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- Actress
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- Writer
Ask Kate Winslet what she likes about any of her characters, and the word "ballsy" is bound to pop up at least once. The British actress has made a point of eschewing straightforward pretty-girl parts in favor of more devilish damsels; as a result, she's built an eclectic resume that runs the gamut from Shakespearean tragedy to modern-day mysticism and erotica.
Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born in Reading, Berkshire, into a family of thespians -- parents Roger Winslet and Sally Anne Bridges-Winslet were both stage actors, maternal grandparents Oliver and Linda Bridges ran the Reading Repertory Theatre, and uncle Robert Bridges was a fixture in London's West End theatre district. Kate came into her talent at an early age. She scored her first professional gig at eleven, dancing opposite the Honey Monster in a commercial for a kids' cereal. She started acting lessons around the same time, which led to formal training at a performing arts high school. Over the next few years, she appeared on stage regularly and landed a few bit parts in sitcoms. Her first big break came at age 17, when she was cast as an obsessive adolescent in Heavenly Creatures (1994). The film, based on the true story of two fantasy-gripped girls who commit a brutal murder, received modest distribution but was roundly praised by critics.
Still a relative unknown, Winslet attended a cattle call audition the next year for Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility (1995). She made an immediate impression on the film's star, Emma Thompson, and beat out more than a hundred other hopefuls for the part of plucky Marianne Dashwood. Her efforts were rewarded with both a British Academy Award and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Winslet followed up with two more period pieces, playing the rebellious heroine in Jude (1996) and Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996).
The role that transformed Winslet from art house attraction to international star was Rose DeWitt Bukater, the passionate, rosy-cheeked aristocrat in James Cameron's Titanic (1997). Young girls the world over both idolized and identified with Winslet, swooning over all that face time opposite heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio and noting her refreshingly healthy, unemaciated physique. Winslet's performance also garnered a Best Actress nomination, making her the youngest actress to ever receive two Academy Award nominations.
After the swell of unexpected attention surrounding Titanic (1997), Winslet was eager to retreat into independent projects. Rumor has it that she turned down the lead roles in both Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Anna and the King (1999) in order to play adventurous soul searchers in Hideous Kinky (1998) and Holy Smoke (1999). The former cast her as a young single mother traveling through 1970s Morocco with her daughters in tow; the latter, as a zealous follower of a guru tricked into a "deprogramming" session in the Australian outback. The next year found her back in period dress as the Marquis de Sade's chambermaid and accomplice in Quills (2000). Kate holds the distinction of being the youngest actor ever honored with four Academy Award nominations (she received her fourth at age 29). As of 2016, she has been nominated for an Oscar seven times, winning one of them: she received the Best Actress Oscar for the drama The Reader (2008), playing a former concentration camp guard.
For her performance of Joanna Hoffman in Steve Jobs (2015), she received her seventh Academy Award nomination.
Off camera, Winslet is known for her mischievous pranks and familial devotion. She has two sisters, Anna Winslet and Beth Winslet (both actresses), and a brother, Joss.
In 1998, she married assistant director Jim Threapleton. They had a daughter, Mia Honey Threapleton, in October 2000. They divorced in 2001. She later married director Sam Mendes in 2003 and gave birth to their son, Joe Alfie Winslet-Mendes, later that year. After seven years of marriage, in February 2010 they announced that they had amicably separated, and divorced in October 2010. In 2012, Kate married Ned Rocknroll, with whom she has a son. She was awarded Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to Drama.- Actor
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Guy Edward Pearce was born October 5, 1967 in Cambridgeshire, England, UK to Margaret Anne and Stuart Graham Pearce. His father was born in Auckland, New Zealand, to English and Scottish parents, while Guy's mother is English. Pearce and his family initially traveled to Australia for two years, after his father was offered the position of Chief test pilot for the Australian Government. Guy was just 3-years-old. After deciding to stay in Australia and settling in the Victorian city of Geelong, Guy's father was killed 5 years later in an aircraft test flight, leaving Guy's mother, a schoolteacher, to care for him and his older sister, Tracy.
Having little interest in subjects at school like math or science, Guy favored art, drama and music. He joined local theatre groups at a young age and appeared in such productions as "The King and I," "Fiddler on the Roof," and "The Wizard of Oz." In 1985, just two days after his final high school exam, Guy started a four-year stint as "Mike Young" on the popular Aussie soap Neighbours (1985). At age 20, Guy appeared in his first film, Heaven Tonight (1989), then, after a string of appearances in film, television and on the stage, he won the role of an outrageous drag queen in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994).
Most recently, he has amazed film critics and audiences, alike, with his magnificent performances in L.A. Confidential (1997), Memento (2000), The Proposition (2005), Factory Girl (2006), The Hurt Locker (2008), The King's Speech (2010) and the HBO mini-series, Mildred Pierce (2011). Next to acting, Guy has had a life-long passion for music and songwriting.
Guy likes to keep his private life very private. He lives in Melbourne, Australia, which is also where he married his childhood sweetheart, Kate Mestitz in March 1997.- Actress
- Director
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Karen Jane Allen was born in Carrollton, rural southern Illinois, to Patricia (Howell), a teacher, and Carroll Thompson Allen, an FBI agent. She spent her first 10 years traveling around the country with her parents and two sisters. She was always "the new girl in school." Acting did not really cross Allen's mind until she was in her early 20s, when she saw a Jerzy Grotowski theater production that impressed her so much, she instantly decided to give it a shot. She trained as a classical actress and enrolled at the Actors Studio and with Lee Strasberg in New York City. During this period, she made several student films and directed and acted in several plays. In 1976, she made her first film appearance in the award-winning small film The Whidjitmaker (1976).
Her first major film role came as Katy in 1978's National Lampoon's National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), which became one of the biggest hits of the year, obtained "classic" status, and launched a whole host of young "hot" stars. However, shortly after National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) opened, Allen was struck by a rare and dangerous eyesight condition called keratoconjunctivitis. Luckily, the condition subsided and Allen could continue her dramatic rise to the top. Lead roles in cult favorites like The Wanderers (1979) and the controversial thriller Cruising (1980) followed, as did smaller parts as in Woody Allen's Manhattan (1979). However, it was her performance in Rob Cohen's A Small Circle of Friends (1980), as well as her previously mentioned turn in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), that caught the eye of a certain Steven Spielberg. He then cast her as the feisty heroine and co-star of Harrison Ford in his big-budget blockbuster Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which became a huge hit in 1981-82 and is regarded by many film buffs as the greatest action-adventure film ever made.
