International people
This list includes people from all 196 countries PLUS some territories (ie Guam, French Polynesia, Jersey).
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- Actor
- Producer
For over four decades, Tzi Ma (pronounced "TIE MA") has blazed new trails for the representation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in Hollywood with a groundbreaking career that encompasses virtually every genre across film, television and theater.
From big budget blockbusters like the Rush Hour series (1998 - 2007) to award-winning independent films like Tigertail (2020), Ma's unforgettable performances and uncanny versatility have garnered unanimous acclaim from critics and audiences around the world.
Since 2021, Ma has co-starred in The CW's hit action adventure series Kung Fu as Jin Shen, a San Francisco restaurant owner and father of the show's heroine, Nicky Shen (played by Olivia Liang).
Born in Hong Kong and raised in Staten Island, Ma worked at his family-owned restaurant while honing his craft in the New York theater scene throughout the 1970s. Despite limited opportunities for AAPI actors, Ma refused to perform roles he considered demeaning or stereotypical. During this period, he collaborated with then-emerging playwrights David Henry Hwang and Eric Overmyer; who both penned works specifically for Ma (The Dance and the Railroad and In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe, respectively).
As a young adult, Ma was a ubiquitous presence in Manhattan's Chinatown where he worked as a counselor specializing in at-risk youth. Ma also volunteered for various community organizations; most notably, the Basement Workshop, a collective of Chinese American artists and activists seeking to promote the arts and arts education in the neighborhood.
In 1978, Ma made his screen debut alongside Jack Palance and Andy Warhol in the cult classic Cocaine Cowboys, directed by Ulli Lommel. Throughout the 1980s, Ma continued to perform in regional and off-Broadway productions while appearing as a guest star on hit television programs like The Equalizer, LA Law, MacGyver and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
During the 1990s, Ma became a ubiquitous presence at the multiplex with memorable roles in films like Rapid Fire (1992), Chain Reaction (1996), Dante's Peak (1997) and Rush Hour (1998).
Since 2000, Ma has successfully balanced a prolific film and television career; appearing in movies like The Quiet American (2002), The Ladykillers (2004), Rush Hour 3 (2007) and Arrival (2016) and playing recurring characters on popular shows like 24, American Dad!, Hell on Wheels, The Man in High Castle and Veep.
In addition to his many high-profile projects, Ma has also been active in the world of independent cinema for over two decades; appearing in features and short films by up-and-coming AAPI and Asian directors. Notable works include Mina Shum's Meditation Park (2017), for which he was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, and Lulu Wang's The Farewell (2019).
Now entering his fifth decade in show business, Ma continues to challenge himself with diverse and unconventional roles. In 2020, he earned some of the best reviews of his career with his performance in Netflix's Tigertail, in which he played a divorcee attempting to reconcile with his adult daughter. Later that year, Ma co-starred in Disney's action adventure Mulan, portraying the title character's doting father. In 2021, he joined the cast of The CW's Kung Fu, now in its third season.
Ma's upcoming projects include the Amazon film 5 Blind Dates and making his feature directorial debut with Hanako, a historical drama about Korea's "comfort women".China- Actress
- Writer
Wilma Elles is a German actress known in more than 70 countries in Turkey, the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern and Central Europe for her lead-role in 'Filinta' and 'Yeter' and especially in the weekly TV series "Öyle bir gecer zaman ki" (As time goes by), which broke several viewer records and is watched with the highest ratings.
Since four years old she wanted to be an actress and performed plays for family and neighbors. She took acting classes since the age of 10 and played in about 26 theatre plays. After receiving her acting diploma from the Kaca Celan Theatre School she got her first offers for TV and cinema productions. Her breakthrough was definitely the lead role as Caroline in the record breaking TV series "As times goes by", which is now screened in 70 countries. Despite not knowing Turkish at that time she won the casting out of 800 actresses, while learning her lines phonetically. Now she speaks not only German and Turkish fluently, but also French and English, which she proved by playing a Native French and Native American English speaker in different cinema movies. Until now she gave life to the lead character in about twenty cinema movies.
Besides that she designed the worldwide first Feng Shui Fashion collection for the international brand ADL and appears as a model at various Fashion Weeks of the world. She has been on many magazine covers as Elle Bulgaria, GQ Turkey, Instyle Home, Tempo Turkey.
Wilma Elles has won twenty-one awards as Best Actress, including the European Quality Award and the World Consumer Award.Germany- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Maia Mitchell is an Australian singer/song writer and actress from Lismore, New South Wales. She learned to play the guitar at a very young age and her talent has been included on The Fosters (2013) - an ABC Family show that aired in June 2013, where Maia plays one of the main roles of "Callie Jacob".
Also, Maia has made her mark on the Disney Channel, appearing in a special episode of Jessie (2011) in 2013, as well as in the hit original film, Teen Beach Movie (2013), with fellow Disney Channel star, Ross Lynch.
Mitchell participated in dance lessons as a young girl and performed in school and local theatre productions to kick start her career. When she was just 12-years-old, she auditioned for the Australian television series, Mortified (2006) and landed the lead role of "Brittany Flune". The series broke many Australian Children's Television records and even went on to win national and international awards, including an Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award for Best Children's Television Series and a Chicago International Children's Film Festival Award.
Furthermore, she was next cast as "Natasha Hamilton" in the Australian television series, Trapped (2008), and later reprized her role in the sequel series, Castaway (2010), that finds a group of children suffering from the mysterious disappearance of their parents in a dangerous paradise.Australia- Actress
- Producer
Weronika Rosati is an international actress. Born in 1984 in Warsaw, her Polish-American-Hungarian mother is a famous fashion designer and her Italian father is a respected politician/economist now a deputy at the European Parliament. She has been working in films since she was a teenager. She became a Polish sensation after appearing in numerous popular TV series and achieved both stardom and recognition at the age of 19 with her first silver screen appearance in the lead female role of Gemma in 'Pitbull' - a cop thriller classic.
She attended the prestigious Lodz Film School, and then moved to New York where for two years she studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute. In the meantime, she continued her career in Polish film working with such renowned filmmakers as Krzysztof Zanussi in 'Foreign Body' (which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival), Agnieszka Holland in 'In Darkness' (nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film), and in many other feature films and TV shows. In 2013, Weronika played Pestka, a young Jewish woman trying to save her sister from death, in the World War II-drama 'Manhunt', which received international critical acclaim. The role earned Weronika her first Polish Film Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and won her the Pola Negri Award. Rosati works often in France, where she lived as a child, and also speaks fluent French. She played a lead in a TV film for France 2 television in 'La Dame de Pique' and in Jerome Salle's 'Burma Conspiracy' opposite Tomer Sisley and Sharon Stone.
Her first big break-through in the US came in 2011 when she was cast by Michael Mann in 'Luck', the HBO original TV series starring Dustin Hoffman. She played a poker dealer Naomi , the love interest of Jason Gedrick's character and appeared in four episodes. From then she worked constantly on other TV shows and films including season 2 of 'True Detective', 'NCIS', 'The Iceman' with Michael Shannon, 'Bullet to the Head' opposite Sylvester Stallone, directed by Walter Hill, 'Last Vegas' with Michael Douglas and 'Rosemary's Baby' for NBC.
In 2015, Weronika completed 'USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage', a highly anticipated World War II-drama directed by Mario Van Peebles, where she played the wife of Nicolas Cage's character. She also appeared as a guest star on TBS comedy show 'The Detour', as a French agent in a lead guest role on the popular show 'Supernatural' directed by John Badham, and in a historical epic international co-production 'I'll Find You' directed by Martha Coolidge where she stars opposite Stellan Skarsgaard. In 2020, she co-starred in the critically acclaimed drama 'Never Gonna Snow Again' directed by Malgoska Szumowska and Michal Englert, which premiered in Main competition of the Venice Film Festival.
Rosati is a household name in Europe where she was also a spokesperson for Avon Cosmetics and Pantene, among others. She splits time between Warsaw and Los Angeles.Poland- Actress
- Producer
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Ana de la Reguera grew up in the tropical state of Veracruz, on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. She began her performance arts studies in the Cultural Institute of Veracruz, then left for Televisa's Center for Artistic Education (CEA) and TV Aztecas' artistic institute (CEFAC) in Mexico City, later taking study with Lisa Robertson and Aaron Spicer in Los Angeles and acting coach Juan 'Carlos Corzza in Spain. In theater she participated in "El Cartero" ("Il Postino") for which she received two awards: one for "Best Actress" from the Association of Theatre Journalists in Mexico and the other for the year's "Most Promising Actress" from the Association of Theatre Critics and Journalists.
De la Reguera's professional career began with her role in the telenovela Azul (1996), followed by Pueblo chico, infierno grande (1997)--for which she received the Heraldo Award for "Best Breakout Female Actress"--and Desencuentro (1997), which was her third telenovela under the direction of the internationally recognized Ernesto Alonso. _"Tentaciones" (1998)_ marked her beginning with powerhouse Argos Comunicación. She was immediately offered roles in _"Destino" (1998)_ and Todo por amor (2000), for which she received "The Golden Palm Award." After that, it was non-stop work for de la Reguera. In 2002 she starred in Cara o Cruz (2001), which was the first telenovela co-produced by Argos Comunicación and Telemundo, made exclusively for the Hispanic audience living in the US. The following year she played María in the telenovela Por tí (2002) for TV Azteca and the mini-series that followed up on Pedro el escamoso (2001), Como Pedro por su casa (2003), which was a co-production between Colombia's Caracol and Telemundo. Additionally, de la Reguera also had the lead role in the Peruvian soap opera Luciana y Nicolás (2003).
De la Reguera's introduction into film began with Por la libre (2000), which earned her two nominations: "El Heraldo de la Revelación Femenina" (Best New Actress) and "Eres Mejor Actriz" (Best Actress). Later she acted in Un secreto de Esperanza (2002) with Oscar nominee Katy Jurado. In 2003 Ana starred in the highly acclaimed comedy Ladies' Night (2003), alongside Ana Claudia Talancón. The movie became the box-office success of the year and won her three major awards: "the Latin America MTV's Favorite Actress Award," the Mexican movie industry Award for Best Actress of the year, "CANACINE," and the "Diosa de Plata (Silver Godess) Award" for Best Supporting Actress (2003).
In 2005 she played the starring role in Gitanas (2004), which aired on Telemundo in the US and now has been seen as far away as Ukraine, Spain and Argentina. In 2006 de la Reguera had the lead in the powerful On the Edge (2006), which earned her her second "Diosa de Plata [Silver Goddess] Award" for best actress. In addition, she also starred in Paraiso Travel (2008), playing the role of Milagros, singing and dancing for the first time in a movie. John Leguizamo and Colombian star Margarita Rosa de Francisco were also in the cast. The film was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival and later released throughout the US and Latin America. That same year Ana received her big break into American cinema when she landed the role of Sister Encarnación in the comedy Nacho Libre (2006). The film by Jared Hess--director of Napoleon Dynamite (2004)--and co-starring Jack Black gave her the opportunity to be seen around the world.
In 2008 she became the new face for Cover Girl worldwide, alongside celebrities like Drew Barrymore, Queen Latifah, Ellen DeGeneres and Rihanna. From there her career received many other impressive endorsements, including campaigns with Pantene, Special K and Flip, Macy's, Coca-Cola (Ciel), Pepsi (Be Light) and Caress, among many others. She began 2010 with a worldwide publicity campaign for Lipton Tea alongside actor Hugh Jackman. Most recently, she did an international campaign with Kahlúa benefiting her hometown of Veracruz, Mexico, left demolished after the resent destruction of Huricaine Karl.
In the action-thriller film Sultanes del Sur (2007), filmed mainly in Argentina, she plays Monica Silvari, a mean and sophisticated bank robber alongside Spanish actors Jordi Mollà and Tony Dalton. In the spring of 2008 Ana began filming Capadocia (2008), an HBO mega-production TV show about the chaotic and miserable life in a women's prison in Mexico. The show aired with record-breaking ratings in Mexico and Latin America, and was released in the US in the fall of 2008 for HBO OLE. Three of the most recognized directors in Latin America participated in this HBO original production: Epigmenio Ibarra, Jorge Aragón and Luis F Peraza. The successful series got three International Emmy nominations for its first season, and this fall marked the opening of "Capadocia"'s second season.
In 2009 she shot Di Di Hollywood (2010) from famed Jamón, Jamón (2000) director Bigas Luna. That same year she went back to the Mexican theatre for six months where she played "Desdemona" in William Shakespeare "Othello". The play was hugely successful in Mexico's renowned Juan Ruiz de Alarcón theater, and she was named "Best Actress" by the Journalist Theatre Association at the annual Bravo Awards and by the ACTP. Later that year she filmed the extremely moving Mexican film El Traspatio (2009), in which she played a cop in an outlaw border city controlled by drug traffickers and killers. Directed by Carlos Carrera (The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002), nominated for an Oscar for "Best Foreign Film"), the picture was chosen to represent Mexico in the 2010 Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Film category, and earned de la Reguera the "Best Actress Award" at the Imagen Awards and the CANACINE Awards, and won the "Silver Plaque" at the Chicago Film Festival.
The beginning of 2010 brought the opening of her Hollywood film Cop Out (2010), co-starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan and directed by Kevin Smith. She played Gabriela, a strong-willed woman with very picante and colorful language, who gets rescued by Willis and Tracy--and gets them in trouble in the process. In that same year brought the release of her film Hidalgo. La historia jamás contada (2010), about the controversial life of Mexico's independence hero, priest Miguel Hidalgo. She plays Hidalgo's second wife and shares credit with Demián Bichir (Weeds (2005), Che: Part One (2008)).
In the US she also had a recurring role on the USA Network's series Royal Pains (2009), and starred in the critically-acclaimed, Will Farrell-produced HBO comedy Eastbound & Down (2009) co-starring Danny McBride as down-and-out baseball player and love interest Kenny Powers. She also had a role in the Jon Favreau-directed Cowboys & Aliens (2011) starring Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig and Sam Rockwell, produced by Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. The film crosses the classic Western with the alien-invasion movie in its story about a lone cowboy leading an uprising against murderous aliens from outer space. Ana also played a nurse in the teen drama Everything, Everything (2017), and in 2021, starred in two action-horror films, Army of the Dead (2021) and The Forever Purge (2021).
As if her busy acting career isn't enough, de la Reguera is also heavily involved with charity work. Most recently she uploaded a video to YouTube in order to help raise awareness for Veracruz, her home state, affected by heavy rains and a devastating Hurricane Karl. In the video she speaks about a variety of options for support and help that victims of the Hurrcane can utilize, and offers methods to make donations. The viral campaign went all over Twitter and other online sites, raising much needed money for the victims of the hurricane. She also founded the organization VeracruzANA AC, which is a philanthropic organization whose mission is to raise funds and build a tourist boulevard of Antigua--something that has been promised by political organizations for years. Antigua is one of the most important and historical communities in Veracruz, and also one of the areas the most damaged by the hurricane. This June marked the culmination of her hard work and the grand Opening ceremony for the touristic boulevard.Mexico- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Aasif Mandvi was born on 5 March 1966 in Bombay, Maharashtra, India. He is an actor and producer, known for Million Dollar Arm (2014), Evil (2019) and The Proposal (2009). He has been married to Shaifali Puri since 26 August 2017.India- Actress
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Born in Kigali, Rwanda, from a Rwandese mother, Landrada, and a French father, Jacques, the family escaped to the neighbouring country of Burundi, the year before the civil war started (1990), preceding the Tutsi genocide in 1994.
Leaving the family business (a printing company), the family decided to move to France before the same ethnical war between Hutus and Tutsis happened in Burundi.
Sonia grew up in Burgundy...
October 1999: she was elected Miss Burgundy, opening the door of the Miss France beauty contest, the largest annual audience at the French TV. 11 December 1999: 8 million phone voters decided that she will be Miss France 2000. She became also 9th at Miss Universe beauty contest.
After many prime time shows, she became famous in France, but also in Africa, where many head of states are considering her as the best ambassadress for Africa. She was the first Miss France who came from Africa.
17 March 2001: she founded an association to help orphans in Africa, especially the street kids in Rwanda after the genocide.
21 April 2001: more than 10 years after the beginning of the events, the whole Rolland family, Landrada and Jacques, the parents, Sonia and Mikael, her brother, was welcomed in Kigali by a crowd seeing them as a symbol of the fragile but strengthening peace in Rwanda.
After a CD entirely in aid of Rwandese kids, a book about beauty tips for Black women "Beauté Black" éditions du Rocher, several appearances as a model and representative of French cosmetic brand Mixa from L'Oreal, she is now a confirmed actress since 2002.
She starred with Radu Mihaileanu in "Les pygmés de Carlo" for ARTE. And in 50 episodes of police TV series "Lea Parker" (broadcast every Sunday on one of the top 5 TV channels in France, and seen in Africa through TV5).
She is mother of 2 girls and lives with Actor/Director Jalil Lespert.Rwanda- Producer
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He is best known for directing the Brazilian critical and financial successes Elite Squad and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within and the 2014 remake of RoboCop. He has won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for Elite Squad in 2008. He is also the producer and director of the Netflix original series Narcos, starring frequent collaborator Wagner Moura.Brazil- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Tom Choi was born in Taegu, South Korea and moved to Des Moines, Iowa when he was four years old. After graduating high school, Tom moved to Seattle, Washington where he graduated from The University of Washington with a bachelor's degree in Drama. Moving to Los Angeles, he has continued to act in film, television and many commercials. He attended the LACC School of Cinema and Television and now adds producing, directing and writing to his credits.South Korea- Actress
- Soundtrack
Lenna Kuurmaa was born on 26 September 1985 in Tallinn, Estonian SSR, USSR [now Estonia]. She is an actress, known for Kuhu põgenevad hinged (2007), Täitsa lõpp (2011) and IT-planeet (2011).Estonia- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
French actress and model Eva Gaëlle Green was born on July 6, 1980, in Paris, France. Her father, Walter Green, is a dentist who appeared in the 1966 film Au hasard Balthazar (1966). Her mother, Marlène Jobert, is an actress turned children's book writer. Eva's mother was born in Algeria, of French, Spanish, and Sephardic Jewish heritage (during that time, Algeria was part of France), and Eva's father is of Swedish, French, and Breton descent. She has a fraternal twin sister, Joy. Eva left French school at 17. She switched to the American School in France for one year. She left the American School and studied acting at Saint Paul Drama School in Paris for three years, then had a 10-week polishing course at the Weber Douglas Academy of dramatic Art in London. She returned to Paris as an accomplished young actress, and played on stage in several theater productions: "La Jalousie en Trois Fax" and "Turcaret". There, she caught the eye of director Bernardo Bertolucci. Green followed a recommendation to work on her English. She studied for two months with an English coach before doing The Dreamers (2003) with Bernardo Bertolucci. During their work, Bertolucci described Green as being "so beautiful it's indecent".
