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- Born in Brooklyn, raised on Staten Island, New York. He graduated with honors from Villanova University (PA) in 1999. Spent a semester in college interning for a congressman on Capitol Hill. He went to Los Angeles to pursue acting and landed a recurring role as a gay student on "Dawson's Creek." After the role ended, he signed to do only 10 episodes on "The Young and the Restless" in 2003, but his character Kevin became so popular with viewers that he was signed to a long-term contract. He received an Emmy Award playing that role in 2005 and received four consecutive Emmy nominations from 2006 to 2009. He also received a Soap Opera Digest Award nomination in 2005. He is politically active supporting liberal causes, such as women's rights and gay rights. In June 2013, he celebrated two events: his ten-year anniversary on the "Young and the Restless," and the US Supreme Court supporting same-sex relationships, which allowed him to publicly acknowledge his long relationship with actor and writer Robert Sudduth. Two years later, he married Sudduth in Hawaii. On June 12, 2016, they became parents to son Montgomery Argo Rikaart-Sudduth, born via surrogate. They all live together in Los Angeles with their pets.
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Emmy winning actor-producer Matt Battaglia was born in Tallahassee, Florida, the youngest of four children. He spent much of his life growing up in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. He attended the University of Louisville, where he was an All-American middle linebacker who led the nation in tackles his junior & senior years, totaling 153 & 166 tackles, averaging a collegiate high of 15 tackles per game, 2 years back to back. He played in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles.
As an actor, Battaglia has been credited in over 100 films and television programs. He won two Emmy Awards in 2011 for producing Last Shot with Judge Gunn (2011) and co-producing the Golden Globe-nominated film Brothers (2009). He founded The Mint Jubilee, a charity event at the Kentucky Derby which has raised millions of dollars for cancer patients. He created this event in memory of his mother who died of cancer.- Actress
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Blythe Danner was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Katharine (Kile) and Harry Earl Danner, a bank executive. She has German, as well as English and Irish, ancestry. Danner studied acting and got her degree from Bard College and began her career in Boston theater companies. By 25, she won the Theater World Award for her work in Molière's "The Miser", at Lincoln Center. She also won the 1970 Tony award for her role in "Butterflies Are Free". She made her film premiere in the same year in the television production of Dr. Cook's Garden (1971). For 25 years, she has been a regular performer at the Williamstown Summer Theater Festival. She has also been nominated for Tonys for performances in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Betrayal". Married to director Bruce Paltrow, she is the mother of two acting children, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jake Paltrow.- Actress
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Dorothy Lyman was born on 18 April 1947 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. She is an actress and director, known for Blow (2001), All My Children (1970) and Mama's Family (1983). She was previously married to Vincent Malle and John Tillinger.- Actor
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Anthony Ramos Martinez is an American actor, singer and songwriter. In 2015, he originated the dual roles of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton in the Broadway musical Hamilton. Ramos also appeared in the 2021 film version of In the Heights as Usnavi and in the 2018 film A Star Is Born as Ramon. In 2021, he received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in a Limited Series or Movie for his performance in the Disney+ live stage recording of Hamilton which was released in 2020. He is scheduled to star in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts in 2023.- Actor
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Sean Berdy was born on June 3rd, 1993 in Boca Raton, Florida, to parents Terrie and Scott Berdy. At a young age Sean began putting on impromptu comedic shows alongside his brother, Tyler, to the delight of family and friends. Seeing the joy he brought to others while performing, he became passionate about entertaining. Young Berdy also became fascinated with magic and won the top award for young magicians at the World Children's Magicians Festival held in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Sean received his first big break in acting on The Sandlot 2. Sean played the role of lovable and mischievous Sammy "Fingers" Samuelson.
In 2011, Sean was cast as a series regular in the ABC Family's series "Switched at Birth." Playing opposite Marlee Matlin as his mother, Sean portrayed the role of Emmett Bledsoe. Among other skills, Emmett rides a motorcycle, plays the drums in a rock band and is a photographer.
As a result, in 2011 he was nominated for TV Breakout Star by the Teen Choice Awards.
For Twentieth Century-Fox's animated movie "Ice Age: Continental Drift," Sean has provided an industry first on-camera ASL performance that displays in a picture-in-picture window used in the DVD release.
Over the years, Sean has created several music videos performed in ASL and delivered a number of motivational keynote speeches throughout the country.- Actor
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Adam Lambert is a Grammy-nominated international artist, actor, philanthropist, and LGBTQ+ activist.
As the first openly gay male artist to top the Billboard album charts, Adam has released five studio albums to date, amassing more than three million album sales worldwide-all while honoring the legacy of Freddie Mercury as the frontman of the iconic band, Queen.
Adam counts the British Royal Family among his fans. A personal invitation from HRH The Princess of Wales had him performing at last year's Royals: Together At Christmas and previously for HRH Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, opening the show alongside Brian May and Roger Taylor.
Recent highlights include the release of Adam's latest top 10 charting album, High Drama, headlining London Pride, and showcasing his acting skills in Sofia Coppola's Fairyland, as well as the five-time Academy Award-winning film Bohemian Rhapsody.
Continuing his support for the LGBTQ+ community, Adam founded the Feel Something Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting LGBTQ+ human rights. The foundation raises funds and contributes to marginalized and underrepresented groups globally.
Adam continues to gain superstar momentum worldwide. This year, he will join the judging panel of The Voice Australia, work on his highly anticipated 6th Studio Album, and embark on a stadium tour across Japan after a successful North American tour with Queen last year. In 2024, Adam will release an ITV documentary exploring the LGBTQ+ experience within the music industry, featuring interviews with iconic musicians spanning multiple decades.- Actress
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Debra Monk was born in Middletown, Ohio, USA. Debra is an actor and producer, known for One for the Money (2012), The Devil's Advocate (1997) and NYPD Blue (1993).- Actress
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- Composer
Betty Buckley, who has been called "The Voice of Broadway," is one of theater's most respected and legendary leading ladies. She is an actress/singer whose career spans theater, film, television and concert halls around the world. She is a 2012 Theatre Hall of Fame inductee and the 2017 recipient of the Julie Harris Awards from the Actor's Fund for Artistic Achievement.
She won a Tony Award for her performance as Grizabella, the Glamour Cat, in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats. She received her second Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a musical for her performance as Hesione in Triumph of Love, and an Olivier Award nomination for her critically acclaimed interpretation of Norma Desmond in the London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, which she repeated to more rave reviews on Broadway.
Her other Broadway credits include 1776, Pippin, Song and Dance, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Carrie. Off-Broadway credits include the world premiere of Horton Foote's The Old Friends for which she received a Drama Desk Nomination in 2014, White's Lies, Lincoln Center's Elegies, the original NYSF production of Edwin Drood, The Eros Trilogy, Juno's Swans and Getting My Act Together and Taking It On The Road. Regional credits include The Perfectionist, Gypsy, Threepenny Opera, Camino Real, Buffalo Gal, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Old Friends at Houston's Alley Theatre and Grey Gardens at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, NY and The Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles in 2016 for which she received an Ovation Award Nomination. In London she starred in Promises, Promises for which she was nominated for An Evening Standard Award and in 2013 the British premiere of Dear World.
Ms. Buckley most recently appeared in the new M. Night Shyamalan hit film Split co-starring James McAvoy, released in January 2017. She was nominated for a Saturn Award for her work in the film. Her other films include her debut in Brian de Palma's screen version of Stephen King's Carrie, Bruce Beresford's Tender Mercies, Roman Polanski's Frantic, Woody Allen's Another Woman, Lawrence Kasden's Wyatt Earp and M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening.
On television, Buckley most recently guest starred in the NBC Series Chicago Med and in the HBO series The Leftovers and Getting On. She appeared in The Pacific also for HBO and twice on the Kennedy Center Honors. She also starred for three seasons in the HBO series Oz and as Abby Bradford in the hit series Eight Is Enough. She has appeared as a guest star in numerous television series, miniseries and films for television including Evergreen, Roses For The Rich, Without A Trace, Law & Order: SVU and Pretty Little Liars.
Buckley tours in concert worldwide with her ensemble of musicians and recently was featured in the Royal Albert Hall concert of Follies in celebration of Stephen Sondheim's 85th birthday. She has recorded 17 CD's: including Ghostlight produced by T Bone Burnett released in 2014 and most recently Story Songs released in April 2017.
She received a Grammy Nomination for Stars and The Moon, Betty Buckley Live at the Donmar. She received her second Grammy Nomination for the audio book The Diaries of Adam and Eve. For over forty years Ms. Buckley has been a teacher of scene study and song interpretation, giving workshops in Manhattan and various universities and performing Arts Conservatories around the country. She has been a faculty member in the theatre department of the University of Texas at Arlington and teaches regularly at the T. Schreiber Studio in New York City, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX and in Los Angeles, Denver and Oklahoma.
In 2009, Ms. Buckley received the Texas Medal of Arts Award for Theater and was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in 2007. She has two honorary doctorates from The Boston Conservatory and Marymount College and has been honored with three Lifetime Achievement Awards for her contributions to theater from the New England Theater Conference, The Shubert Theater in New Haven and the Terry Schreiber School in NYC.- Actor
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Freddie Smith grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio and moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 2006.
His first role on television was a co-star on the series "Medium" in 2008. Since then, Freddie has gone on to book many national commercial spots and had a recurring role on 90210. He got his big break in 2011 when he booked the role of Sonny Kiriakis on the hit soap opera "Days of Our Lives," where he later won an Emmy for his work.
Freddie also co-hosts a podcast called "The Freddie and Alyssa Show" with his fiancee, Alyssa Tabit.- Producer
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Daniel Levy is a multi-hyphenate Emmy® award winning showrunner, writer, actor, director, and producer who has built his career telling vibrant and comedic stories, establishing himself as a Hollywood mainstay.
Levy recently launched his new film and television production company, Not a Real Production Company. Not A Real Production Company debuted its first series, The Big Brunch, on HBO Max in November 2022. Levy not only created the series but also hosts and serves as a judge alongside Chef Sohla El-Waylly and restaurateur Will Guidara. Additionally, the company has several projects in various stages of development including an adult animated comedy Standing By for Hulu, which he co-created with Ally Pankiw. Levy is currently in post-production on his directorial debut Good Grief, an original film at Netflix, which he wrote, produced and stars in. The company recently began its new overall television deal with Netflix, where it also has a first-look feature film deal.
Up next, Levy will be joining the season 4 cast of Netflix's acclaimed dramedy Sex Education playing the character Thomas Molloy, a famous author, and Maeve's (Emma Mackey) US course tutor at her Ivy League college. Levy has also joined the ensemble cast of HBO Max's upcoming series The Idol, created by Sam Levinson and The Weeknd, as well as Disney's upcoming Haunted Mansion remake. Recently, Levy appeared in Hulu's holiday rom-com Happiest Season, and starred alongside Bette Midler, Sarah Paulson, Issa Rae, and Kailtyn Dever in HBO's Coastal Elite. Levy made his hosting debut on Saturday Night Live in February 2021.
Levy is best known for his work on one of the most beloved shows on television, Schitt's Creek, which he co-created with his father Eugene Levy. The series received nine Emmy® wins for its sixth and final season, breaking major records becoming the most awarded comedy series in a single year, the first comedy or drama series to sweep all four acting categories and receiving the most wins for a comedy series in its final season. Levy and his father also became the first father-son pair to win Emmys in the same year, and Levy impressively tied the record for most wins by an individual in a single season with four total wins. Additionally, in its final season, Schitt's Creek garnered dozens of awards and more than 100 nominations including: five Critics Choice Award nominations, securing two wins for Best Supporting Actor and Best Actress in a Comedy Series; five SAG Award nominations, collecting two wins for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble and Actress in a Comedy Series; GLAAD Media Award win for Best Comedy Series; won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy; two TCA Award nominations, winning for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy; and a Costume Design Guild Award for Excellence in Contemporary Television. Levy was also recognized as one of the Grand Marshals for NYC Pride 2020. In 2019, the show received four Emmy® nominations including Best Comedy Series, a 2019 TCA Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy, Levy won Best Comedic Performance at the MTV Movie & TV Awards, and was honored by GLAAD with the Davidson/Valentini Award.
Levy began his television career co-hosting MTV Canada's flagship show MTV Live and later co-wrote, co-hosted, and co-produced the critically-acclaimed ratings hit The After Show and its various incarnations, including The Hills: The After Show and The City: Live After Show. Levy also wrote, produced, and starred in his own Christmas special for MTV, Daniel Levy's Holi-Do's & Don'ts, co-hosted the MTV Movie Awards Red Carpet, the X-Factor pre-show, national coverage of the Vancouver Olympic Games for CTV, co-hosted The Great Canadian Baking Show, and has also made a guest appearance on Modern Family. Levy made his film debut opposite Tina Fey in "Admission".
Levy and Not A Real Production Company are repped by WME, MGMT Entertainment, 42West and Morris Yorn.- Actress
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Leah Marie Remini was born on June 15,1970 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York & was raised in Los Angeles, California. Leah was born to Vicki Julia Marshall, & George Anthony Remini, who owned an asbestos removal company. She has an older sister named Nicole and 4 half-sisters named Christine, Stephanie (died of cancer in 2013), Elizabeth & Shannon. She starred as Carrie Heffernan on the long-running CBS comedy series The King of Queens (1998-2007) and later co-hosted The Talk in 2010-11. Since 2016 she has created, hosted and executive produced co-produced the Emmy Award-winning A&E documentary series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. Since 2020 Remini is producing and co-hosting the iHeart radio podcast Scientology: Fair Game
She was baptized Roman Catholic. When she was 8 years old, her mother joined the Church of Scientology, and Remini was thereafter raised as a Scientologist. Remini and sister Nicole were then taken to join Scientology's Paramilitary organization called the Sea Organization, where they were forced to sign billion-year contracts and work for their room and board. Sea Org children do not live with their parents and children of the Sea Org are treated as adults and work around the clock. Remini's mother decided to take her children out of the Sea Org and return to civilian Scientology life when Remini was thirteen years old. Remini moved to Los Angeles, California, with her mother and sisters, where she spent the remainder of her teenage years working to pay off their debt to Scientology called a Freeloader's Debt. Remini and family worked regular jobs to pay for Scientology services.
Remini and husband Angelo Pagán, baptized their daughter Sofia as a Catholic.
Remini left the organization in 2013. Two years later, Remini released her book, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, her memoir became number one on The New York Times Best Sellers List. In 2016, she followed up her memoir with the two-time Emmy Award-winning documentary television series on the A&E network, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, where she created a platform for victims and survivors of Scientology. The Documentary Series received many awards in its three seasons; two Emmy Awards, 2019 Critics' Choice Real TV Impact Award, 2017 Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming, 2018 Producers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television, 2018 NATPE Unscripted Breakthrough Awards for Best Innovation, 2019 IDA Truth to Power Award, CHILD USA 2019 Barbara Blaine Trailblazer Award, The Gracie Awards presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation for On-Air Talent - Lifestyle and Entertainment and another Gracie Award for Non-Fiction Entertainment.
Remini reunited with her co-star Kevin James in CBS's Kevin Can Wait, as Vanessa Cellucci.
One of Remini's early television roles was on Who's the Boss? as Charlie Briscoe, which led to a spin-off series entitled Living Dolls, in which Remini starred with Halle Berry. The show premiered in late 1989 and ran for 12 episodes.
In 1991, Remini had a supporting role on the short-lived ABC comedy The Man in the Family. She then had recurring roles on Saved by the Bell, where she played Stacey Carosi, and on Evening Shade as Daisy, the girlfriend of Taylor Newton (Jay R. Ferguson). Remini then appeared in two more short-lived series, First Time Out (1995) and Fired Up (1997-98). In 1993, she appeared on Cheers as Serafina, the daughter of Carla and Nick Tortelli (Rhea Perlman and Dan Hedaya). In 1994, Remini auditioned for the role of Monica Geller on Friends, but the role went to Courteney Cox. Remini later appeared in the 1995 Friends episode "The One with the Birth" in which she played a pregnant woman. In 1998, Remini landed the role of Carrie Heffernan on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens. The series was successful, and ran for nine seasons from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007.
Remini had a supporting role in the comedy film Old School (2003). Remini also starred in her own reality show, Inside Out: Leah Remini, which was a documentary that aired on VH1 about Remini's wedding. Following the success of the wedding special, VH-1 documented the next phase of their lives with the birth of her daughter Sofia Bella. Remini has starred in nine-episode webisodes of In the Motherhood, along with Chelsea Handler and Jenny McCarthy.
In October 2011, Remini signed a talent development deal at ABC and ABC Studios that required the network and the studio to develop a comedy project for Remini to star in and produce.
