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- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Alan Ritchson has carved a space for himself on both the large and small screens since he made the trek from a small town in Florida to Los Angeles.
Alan Michael Ritchson was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, to Vickie (Harrell), a high school teacher, and David Ritchson, a U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sergeant. He is of Czech, English, and German descent. Frequently relocating as the middle son of a military family, Alan learned to adapt and entertain in order to build friendships in new and unfamiliar environments. Certainly this has been a key ingredient in his success so far in the industry.
Alan's early credits include portraying Aquaman in the long running series Smallville. This marked the first portrayal of the superhero in an officially licensed live-action production.
Ritchson has also taken on grittier leading man roles in the independent film market with the modern-day western "Rex" and the dramatic love story of "Steam" alongside Ally Sheedy.
In contrast, he also made quite a comedic impression with his love-to-hate-him character of Thad Castle on the football comedy Blue Mountain State. He parlayed his comedic skills to work with Rebel Wilson in her CBS pilot Super Fun Night.
In addition to his acting repertoire, Alan also writes, produces and is a singer/songwriter.
Most recently Alan can be seen as the District 1 victor, Gloss, in Catching Fire; the second installment of the hugely successful Hunger Games franchise. He also portrayed the cool-but-crude Raphael in the Michael Bay produced reboot of TMNT.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is an actress known for her versatile work in a variety of film and television projects. Possibly most known for her role as Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), she has also starred in critically acclaimed independent films such as Smashed (2012), for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination, as well as genre fare like Final Destination 3 (2006) and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof (2007).
Winstead was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina but largely raised in Sandy, Utah, which is where she discovered a love for the performing arts. She grew up training to be a ballerina and attended the Joffrey Ballet School training program at the age of 12. It was also around this time that she began to pursue a career in acting and soon started working steadily in television and film.
Winstead is also a recording artist and performs under the name "Got a Girl" alongside producer Dan the Automotor.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Brittany Leanna Robertson was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Beverly (Hayes) and Ryan Robertson, a restaurateur. She was raised in South Carolina, the oldest of seven children. Her mother's worries about the public school system led to Robertson being home-schooled. She began acting at the Greenville Little Theater in South Carolina, and in her early teens moved to Los Angeles with her grandmother to seek TV and film opportunities. She won roles in various TV projects including Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers (2004). Success continued with appearances in Dan in Real Life (2007), Scream 4 (2011), and the lead roles in two series, Lux in Life Unexpected (2010) and Cassie in The Secret Circle (2011). Britt also starred in the television film Avalon High (2010), opposite Gregg Sulkin, had a supporting role in the Vince Vaughn film Delivery Man (2013), headlined the Nicholas Sparks book adaptation The Longest Ride (2015), opposite Scott Eastwood, and will star with George Clooney in the Brad Bird-directed science fiction adventure Tomorrowland (2015).- Actress
- Art Director
- Producer
Born and raised in North Carolina, Jenn Lyon is an award-winning stage actress who recently made the leap to film and television work. She moved to New York after graduating the North Carolina School of the Arts and has worked extensively in theatre ever since. Theatre highlights include appearing on Broadway in the American premiere of Tom Stoppard's trilogy, "The Coast of Utopia" (11 TONY awards) and Larry David's hit comedy "Fish in the Dark." Her Off-Broadway credits include A.R. Gurney's "The Wayside Motor Inn" (Drama Desk Ensemble Award) and the premiere of Kenneth Lonergan's "Hold on to Me Darling" at the Atlantic Theatre (New York Times Best Plays of 2016). In addition, she has originated roles in world premiere works such as John Guare's "Are You There MacPhee?".
Lyon has shared both stage and screen time with Tim Olyphant in both "Hold On To Me Darling" and as his love interest in FX's "Justified" Seasons 3 and 4, and starred opposite George Lopez and Danny Trejo in the sitcom "Saint George." Other television appearances include "Army Wives", "Louie", and "Crashing" (soon to air on HBO). Film credits include "Phil Spector" with Al Pacino and Helen Mirren, and indies "Flower Shop" and "Lemon". She recently completed production on a film titled "Blaze", directed by Ethan Hawke.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Michael C. Hall was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, to Janice (Styons), a guidance counselor, and William Carlyle Hall, who worked for IBM. Michael is a graduate of NYU's Master of Fine Arts program in acting. He is known for the titular character "Dexter" in Dexter (2006) and as mortician "David Fisher" in Six Feet Under (2001). His most recent performance on Broadway was as "Hedwig" in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch". Previously, Hall portrayed the emcee in "Cabaret", "Billy Flynn" in "Chicago" and "John Jones" in "The Realistic Joneses". Hall has starred in nearly a dozen major off-Broadway plays, including "Macbeth" for the New York Shakespeare Festival, "Cymbeline" for the New York Shakespeare Festival at Central Park's Delacorte Theater, "Timon of Athens" and "Henry V" at the Public, "The English Teachers" for Manhattan Class Company, "Corpus Christi" at the Manhattan Theatre Club, "Mr. Marmalade" with the Roundabout Theatre Company and "Skylight" at the Mark Taper Forum. Michael C. Hall is performing in independent motion pictures, such as Cold in July (2014) and Kill Your Darlings (2013).- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Leslie Louise Bibb was born in Bismarck, North Dakota, on November 17, 1973, and raised in Nelson County, Virginia. Later she and her mother, along with her three older sisters, moved to Richmond, where Leslie attended an all-girls Catholic high school, St. Gertrude.
In 1990 The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986) and the Elite Agency held a nationwide modeling search; Leslie's mother took photos of her then 16-year-old daughter and sent them in. Although Leslie wasn't impressed with the photos, the judges--John Casablancas, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Iman--were, and they picked her as the winner.
After finishing her junior year, Leslie flew to New York City and signed a contract with Elite. She modeled over the summer, and went on a trip to Japan. She returned home for her senior year and graduated in 1992, then decided to forgo a full-time modeling career to attend the University of Virginia. After a single semester, however, she dropped out and moved to New York City. She attended the William Esper acting studio for three years and took nine months off in which she did more modeling in Europe. Her photographs have appeared in such magazine as Maxim and FHM.
Leslie had her first film role in the comedy Private Parts (1997), which was followed by her first television series (where she replaced the departed Susan Walters as the female lead) in the second season of The Big Easy (1996) on USA. Unfortunately, the show was canceled just months later.
In 1999 she appeared as the lead character on the WB Network television series Popular (1999). The show was a success among teenagers, and led Leslie to more recognizable film roles, such as The Skulls (2000) and See Spot Run (2001). Most recently she has appeared as intern Erin Harkins in ER (1994).- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Sir Peter Jackson made history with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, becoming the first person to direct three major feature films simultaneously. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King were nominated for and collected a slew of awards from around the globe, with The Return of the King receiving his most impressive collection of awards. This included three Academy Awards® (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture), two Golden Globes (Best Director and Best Motion Picture-Drama), three BAFTAs (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film and Viewers' Choice), a Directors Guild Award, a Producers Guild Award and a New York Film Critics Circle Award.
As a follow up to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in 2005, Jackson directed, wrote, and produced King Kong, for Universal Pictures. The film grossed over $500 million and won three Oscars®.
Jackson previously received widespread acclaim for his 1994 feature Heavenly Creatures, which received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Screenplay. Other film credits include The Frighteners, starring Michael J. Fox; the adult puppet feature Meet the Feebles; and Braindead, which won 16 international science fiction awards, including the Saturn. Jackson also co-directed the television documentary Forgotten Silver, which also hit the film festival circuit.
Jackson directed the Academy Award®-nominated The Lovely Bones, an adaptation of the acclaimed best-selling novel by Alice Sebold and produced the worldwide sci-fi hit District 9. He was a producer on Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn in 2011, with two more films set to come out in the future.
His most recent films include producer of 2018's action film Mortal Engines, based on a post-apocalyptic world where cities ride on wheels and consume each other to survive. Following Mortal Engines, he produced They Shall Not Grow Old, a documentary on World War I with never-before-seen footage. BAFTA nominated the film for Best Documentary, and it won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing from the Motion Picture Sound Editors.
Jackson's next project is the music documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which he directed and produced, due to be released August, 2021.
Jackson works closely with partner Dame Fran Walsh, with whom he shares his writing and producing credits, as well as a family. Jackson has a special interest in WWI memorabilia and is the proud owner of several aircraft from that era.- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Jessica Yu Li Henwick is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Nymeria Sand in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011), X-wing pilot Jessika Pava in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Colleen Wing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making her debut in the Netflix television series Iron Fist. Her film debut was St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold (2009). She was the first actress of East Asian descent to play the lead role in a British television series, the children's show Spirit Warriors.
Henwick was born and raised in Surrey, the daughter of Pearlyn Goh Kun Shan and Mark Henwick, author of the Bite Back series of novels. Her father, who was born in Zambia, is English, and her mother is Singaporean Chinese. She trained at Redroofs Theatre School and the National Youth Theatre. In June 2009, it was announced that Henwick had been cast in the lead role of Bo for the BBC show Spirit Warriors, making her the first actress of East Asian descent to play the lead role in a British television series. For the role, Henwick trained in wushu with martial arts choreographer Jude Poyer. The show was nominated for several awards, including the Broadcast Awards 2011. In early 2013, Henwick made her professional theatre debut in the international premiere of Running on the Cracks, based on the book by Julia Donaldson. Allan Radcliffe of The Times praised her "excellent" and "understated" performance, while the Guardian wrote, "with tremendous physical presence, Henwick captures the sense of adolescent righteousness, passion and confusion of a girl trying to create order in an unfair universe." Theatre critic Joyce McMillan wrote that Henwick was "outstanding as Leo".
