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For a while in the 1970s, Fred Berry was one of the biggest stars on American television. The former dancer, who became a star in the sitcom What's Happening!! (1976) ballooned until his weight became a threat to his health. He battled with food, drink, drugs and women, marrying 6 times to 4 women in total. Diabetes was diagnosed, he lost more than 100 pounds and turned to religion. Born in St Louis, Missouri, in 1951, Berry danced with The Lockers, but it was the sitcom deal in 1976 that gave him his big break. The series ran for three seasons. After it was canceled, Berry struggled with personal problems and with the search for another star vehicle. The series was popular through reruns and a further series (What's Happening Now! (1985) was picked up in 1985 and ran for three years, after which Berry gave up acting for religion. He returned to the screen in 1998 in the action movie In the Hood (1998), and his final role was a cameo in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003) in 2003. Berry died on October 21, 2003, aged 52.

Haruka Abe is an Anglo-Japanese actress based in London, United Kingdom.

Born in Tokyo, Haruka spent her childhood split between New York, London and Tokyo, moving between the three cities with her family. Aged 8 she decided to try acting and at age 9 she played Bilbo Baggins in her school play adaptation of The Hobbit, an experience that confirmed to her that acting was the path she wanted to follow.

Her family moved back to Tokyo when she was 11 years old, and while in middle and high school, she enrolled in a children's drama school called Gekidan Himawari in Ebisu, Shibuya, Tokyo.

She was later accepted into Aoyama University, however at aged 18 she decided instead to return to London to pursue her acting career, attending Rose Brudord drama school where she would graduate with a 1st class Bachelor of Arts degree.

Alfred Lynch was born in the East End of London in 1931. Born the son of a plumber, he quit school to become a draughtsman's apprentice. After doing his National Service in the Army he began to train as an actor, coming out as a real talent of British cinema with critically acclaimed roles in Coventry and the Royal Court in London. In the 1950s and '60s, he seemed a natural pick for the working class kitchen sink dramas given that he was short, sandy haired and a very down to earth and working class sort. He won a part in Look Back in Anger (1959), which allowed him to achieve greater fame in films during the 1960s. In the 1970s, he slowed his work down onscreen but continued to do work in theatres and had a return to the big screen in The Krays (1990) in 1990. He died of cancer after a long battle, aged 72.

Yulin Kuang was born in Guangzhou, China and grew up in Kansas, New Jersey, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she studied creative writing and film. She lives in Los Angeles and works as an independent filmmaker. She is known for her YouTube channels YulinisWorking and Shipwrecked Comedy, as well as her use of transmedia storytelling, specifically focused on Tumblr.

Vera Chok is a writer, actress, singer, artist and lover of language.

Of Chinese descent, Chok was born in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, where she grew up attending the missionary school of Asaunta until moving to the United Kingdom as a teenager and completing her secondary education in Abbots Bromley School in Staffordshire, England. Later she continued her education at Queens College, Oxford where she got her MA in Archaeology & Anthropology.

Pursuing her creative side, Chok studied acting at both the Poor School in London and Ecole Philippe Gaulier in Paris. Her desire to learn continues and in October 2013 she started an MA in Writing at the University of East London.

Chok's acting roles have included performances in theatre, television, radio and film; from independent spirited performances, large established television dramas, one-woman shows and performances in award-winning shows such as Lucy Kirkwood's play "Chimerica" at the Almeida and Harold Pinter theatres during 2013. In 2010 Chok founded saltpeter, an independent theatre company and has served as producer and co-produced on several successful shows with the company.

Away from acting Chok's other creative works include music and writing. She is the lead singer of the band FRIENDS OF FRIENDS (FOF), who released their first single "Your Sappy Song" in March 2014. In 2011 she setup and ran The Brautigan Book Club, an international creative society that uses the work of American Beat writer Richard Brautigan as the starting point for expressive and artistic exploration. Chok's writing consists of pieces which are based in poetry but not restricted by that definition and has been published by Ether Press, Brautigan Free Press and The Rising.

