James Woods

biography: James Howard Woods (born April 18, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for starring in films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Salvador, Nixon, Ghosts of Mississippi, Casino, and Hercules, as well as in the television legal drama Shark. He has won two Emmy Awards, and earned two Academy Award nominations.

place_of_birth: Vernal, Utah, USA


Elizabeth McGovern

type: Profile

biography:
Elizabeth McGovern (born July 18, 1961) is an American film, television, and theater actress.

In 1980, while studying at Juilliard, McGovern was offered a part in her first film, Ordinary People, in which she played the girlfriend of troubled teenager Timothy Hutton.

The following year she completed her education as an actress at the American Conservatory Theatre and at The Juilliard School, and began to appear in plays, first Off-Broadway and later in famous theaters.

In 1981, she earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Evelyn Nesbit in the film Ragtime.

In 1984, she starred in Sergio Leone's gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America as Robert De Niro's romantic interest, Deborah Gelly. In 1989, she played Mickey Rourke's girlfriend in Johnny Handsome, directed by Walter Hill, and the same year she appeared as a rebellious lesbian in Volker Schlöndorff's thriller The Handmaid's Tale.

place_of_birth: Evanston, Illinois, USA

known_for_department: Acting


Joe Pesci

biography: Joseph Frank “Joe” Pesci (born February 9, 1943) is an American retired actor, comedian, singer and musician. He is known for his roles as violent mobsters, funnymen, comic foils and quirky sidekicks. Pesci has starred in a number of high profile films such as Goodfellas, Casino, Raging Bull, Once Upon a Time in America, My Cousin Vinny, Easy Money, JFK, Moonwalker, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Lethal Weapon films. In 1990, Pesci won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the psychopathic mobster Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas, ten years after receiving a nomination in the same category for Raging Bull.

place_of_birth: Newark, New Jersey, USA


Sylvie Testud

biography:
Sylvie Testud was born on January 17, 1971 in Lyon. Her parents separated when she was two years old. She spent her youth in the Lyon district of Croix-Rousse, raised by her mother, an accountant. In high school, she learned Chinese. Very early fascinated by the cinema, the young girl identifies in particular with the complexed teenager character embodied by Charlotte Gainsbourg in L'Effrontée. Having moved to Paris to study history, she soon embarked on acting by joining the free class at Cours Florent and then the Conservatory, where her teachers were Jacques Lassalle and Catherine Hiegel. She made her first screen appearance in 1994 in Couples et amants.

She decided to become an actress during her youth, after having admired actresses in films. She then took acting lessons in Lyon with the actor and director Christian Taponard. In 1989, she moved to Paris to study history, as well as drama lessons in free classes at Cours Florent, then at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art for three years, with Jacques Lassalle and Catherine Hiegel for teachers.

In the early 1990s, she obtained her first small roles in the cinema, then in feature films such as The Story of the Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed by Philippe Harel (1994), Le Plus Bel Age..., by Didier Haudepin (1995) or even Love, etc. by Marion Vernoux (1996).

In 1997, Sylvie Testud experienced her first great success at the cinema in Germany with the film Beyond Silence by Caroline Link, for which she learned German, the clarinet and sign language. She is rewarded as best actress by the German Film Prize (the equivalent of the César for best actress). In 1998, she played her first major role in French cinema and enjoyed great success in France with the role of Béa in Karnaval, the first feature film by Thomas Vincent, for which she was nominated for the César for best female hope and received the Michael Simon Prize. She then began an important acting career with a preference for auteur cinema.

In 2000, her performance in La Captive by Chantal Akerman (adaptation of the novel La Prisonnière by Marcel Proust) earned her a nomination as best actress at the European Film Prize. In 2001, she obtained, for her second nomination, the César for best female hope for the remarkable interpretation of Christine Papin, one of the Papin sisters, in Les Blessures assassines by Jean-Pierre Denis, based on a news item from 1933.

place_of_birth: Lyon, Rhône, France


Selina Cadell

biography: Selina Jane Cadell is an English actress. She is the younger sister of actor Simon Cadell and granddaughter of actress Jean Cadell. She is the great niece of the Scottish artist Francis Cadell.

place_of_birth: London, England, UK


Benjamin Bratt

biography:
Benjamin Bratt (born December 16, 1963) is an American actor. He is known for playing Paco Aguilar in Blood In Blood Out. He had supporting film roles in the 1990s in Demolition Man (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), and The River Wild (1994). From 1995 to 1999, he starred as Detective Reynaldo Curtis on the NBC drama series Law & Order.

In the 2000s, Bratt appeared in Miss Congeniality (2000), Traffic (2000), Piñero (2001), Catwoman (2004), Trucker (2008), Despicable Me 2 (2013), Snitch (2013), and Coco (2017), among other films. On television, Bratt has portrayed Dr. Jake Reilly on ABC's Private Practice (2011–2013), Steve Navarro on 24: Live Another Day (2014), and Jahil Rivera on Star (2016–2018). He has also done voice acting in animated feature films.

