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1-50 of 4,957
- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Shohreh Aghdashloo was born Shohreh Vaziri-Tabar on May 11, 1952 in Tehran, Iran. In the 1970s at age 20, she achieved nationwide stardom in her homeland of Iran, starring in some prominent pictures such as The Report (1977) directed by the renowned Abbas Kiarostami, which won critics awards at the Moscow Film Festival. In 1978, she won wider acclaim and established herself as one of Iran's leading ladies with Desiderium (1978) directed by the late Ali Hatami. During the 1978 Islamic revolution, Aghdashloo left Iran for England, to complete her education. Her interest in politics and her concern for social injustice in the world would lead her to receive a Bachelor's degree in International Relations.
She continued to pursue her acting career, which eventually brought her to Los Angeles, California in 1987. She went on to marry actor/playwright Houshang Touzie, performing in a number of his plays, successfully taking them to national and international stages. However, this was not easy getting work in Hollywood as a Middle Eastern actress with an accent; she had roles in some decent, though not great, films, including Twenty Bucks (1993), Surviving Paradise (2000) and Maryam (2002). She received good reviews for her 12 episodes on the fourth season of the Fox television series 24 (2001) as Dina Araz, a terrorist undercover as a well-to-do housewife and mother in Los Angeles. She had to wait quite some time to receive her break in Hollywood.
And finally, years after having read the acclaimed novel "House of Sand and Fog", DreamWorks were in the process of bringing the story to the silver screen. After having cast Ben Kingsley (as Massoud Amir Behrani) and Jennifer Connelly in the lead roles, they were looking for a relatively unknown Iranian actress to play Kingsley's wife, Nadi. Shohreh Aghdashloo was duly cast. She stole the limelight and earned herself an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress amongst many other prestigious awards, including the Independent Spirit Sward as best supporting actress in a feature film, the New York and Los Angeles film critics award and others.- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Patrick Wayne Swayze was born on August 18, 1952 in Houston, Texas, to Patsy Swayze (née Yvonne Helen Karnes), a choreographer, and Jesse Wayne Swayze, a chemical plant
engineer draftsman. His mother owned a dance school in
Houston, where Patrick was also a student. His father passed away in
1982. He graduated from Waltrip High School in Houston, and attended
San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas. He married actress/dancer
Lisa Niemi on June 12, 1975, whom he had
known when she was 15 and a student at his mother's dance school. His
New York City dance training included the Harkness Ballet School and
Joffrey Ballet School. He first danced professionally as "Prince
Charming" in "Disney on Parade". After a stint as "Danny Zuko" in the
original Broadway production of "Grease", he made his film debut with a
small role in
Skatetown U.S.A. (1979). He
made his television debut in 1981 on
M*A*S*H (1972), as a soldier
diagnosed with leukemia.
After many supporting roles in films and a lead role in the TV
mini-series
North & South: Book 1, North & South (1985), he
landed his breakthrough role as dance instructor "Johnny Castle" in the
hit film Dirty Dancing (1987), for
which he received a Golden Globe nomination. He received a second
nomination for his portrayal of "Sam Wheat" in the blockbuster
Ghost (1990).
Ghost (1990) was the highest-grossing film
of 1990, and at one point, the fourth highest-grossing film of all
time. Unfortunately, he did not capitalize on its success. His
subsequent films like
City of Joy (1992),
Tall Tale (1995),
Black Dog (1998), and
Waking Up in Reno (2002) did
not fare well with critics or audiences. In December 2003, he returned
to Broadway as a replacement for the lead role of "Billy Flynn" in the
acclaimed revival of John Kander &
Fred Ebb's musical, "Chicago". The production
also went on tour in several cities of the United States, including Los
Angeles. In January 2008, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He
fought the illness for well over a year and was able to continue
working, but died on September 14, 2009.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Annie Potts is an American film, television, and stage actress. She is known for her roles in popular 1980s films such as Ghostbusters (1984) and Pretty in Pink (1986). She made her debut on the big screen in 1978 in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer comedy film Corvette Summer (1978), with Mark Hamill, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. In 2017 she was cast to portray Meemaw in Young Sheldon (2017), a spin-off of the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2007). Potts also voiced voiced Bo Peep in the animated films Toy Story (1995), Toy Story 2 (1999) and Toy Story 4 (2019).
Interested in stage and film at an early age, Annie Potts attended Stephens College in Missouri, enrolling in the theater studies course, followed by graduate work in California. At the age of 20, she married her college sweetheart, Steven Hartley. Only a short time later, she and her husband were in serious automobile accident in Sumner, Washington -- their Volkswagen bus was demolished by two drivers who were drag racing. Steve lost a leg, and Annie had multiple fractures (resulting in a traumatic arthritis that still persists). Early roles were primarily in television, such as Black Market Baby (1977), but her presence moved up with an appearance in the mega-hit Ghostbusters (1984), and then she hit the big time with a seven-year stint as one of the stars of Designing Women (1986). A brief period in Love & War (1992) ended with the cancellation of the show, about which she remains resentful.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Liam Neeson was born on June 7, 1952 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, to Katherine (Brown), a cook, and Bernard Neeson, a school caretaker. He was raised in a Catholic household. During his early years, Liam worked as a forklift operator for Guinness, a truck driver, an assistant architect and an amateur boxer. He had originally sought a career as a teacher by attending St. Mary's Teaching College, Newcastle. However, in 1976, Neeson joined the Belfast Lyric Players' Theater and made his professional acting debut in the play "The Risen People". After two years, Neeson moved to Dublin's Abbey Theater where he performed the classics. It was here that he was spotted by director John Boorman and was cast in the film Excalibur (1981) as Sir Gawain, his first high-profile film role.
Through the 1980s Neeson appeared in a handful of films and British TV series - including The Bounty (1984), A Woman of Substance (1984),
The Mission (1986), and Duet for One (1986) - but it was not until he moved to Hollywood to pursue larger roles that he began to get noticed. His turn as a mute homeless man in Suspect (1987) garnered good reviews, as did supporting roles in The Good Mother (1988) and High Spirits (1988) - though he also starred in the best-to-be-forgotten Satisfaction (1988), which also featured a then-unknown Julia Roberts - but leading man status eluded him until the cult favorite Darkman (1990), directed by Sam Raimi. From there, Neeson starred in Under Suspicion (1991) and Ethan Frome (1992), was hailed for his performance in Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives (1992), and ultimately was picked by Steven Spielberg to play Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List (1993). The starring role in the Oscar-winning Holocaust film brought Neeson Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor.
Also in 1993, he made his Broadway debut with a Tony-nominated performance in "Anna Christie", in which he co-starred with his future wife Natasha Richardson. The next year, the two also starred opposite Jodie Foster in the movie Nell (1994), and were married in July of that year. Leading roles as the 18th century Scottish Highlander Rob Roy (1995) and the Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins (1996) followed, and soon Neeson was solidified as one of Hollywood's top leading men. He starred in the highly-anticipated Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) as Qui-Gon Jinn, received a Golden Globe nomination for Kinsey (2004), played the mysterious Ducard in Christopher Nolan's
Batman Begins (2005), and provided the voice for Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005).
Neeson found a second surprise career as an action leading man with the release of Taken (2008) in early 2009, an unexpected box office hit about a retired CIA agent attempting to rescue his daughter from being sold into prostitution. However, less than two months after the release of the film, tragedy struck when his wife Natasha Richardson suffered a fatal head injury while skiing and passed away days afterward. Neeson returned to high-profile roles in 2010 with two back-to-back big-budget films, Clash of the Titans (2010) and The A-Team (2010), and returned to the action genre with Unknown (2011), The Grey (2011), Battleship (2012) and Taken 2 (2012), as well as the sequel Wrath of the Titans (2012).
Neeson was awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the
1999 Queen's New Year's Honours List for his services to drama. He has two sons from his marriage to Richardson: Micheal Richard Antonio Neeson (born June 22, 1995) and Daniel Jack Neeson (born August 27, 1996).- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Mandy Patinkin was born Mandel Bruce Patinkin in Chicago, Illinois, to
Doris "Doralee" (Sinton), a homemaker and cookbook writer, and Lester
Patinkin, who operated two scrap metal plants. He is of Russian Jewish
and Latvian Jewish descent. Growing up, he began singing in synagogue
choirs at the age of 13-14 and still continues to use his fantastic
voice in musicals and in recordings. Attending Juilliard, he became
good friends with actor Kelsey Grammer
and upon hearing that Cheers (1982)
was auditioning for the role of Dr. Frasier Crane he immediately put
Grammer's name forward for the role. Rumours persist about Patinkin's
sudden departure from
Criminal Minds (2005). He
simply failed to show up one day for a table read. He has contacted the
entire cast to explain what is referred to as "personal reasons" for
leaving. It seems that although Patinkin was prepared for the show to
include violence the actual level of violence portrayed was
unacceptable to the actor. He left to do more light hearted work.
Patinkin supports many charities including: PAX, Doctors Without
Borders, Americans for Peace Now, The September 11th Fund, Crohn's and
Colitis Foundation of America and Gilda's Club.- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Daniel Edward Aykroyd was born on July 1, 1952 in Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada, to Lorraine Hélène (Gougeon), a secretary from a
French-Canadian family, and Samuel Cuthbert Peter Hugh Aykroyd, a civil
engineer who advised prime minister
Pierre Trudeau. Aykroyd attended
Carleton University in 1969, where he majored in Criminology and
Sociology, but he dropped out before completing his degree. He worked
as a comedian in various Canadian nightclubs and managed an after-hours
speakeasy, Club 505, in Toronto for several years. He worked with
Second City Stage Troupe in Toronto and started his acting career at
Carleton University with Sock'n'Buskin, the campus theater/drama club.
Married to Donna Dixon since 1983,
they have three daughters. His parents are named Peter and Lorraine and his
brother Peter Aykroyd is a psychic
researcher. Dan received an honorary Doctorate from Carleton University
in 1994 and was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1998.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Mickey Rourke was born Phillip Andre Rourke, Jr. on September 16, 1952, in Schenectady, New York, the son of Annette Elizabeth (Cameron) and Philip Andre Rourke. His father was of Irish and German descent, and his mother was of mostly English and French-Canadian ancestry. When he was six years old, his parents divorced. A year later, his mother married Eugene Addis, a Miami Beach police officer, and moved to Miami Shores, Florida. After graduating from Horace Mann Junior High School, Rourke's family moved to a house located on 47th Street and Prairie Avenue in Miami Beach. In 1969 Rourke attended Miami Beach Senior High School, where he played second-string first baseman under coach Skip Bertman. He also acted in a school play, "The Serpent," directed by legendary "Teacher To The Stars" Jay W. Jensen.
In 1971 he graduated from Miami Beach Senior High School, and after working for a short time as a bus boy at the famed Forge Restaurant on Miami Beach, Rourke moved back to New York to seek out a career in acting.
Rourke's teenage years were more aimed toward sports more than acting. He took up self-defense training at the Boys Club of Miami. It was there he learned boxing skills and decided on an amateur career. At the age of 12, Rourke won his first boxing match as an 118-pound bantamweight, defeating Javier Villanueva. Some of his early matches were fought as Andre Rourke. He continued his boxing training at the famed 5th Street Gym in Miami Beach, soon joining the Police Athletic League boxing program. In 1969 Rourke, now weighing 140 pounds, sparred with former World Welterweight champion Luis Rodriguez. Rodriguez was the number one-rated middleweight boxer in the world and was training for his match with world champion Nino Benvenuti. Rourke claims to have received a concussion in this sparring match.
In 1971, at the Florida Golden Gloves, Rourke received another concussion from a boxing match. Doctors told him to take a year off and rest. In 1972 Rourke knocked out Ron Robinson in 18 seconds and John Carver in 39 seconds. On Aug. 20, 1973, Rourke knocked out 'Sherman "Big Train"' Bergman' in 31 seconds. Shortly after, Rourke decided to retire from amateur boxing.
