner James Faulkner.
You can also find Kerry in Pachinko Pachinko (2022) as 'Mrs. Holmes' on Apple TV+, Criminal Minds: Evolution Criminal Minds (2005) as 'Ramona' on Paramount+, Harley Quinn Harley Quinn (2019) as 'Terra' on HBOMax, as well as Ryan Murphy Ryan Murphy's series Ratched Ratched (2020) as 'Doris Mayfair' and Hollywood Hollywood (2020) as 'Sally' on Netflix. Kerry is an Actor's Studio lifetime member and continues to study at the Actor's Studio West in Los Angeles. - Producer
- Director
- Writer
Travis Mills was born in Quito, Ecuador. He spent the majority of his early life abroad in Europe and Africa before returning to the United States. In the U.S., he settled in Arizona where he co-founded Running Wild Films in 2010 with playwright Gus Edwards. Since then, they have produced 25 feature films and more than 100 short film projects. In 2020, he completed production on his most ambitious project yet: 12 feature-length Western films in 12 Months. The next year, he published a book which is available on Amazon about this experience titled The Making of 12 Westerns: Or How I Made a Dozen Movies During a Global Pandemic and Survived. During 2021, Mills also collaborated with producer Dallas Sonnier on the Gina Carano-starring Western, Terror on the Prairie.- Chaske Spencer is an award-nominated actor who currently stars in Marvel Studios' new series ECHO as 'Henry "Black Crow" Lopez, Maya's (Alaqua Cox) well-intended uncle with ties to Fisk's (Vincent D'Onofrio) criminal underworld. His recent co-lead opposite Emily Blunt in Hugo Blick's limited series THE ENGLISH Amazon/BBC) garnered him critical acclaim including: BAFTA Awards and Royal Television Society (RTS) Programme Awards with a 2023 Leading Actor nomination and Outstanding Performance in a New Series nomination at the 2023 Gotham Awards. On the feature side, he starred in WILD INDIAN which premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival for which Chaske was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the 2022 Independent Spirit Awards.
Up next, Chaske stars in WIND RIVER: THE NEXT CHAPTER with Jason Clarke as well as the Peacock horror thriller TEACUP (executive produced by lan McCulloch, Atomic Monster's Wan, Michael Clear and Rob Hackett) alongside Yvonne Strahovski and Scott Speedman, inspired by Robert McCammon's novel Stinger.
When Chaske was young, he dreamt of becoming a photographer, but before long, he also found himself in front of the camera. Chaske moved to New York City and in between bartending and waiting tables, he was cast in his first off off-Broadway play, DRACULA, as the title role. He went on to perform at The Public Theater in NYC and The Roundabout, and soon was discovered by casting director Rene Haynes.
Chaske is well known for his portrayal of 'Sam Uley' in the Twilght Saga: New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn I and II. He starred in the Susanna White directed feature, WOMAN WALKS AHEAD, opposite Jessica Chastain and Sam Rockwell, which made its World Premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. His most notable television credits include: NatGeo's BARKSKINS, NBC's BLINDSPOT, Netflix's JESSICA JONES, the Emmy award-winning Cinemax series BANSHEE, A&E's LONGMIRE, and the Amazon series SNEAKY PETE with Bryan Cranston.
