Ransom 1996 premiere
Friday November 1st, Regency Village Theatre 961 Broxton Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024
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- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson was born January 3, 1956 in Peekskill, New York, USA, as the sixth of eleven children of Hutton Gibson, a railroad brakeman, and Anne Patricia (Reilly) Gibson (who died in December of 1990). His mother was Irish, from County Longford, while his American-born father is of mostly Irish descent.
Mel and his family moved to Australia in the late 1960s, settling in New South Wales, where Mel's paternal grandmother, contralto opera singer Eva Mylott, was born. After high school, Mel studied at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, performing at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts alongside future film thespians Judy Davis and Geoffrey Rush.
After college, Mel had a few stints on stage and starred in a few TV shows. Eventually, he was chosen to star in the films Mad Max (1979) and Tim (1979), co-starring Piper Laurie. The small budgeted Mad Max made him known worldwide, while Tim garnered him an award for Best Actor from the Australian Film Institute (equivalent to the Oscar).
Later, he went on to star in Gallipoli (1981), which earned him a second award for Best Actor from the AFI. In 1980, he married Robyn Moore and had seven children. In 1984, Mel made his American debut in The Bounty (1984), which co-starred Anthony Hopkins.
Then in 1987, Mel starred in what would become his signature series, Lethal Weapon (1987), in which he played "Martin Riggs". In 1990, he took on the interesting starring role in Hamlet (1990), which garnered him some critical praise. He also made the more endearing Forever Young (1992) and the somewhat disturbing The Man Without a Face (1993). 1995 brought his most famous role as "Sir William Wallace" in Braveheart (1995), for which he won two Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director.
From there, he made such box office hits as The Patriot (2000), Ransom (1996), and Payback (1999). Today, Mel remains an international superstar mogul, continuously topping the Hollywood power lists as well as the Most Beautiful and Sexiest lists.- Actress
- Producer
Rene Russo was born in Burbank, California, to Shirley (Balocca), a barmaid and factory laborer, and Nino Russo. Her father, a sculptor and mechanic, left the family when Rene was just two, and thus her mother raised Rene and her sister, Toni, as a single mom. Her father was of Italian descent, and her mother was of Italian and German-English-Irish ancestry.
In junior high school, Rene was plagued with scoliosis and had to wear a full-torso brace. She was already a tall girl, which earned her the nickname "Jolly Green Giant" from her classmates. She entered Burroughs High School, along with classmate Ron Howard, and even though her brace had been removed, she was still somewhat of a loner. Unable to deal with academics and the school social scene, Rene dropped out of school in the tenth grade. Since money was tight, she began to take a variety of part-time jobs over the next 18 months, many for the free benefits. She sold refreshments at a movie theater, where she could see free movies; worked as a restaurant hostess, where her meals were free; and worked as a store cashier at Disneyland, where she had free admission. She often had two jobs at one time. Her last job, which was solely for the paycheck, was a full-time job at an eyeglass factory, inspecting contact lenses.
In 1972, the 17-year-old was attending a Rolling Stones concert when she was approached by John Crosby, a scout and manager from International Creative Management. He told her she should be a model and had test photos made of her. Within a few months, Rene signed a contract with Ford Modeling Agency and within a year had become a successful print and photographers model. Soon her modeling breakthrough came when she graced the cover of Vogue. By 1975, she had appeared on numerous magazine covers, was one of the most successful models in America, and was also starting to be seen in several TV commercials through the 1980s. She would define what a top fashion model was for years to come.
By her 30th birthday, demand for her began to dwindle, as it did for most models at that age. She did a few more commercials and then turned her back on modeling and show business for a while. Financially secure for the next several years, she began an intense period of literature and Christian theology. She also began to study theater and acting, and began appearing in theater roles at small regional theaters in Los Angeles and elsewhere in California.
Her television series debut came in 1987 with a supporting part on the short-lived TV series Sable (1987). In 1989 she made her motion picture debut with the part of the lead characters girlfriend in the film Major League (1989). Her subsequent roles were that of girlfriends and supportive wives in a few films, until her breakthrough as an Internal Affairs detective in Lethal Weapon 3 (1992). Rene Russo has been praised for her ability to hold her own against her major male co-stars, who have included Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood, Kevin Costner and Pierce Brosnan. Two of her performances within the last few years have gotten her recognition as both a major dramatic actress and a talented character actress. One was as the mother of a kidnapped son in Ransom (1996). The other was as the cartoon femme fatale foreign spy in The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000). Although the latter received mixed reviews among moviegoers and critics, Russo was praised for her performance of a role originally slated for Meryl Streep in 1992. Rene Russo has been married to screenwriter Dan Gilroy since 1992, and they have one daughter, named Rose. They reside in Brentwood, California.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Gary Alan Sinise was born in Blue Island, Illinois, to Mylles S. (Alsip) and Robert L. Sinise, A.C.E., a film editor. He is of Italian (from his paternal grandfather), English, Scottish, Irish, French, German, and Swedish ancestry. His family moved to Highland Park, where he attended high school. He was something of a rebel, playing in bands but paying little attention to school.
Gary and some friends tried out for "West Side Story" as a lark, but Gary was hooked on acting for life by closing night. Gary credits his love for theatre to his drama teacher, Barbara Patterson. In 1974, Gary, Terry Kinney, and Jeff Perry founded the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. Initially performing in a church basement, the company grew and gained stature in the Chicago area. In addition to acting in many plays, Gary also directed some of Steppenwolf's most notable productions, including Sam Shepard's "True West". The company made its off-Broadway debut with that production, starring Gary and John Malkovich, and its Broadway debut with "The Grapes of Wrath" at the Cort Theatre in 1990. Gary's Hollywood career also started in the director's chair with two episodes of the stylish TV series Crime Story (1986), followed in 1988 by the feature Miles from Home (1988) starring Richard Gere. Gary's first feature film as an actor was the World War II fable A Midnight Clear (1992) in 1992. That year also found Gary combining his acting and directing talents with the critically acclaimed Of Mice and Men (1992). His first real notice by the public came in 1994, however. He starred in the blockbuster miniseries The Stand (1994), rapidly followed by his bravura performance as "Lt. Dan" in Forrest Gump (1994). His portrayal of the disabled, emotionally tortured veteran earned Gary numerous awards and an Oscar nomination. Busy 1994 was followed by busy 1995, first reuniting with Tom Hanks in Apollo 13 (1995) and then starring in the HBO film Truman (1995) which earned him the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards and an Emmy nomination.
Gary is married to Moira Sinise, an actress and original member of the Steppenwolf company. They have three children, Sophie Sinise, McCanna Anthony Sinise and Ella Sinise.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
On the stage and on the big screen, Delroy Lindo projects a powerful presence that is almost impossible to ignore. Alhough it was not his first film role, his portrayal of the bipolar numbers boss West Indian Archie in Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992) is what first attracted attention to Lindo's considerable talents. Since then, his star has slowly been on the rise.
The son of Jamaican parents, Lindo was born and raised in Lewisham, England, United Kingdom, until his teens when he and his mother, a nurse, moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A little later, they moved to the United States, where Lindo would graduate from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. After graduation, Lindo landed his first film role, that of an Army sergeant in More American Graffiti (1979). However, he did not appear in another film for ten years. In the meantime, Lindo worked on stage and, in 1982, debuted on Broadway in "Master Harold and the Boys" directed by the play's author, Athol Fugard. In 1988, Lindo earned a Tony nomination for his portrayal of Harald Loomis in Joe Turner's Come and Gone.
Though he was obviously a talented actor with a bright future, Lindo's career stalled. Wanting someone more aggressive and appreciative of his talents, Lindo changed agents (he'd had the same one through most of his early career). It was a smart move, but it was director Spike Lee who provided the boost Lindo's career needed. The director was impressed enough with Lindo to cast him as patriarch Woody Carmichael in Lee's semi-autobiographical comedy Crooklyn (1994).
For Lindo, 1996 was a big year. He landed major supporting roles in six features, including a heavy in Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty (1995), another villainous supporting role in Lee's Clockers (1995), and still another bad guy in Feeling Minnesota (1996). Lest one believe that Lindo is typecast into forever playing drug lords and gangsters, that year he also played baseball player Leroy "Satchel" Paige in the upbeat Soul of the Game (1996) (a.k.a. Baseball in Black and White), for which he won a NAACP Image Award nomination. Since then, the versatile Lindo has shown himself equally adept at playing characters on both sides of the law. In 1997, he played an angel opposite Holly Hunter in Danny Boyle's offbeat romantic fantasy A Life Less Ordinary (1997) and, in 2009, a vengeful cop in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).
Lindo graduated from San Francisco State University in 2004 with a degree in Cinema.- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard is one of this generation's most popular directors. From the critically acclaimed dramas A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Apollo 13 (1995) to the hit comedies Parenthood (1989) and Splash (1983), he has created some of Hollywood's most memorable films.
Howard made his directorial debut in 1978 with the comedy Grand Theft Auto (1977). He began his career in film as an actor. He first appeared in The Journey (1959) and The Music Man (1962), then as Opie on the long-running television series The Andy Griffith Show (1960). Howard later starred in the popular series Happy Days (1974) and drew favorable reviews for his performances in American Graffiti (1973) and The Shootist (1976).
Howard and long-time producing partner Brian Grazer first collaborated on the hit comedies "Night Shift" and "Splash." The pair co-founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 to create independently produced feature films.
Howard's portfolio includes some of the most popular films of the past 20 years. In 1991, Howard created the acclaimed drama "Backdraft", starring Robert De Niro, Kurt Russell and William Baldwin. He followed it with the historical epic Far and Away (1992), starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Howard directed Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Gary Sinise and Delroy Lindo in the 1996 suspense thriller Ransom (1996). Howard worked with Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise and Kathleen Quinlan on "Apollo 13," which was re-released recently in the IMAX format.
Howard's skill as a director has long been recognized. In 1995, he received his first Best Director of the Year award from the DGA for "Apollo 13." The true-life drama also garnered nine Academy Award nominations, winning Oscars for Best Film Editing and Best Sound. It also received Best Ensemble Cast and Best Supporting Actor awards from the Screen Actor's Guild. Many of Howard's past films have received nods from the Academy, including the popular hits Backdraft (1991), "Parenthood" and Cocoon (1985), the last of which took home two Oscars.
Howard directed and produced Cinderella Man (2005) starring Oscar winner Russell Crowe, with whom he previously collaborated on "A Beautiful Mind," for which Howard earned an Oscar for Best Director and which also won awards for Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress. The film garnered four Golden Globes as well, including the award for Best Motion Picture Drama. Additionally, Howard won Best Director of the Year from the Directors Guild of America. Howard and producer Brian Grazer received the first annual Awareness Award from the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign for their work on the film.
Howard was honored by the Museum of Moving Images in December 2005, and by the American Cinema Editors in February 2006. Howard and his creative partner Brian Grazer, were honored by the Producers Guild of America with the Milestone Award in January 2009, NYU's Tisch School of Cinematic Arts with the Big Apple Award in November 2009 and by the Simon Wiesenthal Center with their Humanitarian Award in May 2010. In June 2010, Howard was honored by the Chicago Film Festival with their Gold Hugo - Career Achievement Award. In March 2013, Howard was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. In December 2015, Howard was honored with a star in the Motion Pictures category, making him one of the very few to have been recognized with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Howard also produced and directed the film adaptation of Peter Morgan's critically acclaimed play Frost/Nixon (2008). The film was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, and was also nominated for The Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures by the PGA.
Howard has also served as an executive producer on a number of award-winning films and television shows, such as the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon (1998), Fox's Emmy Award winner for Best Comedy, Arrested Development (2003), a series which he also narrated, Netflix's release of new episodes of "Arrested Development," and NBC's "Parenthood."
Howard's recent films include the critically acclaimed drama Rush (2013), staring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl, written by Peter Morgan; and Made in America (2013), a music documentary he directed staring Jay-Z for Showtime.
Howard's other films include In the Heart of the Sea (2015), based on the true story that inspired Moby Dick; his adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling novels Angels & Demons (2009), and The Da Vinci Code (2006) staring Oscar winner Tom Hanks; the blockbuster holiday favorite "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)" starring Jim Carrey; "Parenthood" starring Steve Martin; the fantasy epic Willow (1988); Night Shift (1982) starring Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton and Shelley Long; and the suspenseful western, The Missing (2003), staring Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones.
Recently, Howard directed Inferno (2016), the third installment of Dan Brown 's Robert Langdon franchise and The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years (2016), a documentary about the rock legends The Beatles. He also produced the second season of Breakthrough (2015), Mars (2016), and directed the first episode of Genius (2017), based on the life of Albert Einstein, all for NatGeo.- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Emmy and Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer has been making movies and television programs for more than 25 years. As both a writer and producer, he has been personally nominated for four Academy Awards, and in 2002 won the Best Picture Oscar for A Beautiful Mind (2001). In addition to winning three other Academy Awards, "A Beautiful Mind" also won four Golden Globe Awards (including Best Motion Picture Drama) and earned Grazer the first annual Awareness Award from the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign.
Over the years, Grazer's films and TV shows have been nominated for 43 Oscars and 198 Emmys. At the same time his movies have generated more than $15 billion in worldwide theatrical, music and video grosses. Reflecting this combination of commercial and artistic achievement, the Producers Guild of America honored Grazer with the David O. Selznick Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. His accomplishments have also been recognized by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which in 1998 added Grazer to the short list of producers with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On March 6, 2003. ShoWest celebrated Grazer's success by honoring him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. On November 14, 2005, Grazer was honored in Los Angeles by the Fulfillment Fund. In May 2007 he was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World." On January 24 Grazer, along with his partner Ron Howard, was honored with the Milestone Award by the Producers Guild of America.
In addition to "A Beautiful Mind", Grazer's films include Apollo 13 (1995), for which Grazer won the Producers Guild's Darryl F. Zanuck Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Picture of 1995; and Splash (1983), which he co-wrote as well as produced and for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay of 1986.
Grazer also produced the film adaptation of Peter Morgan's critically acclaimed play "Frost/Nixon" (Frost/Nixon (2008)), directed by Ron Howard. The film was nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture, and was also nominated for The Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures by the PGA.
Grazer also produced Angels & Demons (2009), the adaptation of Dan Brown's bast-selling novel, and Robin Hood (2010), directed by Ridley Scott and with Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Max von Sydow.
Some more of Grazer's feature film credits include the drama The Changeling (2006), directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Angelina Jolie; the Ridley Scott-directed drama American Gangster (2007), staring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington; The Da Vinci Code (2006), the film adaptation of Dan Brown's international best-seller, starring Tom Hanks and directed by Oscar-winner Ron Howard; the tense drama The Inside Man (2005), directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster; Flightplan (2005); Cinderella Man (2005); the Sundance acclaimed documentary Inside Deep Throat (2005); the TV series Friday Night Lights (2006); 8 Mile (2002); Blue Crush (2002); Intolerable Cruelty (2003); How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000); The Nutty Professor (1996); Liar Liar (1997); Ransom (1996); My Girl (1991); Backdraft (1991); Kindergarten Cop (1990); Parenthood (1989); Clean and Sober (1988); and Spies Like Us (1985).