Shou-Liang was born in China in 1953 before moving to live in Taiwan when he was three. When he was 16 he had taken up motorsports and had begun racing motorcycles and cars professionally. Shortly after this he got into acting for films. Spotting that most stuntmen in Taiwan specialised in martial arts and such, Ko became one of the first stuntmen to focus on stunts involving motorcycles and cars. This area of work soon allowed him to work behind the camera as a stunt arranger. Outside of movie work his most memorable achievement came in 1997 when he used a modified Mitsubishi to jump 50 metres over China's yellow river. The jump was carried live on television and he dedicated it to the handover of Hong Kong back to China. He also announced his retirement and spent his time raising money for charities. He was also a singer and enjoyed fishing.

David Webb was born in Luton, Bedfordshire in 1931. His father was the son of a local baker for whom he worked until developing baker's asthma, after which he worked for a local brewery and then, until retirement, for the Vauxhall Motors Car Company. David's mother was the daughter of a local tailor and later hat manufacturer. David trained for an acting career at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) after obtaining a scholarship there in 1952. Prior to that he was a pupil at Luton Grammar School, becoming Head Prefect before leaving in 1950 for two years' National Service as an instructor in the Royal Army Educational Corps (RAEC).

After graduating from the RADA in April 1954, David began his career with York Repertory Company for a year and subsequently played with other 'rep' companies at Scarborough and Bromley. He then toured for a year in Emile Littler's musical "Love From Judy" and after did more 'rep' at Richmond and Worthing. Following a highly successful audition for BBC Television, he was summoned by the then Head of Drama, Michael Barry, and consequently launched into television, the medium in which his career has centered ever since, and in which he has made more than 700 appearances, playing a wide variety of roles, and working for all the major programme-producing companies. He was a prominent character in the early days of Coronation Street. Worried about the dangers of typecasting, he soon moved on, and, between the 1960s and the beginning of the present century, made well over 700 appearances in television programmes. These included Upstairs, Downstairs, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Tales of the Unexpected, Doctor Who, and The Avengers. He also found time for the cinema, appearing in, among much else, The Battle of Britain. In a profession which, notoriously, has an unemployment rate of 80 per cent, he was never out of work. He was at one point so committed to television, and so prolific, that he was mocked by some of his RADA friends as a "Telly Tart." His response was a magisterial wave of the arm and the explanation: "On the telly, dear boy, you don't have to get it right first time, and the repeat fees mean you'll never run out of gin." He was right. Even at the time of his death, it was an unusual week on ITV3 when David Webb is not seen and credited in one of its many repeats from the golden age of British television.

As an ardent opponent of censorship, in 1976 David founded the National Campaign for the Reform of the Obscene Publications Acts (NCROPA) and began his long campaign against the prudes and censors of every political and religious complexion. He ran NCROPA in the capacity of Honorary Director ever since. It is a law-reform organization championing the cause of the 'freedom of expression'. At the time the laws against pornography were, in their principle and intent, very clear - it was "No Sex, Please: We're British." Pornography was defined as anything a jury could be convinced had a tendency to "deprave and corrupt." Against this, David stated his own principle to anyone who would listen: "So long as it's by and for consenting adults, nothing should be forbidden."

In June 1983 he stood as an Anti-Censorship/Reform of Obscene Publications Acts candidate against Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the constituency of Finchley at the General Election, he is a past member of the Council of the British Actors' Equity Association and a member of both the National Secular Society and the British Humanist Association. David has participated in numerous TV and radio debates, interviews and 'phone-ins' on censorship and often contributes articles to various publications and undertaken speaking engagements on the issue.

In private life, David was a grand, convivial character, who loved good company, good food, good drink, and classical music. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer early in 2012, and its progress was so rapid that he had no time to stop being the man his friends had all known and loved. He faced his end with the equanimity of a true follower of Epicurus. He died peacefully and in his sleep at Trinity Hospice in Clapham at approximately 5:30pm with his dear friend Penny and goddaughter Nikki by his side. He was 81. His funeral was at Mortlake Crematorium on the 17th July 2012.

Mark Stratford is an actor and writer, known for Chopper (2000) and The Interview (1998). In 2010 Stratford pleaded guilty to charges of producing child pornography, possessing child pornography and installing a surveillance device without consent. His sentence was 21 months, with a minimum time to serve of 14 months.