Chaske Spencer was born of the Lakota Sioux tribe, and raised on Indian Reservations in Montana and Idaho. - William Grew up on a reservation in the central British Columbia, Alkali Lake, BC later his Mother Marilyn and Father Dave, whom are both Residential School Surviviors, would move to Edmonton until William was in his preteens. Having moved back William started acting in local plays for his community and high-school. Williams first taste for acting for film came when he auditioned for a speaking role on a mini-series called "Dreamkeeper". Much later having achieved a partial scholarship, William would Honourably graduate his acting program at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Art. Upon Graduating William returned home to Vancouver, BC where he would book his first role in Twilight saga: Eclipse. -Williams proudest moment was working with Anthony Hopkins in 'Blackway'. "I remember it was one scene. In Vernon, BC a small town in my home province. Tony looked me dead in the eye and smiled 'good work.'" Since than he has learned he can swim with sharks with the likes of Ron Livingston, another idol in, Lorne Cardinal of Corner Gas, and even more recent, Sandra Bullock on an Untitled Project. -William has given back to his community teaching first nations youth in his community acting for Film and Telivision. "The teacher at Sxoxomic school is my cousin, I was briefly visiting home in Alkali Lake and she invited me to her class room to meet her students, I was not ready for that at all, but we adapted a short script from a Shuswap book, a week later we had a short film in the can... Well on an iPad. Wasn't much but they seemed to have a blast learning about writing, making acting choices, getting over fear, blocking, rehearsing, principle photography and editing. So we did a second film, I got a childhood friend of mine to help write it called "Making of a Warrior." Having adapted to a Covid era He's now developing a third project with the youth through Zoom. "We started with 4 actors and now we have 14 or so." William smiles. "2021 I'm celebrating my 15th year sober from Alcohol"
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- Camera and Electrical Department
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Zac Crouse is known for Paddle to the Ocean (2013).- Actor
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- Writer
Louis Diamond Phillips is an American actor and film director. His breakthrough came when he starred as Ritchie Valens in the biographical drama film La Bamba (1987). For Stand and Deliver (1988), Phillips was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won an Independent Spirit Award. Phillips made his Broadway debut with the 1996 revival of The King and I, earning a Tony Award nomination for his portrayal of King Mongkut of Siam. Phillips' other notable films include Young Guns (1988), Young Guns II (1990), Courage Under Fire (1996), The Big Hit (1998), Brokedown Palace (1999), Che (2008), and The 33 (2015). In the television series Longmire, he played a main character named Henry Standing Bear. He played New York City Police Lieutenant Gil Arroyo on Prodigal Son on FOX from 2019 to 2021.- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Steve Martin was born on August 14, 1945 in Waco, Texas, USA as Stephen Glenn Martin to Mary Lee (née Stewart; 1913-2002) and Glenn Vernon Martin (1914-1997), a real estate salesman and aspiring actor. He was raised in Inglewood and Garden Grove in California. In 1960, he got a job at the Magic shop of Disney's Fantasyland, and while there he learned magic, juggling, and creating balloon animals. At Santa Ana College, he took classes in drama and English poetry. He also took part in comedies and other productions at the Bird Cage Theatre, and joined a comedy troupe at Knott's Berry Farm. He attended California State University as a philosophy major, but in 1967 transferred to UCLA as a theatre major.
His writing career began on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967), winning him an Emmy Award. Between 1967 and 1973, he also wrote for many other shows, including The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (1969) and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (1971). He also appeared on talk shows and comedy shows in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1972, he first appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), doing stand-up several times each year, and even guest hosting a few years later. In 1976, he served for the first time as guest-host on Saturday Night Live (1975). By 2016, he has guest-hosted 15 times, which is one less than Alec Baldwin's record, and also appeared 12 other times on SNL.
In 1977, he released his first comedy album, a platinum selling "Let's Get Small". He followed it with "A Wild and Crazy Guy" (1978), which sold more than a million copies. Both albums went on to win Grammys for Best Comedy Recording. This is when he performed in arenas in front of tens of thousands of people, and begun his movie career, which was always his goal. His first major role was in the short film, The Absent-Minded Waiter (1977), which he also wrote. His star value was established in The Jerk (1979), which was co-written by Martin, and directed by Carl Reiner. The film earned more than $100 million on a $4 million budget. He also starred in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982), The Man with Two Brains (1983), and All of Me (1984), all directed by Reiner. To avoid being typecast as a comedian, he wanted do more dramatic roles, starring in Pennies from Heaven (1981), a film remake of Dennis Potter's 1978 series. Unfortunately, it was a financial failure.
He also starred in John Landis's Three Amigos! (1986), co-written by himself, opposite Martin Short and Chevy Chase. That year, he also appeared in the musical horror comedy, Little Shop of Horrors (1986) opposite Rick Moranis. Next year, he starred in Roxanne (1987), co-written by himself, and in John Hughes' Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), opposite John Candy. His other films include Parenthood (1989) and My Blue Heaven (1990), both opposite Moranis. In 1991, he wrote and starred in L.A. Story (1991), about a weatherman who searches meaning in his life and love in Los Angeles. It also starred his then-wife, Victoria Tennant. Same year, Father of the Bride (1991) was so successful that a 1995 sequel followed.