Grazer's television productions include Fox's hit Golden Globe and Emmy award winning Best Drama Series 24 (2001), NBC's Peabody Award-winning series "Friday Night Lights" and Fox's Lie to Me (2009), starring Tim Roth, which premiered in January 2009. He is also working on additional television projects including Parenthood (2010), based on his 1989 film, and Wonderland (2000), directed by Peter Berg. His additional television credits include Fox's Emmy award winning-Best Comedy Arrested Development (2003), CBS' Shark (2006), NBC's Miss Match (2003), WB's Felicity (1998), ABC's Sports Night (1998), as well as HBO's From the Earth to the Moon (1998), for which he won the Emmy for Outstanding Mini-Series.
Grazer began his career as a producer, developing television projects. It was while he was executive-producing TV pilots for Paramount Pictures in the early 1980s that Grazer first met Ron Howard, soon to become his friend and business partner. Their collaboration began in 1985 with the hit comedies Night Shift (1982) and Splash (1983), and in 1986 the two founded Imagine Entertainment, which they continue to run together as chairmen.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Jodie Foster started her career at the age of two. For four years she made commercials and finally gave her debut as an actress in the TV series Mayberry R.F.D. (1968). In 1975 Jodie was offered the role of prostitute Iris Steensma in the movie Taxi Driver (1976). This role, for which she received an Academy Award nomination in the "Best Supporting Actress" category, marked a breakthrough in her career. In 1980 she graduated as the best of her class from the College Lycée Français and began to study English Literature at Yale University, from where she graduated magna cum laude in 1985. One tragic moment in her life was March 30th, 1981 when John Warnock Hinkley Jr. attempted to assassinate the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. Hinkley was obsessed with Jodie and the movie Taxi Driver (1976), in which Travis Bickle, played by Robert De Niro, tried to shoot presidential candidate Palantine. Despite the fact that Jodie never took acting lessons, she received two Oscars before she was thirty years of age. She received her first award for her part as Sarah Tobias in The Accused (1988) and the second one for her performance as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Quirky, inventive and handsome American actor Michael Keaton first achieved major fame with his door-busting performance as fast-talking ideas man Bill Blazejowski, alongside a nerdish morgue attendant (Henry Winkler), in Night Shift (1982). He played further comedic roles in Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984), and Beetlejuice (1988), earned further acclaim for his dramatic portrayal of Bruce Wayne / Batman in Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), and since then, has moved easily between film genres, ranging from drama and romantic comedy to thriller and action.
Keaton was born Michael John Douglas on September 5, 1951 in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, to Leona Elizabeth (Loftus), a homemaker, and George A. Douglas, a civil engineer and surveyor. He is of Irish, as well as English, Scottish, and German, descent. Michael studied speech for two years at Kent State, before dropping out and moving to Pittsburgh. An unsuccessful attempt at stand-up comedy led Keaton to working as a TV cameraman in a cable station, and he came to realize he wanted to work in front of the cameras. Keaton first appeared on TV in several episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968).
He left Pittsburgh and moved to Los Angeles to begin auditioning for TV. He began cropping up in popular TV shows including Maude (1972) and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979). Around this time, Keaton decided to use an alternative surname to remove confusion with better-known actor Michael Douglas. He looked into the "K"'s for surnames and thought it was inoffensive to chose 'Keaton'. His next break was scoring a co-starring role alongside Jim Belushi in the short-lived comedy series Working Stiffs (1979), which showcased his comedic talent and led to his co-starring role in Night Shift (1982). Keaton next scored the lead in the comedy hits Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984) , Gung Ho (1986), the Tim Burton horror-comedy Beetlejuice (1988), and The Dream Team (1989).
Keaton's career was given another major boost when he was again cast by Tim Burton, this time as the title comic book superhero, millionaire playboy/crime-fighter Bruce Wayne, in Batman (1989). Burton cast him because he thought that Keaton was the only actor who could portray someone who has the kind of darkly obsessive personality that the character demands. To say there were howls of protest by fans of the caped crusader comic strip is an understatement! Warner Bros. was deluged with thousands of letters of complaint commenting that comedian Keaton was the wrong choice for the Caped Crusader, given his prior work and the fact that he lacked the suave, handsome features and tall, muscular physicality often attributed to the character in the comic books. However, their fears were proven wrong when Keaton turned in a sensational performance, and he held his own on screen with opponent Jack Nicholson, playing the lunatic villain, "The Joker". Keaton's dramatic work earned widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike, and Batman (1989) became one of the most successful films of the year.
Keaton remained active during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films. Keen to diversify his work, Keaton starred as a psychotic tenant in Pacific Heights (1990), as a hard-working cop in One Good Cop (1991), and then donned the black cape and cowl once more for Batman Returns (1992). He remained in demand during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films, including the star-studded Shakespearian Much Ado About Nothing (1993), the drama My Life (1993), another Ron Howard comedy The Paper (1994), with sexy Andie MacDowell in Multiplicity (1996), twice in the same role, dogged Elmore Leonard character Agent Ray Nicolette, in Jackie Brown (1997) and Out of Sight (1998). He also played a killer in the mediocre thriller Desperate Measures (1998).
In the 2000s, Keaton appeared in several productions with mixed success, including Live from Baghdad (2002), First Daughter (2004), and Herbie Fully Loaded (2005). He also provided voices for characters in the animated films Cars (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Minions (2015).
He returned to major film roles in the 2010s, co-starring in The Other Guys (2010), RoboCop (2014) and Need for Speed (2014). Also that year, Keaton starred alongside Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), a film by 21 Grams (2003) and Biutiful (2010) director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. In the film, Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, a screen actor, famous for playing the iconic titular superhero, who puts on a Broadway play based on a Raymond Carver short story, to regain his former glory. Keaton's critically praised lead performance earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, the Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor and Best Actor in a Comedy, and nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award, British Academy Film Award, and Academy Award for Best Actor.
In 2015, he played a journalist in Spotlight (2015), which, like Birdman, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2016, he starred as Ray Kroc, the developer of McDonald's, in the drama The Founder (2016).
He is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University.- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Timothy Allen Dick was born on June 13, 1953, in Denver, Colorado, to Martha Katherine (Fox) and Gerald M. Dick. His father, a real estate salesman, was killed in a collision with a drunk driver while driving his family home from a University of Colorado football game, when Tim was eleven years old. His mother, a community service worker, remarried her high school sweetheart, an Episcopalian deacon, two years after Tim's father's death. He was raised with his many siblings and step-siblings. When Tim was young, his family moved to Birmingham, Michigan.
In high school, his favorite subject was shop, of course, and after high school, he attended Western Michigan University and graduated with a degree in Television Production in 1975. In 1978, he was arrested on drug charges and spent two years in jail. Upon his release, he had a new outlook on life and on a dare from a friend, started his comedy career at the Comedy Castle in Detroit. Later, he went on to do several cable specials, including, Comedy's Dirtiest Dozen (1988) and Tim Allen: Men Are Pigs (1990). In 1991, he became the star of his own hit television series on ABC called Home Improvement (1991). While continuing to film his television series throughout most of the 1990s, he starred in a string of blockbuster movies, including The Santa Clause (1994), Toy Story (1995), Toy Story 2 (1999) and Galaxy Quest (1999). In August 1996, he developed and unveiled his own signature line of power tools, manufactured by Ryobi. On top of all that, he has his own racing team, Tim Allen/Saleen RRRRacing. In May 1999, he ended his series Home Improvement (1991) after eight seasons and in 2001, he filmed such movies as Big Trouble (2002) and Joe Somebody (2001).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Henry Franklin Winkler was born on October 30, 1945, in Manhattan, New York. His parents, Ilse Anna Maria (Hadra) and Harry Irving Winkler, were German Jewish immigrants who escaped the Holocaust by moving to the US in 1939. His father was the president of an international lumber company while his mother worked alongside his father. Winkler is a cousin of Richard Belzer.
Winkler grew up with "a high level of low self-esteem." Throughout elementary school and high school, he struggled with academics. This was due to what he would later identify as dyslexia. His parents expected him to eventually work with them at the lumber company. However, he had other plans as he saw roles on stage as the key to his happiness. Winkler's acting debut came in the eighth grade when he played the role of Billy Budd in the school play of the same name. Following his graduation from McBurney High School, Winkler was able to incorporate his learning disability and succeed in higher education. He received a Bachelor's degree from Emerson College in 1967 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama in 1970. He later received an honorary PhD in Hebrew Literature in 1978 from Emerson College.
Following college, his top priority was to become an actor. However, if this was unsuccessful, he wanted to become a child psychologist because of his deep interest in working with children. Like many other actors, he began his career by appearing in 30 commercials. His first major film role was in The Lords of Flatbush (1974) in which he played a member of a Brooklyn gang. After that, he was cast on a new ABC series which was set in the 1950s, Happy Days (1974). He was given the role of high school dropout and greaser Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli. The character was seldom seen during the first few episodes as ABC initially feared he would be perceived as a hoodlum. However, the character became extremely popular with viewers, and the show's producers decided to give Fonzie a more prominent role in the series.
Following this, the show's ratings began to soar, and Fonzie became a 1970s icon and the epitome of cool. His motorcycle, leather jacket, thumbs-up gesture, and uttering of the phrase "Aayyyy!" became television trademarks. Unlike many other 1970s stars who rose to fame in a short period of time and developed "big heads", Winkler managed to stay well-grounded and avoided falling into this trap. He was said to be more polite and agreeable even after his popularity soared. He remained on the series until its cancellation in 1984.
In the mid-1980s, with his Happy Days (1974) now behind him, Winkler decided to change his focus toward producing and directing. He produced and directed several television shows and movies, most notably MacGyver (1985) and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996). In the mid-1990s and early 2000s, he was able to re-establish himself with a younger generation of moviegoers and TV viewers, appearing in the popular films, Scream (1996) and The Waterboy (1998) and on shows such as The Practice (1997) and Arrested Development (2003).
In 2018 after over 45 years in the entertainment industry, he won his first-ever Prime Time Emmy Award: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on the HBO series Barry (2018). In addition to his movie and film credits, Winkler is a well-accomplished author. Between 2003 and 2007, he co-authored 12 children's novels with Lin Oliver. The series is called "Hank Zipzer, the World's Greatest Underachiever." The books are based on his early struggles with dyslexia, and they sold more than two million books in that time.
Winkler has been married since 1978 to Stacey Winkler (nee Weitzman) with whom he has three children. Together, they are actively involved with various children's charities. In 1990, they co-founded the Children's Action Network (CAN), which provides free immunization to over 200,000 children. Winkler is also involved with the Annual Cerebral Palsy Telethon, the Epilepsy Foundation of America, the annual Toys for Tots campaign, the National Committee for Arts for the Handicapped, and the Special Olympics.
In September 2003, Winkler suffered a personal setback when John Ritter unexpectedly passed away. Winkler was on the set of 8 Simple Rules (2002) that day for a guest appearance and was one of the last people to talk to Ritter.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
John Cusack is, like most of his characters, an unconventional hero. Wary of fame and repelled by formulaic Hollywood fare, he has built a successful career playing underdogs and odd men out--all the while avoiding the media spotlight. John was born in Evanston, Illinois, to an Irish-American family. With the exception of mom Nancy (née Carolan), a former math teacher, the Cusack clan is all show business: father Dick Cusack was an actor and filmmaker, and John's siblings Joan Cusack, Ann Cusack, Bill Cusack and Susie Cusack are all thespians by trade. Like his brother and sisters, John became a member of Chicago's Piven Theatre Workshop while he was still in elementary school. By age 12, he already had several stage productions, commercial voice overs and industrial films under his belt. He made his feature film debut at 17, acting alongside Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy in the romantic comedy Class (1983). His next role, as a member of Anthony Michael Hall's geek brigade in Sixteen Candles (1984), put him on track to becoming a teen-flick fixture. Cusack remained on the periphery of the Brat Pack, sidestepping the meteoric rise and fall of most of his contemporaries, but he stayed busy with leads in films like The Sure Thing (1985) and Better Off Dead (1985). Young Cusack is probably best remembered for what could be considered his last adolescent role: the stereo-blaring romantic Lloyd Dobler in Say Anything (1989). A year later, he hit theaters as a grown-up, playing a bush-league con man caught between his manipulative mother and headstrong girlfriend in The Grifters (1990).
The next few years were relatively quiet for the actor, but he filled in the gaps with off-screen projects. He directed and produced several shows for the Chicago-based theater group The New Criminals, which he founded in 1988 (modeling it after Tim Robbins' Actors' Gang in Los Angeles) to promote political and avant-garde stage work. Four years later, Cusack's high school friends Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis joined him in starting a sister company for film, New Crime Productions. New Crime's first feature was the sharply written comedy Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), which touched off a career renaissance for Cusack. In addition to co-scripting, he starred as a world-weary hit man who goes home for his ten-year high school reunion and tries to rekindle a romance with the girl he stood up on prom night (Minnie Driver). In an instance of life imitating art, Cusack actually did go home for his ten-year reunion (to honor a bet about the film's financing) and ended up in a real-life romance with Driver. Cusack's next appearance was as a federal agent (or, as he described it, "the first post-Heston, non-biblical action star in sandals") in Con Air (1997), a movie he chose because he felt it was time to make smart business decisions. He followed that with Clint Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), in which he played a Yankee reporter entangled in a Savannah murder case.
Cusack has always favored offbeat material, so it was no surprise when he turned up in the fiercely original Being John Malkovich (1999). Long-haired, bearded and bespectacled, he was almost unrecognizable in the role of a frustrated puppeteer who stumbles across a portal into the brain of actor John Malkovich. The convincing performance won him a Best Actor nomination at the Independent Spirit Awards. In 2000, Cusack was back to his clean-shaven self in High Fidelity (2000), another New Crime production. He worked with Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis to adapt Nick Hornby's popular novel (relocating the story to their native Chicago), then starred as the sarcastic record store owner who revisits his "Top 5" breakups to find out why he's so unlucky in love. The real Cusack has been romantically linked with several celebs, including Driver, Alison Eastwood, Claire Forlani and Neve Campbell. He's also something of a family man, acting frequently opposite sister Joan Cusack and pulling other Cusacks into his films on a regular basis. He seems pleased with the spate of projects on his horizon, but admits that he still hasn't reached his ultimate goal: to be involved in a "great piece of art".- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Director
Canadian producer and director Ivan Reitman created many of American cinema's most successful and best loved feature film comedies and worked with Hollywood's acting elite. Reitman produced such hits as the ground-breaking sensation National Lampoon's National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), which introduced John Belushi to American filmgoers, and the family features Beethoven (1992) and Beethoven's 2nd (1993). His directing credits include Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981) and Ghostbusters (1984), films starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis; Dave (1993), which starred Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver, Junior (1994) which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito and Emma Thompson. Reitman also produced the HBO telefilm The Late Shift (1996), based on Bill Carter's non-fiction book about the late-night television wars which received seven Emmy nominations. Other producing endeavors include Commandments (1997), starring Aidan Quinn and Courteney Cox, Private Parts (1997), starring Howard Stern, as well as the animation/live action film Space Jam (1996), starring Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes characters. With Twins (1988), Reitman created an entirely new comedic persona for action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger -- and forged a personal and professional relationship that continued with Kindergarten Cop (1990) and Junior (1994). Acclaimed dramatic actors such as Robert Redford, Debra Winger, Sigourney Weaver, and Emma Thompson also revealed untapped comic talents under Reitman's direction. In 1984, Reitman was honored as Director of the Year by the National Association of Theater Owners and the next year received a Special Achievement Award at the Canadian Genie awards. In 1979 and again in 1989, for the films National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) and Twins (1988), Reitman was honored with the People's Choice Award. In November of 1994, Reitman became the third director honored by Variety magazine in a special Billion Dollar Director issue.