Green won critical acclaim for her role in The Dreamers (2003). After "The Dreamers", Green played the love interest of cult French gentleman-thief, Arsène Lupin (2004), opposite Romain Duris. In 2005, she co-starred, opposite Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson, in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), produced and directed by Ridley Scott. The film brought her a wider international exposure. She turned down the femme fatale role in The Black Dahlia (2006), that went to Hilary Swank, because she didn't want to end up typecast after her role in "The Dreamers". Instead, Eva accepted the prestigious role of "Vesper Lynd", one of three Bond girls, opposite Daniel Craig, in Casino Royale (2006) and became the fifth French actress to play a James Bond girl, after Claudine Auger in Thunderball (1965), Corinne Cléry in Moonraker (1979), Carole Bouquet in For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Sophie Marceau in The World Is Not Enough (1999). She achieved international recognition for the film, one of the highest-grossing Bond movies ever.
Since then, Green has starred in the films Dark Shadows (2012), 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016). She also starred as Vanessa Ives in Showtime's horror drama Penny Dreadful (2014). Her performance in the series earned her a nomination for Best Actress in a Television Series - Drama at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards.
Since her school years, Green has been a cosmopolitan multilingual and multicultural person. Yet, since her father always lived in France with them and her mother, she and her twin sister can't speak Swedish. She developed a wide scope of interests beyond her acting profession and became an aspiring art connoisseur and an avid museum visitor. Her other activities, outside of acting, include playing and composing music, cooking at home, walking her terrier, and collecting art. She shares time between her two residencies, one is in Paris, France, and one in London, England.France- José Ramos Horta was born on 26 December 1949 in Dili, East Timor. He is known for Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992), The Diplomat (2000) and Landline (1991).East Timor
- Actor
- Stunts
- Producer
Ned Yousef was born in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Ned is an actor and producer, known for Parish (2024), We Have a Ghost (2023) and Ms. Marvel (2022).United Arab Emirates- Music Artist
- Actor
- Producer
Justin Drew Bieber was born on March 1, 1994 at St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Ontario, Canada and was raised in Stratford, Ontario. He is the son of Pattie Mallette and Jeremy Bieber. He is of French-Canadian, Irish, German, English, and Scottish descent. He has three younger half-siblings via his father.
Growing up, he showed a strong interest in music and taught himself to play many instruments, including, guitar, drums, piano and trumpet. His mother began posting videos of him performing musically on YouTube. The videos soon built up a fan following and caught the attention of talent agent Scooter Braun. Braun was able to secure an impromptu audition with Usher, who was impressed and helped Bieber to sign a record deal.
In 2009, his first single, "One Time", was a worldwide hit and was certified Platinum in Canada and the United States. This was followed by his debut EP album, "My World", which was also an international success. He became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut record chart on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2010, he released his first full-length studio album, My World 2.0. He also released a successful concert film, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011).
In 2012, he released his third studio album, Believe. In 2015, he released his fourth studio album, Purpose.
He has won a Grammy Award and an American Music Award. He has been listed numerous times by Forbes magazine among the "Top Ten Most Powerful Celebrities in the World."
He has sold an estimated 140 million records, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists.Canada- Actress
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An Ivy League graduate with a degree in Diplomatic History, Julia was born in Zambia, spent her early childhood in Africa, and grew up in Paris before finishing high school in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. Her mother, a stage actress herself in Paris in her youth, was originally from Turkey. Her father, a career diplomat with the United Nations, is from Norway and along with most of Julia's immediate family, lives in Europe.Zambia- Actor
- Soundtrack
James Wilby was born on 20 February 1958 in Rangoon, Burma [now Yangon, Myanmar]. He is an actor, known for Maurice (1987), Gosford Park (2001) and A Handful of Dust (1988). He has been married to Shana Louise Magraw since 25 June 1988. They have four children.Burma/Myanmar- Actor
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Screenplay multi-award nominated Lewis Alsamari was born in Baghdad to Iraqi parents. He fled Saddam Hussein's brutal army and military intelligence, was shot in the leg, almost eaten alive by desert canines while fleeing alone on foot at night across the unforgiving Iraqi-Jordanian desert. His safety in Jordan was compromised so he was forced to flee once again to South East Asia on fake documents.
He developed severe PTSD, which then triggered a stabbing stomach-ulcer disease, but he arduously fought on till he finally reached his real home - the United Kingdom - where he spent some of his early childhood. His critically acclaimed biography "Out Of Iraq" was published by the Penguin Random House Group in several languages worldwide, and was launched in North America by Crown USA as "Escape From Saddam".
The book also chronicles Alsamari's continued battle to save his family from torture and persecution at the hands of the same barbaric military he once escaped. He married a Jewish girl from the north of England, and embarked on an international sting operation to bring his family back to Britain. After several failed attempts - most notably when Lewis, his mother, siblings and his British wife were captured and locked up in Kuala Lumpur in ghastly and putrid jail cells - he nevertheless kept trying over and over again till he finally succeeded in bringing his family to England.
Alsamari received his LLB Honors Law degree from a prestigious London University and in 2021 will be awarded his LLM Master of Laws postgraduate degree from the number one law school in the UK. In the meantime, he also trained as a screenwriter and was nominated for best script in the Austin Film Festival script competition in Sept. 2020, a semi-finalist in the Filmmatic script competition in Sept. 2020, and a nomination in the Screencraft best script competition in November 2019.
In sports, Alsamari is a black-belt Muay-Thai fighter. In art, he published his first sci-fi-fantasy graphic novel titled - Scions: www.ScionsKingdom.com
Alsamari is also known for his leading acting role in Universal Studios' Oscar nominated, BAFTA winning film United 93, the BAFTA and BerlinAle award winning BBC series Occupation and the new US film - Blackline.
Described by many as an epitome of diversity, Alsamari's Iraqi-British voice and uniquely raw and virtuous perspective comes from decades of suffering not only as an under-represented Middle Eastern actor and refugee... but also as a writer, soldier, liberator and intellect. His work has only just begun.Iraq- Actress
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Malin was born in Stockholm, Sweden and raised in Toronto, Canada. Her mother, Pia (Sundström), is a model and aerobics instructor, and her father, Magnus Åkerman, is an insurance broker. They moved to Toronto when she was age 2. At age 5, she began appearing in TV commercials. Her parents divorced when she was 6 and her father returned to Sweden.
At age 17, she won the Canadian title of Ford Supermodel. This enabled her to spend 3 years as a catwalk model in Europe. She decided to become a child psychologist and enrolled in York University but she was offered a guest role in Earth: Final Conflict (1997) so she turned her attention back to acting. She moved to Los Angeles in 2001 and won roles in both TV and film. Her breakthrough role came when she was cast as Silk Spectre II in Watchmen (2009).Sweden- Actress
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Valeria Bruni Tedeschi was born on 16 November 1964 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. She is an actress and writer, known for Like Crazy (2016), Il est plus facile pour un chameau... (2003) and Human Capital (2013).Italy- Actor
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Klaus Maria Brandauer was a music student and studied drama at Stuttgarter Hochschule. He was a true stage actor and therefore didn't like to work in movies except for two small parts in The Salzburg Connection (1972) and Októberi vasárnap (1979). This changed when Hungarian director István Szabó gave him a leading part in Mephisto (1981). Brandauer received the actors award in Cannes and that opened door to international films. Together with the movies Colonel Redl (1985) and Hanussen (1988), all directed by István Szabó, these three movies formed the 'German trilogy' of Brandauer. He received a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for his role of Bror Blixen in Out of Africa (1985). The first movie he directed himself was Georg Elser - Einer aus Deutschland (1989). He also played the leading role in this movie.Austria- Actor
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Tinpo Lee is an actor, writer and avid surfer. He graduated from UCLA with a degree in English Literature, and began his professional acting career in New York City, studying under the legendary Wynn Handman of The American Place Theatre. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children, including actress Peyton Elizabeth Lee.Saint Lucia- Producer
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- Actress
Diana C. Zollicoffer was born in 1977 in Seychelles. She is a producer and writer, known for Schmoolie the Deathwatcher (2015), Bridget and Iain (2017) and Forgotten Bayou (2016).Seychelles- Actress
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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.Spain- Producer
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Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, a city in the greater Johannesburg area, in South Africa, the only child of Gerda Theron (née Maritz) and Charles Theron. She was raised on a farm outside the city. Theron is of Afrikaner (Dutch, with some French Huguenot and German) descent, and Afrikaner military figure Danie Theron was her great-great-uncle.
Theron received an education as a ballet dancer and has danced both the "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker". There was not much work for a young actress or dancer in South Africa, so she soon traveled to Europe and the United States, where she got a job at the Joffrey Ballet in New York. She was also able to work as a photo model. However, an injured knee put a halt to her dancing career.
In 1994, her mother bought her a one-way ticket to Los Angeles, and Charlize started visiting all of the agents on Hollywood Boulevard, but without any luck. She went to a bank to cash a check for $500 she received from her mother, and became furious when she learned that the bank would not cash it because it was an out-of-state check. She made a scene and an agent gave her his card, in exchange for learning American English, which she did by watching soap operas on television.
Her first role was in the B-film Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995), a non-speaking part with three seconds of screen time. Her next role was as Helga Svelgen in 2 Days in the Valley (1996), which landed her the role of Tina Powers in That Thing You Do! (1996). Since then, she has starred in movies like The Devil's Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), The Cider House Rules (1999), The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) and The Italian Job (2003). On February 29, 2004, she won her first Academy Award, a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Monster (2003).South Africa- Raven-haired beauty Jordana Brewster was born on April 26, 1980 in Panama City, Panama. Her mother, Maria João Leal de Sousa, is a Brazilian-born model who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1978. Her father, Alden Brewster, is an American-born investment banker, who has English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry. Her paternal grandfather, Mayflower descendant Kingman Brewster, Jr., was president of Yale University from 1963 to 1977. Jordana was raised in London, England up until the age of six. At this time, her family decided to move back to her mother's native Rio de Janeiro. Here, they would stay for the next 4 years. Jordana learned to speak fluent Portuguese during her 4 year stay in Rio de Janeiro. At the age of ten, Jordana's family decided to move again, only this time they would relocate to Manhattan. It was here where Jordana studied at Sacred Heart, an all-girl Catholic school before moving on to the New York Professional Children's School. It was in her teens that Jordana began to make a name for herself by appearing in two of daytime television's longest-running soap operas, All My Children (1970) and in 1996 As the World Turns (1956), where she played the role of "Nikki Munson" for three years. Jordana also went on to co-star in the NBC mini-series The '60s (1999). The year 1998 marked her big-screen debut as "Delilah Profitt" in the teen-driven film, The Faculty (1998). However, it was her role as "Mia Toretto" in the blockbuster hit The Fast and the Furious (2001) that led her to reach Hollywood stardom. Despite her success, Jordana continued to attend Yale University, in the class of 2003. She played the lead in the prequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006), and reprised her role, Mia, in the sequels Fast & Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), and Furious 7 (2015).
Brewster was married to producer Andrew Form in 2007, and they have two sons.Panama - Actor
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Yvan Attal was born on 4 January 1965 in Tel Aviv, Israel. He is an actor and writer, known for The Accusation (2021), Rush Hour 3 (2007) and Munich (2005).Israel- Grace Byers (born Grace Lillis Gealey) was born in Butler, PA and moved to the Cayman Islands at Age 2. She moved back to America to attend the University of South Florida in Tampa, where she received a B.A. in Theater Arts. Upon graduating from college, Byers was accepted into the University of California Irvine's graduate program and obtained her M.F.A in Acting. A successful showcase took her from Los Angeles to New York City, where Byers performed professionally. Several theater productions, short films and national commercials led her to Chicago, where she was cast as Anika Calhoun in Fox's Empire. This marked Byers' network television debut.Cayman Islands*
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Born in 15 March 1959 as Renny Lauri Mauritz Harjola, he is the most successful Finnish film director in the history of Hollywood.
Harlin started his career in film business in the beginning of 1980s when he was directing commercials and company films for companies like Shell. Later he worked as a buyer for Finnish film distributor and met Finnish Markus Selin in Los Angeles. They became friends and started writing a screenplay called "Arctic Heat". The project started fast and soon they had Chuck Norris signed on leading role for the film. But with money problems shooting schedule didn't hold and Norris left the project, but Selin and Harlin got Mike Norris for the leading role. They wrote new script, Born American (1986), and got financial help from USA. In the year 1986 Born American (1986) was finished and the most expensive Finnish film ever opened in USA in over 1,000 theaters and reached no 9.
The film wasn't successful in Finland, where it was banned. Harlin moved to Los Angeles and got a job from Halloween (1978) producer Irwin Yablans who offered him script of "Prison" to film. Film was made with low budget and distributed with only 42 copies. In the same year 1988 he got a job from New Line Cinema to direct A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) after meeting producer Robert Shaye numerous times, who at the first didn't want Harlin to direct the film. It became the highest-grossing film in the series, though its budget was seven times greater than the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" film.
20th Century Fox wanted Harlin to direct the Andrew Dice Clay rock'n roll comedy The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) and also a sequel to Die Hard (1988). Harlin made the both, but only Die Hard 2 (1990) was commercially successful, with over 239 million dollar worldwide gross. Next he directed Cliffhanger (1993) with Sylvester Stallone which made $255 million worldwide and was nominated for 3 Oscar's. Before Cliffhanger (1993) Harlin was hired to direct "Alien³" but he left the project because of creative differences.
His next film Cutthroat Island (1995) was a pirate film made with $100 million budget. Unfortunately it came out without good promotion and flopped badly. It made only $10 million in USA and for a time became the biggest flop in Hollywood history. But for Harlin, it wasn't a total loss.
The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) was a critical success, but was a box office flop, grossing only $30 million domestically with a $65 million budget.
In year 1998, Warner Bros. wanted a summer blockbuster for the year 1999 and Renny Harlin was the right name to direct. Deep Blue Sea (1999) came to theaters after costing 60 million dollars to film and made $160 million worldwide. The film never hit the top spot in the USA but still grossed $73 millions in the USA alone.
Harlin was hired to direct Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) after John Frankenheimer left the job and died shortly after it, and Paul Schrader was fired. Producers knew that Harlin could made a blockbuster even with the weak script, and so he did. With $50 million budget the film opened in number 1 and grossed $80 million worldwide.
Probably most liked Harlin's film Mindhunters (2004) was released in 2004 after years post-production. It was released in USA in 2005 in over 1,000 theaters but it only reached 10th place. In 9 weeks it grossed only $4 million dollars.
The Covenant (2006) was released in 2006. With non-famous (but attractive) actors, the film hit the top in its opening weekend and became a successful film. With a $20 million budget, it grossed $37 million worldwide and DVD sale brought $20 million more.Finland- Tasha de Vasconcelos was born in Beira, Mozambique, with Portuguese ancestry on her father's side and British on her mother's side. Her old European background is very evident in her multilingual diversity and her capacity to interact with different cultures. Due to social unrest in Africa her family moved to Canada, where Tasha went on to study international relations at the University of British Columbia. In 1998 Tasha graduated in International Strategy at the Centre for Diplomatic and Strategic Studies in Paris.
Tasha's modelling career began when she was spotted in Canada. A highly successful career as an international model was established with New York photographer Steven Meisel shooting Tasha for her first Vogue cover. Her acting debut was with a part in French movie Riches, belles, etc. (1998) with 'Claudia Cardinale', Marisa Berenson and 'Anouk Aimee'. Tasha studied acting at the Cours Florent and the Central School of Speech and Drama. She went on to play the sexually liberated minx Lauren in the leading female role opposite 'Paul Kaye' in the BBC comedy series Perfect World (2000).
Then followed the remake of Murder on the Orient Express (2001) for CBS with Tasha playing a Russian jewel thief opposite Alfred Molina. Her next UK appearances were in Largo Winch (2001) as a feisty independent writer and love interest of Paolo Seganti and in Relic Hunter (1999) playing the part of a warrior princess. Both launched in the US, with Largo Winch also distributed in Europe.
In 2002 Tasha filmed the independent feature film Dot the I (2003) acting alongside 'Gael Garcia Bernal' which was well received at Sundance Film Festival 2003. Tasha performed alongside Judi Dench and Gillian Anderson at "An Enchanted Evening" at London's Theatre Royal, a gala performance of the music of Richard Rodgers in aid of the Neurofibromatosis Association.
April 2003 saw Tasha's first major feature film release in the spoof Bond movie Johnny English (2003) directed by 'Peter Howitt' and starring Rowan Atkinson, Natalie Imbruglia and John Malkovich. Tasha plays the manipulative villainess Contessa Alexandra in the film's opening scene opposite Rowan Atkinson, Tasha takes on the femme fatale mantle of actresses such as Sophie Marceau and 'Grace Jones' in the original Bond films. Among her sporting skills, Tasha is an outstanding horsewoman and pentathlon competitor.
Tasha's other great passion is helping underprivileged children, supporting charities such as the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the Association for Drug-addicted Children in Portugal. She is a goodwill representative for UNICEF to Bolivia for malnourished children and to Algeria for war-ravaged children. Tasha is also the goodwill ambassador appointed by Bolivia's first lady for the "Children of Pailaviri" project.Mozambique - Larissa Bond was born on 8 April 1973 in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, USSR [now Uzbekistan]. She is an actress, known for Lord of War (2005), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) and How to Make It in America (2010).Uzbekistan
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Mick Preston trained as an actor in New York with Uta Hagen. He has worked as an actor in the USA, Japan and Australia in film, television, theater and television commercials and was recently nominated for 'Best Supporting Actor' at the South Hampton International Film Festival for his role as Marcus in 'Evie wants a Baby'.Papua New Guinea- Actress
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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.Malaysia- Actor
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Goran Visnjic is a Croatian American actor and producer, born in Sibenik, Croatia. He is married to Eva Visnjic (formerly Ivana Vrdoljak) with whom has three children. From an early age Visnjic started appearing in various theater plays. At the age of 16, he had his screen debut in the film Braca po materi (1988). In 1990, when the dissolution of Yugoslavia began, Visnjic was serving a one-year military obligation in the Yugoslavian Army (JNA). He left the JNA and returned to Sibenik, where he joined the Croatian Army in the defense of his hometown. After leaving the army, he moved to Zagreb and enrolled at the Academy of Dramatic Art. In his second year of studies at the academy, Visnjic was chosen for the title role in Shakespeare's Hamlet, which made him the youngest actor to play that role. Prior to joining ER (1994) in 1999, Visnjic played several minor roles in the films like The Peacemaker (1997), Welcome to Sarajevo (1997) and Practical Magic (1998). In 1998, he appeared in Madonna's music video for the song "The Power of Goodbye", which opened the doors of Hollywood for him.Croatia- Yanina Studilina was born on 6 August 1985 in Omsk, Omskaya oblast, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia]. She is an actress, known for Little Ukraine (2022), Stalingrad (2013) and Dead Trigger (2017). She is married to Aleksandr Rodnyanskiy Jr.. They have one child.Russia
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Ksenia Solo is a Latvian-Canadian actress. She was born in Riga, Latvia in to an artistic family. She is a recipient of many prestigious Canadian awards, including 3 Gemini Awards and a nominee of the first ever Canadian Screen Awards. Ksenia was the youngest actor in Canadian television history to win two consecutive Gemini Awards.
Solo is a highly versatile actress that comes from a classical ballet background. She is best known for playing the ambitious 'Veronica', rival to Natalie Portman's 'Nina' in the 5-time Oscar nominated film Black Swan, manipulative and disturbed 'Holly' opposite Dominic Monaghan in the psychological thriller Pet, and young and innocent 'Lucy' opposite Maria Bello in In Search of Fellini.