During the 1990s, he continued to play more dramatic roles, in Grand Canyon (1991), playing a traumatized movie producer, in Leap of Faith (1992), playing a fake faith healer, in A Simple Twist of Fate (1994), playing a betrayed man adopting a baby, and in David Mamet's thriller The Spanish Prisoner (1997). Other, more comedic roles include in HouseSitter (1992) and The Out-of-Towners (1999), opposite Goldie Hawn, in Nora Ephron's Mixed Nuts (1994), and in Bowfinger (1999), written by himself and co-starring Eddie Murphy. After Bowfinger, he starred in Bringing Down the House (2003) and Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), both earning more than $130 million. He wrote and starred in Shopgirl (2005), and appeared in the sequel of Cheaper by the Dozen. After them, he appeared in The Pink Panther (2006) and The Pink Panther 2 (2009), which he both co-wrote, as Inspector Clouseau.
He continues to do movies, more recently appearing in The Big Year (2011), Home (2015), and Love the Coopers (2015). Besides aforementioned, he has been an avid art collector since 1968, written plays, written for The New Yorker, written a well-received memoir (Born Standing Up), written a novel (An Object of Beauty; 2010), hosted the Academy Awards three times, released a Grammy award winning music album (The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo; 2009), and another album (Love Has Come For You; 2013) with Edie Brickell. Since 2007, he has been married to Anne Stringfield, with whom he has a daughter.- Actor
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- Soundtrack
John Edward Kassir is an American actor and producer from Baltimore, Maryland who is known for voicing the Crypt Keeper from Tales from the Crypt. He also played Jibolba from Tak and the Power of Juju, Deadpool in various Marvel games and cartoons, Ralph from Reefer Madness and many more roles.- Special Effects
Fred Lord is known for Kingpin (1996).- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
While in junior high school, he became interested in science fiction, and years later while reading a copy of 'Astounding Stories' when he was working as an airline pilot, he decided to give it up and become a writer. He moved West and joined the Los Angeles police force to gain experience that would help him toward a writing career in Hollywood. He began selling scripts for television shows such as 'Dragnet' and 'Naked City'. He was head writer on 'Have Gun Will Travel' for two years, winning the 'Writer's Guild Award' for 'Best Script'. He created and produced 'The Lieutenant' followed by 3 years of the 'Star Trek' television series and produced the films 'Pretty Maids All in a Row', the first 'Star Trek' film and was executive consultant on the following two.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Danielle B. Roter was born on May 26, 1948 in Brussels, Belgium, the daughter of Tovia and Bella Roter. Along with her younger brother, Michel, the family departed from Cherbourg, France in early December 1948 on the Queen Elizabeth, arriving in New York, New York, USA on December 13, 1948. Diane's father, Tovia, was an actor and director credited as Theodore/Ted Roter and Peter Balakoff. In 1952 the family officially moved to the United States and in 1957 became American citizens. After her first role as a little French speaking girl on Ronald Reagan's General Electric Theater in 1959 Diane was sent to a Brussels, Belgium school for the 1961-62 school year. She was multi-lingual and fluent in Dutch and French. Danielle's father became the executive director of the Santa Monica Playhouse giving her progressively larger parts in every play they produced until she reached starring role status. Danielle left school at the conclusion of her junior year (1965) at Venice High School in the west side of Los Angeles. Venice High is a foreign language and international studies magnet school. She accepted the role of Judge Garth's niece, Jennifer Sommers, at the start of The Virginian's fourth season for NBC. She replaced Roberta Shore who left the series to be married. After NBC changed her first name to Diane, she remained in the role of Jennifer for twenty-five episodes (1965-1966). Sara Lane replaced Diane after one season, appearing in over one hundred episodes (1966-1970). Diane has taught mime, movement, and acting in numerous private classes and schools. She has been a journalist and art critic in numerous newspapers. Diane earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bio-Psychology at UCLA. As 2014 ends Diane is in the process of writing a novel.- Music Department
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- Soundtrack
Percy Faith was a child piano prodigy, but his hands were burned in a fire at age 18. Switching to conducting and arranging, his unique orchestral 'sound', with strong emphasis on creative string work, soon became familiar to listeners everywhere. He recorded 85 albums for Columbia Records, and three hit singles: "Delicado" (1952), "Theme from 'Moulin Rouge'" (1953), and "Theme from 'A Summer Place'" (1960). Johnny Mathis, Doris Day and Tony Bennett all considered Percy Faith among their favorite accompanists.- Actress
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After this feisty, highly offbeat actress from Chattanooga, Tennessee, broke into TV in the 1980s, she immediately set herself apart from the norm with a prime role as new owner Bud Cort's female friend in the bizarre mini-movie Bates Motel (1987). This rather inauspicious beginning would also set Lori Petty off on a career as a kinetic fighter and a misfit, types for which she would be best known.
