Celebrity Names with the Letter J: Part 5
Here we are with part 5 of this list of celebrities first names starting with J. Treat this like an encyclopedia and click to learn more about a particular celebrity, and I do this because it's fun, so here we go. Enjoy!
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- Hailing from the UK, Janet Kidder moved to Canada in the late 1990's, where she enrolled in the Fine Arts Program at the University of British Columbia, and the coveted Studio 58 Theatre Arts Program at Langara College. Janet then moved to Toronto, where she began to enjoy a healthy and diverse career in theatre, film, and television that now spans over three decades.
Janet is thrilled with the numerous TV and film credits she has to her name which include Netflix's recent Christmas film 'Operation Christmas Drop', The CW's 'Two Sentence Horror Stories', CBS All Access' 'Star Trek: Discovery', Amazon's 'The Man in the High Castle', and Facebook Watch's 'Limetown', where she starred alongside Jessica Biel and Stanley Tucci.
Other noteworthy credits include ABC's 'Somewhere Between' and 'Rookie Blue', Syfy's 'Aftermath', The CW's 'Arrow' and 'Supernatural, Fox's 'The X-Files', Showcase's ' Continuum', CBC's 'Tom Stone', CTV/USA Network's 'La Femme Nikita', and feature films 'The Big Heist', and 'Bride of Chucky'.
Janet is passionate about her work, feels blessed to have made a life out of it for herself and her children and would love to continue acting for the rest of forever. - Actress
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Janet Leigh was the only child of a couple who often moved from town to town. Living in apartments, Janet was a bright child who skipped several grades and finished high school when she was 15. A lonely child, she would spend much of her time at movie theaters. She was a student, studying music and psychology, at the University of the Pacific until she was "discovered" while visiting her parents in Northern California. Her father was working the desk at a ski resort where her mother worked as a maid. Retired MGM actress Norma Shearer saw a picture of Janet on the front desk and asked if she could borrow it. This led to a screen test at MGM and a starring role in The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947). MGM was looking for a young naive country girl and Janet filled the bill perfectly. She would play the young ingénue in a number of films and work with such stars as Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Orson Welles and Judy Garland. She appeared in a number of successful films, including Little Women (1949), Angels in the Outfield (1951), Scaramouche (1952), Houdini (1953) and The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), among others. Janet would appear in a variety of films, from comedies to westerns to musicals to dramas. Of her more than 50 movies, she would be remembered for the 45 minutes that she was on the screen in the small-budget thriller Psycho (1960). Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, this 1960 classic would include the shower scene that would become a film landmark. Even though her character is killed off early in the picture, she would be nominated for an Academy Award and receive a Golden Globe. Her next film would be The Manchurian Candidate (1962), in which she starred with Frank Sinatra. For the rest of the decade, her appearances in films would be rare, but she worked with Paul Newman in Harper (1966). In the 1970s she appeared on the small screen in a number of made-for-TV movies. In 1980, she appeared alongside her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis in The Fog (1980), and later, in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998). Janet Leigh died at age 77 in her home in Beverly Hills, California on October 3, 2004.- Actress
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An enigmatic and intriguing performer, Janet Lane's transition from stage to screen has resulted in swift, undisputable success. Lane first caught the eye of freshman director George Clooney, who quickly cast her as the Blonde Bachelorette in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002). She then went on to do a role on the hit MTV comedy series Undressed (1999). After a brief stint on Anthony Drazan's short lived NBC drama _"E.D.N.Y." (2003)_, Janet demonstrated her star potential by leading the ensemble cast of Gavin Heffernan's Independent feature, Expiration (2003). Her performance as a mysterious, soulful drug courier has received wide acclaim on the festival circuit from critics and audiences alike, prompting Jakeopolis to write, "the performance in Expiration by Janet Lane is enough to make you fall in love with movies all over again. She will own you for the entire running time." Part `film noir heroine', part `girl next door', Lane represents a new breed of Hollywood actress. Smart, sexy and ambitious, her rapid ascension through the acting ranks leaves little doubt that Janet Lane's best work is yet to come.- Pretty, demure-looking Janet Margolin was born in New York City in 1943 and educated at the New York High School of Performing Arts. The long-haired brunette was discovered for films by director Frank Perry as she was making great strides as a teen on Broadway. He saw her in the play "Daughter of Silence," for which she earned a Tony nomination, and took her immediately to Hollywood, casting her as the schizophrenic lass in David and Lisa (1962) opposite Keir Dullea. She bowled over the critics. The movie, which was praised for its handling of delicate, mature subject matter, should have paved the way to stardom for Janet but strangely didn't. She churned out uneventful second leads in such notable fare as Bus Riley's Back in Town (1965), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and Nevada Smith (1966). Though she had better luck with her ingenue roles in Enter Laughing (1967) and Woody Allen's Take the Money and Run (1969), the offers starting drying up by decade's end and she turned to TV work. Woody used her again, albeit briefly, in Annie Hall (1977). After a brief first marriage, Janet met and married actor Ted Wass of TV's Soap (1977) and Blossom (1990) fame. Janet was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and died at age 50.
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Janet McTeer was born on August 5, 1961 in Newcastle, England, UK to parents Jean and Allan McTeer. She was raised in York from the age of 6. She attended Queen Anne Grammar School for Girls, where there was not much opportunity for drama. She became interested in acting at age 16, when she saw "She Stoops to Conquer" at the York Theater. She worked as a waitress at the same theater, where she once served a coffee to Gary Oldman. He suggested that she apply to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where he had just finished studying. She successfully gained a place at RADA. After graduation, she began her career acting on stage by joining the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Her on-screen film debut came in Half Moon Street (1986), an erotic thriller based on a novel by Paul Theroux. In 2000, she received her first Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Tumbleweeds (1999). She was awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to drama.- Actress
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A native of Bournemouth in the UK, Janet Montgomery moved to London when she received a scholarship at a dance school. One of her first acting jobs was a guest star role on the critically-acclaimed UK teen drama series, Skins (2007), as Nicholas Hoult's love interest.
Upon moving to Los Angeles, Montgomery was quickly cast in the Dark Castle film, The Hills Run Red (2009). In addition to guest-starring on FX's The League (2009), she recurred on the HBO series, Entourage (2004) as E's assistant and Drama's girlfriend. She was also a series regular on the Fox series, Human Target (2010), with Mark Valley and Jackie Earle Haley. More recently, Montgomery was the lead of CBS's Made in Jersey (2012).
Montgomery played one of the dancers, opposite Natalie Portman, in Darren Aronofsky's Oscar-nominated psychological thriller, Black Swan (2010). She also starred in Jesse Peretz's Our Idiot Brother (2011), opposite Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks.
Other recent projects include Dancing on the Edge (2013), with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Matthew Goode, as well as Spies of Warsaw (2013), opposite David Tennant. She just completed shooting the lead of the independent film, If You See Her (2014), and is about to start shooting the female lead in Salem (2014), the first original series for WGN.- Actress
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As Disney's lively lass Katie O'Gill, she was the freshness of spring. She could inspire you to dance a jig through a field of flowers. Her entrancing green eyes and catchy spirit had that kind of life-affirming effect. Cute, spunky, almond-eyed British actress Janet Munro was deemed to be an actress from day one as the daughter of Scottish stage and variety-hall comedian Alex Munro (1911-1986) (born Alexander Horsburgh). Janet Neilson Horsburgh was born in Blackpool (near Liverpool), Lancashire, England on September 28, 1934. Her entertainer father adopted the name Munro a few years after she was born. His wife, Janet's mother Phyllis, died when Janet was 8 and she was raised by his second wife, Lilias.
Janet first trained as a teenager in repertory theatre in the Lancashire area, and in the late 1950s she found popularity on British TV, even earning the title of "Miss Television of 1958" from a fan magazine. She also dabbled in films and had prominent roles in the breezy comedy Small Hotel (1957), the drama The Young and the Guilty (1959), and the creepy sci-fi/horror The Crawling Eye (1958) [aka The Trollenberg Terror].
Adaptable to both comedy and drama, the little charmer caught the eye of Walt Disney who saw big things for her, and she was signed to a five-picture deal in 1959. She made four. Appealing to a brand new generation of Britishers and Americans as the scrappy, brunette-banged ingénue of several box-office family films, she brightened up the screen with her performances in Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959), Third Man on the Mountain (1959), and Swiss Family Robinson (1960).
The Golden Globe winner for "most promising newcomer" eventually outgrew Disney and tried to move ahead by altering her wholesome image with some mature, spicier roles, but audiences didn't respond well to this sudden departure. The idea of an adult Janet Munro playing overly-sexy ladies and seriously downtrodden women did not take and her career quickly faltered. Despite a BAFTA nomination for her role in Walk in the Shadow (1962), she began to see life unraveling both personally and professionally right before her eyes.
Janet's marriages to actors Tony Wright and Ian Hendry fell by the wayside and two miscarriages, plus chronic medical ills, only deepened her suffering. Worse yet, she developed an acute alcohol problem. Semi-retired from acting between 1964 and 1968 while married to Hendry in order to raise her children, she found the going difficult when she tried to return full-time.
Ironically, one of Janet's last screen roles showed her at her dramatic best, a boozing pop star in the British film Sebastian (1968). Four years later Janet died under somewhat mysterious circumstances. Reports circulated that she choked to death at a London hotel while drinking tea. The immediate cause of her death was acute myocarditis; the underlying cause was chronic ischemic heart disease. The sun set all too soon on this lovely actress when she was only 38. She was survived by her daughters, Sally and Corrie Hendry.- Actress
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This alert and classy actress seemed poised for Hollywood stardom in the early 1970s. Although it wasn't meant to be, Janet Suzman has remained one of the more respected classical stage players of her time. Born in 1939, she was raised in a staunchly liberal household in South Africa at a time when the country was moving toward the formal racial discrimination of apartheid. Suzman studied languages at the multi-racial Witwatersrand University in the late 1950s and was an active member of the drama society. She left South Africa during the height of her country's oppression, and moved to England in 1959.
Making her professional stage debut with "Billy Liar" in 1962, she almost immediately joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and received rave notices for her Joan of Arc in "The War of the Roses." She made her official London debut in a production of "A Comedy of Errors" in 1963. In the ensuing years Janet built up an impressive classical resumé portraying most of Shakespeare's illustrious heroines including Rosalind, Portia, Ophelia, Beatrice and the shrewish Kate. She also appeared in several BBC-TV versions of the classics.
In 1969 she married director Trevor Nunn and together they collaborated on some of England's finest stage productions during the early 1970s, notably "Antony and Cleopatra" (1972), "Titus Andronicus" (1972) and "Hello and Goodbye" (1973), which won Suzman the Evening Standard award. She won a second for her role of Masha in the 1976 production of Chekhov's "The Three Sisters." They had a son, Joshua, before they divorced in the 1980s. Later work included notable roles in "She Stoops to Conquer," "The Good Woman of Setzuan" and her "Hedda Gabler."
In the early 1970s she branched out into films. Following an auspicious turn in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972), she won the coveted role of Czarina Alexandra in the florid historical piece Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) co-starring Michael Jayston, in which she enjoyed a sterling British cast in support - including Harry Andrews, Jack Hawkins, Ian Holm, John McEnery, Laurence Olivier and Michael Redgrave. Suzman received an Oscar nomination for her performance, and bigger things seemed inevitable. She went on to grace a number of films, including Voyage of the Damned (1976), Nijinsky (1980) and Priest of Love (1981).
In a reprise of her real life family's activism, Suzman co-starred in the anti-apartheid film A Dry White Season (1989) portraying the wife of the Donald Sutherland character. The cast included other progressive activists such as Susan Sarandon and Marlon Brando (who received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor). In a change-of-pace role, she played a Mother Superior in the hysterical farce Nuns on the Run (1990).
In the 1980s Suzman was inspired to direct and coach. She was a visiting professor of drama at Westfield College, London, and later returned to South Africa to provide multi-ethnic castings in versions of Shakespearean plays. Making her directing bow in a production of "Othello" at the Market Theatre in 1987, some of her more notable assignments included "Death of a Salesman" (1992) and a reworked politicized version of Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" set in South Africa, titled "The Free State" (1997). In 2002 she returned to the RSC to perform in "The Hollow Crown," and most recently appeared in a London production of "Whose Life Is It Anyway?" (2005) starring Kim Cattrall.