Later that year she was cast as Jane Jeong Trenka in the drama Obsession: Dark Desires, which aired January 2014. The adaptation details Trenka's stalking in Minnesota, 1991, which she details in her book The Language of Blood. Henwick also joined the cast of Silk as new barrister pupil Amy. The series brought in an average of 5 million viewers per episode. She reprised her role for the spin-off radio series Silk: The Clerks' Room and later that year went on to play a young Oxford University student in Inspector Lewis. In 2015 Henwick joined the cast of the HBO series Game of Thrones in Season 5 as Nymeria Sand, with Oscar-nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes and Rosabell Laurenti Sellers playing her sisters. The process included six months of training to use a traditional bullwhip. She continued performing the role until Season 7.
Henwick played the X-wing pilot Jess Pava in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The character's full name is established as Jessika "Testor" Pava in the spin-off novel The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure, which establishes her as an admirer of Luke Skywalker. Despite her limited screen time, the character of Pava has become a fan favorite. Since the release of the film, Pava has appeared as a supporting character in the comic book series Star Wars: Poe Dameron. In 2017, Henwick appeared in the second season of drama series Fortitude, as well as Colleen Wing in the Netflix television series Iron Fist. Although critical reception of Iron Fist was generally negative, Henwick's performance in the series was well received. She reprises the role for the series The Defenders. At the end of 2017, Henwick was listed as one of Variety's Top Breakout Stars of 2017. In 2020, she co-starred in the Fox feature film Underwater.- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Taylor Sheridan is an American actor, screenwriter and director. He is best known for writing the screenplay for 'Sicario' (2015) and 'Hell or high water' (2016), for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
He also starred in the FX television series 'Sons of anarchy' and directed the film 'Wind river,' starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Julianne Moore was born Julie Anne Smith in Fort Bragg, North Carolina on December 3, 1960, the daughter of Anne (Love), a social worker, and Peter Moore Smith, a paratrooper, colonel, and later military judge. Her mother moved to the U.S. in 1951, from Greenock, Scotland. Her father, from Burlington, New Jersey, has German, Irish, Welsh, German-Jewish, and English ancestry.
Moore spent the early years of her life in over two dozen locations around the world with her parents, during her father's military career. She finally found her place at Boston University, where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) degree in acting from the School of the Performing Arts. After graduation (in 1983), She took the stage name "Julianne Moore" because there was another actress named "Julie Anne Smith". Julianne moved to New York and worked extensively in theater, including appearances off-Broadway in two Caryl Churchill plays, Serious Money and Ice Cream With Hot Fudge and as Ophelia in Hamlet at The Guthrie Theatre. But despite her formal training, Julianne fell into the attractive actress' trap of the mid-1980's: TV soaps and miniseries. She appeared briefly in the daytime serial The Edge of Night (1956) and from 1985 to 1988 she played two half-sisters Frannie and Sabrina on the soap As the World Turns (1956). This performance later led to an Outstanding Ingénue Daytime Emmy Award in 1988. Her subsequent appearances were in mostly forgettable TV-movies, such as Money, Power, Murder. (1989), The Last to Go (1991) and Cast a Deadly Spell (1991).
She made her entrance into the big screen with 1990's Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990), where she played the victim of a mummy. Two years later, Julianne appeared in feature films with supporting parts in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) and the comedy The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992). She kept winning better and more powerful roles as time went on, including a small but memorable role as a doctor who spots Kimble Harrison Ford and attempts to thwart his escape in The Fugitive (1993). (A role that made such an impression on Steven Spielberg that he cast her in the Jurassic Park (1993) sequel without an audition in 1997). In one of Moore's most distinguished performances, she recapitulated her "beguiling Yelena" from Andre Gregory's workshop version of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in Louis Malle's critically acclaimed Vanya on 42nd Street (1994). Director Todd Haynes gave Julianne her first opportunity to take on a lead role in Safe (1995). Her portrayal of Carol White, an affluent L.A. housewife who develops an inexplicable allergic reaction to her environment, won critical praise as well as an Independent Spirit Award nomination.
Later that year she found her way into romantic comedy, co-starring as Hugh Grant's pregnant girlfriend in Nine Months (1995). Following films included Assassins (1995), where she played an electronics security expert targeted for death (next to Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas) and Surviving Picasso (1996), where she played Dora Maar, one of the numerous lovers of Picasso (portrayed by her hero, Anthony Hopkins). A year later, after co-starring in Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), opposite Jeff Goldblum, a young and unknown director, Paul Thomas Anderson asked Julianne to appear in his movie, Boogie Nights (1997). Despite her misgivings, she finally was won over by the script and her decision to play the role of Amber Waves, a loving porn star who acts as a mother figure to a ragtag crew, proved to be a wise one, since she received both Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. Julianne started 1998 by playing an erotic artist in The Big Lebowski (1998), continued with a small role in the social comedy Chicago Cab (1997) and ended with a subtle performance in Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho (1960). 1999 had Moore as busy as an actress can be.
As the century closed, Julianne starred in a number of high-profile projects, beginning with Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune (1999) , in which she was cast as the mentally challenged but adorable sister of a decidedly unhinged Glenn Close. A portrayal of the scheming Mrs. Cheveley followed in Oliver Parker's An Ideal Husband (1999) with a number of critics asserting that Moore was the best part of the movie. She then enjoyed another collaboration with director Anderson in Magnolia (1999) and continued with an outstanding performance in The End of the Affair (1999), for which she garnered another Oscar nomination. She ended 1999 with another great performance, that of a grieving mother in A Map of the World (1999), opposite Sigourney Weaver.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Emmy Award-winning actress Jaime Pressly is known for her wide range of film and television roles. Pressly appeared in Welcome to Flatch (2022) from 2022 to 2023. Previously, she played Jill Kendall, opposite Anna Faris and Academy Award winner Allison Janney, on Chuck Lorre's hit CBS comedy Mom (2013).
Before that, Pressly starred as Jennifer Doyle in TV Land's original sitcom Jennifer Falls (2014). The first-ever single camera comedy for TV Land, the show revolved around Jennifer, a former high-powered executive who had fallen from grace and hit every bump on the way down to rock bottom. Best known for her role as Joy Turner, on the hit show "My Name Is Earl," Pressly was nominated for her first Golden Globe and won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2007. Additionally, Jaime was nominated for a SAG Actor Award in both 2006 and 2007, and an Emmy in 2006. She has previously starred the DreamWorks film "I Love You, Man" directed by John Hamburg, opposite Paul Rudd, Jason Segel and Jon Favreau. Other film credits include cult classics such as "Joe Dirt" with David Spade, "Not Another Teen Movie" with Chris Evans, and "Can't Hardly Wait", among others.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Evan Rachel Wood was born September 7, 1987, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her father, Ira David Wood III, is a theatre actor, writer and director, and her mother, Sara Wood, is an actress and acting coach. She has two older brothers--Dana Wood, a musician, and Ira David Wood IV, who has also acted. Evan and her brothers sometimes performed at Theatre In The Park in Raleigh, which her father founded and where he serves as executive director.
At the age of five she screen-tested against Kirsten Dunst for the lead role in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) after a long auditioning process. She moved to Los Angeles with her mom and brother Ira in 1996 and has had success ever since, appearing in a TV series, TV movies and feature films. She has appeared in Practical Magic (1998), starred in the comedy S1m0ne (2002) as Al Pacino's daughter, and followed that with Thirteen (2003), with Holly Hunter. Her breakout role as Tracy in "Thirteen" garnered her a Golden Globes nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture: Drama and for a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role. At the time of this SAG nomination, she was the youngest actress to be nominated in the Leading Role category. She received a Golden Globe and Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie" for her portrayal of Veda Pierce in the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce (2011).
She also earned acclaim for her powerful performance as Stephanie, Mickey Rourke's estranged daughter, in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler (2008).- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Chyler is an actress and singer who currently stars opposite Andie MacDowell in THE WAY HOME for Hallmark. She is well-known for playing "Alex Danvers" in SUPERGIRL for six seasons and "Lexie Grey" in GREY'S ANATOMY. Chyler also reprised her role of "Alex Danvers" in THE FLASH and has been featured in ARROW, DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW, and PRIVATE PRACTICE. Her initial breakout role was playing "Janey Briggs" in NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE, and she has held significant roles in other films such as BRAKE. Chyler also tours with the band EAST OF ELI, where she is featured on their songs. Chyler recently finished a long and successful run as the spokesperson for the BE VOCAL CAMPAIGN, a movement that highlights the importance of advocating for mental health.- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Academy Award, Emmy and Tony Award nominee Brian Tyree Henry is a versatile actor whose career spans film, television and theater. Earlier this year, Henry starred opposite Jennifer Lawrence in A24's "Causeway," which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and is streaming globally on Apple TV+. For his role, Henry earned an Academy Award nomination and was included in Time Magazine's list of 10 best movie performances of the year. He also received the AAFCA Award and Black Reel Award for best supporting actor, a Critics' Choice Award nomination, Film Independent Spirit Award nomination and a Gotham Award nomination.