Reitman was born in Czechoslovakia, to Jewish Holocaust survivors, and left with his family for Canada at the age of four. He attended Canada's McMaster University, where he produced and directed several television shorts. He followed with a live television show, Greed: The Series (1999), with Dan Aykroyd as its announcer. "Spellbound," which Reitman produced for the live stage, evolved into the Broadway hit "The Magic Show," starring Doug Henning. He continued producing for the stage with the Off-Broadway hit "The National Lampoon Show," and returned to Broadway to produce and direct the musical "Merlin," earning a Tony nomination for directing. Reitman headed The Montecito Picture Company, a film and television production company, with partner Tom Pollock. His television credits included the Emmy-nominated children's show The Real Ghostbusters (1986) and the Saturday morning animated series Beethoven (1994) for CBS. His last directing credited was Draft Day (2014), before his death in February 2022 in Montecito, California.- Producer
- Director
- Actor
A graduate of Wesleyan University, Michael Bay spent his 20s working on advertisements and music videos. His first projects after film school were in the music video business. He created music videos for Tina Turner, Meat Loaf, Lionel Richie, Wilson Phillips, Donny Osmond and Divinyls. His work won him recognition and a number of MTV award nominations. He also filmed advertisements for Nike, Reebok, Coca-Cola, Budweiser and Miller Lite. He won the Grand Prix Clio for Commercial of the Year for his "Got Milk/Aaron Burr" commercial. At Cannes, he has won the Gold Lion for The Best Beer campaign for Miller Lite, as well as the Silver for "Got Milk". In 1995, Bay was honored by the Directors Guild of America as Commercial Director of the Year. That same year, he also directed his first feature film, Bad Boys (1995), starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, which grossed more than $160 million, worldwide. His follow-up film, The Rock (1996), starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage, was also hugely successful, making Bay the director du jour.- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Actor
Mark Johnson was born on 27 December 1945 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He is a producer and assistant director, known for Rain Man (1988), The Holdovers (2023) and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019). He has been married to Lezlie Brooks Johnson since 26 September 1982. They have two children.- Producer
- Writer
- Executive
For four decades, Michael Eisner has been a leader in the American entertainment industry. He began his career at ABC, overseeing shows including Happy Days, Barney Miller, and Roots. He became president of Paramount Pictures in 1976, turning out hit films including Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saturday Night Fever, and Grease. IN 1984 Michael assumed the position of Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company and, in the ensuing 21 years, transformed it from a film and theme park company worth $1.8 billion into a global media empire now valued at over $170 billion. In 2005, Michael founded The Tornante Company, a privately held media & entertainment holding company. Today Tornante owns Topps, Inc., Portsmouth Football Club in England, and has a large and growing television division, including ownership of BoJack Horseman and Tucca and Bertie for Netflix, as well as Undone for Amazon. He and his wife, Jane, founded The Eisner Foundation in 1996 and recently focused the foundation on inter-generational solutions. He was born on March 7, 1942 in New York and later attended Lawrenceville School and Denison University. He and Jane have three sons, Breck, Eric and Anders and three daughters-in-law, plus nine grandchildren.- Producer
Ovitz co-founded Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in 1975 and served as its chairman until 1995. He later served as President of the Walt Disney Company from 1995 to 1997. His "package deals" at CAA coupled actors, directors and screenwriters together, allowing the talent greater negotiating power with the studio, transforming the film industry.
Ovitz served as talent agent to Hollywood actors Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Costner, John Belushi, Michael Douglas, Bill Murray, Sylvester Stallone, and many others along with directors Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and more. He helped negotiate Matsushita's acquisition of MCA/Universal as well as Sony's acquisition of Columbia Pictures. His signing of Coca Cola to CAA from McCann-Erikson changed the advertising industry by creating greater competition among non-traditional agencies.- Producer
- Director
- Production Manager
Joe Roth was born on 13 June 1948 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and director, known for The Great Debaters (2007), Maleficent (2014) and Snow White and the Huntsman (2012). He has been married to Irene Oh since 8 April 2006. He was previously married to Donna Roth.- Producer
- Executive
- Tracy Tweed was born on 10 May 1965 in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. She is an actress, known for Johnny Mnemonic (1995), Night Rhythms (1992) and Night Eyes Three (1993).
- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Christine Taylor is an American actress from Allentown, Pennsylvania. She is known for acting in The Brady Bunch film series and for her collaborations with American filmmaker, actor and comedian Ben Stiller. She acted in Zoolander, DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, Zoolander 2 and many more. She has two children with husband Ben Stiller.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Widely regarded as the one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native USA and internationally, James Earl Jones was born on January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi. At an early age, he started to take dramatic lessons to calm himself down. It appeared to work as he has since starred in many films over a 40-year period, beginning with the Stanley Kubrick classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). For several movie fans, he is probably best known for his role as Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy (due to his contribution for the voice of the role, as the man in the Darth Vader suit was David Prowse, whose voice was dubbed because of his British West Country accent). In his brilliant course of memorable performances, among others, he has also appeared on the animated series The Simpsons (1989) three times and played Mufasa both in The Lion King (1994) and The Lion King (2019), while he returned too as the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).- Producer
- Actor
- Composer
American actor Mark Wahlberg is one of a handful of respected entertainers who successfully made the transition from teen pop idol to acclaimed actor. A Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominee for The Departed (2006) who went on to receive positive critical reviews for his performance in The Fighter (2010), Wahlberg also is a solid comedy actor, proven by his starring role in Ted (2012).
Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg was born June 5, 1971 in a poor working class district, Dorchester, of Boston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Alma Elaine (Donnelly), a nurse's aide and clerk, and Donald Edward Wahlberg, a delivery driver. Wahlberg is the youngest of nine children. He is of Swedish (from his paternal grandfather), French-Canadian, English, Irish and Scottish, descent. The large Wahlberg brood didn't have a lot growing up, especially after his parents divorced when he was eleven. The kids crammed into a three-bedroom apartment, none of them having very much privacy. Mark's mother has said that after the divorce, she became very self-absorbed with her own life. She has blamed herself for her son's subsequent problems and delinquency. Wahlberg dropped out of high school at age fourteen (but later got his GED) to pursue a life of petty crime and drugs. He'd spend his days scamming and stealing, working on the odd drug deal before treating himself to the substances.
The young man also had a violent streak - one which was often aimed at minorities. At age sixteen, he was convicted of assault against two Vietnamese men after he had tried to rob them. As a result of his assault conviction, he was sentenced to serve 50 days in prison at Deer Island penitentiary. Whilst there, he began working out to pass time and, when he emerged at the end of his sentence, he had gone from being a scrawny young kid to a buff young man. Wahlberg also credits jail time as being his motivation to improve his lifestyle and leave crime behind him.
Around this time, his older brother Donnie Wahlberg had become an overnight teen idol as a member of the 1980s boy band New Kids on the Block. A precursor to the boy-band craze, the group was dominating the charts and were on top of their game. Mark himself had been an original member of the band but had backed out early on - uncomfortable with the squeaky clean image of the group. Donnie used his connections in the music business to help his little brother secure a recording contract, and soon the world was introduced to Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, with Wahlberg as a bad-boy rapper who danced in his boxers. Despite a lack of singing ability, promoters took to his dance moves and a physique they knew teenage girls would love.
Donnie scripted some easy songs for Mark, who collected a troupe of dancers and a DJ to become his "Funky Bunch" and "Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch" was born. His debut album, "Music for the People", was a smash hit, which was propelled along by the rapper's willingness to disrobe down to boxer-briefs on stage, not to mention several catchy tunes. Teenage girls thrilled to the rapping "bad boy". Record producer David Geffen saw in Wahlberg a cash-cow of marketing ability. After speaking to designer Calvin Klein, Marky Mark was set up as the designer's chief underwear model.
His scantily clad figure soon adorned billboards across the nation. Ironically, while the New Kids on the Block's fame was dwindling as audiences tired of their syrupy lyrics, "Marky Mark's" bad boy image was becoming even more of a commodity. He was constantly in the headlines (often of the tabloids) after multiple scandals. In 1992, he released a book dedicated to his penis. Wahlberg was constantly getting into rumored fights, most memorably with Madonna and her entourage at a Los Angeles party. While things were always intense, they were relatively harmless and made for enjoyable reading for the public. However, when the story of his arrest for assault (and the allegations of racism) broke in the press, things took on a decidedly darker note. People were not amused. Soon after, while on a British talk show along with rapper Shabba Ranks, he got into even more trouble. After Ranks made the statement that gays should be crucified, Wahlberg was accused of condoning the comments by his silence. Marky Mark was suddenly surrounded by charges of brutality, homophobia and racial hatred. His second album, "You Gotta Believe", had not been faring well and, after the charges surfaced, it plummeted from the charts.
Adding to the hoopla, Wahlberg was brought to court for allegedly assaulting a security guard. He was ordered to make amends by appearing in a series of anti-bias advertisements. Humbled and humiliated by his fall from grace in the music world, Wahlberg decided to pursue another angle, acting. He dropped the "Marky Mark" moniker and became known simply as Mark Wahlberg. His first big screen role came in Penny Marshall's Renaissance Man (1994). Despite the name change, many people snickered at the idea of the has-been rapper thinking he could make it as an actor. From the get-go, he was proving them wrong. In Renaissance Man (1994), he gave an utterly charming performance as a simple but sincere army recruit. What naysayers remained found it increasingly difficult to write Mark Wahlberg off as he delivered one fine performance after another. He blew them away in the controversial The Basketball Diaries (1995) and chilled them in Fear (1996) as every father's worst nightmare.
The major turning point in Wahlberg's career came with the role of troubled porn star Dirk Diggler in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997). Since then, Wahlberg has chosen roles that demonstrate a wide range of dramatic ability, starring in critically acclaimed dramas such as Three Kings (1999) and The Perfect Storm (2000), popcorn flicks like Planet of the Apes (2001) and Contraband (2012), and even indies such as I Heart Huckabees (2004).
Wahlberg was the executive producer of such television series as Boardwalk Empire (2010), In Treatment (2008) and the highly successful comedy Entourage (2004), which was partly based on his experiences in Hollywood.
Wahlberg and his wife Rhea Durham have four children.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Minnie Driver was born January 31, 1970 in London and raised in Barbados until she was seven. Her mother, Gaynor Churchward, was a designer and former couture model. Her father, Charles Ronald "Ronnie" Driver, was a businessman. Minnie's mother was her father's mistress while he was still married to his wife. Minnie's sister, Kate Driver, is a manager and producer.
Her breakout role was in the 1995 film Circle of Friends. Minnie then appeared briefly in the James Bond picture Goldeneye. Since then, she has focused on working in a wide tonal range of films. These include several cult classics: Grosse Point Blank, Big Night, and Owning Mahowny; the painted romance of Good Will Hunting (earning an Oscar nomination for best actress in a supporting role); musicals like The Phantom of the Opera; period comedies like the Oscar Wilde classic An Ideal Husband; and Princess Mononoke, the seminal animated Japanese film by Hayao Miyazaki. Minnie has also starred in several family films such as Tarzan, Ella Enchanted, and the 2021 live action Cinderella.
Minnie has a wide-range of television work in place from FX's dark comedy classic The Riches, in which she co-starred with Eddie Izzard, to starring in two network sitcoms including NBC's About A Boy adaptation as well as ABC's Speechless. Both of which ran for several seasons. Minnie also pops up in key guest-starring roles such as her turn as Lorraine Finster on Will & Grace which lasted almost fifteen years and as Cath on the current BBC / HBO comedy Starstruck. Minnie is also starring in the Amazon anthology Modern Love which is on air now (2021).
On September 5, 2008, she gave birth to a boy named Henry Story Driver. She is in a long-term relationship with Addison O'Dea.- Actor
- Producer
- Composer
Donald Edmond "Donnie" Wahlberg Jr. was born on August 17, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts into a family of Swedish (from his paternal grandfather), Irish, and more distant French-Canadian, English, and Scottish, descent. He is the eighth of nine children of Alma Elaine Conroy (née Donnelly), a nurse's aide and clerk & Donald Edward Wahlberg, a delivery driver. His parents eventually divorced and Donnie, finding himself already in trouble, discovered a positive outlet performing in school plays and became involved in varied aspects of theater -- acting, writing, and directing. At 15, he became a member of the teen vocal group originally called NYNUK. Donnie's little brother, Mark Wahlberg was originally one of the Boys but balked at the direction the group was taking and backed out.
A founding member of the boy band "New Kids on the Block," the five teens survived a false start with their debut album and proceeded to hit #1 with the single "Please Don't Go Girl" on their second in 1988. They continued to bombard the market with one-after-another "Top Ten" hits including "The Right Stuff" and "I'll Be Loving You Forever." Leaving the young girls panting for more, they became one of the hottest young singing/line-dancing groups to hit the late 80s/early 90s. The Boys went on to sell over 70 million albums worldwide, and provoke the spawning of other five-member harmony groups such as Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. During its heyday, Donnie played up his resident "bad boy" persona by tallying up several run-ins with the law, including an alleged arson at a Kentucky hotel (charges were dropped). He also delved into "body art" with numerous tattoos and body piercings in an effort to buck their already-cloying image. Amid intergroup dissension and Milli Vanilli-like charges of not contributing all the vocals to their albums, the pop band finally disbanded in 1994 -- partly out of frustration but also having outgrown the group's juvenile moniker.
Unsure of his direction while attracting more trouble in the tabloids, Donnie, who helped write, arrange and produce brother Mark's Funky Bunch group's first two albums a few years earlier, switched gears. He rapped some and modeled some, then transformed himself into an actor, a route taken earlier by his talented bro. While Mark has turned out to become the bigger film star over the years, Donnie has stepped out of his shadows to receive raves and renewed respect for his own tense and compelling character work.
He first showed up in big screen action. Making his debut as a "tough guy" thug in the Mickey Rourke urban outing Bullet (1996), filmed in 1994 but not released until two years later. Usually cast as an amoral heavy, Donnie moved up the quality ladder with director Ron Howard's thriller Ransom (1996) as part of a gang of kidnappers who nab Mel Gibson's son, to their eventual regret, of course. His next repellent took the form of a drug dealer in the goth indie horror Black Circle Boys (1997), but the film came and went. After a couple of TV movies, he finally nabbed a starring role in the film Southie (1998) playing more or less himself as an Irish-American prodigal son who returns to the mean streets of his native Boston. The movie also featured another brother Robert Wahlberg who also was testing the acting waters.
Ironically, one of Donnie's most powerful roles during this period was also one of his briefest. Seen in the opening sequence, he is nearly unrecognizable (having dropped an alarming amount of weight) portraying a deranged former patient of psychiatrist Bruce Willis whose sudden explosion into unfathomable violence sets up the clever twists and turns that turned M. Night Shyamalan's classic psychological thriller The Sixth Sense (1999) into a critically-acclaimed box office hit. Donnie's opening bit was mouth dropping and jarring in its horror. He also proved he wasn't a flash in the pan by backing up this performance with a major role as a WWII paratrooper in the critically-hailed ten-part epic Band of Brothers (2001), which won multiple Emmy awards (6).