Lori was born on October 14, 1963, and spent her childhood traveling the US with her father, a Pentecostal minister. Her keen talents first lent themselves toward being a graphic artist in Omaha, Nebraska, but an impulsive desire to act quickly took precedence and soon she was off to New York, where she took acting classes and pounded the pavement for jobs.
Going nowhere fast, she eventually headed for Los Angeles and finally found an "in". Following a number of mediocre TV roles, she won a bit of attention on the short-lived series Booker (1989) as a lippy secretary, then hit pay dirt in secondary roles as an outrageous Cyndi Lauper wannabe in Cadillac Man (1990) and as Patrick Swayze's ex-girlfriend/waitress who hooks up with Keanu Reeves in Point Break (1991).
It looked like mainstream stardom might happen for the tomboy actress, especially after getting cast as Geena Davis' bratty baseball-playing sister in the highly successful A League of Their Own (1992). However, while Lori proved to be an intriguing, kooky sort, she also proved more difficult to cast. Such disparate roles as a kind-hearted animal trainer in Free Willy (1993) and the sole female recruit in Pauly Shore's inane comedy In the Army Now (1994) only proved the point.
She seemed bent towards playing scrappy, hard-edged figures alongside the big action guys but started off on the wrong foot when she was replaced by Sandra Bullock in Sylvester Stallone's Demolition Man (1993) due to "artistic differences". She did play a lone female cop in the thriller The Glass Shield (1994), then found her true calling as the bizarre cartoon heroine Tank Girl (1995), which was billed as "a post-apocalyptic comedy." Playing along the same hard lines, Lori portrayed an FBI agent who teams up with a Tokyo policewoman Yûki Amami in the crime thriller Countdown (1996); played a butch lesbian in the social comedy Relax... It's Just Sex (1998); and an aggressive, tough-talking stripper at odds with the Mafia in the potboiler The Arrangement (1999). She ended the decade on TV as Max, a motel clerk, in the crime drama fantasy series Brimstone (1998).
Into the millennium, the crop-haired, tough-as-nails actress continued to take it to the limit. Following roles in the action films Firetrap (2001) and Route 666 (2001), Lori co-starred alongside the similarly tough-styled Gina Gershon in Prey for Rock & Roll (2003) as members of a punk rock band. She later starred in the creature vs. human horror opus Cryptid (2006); had a small part (First Murderer) in a contemporary Hollywood updating of Shakespeare's Richard III (2007); a deputy in the cross-country sports movie Chasing 3000 (2010); a doctor in the horror thriller Dead Awake (2016); a starring role as a lady Marine in Fear, Love, and Agoraphobia (2018); and a campy role in the low-budget horror flick A Deadly Legend (2020).
On TV, Lori would be seen as a guest in such shows as "The Beast," "NYPD Blue," "CSI: NY," "Masters of Horror," "House," "Prison Break," "Hawaii Five-0," and, more notably, in the recurring and amusing role of loony, paranoiac Lolly in the women's prison series Orange Is the New Black (2013). On the other side of the camera, the still-single Lori wrote and directed the film The Poker House (2008) starring Jennifer Lawrence, a re-dramatization of Lori's teenage years in Iowa. The film earned awards at the Los Angeles Film Festival- Actress
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One of the brightest, most tragic movie stars of Hollywood's Golden Era, Judy Garland was a much-loved character whose warmth and spirit, along with her rich and exuberant voice, kept theatre-goers entertained with an array of delightful musicals.