Into the millennium, other than a couple of films such as Max (2002) and Felix (2013), Suzman appeared primarily on the smaller screen in such TV series as Tinga Tinga Tales (2010) (as the voice of the Ostrich) and Sinbad (2012), and a role in the mini-series Labyrinth (2012).- Actress
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Janet Varney is a comedian, actor, writer and producer. In the animation world, she is lucky enough to be the voice of "Korra" on Nickelodeon's hit series, The Legend of Korra (2012), and she can currently be seen as "Becca" on the live action FX series, You're the Worst (2014). She also spent seven wonderful years hosting TBS's Dinner & a Movie (1996), recurred on HBO's Entourage (2004), was a series regular on the beloved E! and Yahoo series, Burning Love (2012) - seasons 1 and 3, and has made guest appearances on hit shows, including How I Met Your Mother (2005), Key and Peele (2012), Psych (2006), Bones (2005), on the panel of Chelsea Lately (2007) and @midnight (2013), as a regular producer and co-host on Huffpost Live (2012), and has appeared in films, such as Still Waiting... (2009), Drillbit Taylor (2008), and Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer (2011). Janet is the host of the popular Nerdist podcast, "The JV Club", and the co-founder, creative director, and producer of one of the largest and most acclaimed comedy festivals in North America, "SF Sketchfest: the San Francisco Comedy Festival", now in its 15th year.- Actress
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Janet Waldo provided the quintessential voice of the swooning, overly dramatic teenager for numerous generations -- from the 1940s swinging babysitters to the 1960s groovy chick. A bouncy, perennially-youthful brunette, Janet Marie Waldo was born on February 4, 1919, in Grandview, Washington, and began entertaining in church plays as a youth. Urged on by her singer mother, she studied at the University of Washington and performed in plays. She was discovered by none other than Paramount star Bing Crosby, when he and his talent scouts conducted a contest and invited her to try out for it, which she won. Crosby next invited Janet (accompanied by her mother) to California and the rest is history.
Janet met a Paramount talent scout that signed her up for small roles in movies, including the Crosby films, Sing, You Sinners (1938) and The Star Maker (1939). Unable to completely break out of her bit-part cycle as assorted hat-check girls, receptionists, and telephone operators, she did manage a few co-starring roles in such Tim Holt westerns, such as The Bandit Trail (1941) and Land of the Open Range (1942) before setting her career sights on radio in 1943.
It was Crosby himself who introduced her to radio and she fell in love with the medium and its possibilities. As the eternal teen in "Meet Corliss Archer", her voice became a household sound and it was obvious that. her vocal talents would become her biggest moneymaker. She also performed on radio's "One Man's Family", "The Gallant Heart", and "Star Playhouse". She played the cigarette girl on both Red Skelton and Art Linkletter's programs, and teenager Emmy Lou on Ozzie Nelson on both his radio and TV shows. In 1952, she filmed one classic I Love Lucy (1951) episode, The Young Fans (1952) playing an extremely lovesick teenaged girl, who fell for Ricky Ricardo, although she was past 30 at the time.
In 1948 Janet married writer-director-producer Robert E. Lee of "Inherit the Wind" and "Auntie Mame" fame. She curtailed her career activities sharply for some time in order to raise her two children. She even turned down the opportunity to return to her popular role of Corliss Archer when the radio series was revamped for TV in 1951, and Lugene Sanders from the "Life of Riley" series took on the part instead. After sporadic appearances on stage, Janet established herself as one of the top female voice artists in the early 1960s when she gave vocal life to hip high schooler Judy Jetson in the prime-time Hanna-Barbera cartoon series The Jetsons (1962), a role that she would go on to play well past the age of 70. Her vocal range led her to become a Hanna-Barbera staple for over three decades, providing hundreds and hundreds of voices, old and young, to both Saturday morning and feature film cartoons. Some of her better known characters include Granny Sweet, Penelope Pitstop, Superman's Lana Lang, the Addams Family's Morticia Addams, the title role in Josie and the Pussycats (1970) and Princess on Sandy Frank's Battle of the Planets (1978).
Janet was a member of the California Artists Radio Theatre (CART) and performed frequently on the smaller L.A. stages over the years. The woman with a thousand voices continued doing radio shows and commercial voice-overs (Electrosol), and making personal appearances. Long married to playwright/TV writer Robert E. Lee until his death in 1994, the couple had two children (Jonathan, Lucy). Diagnosed with a benign but inoperable brain tumor in 2011, she died five years later, age 97, on June 12, 2016, in Encino, California. She is interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills.- Actress
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Janet Wood is extremely honored to be a Juror in this year's Angel Film Awards at the Monaco International Film Festival. The film in which she starred, A Late Separation, was voted Best Movie Short at the 2018 festivities. "It's great to be here, knowing how exciting it is for everyone involved. I support all the filmmakers and participants." Janet has truly lived the actor's life, studying acting and taking dance classes in New York when she was 15 years old to prepare for her dream. She was determined to move to Los Angeles and met with great success as soon as she arrived. A member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors' Equity Association, Janet has starred in numerous television and movie roles on iconic shows like Three's Company (with John Ritter and Suzanne Somers) and dramatic roles as a contract player on the long-running award-winning daytime dramas Days of Our Lives, and Young and the Restless, where she originated the role of April, frequently acting with David Hasselhoff. She performed in the feature film Foul Play (with Goldie Hawn,) the television version of Fame, The Wonder Years, Melrose Place (with Lisa Rinna,) Charmed (with Shannon Doherty), Six Feet Under (with Rachel Griffiths,) Monk (with Tony Shalhoub,) and again with John Ritter in The Last Fling. Janet worked with Kim Basinger and Tab Hunter in the 2-hour movie Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold. She has done over 55 television and movie roles and is a Performers Peer Group Member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. A founding member of the non-profit The Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theater in North Hollywood, California, now in its 50th continuous year, the stage holds a large part of Janet's heart. She has performed many roles of which she can be proud in such varied productions as Company and The Baby Dance, but none as meaningful to her as her starring performance as Maude in Harold and Maude, a character she has wanted to play her whole life. "It was a dream come true," said Janet. A Broadway World nominee, additional awards include the Eddon Award, the prestigious ADA award, and Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, among others. For over 35 years, Janet has produced the annual Foster Children's Holiday Party, inviting 100 children from foster homes in the Los Angeles area to a fun-filled day of entertainment, games, a kid-friendly lunch, and a play written just for the children. Santa is always on hand to end the fun day with a gift for each child. Janet is dedicated to keeping this tradition thriving, which is why it has become the charity of choice.- Actress
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Janette spent 10+ years in the movie industry. She was most known for her recurring part as principal character in the HBO series Mr Show, which she held a principal role for 3 years. She stared in Baywatch a dozen times, Party of Five, 90210, and Hang Time. Roles in various movies such as: Independence Day, Speechless, Inventing the Abbotts, That Thing you Do, Impact Day, 187, Dangerous Minds, When a Man Loves a Women, Casper, Kids, and much more.
She succeeded in each of her Principal roles in various commercials such as: Kraft Salad Dressing, Subaru with Mel Gibson, Dr. Pepper with Jenifer Love Hewitt, and Pepsi. In addition, several staring roles in ABC and NBC movies of the week such as the Great Mom Swap.
Prior to her acting career, Janette was a runway Model for various Fashion Shows and Catalogs such as: Macy's, Sears, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdale's. She is also a proud winner of multiple Modeling Competitions & scholarships. Janette grew up in Orange County, CA and attended Foothill High School, which is a National Blue Ribbon School and a California Distinguished School. While a freshmen at Foothill, Janette was named a Student Ambassador under Teddy Roosevelt's most revered presidential program, People to People. Janette traveled all over Europe as a government appointed student ambassador in 1995. Later, in college, she was sent to China as an ambassador. This was her final ambassador appointment.
She has since graduated from prestigious universities: UCLA, USC, and UCI. She is now a CPA and back in the entertainment industry, which she loves. She has risen up to senior manager level at NBC Universal. Movie making was always her calling and it doesn't matter if it's in front or behind the screen.
She has worked at the most prestigious CPA firm worldwide, Deloitte. Worked on secret government projects at Boeing, where she held a top secret DOD (Department of Defense) clearance. She is highly honored for her internal audit and forensic accounting knowledge. She loves working behind the scenes in an industry she grew up in and in the finance world she has conquered. She is a success story of a child who got a taste of fame and later, as an adult, redirected her childhood success toward another avenue to help her excel at being a professional business woman.- Actress
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Janie Brookshire was born on 27 August 1979 in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Forever (2014), Fallout (2024) and #ThatThingFromBefore (2015).- Actress
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Michele Simms is an award winning actor, writer and improviser. Born in Baltimore and raised in Sarasota, FL, she discovered performing in the fifth grade by realizing the microphone in the lunchroom was still on. After graduating from Sarasota High School, she spent eighteen years in Orlando performing as an improviser at Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando and various local theaters. Once her career expanded into commercials, film and TV, she made the move to Los Angeles where she graduated from The Groundlings and The Second City. Michele continues to explore writing through sketch comedy and solo performances. Michele lives in Los Angeles, California with her husband, Arnie, and cat, Ninja. She loves roller skating at the beach and houseplants.- Actress
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Janie is a Los Angeles based actress who graduated from the MFA program for Actors at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. She was based out of New York City for three years, before pursuing acting in Los Angeles. She is originally from just outside of Charleston, West Virginia but was raised in Charleston, South Carolina.- Producer
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Janice Dickinson was born on 15 February 1955 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She is a producer and actress, known for Bob Thunder: Internet Assassin (2015), Wassup Rockers (2005) and Charmed (1998). She has been married to Dr. Robert Gerner since 10 December 2016. She was previously married to Albert Gerston, Simon Fields and Ron Levy.- Actress
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One of the most versatile actresses, Janice Rule was born in Norwood, Ohio, on August 15, 1931. Janice made her screen debut in the star-studded movie Goodbye, My Fancy (1951). She played the rival for James Stewart's affections, and was driven away by witch Kim Novak, in Bell Book and Candle (1958), a pre-Bewitched (1964) comedy. Janice appeared in the first season of the ground-breaking science fiction series The Twilight Zone (1959) playing "Helen Foley" (named after Rod Serling's favorite teacher). In 1961, Janice married Ben Gazzara and they had one daughter, Elizabeth Gazzara (they divorced in 1979). After marrying, Janice took off a few years from movie acting, then returned to the silver screen and gave her best performances. In a change of pace role, she was the party girl in The Chase (1966); and Janice showed a real flair for comedy as "Matt Helm"'s partner in The Ambushers (1967) with Dean Martin. She did a wonderful job realistically portraying a frontier woman in Welcome to Hard Times (1967), and received acclaim for her performance as a disturbed artist in 3 Women (1977). The last movie Janice appeared in was American Flyers (1985), and her last TV appearance was in the science fiction genre, The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985) in 1992. From science fiction, to comedy, to portraying loose women, to playing strong women - Janice Rule covered the whole spectrum of human emotion and life.- Actress
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Janina Zione Gavankar (born November 29, 1980) is an American actress and musician. Gavankar is also trained as a pianist, vocalist, and orchestral percussionist. She majored in Theatre Performance at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Gavankar's roles include Papi, a lesbian lothario in The L Word; Leigh Turner, a police officer on The Gates; Ms. Dewey, the personification of a Microsoft branded search engine who commented on the user's searches; Shiva, the namesake of the sought-after trophy on The League; shapeshifter Luna Garza on HBO's True Blood; McKenna Hall on The CW's Arrow; and Meredith Bose on NBC's The Mysteries of Laura. She also played Diana Thomas on FOX's supernatural drama Sleepy Hollow.
Gavankar was born in Joliet, Illinois, to Peter Ganesh Gavankar, an engineer from Mumbai, who first traveled to the U.S. to pursue a master's degree, and Mohra Gavankar, from Pune, Maharashtra, who also emigrated to the U.S. from India. Her mother is half-Indian and half-Dutch.
Gavankar has acted in theatre, film, television, and online. Her most notable roles include Iden Versio, canon Star Wars character, and protagonist of Star Wars: Battlefront II, shapeshifter Luna Garza in True Blood, lesbian lothario Papi in The L Word; Ms. Dewey, the personification of a Microsoft live search engine; and Shiva, the namesake of the sought after trophy on The League. She regularly appears in Funny or Die shorts.
In 2006 she joined the cast of The L Word as a series regular, and shot all of the clips used for Ms. Dewey. In 2007, she landed a lead in CW pilot Dash 4 Cash. In 2008, Gavankar appeared in TV series Stargate Atlantis, Grey's Anatomy and NCIS, My Boys, and Factory. In 2009, she appeared in the TV shows The Cleaner, Dollhouse, Three Rivers, and The League, as well as indie movies Men, Interrupted, Indian Gangster, and Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey. Gavankar played the voice of Nikki in Quantum Quest. She landed a lead role in The Gates, since cancelled, on ABC. She appears on CW's Arrow as a vice squad police officer and brief girlfriend to Oliver Queen.
Gavankar is an admitted gamer and has appeared on, as well as co-hosted, G4 TV's Attack of the Show!, Epileptic Gaming's Up All Night, where she helped review Rock Band, Burnout Paradise, and Army of Two.
In 2011 Gavankar became a series regular in HBO's True Blood as a public school teacher and shapeshifter, Luna Garza, who gets romantically involved with one of the main characters of the series.
Her indie movie, Satellite of Love, premiered at the Dallas International Film Festival in 2012, and her 2012 indie I'm Afraid of Virginia Wolf is in post-production. On December 20, 2012, Gavankar was the last person interviewed for the now cancelled Attack of the Show! which aired on G4 TV.
On August 3, 2013, Gavankar landed a role as a witch named Qetsiyah in the fifth season of The Vampire Diaries. She guest starred in the third season of Husbands.