Henry is most widely known for his starring role in the Emmy, Golden Globe and Peabody Award winning FX series "Atlanta." For four seasons, Henry portrayed Alfred Miles, Atlanta's hot of the moment rapper who has been forced to navigate fame while remaining loyal to family, friends and himself. He received Emmy, SAG, Critics' Choice and MTV Movie & TV Award nominations for his work.
Henry is currently in production on the Apple TV+ series "Sinking Spring," which will be directed by Ridley Scott, and he will also reprise his role in Sony's animated feature "Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, releasing this June. He recently completed production on several projects, including Warner Brother's "Godzilla vs. Kong" sequel, MGM's feature film "Flint Strong" and the FX original limited series "Class Of '09," where he will portray the character of Tayo Michaels, a brilliant and unorthodox FBI agent. The series, releasing this May, examines the nature of justice, humanity and the choices people make that ultimately define their lives and legacy.
In 2022, Henry starred as "Lemon" in Sony's hit feature film "Bullet Train" alongside Brad Pitt and directed by David Leitch. In 2021, Henry starred in four feature films, including Marvel's "Eternals," directed by Chloe Zhao. Henry starred as "Phastos," the intelligent weapons and technology inventor. He also starred in Warner Brothers' blockbuster "Godzilla vs. Kong," in which he portrayed the character of Bernie, a truth seeking podcast host and conspiracy theorist, the indie drama "The Outside Story," in which he received rave reviews for his leading role, and in Netflix's "The Woman in the Window" opposite Amy Adams and Gary Oldman.
In 2018, Henry had a prolific year on the silver screen, starring in a diverse array of feature films. He co-starred in the action thriller "Hotel Artemis" alongside Jodie Foster and Sterling K. Brown, Sony's drama "White Boy Rick" with Matthew McConaughey, director Steve McQueen's thriller "Widows" opposite Viola Davis, Sony's Oscar-winning animated film "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" and Barry Jenkins' "If Beale Street Could Talk," for which he received critical acclaim (NAACP nomination) for his performance as the character "Daniel Carty." In 2019, Henry starred in MGM's "Child's Play," Blumhouse's "Don't Let Go," which premiered at Sundance, and the indie comedy "Fam-i-ly."
Henry's additional film credits include his NAACP nominated role in Netflix's "Vivo," "Superintelligence" with Melissa McCarthy and the indie films "Irreplaceable You," "Puerto Ricans in Paris" and "Crown Heights." On television, he has appeared in numerous shows, including "HouseBroken," Room 104," "Drunk History," "BoJack Horseman," "How To Get Away With Murder," "Vice Principals," "Boardwalk Empire," "The Knick," "The Good Wife" and "Law & Order." In 2017, he guest-starred as "Ricky" on NBC's "This Is Us," for which he earned an Emmy nomination.
Henry originated the role of "The General" in the critically acclaimed Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, for which he received high praise. In Spring 2018, Henry returned to Broadway in Kenneth Lonergan's Tony nominated play Lobby Hero. For his role, he received Tony, Drama Desk and Drama League Award nominations. Henry's wide-range of theater credits include The Fortress of Solitude and The Brother/Sister Plays/The Brothers Size (Helen Hayes Best Actor Nomination) at The Public Theatre, as well as Romeo and Juliet and Talk About Race at New York Stage and Film and The Public.
A graduate of Atlanta's Morehouse College, Henry received his MFA from Yale's School of Drama.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Aldis Hodge is a SAG Award-winning actor, who has built a dynamic career as a versatile performer shining in roles in both film and television. Hodge is perhaps best known for his role as Noah in the WGN hit series Underground (2016), starring alongside Jurnee Smollett and Christopher Meloni. Underground (2016) centers on a group of runaway slaves, aided by a secretly abolitionist couple running a station on the Underground Railroad, as they attempt to evade the people charged with bringing them back.
Hodge was in the Paramount Pictures film What Men Want (2019) starring Taraji P. Henson and Tracy Morgan. The film was produced by Will Packer, directed by Adam Shankman and was released in February 2019. Hodge recently wrapped production on a Showtime pilot produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck entitled City on a Hill (2019), in which he played the co-lead opposite Kevin Bacon. Additionally, he finished work as the title character of the film Brian Banks (2018) alongside Greg Kinnear.
In 2017, Hodge was seen in the critically acclaimed film "Hidden Figures" alongside Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe. The film received three Oscar nominations including Best Picture, two Golden Globe nominations, and, in addition, won a SAG award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture as well as an NAACP Award for Outstanding Motion Picture. Hodge also earned a National Board of Review Award and Palm Springs Film Festival Best Ensemble Award for his role in the film. Also in 2017, Hodge was seen in the third season of the Emmy-winning series Black Mirror (2011). In 2016, Hodge was seen in the Edward Zwick film Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016) with Tom Cruise.
In 2015, Hodge starred in Straight Outta Compton (2015) portraying MC Ren, a member of the pioneering rap group N.W.A. The film captivated audiences all over the world. It was nominated for an Oscar and a SAG Award, and won the NAACP Award for Outstanding Motion Picture.
Hodge became a fan favorite in his role as Alec Hardison in TNT's highly rated television series Leverage (2008), which nabbed a People's Choice Award in 2013. Also in 2013, Hodge was seen in the Fox Searchlight eco-terrorism thriller The East (2013), alongside Alexander Skarsgård, Elliot Page, Patricia Clarkson, and Brit Marling. Directed by Zal Batmanglij, the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Hodge also appeared in Twentieth Century Fox's A Good Day to Die Hard (2013), an installment of the Die Hard (1988) franchise.
Hodge's other television roles include the critically acclaimed series TURN: Washington's Spies (2014), Friday Night Lights (2006), Supernatural (2005), The Walking Dead (2010), Girlfriends (2000), The Blacklist (2013), City of Angels (2000), Bones (2005), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), CSI: Miami (2002), ER (1994), Cold Case (2003), Charmed (1998), and Boston Public (2000).
At the age of three, Hodge began his career when he booked a print job for Essence magazine with his brother Edwin Hodge. He continued to work as a model for print ads and commercials until he made the transition to the screen, when he and his brother were cast on Sesame Street (1969) and later on stage when they joined the Tony-winning revival of "Showboat" on Broadway. During that period, he also appeared in several movies including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Bed of Roses (1996), Edmond (2005), The Ladykillers (2004), and Big Momma's House (2000).
Hodge was born in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and raised in New York, New York. In addition to acting, Hodge writes scripts for film and television, designs luxury timepieces, and is an avid artist and painter. He resides in Los Angeles. 9/18- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Pam Grier was born in Winston-Salem, NC, one of four children of Gwendolyn Sylvia (Samuels), a nurse, and Clarence Ransom Grier Jr., an Air Force mechanic. Pam has been a major African-American star from the early 1970s. Her career started in 1971, when Roger Corman of New World Pictures launched her with The Big Doll House (1971), about a women's penitentiary, and The Big Bird Cage (1972). Her strong role put her into a five-year contract with Samuel Z. Arkoff of American-International Pictures, and she became a leading lady in action films such as Jack Hill's Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974), the comic strip character Friday Foster (1975) and William Girdler's 'Sheba, Baby' (1975). She continued working with American-International, where she portrayed William Marshall's vampire victim in the Blacula (1972) sequel, Scream Blacula Scream (1973).
During the 1980s she became a regular on Miami Vice (1984) and played a supporting role as an evil witch in Ray Bradbury's and Walt Disney Pictures' Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), then returned to action as Steven Seagal's partner in Above the Law (1988). Her most famous role of the 1990s was probably Jackie Brown (1997), directed by Quentin Tarantino, which was an homage to her earlier 1970s action roles, She occasionally did supporting roles, as in Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! (1996), In Too Deep (1999) and a funny performance in Jawbreaker (1999). She also appeared in John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars (2001) and co-starred with Snoop Dogg in Bones (2001). Her entire career of over 30 years has brought only success for this beautiful and talented actress.
A sister of Grier's died from cancer in 1990 and the son of that sister committed suicide because of his mother's illness. Pam herself was diagnosed with cancer in 1988 and given 18 months to live, which has had an effect on how she has chosen to live. She has never been wed, although she has been romantically linked to Richard Pryor and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the past.- Actress
- Producer
Sierra Mccormick was born in Asheville, NC and grew up in Palm Springs, CA. She began performing in film and television at a young age, and had a number of roles on different network TV shows throughout the late 2000s, including Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, Criminal Minds, Supernatural, Monk, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Later, she worked on larger studio films including Land of the Lost and 20th Century Fox's Ramona & Beezus. From 2011 to 2013 she was a series regular on the TV show ANT Farm, and in 2014 starred in the horror film Some Kind of Hate, for which she was nominated for the Fright Meter Award. Following this, she worked in many genre-spanning features including Lionsgate's The Honor List and Lifetime's Sorority Nightmare. She is starring in the upcoming film The Vast of Night, (which won the Slamdance Film Festival audience award and the Overlook Film Festival grand jury prize) as well as the ensemble horror piece V.F.W.- Actress
- Director
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Ariana DeBose is an American actress, dancer, and singer. Known for her performances on stage and screen, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 2022, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
DeBose made her television debut competing on the sixth season of So You Think You Can Dance in 2009, where she finished in the top 20. She then made her Broadway debut in Bring It On: The Musical in 2011 and continued her work on Broadway with roles in Motown: The Musical (2013) and Pippin (2014). From 2015 to 2016, she originated the role of The Bullet in Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical Hamilton, and appeared as Jane in A Bronx Tale (2016-2017). In 2018, she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Donna Summer in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. In 2022, she hosted the 75th Tony Awards.