From 1964 to 1973, Rourke compiled an amateur boxing record of 27 wins (17 by knockout) and 3 defeats. At one point, he reportedly scored 12 consecutive first-round knockouts. As an amateur, Rourke had been friendly with pro-boxer Tommy Torino. When Rourke decided to return to boxing as a professional in 1991, Torino promoted some of Rourke's fights. Rourke was trained by former pro-boxer Freddie Roach at Miami Beach's 5th Street Gym and the Outlaw Boxing Club Gym in Los Angeles. He made $250 for his pro debut, but by the end of his second year of boxing, he had earned a million dollars. In June 1994, Rourke appeared on the cover of World Boxing Magazine. He sparred with world champions James Toney, John David Jackson, and Tommy Morrison.
Rourke wished to have 16 professional fights and then fight for a world title. However, he retired in 1994 after eight bouts and never got his desired title fight. His boxing career resulted in severe facial injuries that required a number of operations to repair his damaged face. Rourke went back to acting but worked in relative obscurity until he won a Golden Globe Award for his role as Randy "The Ram" Robinson in The Wrestler (2008). He was nominated for Best Actor, as well, but lost.- Michael Massee was born on 1 September 1952 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for The Crow (1994), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). He was married to Ellen Sussdorf. He died on 20 October 2016 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Jenny Agutter was born on December 20, 1952, in Taunton, Somerset, England, UK. The daughter of an army officer, she spent her childhood traveling and living in different countries. Her film career began at the age of 12 in East of Sudan (1964), which was quickly followed by Ballerina: Part 1 (1966) and Ballerina: Part 2 (1966), and A Man Could Get Killed (1966). Other films and television appearances in her early career include Gates to Paradise (1968), Long After Summer (1967), Star! (1968), I Start Counting (1970), The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens (1970), and The Wild Duck (1971).
In 1970, she appeared in what was her real big break as a child star: The Railway Children (1970), as "Bobbie". The next year, Hollywood called and she spent several years there, appearing in such works as The Cherry Orchard (1971), Walkabout (1971), and The Snow Goose (1971) with Richard Harris, for which she received an Emmy Award. She also appeared in the critically acclaimed A War of Children (1972) and Shelley (1972).
In 1976, Jenny really came to the attention of US film audiences with her starring role in the science-fiction classic Logan's Run (1976) with Michael York. Though not a critical favorite, it was a huge box-office success and spawned a television series. She also starred alongside Richard Chamberlain in a well-received made-for-TV version of the famous Dumas tale The Man in the Iron Mask (1977) and turned in a solid performance in the WW II thriller The Eagle Has Landed (1976) with Michael Caine and Donald Sutherland. The next year, she starred in Peter Shaffer's weighty Equus (1977) as "Jill Mason", alongside Richard Burton. Among her other TV and film work during the 1970s were Dominique (1979), School Play (1979), and The Riddle of the Sands (1979).
In 1981, she played "Desdemona" opposite William Marshall in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice (1981). Other Shakespeare performances include "King Lear", Love's Labour's Lost (1985) as "Rosaline" for the BBC and Romeo & Juliet (1993) as "Lady Capulet". During this time, she was in numerous films and television series, including Sweet William (1980), Beulah Land (1980), The Survivor (1981), Amy (1981), and one of the films for which she
is most fondly remembered, An American Werewolf in London (1981). She also appeared in This Office Life (1984), Secret Places (1984), Silas Marner (1985), Dark Tower (1987), Miss Right (1982), and King of the Wind (1990).
In the 1990s, she concentrated mainly on television, with roles in TECX (1990); Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (1990); Red Dwarf (1988); The All New Alexei Sayle Show (1994); The Buccaneers (1995); And the Beat Goes On (1996); September (1996) with Edward Fox, Michael York, Virginia McKenna, and Jacqueline Bisset; A Respectable Trade (1998) with Warren Clarke, Anna Massey, and Richard Briers. Her theatrical films during this period included Darkman (1990) with Liam Neeson; and Blue Juice (1995) with Sean Pertwee, Ewan McGregor, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. She also appeared as "Mrs. Bruce" in two feature-length episodes of the popular ITV series Bramwell (1995) in which she starred with Jemma Redgrave. She has also made several guest appearances in TV shows such as The Red Dwarf (1998); Boon (1986); The Equalizer (1985) with Edward Woodward; The Twilight Zone (1985); Magnum, P.I. (1980) and The Six Million Dollar Man (1974).
Jenny married to Johan Tham in August 1990. They have one son Jonathan, born in December 1990 and live in Cornwall, England, UK. Her
particular love is charity work for The Diabetic Association and NCH Action for Children - a charity which provides home and other help for
homeless children - with which she has been involved for many years.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Mary McDonnell is a two-time Oscar®-nominated actress, who is known for her character portrayals in both period and present-day screen roles, as well as a long history of stage and film roles.
Mary Eileen McDonnell was born on April 28, 1952 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Eileen (Mundy) and John McDonnell, a computer consultant, both of Irish descent. Raised in Ithaca, New York, she graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia. She later attended drama school and was accepted into the prestigious Long Wharf Theatre Company on the East Coast. Two decades later, she landed her breakthrough film role, in Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves (1990), playing "Stands with a Fist", a white woman raised by the Sioux Indians. She earned her first Academy Award nomination for the role.
McDonnell's film credits include the Lawrence Kasdan films Grand Canyon (1991) and Mumford (1999) (opposite such seasoned performers as Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, and Ben Kingsley); Roland Emmerich's Independence Day (1996) (starring Will Smith); acclaimed art house cult-hit Donnie Darko (2001); and Margin Call (2011) (opposite Kevin Spacey), which earned her the Robert Altman Award at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards. On the small screen, McDonnell starred in four seasons on the Syfy Network's award-winning series Battlestar Galactica (2004) in her critically praised performance as President Laura Roslin. She garnered an Emmy nomination for her recurring guest role on the television series ER (1994). She stars as Captain Sharon Raydor on the TNT's hit drama series Major Crimes (2012), the follow-up to The Closer (2005), in which McDonnell originated the role and for which she earned a Primetime Emmy® nomination. She garnered a Best Actress Academy Award® nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of a paraplegic soap opera star in John Sayles's critically acclaimed film, Passion Fish (1992).
McDonnell began her career in theatre and has starred in a wide variety of both Broadway and off-Broadway productions. She received an Obie Award for her performance in Emily Mann's Still Life and has starred in off-Broadway productions including the debut production of Sam Shepard's Pulitzer Prize-winning Buried Child (off-Broadway), John Patrick Shanley Savage in Limbo, John O'Keefe's All Night Long, Michael Cristofer's Black Angel, Kathleen Tolan's A Weekend Near Madison, Paula Cizmar's Death of a Miner, and Dennis McIntyre's National Anthem. Her Broadway credits include Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke, the title role in Wendy Wasserstein's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Heidi Chronicles, and Emily Mann's Execution of Justice. She received rave reviews for her performance opposite David Strathairn in Emily Mann's acclaimed adaptation of Chekhov's classic, The Cherry Orchard.
McDonnell lives in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles County, California with her husband, actor Randle Mell, and their children, Olivia and Michael.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum was born October 22, 1952 in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, one of four children of Shirley (Temeles), a radio
broadcaster who also ran an appliances firm, and Harold L. Goldblum, a
doctor. His father was of Russian Jewish descent and his mother was of
Austrian Jewish ancestry.
Goldblum began his career on the New York stage after moving to the
city at age seventeen. Possessing his own unique style of delivery,
Goldblum made an impression on moviegoers with little more than a
single line in Woody Allen's
Annie Hall (1977), when he fretted
about having forgotten his mantra. Goldblum went on to appear in the
remake
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
and co-starred with Ben Vereen in the
detective series
Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980)
before a high-profile turn in the classic ensemble film
The Big Chill (1983).
The quirky actor turned up in the suitably quirky film
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984),
which became a 1980s cult classic, starred in the modern-day film noir
Into the Night (1985), then went
on to a breakthrough role in the
David Cronenberg remake
The Fly (1986), which also featured
actress Geena Davis, Goldblum's wife from
1987-1990 and co-star in two additional films:
Transylvania 6-5000 (1985)
and Julien Temple's
Earth Girls Are Easy (1988).
Goldblum was the rather unlikely star of some of the biggest
blockbusters of the 1990s:
Steven Spielberg's dinosaur adventure
Jurassic Park (1993) and its sequel
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997),
as well as the alien invasion film
Independence Day (1996). These
films saw Goldblum playing the type of intellectual characters he has
become associated with. More recently, roles have included critically
acclaimed turns in
Igby Goes Down (2002) and
Wes Anderson's
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004).
In 2009, he returned to television to star in his second crime series
Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001).- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
John Stephen Goodman's an American film, TV & stage actor. He was born in Affton, Missouri to Virginia Roos (Loosmore), a waitress and saleswoman & Leslie Francis Goodman, a postal worker who died when he was a small child. He's of English, Welsh & German ancestry. He's best known for his role as Dan Conner on the TV show Roseanne (1988), which ran until 1997 & for which he earned him a Best Actor Golden Globe in 1993. He's also noted for appearances in films of the Coen brothers, w/ prominent roles in Raising Arizona (1987) as an escaped convict, in Barton Fink (1991) as a congenial murderer, in The Big Lebowski (1998) as a volatile bowler & in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) as a cultured thief. Additionally, he has done voice work in numerous Disney & Pixar films, including the Sulley in Monsters, Inc. (2001). Having contributed to more than 50 films, he has also won 2 American Comedy Awards & hosted Saturday Night Live (1975) 14 times.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Stephen Lang is a distinguished and award-winning actor who commands considerable respect, and is equally at home on the Broadway stage, on television, and in film.
Though he is arguably most well-known for his acclaimed performance in James Cameron's Avatar (2009), Lang began his career in theater. Broadway roles include his Tony-nominated performance as Lou in "The Speed of Darkness", Happy in the Dustin Hoffman revival of "Death of a Salesman", Colonel Nathan Jessep in "A Few Good Men", and Mike Tallman alongside Quentin Tarantino and Marisa Tomei in "Wait Until Dark".
Off-Broadway credits include John Patrick Shanley's "Defiance", Anne Nelson's "The Guys", Arthur Miller's "Finishing the Picture" and his own play, "Beyond Glory", for which he received numerous accolades. The play premiered in Washington, D.C. and has played the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, the Roundabout in New York City and a USO tour to various military bases and battleships around the world. In the fall of 2010, Lang received the Patriot Award from the Medal of Honor Society in honor of his theatrical and charitable works for the United States military.
Television and film credits include celebrated performances as Babe Ruth in Babe Ruth (1991), Stonewall Jackson in Gods and Generals (2003) as well as acclaimed performances in Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989), Tombstone (1993), Gettysburg (1993), Public Enemies (2009), The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009), Michael Mann's hit TV show Crime Story (1986) , the NBC revival of The Fugitive (2000), featuring Tim Daly, and Fox's sci-fi epic Terra Nova (2011).
He has been nominated for and won numerous awards including the Grace Prize, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Helen Hayes, and Tony Awards, as well as acting prizes at 2010's VisionFest and the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival.
Stephen was born in New York City, New York, to Theresa (Volmer) and Eugene Lang, a prominent businessperson and philanthropist. He is of Hungarian Jewish-German Jewish (father) and Irish-German Catholic (mother) descent. He is married to Kristina Watson, a costume designer and teacher, with whom he has four children.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Terrance Quinn (born July 15, 1952), known professionally as Terry O'Quinn, is an American actor. He played John Locke on the TV series Lost (2004), the title role in The Stepfather (1987) and Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy (1989), and Peter Watts in Millennium (1996), which ran for three seasons (1996-1999). He has also hosted Mysteries of The Missing on The Science Channel.
O'Quinn was born at War Memorial Hospital in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, one of 11 siblings, and grew up in nearby Newberry, Michigan. He is of Irish and English descent, and was raised Roman Catholic. He attended Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, and the University of Iowa in Iowa City. He changed his surname from Quinn to O'Quinn as another registered actor already had the name Terrance Quinn.
In the 1970s he came to Baltimore to act in the Center Stage production of Tartuffe. He remained at Center Stage for some years and often appeared with the late Tana Hicken, most notably as Benedick to her Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. His first movie role was in Heaven's Gate.