Following the huge success of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Allen chose to spend more than two years out of the limelight, concentrating on smaller, more personal projects. She won a major award for her performances on Broadway, won critical acclaim for her portrayal of Abra in the hugely successful ABC production of East of Eden (1981), and had parts in two smaller films: Alan Parker's Shoot the Moon (1982) and Split Image (1982), co-starring James Woods and Peter Fonda. She returned to the mainstream in 1984 with Until September (1984) and Starman (1984), co-starring Jeff Bridges and directed by John Carpenter (of Halloween (1978) fame), but once again decided to leave the limelight for a couple of years to do more stage work and some troubled indie films. While Allen has worked almost constantly since then, giving notable performances in Paul Newman's screen adaptation of The Glass Menagerie (1987), the Christmas hit Scrooged (1988), and Steven Soderbergh's underrated King of the Hill (1993), she has not been able to scale the same dizzy heights as the early 1980s hits. Most of her lead roles in feature films since Starman (1984) have not been that well-received (Animal Behavior (1989), Ghost in the Machine (1993), and The Turning (1992) among them). However, she has been seen to good effect on TV in such films as Challenger (1990), in which she portrayed tragic schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, and All the Winters That Have Been (1997), co-starring Richard Chamberlain.
She has also made special guest star appearances on such shows as Law & Order (1990), Knots Landing (1979), and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985), and in several TV movies, including Hostile Advances: The Kerry Ellison Story (1996) and Secret Weapon (1990). She also played the lead in the CBS series The Road Home (1994). Karen Allen was married to soap star Kale Browne (with whom she co-starred in 'Til There Was You (1997)) in 1988 and they have a son, Nicholas. Apart from acting, Allen is also an accomplished singer, songwriter, and musician. She played in a band with Kathleen Turner, and recorded a duet with Jeff Bridges for the Starman (1984) soundtrack album.
She also writes plays, screenplays, and poetry; owns her own Ashtanga yoga enterprise; and spends time at her Berkshire Mountains farm or Upper West Side Manhattan townhouse. The classically trained actress also has a screenplay called "The Second Coming," which is about to be made into a movie. Most recently she has starred opposite Peter Coyote in The Basket (1999), and appeared in the blockbuster The Perfect Storm (2000), in which she co-starred with George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, and Diane Lane. In addition to these, she is working on Shaka Zulu: The Citadel (2001) and recently made an independent film, In the Bedroom (2001). Karen Allen is undoubtedly one of the most talented, ambitious, and versatile actresses of the last 20 years. In many ways, her own choices to "go back to theater and smaller projects" are the only things that have really stopped her being a major, major star. Allen was voted one of the most beautiful women in the world in 1983, and is a naturally attractive lady - who often plays characters significantly younger than herself. She also often plays unglamorous types - and there is no one better at portraying real, human, and wholly believable people.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jacob Tremblay is a Canadian actor. He made his film debut as Blue in the live action animated film The Smurfs 2 (2013). His breakout performance was in the dark drama Room (2015), for which he received critical acclaim. In 2016, Tremblay played a supporting role in the comedy film Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie (2016), and in 2017, he co-starred with Jaeden Martell, playing brothers, in the drama The Book of Henry (2017), with Naomi Watts as their mother.
He has also starred as children in jeopardy in the horror films Before I Wake (2016), Shut In (2016), and the bigger-budget The Predator (2018), played in the drama Burn Your Maps (2016) with Vera Farmiga, and headlined the blockbuster novel adaptation Wonder (2017), as Auggie Pullman.- Actor
- Producer
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Curly haired and with a fast-talking voice, Jesse Eisenberg is a movie actor, known for his Academy Award nominated role as Mark Zuckerberg in the 2010 film The Social Network. He has also starred in the films The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland, The Education of Charlie Banks, 30 Minutes or Less, Now You See Me and Zombieland. Additionally, he played Lex Luthor in the 2016 film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Jesse Adam Eisenberg was born on October 5, 1983 in Queens, New York, and was raised in East Brunswick Township, New Jersey. His mother, Amy (Fishman), is a professional dressed-up clown who performed at children's birthday parties for a living in their hometown of East Brunswick for 20 years. His father, Barry Eisenberg, ran a hospital before moving on to become a college professor. Jesse has two sisters, Kerri and Hallie Eisenberg, who was a popular child star. His family is Jewish (his ancestors came to the U.S. from Poland, Russia, and Ukraine).
He attended East Brunswick High School, but he didn't really enjoy school. From age 10, he performed in children's theater. Jesse had his first professional role in an off-Broadway play, "The Gathering". Before fame, he made his first television appearance role that came in 1999 when he was 16 with a show on Fox's Get Real (1999), but the show was canceled in 2000. In his senior year of high school, he had landed his first film leading role in the 2002 film Roger Dodger (2002). He won an award for "Most Promising New Actor" at the San Diego film festival.
Jesse attended the New School University, New York, where he was a liberal arts major, with a focus on Democracy and Cultural Pluralism. He also studied at The New School in New York City's Greenwich Village. He applied and was accepted to New York University but declined enrollment to complete a film role. He has been playing the drums since he was age 8.
His breakthrough role came in Zombieland (2009). In 2010, he was nominated for Best Actor at the Golden Globes and Academy Awards for his role of Facebook's creator, Mark Zuckerberg, in the film, The Social Network (2010). He also voiced Blu, a rare blue macaw, in the film Rio (2011), and its sequel Rio 2 (2014). He starred alongside Aziz Ansari in the 2011 comedy 30 Minutes Or Less, and played himself in the 2013 comedy film He's Way More Famous Than You (2013).- Director
- Writer
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Ti West is most notable for directing horror films, as well as being an actor, writer, producer, and editor. Ti broke out, after directing various projects, in 2009, when he directed two feature films - 2009's The House Of The Devil and Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever. Ti later directed, with his production company Glass Eye Pix, the widely popular 2011 horror film The Innkeepers, which starred actors Sara Paxton, Pat Healy and Kelly McGillis. Ti also starred as "Tariq" in Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett's horror film, You're Next (2011). More recently he has been a director for MTV's Scream and Fox's The Exorcist. His acting roles include him portraying "Dave" in Joe Swanberg's rom-com, Drinking Buddies (2013) and a cameo as "Favorite Teacher" in The House Of The Devil.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Nathalie Kelley is an actress of Indigenous Quechua descent, most recently starring in the hit series Dynasty and The Baker and the Beauty, which is now on Netflix. With a background in social science and policy, Nathalie strives to use her gifts as a storyteller to tell stories that educate and inspire. She is a graduate of Kiss The Ground's Soil Advocacy program, and on the board of the Fungí Foundation. She is passionate about using her IG platform of 1.6 million followers to highlight the threats against Indigenous communities around the world while elevating Indigenous wisdom and technologies as means of coming back into harmony with our ecosystem. Her life mission is to give a voice to the voiceless: namely the soil, the water, the fungí, the forest and to dedicate her life to preserving bio and Myco-diversity on the planet.- Actor
- Producer
- Composer
Luke Roberts is a British/Canadian actor and producer whose first role out of LAMDA was in an episode of HBO's Band of Brothers directed by Tom Hanks. Luke is perhaps best known as the series lead and producer of CBS crime procedural Ransom. The show ran for three seasons and follows Eric Beaumont's elite team of negotiators as they navigate numerous international kidnappings and conflicts. Prior to Ransom, Luke played the much loved character, Joseph Byrne, in BBC medical drama Holby City as well as dual sword wielding Arthur Dayne in Game of Thrones. He starred as villainous Woodes Rogers in the third and forth seasons of Starz pirate drama Black Sails. Currently Luke can be found playing Thomas Wayne in The Batman and alien bodysnatcher, Joe Allen in Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities on Netflix.- Actress
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Diane Morgan was born on 5 October 1975 in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Me Before You (2016), Alan Partridge (2013) and Mandy (2019).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Parminder Nagra was born in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Bend It Like Beckham (2002), ER (1994) and The Blacklist (2013). She was previously married to James Stenson.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Glynis Johns was the daughter of actor Mervyn Johns. Best known for her light comedy roles and often playful flirtation, Glynis was born in South Africa while her parents were on tour there (her mother was a concert pianist) but was always proud of her Welsh roots and took delight in playing the female lead (opposite Richard Burton) in the classic Under Milk Wood (1971). She was probably best known for her role as the suffragette mother in Mary Poppins (1964) although she is probably best loved for her fishy roles in Miranda (1948) and Mad About Men (1954). She had earlier showed she could take on the serious roles as well as in Frieda (1947). Most recently seen (at the time of writing) in Superstar (1999). Johns died in 2024, aged 100, having never received the damehood she had richly deserved for decades. Predeceased by her only son, she was survived by a grandson,Thomas Forwood, and three great-grandchildren.- Tokuma Nishioka began his career as a child actor but had to suspend his activities due to childhood asthma. He later resumed studying theater in Tamagawa Gakuen university and joined one of the most prestigious theater companies, Bungakuza, in Japan. Ten years later, he left the company and expanded his career into television dramas, movies, and stage performances.