DeBose appeared in the Netflix musical film The Prom (2020) and the Apple TV+ musical comedy series Schmigadoon! (2021), before gaining widespread recognition for her role as Anita in Steven Spielberg's musical West Side Story (2021). For her performance, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first queer woman of color to receive an Oscar in an acting category.- Actor
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Corbin Bernsen made his initial mark on the seminal television series L.A. Law as opportunistic divorce lawyer "Arnie Becker" earning him multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations over the show's eight-year run. He proved along the way the role was not to be a dead-end stereotype, maintaining a steady career in both television and film over the course of three decades. Moreover, his intent devotion to his career and love for the craft has compelled him in recent years to climb into the producer/writer, and director's chair.
Born in North Hollywood, California, on September 7, 1954, Corbin was raised in and around the entertainment business. The eldest of three children, his father film and television producer Harry Bernsen and mother, veteran actress Jeanne Cooper encouraged him to continue the family tradition. After high school he originally attended UCLA with the intention of pursuing law, but instead, he went on to receive a BFA in Theatre Arts and MFA in Playwriting. He worked on the Equity-waiver L.A. stage circuit as both actor and set designer, making his film debut as a bit player in his father's picture Three the Hard Way. He then set his sights on New York in the late 70s. In the early years he carved out a living as a carpenter building rooftop decks in NYC that still stand to this day. Then in 1983 he landed the role of "Ken Graham" on daytime's Ryan's Hope and he put his tool belt away. This break led to an exclusive deal with NBC and eventually the TV role in L.A. Law. The perks of his "newly-found stardom" on L.A. Law included a hosting stint on Saturday Night Live and the covers of numerous major magazines.
Not one to settle for what he knew could be fleeting comfort, he worked diligently to parlay his small screen success into a diverse resume of feature film roles, both starring and supporting, often enjoying the challenge of portraying unsympathetic characters with an infusion of charm and likability. He co-starred as Shelley Long's egotistical husband in the reincarnation comedy Hello Again; played an equally vain Hollywood star in the musical comedy Bert Rigby, You're a Fool; and starred as a disorganized ringleader of a band of crooks in the bank caper Disorganized Crime. He capped the 1980s decade opposite Charlie Sheen and Tom Berenger in the box office hit Major League, which took advantage of his natural athleticism, playing ballplayer-cum-owner "Roger Dorn". Two sequels followed. Other notable feature film work includes the mystery thriller Shattered, directed by Wolfgang Peterson, which re-teamed him with Tom Berenger, Stephen Frears' Lay The Favorite, and a turn opposite Robert Downey Jr. in Shane Black's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
On the TV front, he has appeared in many MOW's including Line of Fire: The Morris Dees Story as the famed civil rights attorney who founded the Southern Poverty Law Center. Topping it off, Corbin's title role in the horror/ thriller The Dentist for HBO had audiences developing a similar paranoia of tooth doctors as Anthony Perkins invoked decades before to motel clerks. As spurned husband-turned-crazed dentist "Dr. Alan Feinstone", Corbin reached cult horror status. The movie spawned a sequel in which he also served as a producer. Most recently, he has reunited with Dentist director Brian Yuzna on a slate of films exploring similar themes starting with "The Plastic Surgeon."
More recently Bernsen wrapped eight seasons on USA Network's hit series Psych as Henry Spencer playing James Roday's retired cop father who taught his "fake psychic," crime solving son everything he knows.
In 2006 he formed his own production company, Team Cherokee Productions to exert more creative control over his projects and begin exploring material both as writer, director and producer. Today that company has taken root as Home Theater Films, an early player in the Faith and Family film genre. The company has explored a wide variety of themes beginning with the film "Rust" which was distributed by Sony Pictures. With five other films under their belt, including "25 Hill," "Beyond the Heavens," "Christian Mingle" starring Lacey Chabert, and the upcoming "Jesse and Naomi," Home Theater Films has firmly carved a niche and name in this lucrative genre.
Corbin has been happily married (since 1988) to British actress Amanda Pays who most recently be seen on "The Flash." They have appeared together in the sci-fi film Spacejacked and the TV-movies Dead on the Money and The Santa Trap, among others. The couple has four sons. Never one to become complacent or fall prey to the hype - a lesson learned from his mother - he still practices his carpenter skills at home as he continues to write, produce, and direct. Perseverance and dedication has played a large part in his continued success. Having a savvy take-charge approach hasn't hurt either -- characteristics worthy of many of the characters he's explored on screen.- Jennifer Anne Ehle is an American actress, the daughter of English actress Rosemary Harris and American author John Ehle. She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice. For her work on Broadway, she won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for The Real Thing, and the 2007 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for The Coast of Utopia.
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Angie Dickinson was born in Kulm, North Dakota, in 1931, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Brown. Mr. Brown was the publisher of The Kulm Messenger. The family left North Dakota in 1942 when Angie was 11 years old, moving to Burbank, California. In December of 1946, when she was a senior at Bellamarine Jefferson High School in Burbank, she won the Sixth Annual Bill of Rights Contest. Two years later her sister Janet, did likewise. Being the daughter of a printer, Angie at first had visions of becoming a writer, but gave this up after winning her first beauty contest. After finishing college she worked as a secretary in a Burbank airplane parts factory for 3-1/2 years. In 1953 she entered the local Miss America contest one day before the deadline and took second place. In August of the same year she was one of five winners in a beauty contest sponsored by NBC and appeared in several TV variety shows. She got her first bit part in a Warner Brothers movie in 1954 and gained television fame in the TV series The Millionaire (1955) and got her first good film role opposite John Wayne and Dean Martin in Rio Bravo (1959). Her success then climbed until she became one of the nation's top movie stars.- Jessica Barden is an English actress. She is best known for playing Alyssa in Channel 4 series The End of the F***ing World, and the film The Lobster (2015).
She also had small roles in Tamara Drewe (2010), Hanna (2011) and Far from the Madding Crowd (2015).
In 2016 she played Justine in Penny Dreadful.
Her film debut was Mrs. Ratcliffe's Revolution (2007). - Actress
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Christina Chong is an international television and film actress who stars in the CBS series "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" as series regular 'La'an Noonien-Singh,' alongside Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn. The series expanded on the iconic franchise, with six new crew members on the USS Enterprise, alongside its familiar trio of lead characters. The series returns for its second season in June and has already been picked up for a third season. Alongside acting, Christina is now following her musical passion with a debut EP titled "Twin Flames" releasing in August.
For Christina, the focus on equality and diversity in the Star Trek franchise leads back to her own personal journey in Hollywood. Christina is the proud daughter of a Chinese father who immigrated to the UK from Hong Kong and English mother. Her tireless work ethic stems from watching her father working low wage jobs in restaurants, often jobs only immigrants would be willing to take on, and her mother staying at home raising six children. She credits her ability to succeed in the arts to her mother, when despite living in government housing and raising her family on welfare, always managed to support Christina's dreams.
She began in the performing arts at three years old with dance and attended Italia Conti (the UK equivalent to world famous Juilliard) for high school. It was there she cultivated her musical theater and acting skills staring as 'Anita' in West Side Story in her graduation show, before moving to Germany to star in the European premier of the musical Aida, written by Elton John and Tim Rice. To further her career, she moved to New York to study at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. Soon after, she returned to London to pursue her acting career full time.
Her career has seen no bounds to what she can achieve. On the television side she can be seen in hit series such as Netflix's "Black Mirror," BBC America's "Doctor Who," Fox's "24: Live Another Day," "Halo: Nightfall" with Mike Colter, British crime drama "Line of Duty," and ITV's "Grace."
On the film side, she stars in Blockbuster hits such as Universal Pictures' "Johnny English Reborn," Warner Bros.' "Tom & Jerry: The Movie," which was nominated for 'The Family Movie of 2021' award at the People's Choice Awards, "Christmas Eve" with Cheryl Hines and Patrick Stewart, award winning independent feature "W.E." with Oscar Isaac, and "Legacy" with Idris Elba.
Christina's lifelong passion to release original music has emerged in the form of her debut EP titled Twin Flames (August 2023). Comprised of four original songs: "Twin Flames," "No Blame," "Can't Show Love," and "I Get to Choose," listeners are taken on a journey of passion, pain, healing, and self-love during and after a "twin flame" relationship; from meeting to breaking-up to the understanding of what happened, and ultimately finding happiness alone. For the production, Christina worked with Jake Gosling (Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes, Shania Twain), NUUXS (Major Lazer, Diplo), and Matt Brettle (Cat Burns, Ardee) through record label Goldun Egg.