O'Quinn began acting in the 1970s during his time at Central Michigan University. He not only was an actor but also playwright/director. He wrote and directed the musical Orchestrina. This musical featured five main characters: The Man (played by Jeff Daniels), The Boy (Harold Downs), The Woman (Ann O'Donnell), The Girl (Debbie Penwarden), and The Drunk (James Hilliker), plus a female and a male chorus. He was roommates at CMU with actor Brad Slaight.
Starting in 1980, O'Quinn has appeared in various feature films such as Silver Bullet, Tombstone, Heaven's Gate, Young Guns, alongside Rutger Hauer in Blind Fury, and as Howard Hughes in The Rocketeer.
O'Quinn also appeared in the Canadian horror movie, Pin (1988) alongside British-born Canadian actor, David Hewlett.
His early television roles include guest appearances on Miami Vice (episode "Give a Little, Take a Little"), Moonlighting, Star Trek: The Next Generation (episode "The Pegasus"), The Twilight Zone (1985 revival; episode "Chameleon"), Homicide: Life on the Street (episode "Hate Crimes"), a recurring role on Earth 2, another recurring role as Captain (& later Rear Admiral) Thomas Boone on JAG, as well as Colonel Will Ryan in episode 15 of season 1 on the JAG spin-off series NCIS (episode "Enigma").
Around 1995, O'Quinn made guest appearances in The X-Files and Harsh Realm, produced by Chris Carter, who also cast him in the film The X-Files: Fight The Future and then once again in the final season. In 1996 O'Quinn started acting in the television series Millennium as Peter Watts, also produced by Chris Carter. O'Quinn held this role for all three seasons of the series. O'Quinn holds the distinction of having played four different characters within the extended X-Files/Millennium continuum (the two shows being classed together since both Lance Henriksen's character of Frank Black and Charles Nelson Reilly's character of Jose Chung have appeared in both shows).- Actress
- Camera and Electrical Department
Frances Fisher began by apprenticing at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon,
Virginia. She spent 14 years based in New York City, playing leads in
over 30 productions of plays by such noted writers as
John Arden,
Noël Coward,
Emily Mann,
Joe Orton,
Sam Shepard,
William Shakespeare, Jean-Claude van Itallie, Eudora Welty and
Tennessee Williams. She won a Drama
Logue Award - Best Ensemble for the American Premier of
Caryl Churchill's "Three More Sleepless
Nights", played in the American premier of
Judith Thompson's "The
Crackwalker" and originated roles in
Elia Kazan's "The Chain" and
Arthur Miller's last play
"Finishing the Picture". Besides working with Kazan and Miller, some of
Ms. Fisher's more interesting theater experiences were creating roles
from two great works of literature:
George Orwell's "1984" and
Victor Hugo's "The Hunchback of
Notre Dame". Ms. Fisher worked at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles
alongside Annette Bening and
Alfred Molina in
Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard".
Fisher starred in "Sexy Laundry" with
Paul Ben-Victor at the Hayworth Theatre
in Los Angeles. She studied with
Stella Adler and became a lifetime member
of the Actors Studio by actually "walking up the stairs" and
auditioning for legendary acting teacher
Lee Strasberg. Ms. Fisher recently
completed The Host (2013),
Love on the Run (2016),
Red Wing (2013) and will work with
Catherine Hardwicke in her new film
Plush (2013) in August 2012. Ms. Fisher was
honored for a Lifetime Achievement Award 2011 in her old hometown of
the Pacific Palisades, California.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Isabella Rossellini, the Italian actress and model who has made her
home in America since 1979 and holds dual Italian and American
citizenship, was born cinema royalty when she made her debut on June
18, 1952 in Rome. She is the daughter of two legends, three-time
Oscar-winning Swedish-born actress
Ingrid Bergman and neo-realist
master Italian director
Roberto Rossellini. She was
also the third wife of Oscar-winning director
Martin Scorsese from 1979 to 1982 and
the partner of legendary director
David Lynch.
She made her movie debut in
Vincente Minnelli's
A Matter of Time (1976), which
starred her mother. She then made a couple of Italian pictures and
worked as an American correspondent for Italian television network RAI
before appearing in Taylor Hackford's
Cold War drama White Nights (1985)
in 1985. She followed that up with her most memorable role, as the
abused chanteuse in Lynch's masterpiece
Blue Velvet (1986), she earned an
Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. She then went on to win
a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as
Lisle, the mysterious socialite, forever in her youth in
Death Becomes Her (1992). In
1997, she was nominated for an Emmy Award as Outstanding Guest Actress
in a Drama Series for a guest appearance on
Chicago Hope (1994).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Steven Frederic Seagal was born in Lansing, Michigan, to Patricia Anne (Fisher), a medical technician, and Samuel Seagal, a high school math teacher. His paternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants, and his mother had English, German, and distant Irish and Dutch, ancestry. The enigmatic Seagal commenced his martial arts training at the age of seven under the tutelage of well-known karate instructor and author Fumio Demura, and in the 1960s commenced his aikido training in Orange County, CA, under the instruction of Harry Ishisaka. Seagal received his first dan accreditation in 1974, after he had moved to Japan to further his martial arts training. After spending many years there honing his skills, he achieved the ranking of a 7th dan in the Japanese martial art "aikido" and was instructing wealthy clients in Los Angeles when he came to the attention of Hollywood power broker Michael Ovitz.
Ovitz saw star value in the imposing-looking Seagal. The high-octane action movie genre was in full swing in the late 1980s, and Seagal's debut movie, "Above the Law", was wildly received by action fans and actually received some complimentary critical reviews. He followed up "Above the Law" with another slam-bang thriller, Hard to Kill (1990), as a cop shot in an ambush by the mob who revives from a coma to take his revenge. The movie also starred Seagal's wife at the time, leggy Kelly LeBrock, who was married to him from 1987 to 1996 and is the mother of three of his children. His next outing was battling voodoo-using Jamaican drug "posses" in the hyper-violent Marked for Death (1990), before returning to fight psychotic mob gangster William Forsythe in the even more punishing Out for Justice (1991). Seagal was by now enormously popular, and his next movie, the big-budgeted Under Siege (1992), set aboard the battleship USS Missouri and also starring Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey, was arguably his best film to date, impressing both fans and critics alike.
Seagal's fighting style was rather different from that of other on-screen martial arts dynamos such as Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme, who were predominantly fighters from striking arts background such as karate or tang soo do. However, aikido is built around using an opponent's inertia and body weight to employ various locks, chokes and holds that incapacitate him. Seagal carries himself differently, too, and often appears wearing Italian designer clothes and usually favors an all-black outfit, generally with a three-quarter-length coat with an elaborate trim. Additionally, Seagal's on-screen characters were often seemingly benign or timid individuals; however, when the going gets rough they reveal themselves to be deadly ex-CIA operatives, or retired Special Forces soldiers capable of enormous destruction!
As his box-office drawing power grew, Seagal began to infuse his film projects with his personal and spiritual beliefs, especially concerning the abuse of the environment. He appeared as an oil fire expert who turns against his corrupt CEO (played by Michael Caine) in On Deadly Ground (1994) to save the Eskimo population from an oil disaster; in Fire Down Below (1997) he plays an environmental agency troubleshooter investigating the dumping of toxic waste in Kentucky coal mines, and in the slow-moving The Patriot (1998) he plays a medical specialist trying to stop a lethal virus unleashed by an extremist group.
Action fans struggled to come to terms with social messaging being built into bone-crunching fight films; however, Seagal's box-office clout remained fairly strong, and more traditional chopsocky projects followed with the "buddy cop" film The Glimmer Man (1996), then almost a cameo role as a Navy SEAL alongside CIA analyst Kurt Russell before Seagal is sucked out of a jet at 35,000 feet in Executive Decision (1996).
In 1999 Seagal took a different turn in his film projects with the surprising genteel Prince of Central Park (2000), about a child living inside NYC's most famous park. He returned to more familiar territory with further high-voltage, guns-blazing action in Exit Wounds (2001), Half Past Dead (2002), Out for a Kill (2003) and Belly of the Beast (2003).
Unbeknownst to many, in 1997 Seagal publicly announced that one of his Buddhist teachers, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, had accorded Seagal as a tulku, the reincarnation of a Buddhist Lama. This initial announcement was met with some disbelief until Penor Rinpoche himself gave a confirmation statement on Seagal's new title. Seagal has repeatedly discussed his involvement in Buddhism and how he devotes many hours studying and meditating this ancient Eastern religion.
While his box-office appeal has somewhat declined from his halcyon blockbusters of the mid-'90s, Seagal still has a very loyal fan base in the action movie genre and continues to remain a highly bankable star.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Christine Baranski is an American actress from Buffalo, New York. She has had a relatively lengthy career in both film and television. She has been nominated for 15 Emmy Awards, winning once. One of her most popular roles was that of neuroscientist Dr. Beverly Hofstadter in the sitcom " The Big Bang Theory ". She played this role from 2009 to 2019.
Baranski was born to a Polish-American family. Her parents were newspaper editor Lucien Baranski and his wife Virginia Mazurowska. Her grandparents were reportedly Polish theatrical actors. She was raised in the town of Cheektowaga, a suburb of Buffalo. Polish Americans have long been the dominant ethnicity in Cheektowaga.
Baranski received her secondary education at the Villa Maria Academy, a Catholic high school operated by the Felician Sisters. In 1970, she enrolled in the Juilliard School, a private performing arts conservatory located in New York City. She studied drama for four years. She graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
In 1980, Baranski made both her Off-Broadway debut and her Broadway debut. She later received critical acclaim for the leading role of Charlotte in the play "The Real Thing" (1982) by Tom Stoppard. For this role, Baranski won the 1984 "Tony Award Best Featured Actress in a Play".
In 1986, Baranski had a supporting role in the BDSM-themed erotic film "9½ Weeks", loosely based on the novel "Nine and a Half Weeks: A Memoir of a Love Affair" (1978) by Ingeborg Day (1940-2011). The film earned 100 million dollars at the worldwide box office, and became a cult favorite. It was the first popular film in Baranski's career.
In 1990, Baranski had a role in the courtroom drama "Reversal of Fortune". The film was based on the trial of lawyer Claus von Bülow (1926-2019) for the attempted murder of his wife. The film under-performed at the box office, but was nominated for several awards.
In 1993, Baranski played the tyrannical camp counselor Becky Martin-Granger in the black comedy film "Addams Family Values". The film was loosely based on the comic strip "The Addams Family" by Charles Addams (1912-1988). Becky was one of the film's main antagonists, and an opponent for Wednesday Addams (played by Christina Ricci). The film earned about 49 million dollars at the domestic box office, and was well-received critically.
In 1995, Baranski gained a major television role in the sitcom "Cybill" (1995-1998). She played Maryann Thorpe, a wealthy and sharp-tonged woman. Maryann suffered from long-term ennui, motivating her to become more involved in the personal life of her best friend Cybill Sheridan (played by Cybill Shepherd). The series lasted for 4 seasons and a total of 87 episodes. Baranski won critical acclaim for this role. She won the 1995"Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series".
In 1996, Baranski played the supporting role of Katharine Archer in the comedy film "The Birdcage". In the film, Katharine is a former lover of the openly gay Armand Goldman (played by Robin Williams) and the mother of his son Val Goldman (played by Dan Futterman). She agrees to pretend to be Armand's wife in a meeting with Val's prospective in-laws. The film earned about 185 million dollars at the worldwide box office, one of the greatest box office hits in Baranski's career.
In 2000, Baranski played Martha May Whovier in the Christmas film "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". The film was based on the 1957 children's story of the same name by Dr. Seuss (1904-1991). In this adaptation, the Grinch (played by Jim Carrey) has a life-long romantic interest in Martha May, but has trouble expressing his feelings to her. The film earned about 363 million dollars at the worldwide box office, and became the sixth highest-grossing film of 2000.
Also in 2000, Baranki was cast in the major role of producer Marsha Bickner in the short-lived sitcom "Welcome to New York" (2000-2001). The sitcom depicted the inner workings of morning news show. It lasted a single season and a total of 16 episodes. The series was canceled due to low ratings.