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Jeff Conaway was born on 5 October 1950 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Grease (1978), Taxi (1978) and Jawbreaker (1999). He was married to Kerri Young and Rona Newton-John. He died on 27 May 2011 in Encino, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Virginia Kull was born in Dallas, Texas, USA. She is an actress, known for Big Little Lies (2017), The Looming Tower (2018) and Boardwalk Empire (2010). She has been married to Ryan Howard Young since 2 May 2009.
- Actor
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Balding, quietly spoken, of slight build and possessed of piercing blue eyes -- often peering out from behind round, steel-rimmed glasses -- Donald Pleasence had the essential physical attributes which make a great screen villain. In the course of his lengthy career, he relished playing the obsessed, the paranoid and the purely evil. Even the Van Helsing-like psychiatrist Sam Loomis in the Halloween (1978) franchise seems only marginally more balanced than his prey. An actor of great intensity, Pleasence excelled on stage as Shakespearean villains. He was an unrelenting prosecutor in Jean Anouilh's "Poor Bitos" and made his theatrical reputation in the title role of the seedy, scheming tramp in Harold Pinter's "The Caretaker" (1960). On screen, he gave a perfectly plausible interpretation of the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, in The Eagle Has Landed (1976). He was a convincingly devious Thomas Cromwell in Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972), disturbing in his portrayal of the crazed, bloodthirsty preacher Quint in Will Penny (1967); and as sexually depraved, alcohol-sodden 'Doc' Tydon in the brilliant Aussie outback drama Wake in Fright (1971). And, of course, he was Ernst Stavro Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967). These are some of the films, for which we may remember Pleasence, but there was a great deal more to this fabulous, multi-faceted actor.
Donald Henry Pleasence was born on October 5, 1919 in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, to Alice (Armitage) and Thomas Stanley Pleasence. His family worked on the railway. His grandfather had been a signal man and both his brother and father were station masters. When Donald failed to get a scholarship at RADA, he joined the family occupation working as a clerk at his father's station before becoming station master at Swinton, Yorkshire. While there, he wrote letters to theatre companies, eventually being accepted by one on the island of Jersey in Spring 1939 as an assistant stage manager. On the eve of World War II, he made his theatrical debut in "Wuthering Heights". In 1942, he played Curio in "Twelfth Night", but his career was then interrupted by military service in the RAF. He was shot down over France, incarcerated and tortured in a German POW camp. Once repatriated, Donald returned to the stage in Peter Brook's 1946 London production of "The Brothers Karamazov" with Alec Guinness although he missed the opening due to measles, followed by a stint on Broadway with Laurence Olivier's touring company in "Caesar and Cleopatra" and "Anthony and Cleopatra". Upon his return to England, he won critical plaudits for his performance in "Hobson's Choice". In 1952, Donald began his screen career, rather unobtrusively, in small parts. He was only really noticed once having found his métier as dastardly, sneaky Prince John in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955). It took several more years, until international recognition came his way: first, through the filmed adaptation of The Guest (1963), and, secondly, with his blind forger in The Great Escape (1963), a role he imbued with added conviction due to his own wartime experience.
Some of his best acting Donald reserved for the small screen. In 1962, the producer of The Twilight Zone (1959), Buck Houghton, brought Donald to the United States ("damn the expense"!) to guest star in the third-season episode "The Changing of the Guard". He was given a mere five days to immerse himself in the part of a gentle school teacher, Professor Ellis Fowler, who, on the eve of Christmas is forcibly retired after fifty-one years of teaching. Devastated, and believing himself a failure who has made no mark on the world, he is about to commit suicide when the school's bell summons him to his classroom. There, he is confronted by the spirits of deceased students who beg him to consider that his lessons have indeed had fundamental effects on their lives, even leading to acts of great heroism. Upon hearing this, Fowler is now content to graciously accept his retirement. Managing to avoid maudlin sentimentality, Donald's performance was intuitive and, arguably, one of the most poignant ever accomplished in a thirty-minute television episode. Once again, against type, he was equally delightful as the mild-mannered Reverend Septimus Harding in Anthony Trollope's The Barchester Chronicles (1982).
Whether eccentric, sinister or given to pathos, Donald Pleasence was always great value for money and his performances have rarely failed to engage.- Actor
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Matt Johnson was born on 5 October 1985 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is an actor and director, known for Operation Avalanche (2016), The Dirties (2013) and BlackBerry (2023).- Actor
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Scott Eric Weinger (pronounced wine-gur) was born in New York, New York, on October 5, 1975, to Babs Weinger, a teacher, and Elliott Weinger, an orthopedic surgeon. The eldest of four children, Scott has two brothers and one sister. He spent the majority of his formative years in southern Florida, then moved with his family to Los Angeles when his career began to take off.
Scott first became interested in acting in the third grade, when an actor gave a presentation for Career Day. He relentlessly pestered his parents to get him an agent until they finally realized that the young tyke was serious about becoming an actor. His first gig was a national commercial for Ideal Toys.
In fall 1994, Scott left the LA scene to fulfill yet another dream--attending Harvard University. Taking leave of the TV series Full House (1987) didn't suggest he was leaving the business altogether. He continued as the voice of Aladdin (1992) in the Saturday morning TV series, completed two more full length Aladdin videos, and made a final appearance on "Full House," all while maintaining excellent grades at school. As if all of that didn't keep the ambitious lad busy enough, he also held a part-time job as a youth correspondent for Good Morning America (1975).
Scott majored in English and minored in French literature while at Harvard, and he graduated magna cum laude in June of 1998. In his first online interview after returning to Los Angeles, he still seemed to be undecided about what his plans were, which were narrowed down to writing, directing, acting, and news correspondence.