In 2014, she starred as Amita in the video game, Far Cry 4. She also played Detective Meredith Bose on The Mysteries of Laura from 2014 to 2016.
She starred as Iden Versio, the main character in the campaign mode of the 2017 Electronic Arts video game Star Wars Battlefront II.
In 2018, she has two films releasing. Blindspotting is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, and The Vanishing of Sidney Hall is being distributed by A24.
Gavankar returned to music with a cover of Kanye West's "Love Lockdown". Gavankar's former all female singing group, Endera, was signed to Cash Money Records Universal Records.
She collaborated on a project for a song called "Tell Me What" in India with Pratichee Mohapatra of Viva, Deep, and Navraaz. She has had songs licensed to movies and television, and has sung and played marimba on film scores. Gavankar was featured in Russian artist Ella Leya's music video for "Wish I Could", in the music video by San Francisco-based band Recliner for their single "Float Away", as well as the music video for Manu Narayan's band Darunam.
In August 2012, she released the single for her upcoming EP, entitled Waiting for Godot, and in November, Billboard premiered the official music video. It went on to win numerous film festival awards.
While in high school, Gavankar auditioned for the front ensemble of the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps of Rockford, Illinois. Before hearing whether she had made the corps, she was accepted for the Yale School of Drama's summer camp, and went there. "I fell in love with drum corps when I was 13 years old", Gavankar has stated, and remains a strong fan of the activity. When she heard the Martin Garrix/Usher collaboration, "Don't Look Down", she had the idea of performing it as marching music. With assistance from Drum Corps International, she contacted the Jersey Surf Drum and Bugle Corps and arranger Colin Bell. She went into the studios in New York with fifty members of Jersey Surf and recorded the music video "Don't Look Down- #JustAddDrumCorps Edition" that was released in April 2015.
On May 20, 2015, Gavankar performed a percussion duet at Carnegie Hall with Questlove for the Best Buddies charity benefit.- Actress
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This lovely, fresh-faced Lincoln, Nebraska native was born Janine Loraine Gauntt on December 6, 1962, to stalwart Texans Turner and Janice Gauntt. The younger of two children, she grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and trained, while a child, in ballet, tap, theater, and modeling (from age 3).
A cheerleading beauty into her teens, she moved with her mother to study at New York's Professional Children's School and was lucky enough to be picked up by the famed Wilhelmina Agency as a model (at 15 she was the youngest at the time to ever be signed). After some commercial work, however, she returned to school in Texas and happened by chance to find some minor work on various episodes of Dallas (1978).
This led to a Hollywood attempt at age 17 and a major TV break two years later when she won the role of Laura Templeton on TV's popular daytime soap General Hospital (1963), a role that required her long tresses to go from brunette to blonde. This, in turn, fed into another 1980s regular part on Another World (1964).
Janine subsequently made her film debut in the daytime parody Young Doctors in Love (1982) that featured her along with other soap stars in cameos. In between, she managed find time to attend Pepperdine University but left when she earned a film role in the movie Tai-Pan (1986). At this stage of the game, she tended to specialize in cute and flighty roles, but all that changed when Janine won the role of spunky, crop-haired Alaskan air taxi pilot Maggie O'Connell opposite Rob Morrow on the eccentric prime-time series Northern Exposure (1990). It was role of her career, a meaty, delightfully quirky star turn that made her a household name. The show lasted six seasons.
Since then, she has been able to subsist on a fairly full plate of TV-movie and film assignments. She's top-lined such women's mini-pictures as Stolen Women, Captured Hearts (1997) and A Secret Affair (1999), while in film playing a lady-in-distress co-star to Sylvester Stallone in the action thriller Cliffhanger (1993), "perfect Mom" June Cleaver in a film remake of Leave It to Beaver (1997) and one of Richard Gere's "women" in Dr. T & the Women (2000). She found another series regular role with Strong Medicine (2000) that lasted two years.
Into the millennium, Janine has been featured in such films as Birdie & Bogey (2004), The Night of the White Pants (2006), Maggie's Passage (2009), The Ivy League Farmer (2015), Solace (2015), Occupy, Texas (2016) and a prime role in Runnin' from My Roots (2018). She also appeared for a the 2008 season of the TV series Friday Night Lights (2006).
Janine also moved into directing, writing, and producing on the side, while also dabbling in singing. Janine's daughter, former child actress Juliette Gauntt, who appeared in her mother's film The Night of the White Pants (2006), was born from a relationship with Jerry Jones Jr., the Dallas Cowboys' Vice President and General Counsel.- Actress
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Janis Ahern was born Janis Reno in Upstate New York. She graduated with a BA from Hartwick College with 2 Majors - English & Theatre. Janis toured a year as a singer with the Miss NY State USO troupe. She spent a summer at the Dorset Theatre Festival in Dorset, Vermont as an apprentice. Janis' professional debut was as Sally Bowles in Cabaret opposite acclaimed Baritone Dwayne Croft. Janis trained at HB studios in NYC with Bill Hickey & Uta Hagen and at the Lee Strasberg studios. She is based in London and has 2 children with actor Tim Ahern.- Music Artist
- Music Department
- Actress
Janis Lyn Joplin was born at St. Mary's Hospital in the oil-refining town of Port Arthur, Texas, near the border with Louisiana. Her father was a cannery worker and her mother was a registrar for a business college. As an overweight teenager, she was a folk-music devotee (especially Odetta, Leadbelly and Bessie Smith). After graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School, she attended Lamar State College and the University of Texas, where she played auto-harp in Austin bars.She was nominated for the Ugliest Man on Campus in 1963, and she spent two years traveling, performing and becoming drug-addicted. Back home in 1966, her friend Chet Helms suggested she become lead singer for Big Brother and the Holding Company, an established Haight-Ashbury band consisting of guitarists James Gurley and Sam Andrew, bassist Peter Albin and drummer Dave Getz). She got wide recognition through the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, highlights of which were released in Monterey Pop (1968), and with the band's landmark second album, "Cheap Thrills". She formed her "Kosmic Blues Band" the following year and achieved still further recognition as a solo performer at Woodstock in 1969, highlights released in Woodstock (1970). In the spring of 1970, she sang with the "Full Tilt Boogie Band" and, on October 4 of that year, she was found dead in Hollywood's Landmark Motor Hotel (now known as Highland Gardens Hotel) from a heroin-alcohol overdose the previous day. Her ashes were scattered off the coast of California. Her biggest selling album was the posthumously released "Pearl", which contained her quintessential song: "Me & Bobby McGee".- Actress
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Joyous scene-stealer Janis Paige started out playing rather bland film ingénues, but never seemed to be comfortable in those roles--she had too much snap, crackle and pop to be confined in such a formulaic way.
Born Donna Mae Tjaden in 1922 in Tacoma, Washington, she was singing in public from age 5 in local amateur shows. She moved to Los Angeles after graduating from high school and earned a job as a singer at the Hollywood Canteen during the war years. The Canteen, which was a studio-sponsored gathering spot for servicemen, is where she was spotted by a Warner Brothers talent scout, who saw potential in her and signed her up. She began co-starring in secondary musicals that often paired her with either Dennis Morgan or Jack Carson. Later she was relegated to rugged adventures and dramas that just seemed out of her element. Following her role in the forgettable Two Gals and a Guy (1951), she decided to leave the Hollywood scene. She took to the Broadway boards and scored a huge hit with the 1951 comedy-mystery play "Remains to Be Seen", co-starring Jackie Cooper. She also toured successfully as a cabaret singer, performing everywhere from New York to Miami to Las Vegas to Los Angeles. Definitive stardom came in 1954 with the feisty role of Babe in Broadway's "The Pajama Game" opposite John Raitt. Her old Warner Bros. rival Doris Day, however, was a bigger name and went on to play the role on film (The Pajama Game (1957)) with Raitt. After a six-year hiatus, Janis returned to films in tongue-and-cheek support, all but stealing Silk Stockings (1957) from co-stars Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. She then grabbed her share of laughs in a flashy role with the comedy Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960) opposite Ms. Day. Janis carried on in summer stock, playing such indomitable roles as Annie Oakley in "Annie Get Your Gun", Margo Channing in "Applause", Mama Rose in "Gypsy" and Adelaide in "Guys and Dolls". From the mid-'50s on, Janis also tapped into TV with such series as It's Always Jan (1955), Lanigan's Rabbi (1976) and Trapper John, M.D. (1979). In the 1990s, among other TV appearances, she had recurring roles on the daytime serials General Hospital (1963) and Santa Barbara (1984). Married three times, she was the widow of Disney composer Ray Gilbert, who wrote the classic children's song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah."- Actress
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Janna grew up in New York and graduated with a major in Theater and a minor in Film & Media. She has been lucky to work on some great projects and shoot many commercials. In addition to acting, she is an advocate for the animals, has her own Organic Skincare line (www.illuminessenceorganics.com) and runs a retreat center (www.sacredheartshealingcenter.com).- Jannes Eiselen (21 September 1980 - 23 September 2016) was a TV, stage and voice actor born in New York, but moved to South Africa in his youth. He was married and lived in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was trained in South Africa at the University of Pretoria, where he completed his degree in Drama in 2002.
He performed in various stage plays and local series as a young performer. His first international role was in 2005, where he played Cpt. John Laverty in the UK docudrama, Zero Hour (2004). In 2006 he played the role of Dr. Deon Bekker on 3 seasons of the medical drama Hillside (2006), a teen drama that aired in Canada.
In 2010, Eiselen was diagnosed with a primary parenchymal pineal brain tumor, a very rare and poorly understood cancer. Jannes wrestled with cancer in 2010-2011 and did not return to acting until December 2011, when he played on the TV Mini-Series, The Sinking of the Laconia (2010) before landing his role as Dufresne, the ship's accountant in Black Sails (2014). Sadly, brain cancer forced him to leave the cast prior to filming the second season.
Jannes was also very successful in South Africa as a voice artist.
Jannes was a supporter of Faces of Hope Foundation, a charity that provides assistance to people, especially children with rare-cancers.
He died in Johannesburg, South Africa on 23 September 2016, two days after his 36th birthday, after his long and hard-fought battle with brain cancer. - Actor
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Jansen Panettiere was born on 25 September 1994 in Palisades, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Robots (2005), The Fog (2005) and The Eye (2008). He died on 19 February 2023 in New York City, New York, USA.- Actress
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January Jones was born on January 5, 1978 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She is the daughter of Karen Sue (née Cox), a sporting goods store manager, and Marvin Roger Jones, a gym teacher and fitness director. She is of Czech, Danish, English, Welsh, and German ancestry. She was named after the character January Wayne in Jacqueline Susann's potboiler novel turned film, Once Is Not Enough (1975). She has two sisters, Jacey Jones and Jina Jones].
Her family moved to the small town of Hecla, South Dakota, with a population of just some 400 souls in 1979, when she was one year old; they moved back to Sioux Falls in 1986. After graduating from Roosevelt High School, she moved to New York City to become a model. Despite her stature (5'6", which is short for a fashion model), she got modeling gigs, including Abercrombie & Fitch ads. However, modeling was just a means to an end, to get out of South Dakota and avoid going to college.
She got her first taste of acting from TV commercials and found that she had flair for it, even though she did not act in high school and had no training. January appeared in a couple of television pilots and a cable television series before making her big screen debut in All the Rage (1999), an indie that never got a real release. She followed it up with a small role in the teen thriller The Glass House (2001). Her actual debut in the sense of attracting attention was in the near silent role of the beauty who entices Jane Fonda's son, Troy Garity, in the Bruce Willis-Cate Blanchett-Billy Bob Thornton comedy Bandits (2001). It was not a career-making part. At the time the movie was released, she was ending a three-year relationship with Ashton Kutcher.
Small roles followed, including a "don't blink or you won't see me" part in the Adam Sandler-Jack Nicholson comedy Anger Management (2003). She gained some career traction with a good role in another comedy, American Wedding (2003), a sequel to American Pie (1999). Until she landed the part on Mad Men (2007), which made its debut on AMC in 2007, her career was steady but undistinguished. "I choose roles that are not me", January has said. The role of Betty Draper has garnered her two Golden Globe nominations and an Emmy nomination as Best Actress. Her cool, Grace Kelly-ish blonde ice queen looks -- counterpointed by her soul burning in her bright blue eyes -- have established her as a retro icon of the 21st Century.- Janus Prinsloo is known for Seun: 81457397BG (2014) and High Rollers (2013).
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With "Armadillo" (2010) Danish director Janus Metz (born 1974) stepped firmly into the international spotlight winning the Grand Prix of the Cannes film festival 's Critic's week. His film about a group of Danish soldiers at the front line in Afghanistan spurred heated debate, not only about the war but also about the boundaries between fiction and documentary filmmaking. With his debut narrative feature "Borg/McEnroe" (2017), Metz made an even bigger splash opening the Toronto Film Festival. Metz has also directed an episode of the acclaimed TV.series "True Detective" as well as 3 episodes of the series "ZerZeroZero". Metz holds a master degree in visual anthropology and his body of work also include shorts, commercials, art films and music videos.- Cinematographer
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Janusz Kaminski is a Polish cinematographer and film director. He has established a partnership with Steven Spielberg, working as a cinematographer on his movies since 1993. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Schindler's List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).