This TV role directly led to his casting as a gritty L.A. detective in the NBC dramatic series Boomtown (2002), an acclaimed series that didn't survive a second season. Since then Donnie has patented his unrefined intensity into a number of films such as Triggermen (2002), Dreamcatcher (2003), Saw II (2005), Annapolis (2006), Saw III (2006), Saw IV (2007) and Zookeeper (2011). He has also clocked in lead roles for such roughhewn TV series as Runaway (2006), The Kill Point (2007), Return of the Mac (2017) and, most notably, as detective Danny Reagan in Blue Bloods (2010).
Donny has two sons, Xavier and Elijah, by first wife Kim Fey, and is married to actress/producer/writer Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg. As a former teen heartthrob seemingly headed down a troubled and dangerous path after his initial success, he somehow managed to avoid the traditional pitfalls of drugs and self-destruction, and has since proven himself an actor with "the right stuff." In addition, the "New Kids on the Block" reteamed in 2007 in recording and book tours. The group received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2014.- Moira Harris was born on April 19, 1954 in Pontiac, Illinois. She attended and graduated from Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, (also where John Malkovich attended) and met Gary Sinise during her college years. They have three children: Sophie Sinise, McCanna Anthony Sinise and Ella Sinise. She is the daughter-in-law of Robert L. Sinise. Moira converted to Roman Catholicism in 2000.
- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Jason Reitman is a Canadian filmmaker and producer who notably directed Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Juno, Thank You for Smoking, Up in the Air, Young Adult and Tully. He produced Chloe and Jennifer's Body, two films that advanced Amanda Seyfried's career for adult oriented roles. He is the son of Ivan Reitman, who directed the first two Ghostbusters films and Twins.- Actress
- Director
Geneviève Robert is known for Dave (1993), The Crowd Inside (1971) and Casual Sex? (1988). She was previously married to Ivan Reitman.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Catherine Reitman was born on 28 April 1981 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Workin' Moms (2017), It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005) and Black-ish (2014). She has been married to Philip Sternberg since August 2009. They have two children.- Laura Diebel was born on 12 November 1956 in the USA. She was previously married to Tim Allen.
- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Dan Gilroy was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Frank D. Gilroy, and sculptor and writer Ruth Dorothy. His brother Tony Gilroy is a screenwriter and director; and his fraternal twin brother, John Gilroy, is a film editor. Through his father, he is of Italian, Irish and German descent.
Gilroy wrote the script for 2005 gambling drama Two for the Money (2005), starring Al Pacino and Gilroy's wife Rene Russo. His earliest credit is as co-writer of science fiction thriller Freejack (1992), followed by co-writing Dennis Hopper-directed comedy Chasers. He was also one of the writers to contribute to the unmade Superman film Superman Lives.
He made his directorial debut with the 2014 crime thriller Nightcrawler (2014). He also wrote the screenplay, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Gilroy has been married to Rene Russo since 1992, and they have one daughter, named Rose. They reside in Brentwood, California.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Gary Michael Cole is an American television, film and voice actor. Cole began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. On television, he has had starring roles in the TV series Midnight Caller, American Gothic, The West Wing, Crusade, The Good Wife, The Good Fight, Veep, Chicago Fire, and Mixed. In film, he has appeared in The Brady Bunch Movie, One Hour Photo, Office Space, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Breach, and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. He is also known for voicing the title character on the Adult Swim series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Principal Shepherd on Family Guy, and James Timothy Possible on Kim Possible. As of season 19, Cole joined NCIS, taking over from Mark Harmon, who left the show, as FBI Special Agent, and new head of Gibbs' team, Alden Parker.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Cheryl Howard was born on 23 December 1953 in Glendale, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Splash (1983), A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Ransom (1996). She has been married to Ron Howard since 7 June 1975. They have four children.- Writer
- Producer
- Actress
Gigi Levangie was born on 2 January 1963 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is a writer and producer, known for Stepmom (1998), The Starter Wife (2007) and Trust.- Ed Limato was the last of the great Hollywood talent agents - a breed that dwindled with the loss of Stan Kamen and Irving "Swifty" Lazar. Over the years, Ed Limato's client list read like a who's who of Hollywood royalty and Oscar winners, including Antonio Banderas, Michael Biehn, Nicholas Cage, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, Claire Danes, Geena Davis, Robert Downey, Jr., James Franco, Matthew Fox, Ava Gardner, Mel Gibson, Richard Gere, Melanie Griffith, Goldie Hawn, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Thomas Jane, Frank Langella, Jennifer Lopez, Derek Luke, director Adrian Lyne, Madonna, Steve Martin, Matthew McConaughey, Bette Midler, Liam Neeson, Sam Neill, Nate Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dennis Quaid, Doris Roberts, Diana Ross, Winona Ryder, David Selby, Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, Meryl Streep, Paul Walker, Denzel Washington, and Marlon Brando. To Limato, his clients were less business and more family. He was known to cry when one would leave him for another agent. Instead of family photographs in his living room, he kept exquisitely framed headshots of every actor he ever represented.
Ed Limato was in a class by himself - an iconoclast, as Vanity Fair once called him - a talent agent who glided through Hollywood with poise and panache. He hearkened back to the Golden Age, a time when men were more refined and elegant, as if he were preparing for an evening at the Mocambo. Yet despite his reverence for Hollywood of yore, his client list kept him active and relevant into the 21st century. He was as colorful as he was powerful. Always handsomely coiffed and impeccably dressed, Limato would promenade into the office wearing Italian suits of mustard yellow or salmon pink, rallying to his assistants, "Let's talk to the stars."
Edward Frank Limato was born on July 10, 1936 in Mount Vernon, New York into a middle class Italian-American family. As a young man, he left home and traveled the country, earning money as a disc jockey. Continued restlessness took him to Europe in 1966, where he eventually landed a job on the set of "The Taming of the Shrew" as an assistant to director Franco Zeffirelli. From a very young age, Limato loved movies and movie stars. He seemed obsessed with the business of Hollywood and studied the trades. In a 1990 Vanity Fair article, actor Michael York, who met Limato on the set, said, "I was the first person to tell him he should be an agent. I told him he must obey his destiny and go to the mailroom." With the help of Zeffirelli's agent, Limato returned to New York and took a job in the mailroom at Ashley-Famous Agency, which eventually became International Famous Agency - where he was promoted to junior agent. Later, Ashley-Famous merged with Creative Management Associates to become International Creative Management (ICM). He transferred to ICM's west coast office but was lured away to the William Morris Agency in 1978 by Stan Kamen. He remained there until 1986 when, after a series of secret meetings with ICM CEO Jeff Berg and agent Sam Cohn, he returned to the agency that gave him his start. He stayed there for two decades until trouble brewed.
In 2006, ICM merged with Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann, primarily a TV literary agency. But within a year, the seams at the new agency came apart. Limato claimed both his authority and stature were being undermined by the new regime, which, he alleged, planned on forcing him into a consultant position and early retirement. Limato wanted out of his contract. ICM refused. The dispute was taken to arbitration, where Limato challenged a 3-year non-compete clause, which forbade him to work for another agency. The battle became a publicity nightmare for ICM, as it played out in the national news.
During arbitration, Limato's lawyers argued that his contract dated back to the mid-90s and was bound by an obscure California law known as the "seven year rule," stating that anyone who renders extraordinary or unique services cannot be bound to a contract for more than seven years. On August 13, 2007, the arbitrator found in favor of the agent and against ICM. With Limato a free agent, Variety wrote, ""Ed Limato's arbitration victory over ICM...puts into play not only one of Hollywood's most senior and revered agents but also the most important client list in a generation." Limato was one of the few talent agents who could boast a fistful of clients with salaries of more than 20 million dollars a film plus first dollar gross. Almost immediately, he and his talent list made a return trip to the venerable William Morris Agency, which merged with Endeavor in June 2009 to form WME. Some industry insiders claim that ICM never recovered its movie business after Limato's exit.
When Limato wasn't negotiating deals for the rich and famous, he served on the boards of Abercrombie & Fitch, the LA Conservancy, the American Cinematheque, and the MPTF.
Limato's fame as an agent might have only been eclipsed by his annual Oscar party, a relaxed but star-studded event that was held at his home the Friday before the Academy Awards. Limato reigned supreme over the party in flamboyant regalia and bare feet. The guest list looked like the hall of fame from politics, movies, TV, music, and literature.
When Ed Limato passed away on July 3, 2010 - a few days shy of his 74 birthday - some of his most famous clients remembered him. Richard Gere said, "Ed was my dear friend and agent for 40 years. He was the best of the best. There will never be anyone like him. The mold has been broken. He was probably the most respected agent of our time who loved his clients dearly and would do anything for them." Mel Gibson said, "It's said of agents 'they have no hearts'. Ed was all heart! He was there for me 30 years. I will miss him." Steve Martin said "Ed Limato not only represented important actors in Hollywood, but also represented class and kindness."
Michelle Pfeiffer was 23 when her agent resigned and turned her over to Ed Limato, a name she recognized but a man she'd never met. Limato always envisioned her as the Marilyn Monroe-type, which wasn't quite in line with her thinking. He once called her before an award ceremony and told her that Giorgio Armani wanted to dress her. She responded, "Who's that and why on earth would I need someone to dress me?" "I think it's a good idea," Limato told her. She followed his instructions, but instead of settling on one of Armani's classic beaded gowns, she chose a black dress suit instead. "Poor Ed," she said, "I fell a tad short of the glamour-puss he had envisioned." After playing some character roles, Limato tried to chaperone her back into the glamour parts. He once warned her in his inimitable style, "If you think your public wants to see you in another wig and accent, you're mistaken." She remembers just hanging out in his office while he worked - simply because she felt safe there.
A memorial service was held for Ed Limato in the theater on the lot of Paramount Studios on January 11, 2011. He was eulogized by Mel Gibson, Richard Gere, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Denzel Washington. Washington told the audience that he grew up in the same town as Limato and, coincidentally, lived in a house built by Limato's father.
Sir Elton John eulogized his late friend with the song "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." - Actor
- Soundtrack
Evan Handler was born on 10 January 1961 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for Ransom (1996), Sex and the City (2008) and Californication (2007). He has been married to Elisa Atti since 12 October 2003. They have one child.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Dan Hedaya is a familiar face from his work in films and on TV, where he often plays a villain (although he had a good comic turn as the charmingly sleazy Nick Tortelli, Carla's ex-husband, in Cheers (1982) and its short-lived spin-off The Tortellis (1987)). He has also done much stage work, appearing opposite Alien: Resurrection (1997) star Sigourney Weaver in "The Conjuring an Event" at the American Place Theater. Other stage performances include Broadway roles such as "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel" and many New York Shakespeare Festival productions.- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Liev (pronounced Lee-ev) Schreiber was born in San Francisco. His mother, Heather (Milgram), is a painter, and his father, Tell Schreiber (Tell Carroll Schreiber III), is a theatrical actor who had a small role in The Keeper (1976). His mother is from a working-class Jewish family from Poland and Ukraine, while his father is from an upper-class Protestant family. His parents moved the family to Canada when Liev was one, and divorced when he was five. He and his mother moved to New York, where she drove a cab. During that time, they lived as squatters in abandoned buildings. His mother taught him to read, and she also forbade him from seeing color movies. He grew up seeing silent and black & white movies at a local revival house and particularly enjoyed those of Charles Chaplin. His mother now lives in an ashram in Virginia. He began acting at Hampshire College and continued at the Yale University School of Drama in 1992. He originally wanted to be a playwright, but his teacher encouraged him to become an actor.- Casting Department
- Casting Director
- Actor
Randy Stone was born on 26 August 1958 in Hollywood, California, USA. He was a casting director and actor, known for Final Destination (2000), Say Anything (1989) and Jaws 3-D (1983). He was married to Roslyn Kind. He died on 12 February 2007 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Bryce Dallas Howard was born on March 2, 1981, in Los Angeles, California. She was conceived in Dallas, Texas (the reason for her middle name). Her father, Ron Howard, is a former actor turned Oscar-winning director. Her mother is actress and writer Cheryl Howard (née Alley). Her famous relatives include her uncle, actor Clint Howard, and her grandparents, actors Rance Howard and Jean Speegle Howard. She also has two younger twin sisters, Jocelyn and Paige Howard (also an actress), born in 1985, and a brother, Reed Howard, born in 1987. Her ancestry includes German, English, Scottish, and Irish.
Howard was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, because her parents decided to raise their four children as far away from the trappings of showbiz milieu as possible. During most of her childhood, she really did not have much access to a TV. She attended Greenwich Country Day School, and Byram Hills High School in Armonk, New York. At that time, she discovered existentialism and devoured books by Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. She attended the prestigious Steppenwolf School and Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts camp at Catskills, together with her friend, Natalie Portman. She applied to drama school as Bryce Dallas, dropping her last name to eschew special treatment because of association with her renowned father. From 1999-2003, she studied at the Stella Adler Conservatory and at the New York University Tisch School of Arts and graduated with a BFA degree in Drama in 2003. At that time, she performed in Broadway productions of classical plays by George Bernard Shaw, William Shakespeare and Anton Chekhov.
Young Howard appeared in three of her father's films as an extra, including her appearance as a child together with her mother in Apollo 13 (1995). She made her feature-film debut as Heather, a supporting role in Book of Love (2004) by director Alan Brown. Director M. Night Shyamalan was impressed by her performance in a Broadway play and cast her, without an audition, as a female lead in his two thrillers: The Village (2004) and Lady in the Water (2006). Howard replaced Nicole Kidman in the Dogville (2003) sequel, Manderlay (2005). She starred as Rosalind in As You Like It (2006), a reprise of her stage role that made such an impression on Shyamalan. She also played Gwen Stacy in the third installment of the Spider-Man franchise, Spider-Man 3 (2007), and the female lead, Claire, in the sequel Jurassic World (2015). Both films broke the records for highest openings weekends at the time of their release. Among Bryce's other major films are Terminator Salvation (2009), The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), The Help (2011), and 50/50 (2011).
Howard became a devoted vegan, after Joaquin Phoenix showed her Earthlings (2005), a documentary about animal cruelty. After seeing that, she has consumed no animal products, not even milk or eggs. Her other activities outside of the acting profession include playing basketball and writing.
On June 17, 2006, in Connecticut, she married her long-time boyfriend, actor Seth Gabel, whom she met at New York University and had dated for five years. On February 16, 2007, Bryce and her husband, Seth, became parents of their first child, a son named Theodore Norman Howard Gabel. Their second child, a daughter named Beatrice Jean Howard Gabel, was born on January 19, 2012.- Producer
- Actress
- Director
Deborah Kaye Allen was born in Houston, Texas, to African-American parents, Vivian Elizabeth (Ayers), a poet and art director, and Andrew Arthur Allen, an orthodontist. As a child, Debbie, her older brother, Andrew (called Tex), and her older sister, actress Phylicia Rashad, lived in Mexico to escape US racism. Their mother decided to live there to give the Allen children a brief experience of not having to endure the chronic racism and segregation that was typical of Texas during the 1950s. Debbie and Phylicia are fluent in Spanish.
Debbie graduated from Jack Yates Senior High School in Houston, TX in 1967. She graduated cum laude from Howard University in 1971 with a BFA in Classical Greek Literature, Speech, and Theater from Howard University. She used her experiences from attending Historically Black College Howard to inform her production and direction of the TV show A Different World (1987).