Remini competed on season 17 of Dancing with the Stars, in which she was partnered with professional dancer Tony Dovolani. The couple made it to the 10th week of competition and reached 5th place. Remini later returned in season 19 as a guest co-host on week 6. She returned as guest co-host on season 21 during weeks 6 and 7.
In 2013, Remini joined the cast of the TV Land comedy The Exes, filling a recurring role starting in season three.
Remini created, produced, and starred in a reality television series titled Leah Remini: It's All Relative. The show focuses on Remini's family life. It premiered on TLC on July 10, 2014.
In August 2013, it was disclosed that Remini had filed a missing person report with the Los Angeles Police Department concerning Shelly Miscavige, the wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige, who had not been seen in public since 2007. After the report was filed, the Los Angeles Police Department investigated the matter, met, and spoke with her before closing the investigation and stating Remini's report was "unfounded". The Church said in a statement that the whole affair was simply harassment and a publicity stunt for Remini.
In 2020 Remini & her production company, "No, Seriously Productions" signed a production deal with Critical Content and continues to create content that is both entertaining and continuing to speak truth to power.
Remini released her memoir Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology on November 3, 2015. In a 2015 interview with People magazine, Remini stated that she was embracing Catholicism and found comfort in the religion's practices, contrasting her experiences with Scientology.- Actor
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Benjamin Schiff Platt is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He began his acting career in musical theater as a child and appeared in productions of The Sound of Music (2006) and The Book of Mormon (2012-2015), rising to prominence for originating the title role in Broadway coming-of-age musical Dear Evan Hansen (2015-2017). His performance in the latter earned him multiple accolades, including a Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Award. At 23, Platt became the youngest solo recipient of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.- Born on March 9, 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts, Koslow's mother was a docent, and was raised with a strong love for colonial life along with her sister, Linda and her brother, Donald. Koslow was educated at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, graduating with a degree in theatre and costume design. Koslow signed on with a summer stock theater group in Virginia as a costume designer. She was also asked to audition for the role of Vera in the play "Ten Little Indians." Koslow soon put her costume designing talent aside to become a full-time actress, appearing in such regional productions as "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "Dial M for Murder". She then moved to Los Angeles to pursue a television career and landed various guest roles before scoring the role of the scheming Lindsay Wells on the hit CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless (1973) which she played from 1984-1986. She was then asked by the serial's creators William J. Bell and wife Lee Phillip Bell to become an original cast member on the duo's new sister soap The Bold and the Beautiful (1987) which debuted in the spring of 1987. She portrayed Eric Forrester's (played by John McCook) design assistant Margo Lynley from the serial's inception until 1992 when she left to begin a family. Through the early 1990s Koslow busied herself with guest starring roles in several prime time television series including Silk Stalkings (1991) and The Nanny (1993). However, she was lured back to daytime television in 1996 in order to replace actress Deborah Adair who left the NBC soap Days of Our Lives (1965) to, ironically, spend more time with her family. In the role of vindictive call girl turned corporate executive Kate Roberts, Koslow flourished on Days of Our Lives quickly becoming a woman fans 'love to hate'. The character is known for her wickedness and deception, specifically her ongoing war with fellow Salem resident Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney) and her rocky marriage with mogul Victor Kiriakis (John Aniston). In contrast to her reel life, in real life Koslow has been married to make-up artist Nicky Schillace since 1987. The couple resides on a ranch in Northridge, California in the San Fernando Valley with their 2 children and various animals.
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Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Joey Pollari started his acting career when he attended a scouting event in downtown Minneapolis. He received callbacks the next day from agents who wanted to represent him. Pollari took acting lessons from the Stagecoach Theatre Arts. Pollari has appeared in stage productions at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in Saint Paul, and the SteppingStone Theatre for Youth Development, also in Saint Paul. On April 30, 2006, Pollari appeared as a newsboy in "The Hen House", an episode of the police procedural television series Cold Case. The Walt Disney Company cast him in Skyrunners, a 2009 Disney XD Original Movie about two brothers who stumble upon a spaceship that is sought after by the FBI agents and space aliens. The film, which was shot in New Zealand, premiered on Disney XD on November 27, 2009. He was fifteen years old when it first aired. In 2010, he starred in the Disney film Avalon High (2010), with Britt Robertson and Gregg Sulkin. In 2012, Joey headlined MTV's series The Inbetweeners (2012), which took a comedic look at a group of teenagers navigating high school and charging into adulthood. The show, based on the hit UK series and movie of the same title, premiered August 2012. In 2016, Joey starred in the 2nd season of the ABC series, "American Crime," created by John Ridley ("12 Years A Slave"), as accused perpetrator Eric Tanner, for which he gained critical acclaim. Joey made his major film debut in the 2018 teen romance Love, Simon (2018), playing a friendly waiter, Lyle. Then, in 2019, he supported the indie feature "The Obituary of Tunde Johnson" directed by Ali LeRoi ("Everybody Hates Chris"). He has since gone onto release music under his own name with his debut album, "About Men," in 2019 for which he directed music videos.- Actress
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Jennifer Aniston was born in Sherman Oaks, California, to actors John Aniston and Nancy Dow. Her father was Greek, and her mother was of English, Irish, Scottish, and Italian descent. Jennifer spent a year of her childhood living in Greece with her family. Her family then relocated to New York City where her parents divorced when she was nine. Jennifer was raised by her mother and her father landed a role, as "Victor Kiriakis", on the daytime soap Days of Our Lives (1965). Jennifer had her first taste of acting at age 11 when she joined the Rudolf Steiner School's drama club. It was also at the Rudolf Steiner School that she developed her passion for art. She began her professional training as a drama student at New York's School of Performing Arts, aka the "Fame" school. It was a division of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and the Arts. In 1987, after graduation, she appeared in such Off-Broadway productions as "For Dear Life" and "Dancing on Checker's Grave". In 1990, she landed her first television role, as a series regular on Molloy (1990). She also appeared in The Edge (1992), Ferris Bueller (1990), and had a recurring part on Herman's Head (1991). By 1993, she was floundering. Then, in 1994, a pilot called "Friends Like These" came along. Originally asked to audition for the role of "Monica", Aniston refused and auditioned for the role of "Rachel Green", the suburban princess turned coffee peddler. With the success of the series Friends (1994), Jennifer has become famous and sought-after as she turns her fame into movie roles during the series hiatus.- Actress
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The native New Yorker was born Bonnie Bedelia Culkin on March 25, 1948, the daughter of Phillip Harley Culkin, a journalist, and Marian Ethel Wagner Culkin, a writer and editor. Trained in ballet, her parents guided all of the children at one time or another into acting (which included Kit Culkin, Terry Culkin and Candace Culkin). Bonnie herself attended Quintano School for Young Professionals in New York at one point and Bonnie and Kit went on to appear on the local stage and TV. Brother Kit would later be known more for siring a handful of talented child actors and/or stars (Macaulay Culkin, Kieran Culkin, and the rest).
It was Bonnie who was first spotted among the other acting siblings by a talent scout who happened to catch her in a school production of "Tom Sawyer", and encouraged her. She made her professional debut at age 9 in a 1957 North Jersey Playhouse production of "Dr. Praetorius" and then was handed a full scholarship to study at George Balanchine's New York City Ballet. But the acting bug had bitten and after dancing in only four productions (including playing the role of Clara in "The Nutcracker"), she decided to hang up her ballet slippers. She proceeded to study at both the HB Studio and Actors Studio in New York.
Bonnie nabbed a five-year role as young teen "Sandy Porter" in the New York-based daytime soap Love of Life (1951) starting in 1961. During that time, she took her first Broadway bow in "Isle of Children", a show that lasted but a week in March of 1962. She was also a replacement in the established hit comedy "Enter Laughing", a year later. After appearing in the stage play "The Playroom" in 1965, she earned strong reviews for her touching performance in "My Sweet Charlie", for which she won the 1967 Theatre World Award for "promising new artist". In it, she played a pregnant young Southern girl on the lam with a black lawyer. Patty Duke recreated the role a few years later on TV and captured an Emmy.
Films beckoned at this point and Bonnie made her debut lending topnotch support in The Gypsy Moths (1969) which reunited From Here to Eternity (1953) stars Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr. She earned even better marks in her next two films, one performance simply haunting and the other one hilarious. Once again playing pregnant and once again delivering a touching pathos, she played the dirt-poor marathon dancer who pitches songs for pennies and the almost-mother of Bruce Dern's child in the superb, award-winning, Depression-era drama They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969). On the other end of the acting spectrum, she played the lovable bride-to-be in the side-splitting comedy classic Lovers and Other Strangers (1970).
By this time, Bonnie had started concentrating on family values. She married scriptwriter Ken Luber on April 24, 1969, and bore him a son, Yuri, the following year. The time off to focus on motherhood (she had second son, Jonah Luber, in 1976) proved detrimental to her rising star. The remaining decade was uneventful at best, despite some fine showings in a splattering of TV-movies. Her big comeback came again on the movie trail in the early 1980s when she absolutely nailed the role of race car driver Shirley Muldowney in Heart Like a Wheel (1983). She was surprisingly overlooked at Oscar time, however, despite the praise she received. Despite respected work in subsequent movies such as Violets Are Blue... (1986), The Prince of Pennsylvania (1988), Presumed Innocent (1990) and a running role as Bruce Willis's put-upon wife in Die Hard (1988) and its sequel, she found better and more frequent parts on TV. She found her niche in TV-movies with social themes and tugged at more hearts in Switched at Birth (1991), A Mother's Right: The Elizabeth Morgan Story (1992), Any Mother's Son (1997) and To Live Again (1998).
In a change of pace, Bonnie joined the ensemble cast of the low-budget cult comedy Sordid Lives (2000), as "Latrelle", a homophobic woman dealing with her mother's death, the imprisonment of her gay brother and her own son's "coming out". The movie evolved into the TV series Sordid Lives: The Series (2008) which reunited her with original cast members Leslie Jordan and Olivia Newton-John. She repeated her role again in still another film -- A Very Sordid Wedding (2017).
More recent independent movie credits include Berkeley (2005), Her Secret Sessions (2016), The Scent of Rain & Lightning (2017), A Stone in the Water (2019). She also managed a few regular TV series roles: The Division (2001) as a police captain, and Parenthood (2010) as a family matriarch opposite Craig T. Nelson.
Divorced from the father of her two children, she is presently married to third husband (or fourth, depending on your source of reference) actor Michael MacRae, whom she married in 1995.- Actor
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Shawn can most recently be seen in Magnum PI on CBS and Chicago Med on NBC. Prior to that, he was featured in ABC's The Rookie and recurred in Freeform's Famous In Love starring Bella Thorne. He co-created and starred in the film Love In The Sun for Hallmark. He also stars in the film Savannah Surprise on Netflix and the independent feature Last Seen In Idaho.- Actor
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Matthew Staton Bomer was born in Webster Groves, Greater St. Louis, Missouri, to Elizabeth Macy (Staton) and John O'Neill Bomer IV, a Dallas Cowboys draft pick. Matt was raised in Spring, Texas, and educated at Klein High School, near Houston. After school, he attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Bomer then relocated to New York to forge a career in acting.
Theater work followed, but his television break came with a small part in All My Children (1970). This lead to a reoccurring role in Guiding Light (1952) as murderous Ben Reade. Further success in TV followed including parts in Tru Calling (2003), Chuck (2007) and the lead role in Traveler (2007). Bomer also scored film roles in projects such as Flightplan (2005) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006). In 2009, he was cast in the lead role of criminal mastermind Neal Caffrey in Fox's White Collar (2009).- Actress
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Connie Britton began playing country music fading sensation Rayna Jaymes in Nashville (2012) after having wrapped production for the five season long Friday Night Lights (2006) alongside Kyle Chandler. She previously appeared in Universal's Friday Night Lights (2004) -the movie- directed by Peter Berg and also starring Billy Bob Thornton; and Edward Burns' independent feature Looking for Kitty (2004).
Britton was born Constance Elaine Womack in Boston, Massachusetts, to Linda Jane (Cochran) and Edgar Allen Womack, Jr., a physicist and energy company executive. She is of Irish, German, and English descent.
Britton received accolades for her starring roles in Edward Burns' acclaimed independent films The Brothers McMullen (1995) and No Looking Back (1998). In the former, she captivated moviegoers with her portrayal of "Molly", the luminous wife of a cheating husband. This popular low-budget film went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. After nearly canceling her audition with director Edward Burns, this last meeting of the day turned into the role that would launch her career. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Britton moved to Lynchburg, Virginia, at the age of seven with her family, including her fraternal twin sister. She went on to attend Dartmouth College, where she majored in Asian studies and spent a term in Beijing, China. Upon graduation, she moved to New York, where she spent two years at the Neighborhood Playhouse studying with Sanford Meisner, and an additional two years performing in regional theater and off-Broadway productions. She moved to Los Angeles after the success of The Brothers McMullen (1995).
She starred in ABC's Lost at Home (2003) opposite Mitch Rouse and Gregory Hines. Her other television credits include The Fighting Fitzgeralds (2001) opposite Brian Dennehy, a recurring role in the highly-acclaimed drama The West Wing (1999) and a starring role in the award-winning comedy Spin City (1996) opposite Michael J. Fox. Additionally, Britton starred in the recent feature films The Next Big Thing (2001) and One Eyed King (2001).
In her free time, Britton, who resides in both New York and Los Angeles, enjoys hiking, yoga, and doing volunteer work.- Actor
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Known for his breakthrough starring role on Freaks and Geeks (1999), James Franco was born April 19, 1978 in Palo Alto, California, to Betsy Franco, a writer, artist, and actress, and Douglas Eugene "Doug" Franco, who ran a Silicon Valley business. His mother is Jewish and his father was of Portuguese and Swedish descent.
Growing up with his two younger brothers, Dave Franco, also an actor, and Tom Franco, James graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1996 and went on to attend UCLA, majoring in English. To overcome his shyness, he got into acting while studying there, which, much to his parents' dismay, he left after only one year. After fifteen months of intensive study at Robert Carnegie's Playhouse West, James began actively pursuing his dream of finding work as an actor in Hollywood. In that short time, he landed himself a starring role on Freaks and Geeks (1999). The show, however, was not a hit to its viewers at the time, and was canceled after its first year. Now, it has become a cult-hit. Prior to joining Freaks and Geeks (1999), Franco starred in the TV miniseries To Serve and Protect (1999). After that, he had a starring role in Whatever It Takes (2000).
Although he'd been working steadily, it wasn't until the TNT made-for-television movie, James Dean (2001) that James rose to fan-magazine fame and got to show off his talent. Since then, he has been working non-stop. After losing the lead role to Tobey Maguire, James settled for the part of "Harry Osborne", Spider-Man's best friend in the summer 2002 major hit Spider-Man (2002). He returned to the Osborne role for the next two films in the trilogy.
Next was Deuces Wild (2002) and City by the Sea (2002), in which Robert De Niro personally had him cast, after viewing his performance in James Dean (2001). He was seen in David Gordon Green's Pineapple Express (2008) opposite Seth Rogen, in George C. Wolfe's Nights in Rodanthe (2008), starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane and in Paul Haggis' In the Valley of Elah (2007), starring Tommy Lee Jones. Also starring opposite Sean Penn in Gus Van Sant's Milk (2008) in which his performance earned him an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor. Definitely growing out of his shyness, James Franco is turning into a legend of his own.- Producer
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- Additional Crew
Michael Carbonaro was born on 28 April 1976 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for Another Gay Movie (2006), God Bless America (2011) and All My Children (1970). He has been married to Peter Stickles since 2014.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Kristin Lee Davis was born on February 23, 1965 in Boulder, Colorado. An only child, her parents divorced when she was a baby. She was adopted by her stepfather, psychology professor Keith Davis, after he married her mother, Dorothy, a university data analyst, in 1968. Early in her childhood, Kristin and her parents moved to Columbia, South Carolina, where her stepfather was transferred to a university. She lived in South Carolina until she graduated high school in 1983. She then moved to New Jersey, where she attended Rutgers University. After graduation, she moved to New York and waited tables before opening a yoga studio with a friend. In 1995, she got her big break when she landed the role of Brooke Armstrong Campbell on Melrose Place (1992). She left the show after one year when producers found that audience members hated her bitchy character. In 1998, Kristin was cast as Charlotte York in Sex and the City (1998), of which she remained an integral cast member until the series ended in 2004. Kristin Davis resides in Los Angeles.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Ellen Kathleen Pompeo was born in Everett, Massachusetts, to Kathleen B. (O'Keefe) and Joseph E. Pompeo, a salesman. She is of Italian (from her paternal grandfather), Irish, and some English, ancestry.