Solo's ability to transform has also earned her critical acclaim for her roles on television including fan favorite 'Kenzi' in the fantasy-noir Syfy hit Lost Girl, real life socialite and wife of America's most infamous traitor 'Peggy Shippen' alongside Jamie Bell in AMC's historical drama TURN: Washington's Spies and Cosima's romantic love interest 'Shay' opposite Tatiana Maslany in BBC's Orphan Black.
No stranger to the comic book world, Ksenia played Dodge in the highly anticipated FOX/DreamWorks comic book adaptation of Locke & Key, which was executive produced by Steven Spielberg, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and directed by Mark Romanek. Her other work includes starring on CW's Life Unexpected alongside Brittany Robertson, Shiri Appleby and Austin Butler and playing Stephen Colbert's daughter in the The Ron Howard produced pilot The Untitled Ken Finkleman project, to name a few.
Solo's most recent indie feature, Tulipani, Love, Honour and a Bicycle, directed by Oscar winner Mike Van Diem, received a standing ovation at its world premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Ksenia had to learn Italian for her role in the film.
In 2018 Solo was offered the role of Susie Miller in History Channels Project Blue Book, produced by Academy Award Winner Robert Zumeckis. The show premiered on January 8th, 2019 and became a break out hit as the most watched show on cable television. Project Blue Book was picked up for season 2 and will begin filming in the summer of 2019.Latvia- Actor
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Omar Sharif, the Egyptian actor best known for playing Sherif Ali in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and the title role in Doctor Zhivago (1965), was born Michel Demitri Shalhoub on April 10, 1932 in Alexandria, Egypt to Joseph Shalhoub, a lumber merchant, and his wife, Claire (Saada). Of Lebanese and Syrian extraction, the young Michel was raised Catholic. He was educated at Victoria College in Alexandria and took a degree in mathematics and physics from Cairo University with a major. Afterward graduating from university, he entered the family lumber business.
Before making his English-language film debut with "Lawrence of Arabia", for which he earned a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination and international fame, Sharif became a star in Egyptian cinema. His first movie was the Egyptian film The Blazing Sun (1954) ("The Blazing Sun") in 1953, opposite the renowned Egyptian actress Faten Hamamah whom he married in 1955. He converted to Islam to marry Hamama and took the name Omar al-Sharif. The couple had one child (Tarek Sharif, who was born in 1957 and portrayed the young Zhivago in the eponymous picture) and divorced in 1974. Sharif never remarried.
Beginning in the 1960s, Sharif earned a reputation as one of the world's best known contract bridge players. In the 1970s and 1980s, he co-wrote a syndicated newspaper bridge column for the Chicago Tribune. Sharif also wrote several books on bridge and has licensed his name to a bridge computer game, "Omar Sharif Bridge", which has been marketed since 1992. Sharif told the press in 2006 that he no longer played bridge, explaining, "I decided I didn't want to be a slave to any passion any more except for my work. I had too many passions, bridge, horses, gambling. I want to live a different kind of life, be with my family more because I didn't give them enough time.".
As an actor, Sharif had made a comeback in 2003 playing the title role of an elderly Muslim shopkeeper in the French film Monsieur Ibrahim (2003). For his performance, he won the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Actor César, France's equivalent of the Oscar, from the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma.
Diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2012, Sharif died of a heart attack on July 10, 2015, in Cairo, Egypt.Egypt- Actor
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Ulrich Thomsen graduated from The Danish National School of Theatre and Contemporary Dance in 1993, after which playing on several theaters in Copenhagen, i.e. Dr. Dantes Aveny, Mungo Park and Østre Gasværks Teater. His debut on film was in Ole Bornedal's Nightwatch (1994). Since then a number of roles in, among others, Thomas Vinterberg's The Biggest Heroes (1996), Susanne Bier's Credo (1997) and Anders Thomas Jensen's Flickering Lights (2000). However, the major breakthrough came in the film The Celebration (1998) by Thomas Vinterberg, playing the part as Christian, the son. This performance made him well known outside Denmark, earning him a bad guy role in the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough (1999) and a part in the English film Killing Me Softly (2002).Denmark- Actor
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Haluk Bilginer is a Turkish actor. In addition to his acting career in Turkey, he has also worked in the United Kingdom and remains known for his role as Mehmet Osman in the television soap opera EastEnders (1985) during the 1980s. He has also starred in Hollywood movies as a minor actor. He played a villainous guerrilla leader in the 1987 comedy film Ishtar (1987) (one of the most notorious flops in movie history) and a Turkish Mafioso in the 2001 dark comedy film Buffalo Soldiers (2001). He played the character of Emre Celenk in the episode of Persephone in MI-5 (2002) 2004.
Bilginer was born in Izmir, Turkey. He graduated from Ankara State Conservatory in 1977 before going to England where he graduated from London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He landed his first role at EastEnders (1985). Bilginer makes his first appearance in EastEnders (1985) as Mehmet Osman on-screen in June 1985, four months after the show originally aired. His arrival coincides with a cot death story line of Sue and Ali's baby, Hassan. Mehmet appears as a recurring character from 1985-1987, setting up a cab firm named Ozcabs from inside Ali's cafe; however, he becomes a regular in 1988, when both he and his wife Guizin (Ishia Bennison) are made partners in Ali's cafe, which is renamed Café Osman. Mehmet is portrayed as a charmer, a rogue and a womanizer. Author of The EastEnders (1985) Handbook, Hilary Kingsley, has said of him, "he tries it on with every woman he meets and sometimes succeeds through a combination of good looks and sheer audacity." A serial gambler, Mehmet was shown to steer Ali into various money-losing ploys, and had a combustible marriage to Guizin, who put up with his philandering, as in the Turkish community, that's "what a wife was expected to do".
Described as "the Terrible Turk", Haluk Bilginer was one of the more popular male cast members on EastEnders (1985) during the 1980s, and he reportedly received sackfuls of fan mail, "despite playing a villain and a womanizing snake". Hilary Kingsley has said that what made the character so popular was Bilginer's Omar Sharif-style good looks and charm. Following the departure of Holland and Smith, Mehmet was eventually written out of the serial in May 1989, in a story line that signified the disbandment of the Osman family. On-screen, Mehmet returns to his native Cyprus after a fight with Guizin regarding her suspicions about Mehmet's fabricated affair with Sue. The Osman family were among many characters to leave the serial that year. Writer Colin Brake has commented, "the pace of comings and going was fast and furious during 1989, as the program me tried to find a new direction." Bilginer went into musical theatre after leaving EastEnders (1985). During the course of the show, he came to Turkey to star in the 1987 TV series Gecenin Öteki Yüzü (1987) (The Other Side of the Night), where he met his eventual first wife Zuhal Olcay, famous Turkish actress and singer. After dividing his time in London and Istanbul for six years, he left the show to stay in Turkey permanently and married Zuhal Olcay in 1992. He guest starred in an episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992) as Ismet Inönü, and went on to star in the Yavuz Özkan film "Iki Kadin (1992)" (Two Women). He then starred in various movies including the controversial Istanbul Kanatlarimin Altinda (1996) (Istanbul Under My Wings) and the famous Sawdust Tales (1997) (Master, Kill Me). After critical acclaim for these roles, he earned his first award as a supporting actor in Innocence (1997) (Innocence). After deciding he wants to pursue career on stage, he founded "Tiyatro Stüdyosu" (Theatre Studio) with his ex-wife Zuhal Olcay and Ahmet Levendoglu in 1990. After starring in various plays for six years, he had to return to screen in 1996 because of a fire that has destroyed the theater. He and his wife starred in television and movies to raise money to found another theater.
During this era, he starred in Eyvah Kizim Büyüdü (2000) (Oh My, My Daughter Has Grown), starting his second era in television. After years of work, he and his wife managed to start a second theater, called "Oyun Atölyesi" (Play Workshop). His most famous role however came after he started his second theater. He landed a role in Tatli Hayat (2001), a remake of The Jeffersons (1975). He played the role of Ihsan Yildirim, an angry and foul-mouthed, yet lovable dry cleaner. He was accompanied by legendary actress Türkan Soray, who played his wife, Asuman Dabak playing the witty cleaner, Neco playing the Greek neighbor (The enmity between Greeks and Turks were put instead of the Black-White one in the original) and Çolpan Ilhan playing Neco's wife. He and the show's breakthrough character Irfan (played by Celal Kadri Kinoglu) are regarded as the best characters in Turkish TV history. He divorced Zuhal Olcay in 2004 and began a relationship with Askin Nur Yengi, a famous Turkish singer. They married in 2006 and had a girl. After Tatli Hayat (2001), he starred in Neredesin Firuze (2004) (Where Are You Firuze?), Hirsiz Var! (2005) (Thief!) and Hacivat Karagöz Neden Öldürüldü? (2006) (Why Were Hacivat&Karagöz Murdered?). His most recent role in Polis (2007) (Police) however, is his most critically acclaimed role after Tatli Hayat (2001). His portrayal of the troubled police legend Musa Rami has gained critical acclaim from both critics and viewers, who thought the movie was too experimental. Bilginer, however, has said that he will work in all of Onur Ünlü's (screenwriter and director of Polis (2007)) movies, even as an extra if required. Bilginer played the role of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in an Is Bank commercial, which first aired on 10 November 2007 during the 69th commemorations of Atatürk's death. In 2009 , He play in famous Turkish series Ezel (2009) during the second season. He became famous with this role around many countries . Bilginer co-starred in the 2009 American thriller The International (2009) as Ahmet Sunay, a Turkish high-tech missile guidance system dealer. He was accompanied by Clive Owen and Naomi Watts in this movie. Bilginer plays Aydin, an imposing Grey-haired former actor, in Winter Sleep (2014), which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014.Turkey- Kenichi Matsuyama was born on March 5, 1985 in Mutsu, Japan.
He started his career in 2001 modeling. The following year, he debuted as an actor, landing a small role in Gokusen (2002). In 2003, he made his film debut w/ a supporting role in Bright Future (2002). His major breakthrough was in 2006 his performance as L in the Death Note film franchise. Subsequently, he was nominated for several awards, including the Hochi Film Awards for Best New Actor in 2006 as well as the Japan Academy Award for Best New Actor & Yokohama Film Festival Award for Best New Talent in 2007. Since then, he has performed in a variety of different character driven roles.
In 2010, he won the Takasaki Film Festival award for Best Actor & 64th Mainichi Film Awards for Best Actor. He's represented by Horipro Talent Agency.Japan - Actor
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After leaving Vietnam with his family in 1975 Dustin Tri Nguyen (pronounced "Gwen") went on to establish himself as one of Hollywood's premiere Asian-American actors, having starred on the hit TV shows "21 Jump Street," "Seaquest DSV," "VIP," He went on to star in the films THE REBEL and THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS 2. In 2005 Dustin won the much sought after role in the Australian based critically acclaimed film LITTLE FISH starring opposite Academy Award-winner Cate Blanchett. In the film Dustin plays 'Jonny,' Blanchett's love interest in a story that revolves around her 'Tracy,' an ex-heroin-addict trying to rebuild her life. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to become the number-one film in Australia. Along the way, it collected 5 Australian Film Institute Awards and 3 Film Critics' Awards. LITTLE FISH then opened in New York to rave reviews. Critics took note of Dustin's performance and transformation into a leading man among the A-list cast. This very performance earned him the 2007 Asian Excellence Award for Best Supporting Actor in a feature film.
Dustin can be seen starring in and directing Justin Lin's series "Warrior" on Cinemax. The Show, based on the writings of Bruce Lee and set in the late 1870s San Francisco during the Tong Wars in Chinatown. In the Series he plays the "Big Bad" Zing. Dustin is especially looking forward to season 2 where he has directed the sixth episode of the show. This past season also saw Dustin guest starring on the NBC hit Drama "This Is Us."
In more recent years, Dustin has transitioned to directing and producing films under his Vietnam-based Dreamscape DBS; the production company he shares with his producer wife, Bebe Pham. 2015 was a particularly good year for Dustin as his second directorial effort, JACKPOT, was chosen to represent Vietnam for Best Foreign Language Films at the 2016 Oscars. The film also was one of the surprise hits with Vietnamese audiences that year as it was inspired by the true events of a poor countryside lottery peddler who returned the winning lottery ticket to its rightful owner. By summer of 2016, JACKPOT collected 3 Golden Kite Awards (Vietnam's highest cinematic award) for Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Screenplay, in addition to People's Choice Award for the Best Film of 2015.
In 2014, Dustin collaborated as an actor in a Vietnamese adaptation of Dostoyevsky's A GENTLE CREATURE. This film, GENTLE, earned him a Leonardo da Vinci Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 2015 Milan International Film Festival. In the same year, Dustin starred in Universal Pictures' sequel to THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS.
In 2013, Dustin made his directorial debut with a script he wrote which was his personal homage to Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns, called ONCE UPON A TIME IN VIETNAM - the first fantasy-martial-arts-drama in Vietnam. The film was picked up by Lionsgate for North America distribution, as well as being distributed in England, Germany, Italy, France, Australia and South America.
In 2011, Dustin was awarded Best Actor at the Vietnamese International Film Festival for his performance as an abusive and bitter single father raising two children in the Mekong Delta in FLOATING LIVES.
In 2009, Dustin was awarded the Vietnamese Golden Lotus Award (Vietnam's Highest Film Award) for Best Actor in the motion picture THE LEGEND IS ALIVE, as well as the Golden Kite Award (Vietnam's Cinema Association) for the very same role. He was also awarded the Golden Rooster (China's most prestigious film award) for Favorite International Actor for this very role. Dustin played Long, a mentally challenged man, whose only wish is to bring his recently deceased mother's ashes to America. Along his journey, Long encounters and reluctantly involves himself with a young girl who has been sold to human traffickers.
In 2008, Dustin starred in Justin Lin's film FINISHING THE GAME, which had premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2006, Dustin starred in his first villain role in the Vietnamese blockbuster THE REBEL, a French-Vietnamese 1920's period action-drama. It marked his first return to Vietnam in 32 years.
Dustin's martial arts expertise was fully showcased in 2000 when he starred in a Levi's Jeans' European "Hero" campaign, which expanded upon his ever-growing international profile. The campaign was uniquely groundbreaking in that it was the first time Levi's had ever used an Asian star in their awarded winning campaigns. For Dustin, it offered the first opportunity to apply his love for the martial arts along with his dramatic training as he collaborated with director Jonathan Glazer (UNDER THE SKIN, SEXY BEAST, BIRTH) on the fight choreography.
Dustin currently lives in Vietnam with his wife, Bebe Pham, and their three children.Vietnam- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Anneliese van der Pol was born on September 23, 1984 in Naaldwijk, Netherlands, to Dyan Ross and Willem van der Pol. She moved to the United States when she was a young child. Her American-born mother named her after Holocaust victim Anne Frank. A graduate of the Musical Theater Program at The Orange County High School of the Arts, California, Anneliese (pronounced AH-na-LEE-zah) has already made an impressive mark in the world of entertainment. For her captivating performance as Eva Péron in the Buena Park Civic Theater production of Evita (1996), she not only won rave reviews from the Los Angeles Times but also earned a place in history as the the youngest actress - at the age of 15 - to play the role in a professional production. More recently, Anneliese starred as Laurey in Oklahoma! (1955) for Austin Musical Theater, and received both an Austin Critics Table Award nomination for "Best Actress In a Musical" and a B. Iden Payne Award nomination for "Best Featured Actress in a Musical." In 2009, Van der Pol returned to theatre in Theatre Under the Star's Musical Production of Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) as Esther Smith, in Houston.
On television, she starred as Chelsea Daniels, Raven's best friend and sidekick who often draws her into humorous escapades in the Disney Channel original comedy series That's So Raven (2003). The series went on to become Disney's most successful show to date surpassing the 100th episode mark.
On the big screen, Van der Pol starred in Divorce: The Musical (2001). Van der Pol also appeared in one of the Summer's most anticipated film, Bratz (2007) as Avery.
With Disney, Van der Pol participated in many musical projects. She performed part of the theme song for That's So Raven (2003), and was also a part of the Disney Channel Circle of Stars which recorded covers of "The Circle of Life" and "A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes" along with other Disney Stars. Van der Pol was also asked to record the main track, "Over It", for the Disney Channel Original Movie, Stuck in the Suburbs (2004). Van der Pol also recorded several tracks for the "That's So Raven Too!" Soundtrack, including the album's second single, "A Day in the Sun." In attempt to jump start a musical career, she has worked with veteran music producer/song writer, Bob Esty and Jud Friedman on her first Demo CD.
Van der Pol made her Broadway debut in 2007 as Broadway's final Belle in "Beauty and the Beast." The musical ran for 13 years before closing to make room for "The Little Mermaid". "Beauty and the Beast" is Broadway's sixth-longest running production in history. in 2009, Anneliese originate the role of Kathy in Off-Broadway's "Vanities" and recorded the show's Original Cast Recording.Netherlands- Actor
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Actor of Puerto Rican descent who gained fame making many memorable films in the 1980s and 1990s due to his villainous physical appearance. Guzmán was born in Cayey, Puerto Rico on August 28, 1956 and raised in New York City's Greenwich Village and the surrounding Lower East Side neighborhood. His mother Rosa worked in a hospital and Benjamin Cardona, his stepfather, was a TV repairman. Guzman presently resides in Vermont with his wife and kids.Puerto Rico*- Actor
- Stunts
Daniel and Luis Moncada are Honduran-American actors and brothers known for their role as "The Cousins" Leonel and Marco Salamanca on the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad (2010) and its spin-off Better Call Saul (2016; 2018-2022). Despite portraying twins in the series, in real life Luis is around three years older than Daniel. Luis Moncada was formerly in a gang and had served a prison sentence for vehicle theft.Honduras- Actor
- Soundtrack
Santiago Cabrera was born in Caracas, Venezuela, to Chilean parents, and grew up in London, Romania, Toronto, and Madrid. Although he considers Santiago, Chile, his hometown, he splits his time between London and Los Angeles.
Cabrera is a classically trained actor, having studied at London's prestigious Drama Centre. He made his television debut with small roles on British television, and on the London stage, playing Montano in Shakespeare's "Othello", at the London Greenwich Theatre, directed by Rupert Goold. His most recent stage role was Romeo in London's Middle Temple Hall production of "Romeo and Juliet".
Cabrera's roles have varied from playing Isaac Mendez, in the highly successful first season of NBC's ensemble drama series "Heroes" (2006-2007), the mythical character Lancelot, in the hit BBC series "Merlin" (2008-2010). He portrayed Cuban Guerrilla Commander Camilo Cienfuegos in Steven Soderbergh's film, "CHE. Part 1" (2008), opposite Benicio del Toro, for which he won critical acclaim. Santiago also portrayed the famed War Photographer Robert Capa in the HBO Film, "Hemingway and Gelhorn", opposite Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen.
In 2014, Cabrera starred as Aramis in the BBC One hit show "The Musketeers" (2014-2016), a fresh and exciting look at the much-loved novel by Alexandre Dumas. He went on to the hit HBO show "Big Little Lies" (2017) directed by Jean Marc Vallee, starring opposite Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman. He played Commander Santos in Michael Bay's "Transformers" (2017) and the lead role of Darius Tanz in two seasons of the CBS show "Salvation" (2017-2018).