Although her parents divorced, Debbie remained extremely close to her father until his death. With Phylicia she has production company "D.A.D." which stood for "Doctor Allen's Daughters". Her Pulitzer-nominated poet mother Vivian is, the artistic and free spirit that has influenced and encouraged the remarkable creativity that so marks Allen as a performer.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Kirstie Louise Alley was an American actress. Her breakout role was as Rebecca Howe in the NBC sitcom Cheers (1987-1993), receiving an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe in 1991 for the role. From 1997 to 2000, she starred in the sitcom Veronica's Closet, earning additional Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Margaret Cho was born on December 5, 1968 in San Francisco. Her grandfather was a Methodist minister who ran an orphanage in Seoul during the Korean War. Ignoring the traditions of her patriarchal culture, her mother bravely resisted an arranged marriage in Korea & married Margaret's father, who writes joke books in Korean.
What she did know is that she didn't love being a kid. Racing toward adulthood to escape bullying, she began writing jokes for stand up at 14 & professionally performing at 16. Getting picked on & feeling disenfranchised's a subject that's very near to her heart. She has become a sort of patron saint for outsiders, speaking for them when they are not able to speak for themselves.
Soon after starting her career, she won a comedy contest where first prize was opening for Jerry Seinfeld. She moved to Los Angeles in the early '90s & hit the college circuit, where she immediately became the most booked act in the market, garnering a nomination for Campus Comedian of The Year. She performed over 300 concerts within 2 years. Arsenio Hall introduced her to late night audiences, Bob Hope put her on a prime time special & seemingly overnight, she became a national celebrity.
Her groundbreaking, controversial & short-lived ABC sitcom All-American Girl soon followed. Oddly, while chosen because of who she was-a non-conformist Korean-American woman w/ liberal views-the network decided it wanted her to tone it down for the show. Challenging her feelings for both who she was & how she looked, she soon realized that though she was an executive producer, it was a battle she wouldn't win.
The experience was a traumatic one, bringing up unresolved feelings left over from childhood. She developed an eating disorder as a response to criticism about her body. She was so obsessive in her goal to try to be what she thought others wanted, she landed in the hospital w/ kidney failure. Throughout a period of self-abuse, she continued performing to sold-out audiences across the country in comedy clubs, theaters & on college campuses, working to channel her anger in to something more positive.
In 1999, her groundbreaking, off-Broadway one-woman show, I'm The One That I Want, garnered national acclaim. It was made into a best-selling book & feature film. After her experience w/ All-American Girl, she wanted to make sure she would only have to answer to herself, making sure she was responsible for the distribution & sales of her film, taking a page from what music artist Ani DiFranco did w/ her Righteous Babe Records. The concert film, which garnered incredible reviews, broke records for most money grossed per print in movie history. In 2001, after the success of her first tour, she launched Notorious C.H.O., a smash-hit 37-city national tour that culminated in a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall. It was recorded & released as a feature film, hailed by the New York Times as "Brilliant!" Both films were acquired by Showtime Cable Networks & produced by her production company, a testament to the success of her bold business model.
In March of 2003, she embarked on her third sold-out national tour, Revolution. It was heralded by the Chicago Sun Times as "Her strongest show yet!" The CD recording was nominated for a Grammy for Comedy Album of the Year. In 2005, she released Assassin, which The Chicago Tribune crowed "Packs passion in to each punch." The concert film premiered in select theaters as well as on the gay & lesbian premium channel Here! TV in late 2005.
In 2007, she hit the road w/ Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Harry & Erasure, along w/ indie faves The Dresden Dolls & The Cliks, to host the True Colors Tour, benefiting the Human Rights Campaign. A true entertainment pioneer, she also created & starred in The Sensuous Woman, a live variety show featuring vaudevillian burlesque & comedy, which she took for an extended off-Broadway run that fall.
She returned to TV in 2008 on the VH1 series, The Cho Show. It followed her, her real parents & her eccentric entourage through a series of irreverent & outrageous experiences shaped by her 'anything goes' brand of stand-up. It was beloved for the audience it was intended for, the ones who maybe don't quite fit in.
The aptly titled Beautiful came next, exploring the good, bad & ugly in beauty as well as the unattractive politicians & marketers who shape our world. The concert premiered in Australia at The Sydney Theater, marking the first time she debuted a tour abroad. While touring through the U.S., the concert was filmed at the Long Beach theater, aired as a special on Showtime in 2009, then released as both a DVD & a book.
In 2009, she nabbed a starring role in the comedy/drama series Drop Dead Diva, which aired on Lifetime. She enjoys being part of a team, not necessarily having the sole responsibility for keeping things afloat.
Never one to shy away from a challenge, she stepped right up to the proverbial plate when asked to do Season 11 of Dancing with the Stars. Paired w/ pro Louie Van Amstel, she was on 1 of the show's most controversial seasons, dancing alongside Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, David Hasselhoff, Jennifer Grey & Bristol Palin among others.
She got a very strong reaction to her Rainbow Dancing Dress during a time when the issue of bullying, especially among gay teens, was all over the media.
2010 culminated w/ another high honor, a second Grammy Award nomination for Comedy Album of the Year for Cho Dependent, her collection of music featuring collaborations w/ Fiona Apple, Andrew Bird, Grant Lee Phillips, Tegan & Sara, Ben Lee & more. The album received critical acclaim.
She self released Cho Dependent on her own Clownery Records & was encouraged by the acclaim, as there were only a handful of people putting out albums of comedy music-"Weird" Al Yankovic, Flight of the Conchords, The Lonely Island, to name a few-but no women. While thrilled that her hard work was rewarded w/ the nomination, she wasn't finished w/musical comedy yet, claiming to have more music in her.
In 2011, she released the live concert film of Cho Dependent, which also had its cable network debut on Showtime. Audiences who caught these performances live can attest that she hasn't lost any of her edge on Cho Dependent, her sixth live concert DVD. Shot at the Tabernacle in Atlanta. She remains uncensored, but never unhinged: taking aim at the Palin family, appearing on Dancing w/ the Stars, smoking pot & living in a world w/ sexting' The DVD's no-holds-barred Margaret & instantly a classic.
She then filmed the sixth & final season on Drop Dead Diva. She returned as "Teri" Girl Friday to Brooke Elliott's Jane Bingham, whose body's inhabited by the soul of a vapid model sent back to earth after Heaven judges her as a zero-zero for having committed no good & no bad deeds. Drop Dead Diva's not only beloved on Lifetime, but by the many stars who have lined up to guest on the show such as Paula Abdul, Wanda Sykes, Rosie O'Donnell, Vivica Fox & Kim Kardashian.
Not one to rest on her laurels, she spent whatever free time she had crafting her all new stand-up show Mother, which kicked off in September 2012, including both a U.S. & European tour.
Paradox not lost, she re-scheduled some of the shows she had booked mid-September so she could attend the Emmy Awards w/ her mother, having been nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her stint on 30 Rock as gender-bending North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.
In 2014, she filmed a pilot for FOX & was thrilled to work w/Tina Fey as well as the producing team from 30 Rock. The multi-camera comedy takes place at a women's college that had just opened its doors to men for the first time.
While thrilled w/ her 2 Grammy & recent Emmy nomination, she has never turned away from the causes that are important to her. She's active in anti-racism, anti-bullying & gay rights campaign. She has been recognized for her unwavering dedication, receiving the Victory Fund's 2008 Leadership Award & the first ever Best Comedy Performance Award at the 2007 Asian Excellence Awards. She also received the First Amendment Award from the ACLU of Southern California & the Intrepid Award from the National Organization for Women (NOW). Throughout her career, she has been honored by GLAAD, American Women in Radio & Television, the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund (AALDEF) & PFLAG for making a significant difference in promoting equal rights for all, regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender identity. In June 2011, she was honored by L.A. Pride w/ a Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing an individual whose lifetime body of work has left a lasting major imprint on the LGBT community.
Through her hard work, she has had the opportunity to be heard, to extend her point of view & become regarded as a true pioneer in her field. She takes none of it for granted.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Roy Edward Disney began working for the Walt Disney Company as an assistant film editor on the True-Life Adventure film in 1954. In 1967, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the company. In 1984, he returned to the company as vice chairman of the board, and head of the animation department. On October 16, 1998, in a surprise presentation made at the newly unveiled Disney Legends Plaza at the company's headquarters, Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner presented him with the prestigious Disney Legends Award.- Actor
- Producer
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George Foreman was boxing's most feared fighter from 1973-1974. Undefeated in 40 straight fights, 37 by knockout, he was on a 24 consecutive knockout run when he faced Muhammad Ali on October 30, 1974 in defense of his world heavyweight title in Zaire, Africa. A product of a poor family, Foreman was in constant trouble with the law. He credits the Job Corp with turning his life around. Started boxing as an amateur and, in less than three years, captured a gold medal in the 1968 Olympic Games. Lost only 2 out of 24 amateur fights. Turned pro under the guidance of veteran trainer Dick Saddler. Foreman was a stablemate of former heavyweight king Charles "Sonny" Liston and Charlie Snips. Foreman idolized Liston and copied his ring style and mannerisms. Foreman used a piercing stare to intimated his opponents ala Liston. He was criticized for beating second rate opponents, yet had scored victories over credible fighters like George Chuvallo, Boone Kirkman and Gregorio Peralta. Destroyed undefeated Joe Frazier in two brutal rounds to capture the world title in 1973; Frazier was knocked down six times. Destroyed Jose "King" Roman in one round and Ken Norton in two rounds to retain his title. Foreman was knocked out by 3-1 underdog Muhammad Ali in 8 rounds. Foreman fought 5 men in one night in a 1975 exhibition. Won five straight knockouts on the comeback trail before being decked and decision-ed by Jimmy Young in Puerto Rico in 1977. Foreman claimed to have seen God in his dressing room following the defeat and announced he was going to become a preacher and retire from boxing. Preached for 10 years and blew up to 300 pounds. Decided to return to the ring to raise money for his church; experts laughed, but Foreman racked up 18 straight knockout victories. He was defeated in a title bid by Evander Holyfield but, a few years later, shocked the world by knocking out undefeated World Heavyweight Champion Michael Moorer (36-0) to become champion again at 45. Made a few successful defenses before losing his title by a controversial decision to Shannon Briggs.- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in Concord, California, to Janet Marylyn (Frager), a hospital worker, and Amos Mefford Hanks, an itinerant cook. His mother's family, originally surnamed "Fraga", was entirely Portuguese, while his father was of mostly English ancestry. Tom grew up in what he has called a "fractured" family. He moved around a great deal after his parents' divorce, living with a succession of step-families. No problems, no alcoholism - just a confused childhood. He has no acting experience in college and credits the fact that he could not get cast in a college play with actually starting his career. He went downtown, and auditioned for a community theater play, was invited by the director of that play to go to Cleveland, and there his acting career started.
Ron Howard was working on Splash (1983), a fantasy-comedy about a mermaid who falls in love with a business executive. Howard considered Hanks for the role of the main character's wisecracking brother, which eventually went to John Candy. Instead, Hanks landed the lead role and the film went on to become a surprise box office success, grossing more than $69 million. After several flops and a moderate success with the comedy Dragnet (1987), Hanks' stature in the film industry rose. The broad success with the fantasy-comedy Big (1988) established him as a major Hollywood talent, both as a box office draw and within the film industry as an actor. For his performance in the film, Hanks earned his first Academy Award nomination as Best Actor.
Hanks climbed back to the top again with his portrayal of a washed-up baseball legend turned manager in A League of Their Own (1992). Hanks has stated that his acting in earlier roles was not great, but that he subsequently improved. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Hanks noted his "modern era of movie making ... because enough self-discovery has gone on ... My work has become less pretentiously fake and over the top". This "modern era" began for Hanks, first with Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and then with Philadelphia (1993). The former was a blockbuster success about a widower who finds true love over the radio airwaves. Richard Schickel of Time magazine called his performance "charming", and most critics agreed that Hanks' portrayal ensured him a place among the premier romantic-comedy stars of his generation.
In Philadelphia, he played a gay lawyer with AIDS who sues his firm for discrimination. Hanks lost 35 pounds and thinned his hair in order to appear sickly for the role. In a review for People, Leah Rozen stated, "Above all, credit for Philadelphia's success belongs to Hanks, who makes sure that he plays a character, not a saint. He is flat-out terrific, giving a deeply felt, carefully nuanced performance that deserves an Oscar." Hanks won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia. During his acceptance speech, he revealed that his high school drama teacher Rawley Farnsworth and former classmate John Gilkerson, two people with whom he was close, were gay.
Hanks followed Philadelphia with the blockbuster Forrest Gump (1994) which grossed a worldwide total of over $600 million at the box office. Hanks remarked: "When I read the script for Gump, I saw it as one of those kind of grand, hopeful movies that the audience can go to and feel ... some hope for their lot and their position in life ... I got that from the movies a hundred million times when I was a kid. I still do." Hanks won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his role in Forrest Gump, becoming only the second actor to have accomplished the feat of winning consecutive Best Actor Oscars.
Hanks' next role - astronaut and commander Jim Lovell, in the docudrama Apollo 13 (1995) - reunited him with Ron Howard. Critics generally applauded the film and the performances of the entire cast, which included actors Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan. The movie also earned nine Academy Award nominations, winning two. Later that year, Hanks starred in Disney/Pixar's computer-animated film Toy Story (1995), as the voice of Sheriff Woody. A year later, he made his directing debut with the musical comedy That Thing You Do! (1996) about the rise and fall of a 1960s pop group, also playing the role of a music producer.
As of 2022, Hanks is 66-years-old. He has never retired from acting, and has remained active in the film industry for more than four decades.- Producer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Hugh Hefner was born on 9 April 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a producer and actor, known for Miss March (2009), Hop (2011) and Beverly Hills Cop II (1987). He was married to Crystal Hefner, Kimberley Conrad and Mildred Williams. He died on 27 September 2017 in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
William Martin Joel is an American singer, pianist, composer and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his single and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since the 1970s, having released 12 pop and rock studio albums from 1971 to 1993 as well as one studio album of classical compositions in 2001. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, as well as the seventh-best-selling recording artist and the fourth-best-selling solo artist in the United States, with over 160 million records sold worldwide. His 1985 compilation album, Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2, is one of the best-selling albums in the United States.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Music Department
Sir Elton John is one of pop music's great survivors. Born 25 March, 1947, as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, he started to play the piano at the early age of four. At the age of 11, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. His first band was called Bluesology. He later auditioned (unsuccessfully) as lead singer for the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Gentle Giant. Dwight teamed up with lyricist Bernie Taupin and changed his name to Elton John (merging the names of saxophonist Elton Dean and Long John Baldry). The duo wrote songs for Lulu and Roger Cook. In the early 1970s, he recorded the concept album "Tumbleweed Connection." He became the most successful pop artist of the 1970s, and he has survived many different pop fads including punk, the New Romantics and Britpop to remain one of Britain's most internationally acclaimed musicians.