Christina has spent the last decade and half, rediscovering who she is in Hollywood both personally and professionally, working with life coach Michael James. She hopes to share her story of dealing with rejection, personal development, and overcoming adversity with the world. Aside from being in front of the camera, she is writing and producing, drawing from personal experiences to create content that gives hope and inspires.- Actress
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Molly Price was born on 15 December 1966 in North Plainfield, New Jersey, USA. She is an actress, known for How Do You Know (2010), Third Watch (1999) and Sweet and Lowdown (1999). She has been married to Derek Kelly since 13 October 2001. They have one child.- Actress
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Franka Potente was born on 22 July 1974 in the German city of Münster, to Hildegard, a medical assistant, and Dieter Potente, a teacher, and raised in the nearby town of Dülmen. After her graduation in 1994, she went to the Otto-Falckenberg-Schule, a drama school in Munich, but soon broke off to study at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York. After a notable debut in Nach Fünf im Urwald (1995), the role of the heroine in Run Lola Run (1998), directed by her then longtime companion Tom Tykwer was her national breakthrough. After some other successful movies in Germany, she starred in several Hollywood productions, most prominently The Bourne Identity (2002) and The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and lived one year in Los Angeles. After her return to Berlin, she continues working with German and international directors.- Actor
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Joshua David Duhamel was born in Minot, North Dakota. His mother, Bonny L., is a retired high school teacher, and the Executive Director of Minot's Downtown Business & Profession Association, and his father, Larry Duhamel, is an advertisement salesman. Josh has three younger sisters: Ashlee, McKenzee and Kassidy. His ancestry is German, and smaller amounts of Norwegian, French-Canadian, English, Irish, and Austrian (his last name is very common among Francophones in the world). Before his acting career, the football player studied biology and earned his Bachelor's degree at Minot State University with the intention of pursuing dentistry.
At 26 years old, Josh worked in construction, and it was by chance that he got into showbusiness. Modeling eventually gave way to acting as Josh was asked to audition for the title character in The Picture of Dorian Gray (2004), from the novel by Oscar Wilde.
Duhamel can be seen in Vince Gilligan and David Shore's CBS series, "Battle Creek." He is in production on four films: "Lost In The Sun," "Bravetown," "The Wrong Stuff," and "Beyond Deceit."
Duhamel also starred alongside Hillary Swank and Emmy Rossum in the George C. Wolfe directed drama, "You're Not You." Duhamel also starred opposite Julianne Hough in Lasse Hallstrom's "Safe Haven," a drama based on the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks and the thriller "Scenic Route," which tells the story of two friends stranded in the desert. In addition, Duhamel was seen in the star-studded, ensemble comedy "Movie 43" alongside Emma Stone, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Kate Winslet, Richard Gere among many others. Co-directed by Peter Farrelly and Patrik Forsberg, the film features various intertwining, raunchy tales.
Other projects include Garry Marshall's "New Year's Eve" alongside Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert DeNiro, Halle Berry, and Hilary Swank and Michael Bay's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," where he reprised his role of Captain William Lennox for the third installment of the franchise. Additional film credits include the romantic comedy "Life as We Know It" alongside Katherine Heigl, "Ramona and Beezus," "When in Rome" and "The Romantics." On television, Josh is best known for his role as Danny McCoy on the NBC crime drama "Las Vegas." Additionally, he lent his voice to Nickelodeon's Emmy Award-winning animated series "Fanboy & Chum Chum" and starred in several seasons of the long-running ABC soap opera "All My Children," in which he received three consecutive Daytime Emmy nominations.
On January 10 2009, Josh married Fergie Duhamel, better known as Fergie from The Black Eyed Peas. They have one child together, Axl Jack Duhamel. They reside in Los Angeles.- Actress
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Julianna Guill was born on July 7, 1987 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA as Julianna Minetree Guill. Her parents are Ann and Earl Guill. She is one of three children who all grew up singing and acting. She began tap, ballet and jazz dance at an early age, and continued singing in the choir while at R.J. Reynolds High School, from which she graduated in 2005. She also performed in local theater productions, and attended New York University before moving to Los Angeles. Early in her career, she made numerous guest appearances in television series such as One Tree Hill (2003), CSI: Miami (2002), 90210 (2008), How I Met Your Mother (2005), and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000). She also had a regular role in the web television series My Alibi (2008) as Scarlet Haukkson.
She had small roles in the Brian Drolet film 2 Dudes and a Dream (2009) and Fired Up! (2009). She appeared in a leading role of Katy in Road Trip: Beer Pong (2009), which was released straight-to-DVD, and in Friday the 13th (2009). The same year she appeared in MTV's My Super Psycho Sweet 16 (2009). The film was released to mixed reviews from critics and had strong ratings. She also appeared in the independent teen comedy film Costa Rican Summer (2010), and had a lead role in the thriller film Altitude (2010). She also had a recurring role on the TBS series Glory Daze (2010) as Christie Dewitt. Next year, she co-starred in the Steve Carell comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011), and guest starred in the NBC comedy Community (2009) as Head Cheerleader. She also had a role in the Dark Castle production The Apparition (2012).
She also had a recurring role on Underemployed (2012) and a main role on the short lived Bad Samaritans (2013). Her more recent roles include a recurring role on Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce (2014), and lead roles in the dark comedy Killing Poe (2016) and Bad Night (2015). She also guest starred on Rush Hour (2016) and Relationship Status (2016), and had a role as Stark's Assistant in Captain America: Civil War (2016).- Actress
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Joanne was born at Littlebeck, Whitby and educated at Eskdale School, Sleights Pimary and Red Roofs Theatrical School, Berkshire, Her first jobs were at Booths Fine Food Cafe and Alexanders Fish Restaurant in Whitby. She made her television debut in The Bill but became well known when she played Zoe Tattersall in Coronation Street. She was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award for Best Actress for her role in Eyewtness and won the 2010 British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomerfor the film In Our Name. She got Emmy nominations in 2012 and 2014 for Downton Abbey and a Golden Globe Best Actress in 2015- Actress
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Elisabeth Rohm will next be seen in the Roger Ailes biopic FAIR AND BALANCED for Lionsgate and director Jay Roach, portraying Fox News host Martha MacCallum, as well as Ted Melfi's THE STARLING opposite Melissa McCarthy.
Elisabeth recently wrapped production on the Lifetime feature FAMILY PICTURES opposite Justina Machado and previously co-starred in David O. Russell's JOY opposite Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro. This was her second collaboration with David following the huge success of AMERICAN HUSTLE in which she had a pivotal role opposite Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale and Amy Adams (the film won numerous accolades for its ensemble cast including the coveted SAG Award and both films were nominated for Oscars.)
Elisabeth also had a key role in TRIBES OF PALOS VERDES opposite Jennifer Garner for IFC Films and Relativity Media. Other notable film credits include TRAFFICKED with Ashley Judd and GOING UNDER opposite Bruce Willis and Jason Momoa.