Vince Gatton received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play in David Johnston's Candy and Dorothy, which he also performed at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors' Theater in Cape Cod. He is a founding board member of the New York Shakespeare Exchange, and has appeared as an actor in NYSX's The Life and Death of King John, Mucedorus, The Comedy of Errors, and ShakesBEER: The Original Shakespearian Pub Crawl. He was also the guy in the original pilot film for The Sonnet Project, which was widely seen via the project's Kickstarter campaign and was featured on NPR's Monkey See blog. Other notables: I Am My Own Wife and Fully Committed at Barrington Stage Company in the Berkshires (Metroland's Critic's Pick as Best Actor of 2008); Cock at the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca; The Temperamentals at New World Stages, standing by for Michael Urie; The Turn of the Screw at the Merchant's House in NYC and the Hennegar Center in Melbourne, Florida; Henry 4 parts 1 & 2, Henry 6 parts 1 & 2, and Love's Labor's Lost with Judith Shakespeare Company; Perspective Coward for The Fugitive Kind; To Fool the Eye and Taylor Mac's The Hot Month with Boomerang Theater Company; and The Americans and Johnston's Busted Jesus Comix with Blue Coyote Theater Group. He has worked with Tectonic Theater Project on the development of various projects, including Moisés Kaufman's 33 Variations and Leigh Fondakowski's Casa Cushman and SPILL. Vince is a native of Louisville, Kentucky and got his BFA in Acting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2012 he lived the trivia nerd's dream by competing on Jeopardy. He didn't win.

Originating from Kaiping, Guangdong, Chen grew up in Hong Kong, where he trained in Tai Chi. As a middle-weight boxer, he was once famous for challenging a heavyweight in a Southeast Asia teenage martial arts contest in 1971. He joined Shaw Brothers the following year as an actor and made five films with them, the final being Tai ji quan (1974) "The Shadow Boxer", , which was to be marked as Chen's final act as tragically, he committed suicide by gas poisoning in 1974, before the film was released. Chen was only 24 when he died.

Thomas Wayne McKean was born on May 31, 1954. In 1979 left the Church of Christ and founded the movement known as The International Church of Christ (ICOC). In 2002 he took a Sabbatical and later left the ICOC and founded the International Christian Church (ICC). He currently serves as the ICC's World Mission Evangelist and the leader of the City of Angels ICC.

Central defender Dave Jones was first noticed as a player by Liverpool when he was invited to their Melwood training ground. But it was with Liverpool's Merseyside rivals Everton that Jones eventually signed professional terms. He made 79 first team League appearances for the Goodison Park club. Jones also turned out for the England Youth Team and won an Under-21 cap for the national team. In 1979 Jones was transferred to Coventry City in a £275,000 deal and it was while playing for the Sky Blues reserves against Derby County that his career took a major blow. A player who had eyes on a full England call-up, a tackle on Jones all but ended his career. Despite his knee injury, Jones went and played in Hong Kong with club side Seiko. He the ignored medical advice to play 50 games for Preston North End before bringing the curtain down on his playing career. His move into social work followed and Jones came back into football by coaching at non-league clubs Southport, Mossley and Morecambe. It was his spell at current First Division club Stockport County that Jones came to public prominence. Stockport enjoyed their most successful spell since the war under Jones as they were promoted to Division One as well as becoming synonymous in the League Cup. Jones guided Stockport to victory over three Premiership clubs as they reached the semi-finals of the League Cup in 1997. They met Middlesbrough and lost out in a closely fought contest. Jones then left for Southampton who he guided to 12th in the Premiership at the end of the 1997/1998 season. He helped maintain their top-flight status before being replaced by Glenn Hoddle in January 2000, after being falsely accused of having targeted vulnerable young boys during his time as a care worker at a residential school on Merseyside in the 1980s. He was cleared of all charges and took up a job with Wolverhampton Wanderers in Jan 2001. He helped gain them them promotion to the Premiership in June 2003.

Kevin was born August 11, 1962 and married his childhood sweetheart, Michele Baele, in May 1988. His first career was working at McDonnell Douglas building aeroplanes. His dream however was to become a digital effects animator. True to his dedicated character, he began by training himself at home. Later he completed his computer graphics training at UCLA and worked for studios including Rich Entertainment, Warner Bros., DreamWorks and Sony Pictures. On August 18, 2003 Kevin's life ended tragically and heroically in Maui, Hawaii during a family vacation, leaving behind wife, Michele, daughter Brielle (11) and son Austen (8). While climbing down the path next to the Pools of 'Ohe'o, Austen lost his shoe in the water and stooped down to retrieve it. When Austen fell into the water, Kevin dove in after him. As they were carried down the series of pools and waterfalls, Kevin protected his son in a bear hug keeping Austen's head above water and pushing him toward shore as a tourist who was an EMT from LA brought him to safety. Sadly, Kevin succumbed to the weight of his backpack, the exhaustion of the struggle and the strong current that swept him into the Pacific Ocean. His body was later found by rescue helicopters.