Elton John announced he was a bisexual in 1976, and in 1984, he married Renate Blauel. The marriage lasted four years before he finally came to terms with the fact that he was actually homosexual. In the 1970s and 1980s, he suffered from drug and alcohol addiction and bulimia but came through it. He is well known as a campaigner for AIDS research and he keeps his finger on the pulse of modern music, enjoying artists such as Eminem, Radiohead, Coldplay and Robbie Williams. He was knighted in 1997.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Art Linkletter was born on 17 July 1912 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. He was an actor and producer, known for Champagne for Caesar (1950), Philippine Adventure (1964) and The Jack Benny Program (1950). He was married to Lois Marguerite Foerster. He died on 26 May 2010 in Bel-Air, California, USA.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
In a career spanning more than four decades, James MacArthur developed a body of work which is wonderfully dynamic in both scope and range. Portraying everything from crazed killer to stalwart defender of law and order, frustrated teenager to cynical senior supervisor, he has appeared in numerous films, television programs, and stage productions since his career officially began back in 1955. Although he had been performing in parts during summer stock productions since 1949, making his stage debut in "The Corn Is Green", his real acting career did not begin until he starred as the complex and misunderstood teenager in John Frankenheimer's "Deal a Blow". Broadcast live on the Climax! (1954) television anthology series, the program told the story of "Hal Ditmar", a relatively ordinary youngster on the verge of manhood who finds himself caught up in a snowballing world of trouble with his parents, the law, and virtually everyone in authority after a minor infraction of the rules at a movie theater. The story was so well-crafted and MacArthur's performance so compelling that a year later it was remade by Frankenheimer into his first theatrical release, The Young Stranger (1957). The movie received much critical acclaim and earned its star a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Film Award nomination as Most Promising Newcomer (1958) and won a film festival in Switzerland. Next up was the Disney movie of Conrad Richter's novel, The Light in the Forest (1958). Set in the late 18th century in the burgeoning United States, it told the tale of a young man who had been kidnapped by Indians as a baby and raised as the son of a chief. A respected and accepted member of the tribe, the boy, known as "True Son", is ripped away from the only life he has ever known and forced to return to his biological parents due to a treaty signed by people of whom he has no knowledge and who cannot possibly have any interest in his individual welfare. His subsequent struggles to find out exactly where he fits in and to gain the trust and sanction of his new community are told in a way which is as wrenching and relevant to today's society as it was then. The corollaries between this story and the custody battles which seem to occur with alarming frequency in our own time are strong and thought provoking. It seems the question regarding when in a child's life his biological parentage begins to be outweighed by the environment in which he is being raised is one which has yet to be answered. The depth with which MacArthur imbued the role makes his performance both truthful and unforgettable. Before its release in theaters, The Light in the Forest (1958) was preceded by three more appearances in live teleplays, including another outstanding performance in the Studio One (1948) production of "Tongues of Angels" as "Ben Adams", a young man with a devastating stuttering problem who pretends to be a deaf/mute in order to hide his infirmity. A string of meaty roles quickly followed, including the Disney classic films Kidnapped (1960), Third Man on the Mountain (1959) and Swiss Family Robinson (1960); television programs such as The Untouchables (1959), Bus Stop (1961) and Wagon Train (1957); and two more live teleplays. As sociopathic killer and racketeer "Johnny Lubin" in The Untouchables (1959) episode "Death for Sale", MacArthur for the first time portrayed an unsympathetic character. The heart-stopping realism of his performance provided definitive proof of his abilities as a multifaceted and talented actor. In what he described in one interview as his first "mature" role, he then appeared as a doctor-in-the-making in The Interns (1962), turning in a fine performance as a somewhat naive young man who grows up rather quickly when presented with several tough choices and life-defining situations. After that came more television, the underrated yet stirring film, Cry of Battle (1963), and Spencer's Mountain (1963), the highly successful precursor to the popular television series The Waltons (1972). Once again, in both films, MacArthur played young men whose lives are changed by circumstances beyond their control and who must dig deep within themselves to find the inner strength and fortitude to deal with those events. Having by now amassed an impressive list of film and television credits in addition to stage performances on Broadway and other venues, MacArthur then turned to the pivotal role of "Ensign Ralston" in the tense and nerve-wracking Cold War yarn, The Bedford Incident (1965). His performance as the eager to-please and earnest young officer carried a subtlety and intensity hard to believe of someone not yet thirty years old. The role of "William Ashton" in the light-hearted romance, The Truth About Spring (1965) came next, almost immediately followed by yet another coming-of-age performance as "Lt. Weaver" in the blockbuster WWII saga, Battle of the Bulge (1965). Westerns and war dramas predominated the next phase of MacArthur's career with appearances in television programs such as Branded (1965), 12 O'Clock High (1964), Gunsmoke (1955), Combat! (1962), Hondo (1967), Bonanza (1959), and Death Valley Days (1952), in addition to the films Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966), "Mosby's Marauders" (1966) and Hang 'Em High (1968). It was his appearance in this last movie that would ultimately lead him into the role of "Dan Williams" on Hawaii Five-O (1968). When Leonard Freeman found himself looking for a replacement to play the complex sidekick to Jack Lord's powerful "Steve McGarrett", he went looking for the young actor he remembered from just two or three days' work on his low-budget spaghetti Western. The juxtaposition of MacArthur's still-boyish good looks with his ability to bring a convincing toughness and sincerity to the role made him one of the best-remembered and well-admired actors of 1960s and 1970s popular television. Even today, more than twenty years after the program stopped production, it is broadcast in syndication in markets all over the world. Its "Book 'im, Danno" catchphrase is still as much a part of our popular culture as that famed line from another show of the same era: "Beam me up, Scotty". Departing "Five-O" prior to its 12th and final season, MacArthur's appearances became less frequent, yet still memorable. He was featured in such popular television shows as The Love Boat (1977), Vega$ (1978), Fantasy Island (1977), and Murder, She Wrote (1984) and starred in two made-for-television movies: Irwin Allen's The Night the Bridge Fell Down (1980) and Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story (1980). His poignant portrayal of hapless "Walt Stomer" in the latter provided a fine example that his skills as an actor had not waned in the 25 years since that first television appearance. He concentrated on the stage for a while then, performing in productions such as "Arsenic and Old Lace", "A Bedfull of Foreigners" and "Love Letters", as well as the occasional live appearance at charity and celebrity sporting events. In 1998, after nearly a decade away from television screens, he took up the role of "Frank Del Rio" in the Family Channel movie Storm Chasers: Revenge of the Twister (1998). With the new century, MacArthur returned to a more active professional schedule, continuing to make a number of personal appearances to sign autographs and greet fans, as well as several speaking engagements such as northeast Ohio's "One Book, Two Counties: An Evening With James MacArthur", The Cinema Audio Society Annual Awards Banquet and AdventureCon in Knoxville, Tennessee. In addition, he has been featured in several television specials and interview programs, including Emme & Friends, Entertainment Tonight (1981), Inside TVLand, and Christopher Closeup. The increasing popularity of the DVD market has seen the re-release of Swiss Family Robinson (1960) with a new behind-the-scenes documentary narrated by MacArthur and a lengthy on-screen interview covering many aspects of his career. Planned for re-release in July 2003, the 1956 version of Anastasia (1956) is expected to include an on-screen interview with MacArthur discussing his mother, Helen Hayes, and her work in that movie. April 2003 marked his return to the stage as "Father Madison" in Joe Moore's original play Dirty Laundry. On 6 November 2003, the Hawaii International Film Festival chose James MacArthur and Hawaii Five-O (1968) as the recipient of their annual "Film in Hawaii" award, an honor both well-deserved and especially significant, coming as it did from the people and the State of Hawaii. Plans were being made to feature MacArthur in a new television series set in the Hawaiian Islands, though nothing more definitive had ever been arranged.- Actor
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Cheech Marin was born on 13 July 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Born in East L.A. (1987), Tin Cup (1996) and Up in Smoke (1978). He has been married to Natasha Rubin since 8 August 2009. He was previously married to Rikki Marin and Patti Heid.- Actor
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Ed McMahon's first appearance before a microphone was as a 15-year-old "caller" at a bingo game in Maine. After that, he spent the next three years touring the state fair and carnival circuit. A Marine fighter pilot during World War II, McMahon sold vegetable slicers on Atlantic City's boardwalk to put himself through Catholic University in Washington, DC. In the 1950s, he hosted a late-night interview show in Philadelphia before working as a clown on the show Big Top (1950). His next assignment was as a fighter pilot during the Korean War. After that, he resumed his career in television. In 1959, he was hired as Johnny Carson's straight man on the daytime quiz show Who Do You Trust? (1956). When Carson succeeded Jack Paar on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar (1957), which became The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), he took McMahon with him. This job lasted for 30 years and made McMahon wealthy and famous. On the big screen, he played straight roles in the dramatic The Incident (1967) -- for which he got very good reviews -- and in the comic Fun with Dick and Jane (1977). He also appeared in made-for-TV movies and hosted daytime game shows in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s, McMahon teamed with Dick Clark on Super Bloopers and Practical Jokes (1984) and hosted his own long-running talent show, Star Search (1983). He also made commercial appearances for a multitude of products. In 1994, he was cast as himself in Love Affair (1994) with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening.- Writer
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Dennis Miller was born on 3 November 1953 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Net (1995), Joe Dirt (2001) and Murder at 1600 (1997). He has been married to Ali Espley since 10 April 1988. They have two children.- Actress
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Born Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills in London in 1946, she is the daughter of the great actor Sir John Mills and the well-known novelist-playwright Mary Hayley Bell. Her sister is the actress Juliet Mills. She grew up in her parents' home, an outgoing, funny child, and, because she spent so much time with her parents and their friends, very intelligent. When she went to boarding school at age nine, however, she became very shy around kids her own age. She found solace in theater productions at her school. She was noticed playing at her parent's home in 1958 by director J. Lee Thompson, who immediately cast her opposite her father in the thriller Tiger Bay (1959). Her debut performance turned heads around the world, from Germany, where she won an award at the Berlin Film Festival, to Hollywood, when Walt Disney came knocking at her door. He signed her to a five-year contract. For her first film for the studio, Pollyanna (1960), she won critical raves, box-office success, and a special Juvenile Academy Award. Her second Disney film, The Parent Trap (1961), in which she played twins, was even more popular. She continued to appear in routine Disney films like In Search of the Castaways (1962) and Summer Magic (1963), as well as films outside the studio like Whistle Down the Wind (1961), based on her mother's novel, and The Chalk Garden (1964), again co-starring with her father. Though Disney gave her a somewhat more adult role in the mystery film The Moon-Spinners (1964), she had begun to tire of her sunny, innocent Pollyanna image. After completing That Darn Cat! (1965), she left the studio for good. That Darn Cat! (1965) was still a success, as was her first post-Disney film, Columbia's The Trouble with Angels (1966). Then, she shocked her fans by appearing in the comedy The Family Way (1966) with her father. There was an even bigger surprise in store when she fell in love with the film's director, Roy Boulting, who was 33 years her senior. She lived with Boulting for five years after he divorced his wife. They married in 1971 and had a son, Crispian Mills, in 1973. By this time, he'd taken control of her career, and, as a result, she made many bad film choices that left critics and audiences cold. By 1975, her film career had pretty much tanked. She separated from Boulting that year and moved in with actor Leigh Lawson, with whom she had a son, Jason, in 1976. They split up in 1984. She appeared in three TV-movie sequels to The Parent Trap (1961) in the 1980s, and also appeared in the BBC miniseries The Flame Trees of Thika (1981) and the TV series Good Morning, Miss Bliss (1987), later re-titled Saved by the Bell (1989). She hasn't done much film work in several years, preferring to concentrate on her burgeoning career in theater. Her greatest success in theater, so far, has been the role of Anna in "The King and I", which she has played in many touring stage productions throughout the 1990s.- Actor
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A former college athlete at the University of Texas, Fess studied drama in the early fifties and debuted in Springfield Rifle (1952). He made only a handful of movies until he was signed by Walt Disney to star in the "Davy Crockett" series. When Walt was looking for an actor to play the part of Davy, he screened the sci-fi movie Them! (1954) with James Arness. When he saw Fess in a scene, he chose him over Arness and Fess became an instant celebrity when "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier" debuted in 1955. His appeal with children was enormous with the coon-skinned hat, the #1 hit song "The Ballad Of Davy Crockett", The Davy Crockett Bubble Gum Cards and Comic Books. But the craze ended almost as fast as it started in 1956, and Fess was typecast. Fess appeared in other Disney movies dealing with the early years of Davey and also in non-Crockett parts such as Old Yeller (1957). By 1959, unable to achieve the success that he had gained as Crockett, his career had leveled off. He made guest appearances on a number of television shows, but his attempted return to television in the series Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1962) was not successful. Unable to procure the rights to play Crockett from Disney, Fess tried the frontiersman role once again with the TV series Daniel Boone (1964). He played this role for six years and the fact that he had a beautiful red-headed wife in a color series did not hurt him at all. After Daniel Boone (1964), Fess retired from the screen and went into real estate, which was profitable. He was later forced to sue his "Daniel Boone" producers over the profits generated by the series.- Actress
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Priscilla Presley's stepfather was an Air Force officer stationed in West Germany when as a teenager she met Elvis Presley in 1959, then four years into his meteoric career in rock and roll and serving with the U.S. Armed Forces. After an eight year courtship, she married him on 1 May 1967. As their marriage was winding down, she began studying karate and acting. After his death she went into business and began work in movies and TV, notably playing the part of Jenna Wade (1983-88) in the very successful series Dallas (1978). She more recently established herself as Jane Spencer in the "Naked Gun" (The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)) movies.- Actor
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Immortalized as Cosmo Kramer on the classic sitcom Seinfeld (1989), West Coast comedy star Michael Richards was born on July 24, 1949, and raised in South Los Angeles, California, to Phyllis (Nardozzi), an Italian-American medical records librarian, and William Richards, an electrical engineer. Michael displayed an early talent for performance as a top Forensic League competitor during grade school. He went on to star in multiple high school and college productions while working as an ambulance attendant and hospital orderly. Michael trained as a medic in the US Army during the Vietnam War, was appointed writer and director of plays on drug abuse and race relations for the Army's V-Corp Training Roadshow. He attended the California Institute of the Arts and was mentored by famed performance art guru Allan Kaprow. He graduated from Evergreen State College in Washington with his BFA in drama.
After first performing with the San Diego Repertory Company, he subsequently returned to L.A. where he was discovered by Budd Friedman, founder of the Improv comedy club and talent manager Charles H. Joffe. Also a trained theater actor under the tutelage of Stella Adler, Michael starred in regional productions, Off-Broadway, and in London's West End. In addition to his comedic roles, Michael performed regularly in comedy clubs during the late 1970s and 1980s while driving a school bus by day.
Inspired by the physical comedy of such legends as Charles Chaplin and Jacques Tati, he paid his dues on the comedy circuit until comedian Billy Crystal noticed him and gave him a break on one of his comedy specials. Michael earned a regular spot on the sketch comedy series Fridays (1980), where he created the character of Battle Boy who liked to blow up army soldiers. He also appeared in such minor slapstick films such as Young Doctors in Love (1982) and Transylvania 6-5000 (1985).
Michael worked regularly as a dramatic "heavy" in television throughout the 1980s in shows such as "Miami Vice," "St. Elsewhere," and "Hill Street Blues." Following a recurring role on the offbeat comedy series Marblehead Manor (1987), everything finally came together for the elastic-faced comedian in 1989, after being cast as Cosmo Kramer, Jerry Seinfeld's wired, convulsive, frizzy-mopped neighbor and pal on Seinfeld (1989). The frenzied character earned him three Emmy awards, SAG awards, and instant cult status. He followed this success with his own short-lived series, the comedy mystery as a private investigator in The Michael Richards Show (2000) and the role of Micawber in a TV version of David Copperfield (2000).