Pompeo made her major studio screen debut in Brad Silberling's Moonlight Mile (2002), starring alongside Susan Sarandon, Dustin Hoffman, and Jake Gyllenhaal. She received outstanding reviews for her portrayal of an outspoken young woman carrying a silent burden that's breaking her heart.
Pompeo starred opposite Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Will Ferrell in the wildly successful Old School (2003) and, before that, in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can (2002), opposite Leonardo DiCaprio.
Pompeo has starred in several independent features, including In the Weeds (2000), Coming Soon (1999), and Life of the Party (2005). Since 2005, she has played Dr. Meredith Grey on the television series Grey's Anatomy (2005).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Lea Michele Sarfati was born in the Bronx, New York to Edith Thomasina (Porcelli), a nurse, and Mark David Sarfati, a delicatessen owner-turned-real estate agent. Her mother is of Italian descent (from Rome and Naples), and her father is of Sephardi Jewish ancestry (from Turkey and Greece). Lea was raised Catholic in Tenafly, New Jersey and graduated from Tenafly High School.
At age eight, Lea went with a friend to an open casting call for an up-and-coming musical. After spontaneously deciding to audition, she was offered the role and, two weeks later, she was starring on Broadway. She made her Broadway debut in 1995 as a replacement for the role of Young Cosette in "Les Misérables". She was then cast in the role of Tateh's daughter, the Little Girl, in the 1998 original Broadway cast of "Ragtime", and in 2004 she portrayed Shprintze and understudied the role of Chava in the Broadway revival of the musical "Fiddler on the Roof".
When she was 14, Lea was given the role of Wendla Bergmann in Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's musical version of "Spring Awakening". She starred in early workshops, off-Broadway, and finally originated the role in the Broadway production at age 20. Around the same time that the show was set to go to Broadway, Lea was offered the role of Éponine Thénardier in the Broadway revival of "Les Misérables". She chose to remain with "Spring Awakening", which debuted on Broadway in December 2006. She was later nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. After two years of starring in "Spring Awakening", Lea left the show with co-star Jonathan Groff, to pursue other opportunities.
In late 2008, Lea won the role of Rachel Berry on the comedy-drama series Glee (2009), and since the show's premiere on May 19, 2009, has received worldwide critical acclaim for her performance. She received the 2009 Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Series - Comedy or Musical, and later won three People's Choice Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Along with her award wins, Lea also received Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominations.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Max and his twin brother, Charlie, were first discovered by a talent agent while shopping together in Los Angeles. Within weeks of being spotted, the two made their professional acting debuts as series regulars on the hit ABC series Desperate Housewives. Max has since appeared in multiple series and films including The Leftovers, Teen Wolf and The Office.- Victoria Konefal is an American actress. She was born on October 29, 1996 in Brooklyn, New York. As one of three children, Victoria went on to attend the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in Upper West Side, New York, NY. After she graduated she moved to Los Angeles and landed her breakout role as "Ciara Brady" on Days of Our Lives, which led to her first Daytime Emmy Nomination for "Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series."
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Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946 in Pittman Center, Tennessee and raised in Sevierville, Tennessee to Avie Lee Parton, a housewife & Robert Lee Parton, a tobacco farmer. At 12, she was appearing on Knoxville TV and at 13, she was already recording on a small label and appearing at the Grand Ole Opry. After graduating from high school in 1964, she moved to Nashville to launch her country-singing career. She fell in love with Carl Dean, who ran an asphalt-paving business; they married on May 30, 1966 and are still together. In 1967 her singing caught the attention of Porter Wagoner, who hired her to appear on his program, The Porter Wagoner Show (1961). She stayed with the show for 7 years, their duets became famous, and she appeared with his group at the Grand Ole Opry; she also toured and sold records. By the time her hit "Joshua" reached #1 in 1970, her fame had overshadowed his, and she struck out on her own, though still recording duets with him. She left him for good to become a solo artist in 1974. Dolly gained immense popularity as a singer/songwriter. Dolly won numerous Country Music Association awards (1968, 1970, 1971, 1975, 1976). This petite (5'0") beauty was a natural for television, and by the mid-1970s she was appearing frequently on TV specials and talk shows before getting her own, Dolly (1976). In 1977, Dolly got her first Grammy award: Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her song "Here You Come Again." Dolly's movie debut was in 9 to 5 (1980), where she got an Oscar nomination for writing the title tune, and also Grammy awards 2 and 3: Best Country Song, and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for the song "Nine to Five." She got more fame for appearing in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), and in Rhinestone (1984) with the song "Tennessee Homesick Blues". She is the head of Dolly Parton Enterprises, a $100 million media empire, and in 1986 she founded Dollywood, a theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, celebrating her Smoky-Mountain upbringing. She appeared as herself in the Dolly (1987) TV series. In 1988, she won another Grammy: Best Country Performance Duo or Group with Vocals, for "Trio". Dolly was in the acclaimed picture Steel Magnolias (1989) with Julia Roberts, and went on to appear in 15 movies and TV-movies for the 1990s, and garnered more more Country Music Association awards. In 2000, Dolly received her 5th Grammy award: Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. She also released a Bluegrass Album. Dolly is known for beautiful songs such as "Coat of Many Colors," "Jolene," and "I Will Always Love You". Dolly said in an interview, "My music is what took me everywhere I've been and everywhere I will go. It's my greatest love. I can't abandon it. I'll always keep making records."- Actor
- Producer
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Ted Danson is well known for his role as Sam Malone in the television series Cheers (1982). During the show's 11-year run, he was nominated nine times for an Emmy Award as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and won twice, in 1990 and 1993. The role also earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 1989 and 1990. He and his wife, actress Mary Steenburgen, starred in and were executive producers of the CBS comedy series Ink (1996).
Edward Bridge "Ted" Danson III was born in San Diego, California, to Jessica Harriet (MacMaster) and Edward Bridge Danson, Jr., who was an archaeologist and museum director. He has English, Scottish, and German ancestry. He was raised just outside Flagstaff, Ariz. Danson attended Stanford University, where he became interested in drama during his second year. In 1972, he transferred to Carnegie-Mellon University (formerly Carnegie Tech) in Pittsburgh. After graduation, he was hired as an understudy in Tom Stoppard's Off Broadway production of "The Real Inspector Hound." Danson moved to Los Angeles in 1978 and studied with Dan Fauci at the Actor's Institute, where he also taught classes. Danson lives with his family in Los Angeles. He is a founding member of the American Oceans Campaign (AOC), an organization established to alert Americans to the life-threatening hazards created by oil spills, offshore development, toxic wastes, sewage pollution and other ocean abuses.
In 1984, Danson received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in the television movie Something About Amelia (1984), in which he starred opposite Glenn Close. He also starred opposite Lee Remick in The Women's Room (1980). In 1986, he made his debut as a television producer with When the Bough Breaks (1986), in which he also starred. He later starred in the mini-series Gulliver's Travels (1996) and Thanks of a Grateful Nation (1998). Danson's numerous feature film credits include The Onion Field (1979), in which he made his debut as Officer Ian Campbell, Body Heat (1981), Three Men and a Baby (1987), Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), Cousins (1989), Dad (1989), Made in America (1993), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Mumford (1999), and Jerry and Tom (1998).- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Sherri Saum was born on 1 October 1974 in Dayton, Ohio, USA. She is an actress and director, known for Sunset Beach (1997), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) and Finding Home (2003).- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Lily Rabe was born in New York, New York, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Miss Stevens (2016), No Reservations (2007) and Fractured (2019).- Anna Holbrook was born on 18 April 1957 in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA. She is an actress, known for Another World (1964) and Law & Order (1990). She has been married to John Bruce Holbrook since 9 June 1979. They have two children.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Charles Esten was born on 9 September 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for The Postman (1997), Nashville (2012) and Swing Vote (2008). He has been married to Patty Esten since 2 November 1991. They have three children.- Born and raised in Stuart, Florida, Godfrey started acting in high school and was quickly signed up by a talent agency. In 2005, she moved to Los Angeles to try her luck auditioning. One of her first parts was a recurring role on the TV show Surface (2005). Godfrey's career came to a sudden halt when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2006. While cancer treatment was eventually successful, the therapy lasted seven months. Afterwards Godfrey returned to L.A. and scored guest roles on such shows like Cold Case (2003) and CSI: Miami (2002). Her big break didn't come until 2012 though when she scored the prestigious role of Caroline Spencer on the daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful (1987). Tragedy struck again as the actress was injured in an automobile accident on February 2, 2015, after being struck by a moving car while walking on the sidewalk in Los Angeles. The real-life events were later incorporated into the series as her character experienced the same accident (off-screen). From 2013 to 2015 Godrey was in a relationship with and engaged to fellow actor Robert Adamson who plays Noah Newman on sister-show The Young and the Restless (1973). They share a daughter, born in 2014.
- Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the first incarnation of "In the Heights" his sophomore year at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Off-Broadway, "In The Heights" received nine Drama Desk nominations, including best music, best lyrics, and it won the award for outstanding ensemble performance; received the Lucille Lortel Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for best musical; received the Obie Award for outstanding music and lyrics; received a Theater World Award for outstanding debut Performance and the Clarence Derwent Award both for Mr. Miranda's performance. He is the recipient of the 2007 ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award. He has appeared on The Sopranos (1999) and Sex and the City (1998), House (2004), and The Electric Company (2006). He is also a co-founding member of Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip-hop comedy group that tours comedy festivals all over the world.- Casting Director
- Casting Department
- Executive
Eric Dawson was born on 10 June 1962 in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. He is a casting director and executive, known for Monster (2022), American Horror Story (2011) and Feud (2017). He has been married to Roxann Dawson since May 1994. They have two children.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Laura Leggett Linney was born in New York City on February 5, 1964, into a theatre family. Her father was prominent playwright Romulus Linney, whose own great-grandfather was a congressman from North Carolina. Her mother, Miriam Anderson (Leggett), is a nurse. Although she did not live in her father's house (her parents having divorced when she was an infant), Linney's world revolved, in part, around his profession from the earliest age. She graduated from Brown University in 1986 and studied acting at Juilliard and the Arts Theatre School in Moscow and, thereafter, embarked on a career on the Broadway stage receiving favorable notices for her work in such plays as "Hedda Gabler" and "Six Degrees of Separation".
Linney's film career began in the early 1990s with small roles in Lorenzo's Oil (1992) and Dave (1993). She landed the role of Mary Anne Singleton in the PBS film adaptations of Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City" series, playing her in Tales of the City (1993), More Tales of the City (1998) and Further Tales of the City (2001). Linney's first substantial big-screen role was as the ex-girlfriend of Richard Gere's character in Primal Fear (1996) and her superb performance brought her praise and a better selection of roles. Clint Eastwood chose Linney to play his daughter, another prominent role, in 1997's Absolute Power (1997), followed by another second billing in the following year's The Truman Show (1998).
Always a strong performer, Linney truly came into her own after 2000, starting the decade auspiciously with her widely-praised, arguably flawless performance in You Can Count on Me (2000). She found herself nominated for an Academy Award for this, her first lead role, for which her salary had been $10,000. Linney won numerous critics' awards for her role as Sammy, a single mother whose life is complicated by a new boss and the arrival in town of her aimless brother. On the heels of this success came her marvelous turn as Bertha Dorset in The House of Mirth (2000), clearly the best performance in a film of strong performances. Since then, Linney has frequently been offered challenging dramatic roles, and always rises to the occasion, such as in Mystic River (2003) and Kinsey (2004), for which she received another Academy Award nomination.- Actress
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Fionnula Flanagan was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. From an early age she grew up speaking both English and Irish on a daily basis. Her parents weren't native Irish speakers but wanted Fionnula and her four siblings to learn the language. Her mother used to say, "A nation without a language is a nation without a soul". Fionnula has said she will be forever grateful to them for that. She was educated at the Abbey Theatre School in Dublin and in Switzerland. She moved to Los Angeles in 1968 and lives with her husband, psychiatrist Dr. Garrett O'Connor, in Beverly Hills. Of her enormous body of work, including stage, television and film, she might be most well-known for James Joyce's Women (1985), in which she plays six different women who had a profound influence on James Joyce's life. Besides giving an award-winning performance, she also wrote, adapted and produced the piece for the stage, and subsequently as a feature film. She believes Joyce is the most important writer in the English language, most notably for "Ulysses", "Finnegan's Wake" and "The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man". When she was growing up she thought the much lauded author was a good friend of her parents, because they were always saying, "Joyce said this, Joyce said that". When she was finally old enough to read Joyce for herself, the characters were like old friends.- Actress
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- Writer
The entertainment world has enjoyed a six-decade love affair with comedienne/singer Carol Burnett. A peerless sketch performer and delightful, self-effacing personality who rightfully succeeded Lucille Ball as the carrot-topped "Queen of Television Comedy," it was Burnett's traumatic childhood that set the stage for her comedy.
Carol's rags-to-riches story started out in San Antonio, Texas, on April 26, 1933, where she was born to Ina Louise (Creighton) and Joseph Thomas "Jodie" Burnett, both of whom suffered from acute alcoholism. As a child, she was left in the care of a beloved grandmother, who shuttled the two of them off to Hollywood, California, where they lived in a boarding house and shared a great passion for the Golden Age of movies. The plaintive, loose-limbed, highly sensitive Carol survived her wallflower insecurities by grabbing attention as a cut-up at Hollywood High School. A natural talent, she attended the University of California and switched majors from journalism to theater. Scouting out comedy parts on TV and in the theater, she first had them rolling in the aisles in the mid-1950s performing a lovelorn novelty song called "I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles" (then Secretary of State) in a nightclub act. This led to night-time variety show appearances with Jack Paar and Ed Sullivan and where the career ball really started rolling.
Carol's first big TV breaks came at age 22 and 23 as a foil to a ventriloquist's dummy on the already-established The Paul Winchell Show (1950) in 1955, and as Buddy Hackett's gawky girlfriend on the short-lived sitcom Stanley (1956). She also developed an affinity for game shows and appeared as a regular on one of TV earliest, Stump the Stars (1947) in 1958. While TV would bring Carol fans by the millions, it was Broadway that set her on the road to stardom. She began as the woebegone Princess Winnifred in the 1959 Broadway musical "Once Upon a Mattress" which earned her first Tony Award nomination. [She would later appear in three TV adaptations - Once Upon a Mattress (1964), Once Upon a Mattress (1972) and Once Upon a Mattress (2005).] This, in turn, led to the first of an armful of Emmy Awards as a repertoire player on the popular variety series The Garry Moore Show (1958) in 1959. Burnett invented a number of scene-stealing characters during this time, most notably her charwoman character. With the phenomenal household success of the Moore show, she moved up quickly from second banana to headliner and appeared in a 1962 Emmy-winning special Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962) co-starring close friend Julie Andrews. She earned the Outer Critics Circle Award for the short-lived musical "Fade Out, Fade In" (1964); and made her official film debut opposite Bewitched (1964) star Elizabeth Montgomery and Dean Martin in the lightweight comedy Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963).
Not surprisingly, fellow redhead Lucille Ball, who had been Carol's treasured idol growing up, subsequently became a friend and mentor to the rising funny girl. Hilarious as a guest star on The Lucy Show (1962), Carol appeared as a painfully shy (natch) wallflower type who suddenly blooms in jaw-dropping fashion. Ms. Ball was so convinced of Carol's talent that she offered Carol her own Desilu-produced sitcom, but Burnett had her heart set on fronting a variety show. With her own team of second bananas, including character crony Harvey Korman, handsome foil Lyle Waggoner, and lookalike "kid sister" type Vicki Lawrence, the The Carol Burnett Show (1967) became an instant sensation, and earned 22 Emmy Awards during its 11-year run. It allowed Carol to fire off her wide range of comedy and musical ammunition--whether running amok in broad sketch comedy, parodying movie icons such as Gloria Swanson, Shirley Temple, Vivien Leigh or Joan Crawford, or singing/gushing alongside favorite vocalists Jim Nabors, Steve Lawrence, Peggy Lee, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Tormé. She managed to bring in huge stars not known at all for slapstick comedy, including Rock Hudson and even then-Governor Ronald Reagan while providing a platform for such up-and-coming talent as Bernadette Peters and The Pointer Sisters In between, Carol branched out with supporting turns in the films Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), The Front Page (1974) and Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978).
Her program, whose last episode aired in March of 1978, was the last truly successful major network variety show to date. Carol took on new challenges to display her unseen dramatic mettle, and accomplished this amazingly in TV-movie showcases. She earned an Emmy nomination for her gripping portrayal of anti-Vietnam War activist Peg Mullen in Friendly Fire (1979), and convincingly played a woman coming to terms with her alcoholism in Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice (1982). Neither character bore any traces of the usual Burnett comedy shtick. Though she proved she could contain herself for films, Carol was never able to acquire crossover success into movies, despite trouper work in The Four Seasons (1981), Annie (1982) (as the hammy villainess Miss Hannigan), and Noises Off... (1992). The last two roles had been created onstage by Broadway's Dorothy Loudon.