She was born Frances Ethel Gumm on 10 June 1922 in Minnesota, the youngest daughter of vaudevillians Ethel Marian (Milne) and Francis Avent "Frank" Gumm. She was of English, along with some Scottish and Irish, descent. Her mother, an ambitious woman gifted in playing various musical instruments, saw the potential in her daughter at the tender age of just 2 years old when Baby Frances repeatedly sang "Jingle Bells" until she was dragged from the stage kicking and screaming during one of their Christmas shows and immediately drafted her into a dance act, entitled "The Gumm Sisters," along with her older sisters Mary Jane Gumm and Virginia Gumm. However, knowing that her youngest daughter would eventually become the biggest star, Ethel soon took Frances out of the act and together they traveled across America where she would perform in nightclubs, cabarets, hotels and theaters solo.
Her family life was not a happy one, largely because of her mother's drive for her to succeed as a performer and also her father's closeted homosexuality. The Gumm family would regularly be forced to leave town owing to her father's illicit affairs with other men, and from time to time they would be reduced to living out of their automobile. However, in September 1935 the Gumms', in particular Ethel's, prayers were answered when Frances was signed by Louis B. Mayer, mogul of leading film studio MGM, after hearing her sing. It was then that her name was changed from Frances Gumm to Judy Garland, after a popular '30s song "Judy" and film critic Robert Garland.
Tragedy soon followed, however, in the form of her father's death of meningitis in November 1935. Having been given no assignments with the exception of singing on radio, Judy faced the threat of losing her job following the arrival of Deanna Durbin. Knowing that they couldn't keep both of the teenage singers, MGM devised a short entitled Every Sunday (1936) which would be the girls' screen test. However, despite being the outright winner and being kept on by MGM, Judy's career did not officially kick off until she sang one of her most famous songs, "You Made Me Love You," at Clark Gable's birthday party in February 1937, during which Louis B. Mayer finally paid attention to the talented songstress.
Prior to this her film debut in Pigskin Parade (1936), in which she played a teenage hillbilly, had left her career hanging in the balance. However, following her rendition of "You Made Me Love You," MGM set to work preparing various musicals with which to keep Judy busy. All this had its toll on the young teenager, and she was given numerous pills by the studio doctors in order to combat her tiredness on set. Another problem was her weight fluctuation, but she was soon given amphetamines in order to give her the desired streamlined figure. This soon produced the downward spiral that resulted in her lifelong drug addiction.
In 1939, Judy shot immediately to stardom with The Wizard of Oz (1939), in which she portrayed Dorothy, an orphaned girl living on a farm in the dry plains of Kansas who gets whisked off into the magical world of Oz on the other end of the rainbow. Her poignant performance and sweet delivery of her signature song, 'Over The Rainbow,' earned Judy a special juvenile Oscar statuette on 29 February 1940 for Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor. Now growing up, Judy began to yearn for meatier adult roles instead of the virginal characters she had been playing since she was 14. She was now taking an interest in men, and after starring in her final juvenile performance in Ziegfeld Girl (1941) alongside glamorous beauties Lana Turner and Hedy Lamarr, Judy got engaged to bandleader David Rose in May 1941, just two months after his divorce from Martha Raye. Despite planning a big wedding, the couple eloped to Las Vegas and married during the early hours of the morning on July 28, 1941 with just her mother Ethel and her stepfather Will Gilmore present. However, their marriage went downhill as, after discovering that she was pregnant in November 1942, David and MGM persuaded her to abort the baby in order to keep her good-girl image up. She did so and, as a result, was haunted for the rest of her life by her 'inhumane actions.' The couple separated in January 1943.
By this time, Judy had starred in her first adult role as a vaudevillian during WWI in For Me and My Gal (1942). Within weeks of separation, Judy was soon having an affair with actor Tyrone Power, who was married to French actress Annabella. Their affair ended in May 1943, which was when her affair with producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz kicked off. He introduced her to psychoanalysis and she soon began to make decisions about her career on her own instead of being influenced by her domineering mother and MGM. Their affair ended in November 1943, and soon afterward Judy reluctantly began filming Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), which proved to be a big success. The director Vincente Minnelli highlighted Judy's beauty for the first time on screen, having made the period musical in color, her first color film since The Wizard of Oz (1939). He showed off her large brandy-brown eyes and her full, thick lips and after filming ended in April 1944, a love affair resulted between director and actress and they were soon living together.