In 2002, Baranski was cast as the baker Mrs. Lovett in a revival of the musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (1979) by Stephen Sondheim (1930-) and Hugh Wheeler (1912 - 1987). The play features Lovett as the accomplice of the serial killer Sweeney Todd. It is a loose adaptation of the penny dreadful "The String of Pearls" (1846-1847). For this role, Baranski won the 2003 "Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical".
Also in 2002, Baranski played sensationalist reporter Mary Sunshine in the black comedy film "Chicago". The film earned about 307 million dollars at the worldwide box office. At the time t held the record as the highest grossing live-action musical in film history.
In 2003, Baranski was cast in the main role of Annie Brennan in the sitcom "Happy Family" (2003-2004). The sitcom depicted the problems of aging patents who have to deal with the eccentricities of their grown-up children. The series lasted a single season and a total of 22 episodes. Due to low ratings, there were no plans for a second season.
In 2008, Baranski played Tanya Chesham-Leigh in the romantic comedy "Mamma Mia! (film)". It was based on the theatrical musical "Mamma Mia!" (1999) by Catherine Johnson (1957-), and used hit songs by the Swedish pop group ABBA. In the film, Tanya is an old friend of the main character Donna Sheridan-Carmichael (played by Meryl Streep). The film earned about 616 million dollars at the worldwide box office, becoming the fifth highest-grossing film of 2008. Baranski returned to her role in the sequel "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" (2018), which was also a box office hit.
In 2009, Baranski was cast in the recurring role of Dr. Beverly Hofstadter in the sitcom "The Big Bang Theory". The character is depicted as a brilliant but self-centered scientist, who has a problematic relationship with her son Leonard Hofstadter (played by Johnny Galecki). Baranski appeared in 16 episodes of the series, and her character was popular. For this role, Baranski was nominated four times for the "Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series".
Also in 2009, Baranski was cast in the role of Diane Lockhart in the legal drama "The Good Wife" (2009-2016). Diane was depicted as a senior partner in a law firm, and the mentor of protagonist Alicia Florrick (played by Julianna Margulies). She was one of the series' main characters, and appeared in 156 episodes. The role was critically acclaimed, and Baranski was nominated 6 times for the "Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series".
In 2014, Baranski played Cinderella's Stepmother in the fairy-tale-themed fantasy film "Into the Woods". The film earned about 213 million dollars at the worldwide box office, and was praised by critics. The film reunited Baranski with her colleague Meryl Streep.
In 2017, Baranski returned to the role of Diane Lockhart in the legal drama "The Good Fight" (2017-), a sequel series "The Good Wife". This time Diane is the main character. In the initial episodes, she has lost her savings and is forced to resume her legal career to earn a living. As of 2021, four seasons of the series have been completed and a fifth one is about to begin.
In 2018, Baranski was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. Eligible inductees for this hall of fame include theatrical actors, playwrights and other theater practitioners who have had an American theatrical career for at least 25 years, and have at least five credits on major Broadway productions.
As of 2021, Baranski is 69-years-old. She has never retired from acting, and she remains highly popular with both critics and audiences.- Actress
- Writer
- Music Department
Annette O'Toole grew up in the Houston dance studio run by her mother. She made her television debut at the age of two, as a kid on The Don Mahoney Kiddie Trooper Show. When she was 13, with ten years of singing and dancing lessons behind her, she and her mother went to L.A. for a year to see if she could have a career in show business. Within two months, she got her first professional job: dancing with Danny Kaye on The Danny Kaye Show. "I've used my singing and dancing training in so many ways," she says. "The discipline you get from that is wonderful for an actor."
O'Toole's first acting role was in My Three Sons, followed by appearances in Gunsmoke, The Partridge Family, The Mod Squad, and Hawaii Five-O. Over the decades she has appeared in more than 40 series (among them Law & Order, Nash Bridges, and The Outer Limits), mini-series (Lonesome Dove, Dead by Sunset, Jewels) and TV movies, most notably playing (and singing as) Tammy Wynette in Stand By Your Man and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy in The Kennedys of Massachusetts, for which she received an Emmy nomination.
Playing Beverly Marsh in Stephen King's It is one of her fondest memories. (O'Toole judges her favorites based on the filming experience.) In this century, she played a bounty hunter on The Huntress, Clark Kent's adoptive mom on Smallville (where she and John Glover became lifelong friends) and Jim Carrey's mom on Kidding. She is currently a regular on the Netflix series Virgin River, renewed for a fifth season.
Her film career began in 1975, playing a Young American Miss contestant in Michael Ritchie's Smile. She has since appeared in such iconic films as 48 Hrs., Cat People, and Superman III as Lana Lang. (She has played Superman's adoptive mother and, here, his girlfriend.) Her favorite - out of all the TV and films - is the 1987 movie Cross My Heart, in which she co-starred with Martin Short as a couple on their third date, both of whom are trying to figure out how to share their biggest secrets.
For all her success in film and television, O'Toole's deepest love is the theater. When her six-year run on Smallville ended, she decided to focus on theater, which she has been doing for the past decade. She went to New York and her first audition led to her being cast in The Sea Gull. She has appeared in several off-Broadway productions, among them Adam Rapp's Kindness, Tracy Letts' Man from Nebraska, and Tennessee Williams' A Lovely Sunday For Creve Couer. (Performing on Broadway is still her goal.) She has also appeared in many regional productions, including Wendy Wasserstein's Third, Regina Taylor's Magnolia, and Jane Anderson's The Quality of Life.
Her most rewarding theatrical role was in Southern Comfort at the Public Theater in 2016. She played transgender male Robert Eads, for which she received the Lucille Lortel Award. ("Today they'd hire a transgender male," she says. "As they should.")
O'Toole's most fortuitous casting was co-starring with Michael McKean in the Lifetime movie Final Justice. Having known each other casually, they became good friends as they filmed in Portland. Back in L.A., their first date was the 1997 UCLA concert with Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Van Morrison. Soon after that they were married, each bringing along two children from previous marriages. Prolific songwriters - they co-wrote the Academy Award-nominated song "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" for the Christopher Guest film A Mighty Wind, which McKean starred in - they took their repertoire on the road in 2005, performing all around Los Angeles and at Feinstein's at the Regency in New York. They are currently working on a new musical called Harold and Lillian, based on a documentary of the same name.
"I'm really lucky because I found something that I love early on," O'Toole says, "and I love it even more now than I did then."- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Jeff Fahey was born in Olean, New York, one of 13 children of Jane
(Gallagher) and Francis Thomas Fahey, who worked in a clothing store.
He is of Irish descent. His family moved to Buffalo when he was 10,
where he attended Father Baker's High School. After graduation in 1972
he traveled around the world doing odd jobs. He was a crewman on a
fishing boat, drove an ambulance in Germany, lived in a kibbutz in
Israel and spent some time in India. He then returned to Buffalo and
joined the Studio Arena Theatre. From there he went to New York City,
where he studied with Myra Rastova, began doing off-Broadway theater
and television soap operas. He started a production company and
produced off-Broadway shows out of the Raft Theatre on Theatre Row. He
first gained attention as a motion picture actor in
Lawrence Kasdan's
Silverado (1985), in which he played
Brian Dennehy's deputy Tyree, a
cold-blooded killer with a thirst for vengeance. He starred in the
acclaimed live television play
The Execution of Raymond Graham (1985)
and the TNT mini-series "44 Days". He starred for over two years in the
daytime serial
One Life to Live (1968). He
appeared in the Broadway revival of "Brigadoon," toured with
"Oklahoma," performed in Paris in "West Side Story" and in London in
"Orphans" with Albert Finney.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
American stage, screen and television actress, and comedian Carol Kane (b. Carolyn Laurie Kane, June 18, 1952, in Cleveland, Ohio), was born to Elaine Joy (née Fetterman), a jazz singer and pianist, and Michael Myron Kane, an architect. Her family is Jewish (from Russia, Poland, and Austria). Due to her parents' divorce, Carol spent most of her childhood in boarding schools until 1965. She also attended Professional Children's School in Upper West Side New York, and made her professional theater debut in a 1966 production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) starring Tammy Grimes. Kane, just 14 years old.
At 20 years old, Kane landed the lead role in William Fruets World War II film, Wedding in White (1972). Kane starred as Jeannie Dougall, a teenager whom after is raped is left with a moral dilemma when she discovers that the incident has left her pregnant. The actress received a surprise Academy Award nomination for her performance in the 1974 independent film, Hester Street (1975); Times of Israel describes Kane's character, Gitl, as "a straight-from-the-shtetl immigrant who, with her young son, joins her husband (Steven Keats) who is already halfway assimilated in New York's Lower East Side; the push and the pull between tradition and change drive the story to its bittersweet conclusion."
The following decade, from 1980-1983, she appeared on the television series Taxi (1978). Kane portrayed Simka Dahblitz-Gravas, wife of Latka Gravas (Andy Kaufman). She received two Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe nomination for her work in the series. Over the years, Kane racked up tons of credits from Taxi and The Princess Bride (1987), to Scrooged (1988), and more recently, the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015); the actress is making audiences laugh by playing Lillian Kaushtupper, in a recent interview, Kane described Lillian as "a hardworking landlady in Harlem who is very attached to the life in New York as she's known it."- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Christopher D'Olier Reeve was born September 25, 1952, in New York
City, to journalist
Barbara Johnson (née Barbara
Pitney Lamb) and writer/professor F.D. Reeve (Franklin D'Olier Reeve). He came
from an upper-class family; his paternal grandfather was CEO of
Prudential Financial, and one of his maternal great-grandfathers was
Supreme Court Associate Justice Mahlon Pitney.
When Reeve was four, his parents divorced. His mother moved him and his brother Benjamin to Princeton, New Jersey, and married an investment banker
a few years later. After graduating from high school, Reeve studied at
Cornell University while at the same time working as a professional
actor. In his final year at Cornell, he was one of two students
selected (Robin Williams was the
other) to study at New York's famous Juilliard School, under the renowned
John Houseman. Although
Christopher is best known for his role as
Superman (1978), a role which he played
with both charisma and grace, his acting career spans a much larger
ground. Paralyzed after a horse riding accident, he died suddenly at
age 52 after several years of living and working with his severe
disability.- Actor
- Soundtrack
- Additional Crew
Born James Jonah Cummings on November 3, 1952, he grew up in
Youngstown, Ohio.
Sooner or later, he moved to New Orleans. There, he designed Mardi Gras
floats, was a singer, door-to-door salesman, and a Louisiana riverboat
deckhand.
Then Cummings moved to Anaheim, California, where he started his career
playing Lionel from the program
Dumbo's Circus (1985).- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
William G. Scott was born in 1952 in Bessemer, Alabama. He attended Birmingham-Southern College for two years. He lived in New York City prior to moving to Hollywood in the late 1970s.
Changing his name to Glenn Shadix, he made his film debut in the poorly received The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), later winning a breakthrough role in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988) as Otho, the pretentious and treacherous interior designer who dangerously dabbles in the paranormal. Tim Burton went on to cast Shadix as the voice of the Mayor of Halloween Town in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), and Senator Nado in Planet of the Apes (2001).
Notable television credits include NBC's Seinfeld (1989), and HBO's Carnivàle (2003). On September 7, 2010, Shadix accidentally fell at his condominium in Birmingham, Alabama, and died of blunt trauma to his head. He had already had mobility problems and was wheelchair-bound. Shadix was survived by his mother, sister and brother-in-law.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Secondary to studying performing arts as American University in Washington, D.C., Aaron made her debut in motion pictures with a small part in Robert Altman's Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982). Since, she has built her acting career as a character actress, and continues to work with some of cinema's most significant directors; particularly, Woody Allen and Mike Nichols.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
A whiz-kid with special effects, Robert is from the Spielberg camp of
film-making (Steven Spielberg produced
many of his films). Usually working with writing partner
Bob Gale, Robert's earlier films show he has a
talent for zany comedy
(Romancing the Stone (1984),
1941 (1979)) and special effect vehicles
(Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
and
Back to the Future (1985)).