Carol would return from time to time to the stage and concert forums with productions of "Plaza Suite", "I Do! I Do", "Follies", "Company" and "Putting It Together". A second Tony nomination came for her comedy work in "Moon Over Buffalo" in 1995. Carol has made frequent appearances on her own favorite TV shows too, such as Password (1961) (along with Elizabeth Montgomery, Carol was considered one of the show's best players) and the daytime soaper, All My Children (1970).
During the early 1990s, Carol attempted a TV comeback of sorts, with a couple of new variety formats in Carol & Company (1990) and The Carol Burnett Show (1991), but neither could recreate the magic of the original. She has appeared, sporadically, on various established shows such as "Magnum, P.I.," "Touched by an Angel," "Mad About You" (for which she won an Emmy), "Desperate Housewives," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Emmy nomination), "Hawaii Five-0," "Glee" and "Hot in Cleveland." Befitting such a classy clown, she has received a multitude of awards over time, including the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1985. Her personal life has been valiant--tears in between the laughs. Married three times, her second union with jazz-musician-turned-variety-show-producer Joe Hamilton produced three daughters. Eldest girl, Carrie Hamilton, an actress and former teen substance abuser, tragically died of lung and brain cancer at age 38. Shortly before Carrie's death, mother and daughter managed to write a play, together, entitled "Hollywood Arms", based on Carol's 1986 memoir, "One More Time". The show subsequently made it to Broadway.
Today, at age 80 plus, Carol has been seen less frequently but still continues to make appearances, especially on TV. Most recently she has guested on the shows "Glee," "Hot in Cleveland" and the revivals of "Hawaii Five-0" and "Mad About You." As always she signs off a live appearance with her signature ear tug (acknowledging her late grandmother), reminding us all, between the wisecracks and the songs, how glad and lucky we all are to still have some of "this time together".- Actor
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Jesse Wesley Williams born August 5, 1981 is a former high school teacher and activist turned actor/director. He's best known for his role as Dr. Jackson Avery on the ABC Television series Grey's Anatomy and his advocacy for the disenfranchised, highlighted by his internationally resonant acceptance speech for his 2016 BET Humanitarian Award. He also appears in the hit 2013 film Lee Daniels' The Butler as real life civil rights leader Rev. James Lawson. Previous roles include Holden in The Cabin in the Woods (2012), Officer Eddie Quinlan in Brooklyn's Finest (2009), as Leo, Lena's boyfriend, in the film sequel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008) and as Isaac "Ike" Singer in Jacob's Ladder (2019).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Dean Butler was born on May 20, 1956 in Prince George, BC, Canada. He is a producer and actor best known to audiences for his portrayal of Almanzo Wilder from 1979 to 1983 on the iconic pioneer drama, Little House on the Prairie. He co-starred in the feature film, Desert Hearts, played Moondoggie in the syndicated The New Gidget, and Buffy's dad, Hank Summers, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. On Broadway Dean played Rapunzal's Prince in the original company of Into the Woods, toured internationally as Tony in West Side Story, and appeared with Carol Burnett in a regional production of Company.
Since 2011 Dean has been the Senior Producer of the Emmy nominated Feherty series on Golf Channel. He lives in Los Angeles and is married to actress, Katherine Cannon.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Annie Potts is an American film, television, and stage actress. She is known for her roles in popular 1980s films such as Ghostbusters (1984) and Pretty in Pink (1986). She made her debut on the big screen in 1978 in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer comedy film Corvette Summer (1978), with Mark Hamill, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. In 2017 she was cast to portray Meemaw in Young Sheldon (2017), a spin-off of the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2007). Potts also voiced voiced Bo Peep in the animated films Toy Story (1995), Toy Story 2 (1999) and Toy Story 4 (2019).
Interested in stage and film at an early age, Annie Potts attended Stephens College in Missouri, enrolling in the theater studies course, followed by graduate work in California. At the age of 20, she married her college sweetheart, Steven Hartley. Only a short time later, she and her husband were in serious automobile accident in Sumner, Washington -- their Volkswagen bus was demolished by two drivers who were drag racing. Steve lost a leg, and Annie had multiple fractures (resulting in a traumatic arthritis that still persists). Early roles were primarily in television, such as Black Market Baby (1977), but her presence moved up with an appearance in the mega-hit Ghostbusters (1984), and then she hit the big time with a seven-year stint as one of the stars of Designing Women (1986). A brief period in Love & War (1992) ended with the cancellation of the show, about which she remains resentful.- Actress
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Danielle Christine Fishel was born on May 5, 1981, in Mesa, Arizona. She began acting professionally at the age of ten, during which she made many TV guest appearances and commercials. She was originally a guest star on the show Boy Meets World (1993), but Danielle added a spark that the show needed and she became a regular cast member shortly afterward. She played Topanga Lawrence on the show, the girlfriend of Cory Matthews. The show brought Danielle much attention even landing her face on the cover of "Seventeen" magazine. She was voted as one of Teen People's magazine hottest stars under the age of 21. She graduated from high school in 1999.
In 2014, fourteen years after the conclusion of "Boy," she reprised her role as Topanga, now the wife of Cory Matthews, in the show Girl Meets World (2014).- Actor
- Music Department
- Composer
Chris Salvatore grew up in Richboro, Pennsylvania, a small town outside Philadelphia. He started his career in entertainment as a singer/songwriter. In 2005 he studied vocal performance at Berklee College of Music in Boston. His music has been featured on MTV and is available in online music stores including iTunes. Chris graduated from The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts in 2008 where he studied acting. He starred in the romantic comedy 'Eating Out: All You Can Eat' directed by Q. Allan Brocka in 2009. Chris then went on to star in two more 'Eating Out' sequels adding to the franchise that premiered on the LOGO Network. Chris's latest project was his debut in the New York theatre scene in the new original play, Pieces. Pieces captured rave reviews from NY audiences following it's sold out run in Los Angeles.- Ricardo Chavira was born on 1 September 1971 in San Antonio, Texas, USA. He is an actor, known for Desperate Housewives (2004), Piranha 3D (2010) and Dead Space 3 (2013). He has been married to Marcea Dietzel since 22 September 2007. They have two children.
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- Cinematographer
Ethan Embry was born Ethan Philan Randall on June 13, 1978, in Huntington Beach, California, to Karen and Charles Randall. Before he started acting in movies, Ethan appeared in more than 100 TV and radio commercials. In 1991, at the age of 13, he appeared in three films and has continued acting ever since. On average, Ethan released or filmed at least two films per year, which continued up until 1999, when he filmed about five films.
Ethan spent most of his childhood in Southern California growing up with his older brother, Aaron (said to be one of the best musicians in LA), and his little sister, Kessia. In 1998, he bought a home of his own.
In the fall of 1999, Ethan co-starred as Sebastian in the short-lived CBS sitcom Work with Me (1999). Sadly, due to a lack of ratings, the show ended after only four episodes. 1999, however, did bring a happy event; Ethan's then-wife, Amelinda Smith, gave birth to their first child, whom they named Cogeian, after the Latin word "cogeo," which means "to think over."
In the fall of 2000, Ethan starred as Derek Barnes in FreakyLinks (2000) on FOX. Thirteen episodes were shot, but the series was soon canceled after its debut. Later success includes a role as Detective Frank Smith on Dick Wolf's remake of the classic series Dragnet (2003), a part in the recent cult classic Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), and a guest-starring role in the series Numb3rs (2005).
He has been married to actresses Amelinda Smith, with whom he has one child, and Sunny Mabrey.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Bradley Charles Cooper was born on January 5, 1975 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother, Gloria (Campano), is of Italian descent, and worked for a local NBC station. His father, Charles John Cooper, who was of Irish descent, was a stockbroker. Immediately after Bradley graduated from the Honors English program at Georgetown University in 1997, he moved to New York City to enroll in the Masters of Fine Arts program at the Actors Studio Drama School at New School University. There, he developed his stage work, culminating with his thesis performance as John Merrick in Bernard Pomerance's "The Elephant Man", performed in New York's Circle in the Square.
While still in school, Bradley began his professional career, appearing opposite Sarah Jessica Parker on Sex and the City (1998) and on the drama series The Beat (2000). His weekends were spent with LEAP (Learning through the Expanded Arts Program), a non-profit organization that teaches acting and movement to inner city school children. The summers took him all across the globe, from kayaking in British Columbia with Orca Whales to ice-climbing in the Peruvian Andes, while hosting Lonely Planet's Treks in a Wild World (2000) for the Discovery Channel. Bradley had to miss his graduation ceremony from the Actors Studio in order to star in his first feature Wet Hot American Summer (2001). After finishing his second feature Bending All the Rules (2002), his plans to relocate to Los Angeles were delayed when Darren Star hired him to star on the drama series The $treet (2000).
Bradley went on to win the role of young law student Gordon Pinella in Changing Lanes (2002), starring Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson, and also played Travis Paterson in My Little Eye (2002). He finally decided that it was time to forgo his other New York projects and move to Los Angeles when he was cast on Alias (2001). After supporting roles in Wedding Crashers (2005), Failure to Launch (2006), The Comebacks (2007), The Rocker (2008) and Yes Man (2008), Cooper broke out with major roles in He's Just Not That Into You (2009), The Hangover (2009) and Valentine's Day (2010). He co-starred in the action film The A-Team (2010) and headlined the thriller film Limitless (2011).
Cooper received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor after starring opposite Jennifer Lawrence in David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook (2012). He then received two more consecutive Oscar nominations, Best Supporting Actor for playing Richie DiMaso in Russell's American Hustle (2013) (again opposite Lawrence, though their characters shared no significant screen time), and Best Actor for playing Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in Clint Eastwood's American Sniper (2014), the highest grossing film of 2014. During this time period, Cooper also reprised his role in The Hangover Part II (2011) and The Hangover Part III (2013), turned in another strong dramatic turn in The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), and voiced Rocket Raccoon in the third highest grossing film of 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).
In 2015, Bradley headlined two comedies, Cameron Crowe's Aloha (2015), set in Hawaii, and John Wells' Burnt (2015), set in London, and starred opposite Jennifer Lawrence again in David O. Russell's Joy (2015).
Bradley has a daughter (born 2017) with his former partner, model Irina Shayk.- Actress
- Music Department
- Producer
Idina Menzel was born on May 30, 1971 in New York City, New York as Idina Kim Mentzel. She's an American actress, singer & songwriter. She's best known as Maureen in Rent, Elphaba in Wicked & the voice of Elsa in Frozen (2013). Her mother Helene Goldberg was a therapist & her father Stuart Mentzel was a pajama salesman. Her grandparents emigrated to the U.S. from Russia. She grew up in New Jersey & on Long Island. At 15, she started to work as a wedding & bar mitzvah singer. She attended Syosset High School & graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts w/ a degree in drama in 1992.
In 1996, she debuted in theater, originating the role of Maureen in Rent, which went from Off-Broadway to Broadway. This role also got Menzel her 1st Tony nomination. In 1998, she released her 1st album Still I Can't Be Still. She made her movie debut in 2001 when she played a minor role in Kissing Jessica Stein (2001). In 2003, she became 1 of the most popular Broadway performers when she originated the role of Elphaba in Wicked. This role brought her not only huge popularity & acclaim, but also a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical.
In 2005, she appeared in the Off-Broadway musical See What I Wanna See, earning Drama Desk Award & Drama League Award nominations. The same year, she reprised the role of Maureen in the movie adaptation of Rent (2005). In 2007, she appeared in Enchanted (2007). In 2013, she received another Tony nomination for her performance in If/Then. She voiced Elsa for the 1st time in Frozen (2013), a role she often reprises for sequels & tie-ins. In addition to theater, movie & TV appearances, she regularly releases new music & goes on tour.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Equally at home on stage and on screen, award-winning actress Loretta Devine has created some of the most memorable roles in theatre, film and television.
Devine first captured national attention in the role of Lorrell, one of the three original "Dreamgirls" in Michael Bennett's classic award-winning Broadway musical of the same name. She followed that performance with a fiery portrayal of Lillian in Bob Fosse's critically acclaimed stage production "Big Deal." Subsequent work in George C. Wolfe's "Colored Museum" and "Lady Day at Emerson Bar and Grill," cemented Devine's status as one of the most talented and versatile stage actresses.
Film roles soon followed including a poignant turn as a single mother opposite Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett and Gregory Hines in Waiting to Exhale (1995) which earned Devine her first NAACP Image Award for 'Best Supporting Actress.' Devine also won an NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Penny Marshall's The Preacher's Wife (1996). Devine received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress for her work in "Women Thou Art Loosed." Devine was featured in the Academy Award-winning film "Crash" and the hit movie of "Dreamgirls." Some of her additional film credits include appearances in the successful "Urban Legend" franchise, "I Am Sam" opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and Sean Penn, "Kingdom Come," "What Women Want," "Punks," "Hoodlums," "Down in the Delta" and "Stanley and Iris."
Devine's more recent film credits include co-starring roles in "This Christmas" and "First Sunday" both of which opened Number 1 at the box office. Devine voiced the character of "Delta" in Disney's "Beverly Hills Chihuahua." She appeared with Chris Rock in Sony Screen Gems remake of "Death at a Funeral" and "Lottery Ticket" for Alcon/Warner Brothers. Devine portrayed "The Woman in Green" in Tyler Perry's adaptation of Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls." In 2011, Devine starred in two leading roles in the film "Jumping the Broom" with Paula Patton, Laz Alonso and Angela Bassett and in the Tyler Perry directed film "Madea's Big Happy Family," both films earned top spots at the box office, respectively. Devine followed up her box office hits with a strong lineup of independent films including Robert Townsend's "In The Hive" which earned Devine a NAACP Image Award nomination for "Best Actress in a Motion Picture", "You're Not You" alongside Hilary Swank, James Franco's "The Sound and the Fury" and the Kristen Wiig dramedy, "Welcome to Me."
On television, Devine became a critical darling in her Emmy award-winning role as "Adele" on ABC's hit medical drama "Grey's Anatomy." Devine's credits include numerous series roles on shows such as "The Cosby Show" spin-off "A Different World," Eddie Murphy's stop-motion animated series "The PJs," David E Kelly's "Boston Public," ABC's "Eli Stone" and alongside Jennifer Love-Hewitt on Lifetime's "The Client List." She most recently starred on NBC's critically acclaimed sitcom "The Carmichael Show" and co-starred in the 3rd season of BET's "Being Mary Jane" as the titular character's main antagonist, "Cece." Devine continues to voice "Hallie the Hippo" on Disney Channel's Peabody Award-Winning animated series, "Doc McStuffins," and will next star in the Netflix family series, "FAMILY REUNION" which will feature an all-black cast and crew.
With a career spanning three decades, Devine has earned much praise and accolades for her work on both the big and small screen. For her work as "Adele" on "Grey's Anatomy," Devine earned both a Primetime Emmy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination, a Gracie Allen Award for "Outstanding Female Actor in a Featured Role," a nomination for "Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series" from the Critics' Choice Television Awards and a NAACP Image Award and a NAACP Image Award nomination. In total, Devine has won nine NAACP Image Awards and has received a record twenty-four nominations. Devine has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the Pan African Film Festival and the NAACP Theatre Awards and the Thespian Award from the LA Femme International Film Festival.
Devine graduated from the University of Houston and later received a Master of Fine Arts from Brandeis University. She also received a Doctorate of Humane Letters as well as a Distinguished Alumni Award from The University of Houston.
She currently resides in Los Angeles.- Music Department
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born January 9, 1951, in Paintsville, Kentucky, Crystal Gayle moved with her family to Wabash, Indiana, when she was still quite young. Her music career was given a big boost by her older sister, country superstar Loretta Lynn. Loretta thought that Crystal's real name of Brenda Gail Webb was not quite "classy" enough, and after noticing a sign for the Krystal restaurant chain, she changed the "K" to a "C" and her sister became Crystal Gayle. She recorded her first hit song, "I've Cried the Blue (Right Out of My Eyes)", in 1970, which peaked at #23. In 1974 she signed with United Artists Records and producer Allen Reynolds. Over the next two years she released three albums and had several hit songs, including "This Is My Year for Mexico", "I'll Do It All Over Again", "Wrong Road Again" and "I'll Get Over You", her first #1. The next year, 1977, would prove to be a landmark year for her, with the release of her album "We Must Believe in Magic" and the worldwide smash hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue", which--along with her almost floor-length hair--made her a household name.