Subsequent film credits include the cult classic UHF (1989), Problem Child (1990), Airheads (1994), Unstrung Heroes (1995) and Trial and Error (1997), a top-billed comedy role. TV work into the millennium has been very sporadic; however, he appeared as himself in several episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000), and played a regular role in Kirstie Alley's brief comedy series Kirstie (2013) with fellow TV comedy veteran and Rhea Perlman. He also made an isolated film appearance in the romantic comedy Faith, Hope & Love (2019).- Actor
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James Albert Varney, Jr. was born in Lexington, Kentucky, to Nancy Louise (Howard) and James Albert Varney, Sr. He became interested in theater as a teenager, winning state titles in drama competitions while a student at Lafayette High School in Lexington, Kentucky. At age 15 he played Ebeneezer Scrooge in a local children's theater production of "A Christmas Carol", and by 17 was performing professionally in nightclubs and coffee houses. He chose Nashville rather than New York or Los Angeles as a place to pursue his acting career and, with advertising executive John R. Cherry III, turned "Ernest P. Worrell" into a cash cow, making commercials for clients ranging from soft drinks to food stores and, eventually, Disney. Even though Ernest's catchphrase "KnowhutImean?" became a national craze almost immediately, Jim worked in TV and film for more than a decade before his famous alter-ego hit the big screen in Ernest Goes to Camp (1987).- Make-Up Department
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Stan Winston was born on 7 April 1946 in Richmond, Virginia, USA. He is known for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Jurassic Park (1993) and Aliens (1986). He was married to Karen Winston. He died on 15 June 2008 in Malibu, California, USA.- Actress
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Brett Butler (born January 30, 1958) is an American actress, writer, and stand-up comedian. She played the title role in the comedy series Grace Under Fire.
Butler was born Brett Anderson in Montgomery, Alabama, the eldest of five sisters. Before experiencing success as a stand-up comic, she worked as a cocktail waitress.
One of the first notable appearances for Butler was on Dolly Parton's ill-fated 1987 variety series, Dolly. Parton hired Butler as a writer for the remainder of the show's season, but the series was subsequently canceled after one season of lackluster ratings.
She was the star of the ABC television show Grace Under Fire from 1993 to 1998. During the show, she battled a recurring drug addiction and spent time in rehab.
Butler published her memoirs, titled Knee Deep in Paradise, in 1996. The book was started before attaining her celebrity status, and candidly addresses much of this time frame, ending the autobiography before Grace Under Fire's television debut.
In February 1998, due to her erratic behavior stemming from substance abuse, she was dismissed from the show and ABC canceled the series.
After Grace was canceled in 1998, Butler moved out of Los Angeles and onto a farm in Georgia where she lived with 15 pets. In 2008, Butler headlined at an arts fundraiser and spoke freely with a reporter about her depression, past drug addiction, television work, and current life on a farm. She also expressed interest in writing another book.
In October 2011, Butler appeared on The Rosie Show and reported being sober since 1998. A 2011 Hollywood Reporter article said that when the money ran out, she turned to a homeless shelter for cover. By this time Butler was attempting to make a career comeback, and was working on developing a reality TV show about her self-professed psychic abilities and performing at the Downtown Comedy Club in Los Angeles.
Beginning in June 2012, Butler appeared in a recurring role on the CBS soap The Young and the Restless playing ex-psychiatrist Tim Reid's girlfriend.
Butler also had a recurring role as the bartender at the restaurant that Charlie Goodson frequents in the FX show Anger Management starring Charlie Sheen.- Producer
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Dick Clark was born and raised in Mount Vernon, New York on November 30, 1929, to Julia Fuller (Barnard) and Richard Augustus Clark. He had one older brother, Bradley, who was killed in World War II. At the age of 16, Clark got his first job in the mailroom of WRUN, a radio station in Utica, New York, which was owned by his uncle and managed by his father. He worked his way up the ranks and was promoted to weatherman before becoming a radio announcer. After graduating from Syracuse University with a degree in business administration, Clark began working at several radio and television stations before landing at WFIL radio in 1952. While working at the station, Clark became a substitute host for Bob Horn's Bandstand, an afternoon program where teenagers danced to popular music, broadcast by WFIL's affiliated television station. In 1956, Horn was arrested for drunk driving, giving Clark the perfect opportunity to step in as the full-time host.
After acquiring nationwide distribution the newly reformatted program, now titled "American Bandstand", premiered on ABC on August 5, 1957. In addition to the name change, Clark added interviews with artists (starting with Elvis Presley), lip-sync performances, and "Rate-a-Record," allowing teens to judge the songs on the show - and giving birth to the popular phrase, "It's got a good beat and you can dance to it." Clark also established a formal dress code, mandating dresses and skirts for the women and a coat and tie for the men. But perhaps the most impactful change that Clark made to the show was ending "American Bandstand's" all-white policy, allowing African American artists to perform on the show.
Under Clark's influence, "Bandstand" became one of the most successful and longest-running musical programs, featuring artists including Chuck Berry, the Doors, the Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, and Smokey Robinson. Sonny and Cher, The Jackson 5, Prince, and Aerosmith were among the influential artists and bands that made their television debuts on "Bandstand", which is also credited with helping to make America more accepting of rock 'n' roll.
With the success of "American Bandstand", Clark became more invested in the music publishing and recording businesses, and began managing artists, hosting live sock hops, and arranging concert tours. But in 1960, when the United States Senate began investigating "payola", the practice in which music producing companies paid broadcasting companies to favor their products, Clark became caught up in the scandal. The investigation found he had partial copyrights to over 150 songs, many of which were featured on his show. Clark denied he was involved in any way, but admitted to accepting a fur and jewelry from a record company president. In the end, the Senate could not find any illegal actions by Clark, but ABC asked Clark to either sell his shares in these companies or leave the network so there was no conflict of interest. He chose to sell and continue on as host of "American Bandstand", which was unaffected by the scandal.
In 1964, Clark moved Bandstand from Philadelphia to Los Angeles and became more involved in television production. Under his company Dick Clark Productions, he produced such shows as "Where the Action Is", "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes", and more recently, "So You Think You Can Dance", as well as made-for-television movies including "Elvis", "The Birth of the Beatles", "Wild Streets", and "The Savage Seven". Clark also hosted television's "$10,000 Pyramid", "TV Bloopers and Practical Jokes" (with co-host Ed McMahon), "Scattergories", and "The Other Half". Clark also had several radio programs, including "The Dick Clark National Music Survey", "Countdown America", and "Rock, Roll & Remember".
In 1972, he produced and hosted the very first edition of "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve", a musical program where Clark counted down until the New Year ball dropped in Times Square, featuring taped performances from musical artists. "New Year's Rockin' Eve" soon became a cultural tradition, airing on ABC every year with Clark as host (except in 1999 when ABC aired "ABC 2000: Today", a news milestone program hosted by Peter Jennings). In December 2004, Clark suffered a minor stroke and was unable to host, so Regis Philbin stepped in as a substitute. The following year, Clark returned as co-host alongside primary host Ryan Seacrest. Many were worried about Clark due to his slurred and breathless speech, and he admitted on-air he was still recovering but that he wouldn't have missed the broadcast for the world. The following year, Seacrest became "New Year's Rockin' Eve's" primary host, but Clark always returned for the countdown.
Clark has received several notable awards including four Emmy Awards, the Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994, and the Peabody Award in 1999. He was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1976, The Radio Hall of Fame in 1990, Broadcasting Magazine Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. Clark had been in St. John's hospital in Los Angeles after undergoing an outpatient procedure the night of April 17, 2012. Clark suffered a massive heart attack following the procedure. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful and he died the next morning of April 18, 2012.- Jim McKay was born on 24 September 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for ABC's Wide World of Sports (1961), Miracle (2004) and The Verdict Is Yours (1958). He was married to Margaret Dempsey. He died on 7 June 2008 in Monkton, Maryland, USA.
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Clayton Moore grew up in Chicago, Illinois and although his father wanted him to become a doctor, he had visions of something a little more glamorous. Naturally athletic, he practiced gymnastics during family summer vacations in Canada, eventually joining the trapeze act The Flying Behrs at 19. During the 1934 Chicago World's Fair, Clayton performed in the position of catcher. Playing off his good looks, he was signed by the John Robert Powers modeling agency and enjoyed a print career in NY for several years. But a friend urged him to make the move to Hollywood in 1938 where he entered films as a bit player and stuntman. In 1940, at the suggestion of his agent Edward Small, he changed his first name from Jack to Clayton. Beginning with Perils of Nyoka (1942), he eventually became King of the Serials at Republic Studios appearing in more than cliffhanger star Buster Crabbe. During this period, he also worked in many B westerns earning his acting chops alongside Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and interestingly Jay Silverheels. Later in 1942 he entered the military, was stationed in Kingman, Arizona and assigned entertainment duties including the production of training films. While in Arizona, he asked his future wife Sally Allen to marry him; she said "yes" and joined him in Kingman for the balance of his enlistment. After the war, he returned to these supporting roles while concentrating on westerns. His turn as Ghost of Zorro (1949) came to the attention of the radio's hugely successful Lone Ranger producer George W. Trendle who was casting the lead role for the new television series. After the interview, Trendle said, "Mr. Moore would you like the role of the Lone Ranger?" Moore replied, "Mr. Trendle, I AM The Lone Ranger." The premiere episode appeared on ABC on September 15, 1949, and was the first western specifically written for the new medium. Although Moore's voice was a natural baritone, Trendle insisted he sound more like the radio actor Brace Beemer, so Moore worked with a voice coach to mimic both the speech pattern and tone. He starred in television's The Lone Ranger from 1949-1952 and 1953-1957. Along with William Boyd ("Hopalong Cassidy"), Moore was one of the most popular TV western stars of the era. Because of a salary dispute, he was replaced by John Hart, for one season. It was during his time away from the TV show that Moore returned to the big screen (as Clay Moore) to continue his movie career with such memorable movies as Radar Men from the Moon (1952) and Jungle Drums of Africa (1953). where he co-starred with Phyllis Coates, TVs first "Lois Lane". Hired back to the series, at a higher salary, Moore remained as The Lone Ranger until the series ended in 1957, after 169 episodes. He appeared in two color big-screen movie continuations of that character, in The Lone Ranger (1956) and The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (1958). After a lifetime of "B" movie parts, Clayton Moore finally found success in a TV series and continued to make commercials and personal appearances as "The Lone Ranger" for the next three decades. The commercials for Jeno's Pizza Rolls and Aqua Velva have become legendary in their own right. At his appearances, he recited The Lone Ranger Creed, which he deeply believed in, and that image was never tarnished by the types of personal scandals that often affected other stars. In 1978 Jack Wrather (the Wrather Corp}, which owned the series and the rights to the title character, obtained a court order to stop Moore from appearing in public as "The Lone Ranger". The company planned to film a new big-screen movie of the popular hero and did not want the public to confuse its new star with the old one. It would be the only screen appearance for Klinton Spilsbury, this "new Lone Ranger". Although the former "Arrow" shirt model appeared rugged and handsome in the "unmasked" sequence, his voice projected so poorly it was overdubbed by the more melodious voice of James Keach. The film was one of the biggest flops of the 1980s and The Lone Ranger story wasn't attempted again until 30 years later with Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp as Tonto. Again, however, the film flopped without a nod to the original tenets of the integrity of the character. After Jack Wrather died in 1984, his widow actress Bonita Granville dismissed the lawsuit allowing Moore to continue to appear as the masked man. Moore's legacy to the entertainment industry and western film genre has been cemented with the installation of his legendary mask in the Smithsonian, his star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, and a United States Postage Stamp bearing his image alongside Silver.- Producer
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Barbara Walters was born on 25 September 1929 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was a producer and writer, known for The Barbara Walters Summer Special (1976), The View (1997) and 20/20 (1978). She was married to Merv Adelson, Lee Guber and Robert Henry Katz. She died on 30 December 2022 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.- Producer
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A native of Buffalo, New York, Nick Bakay graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio. In 1983, Bakay graduated from the Professional Acting Program at SMU in Dallas, Texas with an MFA (Master of Fine Arts). After moving to New York, he spent the early part of his acting career performing in numerous theater productions. At the same time, he became a contributing editor for National Lampoon magazine, writing features and fake letters to the editor, and also creating a comic strip called "The Evil Clown." This led to a writing job and starring roles in two cable series, Night After Night (1990) and Sports Monster (1990). After landing a job as writer and sidekick/announcer on The Dennis Miller Show (1992), Bakay decided it was time to move to Los Angeles. Since that time he has written, performed and guest-starred in many television series.- Actress
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Melissa grew up in Sayville, New York. Her acting career started at the age of four, when she did a commercial for a bathtub toy called Splashy. Her mother, Paula Hart, has been her agent from the beginning. Melissa is the oldest of eight children, some from her mother's second marriage. Six sisters, Trisha Hart, Elizabeth Hart, Emily Hart, Alexandra Hart-Gilliams, Samantha Hart, and Mackenzie Lee Hart, who is the only sibling who never appeared on Melissa's TV series, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996). Her brother is Brian Hart.
Melissa performed in two plays as the youngest member of New York's Circle Repertory Lab Company: "Beside Herself" in 1989 (starring Lois Smith and William Hurt) and "Imagining Brad" in 1990. She was also in the National Actors Theater production of "The Crucible" on Broadway with Martin Sheen (as understudy of three of the children in the play). Melissa cites Shirley Temple and Audrey Hepburn as early acting inspirations and still collects memorabilia of the former. For the past few years, she has been juggling acting and attending New York University. She's now living in Connecticut.- John Bedford Lloyd's interest in acting began accidentally, while he was a pre-med student at Williams College. A friend convinced him to take a part in a production of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and the experience changed his life. He switched his curriculum to English and began regularly performing in plays, and went on to attend Yale, graduating from that school's prestigious School of Drama.
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Kevin Clash was born on 17 September 1960 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Sesame Street (1969), Muppet Treasure Island (1996) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990). He was previously married to Genia Loving.- Actor
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A longtime puppet designer and performer, Goelz was picked up by Jim Henson and company to design Muppets for various television projects in the early 70's. By the time Jim Henson and Frank Oz were beginning work on "The Muppet Show", they managed to convince Dave to come work as a puppeteer. He soon began to perform and develop such memorable characters as the Great Gonzo and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. He has gone on to become a principal Muppeteer and one of the major talents of the Jim Henson Company.- Actor
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My father's a Cuban immigrant nuclear engineer who my brothers and I have nicknamed Frank. Because he most resembles Danny Devitos' character in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. You try being raised by him. My mother is a French immigrant, white trash, drug addict who's jailhouse nickname is Mother Goose. True story. They are both somehow still alive and also allowed to vote. Flippin' crazy right?
I began acting professionally at four years old. I always say by choice, but now that I have a four year old daughter. I for sure know that's not true. I began paying my parents rent at seven with the money I received performing on Broadway. Some say Stephen Daldry started my career by first putting me on stage. I say he hasn't cast me since, so he can just suck it.