Since his return to Hollywood, he has starred in a horror flick, Shredder (2001); produced an award winning film short called The Cricket Player (2002); and provided his voice for the English-language dub of Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis (2001), Disney/Square Co.'s video game Kingdom Hearts (2002), "Mickey's Philharmagic," and "The Search for Mickey Mouse"!
Scott considers himself to be a writer, primarily, and an actor, secondarily. He received his first writing credit on the WB television show Like Family (2003), which is described as a "multi-ethnic crossover comedy about two very different families coming together under one roof." Recently, he received a credit as a co-writer for another WB sitcom, What I Like About You (2002)- Actor
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Bernard Jeffrey McCollough was born in 1957 in Chicago, the son of Mary McCullough and Jeffery Harrison. He grew up in the city, in a rougher neighborhood than most others, with a large family living under one roof. This situation provided him with a great insight into his comedy, as his family, and the situations surrounding them would be what dominated his comedy. Mac worked in the Regal Theater, and performed in Chicago parks in his younger days. He became a professional comedian in 1977, at the age of 19. He refused to change his image for television and films, and therefore was not very well known for most of the eighties. In 1992 he made his film debut with a small part with Mo' Money (1992). This started a plethora of small parts in a string of movies, mostly comedies, including Who's the Man? (1993), House Party 3 (1994) and The Walking Dead (1995). 1995 proved to be a turning point in his career. He did an HBO Special called Midnight Mac (1995), and took a part as Pastor Clever in the Chris Tucker comedy Friday (1995). Bernie Mac developed a cult following due to the film. In 1996. he starred in the memorable Spike Lee movie Get on the Bus (1996), and was very funny in Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996). About this time he had a recurring role in the TV series Moesha (1996). Bernie Mac's star was slowly rising from this point. His next couple of movie parts were more substantial, including How to Be a Player (1997) and The Players Club (1998). In 1999 Bernie Mac got his most high profile part up to that point in the film Life (1999) starring Eddie Murphy.
The new century started a new era for the brash Chicago comedian. He was a featured comedian in The Original Kings of Comedy (2000). This performance made him more of a household name, and led to many more major parts. In 2001 he played Martin Lawrence's uncle in What's the Worst That Could Happen? (2001) and later that year, was in the star studded remake of Ocean's Eleven (2001). However his biggest success was The Bernie Mac Show (2001), which debuted in 2001 to instant acclaim. However, soon after the series ended, Mac's health took a turn for the worse. He developed sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disease which causes inflammation in the lungs. On August 9, 2008, after weeks of unsuccessful treatments, Bernie Mac died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He was 50.
Bernie Mac was a comedian who refused to change his image for Hollywood and said that his life in Chicago was who he was, and there was nothing that could change that. He was a mature comedian who was very intelligent and engaging in his television, film and stand-up appearances.- Actor
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Kevin Bigley was born on 5 October 1986 in Yuba City, California, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for The Dilemma (2011), Stretch (2014) and The Angry Birds Movie (2016).- Josie Bissett is recognized internationally for her role as the popular 'Jane Mancini' on FOX-TV's "Melrose Place," which ended its successful seven-year run in May 1999. To date, she has graced over 50 magazine covers, including such publications as TV Guide, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Shape's Fit Pregnancy and New Woman.
She appeared for five seasons on ABC Family Channel's hit breakout teen-pregnancy drama series "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," created and executive produced by Brenda Hampton ("7th Heaven"). Josie played 'Kathleen Bowman,' mother to good girl 'Grace' (Megan Park).
Josie recently starred as 'Sonia Clifton,' a veterinarian who discovers that her husband is having an affair, in telefilm "Pregnant at 17." She also had a starring role in "A Mother's Instinct," both for Lifetime.
She previously starred opposite James Brolin in Hallmark Movie Channels' first-ever original holiday movie, "Christmas with Tucker," which premiered in late 2013 as part of their "Most Wonderful Movies of Christmas" new holiday initiative. "Christmas with Tucker" is the Most Watched Hallmark Movie Channel Original Premiere among HH's and W25-54 in network history! Josie also starred opposite Matthew Settle in the original Christmas film "Paper Angels," which premiered on UP TV in November 2014.
Her first children's book, "Tickle Monster," became a national sensation which got kids and parents to laugh, laugh, laugh! "Tickle Monster" is an inspiring and beautifully illustrated storybook for kids, based on a treasured family tradition that Josie has continued with her own kids. Fuzzy 'Tickle Monster' mitts, an interactive companion piece to the book, are available and packaged in an adorable gift set. Parents can wear the gloves to tickle their children while reading along to the clever text.
"Tickle Monster" and publisher Compendium, Inc. were awarded the PTPA (Parent Tested Parent Approved) Media Inc.'s Seal of Approval for excellence in parenting products. "Tickle Monster" earned the Publisher's Choice Award from the Family Magazine Group, and Josie was named Celebrity Mom of the Year" by the Mom's Choice Awards (MCA), an annual awards program that recognizes authors, inventors, companies and parents for their efforts in creating quality family-friendly media, products and services. Josie and her children were also featured on the cover of MCA's Entro magazine. Josie's ability to offer parenting advice and bring laughter in the lives of families, along with her mission to live life as a whole team and balanced person, made her the perfect choice for the Mom's Choice Team.
As a follow up to the highly successful "Tickle Monster," Josie has written her second children's book, "Boogie Monster," and both titles are currently available in major book stores. With a loveable new character from Planet Boogie whose only mission is to inspire kids to dance, dance, dance, "Boogie Monster" teaches kids that there's no right or wrong way to dance. In the process, kids build confidence and have fun exercising. Also available is a complete dance kit (packaged in a colorful, reusable keepsake gift box with magnetic closure), which includes a "Boogie Monster" book, a pair of Boogie Monster Legs Leggings and a full-length Boogie Monster music CD by Recess Monkey. The "Boogie Monster" Dance Kit was the recipient of the prestigious Mom's Choice Award, honoring excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. In addition, the Dance Kit won the Moonbeam Gold Medal at the Moonbeam Children's Book Awards.
Josie's first book, "Little Bits Of Wisdom," was inspired by the birth of her first child in 2001 and is now in its third printing. It is a heart-warming collection of parenting wisdom and child-rearing "tricks of the trade" gathered from more than 1,000 parents and grandparents throughout the world. Two years later, she completed a second book, "Making Memories," which featured over 200 ways for parents to create rich family memories with their children that last a lifetime. Tens of thousands of parents have already embraced this magical book, the premise of which is so simple and powerful: The moments with our children pass so quickly, but the memories we create today will last forever.
The Seattle native began her career in front of the camera at the age of 12 as a model in print advertisements and television commercials. At 16, she left home and moved to Japan to further her career and at 17 headed to Hollywood to make her mark.