She had many more hits throughout the rest of the 1970s, including "Talking in Your Sleep", "Ready for the Times to Get Better" and "Half the Way". She continued into the 1980s with such hits as "If You Ever Change Your Mind", "Too Many Lovers", "The Woman in Me", "Til I Gain Control Again" and "The Sound of Goodbye". In 1982 she recorded a duet with Eddie Rabbitt, the acclaimed "You and I", which has become one of the most popular wedding songs ever. In 1985 she teamed up with Gary Morris to record the love theme for the prime-time soap opera Dallas (1978), called "Makin' Up For Lost Time", which turned into yet another #1 hit. Her other 1980s hits included "A Long and Lasting Love", "Nobody Wants to Be Alone", "Straight to the Heart", "Cry" and "Nobody's Angel". In 1987 she guest-starred on the daytime soap opera Another World (1964) for a week. She teamed up again with Gary Morris and turned out the hit "Another World", which was also used as the new theme song for the soap opera. Her career took somewhat of a downturn in the late 1980s and she released her last major single, "Never Ending Song of Love", which peaked at #72, in 1990. Since then she has released several more acclaimed albums and many hit compilations.- Christian Jules Le Blanc was born on August 25, 1958 in North Carolina, USA. He is the son of Major Andre Victor Le Blanc (a veteran) and Alice Le Blanc. He grew up in a large family, being the second eldest of eight children. As a teen, he attended Jesuit High School and later went on to receive a BA degree from Tulane University (Louisiana, USA), majoring in ancient history and pre-med. Before pursuing an acting career, he had planned to spend his life working in the medical field.
Christian made his screen debut in a commercial for Barq's Root Beer. He's most known for his work on In the Heat of the Night (1988) and for playing lawyer Michael Baldwin, on The Young and the Restless (1973). A man of many skills, he is also an award-winning artist and has MC'd and hosted numerous events for charities and other organizations. He has been with his husband, a yoga instructor named Sid Montz, since 1993. - Actress
- Producer
- Music Department
Sara Ramirez was born in Mazatlán, Mexico, on August 31, 1975, and moved to the United States at 7 after their parents' divorce. Sara is a graduate of The Juillard School (1997). Ramirez made their Broadway debut in the Paul Simon musical The Capeman (1998) before winning a Tony Award for their portrayal of the Lady of the Lake in the 2005 production of Spamalot.
Ramirez appeared as Dr. Callie Torres in 239 episodes of the ABC hit Grey's Anatomy, and has gained acclaim for their role as Che Diaz in the Sex and the City reboot, "And Just Like That..."
In addition to their acting career, Sara is a singer/songwriter and activist in support of LGBT rights. They are a member of the True Colors United board of directors and the San Diego, New York, and San Francisco LGBT Centers. In 2015, they were awarded the Ally for Equality Award by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.- Actor
- Producer
Originally wanting to be a professional tennis player, Luke began his acting career in Melbourne, Australia. He trained at the Film & Television Studio International and traveled around Australia with international entertainment company, Sudden Impact Entertainment. In his first professional acting role he played the part of Chris Knight in the long running soap, Neighbours. Luke then moved to the Gold Coast, after he was hand-picked to play the lead role, Will Benjamin, in the third series of internationally acclaimed Children's Drama Series H20:Just Add Water. On the back of such an impressive start in the Australian TV industry, Luke then moved to Sydney to join the main cast of Home and Away, playing resident heart-throb, Romeo Smith. In 2010, Luke won the Most Popular New Male Talent Logie Award for his portrayal of Romeo Smith.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Shannen Doherty was born in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, on April 12, 1971, to Rosa Doherty (Wright) and Tom Doherty. Her father worked in a bank, while her mother owned a beauty parlor. She has an older brother, Sean B. Doherty. Her ancestry includes Irish, English, Scottish, and French. In 1978, at the tender age of seven, she and her family moved to Los Angeles, where her father started a West Coast branch of the family transportation business. She knew she wanted to pursue an acting career when she made her acting debut at age ten, with a role on the series Father Murphy (1981).
Shannen was a confident student, involving herself in school performances and working hard in school, making sure she always had exceptional grades. Despite her confidence she isolated herself from large crowds and preferred to few close friends. She made a name for herself as a child actress at just 11-years-old, starring in Little House on the Prairie (1974) as Jenny Wilder. It was Michael Landon who noticed her performance in an episode of Father Murphy (1981) that he decided to cast her. She then went on to appear in Our House (1986) with Deidre Hall and Wilford Brimley. She also starred alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt in Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985) and then in Heathers (1988), a teen comedy also starring Winona Ryder.
Her real success came in 1990, at the age of 19, when she was cast in Aaron Spelling's long-running hit series, Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) as Brenda Walsh, the twin sister of Brandon Walsh, played by Jason Priestley. She attracted media attention from the press and eventually made her a household name. The success of the popular teen drama appealed to young teenage girls who could relate to her character. After four years she left the show in 1994. Afterward, she continued her work in movies, starring in the thriller Almost Dead (1994) and the comedy Mallrats (1995).
During the fall of 1998, she reunited with long-time producer Aaron Spelling, when she was cast as Prue Halliwell on Charmed (1998), a show about three ordinary women who happen to be witches. She starred alongside Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs. After three years she left the show to find work in movies. Before her departure from the show she directed three of the last episodes in which she starred. She continued her work in movies by starring in Another Day (2001), The Rendering (2002), Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay (2002), and View of Terror (2003). In 2003, she hosted season one of Scare Tactics (2003) as well as season two with only 8 episodes and then left to pursue other endeavors.
In the fall of 2004, Shannen made her return to television on Fox's drama series North Shore (2004), where she played Alexandra Hudson, the long-lost sister of Nicole Booth, played by Brooke Burns. The show was canceled after one season. Then in 2005 she landed the role of Denise Johnson on the UPN series Love, Inc. (2005); however, after the pilot episode she was dropped from the sitcom. From there she has ventured into new projects and in 2006 she starred in her own reality series, Breaking Up with Shannen Doherty (2006).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Renée Jones was born on 15 October 1958 in Opa-Locka, Florida, USA. She is an actress, known for Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), Days of Our Lives (1965) and The Bold and the Beautiful (1987).- Actress
- Producer
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Sarah Jessica Parker was born March 25, 1965, in Nelsonville, Ohio, to Barbra Forste (née Keck), a teacher who ran a nursery school, and Stephen Parker, a journalist. Her parents divorced, and her mother later remarried to Paul Forste and had four more children, bringing the total to eight. Sarah now had 3 full siblings and 4 half siblings. Her father was of Eastern European Jewish ancestry, and her mother had German, and some English, roots.
Trained in singing and ballet, Sarah was cast in the Broadway production of "The Innocents", which prompted her family to relocate to New Jersey. Already a professional performer (she studied at the American Ballet School and the Professional Children's School), Sarah was cast in "The Sound of Music" (along with four of her siblings), and landed the lead in the Broadway run of "Annie". After a year as the free-spirited orphan, Sarah attended Dwight Morrow High School, while continuing to add more credits to her acting resume. She landed a role in the made-for-TV movie My Body, My Child (1982), before being cast as one of the lead roles in the 1982 sitcom Square Pegs (1982), as high-schooler Patty Green.
Once a graduate, Sarah decided to pursue a full-time acting career rather than further her education. Since Square Pegs (1982) did not last more than a year, Sarah moved on to supporting film roles in movies such as Footloose (1984), Firstborn (1984), and the lead role in the teenage film Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985). Sarah was having lots of fun, although she had yet to land a star-turning role. After more television appearances in series and made-for-TV movies including A Year in the Life (1986), The Room Upstairs (1987) and Dadah Is Death (1988), Sarah finally landed the role of Steve Martin's bubbly lover in the 1991 comedy L.A. Story (1991). More substantial film roles soon followed, starting with a role opposite Nicolas Cage in Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) (which foreshadowed her comedic talent), Hocus Pocus (1993) and Ed Wood (1994).
A big Woody Allen fan, she starred opposite the renowned filmmaker in the television movie The Sunshine Boys (1996), and that same year, she landed a starring role in Miami Rhapsody (1995). 1996 was a film intensive year with roles in The First Wives Club (1996), If Lucy Fell (1996), and Mars Attacks! (1996). All the while making a name for herself in film, Sarah was gaining respect as a theater actress, with her lead role as a dog (hard to imagine, but true) in the off-Broadway "Sylvia", and her Broadway roles in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" (starring her present husband, Matthew Broderick), and the Tony-Award nominated "Once Upon a Mattress".
But Sarah's star has shot up since her portrayal of Manhattan sex-columnist Carrie Bradshaw in the HBO series Sex and the City (1998). Sarah's Golden Globe Best Actress victory in 2000 only underscores the fact that she plays the role of Carrie as though it were literally written for her. Sarah has been happily married to fellow actor Matthew Broderick for quite a while now. Before the marriage, she dated Robert Downey Jr. (who she also lived with), and the late John Kennedy Jr. When not serving as lead actress and producer of Sex and the City (1998), Sarah is a member of Hollywood's Women's Political Committee, and is UNICEF's representative for the Performing Arts.- Actress
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Melissa Ellen Gilbert is an American actress, television director, producer, politician, and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. Gilbert began her career as a child actress in the late 1960s, appearing in numerous commercials and guest starring roles on television. From 1974 to 1983, she starred as Laura Ingalls Wilder, the second oldest daughter of Charles Ingalls (played by Michael Landon) on the NBC series Little House on the Prairie. During the run of Little House, Gilbert appeared in several television films, including The Diary of Anne Frank and The Miracle Worker.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Best known to television viewers as a series regular on two Chuck Lorre hit comedies: "Dharma & Greg" (5 seasons) and "Mom" (8 seasons). She garnered a Critics Choice Award nomination for Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series for her portrayal of Marjorie in Season 1 of "Mom" before becoming a series regular in Season 2.
Born in Rochester, N.Y., Kennedy ignited her acting career on stage opposite TV legend Sid Caesar in Neil Simon's "Last Of The Red Hot Lovers," along with Doris Roberts, who became a friend and mentor. As one of the principal stars of "3 Girls 3," a musical-variety mini-series co-starring Debbie Allen and Ellen Foley, she played opposite Bob Hope, Carl Reiner, Tony Curtis, Flip Wilson, and Steve Martin (in his prime-time TV debut). Regular TV series roles followed including, as Stockard Channing's sister In "Just Friends" and co-starring with Peter Cook in "The Two of Us." As Queen-B Ruth Sloan on "Homefront," Kennedy netted another American Television Critics nomination, this time as Best Supporting Actress in a Drama. She recurred as CIA Director and House Minority Leader in HBO's "The Brink" and "Veep," respectively.
Her most notable films include "In the Loop," "Midnight in Paris," "Pump Up the Volume," "Erin Brockovich," "Man in the Chair," and "The Five-Year Engagement." 2021 releases include the Tony Hale comedy "Eat Wheaties!" and the feel-good film "Saving Paradise."
Her memoir "Taken To The Stage" was praised for addressing the moral and psychological challenges of an acting career. She is updating it for paperback and Audible release.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Best known for her long-time run on the ABC comedy, "George Lopez," Constance Marie stars next in the upcoming Latinx romantic comedy series, "With Love." Created and written by Gloria Calderon Kellett ("One Day at a Time"), the five hourlong episodes, each of which are set during a different holiday, follows the multi-generational Diaz family over the course of 12 months as they experience the highs and lows of life during some of the most heightened days of the year. Constance plays 'Beatriz Diaz,' wife to 'Jorge Sr' (Benito Martinez) and mother of two who is going through a midlife/identity crisis with her kids getting older and her marriage to 'Jorge Sr' (Benito Martinez) on auto pilot. All five episodes of "With Love" will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on December 17, 2021.
Most recently, Constance appeared in the Amazon rotoscope dramedy, "Undone," opposite Rosa Salazar, and she recurred in the Netflix comedy, "Alexa & Katie." In addition, she starred in the NBC miniseries "Law & Order True Crime: Menendez Murders." She has also guest-starred and recurred on a variety of shows including the CBS comedy "Angel from Hell" and TNT's "Animal Kingdom," as well as voicing a character on Disney's animated series "Elena of Avalor," the first to feature a Latina princess.
Constance starred for five award-winning seasons on the hit Freeform series, "Switched at Birth," for which she won an Imagen Award, an ALMA Award and a Gracie Allen Award for "Best Supporting Television Actress" for her role as 'Regina Vasquez.'
For her beloved portrayal of wife 'Angie Lopez' on "George Lopez," the Imagen Awards honored her with a Best Actress in a TV Series Award, and she received multiple nominations from the Alma Awards for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.
In the debut year of "George Lopez," Constance was also starring in the Golden Globe-nominated PBS series "American Family," alongside Edward James Olmos, Sonia Braga, Esai Morales and Raquel Welch.
Her career began when she was a teenager in the Los Angeles underground break-dancing scene. She was selected out of a group of 500 hopefuls to dance on tour with David Bowie. Upon returning to Los Angeles, she was cast as a dancer in the movie "Salsa." The film's choreographer, Kenny Ortega, introduced her to producer Steve Tisch, who offered Constance her very first acting job, a starring role as 'Penny' on the CBS series "Dirty Dancing."
It wasn't long before she was working in feature films, such as "My Family," directed by Gregory Nava. She won praise from fans for her portrayal of Tejano music legend Selena Quintanilla's mother, 'Marcella,' in the blockbuster film "Selena." Constance was only a year older than her onscreen daughter (Jennifer Lopez), so she had to undergo extensive make-up to portray Selena's mother.
Constance also starred in the celebrated film "Tortilla Soup" as the daughter of Raquel Welch. The film received an Alma Award nomination for Outstanding Motion Picture.
Television producer Gary David Goldberg soon offered Constance a role as Michael J. Fox's antagonist love interest on the hit series "Spin City." She played 'Gabriella Diaz' on "Union Square," for which she received an Alma Award nomination for Outstanding Female in a Comedy Series. She also portrayed 'Detective Toni Brigatti' for two seasons on "Early Edition," opposite Kyle Chandler.
In her personal life, Constance is mother to a daughter, Luna-Marie. Candid about the difficulties she faced trying to get pregnant and eventually turning to IVF, she is determined to reach out to women in similar situations to let them know that they are not alone. In addition to being extremely knowledgeable about pregnancy and wellness, she practices a green lifestyle including composting and recycling, and she is a vegetarian, leaning heavily toward vegan these days. She is also an organic follower who had cloth diapers for her baby and zero Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) in her nursery, and she has organic mattresses in their home.
She is an advocate for PETA, Planned Parenthood and Equal Pay for Women. She is the spokesperson for the East Los Angeles Women's Center that helps women dealing with rape, domestic violence and human trafficking.
Constance has an active lifestyle which includes regular work outs such as walking, yoga, hitting the gym with a personal trainer and nature hikes. Although she isn't currently dancing in an official capacity, she throws a hell of a spontaneous "dancing in the dining room" party! You can also catch her moves on TikTok!- Actress
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Houston, Texas native Chandra Wilson began performing in musicals at the age of five with Theatre Under the Stars. She attended Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and later went on to acquire her BFA in Drama from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts through which she spent four years at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. Chandra's first series regular job was on ABC's Bob Patterson (2001) in the role of Claudia Hopper. She has made numerous other television appearances including guest-starring and recurring roles. She has also appeared in national television commercials for Blockbuster Video, Burger King, Scope, and the United Negro College Fund as well as numerous radio commercials.
Aside from film and television, she has several New York stage credits. Her portrayal of Bonna Willis in the production of "The Good Times are Killing Me" by Lynda Barry (both at the Second Stage and Minetta Lane Theatres) won her a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance.
Some of her other stage credits include "Paper Moon: The Musical" at the Papermill Playhouse, "The Family of Mann" by Theresa Rebeck, "Believing" for the Young Playwright's Festival and the Broadway production of "On the Town" directed by George C. Wolfe.- Actress
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Beth Grant has the unique honor of having co-starred in three Academy Award winning Best Pictures - Barry Levinson's Rain Man, the Coen Brothers's No Country For Old Men and Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist. Furthering her reputation as an Oscar lucky charm was her work with Johnny Depp in Gore Verbinski's Rango, the Academy's Best Animated Feature. Grant received the Screen Actors Best Ensemble Award for No Country For Old Men and Dayton-Faris's Little Miss Sunshine.
Grant co-starred in David O. Russell's Amsterdam, playing Robert De Niro's wife, opposite Margot Robbie, Christian Bale and John David Washington. As a Southerner she is particularly proud of her critically acclaimed role as "Addy Bundren" in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying directed by James Franco, premiering at Cannes. Grant enjoys cult status with hits Donnie Darko, To Wong Foo and Sordid Lives.