His other film's as an cinematographer includes Amistad (1997), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007), War Horse (2011), Lincoln (2012), Bridge of Spies (2015), The BFG (2016), and Ready Player One (2018).- Actress
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Janyse Jaud (actress, singer/songwriter, and dancer) is an exciting and versatile talent, and has been featured in a prolific spectrum of media, from television to film, animation and music, to anime and video games.
Raised on a farm in Kelowna, British Columbia and of Icelandic and French descent, Janyse started performing in theatre, music and classical ballet productions at the age of five. She wrote her first song at the age of nine and her influences are an amalgam of different artists and genres.
The inspirational messages of her lyrics were taken from her own first hand experience after being in a car accident.
Janyse's acting talent has been honed under the guidance of Ivana Chubbuck, coach also to Oscar winners Halle Berry and Charlize Theron. She has appeared on-camera in television and film, danced professionally as a jazz dancer, and performed in countless musical theatre productions. Janyse is also one of the top cartoon voiceover artists, working with clients such as Marvel Comics, The Cartoon Network, Disney, and narrating the Emmy award-winning series "Adoption Stories".
Through her work in animation, Janyse met children through the Make-A-Wish Foundation and became inspired to create a children's CD to help kids, titled "The Magic Of Think".
Janyse has received awards for her songwriting from the prestigious Hollywood Music in Media Awards, Independent Music Awards, Hollywood Music Awards and the Toronto Exclusive Magazine Awards. She has several of her songs placed in Film and Television, including works starring Pamela Anderson, Dean Cain, Chad Allen, Sally Pressman and more.
In terms of her outlook and her life experience itself, it's more than obvious that Janyse has stayed on her mission - to inspire people.- Actress
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Jaqueline Fleming, an African American and Danish beauty was born in Copenhagen, Denmark to a Danish-German mother and an African American, black foot Indian and Irish father. She grew up and traveled between Europe, New York, St Louis, Chicago and New Orleans.
She began acting on stage at the age of six while attending The Little Red School House in New York City. Her training in the theatre world is where she developed her discipline, strength and respect for the craft. She performed in theater houses across the country well into her adulthood.
She is an Award winning Film and theatre actress and the winner of Two Hapa Awards for Best Actress in an independent film. She won for her role as Nellie Reeves, the wife of Bass Reeves, in "Hell On The Border" and her role as Laura Bishop, a grieving widow, in "Atone". She is also the winner of the prestigious Jeff Award for best actress in an ensemble for her dramatic portrayal of a daughter of a slave master. Jaqueline is known for the wide range of characters she can play authentically. Mostly defined as a Character Actress or chameleon in the industry.
Over the years she has braced the silver screen in memorable roles opposite such A-Listers as Morgan Freeman, Kate Beckinsale, Chris Pine, Terrance Howard, Kate Hudson, Halle Berry and Anthony Mackie to name a few.
In addition to acting, Jaqueline also has passion behind the camera as a producer, director and content creator. She keeps herself very busy developing, creating and producing Film and TV projects out of her production company, At The Kitchen Table, which mission is to tell dynamic, interesting & entertaining stories that feature women of color as leads. She has several projects across various platforms as an actress and producer. Jaqueline Fleming is also a key note speaker and travels the world speaking to aspiring actors and film makers at various universities, events and festivals about the steps required to have a professional career on both sides of the camera.- Actress
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Jara Zeimer is known for The Man in the High Castle (2015), Timeless (2016) and To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020).- Actor
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Jareb Dauplaise is from a small town where he was raised with his two brothers Adam and Daniel Dauplaise by his mother Myla Bunner-Eckert and step-father Rusty Eckert. Jareb always wanted to be an actor but wasn't sure how to do it. With help from his family including his grandma Patricia Lytton and mostly God he finished school and moved to Hollywood by himself. After a year, he was lucky enough to book an episode of Entourage which helped him get noticed.- Allman has had leading roles in the Matt Riddlehoover's recent titles, West Hollywood Motel and Scenes from a Gay Marriage -- both of which played to rave reviews on the film festival circuit. Allman is reprising his role as "Joe" in the sequel, More Scenes from a Gay Marriage, due out later this year. Allman has rounded out his 2014 co-starring in the feature film, Les Wolf, and the upcoming short film, King Simon, from director Richard Norman.
In the TV world, Allman has appeared in several country music videos and docu-series on the Travel Channel and Disney Channel. He made his biggest small-screen splash as a key player in season two of the Sundance Channel's reality series, Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys: Nashville -- the highest-rated original series in the network's history. - Jared Cohn is a film and television director, writer and producer based in Los Angeles, California. Born and raised in New York, Jared received a bachelor in fine arts from the from New York Institute of Technology... then went west. Jared enjoys music, painting, photography, cinematography and watching mixed martial arts and boxing.
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Jared Gilmore was born on 30 May 2000 in San Diego, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Once Upon a Time (2011), Mad Men (2007) and The Back-up Plan (2010).- A resident of South Orange, New Jersey, Gilman attended Newark Academy and attends NYU Tisch. When he was twelve years old, he was cast in the starring role of Sam Shakusky in Wes Anderson's 'Moonrise Kingdom', alongside an all-star cast of Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, Bob Balaban, Tilda Swinton, and Frances McDormand.
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Jared Francis Harris was born in London, England. He is the son of Irish actor Richard Harris and Welsh actress Elizabeth Harris (Elizabeth Rees), and brother of Damian Harris and Jamie Harris. Despite his lineage, Jared showed little interest in becoming an actor, until he was cast in a college production while attending North Carolina's Duke University (USA), where he studied drama and literature, in the early 1980s.
After graduation, Jared returned to the UK where he attended Central School of Speech and Drama and then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, performing in Mark Rylance's "Hamlet", "Romeo & Juliet", "The Silent Woman" and "A Clockwork Orange". In 1989, he had his screen debut in The Rachel Papers (1989).
In 1990, while on vacation in New York, Jared auditioned for the role of Hotspur in "Henry IV, Part 1", which he played at the New York Shakespeare Festival following his brilliant course as an excellent theater artist in the off-Broadway play "Ecstasy", for which he was honored with an Obie Award in 1992.
Widely regarded as the one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native Great Britain and internationally, from his breakthrough role as Andy Warhol in I Shot Andy Warhol (1996) and VH1's Two of Us (2000) where he portrayed John Lennon to Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) and Lincoln (2012), Jared Harris expressed his unparalleled qualities as a sublime "chameleon" in a wide range of roles full of profoundness, intelligence and insights through his praised performances, among others, in The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Natural Born Killers (1994), Smoke (1995), Happiness (1998), How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2000), Igby Goes Down (2002), B. Monkey (1998), Shadow Magic (2000), Mr. Deeds (2002), Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008).
His tour-de-force mesmerizing, staggering and fascinating interpretations of substantial mastery, subtlety, charisma and generosity also include some of his finest precious gems on TV such as in The Other Boleyn Girl (2003), The Riches (2007), Fringe (2008), Mad Men (2007), The Crown (2016), The Terror (2018) and Chernobyl (2019).
Jared is married to Allegra Riggio, lauded intelligent lighting designer and accidental comedian.- Actor
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Jared Hillman was born in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and director, known for The Social Network (2010), iCarly (2007) and Tandem (2013). He has been married to Natalie Lander since 3 September 2017.- Producer
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Jared Lawrence Hess and Jerusha Elizabeth Hess (née Demke; born May 12, 1980) are husband-and-wife American filmmakers best known for their work on Napoleon Dynamite (2004), Nacho Libre (2006) and Gentlemen Broncos (2009), all of which they co-wrote and which were directed by Jared (Nacho Libre was co-written with Mike White). They also produced music videos for The Postal Service's third single, "We Will Become Silhouettes", and The Killers' Christmas charity single "Boots".- Actor
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Jared Keeso is a Canadian actor, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for creating and starring in the comedy series Letterkenny (2016-present), which won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy Series in 2017. He is also known for his roles as Ben Chartier in the 2014 series 19-2 (2014-2017), for which he won a Canadian Screen Award, and Don Cherry in the television films Keep Your Head Up Kid: The Don Cherry Story (2010) and The Wrath of Grapes: The Don Cherry Story II (2012), for which he won a Leo Award and Gemini Award. He married Magali Brunelle Keeso, a Canadian corporate lawyer, in July 2018.- Actor
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Jared Kusnitz was born on 8 November 1988 in the USA. He is an actor, known for Dance of the Dead (2008), Otis (2008) and Prom (2011).- Actor
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Jared Leto is a very familiar face in recent film history. Although he has always been the lead vocals, rhythm guitar, and songwriter for American band Thirty Seconds to Mars, Leto is an accomplished actor merited by the numerous, challenging projects he has taken in his life. He is known to be selective about his film roles.
Jared Leto was born in Bossier City, Louisiana, to Constance "Connie" (Metrejon) and Anthony L. "Tony" Bryant. The surname "Leto" is from his stepfather. His ancestry includes English, Cajun (French), as well as Irish, German, and Scottish. Jared and his family traveled across the United States throughout his childhood, living in such states as Wyoming, Virginia and Colorado. Leto would continue this trend when he initially dropped a study of painting at Philadelphia's University of the Arts in favor of a focus on acting at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
In 1992, Leto moved to Los Angeles to pursue a musical career, intending to take acting roles on the side. Leto's first appearances on screen were guest appearances on the short-lived television shows Camp Wilder (1992), Almost Home (1993) and Rebel Highway (1994). However, his next role would change everything for Leto. While searching for film roles, he was cast in the show, My So-Called Life (1994) (TV Series 1994-1995). Leto's character was "Jordan Catalano", the handsome, dyslexic slacker, the main love interest of "Angela" (played by Claire Danes). Leto contributed to the soundtrack of the film, and so impressed the producers initially that he was soon a regular on the show until its end.
Elsewhere, Leto began taking film roles. His first theatrically released film was the ensemble piece, How to Make an American Quilt (1995), based on a novel of the same name and starring renowned actresses Winona Ryder, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Jean Simmons and Alfre Woodard. The film was a modest success and, while Leto's next film, The Last of the High Kings (1996), was a failure, Leto secured his first leading role in Prefontaine (1997), based on long-distance runner Steven Prefontaine. The film was a financial flop, but was praised by critics, notably Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. He also took a supporting role in the action thriller, Switchback (1997), which starred Dennis Quaid, but the film was another failure.
Leto's work was slowly becoming recognized in Hollywood, and he continued to find work in film. In 1998, everything turned for the better on all fronts. This was the year that Leto founded the band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, with his brother, Shannon Leto, as well as Matt Wachter (who later left the group), and after two guitarists joined and quit, Tomo Milicevic was brought in as lead guitarist and keyboardist. As well as the formation of his now-famous band, Leto's luck in film was suddenly shooting for the better. He was cast as the lead in the horror film, Urban Legend (1998), which told a grisly tale of a murderer who kills his victims in the style of urban legends. The film was a massive success commercially, though critics mostly disliked the film. That same year, Leto also landed a supporting role in the film, The Thin Red Line (1998). Renowned director Terrence Malick's first film in nearly twenty years, the film had dozens of famous actors in the cast, including Sean Penn, Woody Harrelson, John Travolta, Nick Nolte and Elias Koteas, to name a few. The film went through much editing, leaving several actors out of the final version, but Leto luckily remained in the film. The Thin Red Line (1998) was nominated for seven Oscars and was a moderate success at the box office. Leto's fame had just begun. He had supporting roles in both James Mangold's Girl, Interrupted (1999), and in David Fincher's cult classic, Fight Club (1999), dealing with masculinity, commercialism, fascism and insomnia. While Edward Norton and Brad Pitt were the lead roles, Leto took a supporting role and dyed his hair blond. The film remains hailed by many, but at the time, Leto was already pushing himself further into controversial films. He played a supporting role of "Paul Allen" in the infamous American Psycho (2000), starring Christian Bale, and he played the lead role in Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream (2000), which had Leto take grueling measures to prepare for his role as a heroin addict trying to put his plans to reality and escape the hell he is in. Both films were massive successes, if controversially received.
The 2000s brought up new film opportunities for Leto. He reunited with David Fincher in Panic Room (2002), which was another success for Leto, as well as Oliver Stone's epic passion project, Alexander (2004). The theatrical cut was poorly received domestically (although it recouped its budget through DVD sales and international profit), and though a Final Cut was released that much improved the film in all aspects, it continues to be frowned upon by the majority of film goers. Leto rebounded with Lord of War (2005), which starred Nicolas Cage as an arms dealer who ships weapons to war zones, with Leto playing his hapless but more moral-minded brother. The film was an astounding look at the arms industry, but was not a big financial success. Leto's flush of successes suddenly ran dry when he acted in the period piece, Lonely Hearts (2006), which had Leto playing "Ray Fernandez", one of the two infamous "Lonely Hearts Killers" in the 1940s. The film was a financial failure and only received mixed responses. Leto then underwent a massive weight gain to play "Mark David Chapman", infamous murderer of John Lennon, in the movie, Chapter 27 (2007). While Leto did a fantastic job embodying the behavior and speech patterns of Chapman, the film was a complete flop, and was a critical bomb to boot. It was during this period that Leto focused increasingly on his band, turning down such films as Clint Eastwood's World War 2 film, Flags of Our Fathers (2006).