My 35 year professional acting career can be defined as follows:
Being recognized in an Uber.. While driving someone to the airport.
And a Groundhog Day event of nearly being cast in life changing roles and somehow never crossing that threshold. Susanna Fogel was supposed to film me opposite Evan Rachel Wood and Olivia Thirlby (BOTH! can you believe that? ME??) in one of the best scripts ever written. But the good lord Jesus took away our funding a week before shooting and that butt head never gave it back.
Worst experience in Hollywood was being told by Paul Thomas Anderson's casting director that I was nearly cast in Magnolia when I was a teen. They worried I would grow too much during a 6-8 month shoot because I lied to Paul (and everyone else at that age) and told him I was growing super, duper fast (I talked about how much my joints hurt with all the growth spurts after hearing another kid at school say it. I was desperately insecure about being a ninety pound four foot eleven freshmen in high school). Cassandra said it was okay though, she wanted to make it right and put me in Licorice Pizza! It was 'destiny' she said. It was the height of Covid lock down, I hadn't slept in months because I was a new father, I just discovered my PTSD from complex childhood trauma and I killed myself for a week to directly send her a self tape. ..I got ghosted harder than a scene from Poltergeist. Yucky Hollywood.
The Safdi brother was great and the part was pretty inconsequential anyway. I'm over it. Sorta.
Second worst experience was being told by the producers of The Spectacular Now that I had Robert Downey Jr-like acting chops and that I gave one of the best auditions they'd ever seen. However, I was too old to play the title character. That was nice actually, as they told me that over a super expensive lunch that I didn't have to pay for. The soul crushing experience was that I had to watch my doppelganger Myles Teller do the movie and now I'm the only one on Earth who hasn't seen the new Top Gun.
Best experience as an actor was Werner Herzog, James Cameron and the editor of the Godfather (Walter something I think?) complimenting me for my portrayal as a mentally handicapped hit man in the strangest movie I've ever been a part of. Also, the late great Paul Reubens has sent me a birthday card every year for the last two decades. During a shoot on a Todd Solondz film, we spent a night watching Obama win his first election and I guess it meant a lot to him?
With his passing I will no longer receive that gift, so I'm now considering retirement. Full disclosure, it's actually because my SAG pension would pay me far more than acting has in recent years. Once I know the penalties for early withdrawal I'll make my final decision. If you've read this far.. Thank you. And may the butt head bless your eternal soul.- Actor
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Joey Mazzarino was born on 4 June 1968 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Sesame Street (1969), Julie's Greenroom (2017) and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999). He has been married to Kerry Butler since 1997. They have two children.- Actor
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David Rudman was born on 1 June 1963 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is an actor and director, known for The Muppets (2011), Muppets Most Wanted (2014) and Donkey Hodie (2021).- Actor
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Michelan (Michael) was born in San Juan, PR, where his US Army family was stationed at the time. He is known for his film, television, and theatrical work. Micha's films include, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991), The Muppets (2011), and Muppets Most Wanted (2014). His television work includes, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Babylon 5, and The Muppets TV series. These performances, and all Micha's other film and television roles, came after his twenty year in the New York theatre, where he played in many Broadway productions including, "Fiddler On The Roof", "Cabaret", and "Raggedy Ann". A new live show with the Muppets played the Hollywood Bowl and the O2 Arena in London.- Margaret Trigg was born on 30 May 1964 in Bastrop, Texas, USA. She was an actress, known for R.O.T.O.R. (1987), Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) and Aliens in the Family (1996). She died on 16 November 2003 in New York City, New York, USA.
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Donald Faison was born on 22 June 1974 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Scrubs (2001), Clueless (1995) and Skyline (2010). He has been married to Cacee Cobb since 15 December 2012. They have two children. He was previously married to Lisa Askey.- Editorial Department
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Sean Holland was born on 27 October 1968. He is an actor and writer, known for Clueless (1995), Roberta's Rules (2023) and Shōgun (2024).- Actor
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Marc recently played a principal role in the NBC/CTV medical drama 'Transplant'. Originally from Montreal, Marc attended Ryerson Theatre School in Toronto and then pursued his acting career in Toronto and Los Angeles. He also wrote and directed the award-winning short film 'Sky', and in the last few years he worked on feature and television projects as a video playback engineer, including the final three seasons of HBO's 'Veep'. In 2019 Marc returned to Montreal to focus on his full-time acting career.- Heidi Lucas was born on 3 June 1977. She is an actress, known for Salute Your Shorts (1991), Hypernauts (1996) and Girl's Club (1992). She has been married to Hans Conrad since 5 October 2018.
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Puppeteer, actor, musician, and master of voices, Jerry Nelson originally joined Henson & Company as a temporary replacement for Frank Oz, who had been drafted into the armed services in the 60's. He later re-joined the crew as a full-time performer in the 70's, and has since been heavily involved in almost every major Muppet project, including Sesame Street (1969), The Muppet Show (1976), Fraggle Rock (1983) and feature films. Memorable characters include "The Count", "Herry Monster", "Mumford the Magician", "Robin the Frog", "Crazy Harry" and "Gobo". Come the late 1990s, Nelson has begun to focus more on his musical career but continues his involvement in The Muppets.- Actor
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Steve Whitmire was born on 24 September 1959 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Fraggle Rock (1983), The Muppets (2011) and Muppet Treasure Island (1996). He has been married to Melissa Whitmire since June 1978.- Born Brandon Spencer Lee Call on November 17th, 1976, in Torrance, California, Brandon started performing at the tender age of two. His movie debut, albeit lending his voice, was in Disney's The Black Cauldron (1985), so his first live-action acting role was opposite Glenn Close in Jagged Edge (1985). He made a number of television appearances before gaining popularity playing David Hasselhoff's son on Baywatch (1989). However, his stint on Baywatch (1989) was short-lived as he stayed on the series for only a season. He then pursued another television program, the Brady Bunch-esque show Step by Step (1991), where he portrayed the cool JT Lambert with Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Somers as his parents.
Growing up, Brandon enjoyed such simple pleasures as playing basketball, boogie boarding, and listening to music. September 3, 1996, was probably a night Brandon will never forget because he was involved in a traffic dispute where he was shot in both arms. Luckily, Step by Step (1991) was a mid-season show, so he had time to recuperate before filming began. This wasn't the first time that Brandon got into trouble, though, as two weeks prior, his off-screen problems made the news. He seemed to have dropped off into relative obscurity, as his last televised role was a guest spot on the Hulk Hogan series Thunder in Paradise (1994). - Actress
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Leslie Carrara-Rudolph was born on 9 December 1962 in Walnut Creek, California, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Sesame Street (1969), Ratchet: Deadlocked (2005) and Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (2004). She has been married to Paul Rudolph since 5 August 2000.- Actor
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Bennett "Ben" Joseph Savage was born on September 13th, 1980, in Chicago, Illinois. Ben got his start in acting when he appeared in his first commercial at the tender age of 5. From there, his first major speaking role was in the comedy series, Dear John (1988), opposite Judd Hirsch and fellow Chicago-native, Isabella Hofmann. He starred in a handful of made-for-TV movies and other films, most significantly Wild Palms (1993), until being cast in the lead role in the series Boy Meets World (1993), which catapulted him into stardom. Ben didn't put aside his studies in the course of his acting career, graduating in 2004 from the famed Stanford University with a degree in Political Science. In the summer of 2003, he got an internship with the office of US Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) and seems to be well on his way to another chapter in his life.- Actress
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Cherie Johnson (born November 21, 1975 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA), is an American actress, author, columnist, executive producer, producer, and writer. She is of African American and Puerto Rican descent.
Johnson first rose to fame, at age eight, when she appeared on Punky Brewster (1984) as the fictional character, "Cherie", and the show aired from 1984-1988 in first-run syndication on NBC (National Broadcasting Corporation). "Punky Brewster" later expanded into a cartoon series titled Punky Brewster (1985), which she contributed her voice for "Little Cherie" and it aired from 1985-1987 on NBC. One of her most recognized acting roles is on Family Matters (1989), where she co-starred as the character, "Maxine", and the show aired from 1989-1997 on ABC (American Broadcasting Corporation) and on CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) from 1997-1998. With 215 episodes, "Family Matters" is the third longest-running U.S. sitcom with a predominantly African-American cast.
Johnson has written columns in publications including Dimez Magazine and Glam Couture Magazine. She has co-written, written, and self-published books, including "Around the World Twice", "Two Different Walks of Life", and "Peaches & Cream". Johnson has been nominated and won several awards, including the Young Artist Award, Award of Excellence by the National Association of Youth in Entertainment, Opulece Humanitarian Award, and the Readers Choice Award by African American on The Move Book Club.- Actor
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Ricky Bell was born on 18 September 1967 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Girls Trip (2017), Tropic Thunder (2008) and 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002). He has been married to Amy Correa Bell since 18 September 2004.- Actor
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Michael Bivins was born on 10 August 1968 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for Mo' Money (1992), Girls Trip (2017) and Tropic Thunder (2008).- Actor
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Bobby Brown was born on 5 February 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Ghostbusters II (1989), A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996) and Wild Hogs (2007). He has been married to Alicia Etheredge-Brown since 18 June 2012. They have three children. He was previously married to Whitney Houston.- Actor
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Former member of 1980s teen pop group, New Edition. After the group broke up, De Voe joined fellow band-mates Michael Bivins and Ricky Bell to form the group, Bell Biv DeVoe in the early 1990s. That group scored number one hits, such as "Do Me", "I Thought It Was Me" and "Gangsta".- Actor
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Born in Washington, D.C., Johnny Gill was discovered by singer Stacy Lattisaw after singing in his family's group Wings of Faith from the age of five. His solo career began in 1983 with the Top 30 R&B single "Super Love." In 1988, he joined New Edition, replacing Bobby Brown. In 1989 he sang on two R&B hits: "Where Do We Go from Here," a #1 by Stacy Lattisaw, and "One Love," by George Howard. Gill finally scored as a solo singer in 1990 with the release of his album Johnny Gill, which sold a million copies, topped the R&B chart, and made the Top Ten in the pop chart. He reunited with New Edition in 1996 and still records as a solo artist.- Actor
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Ralph Tresvant was born on May 16, 1968 in Roxbury, Massachusetts to Patricia and Ralph, Sr. He has an older sister named LaTonya and a younger brother named Andre. Ralph married his childhood sweetheart Shelly in 1993. They have two girls Na'Quelle and Mariah. While in junior high school, Ralph and some friends named Ronnie DeVoe, Bobby Brown, Ricky Bell, and Michael Bivins formed a music group called New Edition. They were discovered at a talent show by Maurice Starr who signed them to Streetwise Records in 1983. The albumhad hits such as "Candy Girl", "Popcorn Love" and "Is This The End". In 1984, they left Streetwise and came to MCA Records. Their second album, "New Edition", also had many hits like "Cool It Now", "Mr. Telephone Man", and "Lost In Love". In 1985, they released "All For Love", which had hits such as "Count Me Out" and "A Little Bit Of Love [Is All It Takes]". I987, when Bobby Brown left the group, Johnny Gill replaced him. Gill gave New Edition's music more Adult Contemorary style. They're album "Heart Break" went to the top with hits like "If It Isn't Love", "Can You Stand The Rain", "Boyz II Men", and others. In 1990, the guys went solo as Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill, Bell Biv DeVoe, and Ralph Tresvant. Ralph's first album "Ralph Tresvant" went platinum and had hits such as "Sensitivity", which was #1 on the R&B charts for 20 weeks and number #4 on the Pop charts for 20 weeks, "Do What I Gotta Do" and "Stone Cold Gentleman" which featured Bobby Brown. Ralph also made an appearance in the popular movie "House Party 2". He sang a song on the soundtrack called "Yo, Baby, Yo!" He also has been on soundtracks such as "Mo' Money", on which his song "Money Can't Buy You Love" was on, and was featured on the song "Somebody Bigger Than You And I" on "The Preacher's Wife". In 1993, Ralph released another album called "It's Goin' Down". The album didn't do as well as the first, though. Then, in 1996, New Edition released their first album with all six members- Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, Mike, Ralph, and Johnny. Some hits on this album were "Hit Me Off" and "I'm Still In Love With You". They went on the New Edition Reunion Tour, which had two parts. One part of it was from December to about February and the second part, without Brown and Bivins, was from June to July Bobby Brown recently quit the group saying that he hates them and will never work with them again. New dition is going solo again. This time with Bobby Brown, Ralph Tresvant, Johnny Gill, Ronnie DeVoe, Ricky Bell, and Bell Biv DeVoe. Bivins, is working on his company Biv 10.- Actor
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Jaleel White is an American actor, producer, and writer who is known for playing Steve Urkel from "Family Matters" and voicing Sonic the Hedgehog in three cartoon series released during the 1990s. He also acted in "Big Fat Liar" starring Frankie Muniz and Amanda Bynes, "Scooby-Doo", "Guess Who", "Dreamgirls", "Grown Ups", and "Bones."- Actor
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A class clown since his earliest years, Mark quickly learned that a wild sense of humor could take him places. While working at a drugstore after quitting college he honed and polished a comedy act that he regularly practiced on customers. It was these customers, as well as his family and friends, who finally encouraged Mark to try his stand-up routine at area comedy clubs. With legendary comedian Richard Pryor as his inspiration, Mark made his debut in Oakland and eventually became the city's most sought-after stand-up comic. His success there paved the way for comedy-club bookings all over the world- Sandra Quarterman was born on 26 June 1968 in Savannah, Georgia, USA. She is an actress, known for The Pelican Brief (1993), All My Children (1970) and Hangin' with Mr. Cooper (1992).
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Holly Robinson Peete was born on 18 September 1964 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for 21 Jump Street (1987), For Your Love (1998) and 21 Jump Street (2012). She has been married to Rodney Peete since 10 June 1995. They have four children.- Actress
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Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman, also known as Raven, is an American actress, singer, songwriter, executive producer, and director. She began her career as actress, appearing as Olivia Kendall on The Cosby Show (1984) and Nicole Lee on Hangin' with Mr. Cooper (1992). She starred as Raven Baxter on the television series That's So Raven (2003), for which she was nominated for numerous accolades.
In music, Pearman released her debut studio album at the age of seven, Here's to New Dreams (1993), which saw the moderate commercial success. Her subsequent studio albums, Undeniable (1999), This Is My Time (2004), and Raven-Symoné (2008) saw some commercial success on the Billboard 200 chart. She also contributed vocals to several soundtracks from her Disney projects, including The Cheetah Girls (2003), That's So Raven (2003), and The Cheetah Girls 2 (2005), several of which were certified platinum and gold.
In 2011, she starred in the lead role on the sitcom State of Georgia (2011). She also joined the panel of the ABC daytime talk show The View (1997) from 2015 to 2016. Since 2017, Pearman has reprized her role as Raven Baxter on Raven's Home (2017), for which she was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming.- Producer
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Donna Roth was born on 19 October 1951 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. She is a producer and executive, known for 13 Going on 30 (2004), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) and Benny & Joon (1993). She was previously married to Joe Roth and Michael Pinder.- Actress
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Teddi Siddall was born on 12 August 1953 in Evanston, Illinois, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Prizzi's Honor (1985), Forever Strong (2008) and Fade to Black (1980). She was married to Gary Cole and Ron Castro. She died on 4 February 2018 in Studio City, California, USA.