Santiago worked under the Direction of Pablo Larrain in the Venice and Toronto Film Festival film "Ema" (2019), where he starred alongside Gael Garcia Bernal.
He also played the first Latin captain in the Star Trek Universe, starring as Captain Rios in the beloved Star Trek Series "Picard". (2020-2022).
Cabrera graced our screens in the hit MAX show, "The Flight Attendant" (2022), working opposite Kaley Cuoco, and in 2024 he can be seen in the Apple TV+ Show, "The Land of Women", opposite Eva Longoria and Carmen Maura and season 3 of the Warner Bros and FOX show, "The Cleaning Lady".
In addition to his native Spanish language, he is fluent in English, French, and Italian.Venezula- Director
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Yorgos Lanthimos was born in Athens, Greece. He studied directing for Film and Television at the Stavrakos Film School in Athens. He has directed a number of dance videos in collaboration with Greek choreographers, in addition to TV commercials, music videos, short films and theater plays. Kinetta, his first feature film, played at Toronto and Berlin film festivals to critical acclaim. His second feature Dogtooth, won the "Un Certain Regard prize" at the 2009 Cannes film festival, followed by numerous awards at festivals worldwide. It was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award (Oscar) in 2011. Alps won the "Osella for best screenplay" at the 2011 Venice film festival and Best Film at the Sydney film festival in 2012. His first English language film The Lobster was presented in Competition at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. Moreover, "The Lobster" was nominated for the (Oscar about the) Best Original Screenplay by the Academy and won Best Screenplay and Best Costume Design at the European Film Awards of 2015. His fifth project "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" was also presented in Competition at the 70th Cannes Film Festival where it won the award for the best Screenplay. Lanthimos's last film "The Favorite" is a historical Drama about the British Queen Anne.Greece- Writer
- Director
- Editor
Abbas Kiarostami was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1940. He graduated from university with a degree in fine arts before starting work as a graphic designer. He then joined the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, where he started a film section, and this started his career as a filmmaker at the age of 30. Since then he has made many movies and has become one of the most important figures in contemporary Iranian film. He is also a major figure in the arts world, and has had numerous gallery exhibitions of his photography, short films and poetry. He is an iconic figure for what he has done, and he has achieved it all by believing in the arts and the creativity of his mind.Iran- Actress
- Producer
Natalia Castellanos is a Colombian and Venezuelan bilingual actor and voiceover artist, currently residing in Los Angeles. Most recently, she can be seen guest-starring in the recurring role of Mayor Susanna Lopez in Amazon Prime's long running drama series "Bosch".
Natalia most recently wrapped production on 1oneninety5's thriller film "Survival", where she will play Special Agent Lucia Quintero. Additional credits include "NCIS: Los Angeles" (CBS), "Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders" (CBS), "Secrets and Lies" (ABC), and "Battleship" (Universal). Among her hosting appearances are the second season of MTV's hit series "The X-Effect", FOX's "My Games Fever" and E!'s "E! News".
Natalia has been seen in national and digital commercial campaigns for brands including Verizon, Toyota, Bimbo Bakery Breads and McDonald's for its cross promotion with "Pirates of the Caribbean".
She has also lent her voice to myriad projects, most notably for spots with Gap, Hallmark, and McDonald's. In addition, she was the voice of the bilingual channel MTV Tr3s for over a year, voices trailers for Disney+ in Spanish, and is called on to dub many Netflix shows and films.Suriname- Producer
- Actress
Iman was born on 25 July 1955 in Mogadishu, Somalia. She is a producer and actress, known for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), L.A. Story (1991) and No Way Out (1987). She was previously married to David Bowie, Spencer Haywood and Hassan ?.Somalia- Actress
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Born in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, she moved to the UK at age 14 to study drama and musical theatre at The Arts Educational School, Tring Park. After high school she focused on physics in college and graduated with a Master's in Science (Physics) from Imperial College London in 2008. Specialized in accents and languages, she has a perfect American, English, Dutch, German and French accent and speaks those languages fluently too. In the Netherlands she appeared in the period drama series The Throne (De Troon) and Beatrice (Beatrix), she also played Jennifer in the Golden Calf winning series Overspel. Since 2011 she's been producing, writing and directing the mockumentary series Miss Holland.Netherlands Antilles*- Actress
- Producer
Liya Kebede was born on 1 March 1978 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She is an actress and producer, known for The Good Shepherd (2006), The Best Offer (2013) and Lord of War (2005). She was previously married to Kassy Kebede.Ethiopia- Actor
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Stefan Karl Stefansson was an Icelandic film and stage actor/comedian, best known for playing the villain Robbie Rotten of Nickjr's popular TV program Lazy Town, that currently airs worldwide in over 103 countries, in all five continents, on [such distinguished] networks as BBC, CBBC, CBS, Discovery Kids, Disney, RUV-Icelandic TV, and Nick Jr.
Stefan Karl was born 1975 into a non-biz working class family in the village of Hafnarfjordur in Iceland. Shortly after graduation from drama school [or: from The Icelandic Academy of Arts in Reykjavík] he signed up with the National Theatre of Iceland, soon to be praised by critics and audiences alike as one of the most individual and versatile actor of the younger generation, introduced at the beginning of a new millennium.
As a lead comedic actor with the NT he was invited to play the leading role in the original theatre production of Lazy Town, in which he created the character of Robbie Rotten and when the play was eventually turned into a Television series, he was the obvious choice for the same part, in recognition of his contribution to its extraordinary success. As the villain Stefan Karl has been instrumental to the series and the success it has achieved, which includes number of prestigious awards and honors, including an EMIL Award, EDDA Award, Emmy Award nominations, and most notably two BAFTA Award nomination in the United Kingdom as well as having won the 2006 BAFTA Award, when LazyTown was specifically awarded for the episode titled "Robbie's Greatest Misses." He has also received the "Thorbjorn Egner Award" for an Outstanding Stage Performance as well as having his one man show, Thousand Island Dressing, selected by the President of the Leipzig Film Festival in Germany, as a showcase of Icelandic theatre, and performed at the festival's 10 year anniversary.
As a star player on repertoire at the National Theatre Stefan Karl also excelled in a variety of classical and contemporary starring- and character parts, such as the title role in Rostand's romantic tragedy Cyrano De Bergerac, as the song and dance man Cosmo Brown in Singin' in the Rain, the sufferable (middle age) stage director Lloyd Douglas in Noises Off and Puck in Midsummer Night's Dream. For one season Stefan Karl was borrowed by the NT's competitor The Reykjavík City Theatre, to star in Little Shop of Horrors as the formidable Dentist (plus playing ten different supporting roles).
In his relatively short career Stefán Karl built up a unique range of hilariously funny and eccentric characters, like the singing gay sheep farmer in the popular Icelandic feature comedy Stella Runs for Office, and a huge gallery of diverse comedic characters for the annual New Years Eve Comedy Hour-Variety Show on RUV-TV in Iceland, although it would be quite appropriate to say these had all rolled together into one, in his definitive interpretation of Robbie Rotten.
Stefan Karl was a founder of the reputable nonprofit organisation Rainbow Children in Iceland, a driving force and efficient charity fund raiser for rallying against child bullying, an organization which has now spread to Canada and is currently being introduced to the American public.
Stefan Karl ran his own TV and film production company in Europe, currently developing projects. He was a keen aviation enthusiast with a solo permit as a pilot, a licensed skipper for fishing boats of 30 tons, and during photography of the latest series of Lazy Town, he spent his entire spare time off set as a featured singer, vocal impressionist and youngest member of the popular rock'n roll band Studmenn, a group of celebrated musicians, all over fifty, who's catchphrase is "Lets embrace the oldest teenage rock band in Scandinavia." In his later years, Stefán Karl resided in San Diego with his wife Steinunn Olína, a renowned actress and novelist, and their three daughters and one son.
In October of 2016 Stefan Karl announced that he had developed Bile Duct Cancer. A GoFundMe campaign to cover his medical costs became popular when a few of the songs from "LazyTown" began receiving parodies and Internet memes. Stefan Karl said in August of 2017 that he was in remission but his condition became inoperable in March 2018. He discontinued chemotherapy in June 2018 and died on August 21, 2018.Iceland- Maia Morgenstern is a Romanian film and stage actress, described by Florin Mitu of AMOS News as "a symbol of Romanian theater and film." In the English-speaking world, she is probably best known for the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. In Romania, she has been nationally known since her 1992 role as Nela in Balanta, a film known in the United States as The Oak, set during the waning days of Communist Romania.
Born in Bucharest, in a Jewish family, she graduated from the Film and Theatre Academy of Bucharest in 1985. She then played at Teatrul Tineretului (Youth Theater) in Piatra Neamt; until 1988, and at the Teatrul Evreiesc de Stat (State Jewish Theatre) in Bucharest 1988-1990. From 1990-1998 she was a member of the company of the National Theatre in Bucharest, and since 1998 of Teatrul Bulandra, also in Bucharest; in addition, she continues to act at the State Jewish Theatre and other Bucharest theaters and elsewhere in Romania. Among her notable stage roles in recent years, in a Romanian-language production of The Blue Angel (Ingerul Albastru in Romanian) at Bucharest's Odeon Theater, in 2001-2002 she played (to great critical acclaim) Lola Lola, the character made famous by Marlene Dietrich. At the same time, she was also playing the role of Kathleen Hogan in a Romanian-language production of Israel Horovitz's Park Your Car in Harvard Yard at the State Jewish Theater.
Morgenstern has appeared in numerous films, primarily in Hungarian and Romanian-language roles. In The Passion of the Christ, she performs a role in Aramaic, but like the other actors in the cast of that film, she simply memorized her lines phonetically.
Her surname, Morgenstern, means "Morning Star" in German, a title of the Virgin Mary, the character she played in The Passion of the Christ. Mel Gibson, a devout Traditionalist Catholic, thought this of great significance when casting her. In interviews, she has defended The Passion against allegations of anti-Semitism, saying that the high priest Caiaphas is portrayed not as a representative of the Jewish people, but as a leader of the establishment, adding that "Authorities throughout history have persecuted individuals with revolutionary ideas."
She has been married twice, and has 3 children: Tudor Aaron, Eva Leea Cabiria and Ana Isadora.Romania - Actor
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While his acting debut was at the age of 15, Diogo Morgado later became known internationally for his groundbreaking portrayal of "Jesus" in 20th Century Fox's feature film "Son of God" and in The History Channel's highly rated, Emmy-nominated miniseries "The Bible." Morgado's recent work includes the lead role in the Netflix original feature film "The Killer," which was streamed in over 190 countries. On television, Diogo had a recurring role on CBS' "CSI: Cyber," alongside Academy Award-winning actress Patricia Arquette, and starred in the TV movie, "Love Finds You In Valentine." Morgado was also a lead on the CW Network series "The Messengers." In addition to his work in television, Diogo has had leading roles in independent films in the U.S., including the action-driven adrenaline film "Born to Race: Fast Track," and the gritty urban drama "Red Butterfly."
In his native Portugal, where he is already a household name and one of GQ's "Men of the Year," Morgado's career spans top television, film and stage productions, including a lead role in the #1 rated Portuguese television series and International Emmy-winner "Laços de Sangue." Diogo began his career at the age of fifteen when he joined the cast of the top rated television series "Terra Mãe," But it was his breakthrough performance as "Miguel" in "Amo-Te, Teresa," which still remains as one of Portugal's highest rated telefims ever, that Diogo earned high praise as one of the most promising actors of his generation. Diogo has worked consistently in Portuguese television since, in over 15 series regular roles, including his memorable performance as "Santiago Medina" in the hugely successful series, "Vingança." Morgado's film credits include a noteworthy performance as Portuguese dictator Antonio De Oliveira Salazar in the acclaimed feature film "A Vida Privada De Salazar." Diogo was able to showcase his comedic chops in "O Crime do Padre Amaro," which received international attention from directors all over the world. Diogo starred in another hit comedy film, "Virados do Avesso," which debuted at the top of the Portuguese box office. Diogo is also a passionate theater actor and has had lead roles in prestigious plays such as David Hare's "Skylight" and Peter Shaffer's "The Royal Hunt to the Sun."
Beyond Portugal and the United States, Morgado has had lead roles in such international films as Spain's "Dos Rivales Casi Iguales," "Mami Blue," and "Star Crossed," as well as Brazil's "Revelação" and "The Jungle."
Morgado divides his time between Los Angeles and Lisbon, where he has begun pursuing his passion behind the camera as well -- writing and directing both English and Portuguese films, including the recent award-winning short film, "Signal."Portugal- Actor
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One of Hollywood's most private and guarded leading men, Andy Garcia has created iconic characters while at the same time staying true to his acting roots and personal projects.
Garcia was born Andrés Arturo García Menéndez on April 12, 1956, in Havana, Cuba, to Amelie Menéndez, a teacher of English, and René García Núñez, an attorney and avocado farmer. Garcia's family was relatively affluent. However, when he was two years old, Fidel Castro came to power, and the family fled to Miami Beach. Forced to work menial jobs for a while, the family started a fragrance company that was eventually worth more than a million dollars. He attended Natilus Junior High School and later at Miami Beach Senior High School. Andy was a popular student in school, a good basketball player and good-looking. He dreamed of playing professional baseball. In his senior year, though, he contracted mononucleosis and hepatitis, and unable to play sports, he turned his attention to acting.
He studied acting with Jay W. Jensen. Jensen was a South Florida legend, counting among his numerous students, Brett Ratner, Roy Firestone, Mickey Rourke, and Luther Campbell. Following his positive high school experiences in acting, he continued his drama studies at Florida International University.
Soon, he was headed out to Hollywood. His first break came as a gang member on the very first episode of the popular TV series Hill Street Blues (1981). His role as a cocaine kingpin in 8 Million Ways to Die (1986) put him on the radar of Brian De Palma, who was casting for his gangster classic The Untouchables (1987). At first, he envisioned Garcia as Al Capone's sadistic henchman Frank Nitti, but fearing typecasting as a gangster, Garcia campaigned for the role of "George Stone", the Italian cop who gets accepted into Eliot Ness' famous band of lawmen. Garcia's next notable role came in Black Rain (1989) by acclaimed director Ridley Scott, as the partner of police detective Michael Douglas. He then co-starred with Richard Gere in Internal Affairs (1990), directed by Mike Figgis. In 1989, Francis Ford Coppola was casting for the highly anticipated third installment of his "Godfather" films. The Godfather Part III (1990) included one of the most sought-after roles in decades, the hot-headed son of "Sonny Corleone" and mob protégé of "Michael Corloene", "Vincent Mancini". A plum role for any young rising star, the role was campaigned for by a host of actors. Val Kilmer, Alec Baldwin, Vincent Spano, Charlie Sheen, and even Robert De Niro (who wanted the role changed to accommodate his age) were all beaten out by the up-and-coming Garcia. His performance was Oscar-nominated as Best Supporting Actor, and secured him international stardom and a place in cinematic history. Now a leading man, he starred in such films as Jennifer 8 (1992) and Hero (1992). He won raves for his role as the husband of Meg Ryan in When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) and gave another charismatic gangster turn in Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995). He then returned in Night Falls on Manhattan (1996), directed by Sidney Lumet, as well as portraying legendary mobster Lucky Luciano in Hoodlum (1997). In perhaps his most mainstream role, he portrayed a cop in the action film Desperate Measures (1998). Garcia then starred in a few lower-profile projects that didn't do much for his career, but things turned around in 2001, with the first of many projects being his role as a cold casino owner in Ocean's Eleven (2001), directed by Steven Soderbergh. Seeing his removal from Cuba as involuntary, Garcia is proud of his heritage which influences his life and work. One such case is his portrayal of renowned Cuban trumpet player Arturo Sandoval in For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000). He is an extremely private man, and strong believer in old-fashioned chivalry. Married to his wife, Maria Victoria, since 1982, the couple has three daughters. One of the most talented leading men around, Garcia has had a unique career of staying true to his own ideals and thoughts on acting. While some would have used some of the momentum he has acquired at different points in his career to get rich off lightweight projects, Garcia has stayed true to stories and films that aspire to something more. But with a presence and style that never seem old, a respect from directors and film buffs, alike, Andy Garcia will be remembered for a long time in film history.Cuba- Actor
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Karel Roden is an internationally known actor who was most recently seen in the United States in director Jaume Collet-Serra's "Orphan," starring Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard, and in Guy Ritchie's "RocknRolla," opposite Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson and Thandie Newton. His work can also be seen in such films as the hit comedy "Mr. Bean's Vacation," starring Rowan Atkinson; Wayne Kramer's "Running Scared," opposite Paul Walker and Vera Farmiga; Paul Greengrass' wildly successful "The Bourne Supremacy," the second film in the franchise starring Matt Damon; Guillermo del Toro's comics-based action thrillers "Hellboy" and "Blade II"; "Bulletproof Monk," starring Chow Yun-Fat and Seann William Scott; and "15 Minutes," starring Robert De Niro and Edward Burns.
Roden has been nominated several times and recently won a prestigious Czech Lion Award for Best Actor for his work in the film "Guard No. 47," produced in his native country, the Czech Republic. He has acted in numerous Czech films, including "Jménem krále"; "The Eye"; "Holka Ferrari Dino"; "Bathory"; "Little Girl Blue"; "Bestiar"; "Vaterland - Lovecký deník"; and "Wild Flowers." Roden has also acted in a variety of films produced throughout Europe, including France's "Largo Winch," from director Jérôme Salle and starring Kristin Scott Thomas; Spain's "The Abandoned," Poland's "Summer Love"; and the UK's "Shut Up and Shoot Me" and "The Last Drop." He appeared as himself in Jan Nemec's documentary "Late Night Talks with Mother."
On the small screen, Roden has appeared in the US series "The Philanthropist," the UK series "MI-5" and "The Scarlet Pimpernel," and in countless Czech productions, including the series "Trapasy" and the telepic "A Christmas Tale."
A graduate of the Prague Dramatic Academy of Fine Arts, Roden hails from a long tradition of Czech actors: his younger brother, Marian, is also an actor, and both men followed in the footsteps of their father and grandfather. Roden's upcoming films include the horror thriller "Andrassy Street 60.," opposite Talia Shire and Barry Corbin; the German period drama "Habermann"; and "Alois Nebel," an animated feature from the Czech Republic.Czech Republic- Music Artist
- Actress
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Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born on February 2, 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia to Nidia del Carmen Mebarak (née Ripoll Torrado) & William Alberto Mebarak Chadid. She is of Lebanese, Spanish & Italian descent. Shakira began her musical career at the age of 12 and quickly captured fans around the world. She won the 2001 Best Latin pop Grammy for her MTV Unplugged album.Columbia- Jean Reno was born Juan Moreno y Herrera-Jiménez in Casablanca, Morocco, to Spanish parents (from Andalucía) who moved to North Africa to seek work. His father was a linotypist. Reno settled in France at 17. He began studying drama and has credits in French television and theater as well as films. His first two marriages both ended in divorce, and he had two children with each of them. He keeps homes in Paris and Los Angeles.Morocco
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Djimon Hounsou was born in Cotonou, Benin, in west Africa to Albertine and Pierre Hounsou, a cook. He moved to Lyon, France, when he was 13. Hounsou has graced the catwalks of Paris and London as a popular male model. He has since left his modeling career and has worked on Gladiator (2000) by Ridley Scott and Amistad (1997) by Steven Spielberg.Benin- Actor
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Matthias Schoenaerts was born on December 8, 1977 in Antwerp, Belgium. His mother, Dominique Wiche, was a costume designer, translator, and French teacher, and his father was actor Julien Schoenaerts. He made his film debut at the age of 13 alongside his father in the Belgian film Daens (1992), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Schoenaerts enrolled in film school but was expelled for poor attendance in his second year. By age 21, he was enrolled at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Antwerp and was acting professionally in small roles on Belgian television and in Belgian film. By the time he graduated in 2003, Schoenaerts was already named one of "Europe's Shooting Stars" by the influential marketing organization, European Film Promotion.