On Monday, August 25, family, friends, studio executives and co-workers, in an overflow capacity crowd, gathered at his funeral, at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood Hills. Kevin Holland, lead evangelist for Kevin's church, delivered the eloquent eulogy followed by profound, moving comments from his father-in-law and both of his children. His body was laid to rest on a hill with a clear view of Disney Animation Studios.

Denise Tan was born on September 7, 1994 in the village Hardinxveld-Giessendam. At a age of four she moved with her parents and older brother to Roosendaal. After trying out different kinds of sports, she started gymnastics at a age of six at Dynamo Roosendaal (then Animo Roosendaal). After several months she came in second at the club championships. She began training with the opstapgroep (group for the youngest) and when she was seven, she trained sometimes with the A-selectie. By the time she was eight she was officially a gymnast of this group, with Karin Raven and Matty Oppatja as her coaches. This season she also competed for the first time at regionals and nationals. For two years, Denise continued to compete at the highest level, but when she came in the category youth she decided to do a step back and became 1e division niveau 5. It was a great season for her, with as highlight a second place at nationals. The next season, as youth 1e division niveau 4, she accomplished to get on the third place at the national podium. As a junior she competed again at the highest level, as an elite gymnast. However, the next season she decided to go back to the 1e division. Her first year as a senior started well, but she injured her ankle during the warm ups. Even though, she was determined to compete. After three events she even was in third place, but her last apparatus was beam. This wasn't a great success, considered that she could hardly walk. Even so, she completed her routine and still ended in the top ten. The next year became her most successful season. She came in at first place at Regionals, the Sidijk Gymnastics Tournament, Brabantse Championships, and all national qualifiers. Nationwide, she had several very strong competitors, what made the National Championships very spectacular. Again, beam was her last apparatus, she even was the last gymnast to perform. This time she was focused and her routine turned out to be the best she ever did at a competition. It were here best routines of the season and for the first time she won nationals, with a large margin of almost two points. She was determined to become national champion two times in a row, but unfortunately before her first competition she tore her Achilles tendon. She got into surgery and started re-validation, what meant that it would take at least a year before she could compete again, and a couple of years for total rehabilitation. She didn't back down and after a couple months she competed on the uneven bars and qualified for nationals on uneven bars. She struggled with her injury and a couple skills, and came in fifth place. This season she is trying to make a come back, and we will see how far she will come.

Denise attended in Hardinxveld to De Driemaster and, after she moved, to De Lavoor in Roosendaal (elementary school). After that, she went for six years to the Gertrudiscollege (High School). At a age of sixteen, Denise started studying medicine at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The same year she portrait the lead character in the short movie 'Magnesium', what was showed on national Dutch television and several film festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival at Park City, UT, USA.

Gita Irwin is an award winning writer and filmmaker who focuses on creating hard-hitting genre content for various platforms . She is a freelance writer-producer whose work marries a passion for social justice issues such as income inequality, animal welfare, the environment, with her love of surreal genres such as Science Fiction/Horror/Fantasy/ Thrillers.

She writes horror-fantasy fiction, and historical fiction, and her short stories have been published in literary journals including Overland, Meanjin and Vertigo. Her story, 'No Easy Kill' was accepted into the Bondi Tides Anthology, which had a book launch attended by the Waverley Mayor in March 2012. One time Vice President [2011] and long time member of the Bondi Writers Group [BWG], her stories and poems have won commendations in various writing competitions, and are included in the annual BWG Public Readings held at the Waverley Library Theatre as a part of the Waverley Literary Festival [Waverley Words Festival].

Gita spent a decade in the corporate world of finance, where she dealt with fixing financial problems and got savvy in budgeting, administrative management and sales, before she took a gamble and decided to follow her lifelong passion for film. She parlayed the skills honed in her banking years into the role of Producer on several short films.