Josie soon landed the role of 'Cara' on "The Hogan Family," where she spent two seasons. Within two years of her arrival in Los Angeles, Josie was cast on "Melrose Place" and quickly became one of television's most recognizable actors. In recent years, she has had the opportunity to explore many diverse and interesting characters in such projects as the ABC movies "The Fire Above" and "Dare to Love," the FOX telefilm "Deadly Vows" and the USA cable film "Baby Monitor: Sound of Fear." She starred in the ABC Family Channel original film "I Do, They Don't," a romantic comedy about two widowed parents whose spontaneous marriage thrusts them into the position of having to blend two families into one. In addition, Josie starred in the Lifetime Television original film "The Other Woman," based on the best-selling novel by Joy Fielding and directed by Jason Priestley. She has also made numerous guest-starring appearances including NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."
On the big screen, she made her feature film debut in Oliver Stone's "The Doors," in which she played the wife of Doors' guitarist Robbie Krieger. Her subsequent films include the coming-of-age comedy "Book of Love" and the psychological thriller "Mikey."
In addition to acting, Josie has hosted numerous shows. She most recently co-hosted Lifetime Television's morning talk show, "The Balancing Act." She previously hosted "Parenting & Beyond," a show that offered parents creative solutions to everyday problems, so that they can have more quality time to enjoy their family and watch their children growing up. She also hosted the PBS educational special, "Teach More, Love More," which followed four families, each with a child in one of the four critical stages of early childhood development -- newborn, infancy, toddlerhood and preschool. As host, Josie guided viewers through the program which explores the joys, fears and a myriad of questions that accompany the beginning of life. "Teach More, Love More" included interviews with nationally renowned experts such as Dr. T. Berry Brazelton.
Josie has been the face of several national commercial campaigns, including Neutrogena's skin care line and Dr. Scholl's Pedicure Essentials, an entire line of 14 different products designed to pamper the feet. Additionally, she was a spokesperson for Murad Skin Care's Resurgence® Regimen, the first comprehensive line of products formulated exclusively to help revitalize and rebuild hormonally aging skin.
Josie resides in Seattle with her children, 16-year-old son Mason and 13-year-old daughter Maya. She is working on her next children's book. - Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Peter Brown got into acting when he was in the army by organizing a theater group on base to occupy his spare time while stationed in Alaska. After his discharge he enrolled in the acting program at UCLA, and starting in the mid-1950s found employment in many of the western films and series being turned out at the time (he is especially remembered for his work as eager young deputy Johnny McKay in the classic western series Lawman (1958) and as one of a trio of Texas Rangers in the western action/comedy series Laredo (1965)). Following the end of a contract with Universal Pictures (1965-1972), he switched to soap operas and made-for-TV films, and has been steadily employed ever since.- Actress
- Producer
Taylour Paige was born and raised in Inglewood, California. Paige started her career at a young age training at the Westside Ballet Academy, and spent two summers at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, DC. In 2001, she became a student of the choreographer, director, executive producer, and actress, Debbie Allen. That year, she was cast in Debbie Allen's PEARL, and went on to do every musical with the Academy from 2001-2009.
Taylour currently stars in A24's ZOLA. She will next be seen this fall in Netflix's MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM and will follow this starring in Eddie Huang's (Fresh Off The Boat) BOOGIE.
Taylour is best known for stand out performances in the SXSW film JEAN OF THE JONESES, directed by Stella Meghie for which THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER and LA Times praised her performance. , and for her role as "Cathy Volsan-Curry" in SONY'S WHITE BOY RICK, directed by Yann Demange.- Actress
- Soundtrack
- Music Artist
Dalila Bela was born in Montreal, Quebec. She started her acting career at the age of 5. Right after, she booked her first National Commercial. By the age of 6, she participated in many Acting Competitions where she won best actor of the year. Soon after that she and her family moved to Vancouver, BC where she continues to pursue her acting career.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Daniel Baldwin was born on 5 October 1960 in Massapequa, Long Island, New York, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Hawaii Five-0 (2010), Grimm (2011) and Cold Case (2003). He has been married to Joanne Smith-Baldwin since 28 July 2007. They have two children. He was previously married to Elizabeth Baldwin and Cheryl Baldwin.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Stephanie Cole was born in Warwickshire, England, UK. At the age of 15 she auditioned for, and was accepted to, the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She began her career at the age of 17 playing a 90-year-old woman. She went on to play notable television roles, which included appearing in all 30 episodes of the prisoner-of-war drama Tenko (1981) and playing memorable characters in comedies such as Open All Hours (1976), A Bit of a Do (1989), Waiting for God (1990) and Doc Martin (2004), as well as legendary soap opera Coronation Street (1960).- Actress
- Costume Designer
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
Lovely, slender, and sensuous raven-haired knockout Laurette Marcia Gemser was born on October 5, 1950 in Java, Indonesia. In 1955 Gemser left Indonesia at age four and moved with her parents to the Netherlands. Laura grew up in the Dutch city of Utrecht and attended Mulo Regentesseschool high school. She studied fashion design at the Artibus Art School in Utrecht. Gemser first gained public recognition with her nude modeling in various men's magazines in Belgium and the Netherlands. The exotic dark-haired beauty moved to Italy in the mid-1970's and made her film debut as Janine in the obscure Amore libero - Free Love (1974). However, it was Laura's small, but memorable role as a masseuse in Emmanuelle II (1975) that really launched her career in racy soft-core exploitation fare. Gemser achieved her greatest enduring international cult popularity with her incredibly erotic and uninhibited portrayals of the titular hedonistic and sexually adventurous globe-trotting photojournalist in the steamy "Black Emanuelle" series that were often directed by the notorious Joe D'Amato and frequently co-starred Gemser's real-life actor husband Gabriele Tinti. Other notable parts include charismatic cult leader the Divine One in Divine Emanuelle (1981), evil sorceress Indun in Ator, the Fighting Eagle (1982), and compassionate mutant telepath Lilith in Endgame - Bronx lotta finale (1983). Outside of acting, Laura also worked on a handful of movies as a costume designer. Gemser quit the motion picture business in the early 1990's and still lives in Italy.- Actress
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Additional Crew
Carolina Bartczak is a Polish/Canadian actor and producer. She was born in Germany after her family had fled Martial Law in Poland and later immigrated to Toronto, Canada.
She earned a Bachelor of Science at The University of Toronto, and then studied at Université of Lyon in France. In 2012 she turned to acting and studied the Meisner Technique at The Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City.
After several smaller roles in film and television, she went on to play the role of Magda, the wife of Magneto in X-Men: Apocalypse. Since then she has made appearances in many television shows and films, and she plays the role of Brenda Lopez in Moonfall, alongside Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, and Michael Pena.
She is fluent in English, French and Polish- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Tom Hooper was educated at one of England's most prestigious schools, Westminster. His first film, Runaway Dog, was made when he was 13 years old and shot on a Clockwork 16mm Bolex camera, using 100 feet of film. At age 18, he wrote, directed and produced the short film Painted Faces (1992), which premiered at the London Film Festival; it was released theatrically and later shown on Channel 4. He studied English at England's top university, Oxford. At Oxford University, he directed theatre productions starring his contemporaries Kate Beckinsale and Emily Mortimer, and directed his first television commercials. His father was a non-executive director at United News and Media, which owned an ITV franchise.