In 2009, however, Leto returned to acting with Mr. Nobody (2009). Leto's role as "Nemo Nobody" required him to play the character as far aged as 118, even as he undergoes a soul-searching as to whether his life turned out the way he wanted it to. The film was mostly funded through Belgian and French financiers, and was given limited release in only certain countries. Critical response, however, has praised the film's artistry and Leto's acting.
He made his directorial debut in 2012 with the documentary film Artifact (2012).
Leto remains the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and main songwriter for Thirty Seconds to Mars. Their debut album, 30 Seconds to Mars (2002), was released to positive reviews but only to limited success. The band achieved worldwide fame with the release of their second album A Beautiful Lie (2005). Their following releases, This Is War (2009) and Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams (2013), received further critical and commercial success.
After a five years hiatus from filming, Leto returned to act in the drama Dallas Buyers Club (2013), directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and co-starring Matthew McConaughey. Leto portrayed Rayon, a drug-addicted transgender woman with AIDS who befriends McConaughey's character Ron Woodroof. Leto's performance earned him an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor. In order to accurately portray his role, Leto lost 30 pounds, shaved his eyebrows and waxed his entire body. He stated the portrayal was grounded in his meeting transgender people while researching the role. During filming, Leto refused to break character. Dallas Buyers Club received widespread critical acclaim and became a financial success, resulting in various accolades for Leto, who was awarded the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role and a variety of film critics' circle awards for the role.
In 2016, he played the Joker in the super villain film Suicide Squad (2016).
Leto is considered to be a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. He often remains completely in character for the duration of the shooting schedules of his films, even to the point of adversely affecting his health.- Actor
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Born in Manhattan, New York to Charles E. Martin, prolific cover artist and cartoonist for the New Yorker magazine, and Florence Taylor, an artist and homemaker; Jared began acting at the age of thirteen when his parents gave him the choice of learning to play the piano or acting in the local children theater group. At 14 he attended Putney school where he continued his interest in theater and discovered sports. At Columbia University he initially expected to take part in the athletic programs, but later opted to focus on acting, as doing both took up too much time. His roommate at Columbia was Brian De Palma. While acting in plays and experimental films at Columbia and Sarah Lawrence College he spent a summer apprenticing with Joseph Papp's Shakespeare in the Park. After graduating college Jared tried the newspaper business, taking a job at the New York Times as copy boy and thumbnail book reviewer for the Sunday edition. Missing theater's excitement he left the Times and joined a summer stock company in Cape May, New Jersey; then spent a season with the Boston classical repertory, and eventually rejoined Papp at his new Public Theater in Manhattan, where he played Laertes in the modern rock-disco Hamlet with Martin Sheen and then Cleavon Little in the title role. He continued acting off-Broadway and made an unreleased film that caught the eye of a casting director at Columbia Pictures, who encouraged him to seek a career in Hollywood. He waited for his break for several years working as bartender, truck driver, and landscaper until becoming visible in various roles during the mid 1970s; notably the cult classic 'Westworld', the martial arts thriller 'Men of the Dragon', and the short lived science-fiction series, The Fantastic Journey co-starring Roddy McDowell and Carl Franklin. He is best known for his role as Steven "Dusty" Farlow, son of Clayton Farlow and boyfriend of Sue Ellen Ewing in the mega-hit Dallas. During and after Dallas he alternated between living in Rome starring in European films; and New York where he studied under Lee Strasberg, performed in Broadway's 'Torch Song Trilogy', and did soap opera (One Life to Live). In 1988 he relocated to Toronto to star in the TV version of War of the Worlds as Dr. Harrison Blackwood. After W.O.W. was canceled in 1991 Jared spent the next 2 1/2 years traveling in Africa and China and working on two novels. In 1994 entrepreneur Jeffrey Seder asked him to direct a film for Mayor Ed Rendell's 'Heroes of the Streets' campaign in Philadelphia. During location shooting he and Seder conceived the idea of a film-production themed educational non-profit to serve Philadelphia's inner city and migrant youth populations. Jared moved to Philadelphia and became BPA's Creative Director for the next 15 years; supervising over 2000 students and producing over 250 student films. He personally directed 30 films, garnering awards from Cine Eagle, Intercom, and the Chicago International Film Festival. After retiring BPA in 2010 Jared has begun another career as a fine arts photographer, studying under the painter Michael David. While in Beijing in 1998 he met Chinese classical dancer Yu Wei. They corresponded for two years and married in 2000. Jared has directed a dozen short films for Wei, who tours extensively. They live in Philadelphia's East Falls area and support a large collection of animals including a tribe of freeloading raccoons. Jared's son Christian is an executive at AETN. His two grandchildren, Charles and Emilia Grace, are busy tearing up the block on Baltic Street in Brooklyn. Martin died from pancreatic cancer on May 24, 2017 at his home in Philadelphia aged 75.- Actor
- Producer
- Stunts
Jared Padalecki was born in San Antonio, Texas, to Sherri (Kammer), a teacher of English, and Gerald Padalecki, a tax accountant. He is of Polish (father) and German, English, Scottish, and French (mother) descent. Jared started to take acting lessons when he was 12. Then, he won the "Claim to Fame" Contest in 1999 and got to appear on the Teen Choice awards. Jared lived in San Antonio, Texas and attended James Madison High School. He was named a candidate for the year 2000 Presidential Scholars Program. After graduating in the year 2000, he moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue an acting career. He played "Dean Forester" on Gilmore Girls (2000) on the WB starting in 2000 and ending in 2005. From 2005 to 2020, he portrayed "Sam Winchester" on the CW's Supernatural (2005). He also has several feature film credits.- Jared Michael Rushton is an American musician and former actor. He is best known for his roles in several films from the late 1980s, including Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Big, and Overboard. He has been nominated for two Saturn Awards and two Young Artist Awards. He is also known for his roles in Pet Sematary Two and as Chip on the sitcom Roseanne. Rushton also starred in A Cry in the Wild.
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Jared Sandler is an internationally touring comedian based out of New York and Los Angeles. Sandler's background includes acting, improv and sketch comedy and he's brought those skills into his stand up, performing in comedy clubs, theaters and arenas. Sandler is a regular at Comic Strip Live and has been seen opening for Adam Sandler, David Spade, Rob Schneider, and Nick Swardson. Additionally, he has extensive experience hosting at venues, such as The Laugh Factory in Las Vegas and Hollywood, as well as Eastville Comedy Club in New York City. Sandler has acted in more than twenty feature films including "The Week Of," "Sandy Wexler" and "Grown Ups 2." He's also acted in five television shows including "Kevin Can Wait" and "Shameless."- Actor
- Writer
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Jared Turner was born in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand on April 12, 1978. His family moved to Sydney, Australia, in 1980. Jared grew up living in the western suburbs of Sydney.
Jared graduated from Theatre Nepean, University of Western Sydney in 2000 at the age of 22.
He went on to act in numerous theatre productions, both in Australia and abroad, as well as local TV drama, All Saints (1998), before landing a lead role on the award-winning New Zealand feature film, Fracture (2004).
Upon returning to New Zealand, Jared was guest cast in acclaimed NZ comedy-drama, Outrageous Fortune (2005), followed by regular appearances in the TV series, Go Girls (2009). Shortly after, Jared was cast in one of the lead roles for the international hit show, The Almighty Johnsons (2011), playing "Ty Johnson", the human incarnation of Hod, the Nordic God of all things dark and cold. Jared has since become a well-known figure in New Zealand, appearing on numerous local film and television productions over the last several years.
Most recently, Jared was a member of the lead cast in the new Australian drama, Secret Daughter (2016), which also stars Australian Pop music sensation, Jessica Mauboy.
Jared has also appeared in numerous international productions including "30 Days of Night" (2007)", "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" (2009), Spartacus (2010), and as Slanter, the leader of the Gnome rebellion in MTV's hit fantasy series, The Shannara Chronicles (2016)- Jared Fareed Ward is an American film, television and voice over actor. Jared is of Persian decent and enjoys playing a wide variety of American and middle eastern characters. Jared is also an avid tournament tennis player and has a 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Kaitlin and their dog Ellen Barkin.
- Actor
- Producer
- Editor
Jaren Brandt Bartlett was born on 3 February 1988 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is an actor and producer, known for If I Had Wings (2013), Arctic Air (2012) and Smallville (2001).- Jaren Lewison was born on 9 December 2000 in the USA. He is an actor, known for Never Have I Ever (2020) and Tag (2018).
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Jarid Root is a actor/singer/songwriter/filmmaker based in Santa Clarita, California. Jarid is a part-time film student at College of the Canyons. He has guest-starred in shows such as Criminal Minds, The Fosters and Cartoon Network's Uncle Grandpa. Jarid has been writing music and making music videos since the age of 11 and enjoys working on independent projects of his own. Despite only having started submitting to festivals this year, Jarid has already won a Bronze Medal at the Global Music Awards for his original song and music video "I'm Alone". He has also written and directed previous music videos, which can be found on his YouTube channel.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jarmo Mäkinen was born on 29 May 1958 in Karstula, Finland. He is an actor, known for Insider (1999), Viimeiset siemenperunat (1993) and Seitsemän veljestä (1989). He was previously married to Ulla Laurio.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Few actors are able to create a diverse and impressive body of work as quickly as Jarod Joseph has. Born in Calgary, Alberta, Jarod grew up as an athlete, excelling in both hockey and basketball. Always the entertainer, Jarod never considered a career in the entertainment industry until a friend pointed out how suited to the business he would be.
In 2007, Jarod packed up a few belongings and relocated to Vancouver in hopes of trying his luck as an actor. In a relatively quick manner, Jarod had established himself as a newcomer to watch, securing recurring roles on major American networks. Jarod was first cast in the blockbuster fantasy adventure film Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief alongside an all-star cast including Sean Bean and Uma Thurman. This break was soon followed by guest star appearances on FOX's Human Target and AMC's The Killing. Jarod's red-hot career continued to build momentum with recurring roles on ABC's fantasy series Once Upon a Time, the J.J Abrams produced, FOX cult hit show Fringe, The CW's hit drama series The LA Complex and a series regular position opposite Thandie Newton, in DirecTV's original series Rogue.
Jarod's star is on the rise and there are no signs of it slowing down. IN 2015, Jarod joined the cast of ABC's summer hit Mistresses for the show's third season and recently returned to shooting The CW's futuristic drama The 100 in the role of fan favorite Nathan Miller. He can also be seen starring as the lead on the Canadian series Coded, a role in which he received a UBCP/ACTRA Awards Best Actor nomination.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Comedic actor Jarrad Paul was already an experienced actor by the time he moved to Los Angeles after his high school graduation. Jarrad got an early start in television, appearing in the ultra sappy Made-for-TV movie A Family for Joe (1990), in which he played an orphaned adolescent in search of a father figure, played by Robert Mitchum. Two years later he was given a regular role in the innovative but short-lived sitcom Home Fires (1992). This was the beginning of a slew of TV appearances, including spots on shows like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Action (1999), and most memorably Seinfeld (1989), as Kramer's eager intern Darren. In 2004, Jarrad nabbed a recurring role on the critically acclaimed detective dramedy Monk (2002), as Adrian's obnoxiously long-winded but well-intentioned neighbour.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Jarrett Grode was born in 1981 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Triumph's Election Watch 2016 (2016), Undeclared (2001) and He's Just Not That Into You (2009).- Jarrod Schulz was born on 15 October 1977 in Long Beach, California, USA. He is married to Brandi Passante. They have two children.
- Actor
- Composer
- Director
Jarvis Cocker was born on 19 September 1963 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, UK. He is an actor and composer, known for Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) and Children of Men (2006). He was previously married to Camille Bidault-Waddington.- Jascha Washington was born on 21 June 1989 in Kings County, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Enemy of the State (1998), Big Momma's House (2000) and Snow Dogs (2002).
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jasen Fisher was born on 8 May 1980 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is an actor, known for Hook (1991), Parenthood (1989) and The Witches (1990).- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Producer
Jasen Wade is best known for his roles of Levi Savage in the film 17 Miracles, 'Bud' Curtis in Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed and Ron Hartley in The Cokeville Miracle. Jasen Wade got his start as a film actor in the short, American Gulag. Other notable roles include The Hoarse Man in the critically acclaimed short The Farm, Derek in the cult following film Osombie, Johnny Dust in Cowboys and Vampires and Michael Muller in Amber Alert. Jasen Wade enjoys being in front of the camera as well as behind it, having worked as the second assistant director and first assistant camera for Murder in the Dark, as well as getting involved as a producer for several projects.