Grant had a blast in a five-episode arc on the final season of Amazon's Goliath where she gave hell to Billy Bob Thornton, Nina Arianda, Bruce Dern, Jena Malone, and J.K. Simmons. Grant stars as Carlotta Mayfair on Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches on AMC, AMC+, two seasons as "Cat Lady" in Dollface with Kat Dennings on Hulu, and 6 seasons as fan favorite "Beverly" on The Mindy Project now on Fox, Hulu and Netflix.
Her 140+ films include Lucky with Harry Dean Stanton and David Lynch, Pablo Larrain's Jackie, starring Natalie Portman, Words On Bathroom Walls with Charlie Plummer and Taylor Russell, Ridley Scott's Matchstick Men starring Nic Cage, and her four movies with Sandra Bullock - Speed, A Time To Kill, All About Steve and Bullock directed Making Sandwiches.
Grant delights in having created so many well known and popular, if often wacky, characters who she remembers as dear friends. Among her favorites are characters in Friends, Child's Play 2, Flatliners, CSI, Criminal Minds, The X-Files, Coach and recurring roles on Elmore Leonard's Maximum Bob, and Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events both directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.
She adored working with writer/director Todd Holland on The Wizard, Malcolm In The Middle, and Wonderfalls, co-created with Bryan Fuller who also wrote roles for her on Pushing Daisies, Mockingbird Lane and American Gods.
Beth Grant loves doing theatre! She received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, LA Stage Alliance Ovation, LA Weekly Award, Backstage West Award for Lead Actress in Del Shores's The Trials And Tribulations Of Trailer Trash Housewife. Grant starred Off Broadway in Tony George's Tricks The Devil Taught Me at The Minetta Lane Theater. Grant has won three Ovation Awards, including Lead Actress for Grace And Glorie at The Colony Theatre directed by Cameron Watson who also directed her in his beloved feature Our Very Own opposite Allison Janney, Robert Carradine and Jason Ritter.
Theatre credits also include world premieres by Maya Angelou, Romulus Linney, Horton Foote and Mark V. Olsen. Grant had two stints at The Ahmanson in Picnic with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Gregory Harrison and Summer And Smoke, directed by renowned Broadway director Marshall Mason, starring Christopher Reeve.
Grant enjoys claiming several hometowns in the South from Ft. Payne, Alabama to Atlanta, Georgia to Wilmington, North Carolina. She was a Page in the North Carolina Senate, attended the NC Governor's School for Gifted And Talented, was a two term president of the College Democrats at her Alma Mater, East Carolina University, and was Governor Robert Scott's appointee to Arts and Recreation Commission at age 19. Early on she studied film acting with Clu Gulager. In later year years she found an acting home as student of Milton Katselas's Master Class.
Grant is a co-executive producer on upcoming release of Flannery O'Connor's Wildcat directed by Ethan Hawke. She produced and plays the title role in Del Shores' film Blues For Willadean, co-starring with Octavia Spencer and Dale Dickey.
Grant directed a multi-award winning short, The Perfect Fit, also starring Spencer along with Lauren Miller Rogen, Ahna O'Reilly, Frances Fisher, Jennifer Zaborowski and Grant's daughter, Mary Chieffo.
Chieffo graduated with honors from The Juilliard School and is the first female Chancellor of The Klingon Empire on Star Trek: Discovery. Grant and her daughter produced Operation Othello with Julius Tennon and Viola Davis's JuVee Productions and Oculus Story Studio, wherein Chieffo re-imagined Shakespeare's Othello, playing his nemesis "Iago" as a woman.
Beth Grant has been married to Mary's father, actor Michael Chieffo, for 37 years. She attributes much of her success to them and to her family of origin, brother Bubba Grant, his wife Dr. Mary Grant, and Beth's always beloved and remembered parents, activist Southern Belle Libba and mild-mannered Southern Gentleman William Grant, all of whom supported her wild and crazy dreams. Beth Grant says she is the luckiest woman in Hollywood.- Actor
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Charles was born into a show business family. His father, Alfred Shaughnessy, was the principal writer for the popular London Weekend Television/ITV series Upstairs, Downstairs (1971) and his mother, Jean Lodge, was an actress. He started appearing in plays during school. He attended Eton College and read law at Magdalene College, Cambridge. While at Cambridge, he joined Footlights, a comedy revue. After graduating, he decided to return to acting and enrolled in a London drama school, which led to him to touring in a repertory company. Eventually moving to America to follow the actress he later married, he got his break on The Nanny (1993).- Shelley Hennig was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and has two older brothers. She spent much of her childhood as a competitive dancer. She was the fastest typist her senior year of high school as well as Miss Teen USA. Miss Teen USA gave her a scholarship to New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts and she took advantage.
In 2007 her acting career took off. Cast in the role of Stephanie Johnson in the series Days of Our Lives (1965) she embarked on what would become a highly successful television and film career. - Actor
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DARREN MANN is a Canadian actor, born and raised in East Vancouver, BC.
He is notable as Jack Dutton in Taylor Sheridan's YELLOWSTONE prequel "1923" with Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, as well as Young Baz on TNT's "ANIMAL KINGDOM", with Ellen Barkin, Scott Speedman and Shawn Hatosy. TV credits also include yet another lead role in CBC's "FORTUNATE SON" with Kari Matchett and Stephen Moyer.
His starring roles in indie feature films such as BREAKWATER opposite Dermot Mulroney premiering at Cinequest 2023, EMBATTLED opposite Stephen Dorff in 2020, GIANT LITTLE ONES (TIFF 2018) with Kyle MacLachlan and Maria Bello and HELLO DESTROYER (TIFF 2016) are some of his recent career highlights.- Actor
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Noah Centineo is an American actor. He portrayed Jesus Adams Foster in The Fosters (2013), for which he was nominated for a Teen Choice Award. Since then, he has received both critical acclaim and audience adoration for starring in a series of romantic comedy films, beginning with To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018), as heartthrob Peter Kavinsky, and then onwards with Sierra Burgess Is a Loser (2018), Swiped (2018), The Perfect Date (2019), and To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020).
Noah Gregory Centineo was born on May 9, 1996 in Miami, Florida, to Kellee (Andres) and Gregory Centineo, a businessman and former pastor. He is of Italian and German descent. Noah grew up in Boynton Beach, Florida with his older sister, Taylor. He attended BAK Middle School of the Arts and Boca Raton Community High School, before moving to Los Angeles in 2012 at the age of sixteen.
Noah made his acting debut as Josh Peters in the family film The Gold Retrievers (2009). His first notable role was as Jaden Stark in the Disney Channel film How to Build a Better Boy (2014). He was subsequently cast in the Disney Channel comedy pilot Growing Up and Down (2014), before landing the role of Jesus Adams Foster in The Fosters (2013), taking over the role from Jake T. Austin. In 2017, he was nominated for the Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer TV Star: Male.- Actress
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Suzanne Rogers was born on 9 July 1943 in Colonial Heights, Virginia, USA. She is an actress, known for Days of Our Lives (1965), Knight Rider (1982) and Quincy M.E. (1976). She was previously married to Sam Groom.- Actress
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Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson in the Chelsea section of Manhattan on November 13, 1955. Her mother, Emma (Harris), was a teacher and a nurse, and her father, Robert James Johnson, Jr., was a clergyman. Whoopi's recent ancestors were from Georgia, Florida, and Virginia. She worked in a funeral parlor and as a bricklayer while taking small parts on Broadway. She moved to California and worked with improv groups, including Spontaneous Combustion, and developed her skills as a stand-up comedienne. Goldberg came to prominence doing an HBO special and a one-woman show as Moms Mabley. She has been known in her prosperous career as a unique and socially conscious talent with articulately liberal views. Among her boyfriends were Ted Danson and Frank Langella. Goldberg was married three times and was once addicted to drugs.
Goldberg had her first big film starring role in The Color Purple (1985). She received much critical acclaim, and an Oscar nomination for her role and became a major star as a result. Subsequent efforts in the late 1980s were, at best, marginal hits. These movies mostly were off-beat to formulaic comedies like Burglar (1987), The Telephone (1988) and Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986). She made her mark as a household name and a mainstay in Hollywood for her Oscar-winning role in the box office smash Ghost (1990). Whoopi Goldberg was at her most famous in the early 1990s, making regular appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). She admitted to being a huge fan of the original Star Trek (1966) series and jumped at the opportunity to star in "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
Goldberg received another smash hit role in Sister Act (1992). Her fish-out-of-water with some flash seemed to resonate with audiences and it was a box office smash. Whoopi starred in some highly publicized and moderately successful comedies of this time, including Made in America (1993) and Soapdish (1991). Goldberg followed up to her success with Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), which was well-received but did not seem to match up to the first.
As the late 1990s approached, Goldberg seemed to alternate between lead roles in straight comedies such as Eddie (1996) and The Associate (1996), and took supporting parts in more independent minded movies, such as The Deep End of the Ocean (1999) and How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998). Goldberg never forgot where she came from, hosting many tributes to other legendary entertainment figures. Her most recent movies include Rat Race (2001) and the quietly received Kingdom Come (2001). Goldberg contributes her voice to many cartoons, including The Pagemaster (1994) and Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990), as Gaia, the voice of the earth. Alternating between big-budget movies, independent movies, tributes, documentaries, and even television movies (including Theodore Rex (1995)).
Whoopi is accredited as a truly unique and visible talent in Hollywood. Perhaps she will always be remembered as well for Comic Relief, playing an integral part in almost every benefit concert they had. Whoopi is also the center square in Hollywood Squares (1998), sometimes hosts the Academy Awards, and is an author, with the book "Book."- Chandler Massey was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, with his two younger siblings. He is the son of Lewis (former Secretary of State of Georgia) and Amy Massey. Chandler graduated from Norcross High School in May, 2009. While there, he was active in the Drama Club and took part in many of the school productions. Later that year, he moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA and pursue his dream of acting. In December 2009, after completing his first quarter at UCLA, Chandler auditioned for the role of "Will Horton" on NBC's top-rated daytime drama, Days of Our Lives and won the role. During Chandler's first four years on the show, he garnered 4 Daytime Emmy nominations and 3 wins for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series, thus becoming the first actor to win this honor for playing a gay character. He left Days in 2013 to continue his studies at UCLA and to star in a few independent films. In 2017, Chandler reprised his role as Will Horton on Days in 2017 and earned his 5th Emmy nomination. In 2018, he graduated from UCLA. Chandler resides in Los Angeles.
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Isabella Hofmann was born on 11 December 1958 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for Burlesque (2010), Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) and Firefly (2002). She was previously married to Steven Memel.- Actress
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Kathy Najimy was born and raised in San Diego, California. She is the daughter of Samia (Massery) and Fred Najimy, a postal worker, both of Lebanese ancestry. Kathy attended Crawford High School, and began her film career in the early 1990s, with several minor roles. Kathy got her breakthrough screen role as "Sister Mary Patrick" in Sister Act (1992). She reprised this role in 1993 in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). She is most notably known as the voice of "Peggy Hill" on King of the Hill (1997).
Kathy lives in Los Angeles with her husband, actor/singer Dan Finnerty (the Dan Band) and their daughter, Samia Najimy Finnerty.- Actor
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Jerry O'Connell was born in New York City, to Linda (Witkowski), an art teacher, and Michael O'Connell, a British-born advertising agency art director. He spent his early years in Manhattan, with his parents and younger brother, Charlie O'Connell, who is also an actor. He is of one half Irish, one quarter Italian, and one quarter Polish, descent. Jerry began his acting career at a very young age. He did commercial work and TV work before getting the role of "Vern Tessio" in the popular film Stand by Me (1986) opposite River Phoenix and Corey Feldman. After that, he worked on several TV-Movies and TV-series and had a starring role in My Secret Identity (1988). From 1991 to 1994, Jerry attended New York University where he majored in film, but he didn't graduate.
In 1993, he starred in the film Calendar Girl (1993) opposite Jason Priestley. In 1995, he starred in the TV-movie western The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky (1995) and, in 1996, he landed the role of "Frank Cushman" in the successful film Jerry Maguire (1996) opposite Tom Cruise. Over the next few years, he starred in Scream 2 (1997), had a small uncredited role in Can't Hardly Wait (1998), as well as appearing in several TV-movies and having starring roles in the TV-series Sliders (1995) and the film Body Shots (1999) opposite Sean Patrick Flanery and Tara Reid.
In 2000, he appeared in the Brian De Palma film Mission to Mars (2000) with Gary Sinise, among others. He has also appeared in movies such as Tomcats (2001), Buying the Cow (2002), Kangaroo Jack (2003), Yours, Mine & Ours (2005), Man About Town (2006) and Room 6 (2006). In 2007, he married actress/model Rebecca Romijn, and they have twin girls.- Actor
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Cheyenne David Jackson is an American actor and singer. His credits include leading roles in Broadway musicals and other stage roles, as well as film and television roles, concert singing, and music recordings.
After beginning his acting career in regional theatre in Seattle, Washington, Jackson moved to Manhattan and was an understudy in Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002) and Aida (2003). He next originated the role of Matthew in the workshop production of Altar Boyz (2004) for the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and was replaced by Scott Porter for the Off-Broadway run. Jackson's first leading role on Broadway was in All Shook Up (2005), which earned him a Theatre World Award for "Outstanding Broadway Debut". Since then, on the New York stage, he has starred in The Agony & the Agony (2006), Xanadu (2007; Drama League, Drama Desk nominations), Damn Yankees (2008), Finian's Rainbow (2010; Drama Desk nomination), 8 (2011), The Heart of the Matter (2012), and The Performers (2013).
He has also appeared in a number of films, including the 2006 Academy Award-nominated United 93, in which his portrayal of Mark Bingham earned him the Boston Society of Film Critics 2006 award for Best Ensemble Cast. He also had a leading role in the 2014 independent romantic comedy ensemble, Mutual Friends, and guest roles in television series such as NBC's 30 Rock and Fox's Glee. Beginning in 2015, Jackson starred in the FX horror anthology television series American Horror Story in its fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth seasons.
In concert, Jackson has sold out Carnegie Hall twice: The Power of Two in 2010 and Music of the Mad Men Era in 2011. He also performs in cabarets. In addition to his Broadway cast albums, he has released three albums of popular music, including a joint album called The Power of Two with Michael Feinstein in 2008. In 2012, Jackson released two singles, "Drive" and "Before You", from his 2013 album I'm Blue, Skies. In 2016, Jackson released his third studio album, Renaissance, an album adapted and expanded from his solo concert Music of the Mad Men Era.
He also stars as Hades in Disney Channel's Descendants 3, along with actors Booboo Stewart, Cameron Boyce, Dove Cameron, and Sofia Carson with director Kenny Ortega. In 2020, he reunited with Descendants alumni Ortega and Stewart in Netflix's Julie and the Phantoms.- Actress
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Born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, Amy Carlson spent most of her early life in the Chicago area. But when Amy was in junior high, she and her family also lived in the Middle East where her parents, Bob and Barb, taught at the American School. Amy has three siblings, sisters Betsy and Lori and brother Joe. Amy has backpacked all over Europe with her family and on her own. Because her parents were teachers, they were able to spend every summer together traveling and camping all over the United States. In fact, they have camped in every state except Alaska. Amy also went to Rwanda after the war in 1994 to aid relief efforts. Early on, Amy showed artistic talent acting in school productions and winning contests for writing. In high school, she was a promising athlete who placed in the first ever 3200 meter relay in Illinois girls track. In college, after an injury, she returned to the theater with many roles on stage starting with Lanford Wilson's "Fifth of July" and directing Wallace Shawn's "Aunt Dan and Lemon". Amy attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where she graduated cum laude with a B.A. in East Asian history and a concentration in Theater. She moved to Chicago afterward and studied Improv at the Improv Olympic and acting at The Actor's Center. A contract job on the now defunct soap opera Another World (1964) moved her to NYC soon after graduation. She has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in the category of "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Daytime Drama Series". Her most memorable roles have been of strong women playing Alex Taylor in Third Watch (1999), Maggie Pistone in Falcone (2000), Katie Owen alongside Tom Berenger in Peacemakers (2003) and Linda Reagan in Blue Bloods. Carlson resides in New York City with husband Syd Butler, bassist of Les Savy Fav, where she also works in the independent music business as part-owner of the independent label "Frenchkiss Records". Amy continues to write as well as seek out diverse and unique roles in the film industry.- Actress
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Rebecca Budig was born on 26 June 1973 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for General Hospital (1963), All My Children (1970) and Getaway (2013). She has been married to Mike Benson since 2012. They have one child. She was previously married to Bob Guiney and Daniel Geller.- Actor
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James Reynolds was born on 10 August 1946 in Oskaloosa, Kansas, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Days of Our Lives (1965), Dying to Learn (2022) and Generations (1989). He has been married to Lissa Layng since 21 December 1986. They have two children. He was previously married to Laura Toffenetti.- Actor
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Michael J. Fox was born Michael Andrew Fox on June 9, 1961 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to Phyllis Fox (née Piper), a payroll clerk, and William Fox. His parents moved their 10-year-old son, his three sisters, Kelli Fox, Karen, and Jacki, and his brother Steven, to Vancouver, British Columbia, after his father, a sergeant in the Canadian Army Signal Corps, retired. During these years Michael developed his desire to act. At 15 he successfully auditioned for the role of a 10-year-old in a series called Leo and Me (1978). Gaining attention as a bright new star in Canadian television and movies, Michael realized his love for acting when he appeared on stage in "The Shadow Box." At 18 he moved to Los Angeles and was offered a few television-series roles, but soon they stopped coming and he was surviving on boxes of macaroni and cheese. Then his agent called to tell him that he got the part of Alex P. Keaton on the situation comedy Family Ties (1982). He starred in the feature films Teen Wolf (1985), High School U.S.A. (1983), Poison Ivy (1985) and Back to the Future (1985).- Actress
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Janet Louise Hubert was born in Chicago, IL. She is best known for playing the sassy, witty, outgoing, protective mom on the hit TV sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990).