In 2002, he starred in Dorothée Van Den Berghe's directorial debut Meisje (2002), which was also his first feature film since Daens. With his role in Tom Barman's Any Way the Wind Blows (2003), he proved he was Flanders' young actor to watch.
In 2004, Schoenaerts produced and starred in the short film A Message from Outer Space (2004). He also appeared in Ellektra (2004) alongside his father.
In 2006, he had a small role as a member of the Dutch Resistance in Paul Verhoeven's Black Book (2006), and landed his first starring role in the Belgian film Dennis van Rita (2006), playing Dennis, a mentally-challenged man learning to adjust to life after a prison sentence for a rape he may not have committed.
Though Schoenaerts garnered critical praise for his role in "Love Belongs to Everyone", the film that would make him a star in his homeland came in 2008, in Erik Van Looy's Loft (2008), Schoenaerts played Filip, one of a group of married friends who share the rent on a downtown loft as a place to meet their respective mistresses. The dramatic thriller was a smash hit, becoming the top-grossing Flemish film of all time. In the same year, he also starred in the horror film Linkeroever (2008).
In 2009, he worked once again with director Dorothée Van Den Berghe, playing the hippie Raven in My Queen Karo (2009). In 2010, he played the lead role in Alex Stockman's techno-thriller Pulsar (2010).
In 2011, Schoenaerts starred in Michaël R. Roskam's Bullhead (2011), playing Jacky Vanmarsenille, a cattle farmer who becomes entangled with the underworld of bovine hormones and steroids. Impressed by the script, Schoenaerts committed to star in the film in 2005, and over the five years that it took first-time director Roskam to secure financing, the actor transformed his naturally thin body into that of a steroid-abusing brute. His powerful performance in the tragic role won awards at numerous film festivals and propelled "Bullhead" to an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012.
In 2012, Schoenaerts got the lead role opposite Marion Cotillard in Jacques Audiard's Rust and Bone (2012); in the film he played Ali, an ex-boxer who falls in love with Cotillard's character. Like Audiard's previous films, "Rust and Bone" received a breathless reception at the Cannes Film Festival with a 10-minute standing ovation at the end of its screening and was a critical and box office hit in France. Schoenaerts' performance in the film earned him a César Award for Most Promising Actor in 2013.
Schoenaerts also starred in the Belgian short film Death of a Shadow (2012), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2013 and won the European Film Award for Best European Short.
In 2013, he starred in Blood Ties (2013) after being recommended for the film by his co-star in "Rust and Bone", Marion Cotillard. Following his breakthrough in "Rust and Bone", Matthias started a career in Hollywood and landed roles in American and British productions like Saul Dibb's Suite Française (2014), Alan Rickman's A Little Chaos (2014), Michaël R. Roskam's The Drop (2014), and Thomas Vinterberg's Far from the Madding Crowd (2015).
In 2015, Schoenaerts returned to French cinema in Alice Winocour's Disorder (2015), in which he plays an ex-soldier with PTSD. He also played one of the leads of Luca Guadagnino's A Bigger Splash (2015), opposite Tilda Swinton and Ralph Fiennes, and played the art-dealer Hans Axgil in Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl (2015).
He will reteam with Michaël R. Roskam in Racer and the Jailbird (2017) and also with Thomas Vinterberg in The Command (2018), in which Schoenaerts will play the captain of a Russian submarine.Belgium- Gabriela Marcinková was born on 2 April 1988 in Presov, Czechoslovakia [now Slovakia]. She is an actress, known for 360 (2011), Intimate Enemy (2018) and Byzantium (2012).Slovakia
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Milla Jovovich is a Ukrainian-American actress, supermodel, fashion designer, singer and public figure, who was on the cover of more than a hundred magazines, and starred in such films as The Fifth Element (1997), Ultraviolet (2006), and the Resident Evil (2002) franchise.
Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich was born on December 17, 1975 in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now in Ukraine). Her Serbian father, Bogdan Jovovich, was a medical doctor in Kyiv. There, he met her mother, Galina Jovovich (née Loginova), a Russian actress. At the age of 5, in 1981, Milla emigrated with her parents from the Soviet Union, moving first to London, UK, then to Sacramento, California, and eventually settled in Los Angeles. There her parents worked as house cleaners for the household of director Brian De Palma. Her parents separated, and eventually divorced, because her father was arrested and spent several years in prison.
Young Milla Jovovich was brought up by her single mother in Los Angeles. In addition to her native Ukrainian, she also speaks Russian and English. However, in spite of her cosmopolitan background, Milla was ostracized by some of her classmates, as a kid who emigrated from the Soviet Union amidst the paranoia of the Cold War. Many emotional scars had affected her behavior, but she eventually emerged as a resilient, multi-talented, albeit rebellious and risk-taking girl. She was coached by her actress mother since her childhood, first at home, then studied music, ballet, and acting in Los Angeles.
She shot to international fame after she was spotted by the photographer Richard Avedon at the age of 11, and was featured in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements, and on the cover of the Italian fashion magazine 'Lei' which was her first cover shoot. She made her first professional model contract at the age of 12, and soon made it to the cover of 'The Face', 'Vogue', 'Cosmopolitan' and many other magazines. In 1994, she appeared on the cover of 'High Times' in the UK, at the age of 18. The total number of her magazine covers worldwide was over one hundred by 2004, and keeps counting. In 2004, she made $10.4 million, becoming the highest paid supermodel in the world.
Milla appeared in ad campaigns for Chanel, Versace, Emporio Armani, Donna Karen, DKNY, Celine, P&K, H&H, and continues her role as the worldwide spokesperson and model for L'Oreal. Thanks to their continued success with Milla, Giorgio Armani chose her to be the face of his fragrance, Night. In addition to Armani's fragrance, Milla was the face for Calvin Klein's Obsession and Christian Dior's Poison for over 10 years and has most recently become the new face for Donna Karan's Cashmere Mist fragrance, which debuts in August 2009. Milla continues to shoot with the fashion industry's most sought after photographers, including Peter Lindbergh, Mario Sorrenti, Craig McDean and Inez & Vinoodh.
Milla made her acting debut in the Disney Channel movie The Night Train to Kathmandu (1988) and she made guest appearances on television series including Married... with Children (1987) (in 1989 as a French exchange student), Paradise (1988) and Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990). In 1988, at age 12, she made her film debut credited as Milla in a supporting role in Two Moon Junction (1988) by writer/director Zalman King. During the 1980s and early 1990s, she played several supporting roles as a teenage actress in film and on television, then starred in Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991). In 1997, she co-starred opposite Bruce Willis in the sci-fi blockbuster The Fifth Element (1997), then she starred as the title character of The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999).
In the early 2000s, Milla had a few years of uncertainty in her acting career due to the uneven quality of her films, as well as some hectic events in her private life. She appeared with Mel Gibson in Wim Wenders' The Million Dollar Hotel (2000) which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. She went on to co-star with Wes Bentley and Sarah Polley in The Claim (2000) and in Ben Stiller's spoof of the world of models and high-fashion, Zoolander (2001).
Milla achieved box office success in the U.S. and around the world with the action-packed thriller, Resident Evil (2002), based on the wildly popular video game, Resident Evil. It was written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. Milla reprised her role as the zombie slaying heroine, Alice, in Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010), Resident Evil: Retribution (2012), and again in Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) A seventh resident Evil movie is in pre-production.
She received glowing reviews opposite Oscar-winner Adrien Brody and Illeana Douglas in Dummy (2002) which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. In the spring of 2006, Milla returned to the big screen as action heroine, Violet, in the futuristic film Ultraviolet (2006) directed by Kurt Wimmer.
Focusing on her personal sense of style, her love of fashion led Milla and her friend and business partner, Carmen Hawk, to launch their Jovovich-Hawk clothing line, which achieved instant acclaim in the domestic and international fashion world. The fresh, unique line garnered the attention of red carpet watchers and fashion magazines, including American Vogue, who featured Jovovich-Hawk on their coveted list of "10 Things to Watch Out for in 2005." A student of voice and guitar since she was very young, Milla began writing songs for her first record at the age of 15.
Her first album, "The Divine Comedy", was released by EMI Records in 1994. Informed by her experiences as a child growing up as a Russian emigrant in the Red-bashing Reagan era, the introspective European-folkish debut drew favorable reviews for Milla's songwriting and performing. She continues to write music, and has had songs featured on several film soundtracks. She has been writing music and lyrics to her song-demos, playing her guitar and sampling other sounds from her computer, and allowing free download and remix of her songs from her website.
Charitable work also plays a major part in Milla's life. She has served as Master of Ceremonies and co-chaired with Elizabeth Taylor for the amfAR and Cinema Against AIDS event at the Venice Film Festival, and has been heavily involved with The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, as well as The Wildlands Project.
For many years Milla Jovovich has been maintaining a healthier lifestyle, practicing yoga and meditation, trying to avoid junk food, and cooking for herself. Since she was a little girl, Milla has been writing a private diary, a habit she learned from her mother. She has been keeping a record of many good and bad facts of her life, her travels, her relationships, and all important ideas and events in her career, planning eventually to publish an autobiography. After dissolution of her two previous marriages, Milla Jovovich became engaged to film director Paul W.S. Anderson; their daughter, Ever Anderson, was born on November 3, 2007. They got married on August 22, 2009. Their second daughter, Dashiel Edan, was born on April 1, 2015.Ukraine- Actress
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Melora Walters was born on 21 October 1960 in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. She is an actress and director, known for Magnolia (1999), Boogie Nights (1997) and Dead Poets Society (1989). She was previously married to Alex Vendler, Dylan Walsh and Christopher Scotellaro.Saudi Arabia- Sara Malakul Lane is a successful Thai model and actress. She began modeling at the age of 14, and has also been in a number of big screen movies including Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015). Sara is a model of Thai-Scottish descent. Her father is a Scottish businessman named Alistair Lane. Her mother is named Madam Tuptim Malakul Na Ayuthaya.Thailand
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Tony Leung Ka-fai is a four-time Hong Kong Film Award-winning film actor. As he is often confused with actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Tony Leung Ka-fai is known as "Big Tony", while Tony Leung Chiu-wai is known as "Little Tony", nicknames which correspond to the actors' respective physical statures.
Leung has been in the film industry for more than 30 years, starring in a variety of roles. His debut film was Burning of the Imperial Palace (1983), where he played the Xianfeng Emperor. He would later work with Chow Yun-Fat in three films, Prison on Fire (1987), A Better Tomorrow III: Love and Death in Saigon (1989), and The Return of the God of Gamblers (1994).
In 1991, Leung went to France to appear in Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Lover (1992), based on Marguerite Duras's novel, as the older lover of a young teen schoolgirl, who was played by British actress Jane March.
Leung's ongoing career has seen him star in films such as The Myth (2005), Double Vision (2002), Everlasting Regret (2005) and Election (2005).Hong Kong*- Actress
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Named one of People Magazine's highly coveted 50 Most Beautiful in 2014, Haitian-born actress Garcelle Beauvais immigrated to the United States at the age of seven with her mother and sisters, and has since charmed audiences with her dramatic and comedic abilities. A seasoned actress, Garcelle Beauvais starred in the indie film, "A Girl Like Grace," from executive producer Dan Garcia.
Garcelle was also seen as the host of "Window Warriors," a store front skill-based design reality series on GSN. Her latest film role includes starring alongside Michael Keaton in "Spider-Man: Homecoming."
In addition to all of the above, Garcelle served as host on Fox's daytime talk-show, Hollywood Today Live, where she breaks down the latest in entertainment, pop culture, and celebrity news. Above all, Garcelle's most important job is being a mother. She has been inspired by motherhood to write a children's book series entitled 'I AM,' addressing identity issues relevant to many children today.
Garcelle got her start when she began modeling at the age of seventeen and easily transitioned to acting in the Aaron Spelling series "Models, Inc." After that, she co-starred opposite Jamie Foxx for five years on the popular WB sitcom "The Jamie Foxx Show." For four seasons she also starred on the highly rated Emmy© Award-winning series "NYPD Blue." In between her acting projects, she also co-hosts for shows like E!'s "Fashion Police" and "Access Hollywood Live" on NBC.
Garcelle supports the Step Up Women's Network, a national non-profit that empowers women and girls to be strong and reach their full potential. She is also active with March of Dimes and Fonkoze. She resides in Los Angeles and has three sons, Oliver, Jax and Jaid.Haiti- Actress
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Ingrid Bolsø Berdal started studying music and singing in high school and after graduating she continued her music education at the University of Trondheim (NTNU), studying jazz singing and improvisation for two years. She moved to Oslo and was accepted at Oslo National Academy of Dramatic Arts (KHiO), where she studied acting for three years.
In her second year of Drama School Ingrid played Sofia in "Platonov" (Chekhov) and Antigone in "Antigone" (Sophocles). In her final year she played The Girl in "The Name" (Jon Fosse) and Hedda in "Hedda Gabler" (Henrik Ibsen).
Since graduating Ingrid Bolsø Berdal has been employed at The Norwegian Theatre in Oslo. After her first year at the theatre Ingrid was awarded the Hedda Award (The Norwegian Theatre Award) for Best Debut of The Year. During her years at the theatre she has played both classical and contemporary plays, such as Sasha in "Ivanov" (Checkhov), Shura in "Black Milk" (Sigarev) and Yvonne in "Yvonne, Princess of Burgundy" (Gombrowicz).
In between her stage work Ingrid Bolsø Berdal has also been working with radio theatre, TV and film. She has won the Amanda Award (The Norwegian Film Award) for Best Actress - for Jannicke in the feature film Cold Prey (2006).Norway- Behati Prinsloo was born on May 16, 1988 in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa. She was discovered at 16 by modeling agency head, Sarah Doukas while on holiday in Cape Town. She's best known for her work as a Victoria's Secret lingerie model. She appeared in nine Victoria's Secret fashion shows from 2007 through 2015, becoming the face of Victoria's Secret PINK line in 2008 & an Angel in 2009. She has been a brand ambassador for Seafolly since 2012 & Pepe Jeans since 2014. She has appeared on the covers of international fashion magazines such as Vogue, GQ & Elle. She has been married to Adam Levine since July 19, 2014. They have 1 child.Namibia
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Nina Dobrev is a Bulgarian-born Canadian actress. Her best-known television roles are Mia Jones in Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001) and Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce on The Vampire Diaries (2009). Her film work includes The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), Let's Be Cops (2014), The Final Girls (2015), xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017), and Dog Days (2018).
From a very young age, she showed great enthusiasm and talent for the arts: dance, gymnastics, theater, music, visual arts, and acting. Modeling jobs led to commercials, which turned into film auditions; she booked roles in the feature films Fugitive Pieces (2007), Away from Her (2006), and the popular CTV television series Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001), which led to The Vampire Diaries (2009), where she played the lead role for 6 seasons.
Nina loves to travel and has often visited Europe for pleasure, as well as to compete internationally, representing Canada in Aesthetic gymnastics. She enjoys playing volleyball and soccer, swimming, rock climbing, wakeboarding, snowboarding, and horseback riding.
Above all, acting is her passion, and she sees it as an adventure that has just begun; she believes that the journey and the characters we create along the way will help us understand ourselves.Bulgaria- Actress
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Singapore-born, Houston-raised Tila "Tequila" Nguyen has become a pop culture sensation. She is one of the most popular personalities in cyberspace, breaking records on MySpace, with a record breaking 1.4 million friends, as well as Facebook.
Raised in a Buddhist temple, the Vietnamese teenager soon rebelled against her strict upbringing, developing into an outspoken tomboy before being discovered by international magazine editors. Since then, this Texan beauty has graced the covers of numerous magazines including Maxim UK and Stuff, was listed on Maxim Magazine's "Hot 100" list, and has been featured in Rolling Stone's "Hot Issue".
A musician at heart, Tila's has recorded with numerous platinum and multi-platinum producers such as Lil Jon, Junior Sanchez and Leor Dimant (aka DJ Lethal). A versatile artist, Tila has made numerous television and film appearances, including a cameo opposite Adam Sandler in the Universal Pictures feature I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007). Her "Tequila" nickname originates from a near fatal drinking experience. Ironically, Tila is allergic to alcohol.Singapore- Anders Hove was born in Greenland on the 16th of January 1956 to a mother who was a nurse and a father who worked as a meteorologist. His father was politically involved in Greenland and helped the country work towards the government it has today. Spending most of his childhood there, Anders later moved with his parents to Thisted in Denmark when he was 14 years old. In the 1970s, Anders attended the Royal Academy in Denmark to learn formal acting. Before this he had studied law and economics and had planned on taking over his father's business. In 1980, he married an American dancer and choreographer named Ann Thayer Crosset, and they have two sons together, Anders Ezra and Elliot Todd.
His first real movie role was in the Danish movie Midt om natten (1984) (Middle of the Night), in which he played Nalle. After working in Denmark for a time as a stage and screen actor, Anders decided to try his luck on the American front. He and his wife sold their belongings and moved to the States. There he landed parts in shows like "Tales From the Crypt" and the sci-fi movie Critters 4 (1992) as 'Rick', the critter-infested ships captain, and the role that many know and remember him for, as the fiendish and obsessive 'Cesar Faison' on the daytime soap opera "General Hospital". He also worked in a Canadian soap opera called "Family Passions" with General Hospital co-star and friend Kin Shriner. Another former co-star on General Hospital, Michael Watson suggested that Anders should play the villainous vampire 'Radu Vladislas' in the Full Moon movie Subspecies (1991). He ended up being in three sequels to the movie during the 90s playing the long-fingered, drooling, infamous Radu. Hove returned to Denmark in the mid 90s and has continued to act there, being a favorite actor of the 'Dogme'-directors, usually playing bad guys.Greenland* - Actor
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Edi Gathegi was born on 10 March 1979 in Nairobi, Kenya. He is an actor and producer, known for StartUp (2016), Princess of the Row (2019) and For All Mankind (2019).Kenya- Actress
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Carla Ortiz was born on 2 December 1978 in Bolivia. She is an actress and producer, known for Curse of the Mayans (2017), Voice of Syria and The Man Who Shook the Hand of Vicente Fernandez (2012).Bolivia- Jeanene Fox grew up on a small island in the Bahamas. Her mother, Diane Gerace, was a Canadian Olympic High Jumper and her father, Ulrick Fox Sr., was the first entrepreneur to manufacture ice in the Bahamas.
Jeanene began her modeling career at the age of 15, when a German photographer discovered her climbing a fruit tree on Paradise Island. Jeanene monopolized the Bahamian market quickly and moved off the island for more international exposure.
She moved to Canada and signed with Elite Models, but shortly monopolized the market and yearned for new career challenges abroad, her mother suggested she visit her older brother (Rick Fox) in Los Angeles for a change of environment where she accepted the new challenge and signed with Elite Models Los Angeles.