Elisabeth also has a rich body of work in the television space notably starring as "Serena Southerlyn" on LAW & ORDER for five seasons and "Kate Lockley" on The WB series ANGEL. More recently, Elisabeth co-starred with Dylan McDermott and Maggie Q on STALKER for CBS and starred opposite Eric Dance on THE LAST SHIP for TNT and Michael Bay. She also had memorable arcs on Will Arnett's Netflix series FLAKED and The CW hit show JANE THE VIRGIN.- Actress
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With a passionate work ethic and an insatiable sense of humor & charm, Jill Wagner is the "American Girl" who's established herself as a widely-recognizable actress and television personality. Her diverse body of work combined with a rapidly growing fan base has demonstrated her appeal to a broad range of audiences who can easily relate to her approachable wit and down-to-earth personality. With a career that successfully stretches between acting and hosting endeavors, there are few artists who have been able to effectively transition back-and-forth between the two. With global recognition and achievement, Jill has broken down barriers in her inherent ability to do both. Always enthusiastic and whole-hearted about the subject matter she pursues, Jill partnered-up with renowned producer / writer / director Taylor Sheridan as executive producer and actress in the new female-led series, Special Ops: Lioness. Jill teams up with co-star and executive producer Zoe Saldana and Oscar winning actress and executive producer Nicole Kidman in this global spy thriller. As an actress with diverse talent who has been consistently featured in various genres in film & television for nearly two decades, Jill's illustrious range of work has not only solidified her as a dominant name and presence in the entertainment industry, but has earned her unwavering respect and acclaim. Starring opposite Jason Momoa, Jill appeared in the breakout independent film, Braven. Earlier in her acting career, Jill made an impactful and celebrated debut in the award-winning horror film, Splinter, starring opposite Shea Whigman. The film is a disturbing yet masterfully crafted horror feature in which Jill showcased her ability to carry top billing in a feature film and earned her a cult following. As a dominant presence in front of the camera, Jill also starred in MTV's hit series, Teen Wolf. Jill played the role of Kate Argent, who was one of the primary antagonists featured throughout the show's first four seasons. With her popularity having soared on the series, coupled with her natural instincts as a television host, Jill was presented with the opportunity to host Teen Wolf's after-show, Wolf Watch. Jill's natural skill and ability to improv is what paved the path for her to make her mark in Hollywood, when she was cast as the first female regular sketch performer on MTV's hit television series, Punk'd, opposite Ashton Kutcher. As is relevant to both her cinematic story and personal life - family and faith are Jill's most valued priorities. There was a very special and unique relationship Jill had with her paternal grandmother, who helped raise Jill as a child. As Jill's career continued to blossom, opportunities from The Hallmark Channel soon began to present themselves. Jill would seek her grandmother's advice on which projects would be the most appropriate to pursue. Jill stated, "My grandma loves to watch these kinds of films, so the two of us made an agreement. Whenever any of these scripts come my way I'll send them to her, and if she likes them, I'll do them. I do these films for her." And, it was this value that launched and continues to drive Jill's ongoing roles in The Hallmark Channel's catalog of movies, including fan favorites Autumn Dreams; Christmas Cookies; A Harvest Wedding; Karen Kingsbury's Maggie's Christmas Miracle; Pearl in Paradise; and, Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa. As Jill became a widely-recognized talent within the Hallmark platforms, her movies became some of the highest rated films and series on the network. This has led to her continued success with featured roles in additional Hallmark Channel television movies and mysteries, including, Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses; Mystery 101, which was the highest rated mystery series on The Hallmark Channel; Hearts of Winter; The Angel Tree; and, A Christmas Miracle for Daisy, which was the second highest rated movie for the recently launched GAC Family network. Hosting was a natural fit for Jill as she embraced this role for some of the most widely popular network television shows, including the INSP TV series, Handcrafted America. In this inspirational series, Jill traveled the country in search of talented artisans who continue to make sought-after products the traditional way: with their own two hands. Jill's energetic, infectious and unique style of getting to the heart of the story was undoubtedly a significant reason why the series had sustained success for three seasons. Paving the way for Jill's hosting spotlight was solidified when she spent a remarkable seven seasons on ABC's hit reality game show, Wipeout. Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Jill and her brother were raised by their father, a former U.S. Marine and local tire shop owner. During her younger years, her father and grandmother instilled an ever-present value system which was designed to build a strong and solid foundation around family and support. Through this upbringing, Jill continues to carry the Wagner approach of providing great respect, care and love in how she cherishes and defines her faith and 'family values'. Jill and her husband are living the life they dream - raising their three young daughters on their historical working farm in Tennessee. It is there that Jill and her family raise cattle, grow crops, remain connected to nature and find their balance experiencing life through a farming community. Jill attended North Carolina State University, from which she graduated cum laude with a degree in business. As an active woman passionately dedicated to a regularly intense & challenging fitness regime, Jill has often stated, "There's nothing better than cranking some classic rock in my headphones and hiking up a mountain." And, whether she is climbing a mountain or taking on new experiences and roles as one of Hollywood's most dynamic and multi-talented artists, this All-American Girl's message remains the same: "It's the view from the top that makes it all worthwhile." Jill has also dedicated her life to being enthusiastically involved in 'giving back'. As a daughter to a military veteran, Jill has often paid homage to her father and countless veterans by traveling to different parts of the world, including Afghanistan, in support of the troops. Jill is also very passionate and dedicated to her causes with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Her untiring campaign within her own charity, "Jill's Closet for a Cure", continues to raise money and awareness to help find a cure for these diseases that have touched the lives of so many people, including her own family.- Actor
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Zach Galifianakis was born in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, to Mary Frances (Cashion), who owned a community arts center, and Harry Galifianakis, a heating oil vendor. His father is of Greek descent and his mother is of mostly English and Scottish ancestry. Zach moved to New York City after failing his last college class by one point. Zach got his start performing his brand of humor in the back of a hamburger joint in Times Square. He toured the country, performing in coffee shops and universities.
After more than a decade performing stand-up and making both television and film appearances, Zach broke through to wider recognition with his co-starring role as "Alan Garner", in the comedy mega-hit, The Hangover (2009). Later that year, he played a large role in the CGI-heavy kids movie, G-Force (2009), and then appeared in memorable supporting parts in the films, Up in the Air (2009) (as a laid-off employee), Youth in Revolt (2009) (as a loutish stepfather), and Dinner for Schmucks (2010), as one of the title characters. More recently, he co-starred with Keir Gilchrist in the teen dramedy, It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010), with Robert Downey Jr. in the road trip comedy, Due Date (2010), and alongside Will Ferrell in the political spoof, The Campaign (2012). He also voiced "Humpty Dumpty" in the animated film, Puss in Boots (2011), and reprised his character in both The Hangover Part II (2011) and The Hangover Part III (2013). In 2014, he appeared in the winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), and in 2016, he starred in the comedies Masterminds (2015) and Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016), released three weeks apart.
When not performing and acting, Zach spends time at his home in the mountains of his native North Carolina, where he hopes to open a writer's retreat on a completely self-sustained farm.- Actress
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Dame Judi Dench was born Judith Olivia Dench in York, England, to Eleanora Olive (Jones), who was from Dublin, Ireland, and Reginald Arthur Dench, a doctor from Dorset, England. She attended Mount School in York, and studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, and at Old Vic Theatre. She is a ten-time BAFTA winner including Best Actress in a Comedy Series for A Fine Romance (1981) in which she appeared with her husband, Michael Williams, and Best Supporting Actress in A Handful of Dust (1988) and A Room with a View (1985). She received an ACE award for her performance in the television series Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill (1985). She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1970, a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1988 and a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in 2005.- Emily Procter is a native of Raleigh, N.C. who attended East Carolina University. "I tried to get in the theatre department," she says, "but it was full." After graduation, however, she moved to Los Angeles and landed a number of small roles in films such as Jerry Maguire (1996). "Then I got the chance to audition for The West Wing (1999) and I got the part," she says.
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Reneé Rapp was born on 10 January 2000 in Huntersville, North Carolina, USA. She is an actress and composer, known for Mean Girls (2024), Reneé Rapp: Talk Too Much (2023) and Reneé Rapp: Snow Angel (2023).- Actor
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Louis Hofmann was born in the Bensberg district of Bergisch Gladbach, and grew up in Cologne.
His first appearance on TV was for Servicezeit (1997), an evening magazine program on WDR Fernsehen television network. 2 years later, he decided to become an actor and applied to an acting agency and was subsequently represented by Agentur Schwarz.
Hofmann guest-starred in legal comedy-drama Danni Lowinski (2010) and television series Der verlorene Vater (2010). He also appeared in the television film Tod in Istanbul (2010) and the TV series Alarm für Cobra 11 - Die Autobahnpolizei (1996)
Hofmann's first cinematic leading role was in the Tom Sawyer (2011) by director Hermine Huntgeburth's adaptation of Mark Twain's classic novel. Along with Leon Seidel, who played the role of Huck Finn, he sang on the soundtrack of the film in the song, "Barfuß Gehen" ("Going Barefoot"), and represented the same character in The Adventures of Huck Finn (2012).
In 2013, Hofmann played a guest-starring role in an episode of the television series Stolberg (2006). Beginning on 24 October 2013 Hofmann appeared in the comedy The Almost Perfect Man (2013)
His role as Wolfgang in film Sanctuary (2015) earned him the 2015 Bavarian Film Prize as Best Newcomer Actor and the 2016 German Actors Award (Deutscher Schauspielerpreis) in the newcomer category. His first international role as a German prisoner of war in the Danish-German co-production Land of Mine (2015) (Danish: Under sandet) earned him the Best Supporting Actor prize at Denmark's Bodil Awards in 2016. At the 2016 German Film Awards, he received with the Special Prize Jaeger-LeCoultre Homage to German Cinema presented to honor the work of German actors in international films.
In 2016, Hofmann played Phil in Center of My World (2016), a coming-of-age romantic drama film directed by Jakob M. Erwa, based on the 1998 bestselling novel The Centre of the World by Andreas Steinhöfel. He was presented with a European Shooting Stars Award at Berlinale 2017 by the European Film Promotion organization.
He was cast as Jonas Kahnwald in Dark (2017), a science fiction thriller released on Netflix on 1 December 2017 and followed with two seasons. Dark (2017) project was one of four projects he played in a single year, two of them in English.
He played the lead role in the German film Prelude (2019). The film tells about the piano student David, who is going through the torments of first love. Hofmann himself described this picture as "a mixture of the films Whiplash and Black Swan". In an interview, he admitted that only after this film he realized what character parts he is drawn to: to a dramatic, suffering character overwhelmed by life circumstances.- Faye Marsay was born on 30 December 1986 in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Game of Thrones (2011), Pride (2014) and Andor (2022).
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Born in Asheville, North Carolina, Bellamy is a graduate of Yale University. She also studied at Oxford University in England. In New York, she starred on Broadway as Mary in Cy Coleman's "The Life" and also as Meg in the revival of Stephen Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along". Other notable theater credits include Margaret in the world premiere of Randy Newman's "Faust" and LouAnn in the world premiere of Lanford Wilson's "Book of Days".- Actress
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Meredith Kathleen Hagner is an American actress. She began her career portraying Liberty Ciccone on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns (2008-2010), which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series in 2009. Following her departure from As the World Turns, she appeared as a series regular on the FX drama Lights Out (2011) and the TBS sitcom Men at Work (2012-2014).- Actress
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Sharon Lawrence grew up in North Carolina (Charlotte and Raleigh), graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in Journalism and spent her college summers doing musicals in summer stock. She became an Actors Equity Member in 1984 and a SAG-AFTRA member in 1987. She may be best known for her multiply Emmy Award-nominated and SAG Award-winning portrayal of ADA Sylvia Costas Sipowicz in NYPD Blue. She also played, among many roles, a stay-at-home prostitute in Desperate Housewives, a charming but murderous realtor on Monk, the twisted jailbird mother of a sociopath on Criminal Minds, a serial killer on Law and Order: SVU, and a mother coming to terms with her long-lost daughter on Rizzoli & Isles -- not to mention bantering with Alfred Molina on Ladies Man or beating up Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm.