Vincente began to mold Judy and her career, making her more beautiful and more popular with audiences worldwide. He directed her in The Clock (1945), and it was during the filming of this movie that the couple announced their engagement on set on January 9, 1945. Judy's divorce from David Rose had been finalized on June 8, 1944 after almost three years of marriage, and despite her brief fling with Orson Welles, who at the time was married to screen sex goddess Rita Hayworth, on June 15, 1945 Judy made Vincente her second husband, tying the knot with him that afternoon at her mother's home with her boss Louis B. Mayer giving her away and her best friend Betty Asher serving as bridesmaid. They spent three months on honeymoon in New York and afterwards Judy discovered that she was pregnant.
On March 12, 1946 in Los Angeles, California, Judy gave birth to their daughter, Liza Minnelli, via cesarean section. It was a joyous time for the couple, but Judy was out of commission for weeks due to the cesarean and her postnatal depression, so she spent much of her time recuperating in bed. She soon returned to work, but married life was never the same for Vincente and Judy after they filmed The Pirate (1948) together in 1947. Judy's mental health was fast deteriorating and she began hallucinating things and making false accusations toward people, especially her husband, making the filming a nightmare. She also began an affair with aspiring Russian actor Yul Brynner, but after the affair ended, Judy soon regained health and tried to salvage her failing marriage. She then teamed up with dancing legend Fred Astaire for the delightful musical Easter Parade (1948), which resulted in a successful comeback despite having Vincente fired from directing the musical. Afterwards, Judy's health deteriorated and she began the first of several suicide attempts. In May 1949, she was checked into a rehabilitation center, which caused her much distress.
She soon regained strength and was visited frequently by her lover Frank Sinatra, but never saw much of Vincente or Liza. On returning, Judy made In the Good Old Summertime (1949), which was also Liza's film debut, albeit via an uncredited cameo. She had already been suspended by MGM for her lack of cooperation on the set of The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), which also resulted in her getting replaced by Ginger Rogers. After being replaced by Betty Hutton on Annie Get Your Gun (1950), Judy was suspended yet again before making her final film for MGM, entitled Summer Stock (1950). At 28, Judy received her third suspension and was fired by MGM, and her second marriage was soon dissolved.
Having taken up with Sidney Luft, Judy traveled to London to star at the legendary Palladium. She was an instant success and after her divorce from Vincente Minnelli was finalized on March 29, 1951 after almost six years of marriage, Judy traveled with Sid to New York to make an appearance on Broadway. With her newfound fame on stage, Judy was stopped in her tracks in February 1952 when she became pregnant by her new lover, Sid. At the age of 30, she made him her third husband on June 8, 1952; the wedding was held at a friend's ranch in Pasadena. Her relationship with her mother had long since been dissolved by this point, and after the birth of her second daughter, Lorna Luft, on November 21, 1952, she refused to allow her mother to see her granddaughter. Ethel then died in January 1953 of a heart attack, leaving Judy devastated and feeling guilty about not reconciling with her mother before her untimely demise.
After the funeral, Judy signed a film contract with Warner Bros. to star in the musical remake of A Star Is Born (1937), which had starred Janet Gaynor, who had won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Actress in 1929. Filming soon began, resulting in an affair between Judy and her leading man, British star James Mason. She also picked up on her affair with Frank Sinatra, and after filming was complete Judy was yet again lauded as a great film star. She won a Golden Globe for her brilliant and truly outstanding performance as Esther Blodgett, nightclub singer turned movie star, but when it came to the Academy Awards, a distraught Judy lost out on the Best Actress Oscar to Grace Kelly for her portrayal of the wife of an alcoholic star in The Country Girl (1954). Many still argue that Judy should have won the Oscar over Grace Kelly. Continuing her work on stage, Judy gave birth to her beloved son, Joey Luft, on March 29, 1955. She soon began to lose her millions of dollars as a result of her husband's strong gambling addiction, and with hundreds of debts to pay, Judy and Sid began a volatile, on-off relationship resulting in numerous divorce filings.