She began her modeling career in Los Angeles and also enrolled in University finishing with two Magda Cum Laude Bachelor Degrees in International Business and Apparel Manufacturing .
While making funny comedic gestures amongst her friends in a Beverly Hills restaurant, she was approached by a commercial acting agent. Not having any experience in acting, she accepted the new challenge.
Her first role was an Amazon in the very successful world-wide commercial for AXE/LYX "Billions" (2005). That same year, she drew the eye of Hollywood Producers Louis J. Horvitz and Roger Goodman, who casted her as the exclusive Trophy Model for "The 77th Annual Academy (Oscars) Award" (2005). Her first feature film appearance was a Victoria's Secret Model in Big Momma's House 2 (2006). Thereafter Jeanene booked many global and national commercial campaigns.The Bahamas - Actor
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Laurence Harvey was a British movie star who helped usher in the 1960s with his indelible portrait of a ruthless social climber, and became one of the decade's cultural icons for his appearances in socially themed motion pictures.
Harvey was born Zvi Mosheh Skikne on October 1, 1928 in Joniskis, Lithuania, to Ella (Zotnickaita) and Ber Skikne. His family was Jewish. The youngest of three brothers, he emigrated with his family, to South Africa in 1934, and settled in Johannesburg. The teenager joined the South African army during World War II, and was assigned to the entertainment unit. His unit served in Egypt and Italy, and after the war the future Laurence Harvey returned to South Africa and began a career as an actor. He moved to London after winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. He then did his apprenticeship in regional theatre, moving to Manchester in the 1940s. The tyro actor reportedly supported himself as a hustler while appearing with the city's Library Theatre. Even at this point in his life he was known to be continually in debt and adopted a firm belief in living beyond his means, a pattern that would continue until his premature death. His lifestyle would often dictate working on less worthy projects for the sake of a paycheck.
His film debut came in House of Darkness (1948), and he was soon signed by Associated British Studios. His early film roles proved underwhelming, and his attempt to become a stage star was disastrous - his debut in the revival of "Hassan" was a notorious flop. After failing in the commercial theater in London's West End, Harvey joined the company of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon for the 1952 season. Regularly panned by critics during his stint on the boards in the Bard's works, he built up his reputation as a personality by becoming combative, telling the press that he was a great actor despite the bad reviews. Someone was listening, as Romulus Pictures signed him in 1953 and began building him up as a star.
Harvey was cast as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (1954), a film that exemplified the main problem that kept Harvey from major stardom (but subsequently would serve him quite well in a handful of roles): his screen persona was emotionally aloof if not downright frigid. Despite his icy portrayal of the great romantic hero Romeo, Harvey attracted enough attention in Hollywood to be brought over by Warner Bros. and given a lead role in King Richard and the Crusaders (1954).
In Old Blighty with Romulus after his Hollywood adventure, Harvey met his future wife Margaret Leighton on the set of The Good Die Young (1954). Other film appearances included I Am a Camera (1955) and Three Men in a Boat (1956), the latter becoming his first certified hit, and even greater success was to come. The colorful Harvey, a press favorite, became notorious for his high-spending, high-living ways. He found himself frequently in debt, his travails faithfully reported by entertainment columnists. More fame was to come.
After making three flops in a row, Harvey began a brief reign as the Jack the Lad of British cinema with the great success of Room at the Top (1958). That film and Look Back in Anger (1959), which was also released that year, inaugurated the "kitchen sink" school of British cinema that revolutionized the country's film industry and that of its cousin, Hollywood, in the 1960s.
Harvey was born to play Joe Lampton, if not in kin, then in kind. Lampton was a working-class bloke who dreams of escaping his social strata for something better. It was a perfect match of actor and role, as the icy Harvey persona made Joe's ruthless ambition to climb the greasy pole of success fittingly chilling. In bringing Joe to life on the screen, Harvey was more successful than Richard Burton (a far better actor) had been in limning the theater's Jimmy Porter in the film adaptation of John Osborne's seminal "Look Back in Anger," despite Burton's own working-class background. Burton's volcanic use of his mellifluous voice, a great instrument, is much too hot for the the small universe on the screen, a case of projection that is so intense that it overwhelms the character and the film (it took Burton another half-decade to learn to act on film, and a half-decade more to lose that gift). Whereas Burton had to learn to rein it in, Harvey's already tightly controlled persona made the social-climbing Lampton resonate. Harvey fits the skin of the character much better than does Burton. Despite not being an authentic specimen, the success of his performance as a working-class man-on-the-make proved to be the vanguard of a new generation of screen characters that would be played by the real thing: Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay, Terence Stamp and Michael Caine, among others. "Room at the Top" signaled the appearance of the New Wave of British cinema. For his role as Joe, Harvey received his first (and only) Academy Award nomination.
While historically significant, "Room at the Top" is no longer ranked at the summit of other, more contemporary kitchen-sink dramas, such as Karel Reisz's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), Tony Richardson's A Taste of Honey (1961) and Lindsay Anderson's This Sporting Life (1963), or even John Schlesinger's provincial comedy Billy Liar (1963), films that made stars out of the authentic working-class/provincial actors Finney, Alan Bates, Richard Harris and Courtenay, respectively. The virtue of the film is its emotional honesty about the manipulation of personal relationships for social gain in postwar Britain, a system that after a decade under the Conservatives had become self-satisfied and complacent. In its portrayal of class warfare, the film offers the most intense critique of the British class system offered by any film from the British New Wave, including "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning," which never leaves the confines of the working-class strata its main character, Arthur Seaton, is stuck in and ultimately reconciled to.
That Joe chooses a woman other than the one he really loves in order to gain social mobility, engaging in emotional manipulation of other human beings, is a brutal indictment of the class structure of postwar Britain. Joe, on his way to his wedding and his great chance, has lost his humanity. His failure is symbolic of Britain's failure as well. It is the haughtiness and narcissism of the actor Harvey (qualities his screen persona engenders in film after film) that elucidates Lampton's weakness. A further irony of Harvey's effective, if ersatz, portrayal of working-class Joe is that it made him such a success - he soon went off to Hollywood to play opposite box-office titan Elizabeth Taylor in BUtterfield 8 (1960), thus losing out on further opportunities to appear in the British New Wave he helped introduce. As well as supporting Taylor in her Oscar-winning turn in "Butterfield 8" (the two became close friends), a badly miscast Harvey also co-starred as Texas hero Col. James Travis in John Wayne's bloated budget-buster The Alamo (1960).
With the exception of the lead in the British Jungle Fighters (1961)- a war picture that was decidedly NOT New Wave - Harvey did not appear again in a major British film until 1965, when he returned to the other side of the pond to reprise Joe in the "Room" sequel Life at the Top (1965). However, if he had never gone Hollywood, he might never have been cast in his other signature role: Raymond Shaw, the eponymous The Manchurian Candidate (1962). Once again, the match of actor and character was ideal, as Harvey's coldness and affect-free acting perfectly embodied the persona of the programmed assassin. The film, and Harvey's performance in it, are classic.
In this Hollywood interlude, Harvey also appeared in the screen adaptations of Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke (1961) opposite the great Geraldine Page, Oscar-nominated for her role, and the artistically less successful Walk on the Wild Side (1962), supported by the legendary Barbara Stanwyck, French beauty Capucine and a young Jane Fonda. The critics were less kind to his acting in these outings, and, indeed, the rather elegant Harvey does seem miscast as Dove Linkhorn, the wandering Texan created by hardboiled Nelson Algren, reduced to working in an automotive garage by the exigencies of the Great Depression. Critics were even less kind when Harvey tried to follow in Leslie Howard's footsteps in the remake of Of Human Bondage (1964).
Although he could not know it then, Harvey had reached the zenith of his career. In 1962 he won the Best Actor prize at the Munich film festival in 1962 for his role in The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962). Honors for Harvey were few after this point. He co-starred with Paul Newman and Claire Bloom in Martin Ritt's film version of the Broadway re-envisioning of Akira Kurosawa's cinematic masterpiece Rashomon (1950). The result, The Outrage (1964), in which Newman played a murderous Mexican bandit and Harvey his victim, was an unqualified flop that still boggles the mind of viewers unfortunate enough to stumble upon it, so outrageous is the idea of casting Newman as a Mexican killer (a role originated by Rod Steiger on the Broadway stage). Harvey, very often a wooden presence in his less inspired performances, was appropriately upstaged by the tree he remained tied to throughout most of the film.
Along with "Life at the Top," Harvey appeared in support of Oscar-winner Julie Christie in John Schlesinger's Darling (1965), an allegedly "mod" look at the jaded and superficial existence of what was then termed the "jet set." Despite its "New Wave"-like cutting and visual sense, "Darling" - which was embraced wholeheartedly by Hollywood and originally had been envisioned as a vehicle for Shirley MacLaine - was, at its heart, an old-fashioned Hollywood-style morality play, a warning that the wages of sin lead to emotional emptiness, hardy a revolutionary idea in 1965. Christie was excellent - particularly as she metamorphosed from Dolly-bird to a more mature sort of hustler - and first-male lead Dirk Bogarde always proved an interesting actor, but it was Harvey who most clearly embodied the zeitgeist of the picture. Once again, his coldness did him well as he limned the executive who manipulates and is manipulated by Christie's Diana character.
Harvey had become at this point a kind of good-luck charm for actresses with whom he appeared. Simone Signoret, Elizabeth Taylor and Christie won Best Actress Oscars after appearing in films with him, and Geraldine Page and "Room at the Top" co-star Hermione Baddeley were both Oscar-nominated in the period after appearing opposite Harvey. Alas, no one else collected kudos in a Harvey picture: he reached the high-water mark of his career in 1962, and his star was already in in decline to a murkier, less-lustrous part of the Hollywood/international cinema firmament.
Another irony of Harvey's career is that, despite ushering in the British New Wave and a cinema more independent of the meat-grinder ethos of the Hollywood and British studios catering to popular taste, he would have been better served in the 1930s and 1940s as a contract player at a major studio. Like Michael Wilding (who also became the third husband of Harvey's first wife, Margaret Leighton), another handsome man of limited gifts who nonetheless could be quite affecting in the right role, Harvey's career likely would have thrived under the studio system, with an interested boss to guide him. Like Minniver Cheever, however, he was unfortunate to have been born after his time.
As it was, the next (and last) decade of Harvey's screen life was a disappointment, with the actor relegated to less and less prestigious pictures and international co-productions that needed a "star" name. In the 1970s, Harvey became largely irrelevant as a player in the motion picture industry. His luck had run out. Good friend Liz Taylor, whose string of motion picture successes had also run its course, had him cast in Night Watch (1973), and he directed the last picture in which he appeared, Welcome to Arrow Beach (1973). If he had lived, he might have made the transition to director (he had earlier directed The Ceremony (1963) and finished directing A Dandy in Aspic (1968) after the death of original director Anthony Mann).
Laurence Harvey died on November 25, 1973, from stomach cancer. He publicly revealed that he was dismayed by being afflicted with the fatal disease, as he had always been careful with the way he ate. Sadly, his personal luck, just as capricious as his professional career, had also gone into eclipse. One of the more colorful characters to grace the screen was dead at the age of 45, exiting the stage far too soon for the legions of fans that still admired him despite the downturn in his fortunes.Lithuania- Actor
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Born in Sudan, Siddig was raised in Britain and attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) where he studied acting and theater. Immediately after leaving LAMDA, Sid did a season of theater in Manchester, in addition to performing in various shows in pubs and small theaters. Later, Siddig worked as a director in a small theater in London.
"I was in a situation where I pretty much had a theater company at my disposal and a theater at my disposal and could do anything I liked...as long as I did it for nothing. Which is sort of a step before charging and not being able to do what you like. I was at a point where I could have just gone on and become a director in London, as a trainee at the Royal Shakespeare Company or something like that, and ended up being a bona fide director. It was quite a big struggle because for a year and a half, which is the time I spent directing immediately after I left acting school, you just have no money so you're just living on welfare and you're trying to make it. . ."
During this time of financial struggle Sid was offered the part of Emir Feisal in A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1992), the sequel to Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Sid co-starred with Ralph Fiennes who played T. E. Lawrence.
Siddig's performance in A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1992) brought him to the attention of Rick Berman who was creating the new series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993). Originally brought in to audition for the role of Captain Benjamin Sisko, Berman decided Siddig was too young for the role and cast him as Dr. Julian Bashir instead. The part had to be slightly rewritten for Siddig as the original "bible" had called for an Hispanic male to play the part, named Julian Amoros, although Berman reports that no other actors were considered for the role.
During his time on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), Siddig and co-star Nana Visitor had a son (Django) and were married in 1997. They divorced in 2001, although they remain friends.
After a successful seven-year run on television, Siddig began working in feature films, quickly accumulating roles in movies such as Vertical Limit (2000), Reign of Fire (2002), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), and the critically acclaimed Syriana (2005). Early 2005 saw Siddig return to the stage opposite Kim Cattrall in the West End production of "Whose Life Is It Anyway?" Following a controversial guest turn on MI-5 (2002), the title role in Hannibal (2006) in 2006 and a recurring role on 24 (2001) in 2007 brought Siddig back to the small screen.Sudan- Actress
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Karina Lombard is an actor, screenwriter and director. She is Italian, French, Native American. Born in Tahiti, the youngest of five children, and raised and educated in Spain, Switzerland and Peru. She is fluent in English, Spanish, Italian, French and German. She resides in Venice, California.
She is known for roles in such films as "Wide Sargasso Sea", "The Firm" with Tom Cruise, and "Legends of the Fall" opposite Brad Pitt, and television roles on such series as "The L Word", "NCIS", "CSI", "Rescue Me", and others. She did all her own stunts in Kull the Conqueror (1997).French Polynesia*- Actress
- Producer
Katherine Willis is an American actress and producer, best known for her roles as Myrtle Hale in Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Diana Lord in Tell Me Your Secrets (2021), and Joanne Street in Friday Night Lights (2006). She is also known for her work on: NBC's The Blacklist (2013), HBO's The Leftovers (2014), USA Network's Queen of the South (2016), and the Nat Geo miniseries The Long Road Home (2017).
Katherine started acting in theater when she was 12 yrs old. She attended Brigham Young University on a theater scholarship. Born on the South Pacific island of Tonga, and the fourth of seven children, her childhood was spent in rural Missouri on a 200 acre farm.Tonga- Jacqueline Fernandez is a Sri Lankan actress from Manama, Bahrain and was raised in a multi-ethnic family. Jacqueline's father Elroy Fernandez is from Sri Lanka (Sinhalese - Catholic)and her mother Kim is a Malaysian. She has two brothers and an older sister. Her parents moved to Bahrain in 1980s due to the Lankan civil unrest and hence she was born and raised in Bahrain.
After her schooling in Bahrain, she was awarded a Scholarship to study at the University of Sydney, where she pursued a degree in Media and Communications in Sydney, Australia. Having a passion for cultures and languages she also joined the Berlitz school of languages, where she learned to speak Spanish and improve her French and Arabic.
In 2006, she was crowned the Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Universe 2006 in March, 2006 and also competed in Miss Universe 2006. After winning Miss Sri Lanka title in 2006, she entered the world of television and anchored a show on Sri Lanka's business called Lanka Business Report.
She came to Mumbai on a modeling contract and landed a role in Bollywood movie Aladin (2009) directed by Sujoy Ghosh along with well known Indian stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, and Riteish Deshmukh. After the success of her first film, she got signed on by Milap Zaveri for his directorial debut movie Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai (2010) in which she plays the part of an alien who comes to earth in search of love. Her co-star from her first movie, Riteish Deshmukh was her leading-man again. The director recommended her to well-known director Farah Khan who guest-starred in this movie. She made a cameo appearance (in a song) in the movie Housefull (2010) which was directed by Farah Khan's younger brother, Sajid KhanSri Lanka - Actress
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Marie Zoumanigui was born in Conakry, Guinea. She is an actress and director, known for Sweet Girl (2021), The Blacklist (2013) and I Love You... But I Lied (2015).Guinea- Director
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Born in Aksuat village in the northern part of Kazakhstan. Graduated from Almaty technical college in 1979. Following the military service, he took up film studies in directing at the Moscow's prestigious Film School (VGIK). He was one of the young Kazakh talents who was chosen to attend the workshop of well-known Russian director Sergei Solovyov in 1989. The group went on to establish the "new wave" of Kazakh cinema.
Aprymov made his first full feature film Last Stop at the age of 28. Kijan (Last Stop) (1992) received international acclaim but angered the natives of his village, who were shocked at his portrayal of their real lives.
Aprymov's second film The Hypnotist was never released.
The film Aksuat (1998) revealed again his keen eye for realistic detail and was successful at the 1998 Eurasia Film Festival in Almaty (Kazakhstan), after which it was screened at the 1999 International Berlin Film Festival. The film won Audience Award at Nantes Three Continents Film Festival 1999 in France.
In 1999 he directs Three Brothers - this poignant tale about the gulf between childhood fantasy and stark reality. The film was screened at the 2000 International Berlin Film Festival. It was awarded at Tokyo International Film Festival 2000. The film won Holden Award for the Best Script, Jury Special Prize at the International Feature Film Competition, and was nominated for Prize of the City of Torino Best Film - International Feature Film.
Returning to the familiar theme of village life, Serik Aprymov offers a beautifully rendered Kazakh interpretation of the classic coming-of-age film in The Hunter (2004). In 2003 the film participated in Cannes Film Festival 2003 in Camera d'Or Special Mention program.Kazakhstan- Writer
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- Script and Continuity Department
Danièle Thompson was born on 3 January 1942 in Monaco. She is a writer and director, known for The Log (1999), Orchestra Seats (2006) and Queen Margot (1994). She is married to Albert Koski. She was previously married to Richard Thompson.Monaco- Actress
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Lisa Loring was an American actress and former child model. She is primarily known for having played Wednesday Addams in the comedy-horror sitcom "The Addams Family" (1964-1966). The sitcom was the first screen adaptation of the comic strip "The Addams Family" (1938-1988) by Charles Addams, which featured a wealthy aristocratic clan who took delight in the macabre. Wednesday was the perpetually gloomy daughter of the family in the comic strip. Loring's version of the character was sweet-natured, but eccentric. This version of Wednesday owned a collection of decapitated dolls, and named her favorite doll after Marie Antoinette, the executed Queen of France. Wednesday raised spiders as a hobby.
In 1958, Loring was born on the Kwajalein Atoll, the southernmost of the Marshall Islands. The island is located about 2,100 nautical miles (3,900 kilometers; 2,400 miles) southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. It has hosted an American naval base since World War II. Her parents were both personnel of the United States Navy. Loring's parents separated shortly after her birth, and Judith Loring (Loring's mother) received custody of Loring. Lisa Loring was initially raised in Hawaii, before moving with her mother to Los Angeles.
In 1961, Loring started working as a child model. She eventually took a few acting roles, and reportedly guest starred in a 1964 episode of the medical drama "Dr. Kildare". When cast to play Wednesday in "The Addams Family", Loring was only 6-years-old. It was her first regular role in television. The series lasted for 2 seasons and 64 episodes, ending in 1966.