Jasen graduated from Southern Utah University in Theatre Arts and Broadcasting. He loves both film and stage acting, having played the leading role of Edgar Allan Poe in 'Nightfall', Charlie Baker in the play 'The Foreigner,' Giles Ralston in 'The Mousetrap' as well as Gideon in 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'. In between films, he served as a Wildland Firefighter for the BLM and in his ten years of service, he worked with fire crews throughout the United States.
Jasen Wade was born in TorrejÓn de Ardoz, Spain and was raised in Utah. After graduating from high school he lived in Moscow, Russia for two years on a service mission for his Church. It was in Russia where his eyes were opened to the Arts as a viable career. Wade has lived across the country from Los Angeles to New York and now calls Colorado his home. He enjoys an active lifestyle in the Rocky Mountains with his wife Holly Green and their three children.- Stunts
- Actress
- Additional Crew
Jasi Lanier took an unconventional route into the stunt industry. After graduating from University of South Carolina in Media Arts, she modeled, acted in horror movies and performed as a fire-eater to pay off her student loans. After shooting a movie in New Jersey, she fell in love with her co-star Joseph Anthony and decided to movie up north to study Meisner Technique with Glen Vincent and ShotoKan Karate. She continued to study acting in NYC with Olinda Turturro and Enzo Carolina performing in many indie films, including The Resurrection Game, Nikos, B-Movie, and Fifth City. Through a chance meeting at Pittsburgh Comicon she met artists Dave Nestler and Dorian Cleavenger. She approached them to do an interview for a magazine. After the interviews, they both asked her to pose for them. That meeting led to the beginning of her career as an art model for comics, fantasy, pinup art, and romance novels. She was most notably was Joe Jusko's Tomb Raider model for Top Cow comics for several years and featured on the cover of Heavy Metal Magazine in August 2003 and Heavy Metal Calendars by Greg Hildebrandt in 2005/2006. She has modeled for over 300 paintings thus far. Though she loved modeling and acting in B- horror movies, Jasi felt something was missing. Upon closer examination she came to realize that her true passion was to become a stuntwoman. Inspired by her Uncle Dusty who performed in live stunt shows in the 60s/70s and several articles about stuntwomen in the magazine Femme Fatales, Jasi set out to become a stuntwoman. She worked a few years dabbling in stunts in independent movies and industrials. In June of 2005, with the blessing of her family and friends made the big move to Los Angeles. At first she was overwhelmed by the city, but quickly embraced all that the Los Angeles had to offer. She did background work and got her SAG card being featured on 2 1/2 Men. Jasi then joined a stunt service and started training at the famed Bob Yerkes backyard in the art of high falls, fights, swords and reactions. She got her first opportunity there by Stuntman/ Stunt Coordinator John Moio who saw her sword fighting. He recommended her for a job on the show iCarly doubling a 14-year boy for stunt coordinator, Vince Deadrick Jr. She had all weekend to practice sword-fighting left handed for an audition on Monday. With the help of her friend, and stuntman, Mario Perez, she trained all weekend, day and night, for her audition. On Monday, she showed up and she booked the job on the iFence episode of iCarly doubling actor Nathan Kress She continues to work on iCarly now doubling actress, Jennette McCurdy for the past 4 years. Jasi continued to train and booked a few jobs while also supplementing her income as a set decorator. In 2010, she decided to commit to stunts full time and it paid off. Jasi has worked on shows such as Alice in Wonderland, Castle, Raising Hope, Vampire Diaries, and Criminal Minds. While continuing to work in stunts, Jasi is making a resurgence to acting appearing recently in the short film Broken and being featured on all female "Jack Ass" style stunt show called Cherry Bombs affectionately known as Firecracker. This fall, she will again be modeling for artists such as Mike James, Greg Hildebrandt, Guy Powers, Age and Lorenzo Sperlonga. Her love for stunts has driven her to serve her community. She has volunteered and served as a department head for Stuntacular, a live Halloween stunt show that is a fundraiser for Make a Wish. Jasi is served as an assistant board member for Diamond in the Raw/ Stuntwomen's Awards and secretary for the Stuntwomen's Foundation. She continues to train Kung fu and will be testing black sash in 2012, weapons, swords, acrobatics, boxing, and stunts. She is a certified PADI Rescue Diver and is adding stilt walking and fire staff to her skills set. Jasi enjoys roller-skating, tai chi, hula hooping, rock climbing, rappelling, and hiking in her free time. Her life philosophy comes from her father who taught her to collect experiences.- Actress
- Art Department
- Producer
Jasika Nicole grew up in Birmingham, AL and studied musical theatre, dance and studio art at Catawba College in Salisbury, NC before moving to NYC to work in theatre. There she performed in Off and Off-Off Broadway musicals and plays before starting her career in TV and film. Identifying as a queer, biracial and black woman, Nicole has been with her wife, Claire Savage, since 2006 and has most recently voiced the role of the queer, WOC narrator, Keisha Taylor, in the cult favorite Night Vale Presents podcast 'Alice Isn't Dead'. Outside of TV and film, Nicole is an avid craftsperson, penning essays and blog posts about intersectional feminism in the crafting world. She sews her own clothes, makes shoes, builds and reupholsters furniture, and draws and writes her own web comics.- Jaslene Gonzalez was born on 29 May 1986 in Chicago. She is an actress, known for Death Wish (2018), An Ideal Candidate and Nothing Like the Holidays (2008).
- Actress
- Writer
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Jasmin St. Claire shot to fame as "America's Most Controversial Sex Symbol" after appearing in the top-selling adult films of the late 1990s. She created an outlaw rock star image that at times scandalized the adult industry. Her acerbic humor and willingness to mock her own porn stardom made her one of the highest rated guests on Howard Stern's radio show and related broadcasts for E! Entertainment. St. Claire's first mainstream appearances were in significant comic roles in Communication Breakdown and in National Lampoon Dorm Daze 2. More recently, while studying in Bill O'Leary's Acting Workshop, St. Claire has turned to dramatic roles in thrillers like Angel of Reckoning and the talked about sci-fi drama Trial Run. St. Claire is often cast in ethnically ambiguous roles, or as Italian or Middle Eastern, but she identifies as a Latina due to her mixed Northern European and Brazilian ancestry.
St. Claire's background is almost entirely at odds with her early adult-film career. She was born Rhea De Vlugt in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Her father, from Holland, operated a food distribution company. Her mother was a U.S.-educated lawyer, originally from Brazil. St. Claire grew up on Manhattan's Upper west side and attended the Lycee Francais and McBurney School, whose alumni include Henry Winkler and J.D. Salinger. St. Claire graduated from Brooklyn Friends School at age 16, with honors for her work in the pioneering "Art without Walls" tutoring program for inner city youth. Upon graduation from Columbia University, St, Claire became a financial consultant at S. G. Warburg (then, a division of Swiss Bank.). But while in a physically abusive relationship with a prominent Manhattan lawyer (whom St. Claire later outed in an interview with Howard Stern), she began a secret life as a topless dancer at Manhattan's infamous KitKat Club, then at Flashdancers.
St. Claire entered the adult industry on a dare. Invited on the Jerry Springer Show for a scripted role as antagonistic stripper, St. Claire invented her larger-than-life "Jasmin St. Claire" persona. St. Claire's flare for theater and controversy marked her ascent in the adult film world. She polarized the industry by calling porn films "by and large, disgusting and brainless." But she quickly dethroned Jenna Jameson as America's top-selling porn star, and became the first Latina to surpass traditional blond porn star archetypes when her films achieved number one sales position in 1998. She was inducted in AVN's "Hall of Fame" as one of the greatest porn stars of all time. St. Claire was among the first adult performers to be merchandised as an action figure and to star in an adult comic book series. At the height of her porn stardom, St. Claire was the subject of critical essays by David Foster Wallace and Evan Wright. She also served as inspiration for Chuck Palahniuk's novel Snuff, in which she appears as a character. For all the controversy she engendered, St. Claire only spent three years in the adult business and made just over two dozen films. In 1999, she retired. She never made an adult film again, though compilations of old footage re-released under new titles continued to be sold through the 2000s. St. Claire pushed herself to new extremes by becoming a pro-wrestler. In 1998 the Dudley Boyz invited her to appear in the ECW's Living Dangerously pay-per-view event. St. Claire subsequently trained under Sue Sexton and Mando Guerrero, then worked with wrestling legend Jimmy Lawler in the Memphis Championship and in the XWF and NWA-TNA. St. Claire often played the role of "manager," who would enter the ring and fight alongside wrestlers. In real life, St. Claire created the upstart federation 3PW becoming the first female owner ever to operate and promote a wrestling league, five years before Stephanie McMahon took the reigns of the WWE. St. Claire closed the doors to 3PW in 2005. St. Claire became a heavy-metal journalist and on-air personality with the launch of the Metals Darkside series in 2004, which she also produced. Her interest in heavy metal stretches back to the first Black Sabbath show she attended at Madison Square Garden when she was nine. In 1998 she became the first female to emcee March Metal Meltdown in New Jersey, helping to introduce Sepultura to a North American audience. Through the mid-2000s St. Claire served as a veejay for The Metal Scene TV Show, AOL Noisecreep, Inferno TV and Stay Heavy TV, while writing articles as a contributor to Yahoo News and Guitar Player. She also served as a spokes model for B.C. Rich Guitars, Coffin Case, Krank Amplifiers and licensed her likeness to Guitar Hero for a controller made by Peavey. St. Claire returned to acting 2014 in a series of dramatic roles, portraying an FBI agent in Army of the Damned and hardened street criminal in Grand Auto Theft. Continuing intensive Meisner studies at the Ruskin School, she has recently been cast in significant roles in Daughters of Dolemite, Future Rich Wives Club, Angel of Reckoning and Road to Tereztetto to name a few. She was in season 3 of HBO's award winning series The Deuce & most recently completed filming "3 Days Rising Movie". She was in 2 award winning films"AfterAdderall" and"TrialRun" She has a monthly column in Sportsbikes Inc Magazine as she is an avid motorcycle enthusiast. Jasmin graduated from the Second City Conservatory's prestigious Grad Revue program in Hollywood and also completed the longform program at Upright Citizens Brigade. Jasmin now has a one woman show "A Weird Kind of Fame" and a podcast "Krazy Train With Jasmin St Claire". She spends her time in Paris, Los Angeles and New York. In April 2022, St Claire returned to wrestling for XPW Wrestling.- Actress
- Producer
Jet Jandreau is a German-American actress who has starred in multiple features across the globe. Starting her career in Austria, she played an ingénue alongside famous German actor Moritz Bleibtreu in Jud Süß, a film with a stirring account of Nazi propaganda that was selected for the Berlin International Film Festival. She went on to star in the western drama The Trail, the story of a young pioneer woman attacked by Indians in the Sierra Nevada mountains who must find her way to civilization before the brutal winter sets in. The Trail premièred at the Cannes International Film Festival and Jet received two best actress awards for her performance in the US. Her star turned roles in recent releases include a prestige adaptation of Wuthering Heights, the supernatural road-movie Hotel Dunsmuir, and the high-octane action thriller The Vigilante. The Vigilante deals with the hot button topic of child sex trafficking which Jet takes on as a marine spec op searching for her kidnapped sister. She trained in weapons and combat prior to shooting and did her own stunts in the movie.
Jet currently stars in the new neo-noir film, Peter Five Eight opposite Kevin Spacey, Rebecca de Mornay and Jake Weber.- Jasmine Jessica Anthony was born on October 28th, in Tarzana, California. Acting since the age of 3 years old, she has continued to pursue her passion in the industry. Natural instincts backed by years of training and taking direction extremely well makes her a strong choice. In addition to acting; she's a songwriter/screenwriter and is actively directing her own films. Self taught guitar player and singer, she's also learning the piano. Another passion of hers is photography, Jasmine enjoys directing actors through their headshot sessions. She started her business, Fotos by Jas, that has quickly grown to over 150 clients and counting. Also, Jasmine designed her own website, www.fotosbyjas.com.
- Actress
- Producer
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Jasmine Burke is an award-winning American Actress, Filmmaker, Singer, Author from Atlanta, Georgia. Attended Kennesaw State University on full scholarship as well as Harvard University. Jasmine grew up in musical theatre, performing in a myriad of stage productions at esteemed playhouses. Curious what film and television had to offer she transitioned enjoying feature roles in; The Secret Life of Bees, Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns, Army Wives, Ride Along, The Vampire Diaries, to name a few. After years of head work, Jasmine landed series regular roles in Bounce TV's #1 series Saints and Sinners playing the beautiful and mischievous Dr. Christie, and in Fox's hit series Star playing the lovable salon stylist Danielle. Jasmine continues to grow starring in the BET's romcom Angrily Ever After as well as starring in and producing TvOne's Skinned.
Exercising her many talents, in 2009 Jasmine wrote, executive produced and directed her first film, a comedy, Lucky Lotto. Lucky Lotto went on to become a winner at the 2010 Women in Film and Television International Short Film Showcase. Jasmine also won an achievement for directing Lucky Lotto at the 2010 WIFTA's.