Janet Hubert spent most of her childhood growing up in Momence, IL. That changed when she won a scholarship to Julliard School in New York City. After Juilliard, Janet studied all forms of dance and studied with some of the best teachers including Alvin Ailey and David Howard. She debuted on Broadway in "The First". She went on to do shows such as "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and "Dancin'", and was a member of the original Broadway cast of "CATS", where she created the role of Tantomile, and was the understudy for Betty Buckley, singing the title role, in New York City. However, her most memorable role came in 1990 when she made her TV debut in "Fresh Prince". She has since guest-starred on numerous shows, including Gilmore Girls (2000), Friends (1994), The Bernie Mac Show (2001) and Tales from the Crypt (1989). She has also appeared on the Tyler Perry hit House of Payne (2006). Janet has been battling osteoporosis and has recently became an ambassador for the National Osteoporosis Foundation.
Janet will forever be known as a versatile actress, dancer and singer. She was, to many, a woman who stood her ground, much like that of her character on "Fresh Prince"--the strong-willed yet elegant, original, one and only Vivian Banks.- Kim Zimmer was born on 2 February 1955 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. She is an actress, known for Body Heat (1981), Guiding Light (1952) and MacGyver (1985). She has been married to A.C. Weary since 29 August 1981. They have three children.
- Three-time Emmy-nominated actress Arianne Zucker has played many roles, but she is best known for the character of "Nicole Walker" on NBC's hit daytime drama, Days of Our Lives (1965). Arianne began playing her role in 1998 and has received three Daytime Emmy nominations and one Soap Opera Digest Award win for her portrayal as the unlucky-in-love vixen. Arianne began her career in modeling, when she was 16 years old. She immediately traveled to Paris, France after winning her first modeling contest. From there, she has traveled to Australia, Japan and finally back to New York City. During this time, Arianne also booked many national and international commercials, such as Mazda Miata and McDonald's. Arianne's independent film career started with a short film called Looking for Bobby D (2001) and she began to generate work in television by landing the role of "Brenda Collette" in CSI: Miami (2002). Her work was noticed by writer Karen Harris (General Hospital (1963), All My Children (1970)) and was asked to play the role of "Winnifred Marshall" in Life in General (2008), a comedy based on the life of a writer and the behind the scenes of the making of a television show. Arianne continued on as "Jessica" in the horror film, The Last Resort (2009), directed by Brandon Nutt. 'Devantiy', an Emmy-nominated web series chose Arianne to guest star as Julie Regis (2013) as the uptight sister of Andrew Regis, the ruthless jewelry scion. Her latest film role in The Contractor (2013), she played Kate, the best friend of "Elizabeth Chase" (Christina Cox). Her latest film role is in post-production for Lifetime called The Assistant (2016). Zucker plays the lead role of "Suzanne Austin" (2016). While not working on "Days of Our Lives", Arianne co-created the non-profit organization, Arrow-Heart Adventure Camps, in September of 2007 with her brother, Todd Zucker. They are a brother-sister team that believe in positively, mentor-ship and giving teens a chance to live to their full potential. Todd and Arianne have since tested the adventure camp in three different countries, U.S. London, England, and South Africa. We are committed to enriching the lives of young teens through a challenging outdoor adventure. We inspire kids to want to make better choices, build character, confidence, credibility and critical thinking skills.
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Cameron Bancroft was born on 17 May 1967 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He is an actor, known for The Cape (1996), R.L. Stine's the Haunting Hour (2010) and NarcoLeap (2018).- Actress
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Kellie Martin is an American actress from California. She has often worked as a voice actress in animation. Her most notable roles include the amateur detective Daphne Blake in the animated series "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" (1988-1991), the nerdy daughter Rebecca "Becca" Thatcher in the drama series "Life Goes On" (1989-1993), schoolteacher Christy Huddleston in the period series "Christy" (1994-1995), leading lady Roxanne in the musical comedy "A Goofy Movie" (1995), medical student Lucy Knight for two seasons of the medical drama "ER" (1998-2000), amateur detective and bookshop owner Samantha Kinsey in the film series "Mystery Woman" (2003-2007), and therapist and retired prosecutor Hailey Dean in the film series "Hailey Dean Mysteries" (2016-2019).
In 1975, Martin was born in Riverside, California. Riverside is the most populous city in the Inland Empire region, located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city was established in the early 1870s, and served as a center for California's citrus industry. Martin's parents were the retail executive Doug Martin and the kindergarten teacher Debbie Jett.
Martin made her acting debut in 1982, at the age of 7. One of her aunts was an employee of actor Michael Landon (1936-1991), who served as an executive producer of the Western series "Father Murphy" (1981-1983). The aunt helped Martin land a guest spot in this Western series.
Martin went to have guest appearances in several then-popular television series, such as the soap opera "Dallas", the short-lived sitcom "Life with Lucy" (1986), and the sitcom "My Two Dads". She made her debut as a voice actor in the short-lived animated series "Potato Head Kids" (1986-1987), cast as the regular character Lolly. The series only lasted for 23 episodes.
Martin landed her first major role in animation when cast as co-protagonist Daphne Blake in "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" (1988-1991). In previous depictions of Daphne, the character was depicted as either an adolescent or a young adult. In this series, Daphne was an elementary student who still lived with her wealthy parents. The series emphasized Daphne's haughty behavior and sarcastic personality. She was also the resident skeptic of the mystery-solving group, outright rejecting any explanation involving the existence of ghosts or the supernatural. The series lasted for 4 seasons and 27 episodes. It was the last animated series in the "Scooby-Doo" franchise to be produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, as the next series in the franchise was produced in 2002 by a different company.
Martin receive her first regular live-action role in the drama series "Life Goes On" (1989-1993), cast as Rebecca "Becca" Thatcher. The series was set in the suburbs of Chicago, and initially focused on the challenges the Thatcher family faced in raising a son diagnoses with Down Syndrome. The series later focused on the challenges faced by Becca in her everyday life. She was depicted as an intelligent and nerdy girl, but socially awkward and unlucky in her love life. Her first boyfriend Tyler Benchfield (played by Tommy Puett) was killed in a car accident, while drunk driving. Her second boyfriend Jesse McKenna (played by Chad Lowe) was HIV positive, and was uncertain about how long he would be able to survive with his medical condition. The series lasted for 4 seasons and 83 episodes. The final season also depicted a middle-aged version of Becca (played by Pamela Bellwood) , reminiscing abut her own past.
Martin's next regular role in animation was voicing Molly Tazmanian Devil in the animated sitcom "Taz-Mania" (1991-1995). Her character was depicted as the adolescent sister of protagonist Taz (voiced by Jim Cummings). Molly was an image-conscious valley girl. She was far more sophisticated than her older brother, but had a fiery temper of her own. The series lasted for 4 seasons and 65 episodes.
Martin next joined the cast of the fantasy series "Aladdin" (1994-1995), voicing recurring antagonist Sadira. In the series, Sadira was a female street rat who had an unrequited love for Aladdin, and was upset that her love interest was already engaged to another woman. After acquiring magical powers of her own, Sadira set out to win Aladdin's heart and to replace Princess Jasmine. Martin's character lacked actual malice, but had obsessive tendencies. She only appeared in 4 episodes, but was one of the most popular antagonists in the series.
Martin was cast as protagonist Christy Huddleston in the period series "Christy" (1994-1995), which was loosely based on the novel "Christy " (1967) by Catherine Marshall. In the series, Christy was the new schoolteacher of a rural settlement in Tennessee during the early 1910s. She was depicted as an outsider in the rural community, whose values clashed with the traditions of the permanent residents. The series acquired a cult following, but its production cost exceeded the advertising revenues. It was canceled after only 2 seasons. The series inspired three sequel television films, but Martin did not reprise her role.
Martin was cast as the leading lady Roxanne in the musical comedy "A Goofy Movie" (1995). In the film, Roxanne is a kind-hearted high school student who wants to date Maximilian "Max" Goof (voiced by Jason Marsden), the troubled adolescent son of Goofy. Their first date is canceled when Goofy insists on taking Max with him in a cross-country fishing trip, under the impression that he is rescuing his son from bad influences. Roxanne continues to pine for Max, while Max tries to impress her through a publicity stunt. The film under-performed at the box office, only earning a worldwide total of 37.6 million dollars in its initial release. It was nominated for the "Annie Award for Best Animated Feature", but lost to "Pocahontas". However the film sold well in the video market, acquired a cult following, and inspired a sequel film. Roxanne did not appear in the sequel film, and Martin never returned to this role.
From 1995 to 1998, Martin's roles were mainly limited to television films. In 1998, she joined the cast of the long-running medical drama "ER" (1994-2009), portraying the new regular character Lucy Knight. The character was portrayed as a hard-working medical student, but better suited to the psych department rather than emergency medicine. Martin remained a regular in the series for seasons 5 and 6, but wanted to leave the show. She agreed with the producers that her character was going to leave the series with a definite finale to her story. In her final episodes, Lucy is the only member of the medical staff who takes an interest in helping a schizophrenic patient. She is alone with the patient when he stabs her, and she dies shortly after. Lucy's final episode was broadcast in early 2000, but her death continued to haunt her colleagues.
Martin graduated from Yale University in 2001, with a degree in art history. For a few years, she willingly limited herself to minor acting appearances, in order to properly deal with changes in her personal life. In 2003, she was cast as protagonist Samantha Kinsey in the mystery film series "Mystery Woman". A total of 11 television films in this series were produced between 2003 and 2011.
In 2012, Martin joined the cast of the drama series "Army Wives" (2007-2013), portraying the recurring character of Captain Nicole Galassini. Her character was an Army intelligence officer who was injured in an ambush. Nicole was a lesbian, but the the "don't ask, don't tell" policy left her reluctant to make public appearances with her long-term partner Charlotte "Charlie" Mayfield (played by Ryan Michelle Bathe). Martin remained a recurring cast member for the 6th season of the series, but did not return for the 7th and last season.
In 2016, Martin was cast as protagonist Hailey Dean in the mystery film series "Hailey Dean Mysteries". A total of 9 films were released between 2016 and 2019. Hailey was depicted as a retired prosecutor for the District Attorney's office, who had started a new career as a therapist. But she unofficially investigated crime cases, and used old law enforcement contacts to assist her. Martin took a hiatus from acting in 2019, though her name is attached to at least one upcoming project.
By 2022, Martin was 46-years-old. She has never fully retired from acting, but she devotes time to operating her own store. She has two young daughters, and has admitted in interviews that she tries to be there for her family. Which at times affects her career choices. Martin remains popular with film and television audiences due to an ever-increasing number of memorable roles.- Actress
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Alison Sweeney was born on 19 September 1976 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Days of Our Lives (1965), Murder, She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery (2015) and Open by Christmas (2021). She has been married to David Alan Sanov since 8 July 2000. They have two children.- Actress
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Considered by many critics to be the greatest living actress, Meryl Streep has been nominated for the Academy Award an astonishing 21 times, and has won it three times. Meryl was born Mary Louise Streep in 1949 in Summit, New Jersey, to Mary Wolf (Wilkinson), a commercial artist, and Harry William Streep, Jr., a pharmaceutical executive. Her father was of German and Swiss-German descent, and her mother had English, Irish, and German ancestry.
Meryl's early performing ambitions leaned toward the opera. She became interested in acting while a student at Vassar and upon graduation she enrolled in the Yale School of Drama. She gave an outstanding performance in her first film role, Julia (1977), and the next year she was nominated for her first Oscar for her role in The Deer Hunter (1978). She went on to win the Academy Award for her performances in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Sophie's Choice (1982), in which she gave a heart-wrenching portrayal of an inmate mother in a Nazi death camp.
A perfectionist in her craft and meticulous and painstaking in her preparation for her roles, Meryl turned out a string of highly acclaimed performances over the next decade in great films like Silkwood (1983); Out of Africa (1985); Ironweed (1987); and A Cry in the Dark (1988). Her career declined slightly in the early 1990s as a result of her inability to find suitable parts, but she shot back to the top in 1995 with her performance as Clint Eastwood's married lover in The Bridges of Madison County (1995) and as the prodigal daughter in Marvin's Room (1996). In 1998 she made her first venture into the area of producing, and was the executive producer for the moving ...First Do No Harm (1997). A realist when she talks about her future years in film, she remarked that "...no matter what happens, my work will stand..."- Actress
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Rita Moreno is one of the very few performers to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony and a Grammy, thus becoming an EGOT. She was born Rosita Dolores Alverío in the hospital in Humacao, Puerto Rico on December 11, 1931 (but raised in nearby, smaller Juncos, which had no hospital), to seamstress Rosa María (Marcano) and farmer Francisco José "Paco" Alverío. Her mother moved to New York City in 1937, taking Rita with her while leaving her reportedly unfaithful husband and Rita's younger brother behind. Rita's professional career began before she reached adolescence.
From the age of nine, she performed as a professional dancer in New York night clubs. At age 11, she landed her first movie experience, dubbing Spanish-language versions of US films. Less than a month before her 14th birthday on November 22, 1945, she made her Broadway debut in the play "Skydrift" at the Belasco Theatre, costarring with Arthur Keegan and a young Eli Wallach. Although she would not appear again on Broadway for almost two decades, Rita Moreno, as she was billed in the play, had arrived professionally. In 1950, she was signed by MGM, but the studio dropped her option after just one year.
The cover of the March 1, 1954, edition of "Life Magazine" featured a three-quarters, over-the-left-shoulder profile of the young Puerto Rican actress/entertainer with the provocative title "Rita Moreno: An Actresses' Catalog of Sex and Innocence". It was sexpot time, a stereotype that would plague her throughout the decade. If not cast as a Hispanic pepper pot, she could rely on being cast as another "exotic", such as her appearance on Father Knows Best (1954) as an exchange student from India. Because of a dearth of decent material, Moreno had to play roles in movies that she considered degrading. Among the better pictures she earned featured roles in were the classic Singin' in the Rain (1952) and The King and I (1956).
Director Robert Wise, who was chosen to co-direct West Side Story (1961) (the film version of the smash Broadway musical, a retelling of William Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet" with the warring Venetian clans the Montagues and Capulets re-envisioned as Irish/Polish and Puerto Rican adolescent street gangs, the Jets and the Sharks), cast Moreno as "Anita", the Puerto Rican girlfriend of Sharks' leader Bernardo, whose sister Maria is the piece's Juliet.
However, despite her talent, roles commensurate with that talent were not forthcoming in the 1960s. The following decade would prove kinder, possibly because the beautiful Moreno had aged gracefully and could now be seen by filmmakers, TV producers and casting directors as something other than the spitfire/sexpot that Hispanic women were supposed to conform to. Ironically, it was in two vastly diverging roles--that of a $100 hooker in director Mike Nichols' brilliant realization of Jules Feiffer's acerbic look at male sexuality, Carnal Knowledge (1971), and Milly the Helper in the children's TV show The Electric Company (1971)--that signaled a career renaissance.
Moreno won a 1972 Grammy Award for her contribution to "The Electric Company"'s soundtrack album, following it up three years later with a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Musical for "The Ritz" (a role she would reprise in the film version, The Ritz (1976)). She then won Emmy Awards for The Muppet Show (1976) and The Rockford Files (1974).