Hooper's father introduced him to one of British television's top directors and producers, Matthew Robinson, who gave him breaks by employing him to direct episodes of Byker Grove (1989) and EastEnders (1985), both series produced by Robinson. Further success came when he was approved by Helen Mirren to direct her in Prime Suspect: The Last Witness (2003). He then worked with her again on Elizabeth I (2005). Hooper made the difficult transition from television to film with apparent ease, directing Michael Sheen in the Brian Clough biopic The Damned United (2009) and Colin Firth in The King's Speech (2010). Both films were critical and commercial successes, quickly establishing Hooper as one of the most in demand directors of his generation.
Hooper has garnered numerous awards in his career. He won an Academy Award for directing The King's Speech. The 2010 film was nominated for 12 Oscars, more than any other film of that year, and also won the Best Picture, Best Actor (Colin Firth), and Best Original Screenplay Oscars. The King's Speech received seven BAFTA Awards, including Best Film and Outstanding British Film. Hooper also won a Directors Guild of America Award for his direction. Among other accolades worldwide, The King's Speech additionally was honored with the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival; the Best British Film prize at the British Independent Film Awards; the Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film; the Producers Guild of America Awards' top prize; and the European Film Award for Best Film. The King's Speech earned $414 million at the worldwide box office.
Hooper was recently again a Directors Guild of America Award nominee for directing Working Title Films' Les Misérables. The 2012 film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won the Best Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway), Best Sound, and Best Make-up and Hair Styling Academy Awards. Les Misérables received those same accolades at the BAFTA Awards, as well as the BAFTA for Best Production Design. Among other accolades worldwide, Les Misérables was named one of the year's 10 Best Films by the American Film Institute with an AFI Award; won three Golden Globe Awards including Best Picture [Musical/Comedy]; was voted the Best Acting by an Ensemble award by the National Board of Review; and was nominated for four Screen Actors Guild Awards. Les Misérables earned $442 million at the worldwide box office.
The Damned United received a South Bank Show Award nomination for Best British Film; and he gained acclaim for the BAFTA Award-nominated Red Dust, starring Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Hooper had an unprecedented run of success at the Golden Globe Awards with his works for HBO, which won the Golden Globe for Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television three years in a row. The actors and actresses starring in these productions - respectively, Elizabeth I, Longford, and John Adams - also won Golden Globes for their performances three years running.
Hooper won an Emmy Award for directing Elizabeth I. The HBO Films/Channel 4 miniseries won three Golden Globes and nine Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Miniseries.
Longford, written by Peter Morgan, starred Jim Broadbent and Samantha Morton. The HBO Films/Channel 4 Telefilm won three Golden Globe Awards and was nominated for five Emmy Awards.
John Adams (2008), starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, won four Golden Globes and 13 Emmy Awards - the most Emmys ever awarded to a program in one year. Hooper, receiving his first Directors Guild of America Award nomination, directed all nine hours of the HBO Films miniseries.
Hooper was nominated for an Emmy Award for helming ITV's miniseries Prime Suspect 6. His television work also includes Daniel Deronda (2002), which won the award for Best Miniseries at the 2003 Banff Television Festival; the miniseries Love in a Cold Climate (2001), for which star Alan Bates received a BAFTA Award nomination; episodes of the multi-award-winning ITV comedy/drama Cold Feet (1997); and EastEnders (1985) one-hour specials that garnered BAFTA Awards two years in a row.- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Born in Liverpool, England, UK, Clive Barker is an English writer, director, and visual artist, best known for his works in the genres of horror and dark fantasy. His mother Joan Ruby (née Revill) was a painter and school welfare officer and his father Leonard Barker was a personnel director for an industrial relations firm. He studied English and philosophy at the University of Liverpool. His first artistic endeavors took place while at school, where he was a part of students' theatre. In the early days of his artistic career, he supported himself by working as a male prostitute. In 1978 he co-founded a theatre group called The Dog Company, among whose members was Doug Bradley who later went on to star in Barker's Hellraiser movie series. In 1985 he published his debut novel, The Damnation Game, and the same year he wrote his first feature movie scripts: Underworld (1985) and Rawhead Rex (1986). The end effect of these two movies disappointed Barker so much that he decided to adapt his prose into a movie he would direct himself, leading to the creation of Hellraiser (1987). The movie achieved cult status and turned into a multimedia franchise, although Barker lost control over it at one point, only to regain it in 2020. In addition to his work in literature and movies, he is also a visual artist, often illustrating his own books and was involved in a number of television, comic book, and visual arts projects.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Mary Gibbs was born on 5 October 1996 in Pasadena, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Monsters, Inc. (2001), Inside Out (2015) and Tracy (2009).- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Cassandra Jean Amell was born on 5 October 1985 in Houston, Texas, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Mad Men (2007), One Tree Hill (2003) and Roswell, New Mexico (2019). She has been married to Stephen Amell since 25 December 2012. They have two children.- Actor
- Director
A prolific young performer, child/juvenile Skippy Homeier was born George Vincent Homeier on October 5, 1930. Beginning on radio in his native Chicago at age six ("Portia Faces Life"), he came to films at age 14 with Tomorrow, the World! (1944), which was originally a 1943 Broadway drama starring Skippy, Ralph Bellamy and Shirley Booth. Recreating his role of Emil Bruchner, he received excellent reviews for his chilling portrayal of a callous Nazi youth this time opposite Fredric March and Betty Field.
The fair, oval-faced, tousled-haired blond remained an often troublesome, unsympathetic teen in post-war films such as Boys' Ranch (1946) as an incorrigible character named "Knuckles," but he also displayed his charms with his jitterbugging title teen in Arthur Takes Over (1948) and likable young character in Mickey (1948).
Growing into adult roles (now billed as Skip Homeier or G.V. Homeier), he continued at a more menacing pace in movie westerns and crime dramas, notably Halls of Montezuma (1951), The Gunfighter (1950) (as Gregory Peck's nemesis), Cry Vengeance (1954) (as an albino hit man), Stranger at My Door (1956) and The Tall T (1957).
As Homeier's film career began to bog down in the late 1950's, he turned more and more to TV parts playing a few good guys at times just as a change of pace. In addition to a number of guest roles in such anthology series such as "Schlitz Playhouse," "Playhouse 90," "Zane Grey Theatre," "The Alcoa Hour," "Lux Video Theatre," "Armstrong Theatre," "Robert Montgomery Presents" and "Studio One in Hollywood" and "Science Fiction Theatre," Skip starred in a brief TV series as Dan Raven (1960).
Skip went on to appear in a host of guest roles on such 60's series as "Wanted: Dead or Alive," "The Millionaire," "The Loretta Young Show," "The Deputy," "The Rifleman," "The Defenders," "The Addams Family," "The Virginian," "Branded," "Perry Mason," "Burke's Law," "Combat!," "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea," "Bonanza," "Star Trek," "Lassie," "The Wonderful World of Disney," "Mannix" and "Mission: Impossible." A few film roles did come his way co-starring with Beverly Garland in the chiller Stark Fear (1962), and supporting Audie Murphy in the westerns Showdown (1963) and Bullet for a Badman (1964) and Don Knotts in the slapstick comedy The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
The remainder of Skip's career stuck closely to TV. He had a regular role as a doctor in the drama series The Interns (1970), and was a continuing guest star on a host of popular TV programs such as "Owen Marshall," "Police Woman, "The Blue Knight," "The Streets of San Francisco," "The Six Million Dollar Man," "The Bionic Woman," "Barnaby Jones," "Fantasy Island" and "Quincy." TV-movies and mini-series work included Two for the Money (1972), Voyage of the Yes (1973), Helter Skelter (1976), Washington: Behind Closed Doors (1977) and The Wild Wild West Revisited (1979).