Loring was cast in the role of Susan "Suzy" Pruitt in the short-lived sitcom "The Pruitts of Southampton" (1966-1967). The sitcom was the brainchild of David Levy, who had previously produced "The Addams Family". The series used much of the former cast of "The Addams Family". The premise of this sitcom was that the Pruitts were a formerly wealthy family who still lived in an aristocratic mansion in the Hamptons. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had found out about their loss of wealth, but instructed them to maintain their pretensions of great wealth in order to avoid a potential loss of confidence in the financial system. Episodes revolved about the family's efforts to raise money while maintaining secrecy.
In 1973, aged 15, Loring married her boyfriend Farrell Foumberg. She gave birth to her daughter Vanessa that year. The couple divorced in 1974. Judith Loring died in 1974 from alcoholism. Lisa Loring had to provide for herself. She appeared infrequently in television films during the late 1970s. Loring was cast as Wednesday Sr. in the television film "Halloween with the New Addams Family" (1977). Wednesday was depicted in the film as having a look-alike younger sister, known as Wednesday junior (played by Jennifer Surprenant). In 1980, Loring joined the cast of the soap opera "As the World Turns". She portrayed Cricket Montgomery, a half-sister of the regular character Margo Montgomery Hughes. Loring continued appearing in the series until 1984.
In 1981, Loring married the soap opera actor Doug Stevenson. They had daughter Marianne early in their marriage, but received a divorce in 1983. Loring's acting career was in hiatus until she agreed to play in the slasher film "Blood Frenzy" (1987). Its premise was that a killer stalked the patients of psychiatrist Dr. Barbara Shelley (played by Wendy MacDonald) during their trip through a desert. The film's plot reportedly combined plot elements from the earlier films "Ten Little Indians" (1974) and "Friday the 13th" (1980). The film was an early attempt by pornographic film producer Hal Freeman to create his own horror films.
Loring was an uncredited co-writer in the pornographic film "Traci's Big Trick" (1987). She was introduced to porn actor Jerry Butler (born Paul David Siederman; 1959-2018), and they started dating. They were married within 1987, but their relationship was tumultuous. They divorced each other in 1992, following failed a number of failed attempts in reconciliation.
In 1988, Loring co-starred in the slasher film "Iced". Its premise was that a group of old friends has received invitations to a new ski resort. They reunite there, but are stalked by a killer who has mysterious ties to their past. Loring's performance and humorous dialogue were reportedly among the highlight of the film. But the film has a relatively poor reputation among horror fans, due to soap opera-like plot elements and an inconclusive ending to its mystery. It was her last notable role for several years.
By the early 1990s, Loring was feeling depressed due to the decline of her career and her poor relationship with her husband. She tried to self-medicate her condition, leading to a drug addiction. In 1991, Loring was the first person to discover the corpse of her friend Kelly Van Dyke, who had committed suicide by hanging. Loring was in a fragile state of mind. She made a suicide attempt not long after. In 1992, she went to rehab and beat her addiction. She gave a few interviews in the mid-1990s, but semi-retired from acting. She resumed her acting career in the mid-2010s, with appearances in two different horror films. In 2023, Lisa Loring died, aged 64.Marshall Islands- Writer
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In much the same way that director George A. Romero creative output has been primarily centered around the highly successful "Dead" series of zombie films, then fellow fantasy director Don Coscarelli has for over two decades seen his universe swirling around the lesser successful, but equally cult, and much loved "Phantasm" series of horror movies.
Coscarelli was born in Tripoli in North Africa, but raised around Southern California, and was interested in the cinema from a young age and together with his friends they made several low budget movies that aired on community TV stations to very positive feedback.
After a low key start with his first feature film embracing the trials of a young teenager caught in a world of alcoholic abuse Jim, the World's Greatest (1975), Coscarelli followed this up with a lighter comedic tale about another youngster and his view of the world as an impressionable 12 year old in Kenny & Company (1976). However, the imaginative Coscarelli then really hit the (horror) big time with the 1979 release of the highly inventive fright thriller Phantasm (1979). Once again, a young boy is at the center of a spine-chilling story about a creepy funeral home, a sinister Tall Man (wonderful acting by Coscarelli's long time buddy Angus Scrimm), disappearing corpses, malignant dwarfs and a gateway into a hellish, other world dimension. Shot on a very modest budget, Phantasm (1979) was hotly received by horror fans worldwide, and the film has since spawned three sequels...each fairly decent in their own right! First up was the gorier Phantasm II (1988), followed by Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994), and the third sequel to date, Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998). A fifth and final sequel titled "Phantasm's End" has been apparently discussed, but nothing further has yet eventuated on this project. As the Angus Scrimm is approaching his 80th birthday, Phantasm fans hope that the "Tall Man" will be there for the proposed final chapter of this thrilling saga of the Undead!
Apart from the "Phantasm" series, Coscarelli also wrote and directed the well received sword and sorcery film The Beastmaster (1982) starring athletic Marc Singer and the eye-catching Tanya Roberts being pursued by villainous high priest Rip Torn. And recently in 2002, Coscarelli cast horror & fantasy film screen hero Bruce Campbell in the highly off-beat Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) that depicts Elvis and John F. Kennedy hiding out in a Texas rest home where the residents are being attacked by a 3,000 year old cowboy boot wearing mummy trying to bring itself back to life! A strange script it may sound, but indie and horror film fans loved the unusual premise and quirky humor, and the film was a hot hit at several film festivals and has spawned a further cult following for Coscarelli and Campbell.
Coscarelli, similar to gifted fantasy directors such as Wes Craven, Sam Raimi and George A. Romero has carved himself a true cult niche in modern horror film history, and his loyal fans eagerly await his next project.Libya- Shana Elizabeth Dowdeswell (died December 12, 2012) was born on April 1, 1989 in Harare, Zimbabwe. She then moved to New York City where she attended City and Country School, PS 3, and finally PPAS High School. She also began a career as an actress, beginning at age eight. Over the years, she accumulated many credits, including playing Anne Frank at the Papermill Playhouse and working in films and on television. But more than that, she accumulated hundreds of friends and extended family members who loved her as deeply as she loved them. Shana was a bright spirit, a shining, generous, hopeful girl. She traveled the world, returning to Africa, traveling many times to Paris and London where she had beloved family members. Most recently she traveled to Canada with her boyfriend Cameron Moneo.
Shana is survived by her parents, Laurie and Roger, her brother Jesse, her grandparents Willard and Jane Smith, her godmother Karen Wimmer.Zimbabwe - Actress
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Novakovic was born on 17 November 1981 in Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia. She moved to Australia in 1988, at the age of seven. Novakovic was initially interested in becoming a social worker or doctor, but after a significant set of events, she changed her mind and decided to pursue the performing arts. Novakovic studied at The McDonald College in Sydney, (where she was Dux of 1999) and graduated from NIDA with a BA in Dramatic Arts in 2002. She has a younger sister, Valentina Novakovic, who is also an actress, famous for having performed in the Australian soap opera, Neighbours (1985).
In 2003, Novakovic played Randa in the ABC mini-series Marking Time (2003), a role which won her an AFI Award for "Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Television Drama or Comedy". As an actor, Novakovic's film credits in Australia include Blackrock (1996), Strange Fits of Passion (1998), The Monkey's Mask (1999), Thunderstruck (2004), Solo (2005), and the Serbian movies Optimisti (2005) and Skinning (2010). From 2007 to 2009, she played Tippi in the TV series Satisfaction for Showtime Australia. Other breakout roles include: Drag Me to Hell (2009), Edge of Darkness (2009), Devil (2010), Burning Man (2011) and Generation Um(2012).
Theatre credits in Australia include These People, Away and Strange Fruit at the Sydney Theatre Company; The Female of the Species at the Melbourne Theatre Company; Woyzeck (Helpmann award nomination for best supporting actress in 2009), Criminology (Green Room award nomination for best actress 2007), Eldorado (Helpmann nomination for best supporting actress, 2006) and Necessary Targets at the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne, Death Variations and Loveplay (Ride On) for B Sharp, Romeo and Juliet with Bell Shakespeare Company and Debris for Ride On Theatre (which received a Green Room nomination for best Independent production and best actress in 2006).
Novakovic also runs her own independent theatre company, Ride On Theatre Sydney and Melbourne) with co-director Tanya Goldberg. She was a producer and performer for the 2004 Ride On Theatre sell out season of "Loveplay" at the Downstairs Belvoir Street Theatre, and the 2006 Green Room nominated production of Debris (in which she was also nominated for best actress).
In 2008, she translated, adapted and directed Fake Porno in Melbourne, which was invited to be part of the Powerhouse season in Brisbane in 2009, and also received three Green Room nominations including best production. Outside of Ride On, she wrote and directed with Melbourne's Black Lung Theatre for the critically acclaimed production of Sugar at the 2007 Adelaide Fringe Festival. In 2010, Novakovic received an AFI nomination for International Award for Best Actress for her role in Edge of Darkness.
Novakovic landed the part of a beautiful prostitute-turned-law-student in Fox's series, Rake, starring Greg Kinnear. The show was canceled in May, 2014. She portrayed Clare Hitchens in The Hallow, a horror film set in Ireland and directed by Corin Hardy.
Earlier this year [2015], The Toronto Film Festival premiered her feature film The Little Death. Novakovic can be seen playing the lead in the ABC pilot Agatha, and has also booked a recurring role in Showtime dramedy Shameless.
She's repped by CAA, Management 360, Lisa Mann Creative Management in Australia and attorney Bob Wallerstein.Serbia- Actress
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Jasmin St. Claire shot to fame as "America's Most Controversial Sex Symbol" after appearing in the top-selling adult films of the late 1990s. She created an outlaw rock star image that at times scandalized the adult industry. Her acerbic humor and willingness to mock her own porn stardom made her one of the highest rated guests on Howard Stern's radio show and related broadcasts for E! Entertainment. St. Claire's first mainstream appearances were in significant comic roles in Communication Breakdown and in National Lampoon Dorm Daze 2. More recently, while studying in Bill O'Leary's Acting Workshop, St. Claire has turned to dramatic roles in thrillers like Angel of Reckoning and the talked about sci-fi drama Trial Run. St. Claire is often cast in ethnically ambiguous roles, or as Italian or Middle Eastern, but she identifies as a Latina due to her mixed Northern European and Brazilian ancestry.
St. Claire's background is almost entirely at odds with her early adult-film career. She was born Rhea De Vlugt in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Her father, from Holland, operated a food distribution company. Her mother was a U.S.-educated lawyer, originally from Brazil. St. Claire grew up on Manhattan's Upper west side and attended the Lycee Francais and McBurney School, whose alumni include Henry Winkler and J.D. Salinger. St. Claire graduated from Brooklyn Friends School at age 16, with honors for her work in the pioneering "Art without Walls" tutoring program for inner city youth. Upon graduation from Columbia University, St, Claire became a financial consultant at S. G. Warburg (then, a division of Swiss Bank.). But while in a physically abusive relationship with a prominent Manhattan lawyer (whom St. Claire later outed in an interview with Howard Stern), she began a secret life as a topless dancer at Manhattan's infamous KitKat Club, then at Flashdancers.
St. Claire entered the adult industry on a dare. Invited on the Jerry Springer Show for a scripted role as antagonistic stripper, St. Claire invented her larger-than-life "Jasmin St. Claire" persona. St. Claire's flare for theater and controversy marked her ascent in the adult film world. She polarized the industry by calling porn films "by and large, disgusting and brainless." But she quickly dethroned Jenna Jameson as America's top-selling porn star, and became the first Latina to surpass traditional blond porn star archetypes when her films achieved number one sales position in 1998. She was inducted in AVN's "Hall of Fame" as one of the greatest porn stars of all time. St. Claire was among the first adult performers to be merchandised as an action figure and to star in an adult comic book series. At the height of her porn stardom, St. Claire was the subject of critical essays by David Foster Wallace and Evan Wright. She also served as inspiration for Chuck Palahniuk's novel Snuff, in which she appears as a character. For all the controversy she engendered, St. Claire only spent three years in the adult business and made just over two dozen films. In 1999, she retired. She never made an adult film again, though compilations of old footage re-released under new titles continued to be sold through the 2000s. St. Claire pushed herself to new extremes by becoming a pro-wrestler. In 1998 the Dudley Boyz invited her to appear in the ECW's Living Dangerously pay-per-view event. St. Claire subsequently trained under Sue Sexton and Mando Guerrero, then worked with wrestling legend Jimmy Lawler in the Memphis Championship and in the XWF and NWA-TNA. St. Claire often played the role of "manager," who would enter the ring and fight alongside wrestlers. In real life, St. Claire created the upstart federation 3PW becoming the first female owner ever to operate and promote a wrestling league, five years before Stephanie McMahon took the reigns of the WWE. St. Claire closed the doors to 3PW in 2005. St. Claire became a heavy-metal journalist and on-air personality with the launch of the Metals Darkside series in 2004, which she also produced. Her interest in heavy metal stretches back to the first Black Sabbath show she attended at Madison Square Garden when she was nine. In 1998 she became the first female to emcee March Metal Meltdown in New Jersey, helping to introduce Sepultura to a North American audience. Through the mid-2000s St. Claire served as a veejay for The Metal Scene TV Show, AOL Noisecreep, Inferno TV and Stay Heavy TV, while writing articles as a contributor to Yahoo News and Guitar Player. She also served as a spokes model for B.C. Rich Guitars, Coffin Case, Krank Amplifiers and licensed her likeness to Guitar Hero for a controller made by Peavey. St. Claire returned to acting 2014 in a series of dramatic roles, portraying an FBI agent in Army of the Damned and hardened street criminal in Grand Auto Theft. Continuing intensive Meisner studies at the Ruskin School, she has recently been cast in significant roles in Daughters of Dolemite, Future Rich Wives Club, Angel of Reckoning and Road to Tereztetto to name a few. She was in season 3 of HBO's award winning series The Deuce & most recently completed filming "3 Days Rising Movie". She was in 2 award winning films"AfterAdderall" and"TrialRun" She has a monthly column in Sportsbikes Inc Magazine as she is an avid motorcycle enthusiast. Jasmin graduated from the Second City Conservatory's prestigious Grad Revue program in Hollywood and also completed the longform program at Upright Citizens Brigade. Jasmin now has a one woman show "A Weird Kind of Fame" and a podcast "Krazy Train With Jasmin St Claire". She spends her time in Paris, Los Angeles and New York. In April 2022, St Claire returned to wrestling for XPW Wrestling.US Virgin Islands*- Director
- Producer
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Born in 1954 in Pingtung, Taiwan, Ang Lee has become one of today's greatest contemporary filmmakers. Ang graduated from the National Taiwan College of Arts in 1975 and then came to the U.S. to receive a B.F.A. Degree in Theatre/Theater Direction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Masters Degree in Film Production at New York University. At NYU, he served as Assistant Director on Spike Lee's student film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983). After Lee wrote a couple of screenplays, he eventually appeared on the film scene with Pushing Hands (1991), a dramatic-comedy reflecting on generational conflicts and cultural adaptation, centering on the metaphor of the grandfather's Tai-Chi technique of "Pushing Hands". The Wedding Banquet (1993) (aka The Wedding Banquet) was Lee's next film, an exploration of cultural and generational conflicts through a homosexual Taiwanese man who feigns a marriage in order to satisfy the traditional demands of his Taiwanese parents. It garnered Golden Globe and Oscar nominations, and won a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. The third movie in his trilogy of Taiwanese-Culture/Generation films, all of them featuring his patriarch figure Sihung Lung, was Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) (aka Eat Drink Man Woman), which received a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination. Lee followed this with Sense and Sensibility (1995), his first Hollywood-mainstream movie. It acquired a Best Picture Oscar nomination, and won Best Adapted Screenplay, for the film's screenwriter and lead actress, Emma Thompson. Lee was also voted the year's Best Director by the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle. Lee and frequent collaborator James Schamus next filmed The Ice Storm (1997), an adaptation of Rick Moody's novel involving 1970s New England suburbia. The movie acquired the 1997 Best Screenplay at Cannes for screenwriter James Schamus, among other accolades. The Civil War drama Ride with the Devil (1999) soon followed and received critical praise, but it was Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) (aka Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) that is considered one of his greatest works, a sprawling period film and martial-arts epic that dealt with love, loyalty and loss. It swept the Oscar nominations, eventually winning Best Foreign Language Film, as well as Best Director at the Golden Globes, and became the highest grossing foreign-language film ever released in America. Lee then filmed the comic-book adaptation, Hulk (2003) - an elegantly and skillfully made film with nice action scenes. Lee has also shot a short film - Chosen (2001) (aka Hire, The Chosen) - and most recently won the 2005 Best Director Academy Award for Brokeback Mountain (2005), a film based on a short story by Annie Proulx. In 2012 Lee directed Life of Pi which earned 11 Academy Award nominations and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Director. In 2013 Ang Lee was selected as a member of the main competition jury at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.Taiwan- Alfie Gledhill is an Australian film, television and theatre actor/presenter. He is known for "The Gods Of Wheat Street" (2013), "Circle Of Lies" (2012), ABC's children's wrapper program "Studio 3" (2011), and Northern Pictures "Most Extreme Alien Planet Earth" (2017) and "Creature Mania" (2018). He has also appeared in hit series "No Activity", and most recently "Back to the Rafters" (Amazon Prime Original).Solomon Islands
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- Executive
- Producer
European-born actress/writer Masiela Lusha portrayed "Carmen Lopez" for five seasons as George Lopez's rebellious and passionate daughter on the syndicated ABC series, George Lopez (2002). She was born on October 23, 1985 to parents Max and Daniela. Raised in Tirana, Albania; Budapest, Hungary; and Vienna, Austria, Masiela settled in Michigan at the age of seven; English is her fourth language. Her acting talents span well into films, voice-overs, print work with Ben Affleck and, of course, television. Among other roles, Masiela portrayed the voice of "Nina", the lovable and energetic best friend on the popular animated PBS series, Clifford's Puppy Days (2003). Film work include "My Father's Eulogy", a biographical drama in which she portrayed "Lisa", the reflective lead who reminisces on her experiences with her father; Sony Picture's Blood: The Last Vampire (2009), where she portrayed a demon vampire, Pathe's Time of the Comet (2008), in which she starred as "Saint Agnes", and Muertas (2007), in which she plays the determined and sensitive lead, "Aracelli". Masiela has been named "The Youngest Author in the World" to publish a book in two languages. She designed the cover herself at the age of twelve, and was also named as one of "The Best Top Ten Talented Poets for North America", for her first book "Inner Thoughts." She views writing as an expression of herself where she can "reach into humanity", and her second book of poetry "Drinking the Moon" was recently released in print this summer by Dorrance Publishing. Masiela's writing also includes screenplays, short stories, and her first completed novel, The Besa. Masiela founded Illuminary Pictures at the age of 23, and has since wrapped two films under the company name. Illuminary Pictures has a full slate of diverse film and television projects in various stages of production. Three important aspects of Masiela's life are 1736 Family Crisis Center based in Los Angeles, UNICEF, and her own 501(c)3 Children of the World Foundation. For Children of the World, she is starting close to home in southern California where she donated ten acres of land for the cause. Other chapters will develop across the United States and eventually expand in other parts of the world. Masiela graduated from high school at 15, and was accepted as a junior to UCLA at the age of eighteen, majoring in English. Before becoming an actor, she was named by Teen Magazine as one of five to "Most Likely to Succeed". After arriving in Michigan, Masiela first gained attention by modeling. She was discovered among 600 aspiring actors by a Los Angeles based talent agent, and shortly there after was one of three invited to Hollywood at the age of thirteen. She loves honing her craft in front of the camera and exploring different characters, and continues to pave her path to success as an actress and author.Albania- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jake Zyrus (known as Charice Pempengco prior to his gender transition) was born in Cabuyao, Philippines. When he was three years old, he witnessed his abusive father point a gun at his mom during an episode of domestic violence. Along with his mother and younger brother Carl, they left their father searching for a better life.