More recent work includes Blunt Talk (opposite Sir Patrick Stewart) and an arc on NBC's Game Of Silence. Recent film includes Solace (opposite Sir Anthony Hopkins), Of Music and Mind (with Joaquim de Almeida and Aunjanue Ellis), and the award-winning The Bridge Partner (with Beth Grant).
An accomplished stage actress, Lawrence played twenty different female characters in the Noel Coward cabaret, Love, Noel at the Wallis. Lawrence starred in Sir Noel Coward's final play, A Song at Twilight, at the Pasadena Playhouse, and as Vivien Leigh in Orson's Shadow (winner LA Drama Critics Circle Award, nominated for Ovation Award). At the Mark Taper Forum, she created the role of Maureen in the premiere of Theresa Rebeck's Poor Behavior and was featured Carl Reiner's gala, Enter Laughing. Her Broadway credits include revivals of Cabaret, Fiddler On The Roof and Chicago (as Velma Kelly).
A former Chair of Women In Film Foundation, she is affiliated with the Board of Directors of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation as well as WeForShe.org, HealTheBay.org and UNC-Chapel Hill General Alumni Association.- Bruce Spence was born on September 17, 1945 in New Zealand. When he was growing up in Henderson, just out of Auckland, the last thing he ever expected to be was an actor. Bruce's family were winemakers, and he worked in the family winery from a very tender age, later attending Henderson High School then Massey University, where he studied horticulture. From this background he retained a passion for growing things, and has created a succession of beautiful gardens for himself and friends. At 20, Bruce moved to Australia, where to his surprise he was accepted into the National Gallery of Victoria Art School. Bruce's mother, Olga, was a painter and potter. In 1969 Bruce joined a ragtag group working at the tiny La Mama theatre in Melbourne. The group became the revolutionary Australian Performing Group, and Bruce's talent for acting was discovered. Forced to choose between art and acting, he decided to try his luck at the latter. He went on to perform in numerous plays with the group, then the Melbourne Theatre Company, the Sydney Theatre Company, the South Australian Theatre Company and several other companies, even the National Arts Centre of Canada where he played the lead in the award-winning "The Floating World" by John Romeril. He now lives in Sydney, where his recent acting credits with the Sydney Theatre Company include "The Secret River", "The Harp in the South", "Endgame" and "Rules for Living". Bruce has appeared in close to 100 films, including Mad Max 2 ("The Road Warrior") and 3 ("Beyond Thunderdome"), "Ace Ventura" Part II, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith", "Finding Nemo", "The Matrix Revolutions" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell no Tales". He has also appeared in numerous television roles. When starring as the wizard Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander in the cult series "Legend of the Seeker", which was filmed in New Zealand, Bruce found he had come full circle, working directly opposite his old high school in Henderson. At home in Sydney he lives quietly with his wife, Jenny and an adoring tabby cat. They have two children and four grandchildren. Between jobs Bruce works on his own burgeoning garden and as a volunteer at the Royal Botanic Garden, where he and his group propagate plants. He is also currently chair of the NSW Actors' Benevolent Fund.
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Actor and model Kellan Lutz was born in Dickinson, North Dakota, to Karla (Theesfeld) and Bradley Lutz. He has six brothers and a sister, and is of German, as well as smaller amounts of English, Swedish, and Dutch, descent. As a child, his family moved around, and he grew up in North Dakota, the Midwest and Arizona. Upon high school graduation, Lutz relocated to California to attend Chapman University and study Chemical Engineering, but left in order to pursue a career in acting.
Lutz had picked up a few modeling jobs as a teenager, but got his first TV break with a small role in The Bold and the Beautiful (1987) in 2004. More television success followed, including parts in The Comeback (2005) and Generation Kill (2008). He was also cast in some film roles, including Accepted (2006) and Prom Night (2008), but his major break came in 2008 when he won the role of vampire Emmett Cullen in the smash hit Twilight (2008), and its subsequent sequels.- Actor
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Robert Duncan McNeill was born on November 9, 1964 in North Carolina, but raised in Washington, D.C. until his family finally settled down in Atlanta, Georgia. Later, he attended a local high school and, after he graduated, he moved to New York City and enrolled at Juilliard where he spent two years studying the trade. While he was attending Juilliard, he got the role of "Charlie Brent" on the popular ABC daytime drama All My Children (1970). He has also been on many TV shows and movies - including popular shows such as The Twilight Zone (1985), L.A. Law (1986), Sisters (1991), Murder, She Wrote (1984), The Outer Limits (1995), Crossing Jordan (2001), Star Trek: Voyager (1995), Lucky Chances (1990), Homefront (1991), Going to Extremes (1992), among others. After he left All My Children (1970), he landed a role in Stephen Sondheim's Broadway musical "Into the Woods". His theater background also includes performances in "The Fantastiks - The Boy", "Lucy's Lapses", "Romeo and Juliet", "Six Degrees of Separation", "The Family of Mann", "The Four-H Club", among others.
McNeill's television experience also includes roles in a number of movies such as Masters of the Universe (1987), Mothers, Daughters and Lovers (1989), Spies (1993), One More Mountain (1994), Infested (2002). He made his directorial debut on Star Trek: Voyager (1995) and continued on shows such as Dawson's Creek (1998), 9mm of Love (2000), The Battery (1998), Star Trek: Enterprise (2001), Dead Like Me (2003), among others.- Actor
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Dean Robert Stockwell grew up in North Hollywood, the son of Broadway performers Harry Stockwell and Elizabeth "Betty" Stockwell (née Veronica). His vaudevillian father was a replacement Curly in the original production of "Oklahoma!". He was also a decent tenor whose voice was used for the part of Prince Charming in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Dean's mother was a one-time Broadway chorine who used the stage moniker "Betty Veronica." His older brother was the actor Guy Stockwell.
At the age of seven, Dean made his stage debut in a Theater Guild production of Paul Osborn's The Innocent Voyage, in which his brother was also cast. The play ran for nine month. Dean was eventually spotted by a talent scout, and, on the strength of his performance, was signed by MGM in 1945. Under contract until 1947 (and again from 1949 to 1950), Stockwell became a highly sought-after child star in films like Anchors Aweigh (1945), with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, The Green Years (1946) and Song of the Thin Man (1947). His impish, dimpled looks and tousled brown hair combined with genuine acting talent kept him on the box office front line for more than a decade. Having won a Golden Globe Award as Best Juvenile Actor for Gentleman's Agreement (1947) (on loan-out to 20th Century Fox), Stockwell went on to play the title role in an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's Kim (1950). He came to admire his co-star Errol Flynn as a sort of role model. Thereafter, Stockwell segued into television for several years until resurfacing as a mature actor in Richard Fleischer's Compulsion (1959), (based on the infamous Leopold & Loeb murder case), co-starring with Bradford Dillman as one of the two young killers, and Orson Welles. He had already played the part on Broadway in 1957, on this occasion partnering Roddy McDowall. His last film role of note in the early 60s was as Edmund Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962). Despite developing a drinking problem on the set (for which he was chastised by Katharine Hepburn), Stockwell gave a solid performance which he later described as a career highlight.
Stockwell dropped out of show biz for some time in the 60s to join the hippie scene at which time he befriended Neil Young and Dennis Hopper. Later in the decade, he made a gleeful comeback in low budget psychedelic counterculture (Psych-Out (1968)) biker films (The Loners (1972)) and horror comedies (The Werewolf of Washington (1973)). Keeping a considerably lower profile during the 70s, he became a frequent TV guest star in popular crime dramas like Mannix (1967), Columbo (1971) The Streets of San Francisco (1972) and Police Story (1973). By the early 80s, work opportunities had become scarcer and Stockwell was compelled to briefly sideline as a real estate broker. He nonetheless managed to make a comeback with a co-starring role in the Wim Wenders road movie Paris, Texas (1984). New York Times reviewer Vincent Canby wrote of his performance "Mr. Stockwell, the former child star, has aged very well, becoming an exceptionally interesting, mature actor." Stockwell subsequently enjoyed high billing in David Lynch's noirish psycho-thriller Blue Velvet (1986) and received an Oscar nomination for his Mafia don Tony "The Tiger" Russo in Married to the Mob (1988). His television career also flourished, as cigar-smoking, womanizing rear admiral Al Calavicci in the popular science fiction series Quantum Leap (1989). The role won him a Golden Globe Award in 1990 and a new generation of fans. When the show ended after five seasons, Stockwell remained gainfully employed for another decade, still frequently seen as political or military authority figures (Navy Secretary Edward Sheffield in JAG (1995), Defence Secretary Walter Dean in Air Force One (1997)) or evil alien antagonists (Colonel Grat in Star Trek: Enterprise (2001), humanoid Cylon John Cavil in Battlestar Galactica (2004)).