Skip phased out his career and retired completely following a featured role in the western film Quell and Co. (1982). Little was heard from him until his death on June 25, 2017 at the age of 86 from spinal myelopathy in Indian Wells, California. He was survived by his second wife, former actress Della Sharman and two sons from his first marriage.- Irene White was born in Beirut, Lebanon. Irene is an actor, known for Superstore (2015), The 15:17 to Paris (2018) and Modern Family (2009).
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
John Hoyt was born on 5 October 1905 in Bronxville, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for When Worlds Collide (1951), Spartacus (1960) and Brute Force (1947). He was married to Dorothy Marion Oltman and Marion Virginia Burns. He died on 15 September 1991 in Santa Cruz, California, USA.- Actress
- Writer
She has trained as an actress with Cristina Rota and Bernardo Hiller, the renowned acting coach of actors such as Jeff Goldblum, Cameron Diaz and Cross the Line (2020), directed by David Victori, marks Milena's leap to the cinema where she plays Mila, the female protagonist of this thriller starring Mario Casas. She was directed by Román Reyes in Diagonales (2018), Mar Corrales in Innermost (2020), Lucía Sun in Chimichanga and Abril Garcia in Adentro (2020).- Actor
- Art Department
- Soundtrack
Duncan Regehr was born in Lethbridge, Alberta and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. In his youth he distinguished himself as a champion figure skater, then had his own radio program at age 16. Regehr was also an Olympic boxing contender, and a classically trained Shakespearean stage performer in his native Canada before tackling Hollywood in 1980, where he began to develop his work in film. From 1986 to the present Duncan Regehr has continued to paint, write, and film throughout the world.
At six feet, five inches tall, Regehr's imposing physique, good looks and commanding presence often cause him to be cast as larger-than-life heroes and stylishly wicked villains. His voice is refined and elegant, and he is frequently contacted for voice work. He is adept at adopting the accent of many languages for his work in theatre and film.
Less known about Duncan Regehr is that he is also a highly accomplished and internationally exhibited artist. As a child he was encouraged by his father, artist Peter Regehr, to develop his talents. He later studied painting with Dutch surrealist Henry Poesiat, as well as literature, psychology and sociology at Camosun College on Vancouver Island.
Regehr first exhibited in 1974 at the Stratford Festival in Ontario. The following year he showed at the Yorkville Art Center in Toronto. Since then, numerous exhibitions in Canada, the USA, Britain and Europe have attracted the attention of museums, critics and the public. His work is found in important collections worldwide, among them are the Smithsonian Institute (West Coast Archives USA), The Jilin Collection (China), The Kunsthallen (Copenhagen), Focus on the Masters Archives for the Getty Museum (USA), and the Syllavethy Collection of Scotland (GB).
Regehr's automonograph, "The Dragon's Eye: An Artist's View," received international acclaim and was lauded by art critics and literary reviewers as a book of visual and poetic excellence. In 1996 he won the American Vision Award of Distinction in the Arts, and was granted the lifetime appellation, 'Royal Canadian Artist' with honors in the year 2000 by the Royal Canadian Academy of Art and the Queen's Governor General for his outstanding artistic achievements. In 2008, Duncan Regehr received the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
His art may be viewed on his website.- Actress
- Writer
- Sound Department
Monica Rial was born on October 5, 1975 in Houston, Texas as Monica Jean Rial. She's an American voice actress. She graduated from the University of Houston. She's best known for voicing Bulma in the Dragon Ball franchise, Stocking in Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (2010) & Froppy in My Hero Academia (2016). She's 1 of the most prolific anime voice actors in the English-speaking world.- Gigi Zumbado is a Cuban American Actress. Born in Miami, FL currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. She is the sister of TV and Film actresses Carmela Zumbado and Marisela Zumbado . Zumbado is known for her television roles as Tammy Ocampo in Epix's Bridge and Tunnel (2021) and Officer Diane Stafford in FOX's 9-1-1 (2018) . She is represented by Industry Entertainment.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Matthew Maher was born on 5 October 1971 in Arkabutla, Mississippi, USA. He is an actor, known for Gone Baby Gone (2007), Captain Marvel (2019) and It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010).- Editorial Department
- Producer
- Actor
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, and science communicator.
Born and raised in New York City, Tyson became interested in astronomy at the age of nine after a visit to the Hayden Planetarium. After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science, where he was editor-in-chief of the Physical Science Journal, he completed a bachelor's degree in physics at Harvard University in 1980. After receiving a master's degree in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin in 1983, he earned his master's (1989) and doctorate (1991) in astrophysics at Columbia University. For the next three years, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University. In 1994 he joined the Hayden Planetarium as a staff scientist and the Princeton faculty as a visiting research scientist and lecturer. In 1996, he became director of the planetarium and oversaw its $210-million reconstruction project, which was completed in 2000.
From 1995 to 2005, Tyson wrote monthly essays in the "Universe" column for Natural History magazine, some of which were published in his book Death by Black Hole (2007). During the same period, he wrote a monthly column in Star Date magazine, answering questions about the universe under the pen name "Merlin". Material from the column appeared in his books Merlin's Tour of the Universe (1998) and Just Visiting This Planet (1998). Tyson served on a 2001 government commission on the future of the U.S. aerospace industry, and on the 2004 Moon, Mars and Beyond commission. He was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in the same year.
In 2014, he hosted the television series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, a successor to Carl Sagan's 1980 series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.
As a science communicator, Tyson regularly appears on television, radio, and various other media outlets.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Noah Segan was born on 5 October 1983 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Knives Out (2019), Blood Relatives (2022) and Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Winston Story was born on 5 October 1971. He is an actor, known for Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013), Henry Danger (2014) and Grey's Anatomy (2005).- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Shelby Rabara was born on 5 October 1983 in Orange County, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Goliath (2016), Steven Universe (2013) and 17 Again (2009). She has been married to Harry Shum Jr. since 22 November 2015. They have one child.- Actress
- Art Director
- Editor
Ángela Molina was born on 5 October 1955 in Madrid, Spain. She is an actress and art director, known for Live Flesh (1997), 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) and Broken Embraces (2009). She has been married to Leo Blakstad since 1995. They have two children. She was previously married to Hervé Timarche.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Zhan Xiao (or Sean Xiao) was born on October 5th, 1991 in Chongqing, China. He is an actor and singer, known for The Untamed (2019), Jade Dynasty (2019) and Oh! My Emperor (2018).