Jasmine's philanthropy extends to global organizations such as The Boys&Girls Club of America, Girls Inc., The Miss Black Teen Atlanta Scholarship Pageant, C.A.S.A (Court Appointed Special Advocate), 500 Songs for Kids.- Actress
- Producer
Jasmine Star Dustin was born in the small rural New Hampshire town of Auburn on New Year's Day, 1983. It was almost as if she was destined for stardom--thus her middle name!
The green-eyed beauty can attribute her exotic good looks to her French, Native American and Scottish roots. Jasmine took her first walk down the runway at the young age of five, competing in modeling pageants. Her dedication and persistence brought her such titles as Miss Congeniality, Miss Best Photographed and Miss Best Smile, as well as reigning titles of Miss Top Model and Junior Miss. By the time Jasmine hit her teens she was convinced that modeling and acting would be her lifetime pursuit. Shortly after graduating high school she took the first big step to achieving her lifelong dream and moved to Los Angeles. Within a short time she had graced the pages of magazines such as GQ, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Maxim, FHM among others.
Jasmine has traveled to London, New York and Paris to pursue her career in modeling and has landed campaigns for companies such as Fredericks of Hollywood, Johnny Walker, William Rast, Duwop Cosmetics, UGG, Samsung and many more. Her "debut" into the world of television was as the model holding briefcase #5 on the hit TV show Deal or No Deal (2005). After one season she decided to take the next step and pursue a career in acting. She has been coached by Larry Moss of L.A.'s Larry Moss Studios, who has worked with such actresses as Hilary Swank and Helen Hunt. You can see Jasmine in feature films such as Rush Hour 3 (2007), City Of Jerks (2012) and Let the Game Begin (2010) opposite Michael Madsen, along with many independent films that later went onto the film festival circuit. Jasmine has worked on the top television shows such as CSI: Miami (2002), Eleventh Hour (2008) Knight Rider (2008) and FX's "The League". Jasmine has been a series regular for two seasons on the TV show Doheny Models (2010) and Get Out (2003), in which she travels the world doing high adventure sports. Jasmine is currently filming her second season of BET's hit show "Being Mary Jane" opposite Gabrielle Union.
When Jasmine isn't on set she is on the streets giving back to the homeless and their pets. Jasmine started her own animal charity Cause4Paws back in 2012 which focuses on the shelter animals as well as the homeless community and their pets. On a weekly basis she is passing out tents and food in the cities of Los Angeles and Van Nuys.- Jasmine Golden is an actress, model, and martial arts fighter. Not knowing her mother, Jasmine was raised by her father and stepmother in Hamburg, Germany. During her high school years, she discovered her true passion for performing. In her late teens, she joined her local community theatre where she performed regularly. Jasmine soon realized she wanted to move to the United States to pursue a career in film and television. After living in Texas for a few years, she decided to forgo college and move to Los Angeles. There she trained with well-respected acting coaches who helped her transition from theatre to film. Jasmine has appeared on Arms and the Dudes, CSI:NY and Benched.
- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Actress-dancer-director Jasmine Guy has enjoyed a diverse career in television, theatre and film. She began her professional career at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. Jasmine starred on Broadway in the original productions of Beehive and Leader of the Pack, and reprised hit productions of 'Grease', 'The Wiz' and 'Chicago' (as Velma Kelly). After years on Broadway and touring the globe, Jasmine landed the role of Whitley Gilbert on the Cosby Show spin-off 'A Different World'. She won six consecutive N.A.A.C.P. Image Awards for her portrayal of the pretentious but funny southern belle. Her other television performances include: 'Melrose Place' (with Heather Locklear); 'NYPD Blue' (with Jimmy Smits); 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air' (with Will Smith) and 'Living Single' (with Queen Latifah). One of her favorite roles was that of Roxy, the grim reaper meter maid on Showtime's hit series 'Dead Like Me' (with Mandy Patinkin.) Her most recent role as Grams on the popular series 'Vampire Diaries' can be seen on the C.W. Network. Jasmine has also worked with these great performers and directors in these films and miniseries: Spike Lee's 'School Daze'; Eddie Murphy's 'Harlem Nights'; Alex Hailey's 'Queen', and Debbie Allen's 'Stompin' at the Savoy'. She can be seen currently in the film 'October Baby'. Jasmine has worked extensively in theatre with Kenny Leon, Susan Booth, Andrea Frye and Pearl Cleage. She has starred in or directed many productions, including: 'For Colored Girls Who have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf; 'Miss Evers' Boys'; 'Blues for an Alabama Sky'; 'The Colored Museum'; 'The Fourposter'; 'The Nacirema Society'; 'Broke-ology'; 'Fool For Love', and most recently, 'God of Carnage' at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre, where she also directed the world premiere of the opera 'I Dream', celebrating the life and journey of Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1991, she released her self-titled album on Warner Bros. Records, featuring the hit single 'Try Me'. 'Try Me' was produced by Full Force and features Xcape with Candy Burgess. The song shot up the R & B charts quickly to Gold status, and fueled the success of the album's second and third chart singles 'Another Like My Lover' and 'I Just Wanna Hold You'. In 2004, Jasmine penned the biography 'Evolution of a Revolutionary' (Atria Books), which chronicles the life and journey of Afeni Shakur - Black Panther, activist and mother of slain rapper Tupac Shakur. As a frequent motivational public speaker, Jasmine is called upon to share her story openly with those who may benefit from her trials and triumphs. Her continuing desire to blend balance and discipline with ambition and service continues to fuel her passion for the arts. She has traveled throughout the U.S. and appeared at more than a hundred speaking engagements, addressing diverse audiences at colleges, universities, conventions, corporations, affinity groups, churches, high schools and countless charitable and fund-raising events.- Actress
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Jasmine Kaur is an American actor, writer, and director born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work advocates equality through multicultural education. Kaur is of South Asian descent. She is multi-lingual, with an extensive repertoire of dialects and an educational background in psychology and theatre. Kaur established Jakasi Films with the goal of creating film communities in underprivileged areas around the world.- Actress
- Writer
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Jasmine Lowe was born in California, the first child of a musician father and an actress/model mother. Her family resides in Santa Barbara, California as well as Northern, California. At the age of fifteen, she was discovered by an agency who wanted her to pursue a career in modeling. Jasmine knew at a very young age that she wanted a career as an Actress, and Producing her own films. When she was seventeen years old she began working at a local radio station, and wrote a screenplay about her experience called 'My Life Alternative'. Jasmine finally settled in Santa Monica, California where she studied acting at Santa Monica College and University of California, Los Angeles. Her career in acting and filmmaking continue to flourish.- Writer
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Jasmine McGlade was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She is a writer and director, known for La La Land (2016), Fencer and Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2009). She was previously married to Damien Chazelle.- Jasmine Mooney is known for Kid Cannabis (2014), American Pie Presents: The Book of Love (2009) and Badge of Honor (2015).
- Jasmine Richards was born on 28 June 1990 in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. She is an actress, known for Camp Rock (2008), Picture Day (2012) and Overruled! (2009).
- Actress
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Jasmine Sky Sarin began entertaining audiences pretty much since she began walking. Her natural exuberance and love for performance segued into local musical theater and dance and comedy shows in her native Vancouver, BC. Her passion for hamming it up, acting, singing and just putting on a show soon translated to regional theater and talent around Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest.
At age 13 Jasmine created the popular YouTube beauty and fashion channel "Jasmine Sky" and spent her high school years as an active member of the YouTube community and event circuit. She also played supporting roles in numerous television movies and feature films in her native Vancouver.
Jasmine now divides her time between Vancouver and Los Angeles where she is studying and pursuing her passion for acting full time.
Jasmine Sky is a Canadian/American/EU citizen and is of Kashmiri, Norwegian & Estonian decent. She has a cat called Oscar who thinks he is a dog and a dog called Maison who thinks he's a kangaroo.- Actress
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Jasmine Trinca was born on 24 April 1981 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress and director, known for The Gunman (2015), The Son's Room (2001) and Fortunata (2017).- Actress
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Her youthful ambition and undeniable talent have taken Jasmine into other creative arenas. She has been featured in print advertisements for Target National, Mary Kate and Ashley, American Girl, Levi's, Hilary Duff, Robinsons May, Macys, Mervyns, Girl Scouts, Sparklets Drinking Water, Kohls as well as principal roles in television commercials for Chevrolet, The Dog, Kellogs, Zellers, Marshalls, and McDonald's. Jasmine has also made guest starring appearances on Disney's "That's So Raven," Touchstone Pictures' "My Wife and Kids" starring Damon Wayans, and she has also gone on to become Ms. Hawaiian Tropic and Ms. Royal Essence. She has recently finished shooting a pilot for a Disney sitcom "House Broken", a spin-off of Disney's The Suite Life of Zach and Cody, starring Brian Stepanek. She also has a reoccurring role on the ABC's prime time show "The Nine", and a guest role on the television series "Threat Matrix". She has also been featured in Kanye West's music video "Jesus Walks" and Frankie J.'s "How To Deal".- Actress
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Jasmine Lynne Waltz was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. An only child, she survived her father's suicide and her mother's subsequent absence, only to face a future of uncertainty. She lived in and out of group homes and shelters, until events landed her in an all girl's maximum security school at the young age of 16. After her release two years later, she began a quest to find a new and better life for herself.
Living in 8 different cities, Jasmine gradually made her way to Miami and began modeling and commercial work. She also studied at the University of Performing Arts for three years, working nights in local clubs to pay her way through school. Once finished, she headed to Los Angeles, and it didn't take long for Hollywood to notice the beautiful brunette with the boisterous, outgoing personality. Film, TV, and commercial work soon followed, along with increased attention from the media. Jasmine now stands poised at the edge of a promising career, drawing on her past to help guide her to a bright future.- Actor
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Jason-Shane Scott was born in Los Angeles and moved to Reno, Nevada at the age of two. Jason's mother wanted to name him Jason but his father had adamantly always dreamed his son being named Shane after the classic film of the same name. They compromised, thus leading to Jason-Shane's hyphened first name. The youngest of two children, his parents divorced and his father moved back to Los Angeles. Jason would often visit his dad,a school teacher,where he first got a glimpse at the entertainment industry. Jason was very athletic during his school years and his prowess in football gained him several college scholarship offers out of High School. During his playing days Jason set and still owns three Nevada State records. After leading his school to the State Championship and graduating from Wooster High School, Jason couldn't shake the acting bug and decided to forgo college and moved to Los Angeles to begin his career. He briefly tested the modeling world and found great success spending several months touring Europe and many other countries working for such designers as Armani, Gucci, and Missoni before returning and fully dedicating his time to his acting career and studies. It didn't take long for Jason to find success as he quickly garnered small roles in films and in 1998 starred alongside Sean Hayes in the Sundance hit and critically acclaimed Billys Hollywood Screen Kiss. 1998 was a big year for Jason as he also landed a contract role on the daytime series One Life to Live, where he appeared from 1998-2007. In the time since Jason starred int the Sony Studios released STARSHIP TROOPERS 2 and has etched out quite a name for himself in the quality indie film world appearing in many films including another sun-dance hit, The Dying Gaul with Peter Sarsgard, the groundbreaking and festival hit Latter Days alongside Joseph Gordon Levitt, and in cult followed films like Return of the Killer shrews based the 1952 original as the only film to make a sequel over 50 years later, while also appearing in theatrically released gems as SUCH GOOD PEOPLE, DIRTY DEEDS, RED SKY, and DEADLAND Jason also has many television appearances in some of the most recognizable shows on TV including CSI, SCRUBS, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, GREYS ANATOMY, ANGER MANAGEMENT. He also starred in the Lifetime hit movies Walking the Halls and All I want for Christmas. 2015 has been a busy year for Jason has he has starred in three films. The made for television thrillers The Wrong Roommate and Accidental Switch, along with the military action film, Sniper:Special Ops. Jason-Shane has etched out quite a lasting career in the TV and film industry and is recognized as a capable and reliable true leading man as he has matched skills on screen with over a dozen Academy, Golden Globe, and Emmy nominated or winning fellow actors while continuing to add to his credits. In addition to acting, Jason also is and established screenwriter, comedian, and inventor, owning the right to several patented products. Jason also is in an exclusive IQ club of over 160, which is considered genius level. Jason resides in Los Angeles.- Actor
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Jason 'Wee Man' Acuña was born on 16 May 1973 in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Jackass 3D (2010), Elf-Man (2011) and Jackass Number Two (2006).- Music Artist
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Jason Aldean was born on 28 February 1977 in Macon, Georgia, USA. He is a music artist and actor, known for Patriots Day (2016), Jason Aldean: Amarillo Sky (2006) and Jason Aldean - Tattoos on This Town (2011). He has been married to Brittany Kerr Aldean since 21 March 2015. They have two children. He was previously married to Jessica Ussery.- Actor
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Jay Scott Greenspan, known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor, comedian, film director, and television presenter. An Emmy and Tony winner, he is best known for his role as George Costanza in the television series Seinfeld (1989), for which he was nominated for seven consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. His other well-known roles include Phillip Stuckey in the film Pretty Woman (1990), comic relief gargoyle Hugo in the Disney animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), and the title character in the animated series Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man (1994). He has also made guest appearances on shows such as Dream On (1994), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2001, 2009), and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2019). For his role in Dream On, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song in 2020 for "The Bad Guys?" on Brainwashed By Toons.- Actor
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After growing up in sunny California (Pacific Palisades and Sherman Oaks), he headed for the East in 1990 to attend the country's oldest acting conservatory program Carnegie Mellon University, where he received a BFA in Drama. Straight to New York in 1994, he spent most of his stage life as an understudy, most notably in Steve Martin's "Picasso at the Lapin Agile". His big break came when he got cast in his Broadway debut, the 2000 TONY award-winning musical "Contact". For his performance he received a Drama Desk Nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical.- Jason Babinsky was born on 31 March 1976 in Crystal Lake, Illinois, USA. He is an actor, known for Contagion (2011), A Cure for Wellness (2016) and Law Abiding Citizen (2009).