His later films have become more serious, with the hugely successful
Tom Hanks vehicle
Forrest Gump (1994) and the
Jodie Foster film
Contact (1997), both critically acclaimed
movies. Again, these films incorporate stunning effects. Robert has
proved he can work a serious story around great effects.- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Graham Greene was born on 22 June 1952 in Six Nations Reserve, Ontario, Canada. He is an actor and writer, known for The Green Mile (1999), Wind River (2017) and Dances with Wolves (1990). He has been married to Hilary Blackmore since 20 December 1990. They have two children.- Misty Rowe was born on 1 June 1952 in Glendora, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Goodbye, Norma Jean (1976), A Pleasure Doing Business (1979) and When Things Were Rotten (1975).
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Born September 30, 1952, in Royton, near Oldham, England, Jack Wild was
discovered by talent agent
June Collins, mother of rock star
Phil Collins. His breakthrough came
when he landed the role of Oliver in the London stage production of
"Oliver!" When it came to casting the film, the role of the Artful
Dodger went to Jack, a role that resulted in his getting an Oscar
nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Fresh from this success, Jack was
offered the lead role in the American television series
H.R. Pufnstuf (1969). This
Sid Krofft and
Marty Krofft production featured Wild as a
boy marooned in an enchanted land with puppets and actors in elaborate
costumes. The success of this program led to Wild reprising the role
for the film version, Pufnstuf (1970).
Other roles followed, including
Melody (1971) and
Flight of the Doves (1971).
Around the same time, Wild released three albums ("The Jack Wild
Album"; "Everything's Coming up Roses", featuring along with cover
numbers a couple of new songs written by up-and-coming songwriter
Lynsey de Paul; and "Beautiful World").
By 1972, however, he was already being demoted to the role of
supporting actor for
The Pied Piper (1972). He also
appeared in
Our Mutual Friend (1976).
He returned to films in two small roles: the miller's son in
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
and a peddler in Basil (1998). Wild
underwent surgery for oral cancer in July 2004, and had some vocal
cords and part of his tongue removed. Unfortunately, the cancer proved
untreatable and he died on 1 March 2006.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Alfre Woodard was born on November 8, 1952 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the
youngest of three children of Constance, a homemaker, and Marion H.
Woodard, an interior designer. She was named by her godmother, who
claimed she saw a vision of Alfre's name written out in gold
letters. A former high school cheerleader and track star, she got the
acting bug after being persuaded to audition for a school play by a nun
at her school. She went on to study acting at Boston University and
enjoyed a brief stint on Broadway before moving to Los Angeles,
California. She got her first break in
Remember My Name (1978) which
also starred Jeff Goldblum. She lives in
Santa Monica, California with her husband, writer
Roderick M. Spencer, and their
two adopted children: Mavis and Duncan. She was named one of the Most
Beautiful People in America by People Magazine.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Jonathan Scott Frakes was born on August 19, 1952 in Bellefonte, in
central Pennsylvania. He is the son of Doris J. (Yingling) and Dr.
James R. Frakes, a professor. His parents moved with Jonathan and his
younger brother Daniel to Bethlehem in eastern Pennsylvania. There, his
father taught English at Lehigh University, where he held the Fairchild
chair in American Literature until his passing in 2002. Frakes is of
German, and some English, ancestry.
While growing up Jonathan was introduced to jazz by his father and
started playing the trombone when he was in fourth grade. As a child
Jonathan was always friendly, funny and somewhat of an actor according
to a childhood friend. In high school he played in the band and ran
track. He graduated from Liberty High in Bethlehem in 1970. The day
after he graduated he started classes at Pennsylvania State University,
enrolling as a psychology major. The next summer he worked as an usher
for the local theater and observed his peers thoroughly enjoying
acting. He was motivated to switch his major to theater arts and
graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1974.
At this point he decided to move to New York City and try to make it as
an actor. The roles did not come easily so he had to take side jobs,
such as a waiter, a furniture mover (where he injured up his back), and
a stint as Captain America for Marvel Comics. Meanwhile he won roles in
the Broadway musical "Shenandoah" and on the soap opera
The Doctors (1969) as Vietnam
veteran Tom Carroll from 1977 to 1978. At his agent's urging Jonathan
moved to Los Angeles in late 1978 to try his hand at television guest
appearances. He guest-starred on several of the big prime-time shows of
the time, including
Charlie's Angels (1976),
Fantasy Island (1977),
Barnaby Jones (1973),
Quincy M.E. (1976),
Highway to Heaven (1984),
The Waltons (1972), and
The Dukes of Hazzard (1979).
During the 1980s Jonathan landed a starring role in a prime-time soap
opera, Bare Essence (1983),
which had spun off a successful miniseries of the same name. However
the show did not take off with the viewers and was soon canceled. He
went back to guest appearances for two more years until he got the part
of Stanley Hazard in the Civil War epic
North & South: Book 1, North & South (1985). After
spending more than six months filming all over the southern United
States, he and his co-star, Genie Francis,
fell in love (he had met her three years before when they co-starred in
Bare Essence (1983)). During
that time he and Genie didn't have much to do with each other, other
than his making fun of her hair, according to her. However three years
later they were an item.
In early 1987 Jonathan went to an audition for a new television series
at the urging of his soon-to-be wife and her family. After six weeks,
and seven auditions, he won the role that would bring him worldwide
fame: that of Commander William Riker on
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).
It was at this time, he and Genie announced their engagement. They
would have to postpone their wedding twice because of his job but were
finally married in the first-season hiatus on May 28, 1988. All of his
new co-stars attended the wedding, along with
Star Trek (1966) creator
Gene Roddenberry. During the seven
years Frakes starred on
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987),
he not only acted but discovered that he had a talent for directing. He
helmed eight episodes in all and was invited to direct on the Next
Generation spin-offs,
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)
and
Star Trek: Voyager (1995).
The day after his 42nd birthday, on August 20, his son, Jameson Ivor
Frakes, was born. Jameson is named after both his grandfathers, the
late James Frakes and the late actor
Ivor Francis, Genie's father. During this
time Jonathan actually turned down work, preferring to stay at home and
raise his son with his wife. For the next two years he did a few guest
appearances on television.
In 1996 it was announced that he was to be the director of the next
Star Trek film,
Star Trek: First Contact (1996).
He received critical praise for his work on the film and it became the
highest-grossing entry of the franchise to date. He formed a production
company, Goepp Circle Productions, named after the street he lived on
in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Just two days after his ninth wedding
anniversary in 1997, Elizabeth Francis Frakes was born. Sadly just two
weeks prior Jonathan's brother, Daniel, passed away from pancreatic
cancer. In 1998 he was asked to direct the ninth Star Trek film,
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998).
Following mixed reviews for this film he continued to direct in movies
and television, act in a few non-Star Trek roles, and starred in the
tenth Star Trek film,
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Paul Reubens was born Paul Rubenfeld on August 27, 1952 in Peekskill, New York, to Judy (Rosen), a teacher, and Milton Rubenfeld, a car salesman who had flown for the air forces of the U.S., U.K., and Israel, becoming one of the latter country's pioneering pilots. Paul grew up in Sarasota, Florida, where his parents owned a lamp store. During
winters, The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus called
Sarasota home, and young Paul counted such big-top families as the
Wallendas and the Zacchinis among his neighbors. When he was
11-years-old, he joined the local Asolo Theater, and during the next
six years, he appeared in a variety of plays. After graduating from
Sarasota High School in 1970, he attended Boston University for one
year before deciding to seek his fortune as Paul Reubens in Hollywood,
where he enrolled as an acting major at the California Institute of the
Arts and accepted a string of pay-the-rent jobs ranging from pizza chef
to Fuller Brush salesman.
In the mid 1970s, his acting career grew slowly and steadily with small
roles in theater productions, gigs at local comedy clubs and four guest
appearances on The Gong Show (1976). During this time of education/employment, he
joined an improvisational comedy troupe called The Groundlings. The
popular gang of yuksters, whose roster has included Conan O'Brien, Lisa Kudrow,
the late Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz, and Julia Sweeney, wrung laughs from audiences
with skits starring scads of imaginative, self-created characters.
Among Reubens's contributions to this comedic community were a
philandering husband named Moses Feldman, an Indian chief named Jay
Longtoe, and, the character he became best known for, Pee-Wee Herman, who debuted in 1978.
Pee-Wee was a funny man-child of indeterminate age and sexuality who
created a sarcastic enthusiasm for the popular culture of the '50s and
'60s. The geeky character's wardrobe consisted of a gray suit, a white
short-sleeved shirt accessorized with a red clip-on bow tie, and white
patent-leather loafers. He wore his jet-black hair military short with
a defiant tuft in front, and he accentuated his lily-white complexion
with pink cheeks and red lipstick. Reubens drew inspiration for
Pee-Wee's geeky behavior from a youth he had attended summer camp with,
and derived his creation's boyish voice from a character he played as a
child actor. Pee-Wee appeared for only 10 minutes of The Groundlings
show, but he nonetheless built up a considerable following and turned
out to be a star of the '80s and early '90s. The Pee-Wee Herman Show (1981), ran for five
sellout months at the Los Angeles's Roxy nightclub, and HBO taped the
performance and aired it as a special.
Now a genuine comedy-circuit star, he became a frequent guest of
David Letterman and a favorite at Caroline's in New York. In 1984, he sold out
Carnegie Hall. He later auditioned for the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975), but when
that didn't turn out as planned, he started writing a feature-length
screenplay for Pee-Wee to star in, and asked friend Tim Burton to direct.
Released to wildly divergent reviews, Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), followed its star
cross-country in a madcap search for his beloved, stolen bike. The $7
million picture ended up grossing $45 million. That following year, CBS
which had been losing children's audiences to cable programming, was
interested in finding something to shore up its Saturday Morning
lineup. The network company signed him to act/produce and to direct its
live-action children's program called Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986). They doled out an
eye-popping budget of $325,000 per episode - the same price as a prime-
time sitcom. Reubens received complete creative control, albeit with
three minor exceptions. During its five-year-run on CBS, he never
appeared in general as himself. He even granted printed interviews in
full Pee-Wee regalia.
The image of Pee-Wee was broken on July 26, 1991. On his summer
vacation, Reubens was visiting his parents in Sarasota and sought
escape from boredom by catching a showing of the X-rated film, Nurse
Nancy. He fell victim to a police sting operation and was arrested for
sex charges when detectives allegedly saw him playing with his private
parts. He was released on $219 bail and nobody realized what had
happened until somebody recognized him beneath his long hair and
goatee. The media went berserk: 'Kids show star arrested for indecent
exposure'. Because of his behavior, CBS dropped the Playhouse and
related merchandise was released from its shelves. He agreed to pay a
$50 fine plus $85 in court costs to Sarasota County, and he produced a
30 second public service message for the Partnership For Drug-Free
America commercial. As part of the deal, the county sealed all legal
papers relating to the actor's arrest and didn't leave Reubens with a
criminal record. The scandal marked the near death of Pee-Wee
Herman. Reubens appeared as his favorite character for the last time at
that Autumn's MTV Music Video Awards. The enthusiastic reception was
not surprising, as he had received 15 thousand supportive letters
during his arrest. Regardless, he had recently made a promise not to
play Pee-Wee anymore and used his arrest as an chance to portray other
roles. A new feature length film by Netflix available beginning March 18, 2016
allowed Reubens to show Pee-Wee fans his character again in Pee-wee's Big Holiday (2016).
Reubens has
landed a series of offbeat character roles. One year after he was taken
into custody, he appeared in Burton's Batman Returns (1992) as the Penguin's unloving
father, and as a vampire henchman in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). Subsequent jobs have
included a voice over for Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), a healthy stint as
Andrew J. Lansing III on Murphy Brown (1988), and roles in the feature films,
Dunston Checks In (1996), Matilda (1996), Buddy (1997) and Mystery Men (1999). He also signed to emcee a new
game show based on the popular 'You Don't Know Jack' CD-ROM
version.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Celia Imrie is an Olivier award-winning and Screen Actors Guild-nominated actress, a Variety magazine 'Icon' and Women in Film and Television 'Lifetime Achievement award' winner. As well as her acclaimed film, television and theatre work, she is also a Sunday Times best-selling author. Celia is much loved for her film roles including The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel film series, The Bridget Jones film series, Calendar Girls, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, Finding Your Feet and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again. Most recent film work include Mrs Green in independent horror feature, Malevolent and Joan Erikson in Year By The Sea.