She has continued to work steadily on screen (both large and small) and on stage, solidifying her reputation as a national treasure, a status that was officially ratified with the award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush in June 2004.- Actress
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Nancy Lee Grahn was born on 28 April 1956 in Evanston, Illinois, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for General Hospital (1963), Santa Barbara (1984) and Babylon 5 (1993).- Actress
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In 1976, Alla Korot emigrated to the USA with her parents, Alex and Elena Korot. Korot spent six years touring professionally with Ballet Celeste International, and was crowned California Miss T.E.E.N. at 17. She was the model for Esmerelda in Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", and she has had many guest spots on television shows.- Actress
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After this feisty, highly offbeat actress from Chattanooga, Tennessee, broke into TV in the 1980s, she immediately set herself apart from the norm with a prime role as new owner Bud Cort's female friend in the bizarre mini-movie Bates Motel (1987). This rather inauspicious beginning would also set Lori Petty off on a career as a kinetic fighter and a misfit, types for which she would be best known.
Lori was born on October 14, 1963, and spent her childhood traveling the US with her father, a Pentecostal minister. Her keen talents first lent themselves toward being a graphic artist in Omaha, Nebraska, but an impulsive desire to act quickly took precedence and soon she was off to New York, where she took acting classes and pounded the pavement for jobs.
Going nowhere fast, she eventually headed for Los Angeles and finally found an "in". Following a number of mediocre TV roles, she won a bit of attention on the short-lived series Booker (1989) as a lippy secretary, then hit pay dirt in secondary roles as an outrageous Cyndi Lauper wannabe in Cadillac Man (1990) and as Patrick Swayze's ex-girlfriend/waitress who hooks up with Keanu Reeves in Point Break (1991).
It looked like mainstream stardom might happen for the tomboy actress, especially after getting cast as Geena Davis' bratty baseball-playing sister in the highly successful A League of Their Own (1992). However, while Lori proved to be an intriguing, kooky sort, she also proved more difficult to cast. Such disparate roles as a kind-hearted animal trainer in Free Willy (1993) and the sole female recruit in Pauly Shore's inane comedy In the Army Now (1994) only proved the point.
She seemed bent towards playing scrappy, hard-edged figures alongside the big action guys but started off on the wrong foot when she was replaced by Sandra Bullock in Sylvester Stallone's Demolition Man (1993) due to "artistic differences". She did play a lone female cop in the thriller The Glass Shield (1994), then found her true calling as the bizarre cartoon heroine Tank Girl (1995), which was billed as "a post-apocalyptic comedy." Playing along the same hard lines, Lori portrayed an FBI agent who teams up with a Tokyo policewoman Yûki Amami in the crime thriller Countdown (1996); played a butch lesbian in the social comedy Relax... It's Just Sex (1998); and an aggressive, tough-talking stripper at odds with the Mafia in the potboiler The Arrangement (1999). She ended the decade on TV as Max, a motel clerk, in the crime drama fantasy series Brimstone (1998).
Into the millennium, the crop-haired, tough-as-nails actress continued to take it to the limit. Following roles in the action films Firetrap (2001) and Route 666 (2001), Lori co-starred alongside the similarly tough-styled Gina Gershon in Prey for Rock & Roll (2003) as members of a punk rock band. She later starred in the creature vs. human horror opus Cryptid (2006); had a small part (First Murderer) in a contemporary Hollywood updating of Shakespeare's Richard III (2007); a deputy in the cross-country sports movie Chasing 3000 (2010); a doctor in the horror thriller Dead Awake (2016); a starring role as a lady Marine in Fear, Love, and Agoraphobia (2018); and a campy role in the low-budget horror flick A Deadly Legend (2020).
On TV, Lori would be seen as a guest in such shows as "The Beast," "NYPD Blue," "CSI: NY," "Masters of Horror," "House," "Prison Break," "Hawaii Five-0," and, more notably, in the recurring and amusing role of loony, paranoiac Lolly in the women's prison series Orange Is the New Black (2013). On the other side of the camera, the still-single Lori wrote and directed the film The Poker House (2008) starring Jennifer Lawrence, a re-dramatization of Lori's teenage years in Iowa. The film earned awards at the Los Angeles Film Festival- Actress
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Beatrice "Bebe" Neuwirth is the daughter of Sydney Anne, an artist, and Lee Paul Neuwirth, a mathematician. Born and raised in Princeton, New Jersey, she started out as a dancer. Her New York career started out in "A Chorus Line". She won a Tony Award for her part in "Sweet Charity" and two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for playing Lilith Sternin Crane of Cheers (1982).- Actor
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Finn Wittrock was born in Lenox, Massachusetts. Finn grew up near the stage of Shakespeare and Company, where his father worked. He moved to Los Angeles at 12 years old and attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA). After high school he took a year off and pounded the pavement as an actor, appearing in "ER," "Cold Case," "CSI: Miami" and the unforgettable "Halloweentown High." He then got out of town and attended the Juilliard School, where no one saw him for 4 years. After resurfacing on the daytime soap opera "All My Children" he appeared in Tony Kushners "The Illusion" off Broadway at the Signature Theatre. Mike Nichols attended the play and asked him to audition for the role of Happy in "Death of a Salesman on Broadway." He got the job and thereby made his Broadway debut. Mike Nichols. He returned to Broadway in 2017 with "The Glass Menagerie" starring Sally Field and directed by Sam Gold, after playing Cassio in Sam's production of Othello at New York Theatre Workshop with Daniel Craig and David Oyellowo. He has also appeared at the Goodman Theatre opposite Diane Lane in Tennessee Williams's "Sweet Bird of Youth", directed by David Cromer. Recent films include "Judy," "Semper Fi," "The Last Black Man in San Francisco," "If Beale Street Could Talk," and "The Big Short." He has been nominated for two Emmy Awards: for American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace" as well as " American Horror Story: Freakshow." He has also appeared in the AHS seasons "Hotel," "Roanoke" and "1984." Other films included Winter's Tale (2014), Noah (2014), and Unbroken (2014). He appeared in Masters of Sex (2013) on Showtime as well as The Normal Heart (2014) on HBO. Wittrock originated the role of Damon on All My Children (1970), and has made appearances on shows such as Criminal Minds (2005), Harry's Law (2011), CSI: Miami (2002), Cold Case (2003), and ER (1994). His screenplay The Submarine Kid (2015), which he wrote with lifelong friend Eric Bilitch, has been turned into a film.- Actress
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Olivia Rose Keegan was born in San Rafael, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Gotham Knights (2023), Daisy Jones & The Six (2023) and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019).- Actress
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Kirsten Storms was born on 8 April 1984 in Orlando, Florida, USA. She is an actress, known for Days of Our Lives (1965), Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century (1999) and General Hospital (1963). She was previously married to Brandon Barash.- Actor
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A Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominee, Dylan McDermott has proven his talent in film, television, and theater. He was born Mark Anthony McDermott in Waterbury, Connecticut, to Diane (Marino) and Richard McDermott. Diane was 15 and Richard was 17 when Dylan was born. Richard earned money by hustling pool. Dylan is of Italian (from his maternal grandfather), Irish, English, and French descent. During Dylan's early years, his parents separated. In 1967, when Dylan was five, his mother was murdered by her live-in boyfriend. The murder was initially ruled an accidental shooting occurring while her boyfriend cleaned his gun, but police reopened the case in 2012 and revealed evidence showing it was impossible for her death to be have been accidental. Dylan and his sister Robin, who was then six months old, were taken in by their grandmother, Avis (Rogers) Marino.
When Dylan was 15, his father met and married playwright/activist Eve Ensler. Eve adopted Dylan. Eve encouraged him to go to acting school and Fordham University in New York City. He met his now ex-wife, Shiva Rose, at a coffee shop in Venice, California, on the same day he got a big acting break by being cast in the film In the Line of Fire (1993) with Clint Eastwood. As a result of his connection with Eastwood, Dylan attended a dinner honoring Clint. There, he met Jeffrey Kramer, a man who used to frequent a bar where Dylan had earlier worked. Kramer was, at that time, the president of David E. Kelley Productions. He asked Dylan to meet David E. Kelley for a then-upcoming series about lawyers, The Practice (1997), and the rest is history. The series earned him a Golden Globe in 1999 and nominations in 2000 and 2001, as well as an Emmy nomination in 1999. Another mentor of Dylan is Joanne Woodward, who discovered him while he was doing workshops at the Neighborhood Playhouse.
His film credits include The Messengers (2007), by the Pang brothers (link=nm0659380 and link=nm0161152); Wonderland (2003); Home for the Holidays (1995); Steel Magnolias (1989); Hamburger Hill (1987); Miracle on 34th Street (1994); In the Line of Fire (1993); and Burning Palms (2010). McDermott's television credits include the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced TNT drama Dark Blue (2009) and TNT's dramatic limited series The Grid (2004), opposite Julianna Margulies.
In 2008, McDermott starred in Nicky Silver's "Three Changes" at Playwrights Horizons, starring opposite Maura Tierney. The play follows an uncomfortably married Upper West Side couple. Additionally, in September 2006, McDermott was on stage in Eve Ensler's new play "The Treatment." Ensler's play explored the relationship between a traumatized former military interrogator (McDermott) and his psychologist colonel, who is assigned to give him routine treatment. The play opened the Impact Festival 2006, a New York City-wide arts festival as part of the Culture Project. McDermott was nominated for a Drama League Award for his performance.
McDermott appeared on television in the first season of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk's FX drama American Horror Story (2011), opposite Connie Britton and Jessica Lange.
McDermott co-starred in Jay Roach's comedy The Campaign (2012), opposite Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis. McDermott played Tim Wattley, a political consultant who runs the campaign of a candidate from North Carolina. The Warner Bros. film was released on August 10, 2012. That year, McDermott was also seen in the indie coming-of-age drama The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), alongside Logan Lerman (McDermott played Lerman's character's father), Emma Watson, Paul Rudd, Ezra Miller, and Mae Whitman.
In 2013, McDermott had a supporting role in Antoine Fuqua's Olympus Has Fallen (2013), alongside Aaron Eckhart and Gerard Butler. The film followed a former Secret Service agent who becomes America's only hope when the President is taken hostage by terrorists.
McDermott's additional theatre credits include Neil Simon's production of "Biloxi Blues" on Broadway and "Golden Boy," directed by Joanne Woodward at the Williamstown Theater Festival.- Actress
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Robin Simone Givens was born on November 27, 1964 in New York City, to Ruth (Newby) and Reuben Givens. Her father left his family when Robin was a young girl, and she seldom saw him after that. Robin's mother raised her and her younger sister in Westchester, Connecticut. Her mother (once linked to Yankee outfielder Dave Winfield) always encouraged her children's creativity, and helped them develop an interest in the arts. When she was young, Robin began playing the violin but quickly decided it was not for her. She chose instead to channel her artistic energy through acting and, at the age of ten, she started acting classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. In 1980, at fifteen, Robin enrolled as a freshman at Sarah Lawrence College to study pre-med. By her junior year, however, Robin's excitement about the idea of a career in acting intensified and she began taking her craft more seriously. Robin's first experience in Hollywood was on The Cosby Show (1984), the hottest show on television. As a result of the role, she and comedian Bill Cosby forged a great friendship which would prove instrumental in Robin's career. She also landed a guest appearance on Diff'rent Strokes (1978). Her career was just about to take off. Robin first made it big in Hollywood in 1986. She took a role in a television movie, Beverly Hills Madam (1986), as "April Baxter". But, it was later that year that Robin became a recognizable actress in Hollywood. She was given a role on the television series Head of the Class (1986) as "Darlene Merriman". The series was a comedy about a group of gifted high school students that were placed in an enrichment class. In 1988, Robin married boxing legend Mike Tyson. This union put her into the national spotlight, as Tyson was on the top of his career. He was one of the youngest boxers ever to receive the attention, acclaim and financial success that Tyson garnered. The marriage ended (on Valentine's Day), just a year later. Rumors hinted at abuse and infidelity. Robin gave marriage another chance in 1997, by marrying her tennis instructor Svetozar Marinkovic. The marriage proved a total failure, as the two were separated since the day they married, and Robin filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences". Aside from a successful model and acclaimed actress, Robin is a mother. In October 1999, she gave birth to a baby boy. The baby's father is tennis player Murphy Jensen, but the couple are no longer together. She has another child, and she is raising the two boys today. In 2000, Robin took a controversial career move as she took over for Mother Love on the successful television talk show, Forgive or Forget (1998). Her stint was brief, as just a few months later, the show stopped production. Many point to Mother Love's devoted audience, and the odd dismissal of her from the show she pioneered and created. Robin has tried to forge a friendship with Mother Love, but Love doesn't appear interested. Robin called in during a Howard Stern interview of Mother Love, where she said she was "on her way to work", which although innocent, proved to upset Mother Love.- Actor
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With over 3500 episodes of television under this belt, Eric has been providing "love in the afternoon" for NBC Daytime for the last 18 years. His portrayals of Ethan Winthrop on "Passions" and currently Brady Black on "Days of Our Lives" have resulted in numerous industry accolades. He made daytime history in 2014 by being the first actor ever to win an Emmy in the Best Supporting Actor category for "Days of Our Lives." His television credits expand into primetime (Extant, NCIS, Rizzoli & Isles), and his musical theater repertoire consists of over 40 productions, including his critically acclaimed role as the Pharaoh in the Osmond Broadway Tour of "Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." Fans of the DC Universe will most notably recognize him as Justice League member and futuristic superhero Booster Gold from the CW series "Smallville".- Actor
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Evan Peters was born in 1987 in St. Louis, Missouri to Phil and Julie Peters. When his father's job was transferred, the family moved to Grand Blanc, Michigan. There, Evan began taking acting classes and at age 15, he moved with his mother to Los Angeles in hopes of pursuing a career in the entertainment industry. His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the controversial Tate Langdon in American Horror Story (2011).- Music Artist
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Kelly Brianne Clarkson was born on April 24, 1982 in Fort Worth, Texas and raised in Burleson, Texas to Jeanne Ann Taylor (née Rose), an English teacher & Stephen Michael Clarkson, an engineer. She was the first winner of the series American Idol in 2002. Kelly is also a strong believer in God.- Becky has been in over 60 national commercials. She has been in many TV shows, including "Highway to Heaven", "L.A. Law", "Beverly Hills, 90210", "Step By Step", "Boy Meets World", "Sister Sister", and "Days of our Lives". She had a recurring role, Kristen, on "Brotherly Love". Becky has been seen recently on "Space Cases" as Suzee, before landing the role of Elizabeth "Lizzie" Webber on "General Hospital". At the age of 16, Becky had to make a choice between having a career as a competitive ice-skater, or being an actress. Becky resides in Los Angeles near her family.
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It was after the 1968 Democratic convention and there was a casting call for a film with several roles for the kind of young people who had disrupted the convention. Two recent graduates of Catholic University in Washington DC, went to the audition in New York for Joe (1970). Chris Sarandon, who had studied to be an actor, was passed over. His wife Susan got a major role.
That role was as Susan Compton, the daughter of ad executive Bill Compton (Dennis Patrick). In the movie Dad Bill kills Susan's drug dealer boyfriend and next befriends Joe (Peter Boyle)-- a bigot who works on an assembly line and who collects guns.
Five years later, Sarandon made the film where fans of cult classics have come to know her as Janet, who gets entangled with transvestite Dr. Frank n Furter in The The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). More than 15 years after beginning her career Sarandon at last actively campaigned for a great role, Annie in Bull Durham (1988), flying at her own expense from Rome to Los Angeles. "It was such a wonderful script ... and did away with a lot of myths and challenged the American definition of success", she said. "When I got there, I spent some time with Kevin Costner, kissed some ass at the studio and got back on a plane". Her romance with the Bull Durham (1988)) supporting actor, Tim Robbins, had produced two sons by 1992 and put Sarandon in the position of leaving her domestic paradise only to accept roles that really challenged her. The result was four Academy Award nominations in the 1990s and best actress for Dead Man Walking (1995). Her first Academy Award nomination was for Louis Malle's Atlantic City (1980).- Alicia Leigh Willis was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She is one of four children. Sisters Kimberly and Tiffany, and brother Ryan. Her father is actor David E. Willis. Her mother Leigh, and father David, played Alicia's on-screen parents (Corey Conway's parents) on the WB series 7th Heaven (1996). She is currently a contract player on the ABC daytime drama series, General Hospital (1963), in which she portrays "Courtney Matthews" (since December 2001). She was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for her portrayal in this role in the category of "Outstanding Younger Lead Actress" at the 2003 Daytime Emmy Awards in New York City. Before this role, Alicia was a contract player on the NBC Daytime drama series, Another World (1964). She portrayed fifteen-year-old troubled teen, "Alli Fowler", until the series was canceled after 35 years of production. Alicia currently resides in Los Angeles, California, with her sister, her cat Luey, and dog Sydney.