Outside of acting, Stockwell embraced environmental issues and exhibited works of art, notably collages and sculptures. In 2015, he was forced to retire from acting after suffering a stroke. Stockwell died on November 7, 2021 due to natural causes at the age of 85.- Preeti Desai is a British actress, model, and former Miss Great Britain of Gujarati Indian descent. She made history by becoming the first woman of Indian origin to win the title. Known for starring in Damien Chazelle's 2020 film The Stunt Double commissioned by Apple Desai made her acting debut with acclaimed film Shor in the City (2011) and was nominated for Best Lead Actress at the South Asian Rising Star Film Awards in New York City. Desai is listed as the Times of India's 50 Most Desirable Women and People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People
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Temuera Derek Morrison is a New Zealand actor.
After training in drama under the New Zealand Special Performing Arts Training Scheme. One of his earliest starring roles was in the 1988 film Never Say Die, opposite Lisa Eilbacher. In 1994, he received attention for his role as the violent and abusive Maori husband Jake "The Muss" Heke in Once Were Warriors, a film adaptation of Alan Duff's novel of the same name. The film became the most successful local title released in New Zealand, and sold to many countries overseas. The role won him international acclaim and he received the award for best male performance in a dramatic role at the 1994 New Zealand Film and Television Awards. He reprised the role in the sequel, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, for which he received the Best Actor award from the New Zealand Film Awards. Despite the acclaim he received for his performance, Morrison said in 2010 that he felt typecast by the role, to the point that it was "a millstone round my neck".
In 1996, Morrison played opposite Marlon Brando in The Island Of Dr. Moreau. He has appeared in supporting roles in Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) and The Beautiful Country (2004). In 1988 he got to show some comic flair in the James Bond parody Never Say Die. In 2005, Morrison became the host of the talk show The Tem Show on New Zealand television.
In the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honours, Morrison was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to drama.
He started writing an autobiography in 2009, which he hoped would inspire others to "reach for the stars".
He released his debut album, Tem, through Sony Music Entertainment NZ in late November 2014. The album consists of covers of songs that his father, and uncle Sir Howard Morrison, used to perform at local venues when he was growing up.
Morrison has gained attention for his role as the bounty hunter Jango Fett in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002). Part of the film's plot involves an army of clones created with Jango's DNA; Morrison also provided the voice acting for the clones.[7] He reappeared as a number of clones in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, and re-recorded the lines of the character Boba Fett (Jango's "son") and another clone in the 2004 DVD re-releases of the original Star Wars trilogy, replacing the voice of Jason Wingreen.
Most recently, he became known for voicing Chief Tui, the father of the title character in Disney's Moana (2016). Morrison is currently playing Aquaman's father in the Warner Bros. Feature Aquaman 1 & 2.- Amanda Abbington was born on 28 February 1974 in North London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Sherlock (2010), Crooked House (2017) and After You've Gone (2007).
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Liz Vassey began acting at the age of nine, performing in over fifty musicals and plays. She moved to New York at the age of sixteen to join the cast of All My Children. For her work on that show, she was nominated for her first Daytime Emmy. Since then, Liz has appeared as a regular or recurring character on twelve television shows including ER, Maximum Bob, Necessary Roughness, Brotherly Love, Push Nevada, Two and a Half Men, FOX's live action version of The Tick, and, most recently, Season Two of The Tick reboot on Amazon. But she is probably best known for her five year run on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as DNA technician "Wendy Simms." Liz has also guest starred on many TV shows, starred in many pilots, and appeared in several films. In addition to acting, Liz is an accomplished writer. She co-wrote an episode of CSI during her last season, and has since sold six television pilots and a TV movie, developing for such networks and studios as NBC, Freeform, Universal, Netflix, and CW. An avid runner, Liz recently made her directorial debut with the newly released documentary feature, The Human Race, which focuses on runners over the age of fifty. Liz lives in Hollywood with her husband, David Emmerichs, and their combined brood of way too many pets.- Actress
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Tatyana Marisol Ali was born on January 24, 1979, in North Bellmore, New York, to Sonia, a nurse from Panama, and Sheriff Ali, a retired police officer from Trinidad. At the age of four, she started singing and got a taste of fame when she begged her mother to take her to an audition for Sesame Street (1969).
She went on to perform in many productions in her native New York, including the Broadway show "Fences"--with James Earl Jones and, later, Billy Dee Williams--and the off-Broadway show "Orfeo del Campo". When she was seven, she appeared on Star Search (1983) and won twice, receiving a four-star rating when she appeared for a second time. At age 11, Tatyana moved from New York to Los Angeles to establish her career and, not long afterwards, got her breakthrough role:Will Smith's cousin, "Ashley Banks," from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990).
While filming "The Fresh Prince," she also had exciting side projects, including guest roles in television shows such as The Cosby Show (1984), The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1989) (aka "The Mickey Mouse Club"), Kyno's Storytime (1992), Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990) and Foster's Field Trip (1994).
The public saw her grow on "Fresh Prince" from an adorable little girl to a stunning young woman, and she sang in several episodes of the show, most notably her rendition of Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and an original song, "Make Up Your Mind." Smith was so impressed with her singing that he asked if she would consider doing it professionally. Tatyana began preparing for her singing career during the last year of the show as she began training her vocal cords, recording demos and publicly performing on television and in various informal live concerts. Her performances on "The Fresh Prince" actually helped her build a fan base that anxiously waited for her first album launch. On August 25, she released her album "Kiss the Sky" (MJJ Music/Work/SME) and her single "Daydreamin'." The single was certified gold within weeks of its release, and it quickly rose on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles, where it reached #6 and stayed there for two weeks. She also contributed to major movies such as Crocodile Dundee II (1988) and Eddie Murphy: Raw (1987). Since then, she has had significant roles in two films, Fall Into Darkness (1996) and Fakin' Da Funk (1997). She has also guest-starred in several sitcoms, including In the House (1995), and had a cameo role in the film Kiss the Girls (1997). She also went to Harvard and graduated with a degree in Anthropology in June 2002. She is now working on a new album and starring in more movies.- Actress
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Ava Lavina Gardner was born on December 24, 1922 in Grabtown, North Carolina, to Mary Elizabeth (née Baker) and Jonas Bailey Gardner. Born on a tobacco farm, where she got her lifelong love of earthy language and going barefoot, Ava grew up in the rural South. At age 18, her picture in the window of her brother-in- law's New York photo studio brought her to the attention of MGM, leading quickly to Hollywood and a film contract based strictly on her beauty. With zero acting experience, her first 17 film roles, 1942-1945, were one-line bits or little better. After her first starring role in B-grade Whistle Stop (1946), MGM loaned her to Universal for her first outstanding film The Killers (1946). Few of her best films were made at MGM which, keeping her under contract for 17 years, used her popularity to sell many mediocre films. Perhaps as a result, she never believed in her own acting ability, but her latent talent shone brightly when brought out by a superior director, as with John Ford in Mogambo (1953) and George Cukor in Bhowani Junction (1956).
After three failed marriages, dissatisfaction with Hollywood life prompted Ava to move to Spain in 1955; most of her subsequent films were made abroad. By this time, stardom had made the country girl a cosmopolitan, but she never overcame a deep insecurity about acting and life in the spotlight. Her last quality starring film role was in The Night of the Iguana (1964), her later work being (as she said) strictly "for the loot". In 1968, tax trouble in Spain prompted a move to London, where she spent her last 22 years in reasonable comfort. Her film career did not bring her great fulfillment, but her looks may have made it inevitable; many fans still consider her the most beautiful actress in Hollywood history. Ava Gardner died at age 67 of bronchial pneumonia on January 25, 1990 in Westminister, London, England.- Actress
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Sheridan Smith was born on 25 June 1981 and grew up in Epworth. While Sheridan was growing up, her parents, Colin and Marilyn, performed as a Country and Western duo called The Daltons and it wasn't long before Sheridan got into it. She was dancing from the age of 4 and singing with her parents when she was about 7. At 14 she made her professional debut in the production of Annie, playing the lead role. She then went on to star in many big stage roles such as: The Go-Between, Little Red Riding Hood in the 1998 Donmar Warehouse production of Into The Woods, Talullah in National Youth Theatre's production of Bugsy Malone, Doll the Moll in Tin Pan Ali, Mrs Hardcastle in The Kissing Dance or She Stoops To Conquer, Pendragon and Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz.
Sheridan appeared on Blue Peter, Newsround, Children in Need, Olivier Awards and Theatreland with the NYMT (National Youth Music Theatre) of which she was a member.
Sheridan's first TV appearance came in 1999 when she played Matilda in ITV's Dark Ages (1999). Since then Sheridan has made many guest appearances, including roles in Wives and Daughters, Anchor Me, Peaches, Hawk, Heartbeat, Doctors, Where the Heart Is (1997), Holby City, Blood Strangers, Fat Friends, The Royal, Mile High and The Bill.
She is perhaps best known for her roles in The Royle Family (1998) from 1999-2000 were she played Emma, Anthony Royle's (Ralf Little) girlfriend, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (2001), again playing Ralf's girlfriend, and Rudi in three series of Gavin & Stacey (2007).
Sheridan lives in London with flatmate Jason. Her brother Damien is a member of the band Indie Manned.