In 2010, Zhan Xiao was admitted to the School of Modern International Design and Art of Chongqing Technology and Business University. He was a member of the class art and literature, and entered the chorus branch of the school art troupe, serving as the director of the vocal music department of the university student art troupe, the director of the male voice department, and the actor of the school language arts branch. In his freshman year, Zhan Xiao went to Beijing to perform "I Have a Dream" with the language arts branch. In his sophomore year, he participated in the "Top Ten Singers on Campus" competition of Chongqing Technology and Business University and won the honorary title of "Top Ten Singers on Campus". Later, he represented Chongqing Technology and Business University in the Chongqing Municipal "Top Ten Singers on Campus" competition and won the second prize. Zhan Xiao often participated in various school performances, and acted as the opening solo vocalist at the 60th Anniversary Gala of Technology and Business University. During the school, he was awarded the honorary titles of "Advanced Individual in Literature and Art", "Outstanding Art Troupe Cadre", and "Outstanding League Member". In addition, in the public welfare poster design competition held by the school, he also won the "First Prize" and the "Best Popularity Award".
In October 2012, Zhan Xiao and his friends founded the "Reminiscence Visual Media" photography studio and "NED Design Studio", and worked as the main photographer in the photography studio, and received some LOGO and VI design in the design studio. After graduating from university, Xiao Zhan worked as a designer in a design studio run by a media teacher.
In 2015, Zhan Xiao participated in the reality program X-Fire where he trained to be an idol alongside 15 other trainees. He debuted alongside eight other trainees in the idol group X NINE, taking on the position of main vocal, the group released their first mini album X Jiu in September 2016. Also in 2016, Xiao made his acting debut in the fantasy web drama Chao xingxing xue yuan (2016) where he played the leading role.- Parfrey was born Sydney Woodrow Parfrey in New York City, New York, to Hazel (James) and Sidney Parfrey, both Welsh immigrants. One of the most interesting character actors to emerge on American film and television in the 1960s, Parfrey brought a quirky charisma to every role he played, from shopkeepers to space-age simians. His noted turn as the unbalanced informer in Broadway's "Advise and Consent" (1961) set the standard for his offbeat, conspiratorial persona in dozens of TV and movie appearances into the 1980s. Always a supporting player receiving inconsistently deferential billing, Parfrey did manage some focal TV guest-star roles, mainly in the late sixties, and a few big A-movie parts, most notably as one of the wretched prisoners in Papillon (1973). Parfrey's association with that film's director, Franklin Schaffner, also included his bit as one of the three "See No Evil" orangutan judges in Planet of the Apes (1968) (he would don the prosthetics again for the pilot of the spinoff TV series). In addition, Parfrey also turned up in the unofficial repertory companies of both Clint Eastwood and Don Siegel. His determination to bring that edgy "something extra" to his profession lives on in his son, the "underground" publisher Adam Parfrey.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Marshall Lancaster was born on 5 October 1974 in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Life on Mars (2006), Coronation Street (1960) and Ashes to Ashes (2008).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Won a 2000 Tony Award for Best Performance By a Leading Actress in a Musical for her role in "Aida". Released her debut album in 2002, "This is who I am". Moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana at age 15. As a student in university, she performed at the Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre, in "Dreamgirls" and "The World Goes Round". Is of Trinidadian descent.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Hailed by Gene Autry as the 'perfect western actress', diminutive, pig-tailed Betty Jeanne Grayson had all the genre's prerequisite attributes. The daughter of a prominent Arkansas physician (who went on to became State Health Officer), she had been trained in drama and dance at the University of Texas. More pertinently, she was of an athletic disposition, a keen swimmer, golfer and tennis player. She was also an ace rider (to the extent of performing in rodeos), as well as an expert trick shot. Her arrival in Hollywood happened some time in 1946. Thereafter, sources vary as to how she got into movies. One account has her being spotted by an MGM talent scout while working as a hat check girl, while another asserts that she had previously met Autry while performing amateur dramatics at a camp show for the Army Air Force. The story further goes, that Autry (who was serving in the military at the time) was so impressed with her, that he told her to look him up later at Columbia studios.
Gail's looks, feisty personality and tomboyish aptitudes soon got her cast in outdoorsy films. She went on to co-star opposite Autry (who prompted her change of name to 'Gail Davis') in fifteen of his films, as well as appearing at least a dozen times as different characters on his TV show. Gail tended to do all of her own stunts. She became sufficiently popular for Autry to produce Annie Oakley (1954) (through his Flying A Productions), starring Gail as the gun-toting titular heroine, invariably disarming (rather than killing) assorted screen villains with her Single Action Army Colt. Gail thus achieved an additional measure of prominence by becoming the first female to command the nominal lead in a western TV series. For this, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.- The dedication of Sal Viscuso to the craft of acting can be dated to a singular evening in 1967. A college freshman, he happened upon a teleplay of Ronald Ribman's The Final War of Olly Winter (1967) and was so inspired by Ivan Dixon's Emmy-winning rendition of the title role that he entered the drama department the very next day, later explaining, "I felt that there I had found my family." He earned his BA from the University of California at Davis, then went on to study with Olympia Dukakis at NYU School of the Arts, from which he graduated with an MFA.
Opportunities presented themselves rapidly, and Sal made his film debut in the classic The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). An introduction to Burt Metcalfe, associate producer of the iconic series M*A*S*H (1972), led to his move to Los Angeles, and soon Sal was a regular on NBC's sitcom The Montefuscos (1975). He was an off-screen loudspeaker announcer (as well as various other characters) on M*A*S*H (1972); appeared in Gene Wilder's homage to 1920's Hollywood, The World's Greatest Lover (1977); improvised in Robert Altman's 3 Women (1977); and played multiple parts on the beloved Barney Miller (1975) (one of which was written especially for him by the show's creator, Danny Arnold).
He was also to feature in what TIME magazine has rated as one of the "Top 100 TV shows of all time," Susan Harris's Soap (1977). His vocationally challenged Father Timothy Flotsky (and the show's depiction of one of the first openly gay characters on network television), created instant controversy that attracted 19 million viewers to the series premiere. Shortly thereafter, Sal commenced his professional association with the Bancroft/Brooks combine of talent, first appearing in Anne Bancroft's Fatso (1980), and then in Mel Brooks' Spaceballs (1987),about which he has remarked, "I continue to get more attention from that project than from anything I've ever done!"
Sal has appeared in numerous and varied roles on episodic television, including Family Ties (1982), It's Garry Shandling's Show. (1986), Cagney & Lacey (1981), NYPD Blue (1993), Boston Public (2000), ER (1994), and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) (another part created for him, by executive producer Robert Palm); and in such films as Herbert Ross's Max Dugan Returns (1983) and Noah Baumbach's Kicking and Screaming (1995). He studies with Jeff Perry, a founding member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and has appeared as Richard Roma in the Los Angeles revival of Glengarry Glen Ross. In addition, Sal volunteers with The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company, which mentors at-risk youth by introducing them to cultural resources from which they might otherwise have been disenfranchised. He is appearing onstage in the role of Carr Gomm in The Elephant Man; onscreen, he will feature in the upcoming American Seagull, based on the Chekov classic, and written and directed by acclaimed novelist Michael Guinzburg.