In her pursuit to know all she could about production and post-production, Gita has worked behind the scenes on film crews in various roles including assistant editor, arts department, camera-person, before she settled into writing and producing, (though she still enjoys helping out talented filmmaking colleagues when and where she can). As a producer, she goes above and beyond the confines of the role, from fundraising to overseeing and managing production, through to post, she has even doubled as costume maker and art department when required!

Her favourite directors include Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, Peter Jackson, Kathryn Bigelow, and Terrence Malick. She single-mindedly focuses on good storytelling and resonant emotional content in her work.

Born an only child in 1921, Maureen Riscoe became a casting agent as WWII ended. After a period in the theatre, she got a job in radio and film and made several appearances on screens big and small. After losing interest in acting she became an assistant to several actor's agents. In the 1960s she changed career again and took a job within the casting department of Yorkshire Television. After several years here, she moved to ATV in the same capacity. No matter her ability to take risks on unknown, but talented actors, she will be long remembered for several tales of her younger exploits. Once, when the Thorndike Theatre was having its annual ball, Riscoe and two other agents entered by sliding down the banisters. Riscoe ended up in a heap in front of the intimidating director of the theatre. She is said to have risen to her feet, cried "marvellous party darling" and gone to the bar! Riscoe died on 26th November 2003.

Ross Williams founded New York Shakespeare Exchange in 2009 as a vehicle for engaging new audiences with classical theater. He is a director, teacher and performer committed to the development of highly theatrical work. In 2011 Ross adapted and directed NYSX's critically-acclaimed production of Shakespeare's The Life and Death of King John about which Adam Feldman of TimeOutNY remarked, "This young company is not only promising, It's DELIVERING." Ross' longtime collaboration with playwright Kevin Brewer has provided him the opportunity to direct many original works including Island; Or, To Be or Not to Be (NYSX, 2012); The One Man (Two Man (not quite)) Hamlet (NYSX, spring 2010); and, Jinx in the 2004 Strawberry One-act Festival (1st place). In the spring of 2005 he adapted and directed an acclaimed ensemble-based production of Hamlet for Dreamscape Theatre, NYC. Ross' concept production of Verdi's Rigoletto (with scenic designer and NY Shakespeare Exchange contributing artist Jason Lajka) was chosen for a New York exhibition of the 2008 International Ring Award for emerging opera directors & designers. Ross has appeared on stage throughout North America; most notably he originated the role of Gimli the battle-axe wielding dwarf in the world premiere of The Lord of the Rings musical extravaganza in Toronto. As a teacher Ross focuses on exploring the nuances of classical text with authenticity and emotional connection. He has taught in Toronto, Cleveland, Dallas and in NYC with Judith Shakespeare, Actors Shakespeare, New York Shakespeare Exchange and Red Bull Theater. He holds an MFA from the Cleveland Play House Professional Actor Training Program, and a BFA from Southern Methodist University.

Michael Shattner is a 2013 IT Award Nominee for his performance as Sir Pompey Martext in Kevin Brewer's Island with NY Shakespeare Exchange. Most recently, he appeared as Gower, Antiochus, Simonides and Bolt in NYSX's Pericles, for which he also composed and performed his own original music on the cello. Favorite past roles include: Queen Margaret (Henry VI Parts 1, 2 & 3), Nicia (The Mandrake), Touchstone (As You Like It), Stefano (The Tempest), Neal Tilden (The 1940s Radio Hour), Carl (Lonely Planet), Adam (The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged)), and the title role in Scapino. An avid cellist, Michael is a founding member of the anarchy String Quartet. He plays in the New Amsterdam and Queer Urban orchestras, and in the pit for various musicals around NYC.

Mar Elepaño was born in the Philippines in 1954. He left for LA, California to study film in 1975 at USC (University of Southern California). He finished his degree in Film Production and stayed on to become a staff member and later adjunct faculty. He has been teaching at the USC School of Cinematic Arts in the MFA in Animation Program since 1993 and serves as the production supervisor for the program.

Olivia Etzine (Lucy) is an NYC-based actress and performer originally hailing from Sydney, Australia. She was recently seen in Lucy Gillespie's Mergers and Acquisitions (FullStop Collective's "Foreplays 2012") and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by Tom Littman in Carl Schurz Park. Favorite projects include Killer Joe by Tracy Letts, Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, Oleanna by David Mamet and Tartuffe by Moliere. She is an alum of Vassar College and the National Theater Institute.