- Charles Jason Baldwin was born April 11, 1977. Jason Baldwin, along with Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. are known as The West Memphis Three, who are three men convicted in 1994 of the murders of three 8 year old boys, in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993. Many people, including some famous celebrities and musicians, believe that the West Memphis Three are innocent, and have raised funds to support their trials, and have filmed several documentaries on this case. On March 19,1994 Baldwin and Echols, who were tried together, were found guilty on three counts of murder. Echols was sentenced to death and Baldwin to life in prison (Misskelley has been sentenced to life plus 40 years, in a separate trial,earlier in the year) In 2007, DNA collected from the crime scene was tested. None was found to match DNA from Echols, Baldwin, nor Misskelley. On August 19, 2011, after over 18 years in prison, the men filed an Alford plea deal. Baldwin pled guilty to three counts of first degree murder while still asserting his actual innocence. At first Baldwin was resistant to this deal, insisting that he would not plead guilty to something he didn't do. But, he worried that if he refused the deal Damien Echols would have stayed on death row. After accepting the deal, all three men were sentenced to time served, and they were given a 10 year Suspended Imposition of Sentence, meaning if they re-offend they can be sent back to prison for 21 years. After being released from prison Jason moved to Seattle and was in a relationship with a woman he met while in prison. Although he is working for a construction company, Jason hopes to go to college to become a lawyer and help the wrongfully convicted.
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Jason Barry hails from Artane, Dublin. Is a graduate of The Samuel Beckett Center for performing arts at Trinity College. His first lead role was in a BBC Film called O Mary This London (1994), a part which required him to run for half a mile naked down Camden High Street for one of his opening scenes. He has lived and worked as an actor across the globe, noticeable Ireland, the UK and the US. Recently he as broadened his work within the industry to include directing and writing his own projects. He is a keen marathon runner. He has two daughters , Freya and Nova.- Actor
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Jason Bateman is an American film and television actor, known for his role as Michael Bluth on the television sitcom Arrested Development (2003), as well as his role on Valerie (1986).
He was born in Rye, New York. His father, Kent Bateman, from a Utah-based family, is a film and television director and producer, and founder of a Hollywood repertory stage company. His mother, Victoria Bateman, was born in Shropshire, England, and worked as a flight attendant. His sister is actress Justine Bateman. In 1981, at the age of 12, young Bateman made his debut on television as James Cooper Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie (1974): Uncle Jed, appearing in 18 more episodes in one season. Jason also appeared in the original Knight Rider with David Hasselhoff for the season three episode "Lost Knight" (aired Dec 1984) playing the character "Doug" who befriends Kitt when he loses his memory. In the mid-1980s, he became the DGA's youngest-ever director when he directed three episodes of Valerie (1986) at age 18. During the 2000s, Bateman's film career has been on soaring trajectory. In 2005, he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy, for Arrested Development (2003), and received other awards and nominations.
Bateman has been enjoying a happy family life with his wife, actress Amanda Anka (daughter of singer Paul Anka), with whom he has two children. The Batemans reside in Los Angeles, California.- Actor
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Jason Beghe was born on 12 March 1960 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Next Three Days (2010), Thelma & Louise (1991) and Monkey Shines (1988). He was previously married to Angie Janu.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jason Nathaniel Behr was born on December 30, 1973 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Patricia Ann (Steiner) and David Paul Behr. His ancestry includes Swiss-German, German, Austrian, Irish, English, and Danish. Jason began acting at the age of five, appearing in a number of theatrical productions, commercials, voice overs and modeling. Jason continued to perform throughout his school years. At the age of nineteen, following his graduation from Richfield Senior High School, Jason moved out to Los Angeles. Shortly after his arrival, Jason began a series of guest roles on popular television shows such as Step by Step (1991), JAG (1995), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), 7th Heaven (1996) and Dawson's Creek (1998). In 1998, Jason made his film debut in the film Pleasantville (1998), starring Reese Witherspoon, Tobey Maguire and William H. Macy. This role was followed up by another role in the indie film Rites of Passage (1999), opposite James Remar and Dean Stockwell, where Jason garnered praised for his portrayal of a young homosexual male. Jason was cast in his first leading role on the television series Roswell (1999) playing "Max Evans". The show ran from 1999 to 2002. In 2001, Jason appeared alongside Kevin Spacey, Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench in The Shipping News (2001). The role earned him a Movieline Award for Standout performance. Jason continued to appear in indie films such as Happily Even After (2004), an independent film which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. More indie films followed, including Happily Even After (2004), Shooting Livien (2005), Man of God (2005), Senseless (2008) and The Tattooist (2007). In 2005, Jason starred opposite former "Buffy" star Sarah Michelle Gellar in the supernatural thriller The Grudge (2004). Most recently, Jason finished two unaired pilots for the Fox and NBC networks, respectively. He completed another indie film, 'The Last International Playboy", which played at both the Slamdance and Gen Art film festivals and was released in select theaters on July 12, 2009.
Jason married actress KaDee Strickland in 2006. The couple have a son, Atticus.- Actor
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Jason Matthew Biggs was born on May 12, 1978, in Pompton Plains, New Jersey, to Angela (Zocco), a nurse, and Gary Biggs, a shipping company manager. Jason has two sisters, Heather, a tax specialist born in 1971, and Chiara, born in 1980. He was raised Catholic, and is of English and mostly Italian descent. Jason started acting at age five, appearing in several national commercials. In 1991, at 13 he won a part on the FOX sitcom Drexell's Class (1991), but the show was canceled after one season. Also during that year, he made his Broadway debut opposite Judd Hirsch in the play, Conversations With My Father. The play helped earn him a spot on As the World Turns (1956), as the rebellious Pete Wendall. The role earned him a nomination for Best Younger Actor in a Drama Series at the Daytime Emmy's. After graduating high school in 1996, he studied briefly at New York University and Montclair State University in New Jersey but dropped out to pursue acting again. In 1997, he costarred in the short lived television series Camp Stories (1996). In 1999 came his breakthrough role in the teen sex comedy American Pie (1999). His performance shocked yet wooed audiences, critics, and casting agents to bring him for the first time the chance to choose new roles and scripts. He chose such roles in Loser (2000) and Boys and Girls (2000).- Actor
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Emmy award winning producer, Jason Blum is the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, a multi-media production company that has pioneered a new model of studio filmmaking- producing high-quality micro-budget films. Blumhouse has a first-look deal with Universal Pictures and has produced the highly-profitable Paranormal Activity, The Purge, Insidious, and Sinister franchises which have grossed more than $1.2 billion worldwide on combined budgets under $40 million. Blumhouse's model began with the original Paranormal Activity, which was made for $15,000 and grossed close to $200 million worldwide, making it the most profitable film in Hollywood history.
Blumhouse's award-winning projects include The Normal Heart and Whiplash. BH Tilt is a new label from the company dedicated to movies from Blumhouse and other filmmakers that will be released across multiple-platforms taking advantage of new distribution strategies.
In television, Blum won an Emmy for producing HBO's The Normal Heart. Blumhouse's shows include Ascension (Syfy), Eye Candy (MTV), and South of Hell (WEtv) and the division's development slate includes Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects with eOne and an un-scripted show with Mike Darnell. In addition to The Normal Heart, Blumhouse previously executive produced Stranded for Syfy and The River for ABC.
Blumhouse has also produced a variety of live-events including The Blumhouse of Horrors, haunted house experience in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, The Purge: Fear the Night, a live-event inspired by the backstory to the feature film and The Purge: Breakout, an immersive escape game experience.
Before Blumhouse, Blum served as co-head of the Acquisitions and Co-Productions department at Miramax Films in New York. At Miramax, he was instrumental in acquiring over 50 films including The Others, Smoke Signals, A Walk On the Moon and The House of Yes.
Blum has produced over 75 films and TV series throughout his career. His credits also include: The Reader, for which Kate Winslet won an Academy Award; Hysterical Blindness, starring Uma Thurman, which aired on HBO and garnered Thurman a Golden Globe Award; and Hamlet starring Ethan Hawke, Bill Murray, Sam Shepard and Kyle MacLachlan.
Blum began his career as the producing director of the Malaparte theater company, which was founded by Ethan Hawke.- Actor
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Jason began his career with his memorable portrayal of the dark, but likable villain, "Peter Blake", on NBC's long-running drama, Days of Our Lives (1965), for which he garnered Soap Opera Digest's coveted Best Villain award.
After leaving "Days" to pursue other projects, Jason continued to work consistently in leading roles in television and film, including Alibi (1997), opposite Tori Spelling for ABC, Three Secrets (1999), with Jaclyn Smith for CBS, and The Darwin Conspiracy (1999) (Pilot/MOW) for UPN. He then landed a recurring role warming up the ice cold "Miss Parker" on ABC's hit drama series, The Pretender (1996), opposite Andrea Parker.
Soon after, Baywatch (1989) producers approached Jason to replace David Hasselhoff in the series' new incarnation, Baywatch (1989) Hawaii, shooting on location in the island paradise. After two seasons, the series wrapped up its syndicated run and Jason returned to Los Angeles, where he became the father to his second son with wife, Corinne Olivo Levin, a literary talent manager. Jason was then cast in numerous indie film roles such as The Rose Technique (2002), with JoBeth Williams, Flying Virus (2001) (aka "Buzzed"), with Gabrielle Anwar and Rutger Hauer, Purgatory Flats (2003) and Submission (2006), opposite Aussie star, Simmone Mackinnon. He appeared in the films: Star Trek (2009), directed by J.J. Abrams, Burning Palms (2010), Accused at 17 (2009), Christmas Spirit (2011), Home Invasion (2012), Super 8 (2011), again for director J.J. Abrams and Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3 and many more...
Throughout his career, Jason has continued to guest star and repeat on numerous network television hits offering his unique presence in drama, comedy, sci-fi and action. Some of his more notable guest star credits include: Friends (1994) (memorably as Phoebe's hot massage client), Charmed (1998), The Practice (1997), CSI: Miami (2002), NCIS (2003), JAG (1995), The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005), Boston Legal (2004) (as a recurring guest star), CSI: NY (2004), The Closer (2005), Las Vegas (2003), Without a Trace (2002), Castle (2009), Ghost Whisperer (2005), Big Love (2006), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Criminal Minds (2005), No Ordinary Family (2010) and Torchwood (2006) (Starz), Body of Proof, Revolution, The Mentalist, NCIS: L.A., and, How To Get Away With Murder. During that time, he also was recurring on Switched at Birth (2011) for ABC Family.
Some of his other pilot appearances include: Pepper Dennis (2006) (for which he was a recurring guest star), War Stories (2003) (NBC), Day One (2010) (NBC), "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (CBS) and Madison High (2012) for the Disney Channel, The Saint and Guilt By Association.
Jason has also starred in many award-winning theater productions. Some of his favorite leading theater roles were in the productions: "Death of a Salesman (winning the Robby Award for Best Actor), "Myron" (a touching AIDS drama) and the L.A Times' acclaimed "Johnny On the Spot".
You might also remember him as the ultimate sporty-yet eternally handsome, "Old Spice guy" of 2009, as he slid around the bases into an award-winning ad campaign.
Jason currently lives in Santa Monica with his wife of almost 30 years and their two sons.- Actor
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Jason was born in the small hockey town of Trail, British Columbia, Canada. He spent most of his youth playing hockey at the triple A and Junior levels. He later turned towards officiating and eventually worked professionally in the Western Hockey League and the East Coast Hockey League. His on-ice skills landed him jobs in the movie Miracle (Kurt Russell) and The Tooth Fairy (Dwayne Johnson). While working on the Tooth Fairy and sending Dwayne The Rock Johnson to the penalty box he decided to pursue something that he always wanted to do... act and write. Weeks later he had booked his first ever audition and he was hooked. Jason jumped in head first and within two years he was acting/producing/writing the comedy feature Jackhammer (Jamie Kennedy, Pamela Anderson, Robb Wells and Nicole Sullivan) with his friends. The movie would go on to open in four film festivals and get distribution with Phase 4 Films (eOne) and is currently available on demand, Hulu, and iTunes. Shortly after Jason booked a recurring role on ABC's hit show Once Upon A Time playing the legendary role of Little John.- Actor
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