Television roles include, Phyllis in Pamela Adlon's semi-autobiographical comedy Better things, Kettle in Sky Atlantic and Showtime's Patrick Melrose, Vera in Barbara Vine's A Dark Adapted Eye and Maggie Pit in unconventional comedy Hang Ups.
Celia also has an extensive list of theatre credits and she has performed in many of London's major theatres. These include, Tony and Olivier Award winning comedy Noises Off at The Old Vic Theatre, Acorn Antiques: The Musical! at Theatre Royal Haymarket in which Celia won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2005, The Sea at The National Theatre opposite Dame Judi Dench and the universally acclaimed production of King Lear at the Old Vic in 2016.
Celia will soon take to the stage in Party Time/Celebration, the sixth double-bill of one-act plays in The Jamie Lloyd Company's Pinter at the Pinter Season, commemorating the 10th anniversary of Nobel Prize-winning writer Harold Pinter.- Actress
- Producer
The CCH stands for Carol Christine Hilaria, her birth name. Most of her characters are enriched with positive attributes -- strength, confidence, integrity, strong-mindedness -- and it is a testament to the abilities of this four-time Emmy nominated actress that she continues on such a high plane in a five-decade career.
Born on Christmas Day 1952 in Guyana, she was raised on a sugar cane plantation. Her parents, Betsy Enid Arnella (James) and Ronald Urlington Pounder, moved the family to the States while she was still a young girl, but she and her sister were subsequently sent to a convent boarding school in Britain where they were introduced to art and the classics. Following high school graduation, she arrived in New York and studied at Ithaca College, where her acting talents were strongly tapped into. Regional and classical repertory theater followed, earning roles in such productions as "The Mighty Gents" (1979) with Morgan Freeman at the New York Shakespeare Festival and "Open Admissions" (1984), her Broadway debut. Other stage work includes "Coriolanus," "Antony and Cleopatra," "The Frog," "The Lodger" and "Mumbo Jumbo."
After bit/featured roles in All That Jazz (1979), I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982) and Prizzi's Honor (1985), CCH earned cult status in the art-house film Bagdad Cafe (1987) (aka "Bagdad Café" in the US) as the offbeat owner of a roadside café. She continued to impress with support roles in Postcards from the Edge (1990), The Importance of Being Earnest (1992), an all-black version: as Miss Prism), Benny & Joon (1993), RoboCop 3 (1993), Sliver (1993), Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995),Face/Off (1997), Funny Valentines (1999), The Devil in Miss Jones 6 (1999), Baby of the Family (2002), Rain (2008), Orphan (2009), Avatar (2009) (as the voice of Mo'at, and its sequels), My Girlfriend's Back (2010). Home Again (2012) (as a Jamaican) and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013).
Pounder's prominence came, however, with television. Often cast as succinct, professional types (doctors, policewoman, judges) or characters with a variety of accents, she is known for her understated intensity and earned an Emmy nomination for her stint on the hospital drama ER (1994). She has also performed in a number of highly acclaimed topical mini-movie dramas, including Go Tell It on the Mountain (1985), Common Ground (1990), Murder in Mississippi (1990), Little Girl Fly Away (1998), A Touch of Hope (1999), Boycott (2001), Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (2004) (as Winnie Mandela) for which a number of kudos have come her way.
Millennium TV output includes regular/recurring roles on the series The Shield (2002) in which she earned an NAACP Award and Emmy nomination as Detective Claudette Wym; the social drama Ciencias del espacio (2008) as matriarch Mrs. Trainor, and NCIS: New Orleans (2014) as medical examiner Loretta Wade. She later found voice work in animated projects and video games.- Producer
- Actress
- Writer
Firebrand Roseanne Barr has long been one of America's funniest and most controversial comedians.
She was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Helen (Davis), a cashier and bookkeeper, and Jerome Hershel "Jerry" Barr, a salesman. Her family was Jewish, and had moved to the U.S. from Russia, Lithuania, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She dropped out of high school when she was seventeen, and, after a car accident, was admitted to a mental institution, claiming she was having nightmares and memory loss. She left the institute less than a year later. At seventeen, she gave birth to her first daughter, Brandi Brown, and gave her up for adoption. She began working at a restaurant as a dishwasher and waitress. Her hilarious comments to the customers she waited on led her to doing stand-up comedy at the restaurant. She married Bill Pentland and they had three children together, Jessica, Jennifer, and Jacob Pentland.
Roseanne worked doing stand-up comedy until her August 23, 1985 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) thrust her into the limelight. In 1987, HBO offered her a show of her own, On Location: The Roseanne Barr Show (1987). It was canceled after a short time. In 1989, Roseanne starred opposite Meryl Streep and Ed Begley Jr. in She-Devil (1989). Though her first picture wasn't as successful as she might have hoped, her sitcom, Roseanne (1988), debuted in 1988 and ran for 9 seasons on ABC, co-starring John Goodman. It dealt with real-life issues in a lower middle-class working family. During its first season on ABC, it leaped to #2 in the ratings. After the sitcom's first season, Roseanne gained notoriety when she gave a screeching, crotch-grabbing performance of "The Star Spangled Banner" at a baseball game.
When Roseanne divorced her first husband, Bill Pentland, after 16 years of marriage in 1990 and married Roseanne (1988) co-star Tom Arnold only four days later, her sitcom was already beginning its downward spiral. In 1991, she started to be billed as Roseanne Arnold. Around this time, she began to claim that she, as well as her siblings, had been physically and sexually abused as a child. Both her siblings and parents denied the charges, and lie detector tests used on Roseanne's parents came back negative. The court battles led to ten years of estrangement with her parents and siblings. Her marriage with Arnold lasted four years before she filed for divorce from him for physical abuse and domestic violence. It is still not known if the accusations were true. Although she insisted that he hit her, she admits that he never abused her three children from her previous marriage:
In 1996, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won, but she was not there to accept it. Luckily, Tom Arnold's exit from "Roseanne" happened towards the end of the sixth season, allowing the show to have an almost smooth ending. However, after the sixth season of Roseanne (1988), the plots started to run dry and ratings began to drop. During the season following her divorce, she insisted on being billed as simply "Roseanne." After Roseanne (1988) was canceled, she went on Broadway to play "The Wicked Witch of the West" in "The Wizard of Oz" to rave reviews.
On Valentine's Day 1995, Roseanne married former bodyguard Ben Thomas. With Thomas, she had her tubal ligation surgery reversed in order to become pregnant with her fifth child, Buck Thomas. In 1997, she slowly began being billed as "Roseanne Thomas", as in the last 11 episodes of Roseanne, as executive producer (she was still "Roseanne" in the cast credits). She guest-starred in The Nanny (1993) as Roseanne Thomas in late 1997. In 2002, she filed for divorce against Thomas for the second time (the first time, in 1998, she dropped the suit), accusing him of being disturbed and claiming that he threatened to run off with their son.
After the divorce, she began to study the Kabballah, a form of Jewish mysticism, and those around her said she became amazingly centered and stable. In the 2000s, she ended the feud with her parents and siblings and went back to being billed as Roseanne Barr. Today, Roseanne Barr Pentland Arnold Thomas spends her time with her family in her home in El Segundo, California.
Always outspoken, Roseanne began commenting on politics in earnest in the 2000s, and unsuccessfully ran for the Green Party's presidential nomination in 2012. She was subsequently chosen as the Peace and Freedom Party's candidate for President of the United States in '12, receiving 61,971 votes in the general election, and placing sixth. Her run is depicted in the documentary Roseanne for President! (2015).
Initially a left-leaning liberal, she became considerably more right-wing throughout the 2010s. Her show Roseanne returned for a tenth season in 2018, to blockbuster ratings, but was canceled after Roseanne sent a racially-offensive tweet that capped off a longer run of incendiary comments.- Actress
- Producer
Susan Dey was born on 10 December 1952 in Pekin, Illinois, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for The Partridge Family (1970), L.A. Law (1986) and Skyjacked (1972). She has been married to Bernard Sofronski since 20 February 1988. She was previously married to Leonard Hirshan.- Director
- Producer
- Actor
Gus Green Van Sant Jr. is an American filmmaker, painter, screenwriter, photographer and musician from Louisville, Kentucky who is known for directing films such as Good Will Hunting, the 1998 remake of Psycho, Gerry, Elephant, My Own Private Idaho, To Die For, Milk, Last Days, Finding Forrester, Promised Land, Drugstore Cowboy and Mala Noche.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Roxanne Hart was born in Trenton, New Jersey, to Joan Irene (McKee) and Edward J. Hart, Jr. Her father
was a teacher who later became the school principal at Horace Greeley
High School in Chappaqua, New York. Roxanne graduated from
Greeley in 1969. She appeared in several Broadway productions before
she made her film debut performance in
The Verdict (1982). She played the
part of Sally Doneghy. Since, she made appearances in a number of
films, including Once Around (1991)
with Holly Hunter, Showtime's
made-for-television film
Alone (1997) supporting an
all-star cast ensemble, including,
Hume Cronyn,
James Earl Jones,
Chris Cooper and
Shelley Duvall. And
The Good Girl (2002) starring
Jennifer Aniston.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Marilu Henner was born on 6 April 1952 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for L.A. Story (1991), Taxi (1978) and Noises Off... (1992). She has been married to Michael Brown since 21 December 2006. She was previously married to Robert Lieberman and Frederic Forrest.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Mitch Pileggi was born on 5 April 1952 in Portland, Oregon, USA. He is an actor, known for Basic Instinct (1992), The X-Files (1993) and The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008). He has been married to Arlene Warren since 1 January 1997. They have one child. He was previously married to Debbie Andrews.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Michael Dorn is an American actor from Texas. He is best known for playing Worf in the "Star Trek" franchise, the first Klingon character to be part of a television series' main cast. Dorn played the character regularly from 1987 to 2002, appearing in four films and 272 television episodes. Dorn has had more episode appearances than any other actor in the franchise's main cast.
In 1952, Dorn was born in Luling, Texas. Luling was a small city, established as a railroad town in 1874. It used to be visited by cattle drivers on the Chisholm Trail. In the 1950 census, the city had a population of about 4,300 people. Dorn's parents were Fentress Dorn, Jr. and his wife Allie Lee Nauls. Relatively little is known about his family background.
The Dorn family eventually moved to California. Dorn was primarily raised in Pasadena, a city located 11 miles (17.7 kilometers) northeast of Downtown Los Angeles. He eventually attended Pasadena City College, a community college located in Pasadena. He studied radio and television production, though he had not planned on becoming an actor.
Following his graduation, Dorn initially pursued a career as a rock musician. He served as a member of several California-based music bands, though fame eluded him. In 1976, Dorn made his film debut in the sports film "Rocky". He had an uncredited role as the bodyguard of boxer Apollo Creed (played by Carl Weathers).
Dorn had his next film role in the science fiction-horror film "Demon Seed" (1977), which depicted the forced impregnation of a woman by a sentient computer. He had a small television role in the short-lived soap opera "W.E.B. " (1978), which depicted the behind-the-scenes activities of the personnel of a television network.
Dorn came to the attention of a television producer, who learned that the novice actor had no formal training. The producer helped introduce Dorn to a talent agent, who arranged for some acting lessons for Dorn. Dorn was trained for six months by the acting coach Charles Erich Conrad (1925 - 2009).
Dorn received his first regular television role when cast as officer Jebediah Turner in the crime drama series "CHiPs". The series depicted the activities of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). He was a series regular from 1979 to 1982. For most of the 1980s, Dorn played bit parts and one-shot characters in various television series.
In 1985, Dorn had a small part in the neo-noir thriller "Jagged Edge". The film depicts an affair between defense lawyer Teddy Barnes (played by Glenn Close) and a client who is accused of murdering his wife. Barnes is increasingly convinced that her lover is manipulating her. The film was a modest box office hit, and received decent reviews.
Dorn received his big break as an actor when cast as Worf in the science fiction television series "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987-1994). It was the third television series in the "Star Trek" franchise and featured an entirely new cast of characters. Klingons had traditionally been portrayed as a warrior race with an antagonistic relationship with the United Federation of Planets. Worf was depicted as an orphaned Klingon who was raised by human adoptive parents. He had chosen to follow a career in the Federation's Starfeet, and his upbringing resulted in him having unique cultural traits. Worf turned out to be one of the series' most popular characters.