In 1961, at the age of 39, Judy returned to her ailing film career, this time to star in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, but this time she lost out to Rita Moreno for her performance in West Side Story (1961). Her battles with alcoholism and drugs led to Judy's making numerous headlines in newspapers, but she soldiered on, forming a close friendship with President John F. Kennedy. In 1963, Judy and Sid finally separated permanently, and on May 19, 1965 their divorce was finalized after almost 13 years of marriage. By this time, Judy, now 41, had made her final performance on film alongside Dirk Bogarde in I Could Go on Singing (1963). She married her fourth husband, Mark Herron, on November 14, 1965 in Las Vegas, but they separated in April 1966 after five months of marriage owing to his homosexuality. It was also that year that she began an affair with young journalist Tom Green. She then settled down in London after their affair ended, and she began dating disk jockey Mickey Deans in December 1968. They became engaged once her divorce from Mark Herron was finalized on January 9, 1969 after three years of marriage. She married Mickey, her fifth and final husband, in a register office in Chelsea, London, England on March 15, 1969.
She continued working on stage, appearing several times with her daughter Liza. It was during a concert in Chelsea, London, England that Judy stumbled into her bathroom late one night and died of an overdose of barbiturates, the drug that had dominated her much of her life, on June 22, 1969 at the age of 47. Her daughter Liza Minnelli paid for her funeral, and her former lover James Mason delivered her touching eulogy. She is still an icon to this day with her famous performances in The Wizard of Oz (1939), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Easter Parade (1948), and A Star Is Born (1954).- Music Artist
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Louis Armstrong grew up poor in a single-parent household. He was 13 when he celebrated the New Year by running out on the street and firing a pistol that belonged to the current man in his mother's life. At the Colored Waifs Home for Boys, he learned to play the bugle and the clarinet and joined the home's brass band. They played at socials, picnics and funerals for a small fee. At 18 he got a job in the Kid Ory Band in New Orleans. Four years later, in 1922, he went to Chicago, where he played second coronet in the Creole Jazz Band. He made his first recordings with that band in 1923. In 1929 Armstrong appeared on Broadway in "Hot Chocolates", in which he introduced Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin', his first popular song hit. He made a tour of Europe in 1932. During a command performance for King George V, he forgot he had been told that performers were not to refer to members of the royal family while playing for them. Just before picking up his trumpet for a really hot number, he announced: "This one's for you, Rex."- Actor
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Michael J. Fox was born Michael Andrew Fox on June 9, 1961 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to Phyllis Fox (née Piper), a payroll clerk, and William Fox. His parents moved their 10-year-old son, his three sisters, Kelli Fox, Karen, and Jacki, and his brother Steven, to Vancouver, British Columbia, after his father, a sergeant in the Canadian Army Signal Corps, retired. During these years Michael developed his desire to act. At 15 he successfully auditioned for the role of a 10-year-old in a series called Leo and Me (1978). Gaining attention as a bright new star in Canadian television and movies, Michael realized his love for acting when he appeared on stage in "The Shadow Box." At 18 he moved to Los Angeles and was offered a few television-series roles, but soon they stopped coming and he was surviving on boxes of macaroni and cheese. Then his agent called to tell him that he got the part of Alex P. Keaton on the situation comedy Family Ties (1982). He starred in the feature films Teen Wolf (1985), High School U.S.A. (1983), Poison Ivy (1985) and Back to the Future (1985).- Actor
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Born Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan, in Jaipur, Rajasthan (NW India) January 7, 1967 to a Pashto-speaking Muslim family. Khan's mother, Begum Khan, was from the Tonk Hakim family and his father, Jagirdar Khan, from the Khajuriya village near the Tonk district, ran a tire business.
The Khan family name comes from Turkish and Mongol languages and mean "king" or great leader. Descendants of Genghis Khan (13th century) in central Asia adopted Islam and became the Moghuls, who conquered India for several centuries until British rule.
Irfan was a skilled cricket player. In his early 20's he was selected for the CK Nayudu Tournament (a stepping stone to First Class cricket). He did not turn up for the tournament owing to lack of funds and as a result he focused on acting.
In 1984 he earned a scholarship to the National School of Acting in New Delhi.
He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honor for his contribution to the field of arts.