Zyrus was very young when his mother noted that his rendition of Happy Birthday was very high-pitched and on-key. When he was four years old, his mother Raquel came home to discover Zyrus standing on top of the kitchen table singing Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On. She initially thought the radio was on, and Celine was singing. Zyrus had learned to operate the karaoke machine by observing his mother, who was a singer in a band, practice with her bandmates. It was then that Zyrus' singing talent was discovered.
At the age of seven, with money hard to come by and with little food to put on the table, Zyrus urged his mother to teach him how to sing and let him join singing contests to help support their family. He went around the provinces of Laguna and Batangas, entering amateur singing contests in town fiestas and later, on little known shows on television. He started winning most of the competitions he joined, often borrowing money from friends and neighbors for the bus fare and then paying them back after winning. He estimates he joined 80-100 singing contests all in all.
In 2005 when he was twelve years old, he joined Little Big Star, a singing contest for children on TV network ABS-CBN, loosely patterned after American Idol. He was eliminated after the first round but was called back as a wild card contestant later on in the show. From there, he was a consistent top scorer in the elimination rounds but only wound up as a third placer in the finals due to low text votes. Dejected as he was counting on winning the grand prize of P1 million pesos ($20,000) for his family, he wanted to give up on singing. He made minor appearances on TV shortly after Little Big Star, dancing backup and singing in the background on variety shows, but he had fallen off the radar. He eventually decided to give it all up and return to regular schooling.
Little did he know that David Dueñas (a.k.a FalseVoice), a fan of him, was so in awe of his powerful vocals and performances on Little Big Star that he started uploading them on YouTube. His videos were racking up millions of hits online, and one of his videos caught the eye of StarKing, a Korean variety show. In 2007, StarKing invited then 15-year old Zyrus to come to South Korea to perform. Dressed in pink and wearing pigtails, Zyrus blew the roof off the set as he performed a hair-raising and powerful rendition of And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going from the Dreamgirls soundtrack. The studio audience was floored to hear such a big voice coming out of such a small child.
The video of that StarKing performance went viral on YouTube, garnering millions of views until the producers of The Ellen Degeneres Show took notice. Ellen aired an on-air invitation for Zyrus to come to her show. A month later, in December 2007, Zyrus and his mother flew to America for the first time to appear on the show, where Zyrus sang And I Am Telling You and Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You. The audience was blown away, giving Zyrus the first two standing ovations she had ever received in his life. Zyrus went home to the Philippines, an instant celebrity.
In May 2008, Zyrus was invited to guest on Oprah, for a themed show called World's Smartest Kids. He sang "I Have Nothing" by Whitney Houston and bought the audience to their feet, giving him another standing ovation. No one was more impressed than Oprah Winfrey herself, though, incredulously asking him, "Girl, that was fantastic! Who are you?!"
The next day, Charice and his mother were already on a plane waiting to take off for the Philippines when Oprah called to stop the plane and bring them back to her office. Oprah had been so impressed with the child and couldn't get him off her mind. Oprah listened to Zyrus' story and told him, "Don't lose hope. I promise you something big will happen." She then called legendary music producer David Foster who took Zyrus on under his wing.
Zyrus, as David Foster's protégé, suddenly found himself singing duets with Andrea Bocelli in Italy and with his idol Celine Dion in Madison Square Garden. He also shared the stage with other big names such as Michael Buble and Josh Groban. He performed at three of President Barack Obama's pre-inauguration galas and made a cameo appearance as himself in 2009's Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. He also appeared on the Oprah show three more times after his initial appearance, the most recent one being last May 11, 2010, a day after his 18th birthday, to debut his international album CHARICE. His single Pyramid with singer Iyaz topped the Billboard Dance chart at #1. During its first week, his album sales landed him in the #8 spot on the US Billboard Hot 200 chart, making him the first-ever Asian artist in history to enter the Billboard top 10.
In June 2010, it was announced that Zyrus landed a recurring guest role on the hit TV series Glee, playing the character of Sunshine Corazon, a Filipino foreign exchange student to rival actress Lea Michele's character, Rachel Berry.Philippines- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Born in Bandung, Indonesia, Tania Gunadi moved to LA when she won a green card lottery. She began her career as an actress when a friend invited her to go along on an audition for a Disneyland commercial, where to her delight, she booked the role and was hooked on acting. Not long after that, she landed television and film roles for both live action and animation shows including Transformers Prime, Aaron Stone, The Magic of Ordinary Days, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Bizaardvark, Enlisted, Penn Zero, Trese, Pixel Perfect, DC Super Hero Girls, and Avatar Generations. In 2024-2025 you can see her on Curb Your Enthusiasm and on Disney's STUGO.
Alongside her love for acting and storytelling, Tania has recently been exploring her desire to write. Having spent the last couple of years learning from professional writers, she finished her first screenplay entitled Teddy, a story about a man and his dog. That said, she is thrilled at being the winner of the 2024 Cassian Elwes Screenwriting Fellowship at the Sundance Film Festival.Indonesia- Actress
- Soundtrack
In America, the early performing arts accomplishments of young Maureen FitzSimons (who we know as Maureen O'Hara) would definitely have put her in the child prodigy category. However, for a child of Irish heritage surrounded by gifted parents and family, these were very natural traits. Maureen made her entrance into this caring haven on August 17, 1920, in Ranelagh (a suburb of Dublin), Ireland. Her mother, Marguerita Lilburn FitzSimons, was an accomplished contralto. Her father, Charles FitzSimons, managed a business in Dublin and also owned part of the renowned Irish soccer team "The Shamrock Rovers." Maureen was the second of six FitzSimons children - Peggy, Florrie, Charles B. Fitzsimons, Margot Fitzsimons and James O'Hara completed this beautiful family.
Maureen loved playing rough athletic games as a child and excelled in sports. She combined this interest with an equally natural gift for performing. This was demonstrated by her winning pretty much every Feis award for drama and theatrical performing her country offered. By age 14 she was accepted to the prestigious Abbey Theater and pursued her dream of classical theater and operatic singing. This course was to be altered, however, when Charles Laughton, after seeing a screen test of Maureen, became mesmerized by her hauntingly beautiful eyes. Before casting her to star in Jamaica Inn (1939), Laughton and his partner, Erich Pommer, changed her name from Maureen FitzSimons to "Maureen O'Hara" - a bit shorter last name for the marquee.
Under contract to Laughton, Maureen's next picture was to be filmed in America (The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)) at RKO Pictures. The epic film was an extraordinary success and Maureen's contract was eventually bought from Laughton by RKO. At 19, Maureen had already starred in two major motion pictures with Laughton. Unlike most stars of her era, she started at the top, and remained there - with her skills and talents only getting better and better with the passing years.
Maureen has an enviable string of all-time classics to her credit that include the aforementioned "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," How Green Was My Valley (1941), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Sitting Pretty (1948), The Quiet Man (1952), and The Parent Trap (1961). Add to this the distinction of being voted one of the five most beautiful women in the world and you have a film star who was as gorgeous as she was talented.
Although at times early in her career Hollywood didn't seem to notice, there was much more to Maureen O'Hara than her dynamic beauty. She not only had a wonderful lyric soprano voice, but she could use her inherent athletic ability to perform physical feats that most actresses couldn't begin to attempt, from fencing to fisticuffs. She was a natural athlete.
In her career Maureen starred with some of Hollywood's most dashing leading men, including Tyrone Power, John Payne, Rex Harrison, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Brian Keith, Sir Alec Guinness and, of course, her famed pairings with "The Duke" himself, John Wayne. She starred in five films with Wayne, the most beloved being The Quiet Man (1952).
In addition to famed director John Ford, Maureen was also fortunate to have worked for some other great directors in the business: Alfred Hitchcock, William Dieterle, Henry Hathaway, Henry King, Jean Renoir, John M. Stahl, William A. Wellman, Frank Borzage, Walter Lang, George Seaton, George Sherman, Carol Reed, Delmer Daves, David Swift, Andrew V. McLaglen and Chris Columbus.
In 1968 Maureen found much deserved personal happiness when she married Charles Blair. Gen. Blair was a famous aviator whom she had known as a friend of her family for many years. A new career began for Maureen, that of a full-time wife. Her marriage to Blair, however, was again far from typical. Blair was the real-life version of what John Wayne had been on the screen. He had been a Brigadier General in the Air Force, a Senior Pilot with Pan American, and held many incredible record-breaking aeronautic achievements. Maureen happily retired from films in 1973 after making the TV movie The Red Pony (1973) (which on the prestigious Peabody Award for Excellence) with Henry Fonda. With Blair, Maureen managed Antilles Airboats, a commuter sea plane service in the Caribbean. She not only made trips around the world with her pilot husband, but owned and published a magazine, "The Virgin Islander," writing a monthly column called "Maureen O'Hara Says."
Tragically, Charles Blair died in a plane crash in 1978. Though completely devastated, Maureen pulled herself together and, with memories of ten of the happiest years of her life, continued on. She was elected President and CEO of Antilles Airboats, which brought her the distinction of being the first woman president of a scheduled airline in the United States.
Fortunately, she was coaxed out of retirement several times - once in 1991 to star with John Candy in Only the Lonely (1991) and again, in 1995, in a made-for-TV movie, The Christmas Box (1995) on CBS. In the spring of 1998, Maureen accepted the second of what would be three projects for Polson Productions and CBS: Cab to Canada (1998) - and, in October, 2000, The Last Dance (2000).
On St. Patrick's Day in 2004, she published her New York Times bestselling memoir, 'Tis Herself, co-authored with her longtime biographer and manager Johnny Nicoletti.
On November 4, 2014 Maureen was honored by a long overdue Oscar for "Lifetime Achievement" at the annual Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Governors Awards.
Maureen O'Hara was absolutely stunning, with that trademark red hair, dazzling smile and those huge, expressive eyes. She has fans from all over the world of all ages who are utterly devoted to her legacy of films and her persona as a strong, courageous and intelligent woman.Ireland- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Hugo Wallace Weaving was born on April 4, 1960 in Nigeria, to English parents Anne (Lennard), a tour guide and teacher, and Wallace Weaving, a seismologist. Hugo has an older brother, Simon, and a younger sister, Anna, who both also live and work in Australia. During his early childhood, the Weaving family spent most of their time traveling between Nigeria, Great Britain, and Australia. This was due to the cross-country demands of his father's job in the computer industry. Later, during his teens, Hugo spent three years in England in the seventies attending Queen Elizabeth's Hospital School in Bristol. There, he showed early promise in theater productions and also excelled at history, achieving an A in his O-level examination. He arrived permanently in Australia in 1976 and finished his education at Knox Grammar School, Sydney. He graduated from NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art), a college well-known for other alumni such as Mel Gibson and Geoffrey Rush, in 1981. Since then, Hugo has had a steadily successful career in the film, television, and theater industries. However, he has illustrated that, as renowned as he is known for his film work, he feels most at home on stage and continually performs in Australian theater productions, usually with the Sydney Theater Company. With his success has also come extensive recognition. He has won numerous awards, including two Australian Film Institute Awards (AFI) for Best Actor in a Leading Role and three total nominations. The AFI is the Australian equivalent of an Academy Award, and Hugo won for his performances in Proof (1991) and The Interview (1998). He was also nominated for his performance in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994). He garnered the Best Acting prize for The Interview (1998) at the Montreal Film Festival in 1998 in addition to his AFI Award and, that same year, won the Australian Star of the Year. More recently, roles in films such as The Matrix trilogy as Agent Smith and The Lord of the Rings trilogy as Lord Elrond have considerably raised his international profile. His famous and irreplaceable role in The Matrix movies have made him one of the greatest sci-fi villains of the Twenty-first Century. With each new film, television, or theatrical role, Hugo continues to surpass his audience's expectations and remains one of the most versatile performers working today. He resides in Australia and has two children with partner Katrina Greenwood. Though Hugo and Katrina have never married, they've been a committed couple for over 25 years; while Hugo was quoted as saying marriage "petrified" him in the 1990s, by middle of the following decade he said he no longer felt that way, and that he and Katrina have toyed with the idea of marrying "when we're really old".Nigeria- Nadim Sawalha was born on 9 September 1933 in Madaba, Jordan. He is an actor, known for The Living Daylights (1987), Captain Abu Raed (2007) and The Avengers (1998). He has been married to Roberta Lane since 1961. They have three children.Jordan
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Harry Shum Jr. (born April 28, 1982) is a Costa Rican-born Chinese American actor, dancer, and choreographer. He is best known for his roles as Mike Chang on the Fox television series Glee (2009-15) and as Magnus Bane on the Freeform television series Shadowhunters (2016-19). He was nominated for four Screen Actors Guild Awards for his performance in Glee, winning once. He won the award for The Male TV Star of 2018 in the E! People's Choice Awards for Shadowhunters.Costa Rica- Actress
- Producer
Leonor Varela was born on December 29, 1972 in Santiago de Chile, Chile, the daughter of Leonor Palma, a massage therapist, and Francisco Varela (Francisco Javier Varela Garcia), a biologist, neuroscientist, and philosopher. Her family fled to Costa Rica, leaving behind the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. They subsequently resided in Germany, USA, and France, where Varela studied.
In the '90s she appears in the Chilean soap Tic Tac (1997), and in other French and Europeans productions like Pony Trek (1995), Sous le soleil (1996), Shooting Stars (1997), A Legend to Ride (1997), Le juste (1996), or Bouge! (1997). Her career in Holywood began in 1998, when she joined the cast of The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) when she starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, and she appeared in The Bible Collection: Jeremiah (1998) opposite Patrick Dempsey. The following year (1999), she played the title character in the ABC TV movie "Cleopatra" (1999) (TV) opposite her future fiancé Billy Zane and Timothy Dalton
She appeared in The Tailor of Panama (2001) as Marta and in Texas Rangers (2001) as Perdita opposite Ashton Kutcher. In 2002 she appeared as the fanged vampire princess Nyssa in the action film Blade II (2002) opposite Wesley Snipes and Kris Kristofferson and directed by Guillermo del Toro. After that came Paraíso B (2002) as Gloria and in Pas si grave (2003) as Angela.
Varela also had a short recurring role in the Fox Television show Arrested Development (2003) as the original Marta. She was nominated for the Ariel Award in 2005 in the category of Best Actress for Innocent Voices (2004). She also had a non-recurring role in Stargate: Atlantis (2004).
In 2005 she appeared playing Adela in Americano (2005), and her following projects included Goal II: Living the Dream (2007) as the journalist Jordana Garcia, Where God Left His Shoes (2007) with John Leguizamo and the TV series produced by Jennifer Lopez Como ama una mujer (2007).
In the 2008 Sundance Film Festival she screened Sleep Dealer (2008) and the Larry Bishop's Hell Ride (2008), opposite Michael Madsen and Eric Balfour and produced by Quentin Tarantino.Chile- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Manisha Koirala (born 16 August 1970) is a Nepali actress who mainly appears in Bollywood, though she has worked in several South Indian and her native country's films. Noted for her acting prowess, Koirala is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards-and is one of India's most well-known actresses. Critics have noted that her niche as an actor remains unharmed irrespective of her commercial potent. Manisha was born into the politically prominent Koirala family, in which several of her family members went on to rule the nation, but she did not aspire to pursue a career in politics. A stint in modeling opened a career path in films, and she made her Bollywood debut with the top-grossing production Saudagar (1991). In spite of initial struggle to leave a mark, she went on to establish herself as one of the leading actresses in the 1990s with such films as 1942: A Love Story (1994), Akele Hum Akele Tum (1995), Agni Sakshi (1996) and Gupt (1997). Koirala gained particular recognition for her willingness to experiment with a variety of strong, dramatic roles, and she delivered several acclaimed performances in a range of films that did well with critics, including Bombay (1995), Khamoshi: The Musical (1996), Dil Se.. (1998), Mann (1999), Lajja (2001), Company (2002), and Escape from Taliban (2003). These films brought Koirala several awards and nominations, including three Filmfare Critics Awards for Best Actress, a South Filmfare Award for Best Actress, and a Star Screen Award Best Actress, among others. This was followed by a major period of decline when most of her films failed to do well. Her work in the Malyalam drama Elektra, the anthology film I Am (both 2010), and the romantic comedy Mappillai (2011) was received well, but she took a break from acting in 2012 to return three years later with the psychological thriller Chehere: A Modern Day Classic (2015).
She was appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund in 1999 and 2015, and was involved in the relief works after the Nepal earthquake 2015. She promotes various causes such as women's rights, prevention of violence against women, prevention of human trafficking and cancer awareness.
Manisha was seen back on the Silver Screen with Sunaina Bhattnagar's Dear Maya. Manisha received appreciation from her fans and industry from across the whole of India. She has been seen doing some amazing motivational and social events.
She was one of the speakers along side Dalai Lama and CM of Andhra Pradesh at the Womens's Parliament, Amravati. She advocated on how we need more women in our board rooms, court rooms, schools and universities to make policies for women and that women should stand in solidarity for each other. Manisha's TEDx talk touched hearts of millions of people and she has received appreciation from across worldwide for same. She spoke about her struggle with cancer and her brave victory as a warrior and highly advocates on how focusing from early day on our personal health can do wonders. Her philosophy is to focus on mind, body and soul rather than just physical body to stay fit and positive.Nepal- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Anna Melikian (born February 8, 1976) is an Armenian-Russian film and TV director/ producer whose work has been recognized with several awards. After her participation at Sundance Film Festival she was listed in the TOP 10 of most perspective film directors by Variety magazine.
Melikian studied at the All-Russian State University of Cinematography film school in Moscow (classes of prof. Sergey Solovyov and Valery Rubinchik), where she was awarded by the university prize of "Saint Anna" for Poste restante (2000). After the graduation she was granted by GosKino Russian organization, made various documental and TV films. In 2008 Melikian's Rusalka (2007) was awarded by the Berlin International Film Festival Prize.Azerbaijan- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Roman Mitichyan was born in Vanadzor, Armenia and started training at the age 8 in free style wrestling. He then went on to train in the art of Sambo-Judo with Baxshik Saroyan. Roman was a natural at the sport and soon became a Champion in Armenia. In 1997 he and his family moved to the United States and he started training at the Hayastan Judo Club under world renown grapplers Gene Lebell and Gokor Chivichyan.
In 2006 Roman won 1st place in the USJI National Championship. Roman is a world Bronze medalist in Sambo, and an active MMA fighter with a 15-3 record.
Roman's approach to fighting (and life) is grounded in his hard work ethic and relentless attacks. It is this tenacity that has propelled him to the top of his sport.Armenia- Actor
- Art Department
François Chau was born on 26 October 1959 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He is an actor, known for Rescue Dawn (2006), Lost (2004) and The Tick (2016).Cambodia