In 1991, Dorn appeared in the film "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" which depicted the cast of the original Star Trek series. Dorn played the role of a namesake ancestor of Worf, who was employed as a defense lawyer. He next played Worf himself in the film "Star Trek Generations" (1994), which featured the cast of the third series. The film was successful and was followed by three sequels. Dorn played Worf in three subsequent films: "Star Trek: First Contact" (1996), "Star Trek: Insurrection" (1998), and "Star Trek: Nemesis" (2002).
In 1995, Dorn (as Worf) was added to the main cast of the television series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993-1999), the fourth "Star Trek" television series. The addition to the cast was part of an effort to boost the series' ratings. The series introduced a romantic relationship between Worf and chief science officer Jadzia Dax (played by Terry Farrell). The two characters were married in the series' 6th season, though the marriage ended with Jadzia's death in the season finale. The series was canceled in 1999, ending Dorn's regular appearances in "Star Trek" television series.
During the 1990s, Dorn started regularly working as a voice actor in animated television series. Among his notable voice roles in this period were the cyborg gargoyle Coldstone in the urban fantasy series "Gargoyles" (1994-1997), Gorgon the Inhuman in the superhero series "Fantastic Four" (1994-1996), and both the villainous god Kalibak and the superhero Steel/John Henry Irons in the superhero series "Superman: The Animated Series (1996-2000). He also received the eponymous role of I.M. Weasel in the comedy series "I Am Weasel" (1997-2000). The series focused on a rivalry between the successful and popular character Weaser and his envious frenemy I.R. Baboon (played by Charlie Adler), who constantly tries to upstage him.
In the 2000s, Dorm continued working regularly as a voice actor, though he often played one-shot characters. Among his prominent roles in superhero series of this period were the super-villain Kraven the Hunter/Sergei Kravinoff in "Spider-Man: The New Animated Series" (2003) and villainous ghost Fright Knight in "Danny Phantom" (2004-2007). and the super-villain Bane in "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" (2008-2011).
In a 2010 interview, Dorn mentioned that he had been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer. While receiving treatment, he decided to switch to a vegan diet.
In 2011, Dorn was cast as the villainous god Lord Darkar in Nickelodeon's dub of the popular Italian animation series "Winx Club". Darkar was a major villain in the series 2nd season but was eventually killed. Whether his death was permanent is questionable because he had the form of a phoenix.
From 2011 to 2015, Dorn had the regular role of Dr. Carver Burke in the police procedural series "Castle (2009-2016). Burke is depicted as the psychiatrist treating female lead Kate Beckett (played by Stana Katic) for post-traumatic stress disorder. She eventually confides in him about other psychological problems which she is facing.
In 2011, Dorn had another prominent role in a superhero series when he voiced Ronan, the Accuser, in the final season of "The Super Hero Squad Show" (2009-2011). Ronan is a prominent Marvel character, typically serving as an officer of the Kree Empire, a militaristic space empire. His role as a hero or a villain depends on the Empire's plan in any given story-line.
From 2015 to 2016, Dorn played the alien Captain Mozar in the superhero series "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles " (2012-2017). Mozar is a humanoid Triceratops leading an alien invasion fleet to Earth. The character was a regular antagonist of the Turtles, portrayed as a brutal military commander.
From 2016 to 2017, Dorn voiced the super-villain Prometheus/Adrian Chase in the live-action series "Arrow" (2012-2020). The series portrayed the adventures of the superhero Green Arrow/Oliver Queen, and Prometheus holds Queen responsible for his father's death and seeks revenge.
In 2017, Dorn voiced Fortress Maximus, an Autobot Titan, in the animated web series "Transformers: Titans Return". The series featured characters from the "Generation 1" version of the "Transformers" franchise. Fortress Maximus was introduced in the 1980s. Dorn replaced the three previous voice actors of the character, Stephen Keener, Kunihiko Yasui, and Ikuya Sawaki.
From 2017 to 2018, Dorn voiced Atrocitus in the superhero series "Justice League Action" (2016-2018). Atrocitus is a prominent DC super-villain, typically depicted as the leader of the Red Lantern Corps. In the original comics, Atrocitus is a character mainly motivated by revenge. His wife and daughters were murdered before his eyes, and since then, Atrocitus has sought revenge against those responsible for the tragedy.
From 2017 to 2019, Dorn voiced the recurring character Bupu, the sable antelope, in the coming-of-age series "The Lion Guard" (2016-2019). The series was a spin-off of the film "The Lion King" (1994) and featured the adventures of Simba's son Kion. Bupu is depicted as the leader of a herd of antelopes and too proud and stubborn to follow orders from others.
By 2021, Dorn is 68-years-old and continues to add new roles to his resume.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Carol Ann Susi (February 2, 1952 - November 11, 2014) was an American actress best known for her portrayal of the voice of recurring unseen character Mrs. Wolowitz on the television series The Big Bang Theory (2007).
Susi was born in Brooklyn and was of Italian descent. She studied acting at HB Studio in New York City before moving to Los Angeles in the 1970s. Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) was her first screen appearance. Susi also had extensive experience in live theater and voiced a character on the video game installment of CSI: NY (2008). On November 11, 2014, she died of cancer, aged 62.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Zwick moves deftly between the roles of writer, director and producer. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his direction of the 1989 critically acclaimed Civil War drama, Glory. He received his second Golden Globe nomination as a director for Legends of the Fall. Zwick received an Academy Award as one of the producers of Shakespeare in Love, as well as a second nomination for Traffic. He wrote, directed and produced the feature film The Last Samurai. Zwick continues to work with his partner, Marshall Herskovitz, at their company Bedford Falls where they created Thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, Once and Again and Blood Diamond.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Bronx-born and raised Chazz Palminteri was a natural choice to continue
the Italianate torch in film. In the tradition set forth in the 1970s
by such icons as director
Martin Scorsese and actors
Robert De Niro,
Al Pacino,
John Cazale and
Joe Pesci, Palminteri has brought grit, muscle
and an evocative realism to the sidewalks of his New York neighborhood,
violent as they are and were.
Chazz was born Calogero Lorenzo Palminteri in 1952 in the Bronx, New York, the son of Rose, a homemaker, and Lorenzo Palminteri, a bus driver. He grew up in a tough area of the Bronx, giving him the life lessons
that would later prove very useful to his career. He graduated from
Theodore Roosevelt High School and started out pursuing his craft in
1973 studying at the Actor's Studio. He appeared off-Broadway in the
early 1980s while paying his dues as a bouncer and doorman in
nightclubs, among other jobs.
In 1986 he headed west and found that his ethnic qualifications was
well-suited for getting tough-talker parts. Slick attorneys,
unflinching hoods and hard-nosed cops were all part of his ethnic
streetwise persona in such TV shows as
Wiseguy (1987),
Matlock (1986) and
Hill Street Blues (1981).
In films he started off playing a 1930s-style gangster in
Sylvester Stallone's
Oscar (1991). Although his roles were
sharp, well-acted and with a distinct edge to them, there was nothing
in them to show that he was capable of stronger leading parts.
In 1988 he wrote for himself a play entitled "A Bronx Tale," a powerful
one-man stage commentary in which he depicted his bruising childhood in
great detail, which included witnessing gangland slayings. Palminteri
brought each and every character to life (18 in all) in this
autobiographical piece -- his friends, enemies, even his own family. He
showcased for years in both Los Angeles and New York, finally sparking
the interest of his film idol,
Robert De Niro. DeNiro, wanting to direct
for the first time, saw the potential of this project and brought both
it and the actor/writer to the screen. Palminteri played one of the
flashier roles, Sonny, a gangster, in the movie version. An unknown
film commodity at the time, Chazz had stubbornly refused to sell his
stage property (the offers went into the seven figures) unless he was
part of the package as both actor and screenwriter. DeNiro, who became
his mentor, backed him up all the way, and the rest is history.
A Bronx Tale (1993), which featured his actress/producer/wife Gianna Palminteri, earned strong
reviews.
At age 41 Palminteri had become an "overnight" star. Other important
projects quickly fell his way. He received a well-deserved Oscar
nomination the following year for his portrayal of a Runyonesque hit
man in Woody Allen's hilarious jazz-era
comedy
Bullets Over Broadway (1994).
He was on the right side of the law in both
The Perez Family (1995), his
first romantic lead, and then the classic crimer
The Usual Suspects (1995). He
played the ill-fated brute in
Diabolique (1996) and wrote a second
screenplay, Faithful (1996), in which he
again plays a hit man, terrorizing both
Cher and
Ryan O'Neal.
Though Palminteri was invariably drawn into a rather tight-fitting,
often violent typecast, it has been a secure and flashy one that
continues to run strong into the millennium. Surprisingly, the one
obvious show he missed out on was HBO's
The Sopranos (1999). True to
form his trademark flesh-lipped snarl was spotted in gritty urban settings playing
a "Hell's Kitchen" cop in
One Eyed King (2001) starring
actor/producer Armand Assante; a pool
hustler and mentor in
Poolhall Junkies (2002); a mob
boss in In the Fix (2005); a dirty cop in
Running Scared (2006); the titular
scam artist as Yonkers Joe (2008); a
karaoke-loving Italian psychiatrist in
Once More with Feeling (2009);
and an abusive husband and father in
Mighty Fine (2012).
Other millennium filming includes starring presences in Body Armour (2007), The Dukes (2007), the title conman as Yonkers Joe (2008), Once More with Feeling (2009) and Mighty Fine (2012), as well as prime supports in Running Scared (2006), A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006), Push (2006), Jolene (2008), Once Upon a Time in Queens (2013), Legend (2015), Vault (2019), Clover (2020). TV crime continues to occupy his time as well, clocking in such series' credits as Kojak (2005), Rizzoli & Isles (2010) and Godfather of Harlem (2019). Occasionally he will lighten up -- as in his recurring role as Shorty on the popular sitcom Modern Family (2009).- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Terri Sue "Tovah" Feldshuh is an American actress, singer, and playwright. She has been a Broadway star for more than four decades, earning four Tony Award nominations. She has also received two Emmy Award nominations for Holocaust and Law & Order, and appeared in such films as A Walk on the Moon, She's Funny That Way, and Kissing Jessica Stein. In 2015-2016, she played the role of Deanna Monroe on AMC's television adaptation of The Walking Dead.- Australian former actress/high-fashion model/Stylist Virginia Hey was diagnosed with Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma DLBCL cancer in June 2022, which is cancer of the lymphatic system. It spread into her bones, causing the destruction of part of her tibia bone in her right leg. Miss Hey was being treated by the incredible British NHS and underwent 6 cycles of R-CHOP chemotherapy which was completed in December 2022.
In December 2022 Miss Hey was in remission! However her NHS Haematologist specialist said that during an earlier biopsy they found the CD5+ marker, which indicates that her stage 4 cancer is even more aggressive and sneaky than they thought. This means that the cancer will most definitely come back within 6 to 15 months.
So in order to elongate her lifespan to 1-5 years, they offered Miss Hey powerful LACE chemotherapy, followed by a Stem Cell Transplant.
The procedure is a specialized cancer treatment administered by the British NHS using her own stem cells which the hospital collected in January 2023.
Miss Hey had another PET CT scan in March which showed that she was still in remission.
The Stem Cell Transplant procedure was carried out in a London hospital March/April 2023 with a recovery period of between four months and one year for the immune system to regrow.
Miss Hey was finally back on her feet learning to walk again, albeit with two crutches, and had a follow-up PET CT scan November 27th to check that the procedure was successful and Virginia was still in remission. Unfortunately the specialists discovered from the PET scan that her cancer had in fact come back.
Unfortunately all the Chemotherapys and the Stem Cell Transplant were not successful. Alhough she was in remission for quite a few months, Miss Heys cancer is extremely aggressive, and although the cancer was pushed back by all the chemotherapy, unfortunately some of the cancer simply hid during the procedures and then came back sometime between April and November 2023. This time the Cancer came back in her left leg, from the groin down to her ankle.