His portrayal of Paan Singh Tomar in the acclaimed biographical sports drama Paan Singh Tomar (2011) won him the National Film Award for Best Actor and a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor. His performance in the BAFTA Award nominated romance The Lunchbox (2013) earned him universal acclaim by the critics and audiences.
Globally, Khan was in The Warrior (2001), The Namesake (2006), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), the Academy Award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire (2008), New York, I Love You (2009), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Life of Pi (2012), Jurassic World (2015) and Inferno (2016). As of 2017, his films have grossed $3.643 billion at the worldwide box office. In 2018, Khan was diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor.
Khan got married to his wife Sutapa Sikdar, in 1995. She is a Hindu of the Brahmin caste. She is a movie producer, dialogue writer and screenwriter. Among her famous movies are Khamoshi: The Musical (Dialogue Writer, 1996), Supari (Dialogue Writer, 2003), Kahaani (Dialogue Writer, 2003), Madaari (Producer, 2016), Qarib Qarib Singlle (Producer, 2017)
They have two kids: Ayaan Khan, Babil Khan
Unlike most Indian film stars, Irrfan has been outspoken on religion. On Arnab Goswami's talk show, he took on Muslim fundamentalists, including India's Grand Imam. Irrfan Khan argued against "transactional religious interaction" and for "personal religious discovery"..."to discover yourself, to find God". Though he admits he is "not an authority" on the Koran and Islamic Holy scriptures he has bravely stood by his comments despite heavy criticism and even threats of violence. He's aware of the dangers that his frank comments pose to him and his family. His wife commented, "We are very proud of him."- Actress
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A Hong Kong Oscar winner and daughter of martial arts legend 'Pei-pei Cheng', Eugenia Yuan started out her career not as an actress, but as a champion rhythmic gymnast for the U.S. Olympic Team. Eventually, career switching from an athlete to on-screen ingénue, Eugenia made her screen debut co-starring with her mother in the martial arts picture _Flying Dragon, Leaping Tiger (2002). She caught the eye of movie executives on both sides of world who offered to groom to take inherit her mother's kung fu crown. Eugenia opted instead to co-star in the dark, low-budget feature Charlotte Sometimes which garnered an honor at the Independent Spirit Awards and was publicly championed by national film critic Roger Ebert and featured in his own film festival. Eugenia returned to Hong Kong to star in the feature collection of three dramatic shorts by heavy weight local directors entitled Three... Extremes where she nabbed the Hong Kong Film Award as "Best Newcomer" (Hong Kong's equivalent of the Academy Awards). Soon after, Hollywood director Doug Liman hand-picked her for the title role of the cult hit mockumentary Mail Order Wife (2004)), which brought her to national attention when she was named as a "Rising Star/Screen Acting Discovery" by the Hamptons International Film Festival where the film premiered. She was later nominated for Hong Kong's prestigious Golden Horse Award for her starring role in The Eye 2 (2004) and made memorable turns in John Dahl's The Great Raid (2005) and, most recently, the Oscar-winning Memoirs of a Geisha. Eugenia continues to shuttle back and forth between Los Angeles, New York, and Hong Kong to take Studio, Chinese-language and American independent roles alike including the 2007 Gotham Awards winning film Choking Man. She also co-stars with Hong Kong icon 'Tony Leung Ka Fai' in the Hong Kong thriller _Zhan. gu (2007). Most recently Eugenia has starred in the Martin Scorsese feature at the Toronto Film Festival, Revenge of the Green Dragons and is wrapping Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 2.- Yukon King is known for Sergeant Preston of the Yukon (1955).
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A professional singer at the age of three, Mel Torme was a genuine musical prodigy. As a teenager, he played the drums in Chico Marx's band and earned the nickname "The Velvet Fog" because of his smooth, mellow tenor voice. In the 1940s, he formed his own group, the Mel-Tones, one of the first jazz-influenced vocal groups. As a solo musician, he had a number one hit in 1949 called "Careless Hands" and several lesser hits. He also acted in films and wrote several books, including biographies of Judy Garland and Buddy Rich. Torme's career included some songwriting, too. One of his most well-known compositions, "The Christmas Song", was written in midsummer as Torme relaxed by the pool.