December 2023
The NHS specialists want to try Radiotherapy, and Miss Hey is waiting to have a consultation with the Radiotherapy specialist and start a schedule of treatment. If her cancer does not respond to the Radiotherapy the specialists have said that they will try a new antibody treatment that is available on the NHS.
Miss Hey is in good spirits as usual, she has remained in good spirits all the way throughout this battle. Always a smile and cheekiness with a glint in her eyes!
Miss Hey is extremely grateful to the brilliant NHS and all the teams of doctors and specialists and nurses who have been looking after her. It is extraordinary how generous and untiring they are. She owes her life to the Fabulous NHS!
Fingers crossed and prayers that the radiation works!
Bio:
Miss Hey is a very private person who is remarkable in her late 60s; however, her appearance is that of a stylish, elegant woman in her 50s! Miss Hey remarks that her height, strength, sharp mind, and good genes come from her father, and her extraordinary bone structure, artistic talent, and elegance from her mother. Miss Hey also attributes her good health in her 60s to the importance of maintaining well-being and staying trim, keeping an active mind, and exercising regularly. In her disco-and-heels era, she smoked and socially drank, like everyone back then, but in 1990, Miss Hey made health and well-being her main priority, studying naturopathy and changing her lifestyle.
Virginia literally sparkles when she enters a room! George Miller, the director of Mad Max 2, said that Virginia has an energy that pours from her that cannot be manufactured. He said she has the ''it'' factor! Miss Hey didn't ever take advantage of that factor; she preferred to pursue art and natural medicine. Her modeling and acting jobs, she says, funded her studies.
She confesses to sometimes feeling awkward and shy, lacking in confidence. (a mere mortal after all!) However, she stated that in her youth she had to develop a kind of ''site-specific extrovert'' quality in order to work and socialize. (Comedian Robin Williams coined the phrase ''site-specific extrovert'' when describing himself.) In her 60s, she has reverted to a more mellow being, who now lives to explore art and gentle pursuits. Miss Hey would be the perfect dinner party companion, mellow, and sparkling with a fascinating history.
Virginia is now retired and has settled back in London after 40 years.
Virginia Hey, a devotee of health and well-being, is best known for her roles on TV and film, however all throughout her adult life Virginia has had varied interests, mainly centered around well-being, style, and design.
She pursued her passion for studying natural therapies, naturopathy, reiki, nutrition, and homeopathy, and most recently had her own business designing and hand-making luxury highly styled candles, perfume, and soap. Miss Hey also loves fashion and style and in the '90s was a fashion editor/stylist for two magazines in Australia.
About:
Born in Sydney, Australia, Miss Hey was educated in private Catholic convent schools in Sydney and London, a boarding school for a year, and then went on to study fine art at Kogragh, Sydney. Virginia spent many years as a child in England; her mother and father transported the whole family over to further the children's education, and every school holiday was spent exploring museums, art galleries, and places of exquisite culture and architecture. At the time, Miss Hey was between ages nine and 14, so her very first independent thoughts in that important growth period were formed from such exquisite art and beauty she experienced. No wonder Miss Hey is an incurable romantic.
As an adult, she divided her time and education between her hometown and London. Virginia has an extensive bio and a 40-year track history with the entertainment, fashion, natural health, and beauty industry in Australia and the UK.
Her career in front of the camera started as a fashion model whilst she was attending a fine arts diploma course in Sydney, Australia. It seemed that as soon as she stepped one foot outside her home as a 19-year-old, she was pursued by the modeling and TV industry. She had astonishing good looks when she was young. Miss Hey soon found herself snapped up by high-fashion magazines and TV ads.
It was at the beginning of her career that she was invited to take a role in The Buggles video clip for ''Video Killed the Radio Star'' in London in 1979. Australian director Russell Mulcahey cast Virginia, having seen her fashion modeling and TV ad career in Australia. The song went to number one on the charts all over the world, and the video was acclaimed as the very first MTV video clip.
Virginia was also invited to be a part of the Buggles' European TV promotional tour of their number-one hit, and she performed with them as one of the backing singers on music TV shows in several countries. She also appeared on the UK's Top of The Pops in October 1979, and again in the Christmas Top of the Pops show in December 1979.
Miss Hey's acting debut was less than a year later, back in Sydney, with Mel Gibson in the film classic Mad Max 2 (1981) (aka "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior") as the main-cast character Warrior Woman.
Since then, Ms. Hey has also appeared with numerous international stars, including George C. Scott in Mussolini, Heath Ledger in Roar, James Bond 007 Timothy Dalton in The Living Daylights, and Christopher Atkins in Signal One. One of the shining lights of her career was playing the iconic blue priestess Zhaan, a main-cast character in Farscape (1999-2004).
In the '80s and '90s, Virginia used her public spotlight to bring attention to environmental issues, natural health, and beauty regimes and was a regular popular fun guest on Australian chat shows, which led her in turn to begin teaching health, nutrition, beauty, and meditation during her 40-year career in the public eye.
In the mid-to-late '90s in between acting roles, due to her past at art school and as a supermodel, Virginia was in demand as a freelance fashion and still-life stylist and then became a fashion editor in Sydney for "For Me" and "Bride to Be" magazines until she stepped into the iconic acting role of Zhaan on Farscape, for which she was nominated as Best Support Actress for a Saturn Award.
Miss Hey was brought to the USA in 2001 on the wave of Farscape fan frenzy. Miss Hey received her Alien of Extraordinary Ability green card in 2002 and settled in Santa Monica, California.
While she was in the USA, Virginia worked further on her design skills. Having made perfumes for herself for 30 years, Miss Hey was convinced by thousands of fans at conventions across the US to offer her perfume publicly. For 19 years, Virginia worked tirelessly on two exquisite candle and perfume lines, White Flower Lei and Virginia Hey Couture, both launched in Fred Segal Los Angeles.
In May 2012, she embarked on an appearance tour of the UK for three years and eventually settled permanently back in the UK, where she had spent much of her childhood and was based off and on in the '70s and '80s. Miss Hey lived in Scotland and Wiltshire for a few years, then in late 2019, moved back to London.
Fan Favourite:
Virginia, being a fan favorite at Comic-Con appearances due to her friendly, chatty disposition and extensive bio in TV and film, traveled extensively doing appearance dates at Comic-Cons each month throughout the UK, with occasional visits back to the USA to greet fans at Comic-Con appearances. She has been a celebrity guest at hundreds of personal appearances at conventions all over the world.
Royalties:
Contrary to popular belief, Australian actors do not receive residuals or royalties for their Australian screen work. This is astonishing if, like Miss Hey, the actor's list of credits is extensive and almost every job is a commercial hit worldwide. This means that over 40 years royalties and residuals generated from 20 productions, all big long-running successes, should have generated millions for Miss Hey.
Alas, all actors working in Australian productions, including Miss Hey, are paid just once for the job. And actors' fees in Australia are nowhere near those of USA and UK actors. All royalties in the actors' names go to the producers. This is written into all actors' contracts. The only exception is if the actor works on a SAG USA film/TV production within Australia, for example, The Matrix. However, nearly all productions within Australia have Australian Actors Union contacts which stipulate that all royalties and residuals are paid to the producers. The Australian Actors Union are fighting hard to reform this. It is an ongoing debate.
This is why you'll see Australian successful actors with multiple careers, unlike their fellow USA actors, who can literally retire on ONE TV commercial's residuals!
Miss Hey had lead roles in 57 Australian TV ads, 17 commercial TV series, and eight commercial films. (Additionally, she has acted in a few noncommercial productions for friends over the years. These she does not refer to as commercial.)
July 2020:
Miss Hey is single, retired, and living happily and peacefully in London, stating her favorite places in London as the V&A, Primrose Hill, and Chelsea Physic Garden. To stay fit, Virginia loves walking in London's beautiful parks and gardens, does a spot of gardening at home, and attends a Zumba Gold class and two strength classes a week. - Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Harvey Weinstein was born on March 19, 1952, in Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York, USA, the first of two boys born to Max and Miriam Weinstein. He is a film producer, known for Pulp Fiction (1994), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and Gangs of New York (2002). He has been married and divorced twice; most recently from Georgina Chapman and previously from Eve Chilton.- Actress
- Producer
Diane Venora was born Diana Venora in East Hartford, Connecticut. She
left Hartford for a full scholarship in the drama division of the
Juilliard School. After graduating from Juilliard, she performed
extensively on the stage and developed a reputation as a talented stage
actress, particularly in Shakespearean plays. In 1983, she starred in
Joseph Papp's production of "Hamlet" at the
New York Shakespeare Festival, in the lead role, the first woman to
play the role at the New York Shakespeare Festival.
In 1988, her critically acclaimed performance in
Clint Eastwood's biographical feature of
jazz great Charlie Parker,
Bird (1988), as "Chan Parker", his wife,
earned her a Golden Globe nomination and the New York Film Critics
Award. These roles essentially made her famous.
She was married to cinematographer
Andrzej Bartkowiak
(Speed (1994)) but later divorced him.
After the divorce, she lived in New York with her daughter
Madaket Bartkowiak,
traveling often for work. She quit show business when Madzia was 8 to
spend more time with her daughter. During her 7-year hiatus, Venora
stayed close to home, teaching disadvantaged children, and acting in an
occasional play. When Madzia was 15, Venora took her to Los Angeles and
soon landed a starring role in the ABC series
Thunder Alley (1994) playing
Edward Asner's daughter and a recurring
role in the Emmy award-winning series
Chicago Hope (1994).
In 1995, she starred opposite Al Pacino and
Robert De Niro as Pacino's wife in
Heat (1995), earning high regard from both
critics and audiences for her of role of "Justine Hanna", caught in a
troubled marriage. That performance, and her follow-up as Juliet's
mother in
William Shakespeare's
Romeo + Juliet (1996) impressed
the directors of both
The Jackal (1997) and
The 13th Warrior (1999) starring
Antonio Banderas.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born in England, Angela is the younger sister of actress Veronica Cartwright. As a
child she was cast as the cute little stepdaughter, Linda Williams, on
The Danny Thomas Show (1953). She was on the show from 1957 to 1964. After that, she was
cast as Brigitta in the popular Julie Andrews movie The Sound of Music (1965). Soon after, she
returned to series TV as Penny Robinson, young teenage space traveler,
in Lost in Space (1965), which ran from 1965-1968. Even with cheap special effects
and a hokey story line, the show is still popular today. In 1970 Angela
had a part in Make Room for Granddaddy (1970), a sequel to the original series, but the show
was soon canceled. Since that time, she has made a life outside of
films.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Mr. T was born Laurence Tureaud on 21 May 1952, in the rough south side ghetto of Chicago. He is the second to youngest of twelve children (he has four sisters and seven brothers) and grew up in the housing projects. His father, Nathaniel Tureaud, left when Laurence was 5, and his mother raised the family on $87 a month welfare in a three-room apartment. Mr. T's brothers encouraged him to build up his body in order to survive in the area; he has commented, "If you think I'm big, you should see my brothers!" His mother is a religious woman who has had a strong influence on him. He says, "Any man who don't love his momma can't be no friend of mine." He was an average student in school. "Most of the time," he says, "I stared out the windows, just daydreaming. I didn't study much because I have a photographic memory." Apart from one spell between 5th and 7th grades when he went a little astray -- playing hooky, cursing, acting tough, being disrespectful -- he was a well-behaved child (he worried about how his mother would feel if he ended up in jail, and stayed out of trouble). He attended Dunbar Vocational High School. He was a football star, studied martial arts, and was three times city wrestling champion. He won a scholarship to play football at Prairie View A&M University in Texas, but he was thrown out after a year.
He was involved in the world of pro wrestling in 1985-86 and 1994-95. Was
Hulk Hogan's tag team partner at the first WrestleMania I (1985), defeating the team of
Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper on March 31, 1985. His feud with Piper continued
into WrestleMania 2 (1986), when he defeated Piper in a boxing match by
disqualification. Mr. T returned to the WWF as a special guest referee
in 1987, then disappeared from the wrestling world. Seven years later,
he reappeared as a special referee for a Hogan-Ric Flair match, in
October 1994. He stayed with Hogan for a few matches before returning
to obscurity.