Bratt has received four American Latino Media Arts Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Benjamin Bratt, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

place_of_birth: San Francisco, California, USA


Jon Tenney

biography: Jonathan F. W. "Jon" Tenney (born December 16, 1961) is an American actor.

place_of_birth: Princeton, New Jersey, USA


Luna Mijović

place_of_birth: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia


Christopher Walken

biography: Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. He has appeared in more than 100 films and television programs, including Annie Hall (1977), The Deer Hunter (1978), The Dogs of War (1980), The Dead Zone (1983), A View to a Kill (1985), Batman Returns (1992), True Romance (1993), Pulp Fiction (1994), Antz (1998), Vendetta (1999), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Joe Dirt (2001), Catch Me If You Can (2002), Hairspray (2007), Seven Psychopaths (2012), the first three Prophecy films, The Jungle Book (2016), and Irreplaceable You (2018). He has received a number of awards and nominations, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Deer Hunter.

place_of_birth: Queens, New York City, New York, USA


Brian Helgeland

biography:
Brian Thomas Helgeland (born January 17, 1961) is an American screenwriter, film producer, and director. He is best known for writing the screenplays for the films L.A. Confidential (1998) and Mystic River (2003). He wrote and directed the films 42, a biopic of Jackie Robinson; and Legend, about the rise and fall of the infamous London gangsters, the Kray twins. His work on L.A. Confidential earned him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Description above from the Wikipedia article about Brian Helgeland, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

place_of_birth: Providence, Rhode Island, USA

known_for_department: Writing


Kevin Bacon

biography:
Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. Known for various roles, including leading-man characters, Bacon has received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and two Actor Awards.

Bacon made his feature film debut in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) and appeared in Diner (1982) before his breakthrough role in the musical drama Footloose (1984). Since then, he has starred in critically acclaimed films such as JFK (1991), A Few Good Men (1992), Apollo 13 (1995), Mystic River (2003), and Frost/Nixon (2008). Other credits include Friday the 13th (1980), Tremors (1990), The River Wild (1994), Balto (1995), The Woodsman (2004), Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011), X-Men: First Class (2011), and Patriots Day (2016). Bacon has also directed the films Losing Chase (1996) and Loverboy (2005).

On television, Bacon received a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his role as Michael Strobl in the HBO original film Taking Chance (2009). He starred in the Fox drama series The Following from 2013 to 2015. Bacon played the title role in the Amazon Prime Video series I Love Dick from 2016 to 2017. From 2019 to 2022, he starred in the Showtime series City on a Hill.

In 2003, Bacon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His prolific career in a variety of genres has led him to become associated with the concept of interconnectedness among people, as evidenced by the trivia game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon". He is a brand ambassador for British mobile network operator EE and has appeared in the company's advertisements. Bacon is married to actress Kyra Sedgwick.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Kevin Bacon, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

place_of_birth: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA


Emmy Rossum

biography:
Emmanuelle Grey Rossum (born September 12, 1986) is an American actress, director, and singer. She is known for her portrayal of Fiona Gallagher in the television series Shameless (2011–2019). Since the mid-2010s, she has also directed and produced television, including the 2022 Peacock series Angelyne in which she also stars.

Born and raised in New York City, she began professionally performing as a child with the Metropolitan Opera. Early on-screen roles included Genius (1999), Songcatcher (2000), Passionada (2002), and Nola (2003). At sixteen, she was cast in her breakthrough role in Mystic River (2003). Rossum starred in the 2004 sci-fi film The Day After Tomorrow, and also received critical acclaim for her performance in the leading role of Christine Daaé in the film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera (2004). She is also well known for acting in the films Poseidon (2006), Dragonball: Evolution (2009), Inside (2011), Beautiful Creatures (2013), Comet (2014), You're Not You (2014), and Cold Pursuit (2019).

place_of_birth: New York City, New York, USA


John Doman

biography:
John Doman is an American actor, and a former Marine Corps officer and Vietnam veteran. He's best known for playing Deputy Police Commissioner William Rawls on HBO series The Wire (2002-2008), Colonel Edward Galson on Oz (2001), Rodrigo Borgia in the international television series Borgia (2011–2014), Don Carmine Falcone in Fox's show Gotham (2014–2017), and Bruce Butler in The Affair (2014–2019).

On television, he's had major recurring roles as Dr. Carl Deraad on Seasons 5 and 6 of ER, as CEO Walter Kendrick on Season 2 of Damages, as Senator Ross Garrison on Person of Interest, as Aidan Moran on Feed the Beast, as Jonah Vogelbaum on The Boys, and as Robert Silas on Law & Order: Organized Crime.

He's guest starred multiple times on Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU. He's also had other guest roles on Dr Quinn Medicine Woman, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Practice, Judging Amy, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, CSI, Without a Trace, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Burn Notice, Rizzoli & Isles, Elementary, House of Cards, Instinct, City on a Hill, and For Life.

He had cameos in the films Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Cop Land (1997), Mystic River (2003), and Blue Valentine (2010). He's also had roles in other films including Mercury Rising, City by the Sea, You Were Never Really Here, Cold Pursuit, and The Trial of the Chicago 7.

He provided the voice of Don Morello in the video game Mafia: City of Lost Heaven,  the voice of Caesar in the video game Fallout New Vegas, and the voice of Dog with Bucket Hat in the cartoon series Birdgirl.

Doman has also appeared in promotional advertisements for Versus television. The promotional videos' soundtrack is a rendition of Metallica's "One" from Apocalyptica's 1998 Inquisition Symphony album.


Matthew Broderick

biography:
Matthew Broderick (born March 21, 1962) is an American stage and screen actor. Broderick began acting in off-Broadway productions in the early 1980s, soon after landing a role in Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs, for which he won a Tony Award. His first screen role was in Max Dugan Returns (1983), also penned by Neil Simon. His breakout role came the same year for his role as a young hacker in WarGames. Later Broderick starred in the hit film Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), making him a household name. Subsequent notable films include Glory (1989), The Lion King (1994), The Cable Guy (1996), Godzilla (1998), and Election (1999).

Broderick also continued acting on Broadway, including several musicals. He won a second Tony Award in 1995 for his performance in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and a third nomination in 2001 for The Producers.

In 1985 while on vacation in Ireland with his then-girlfriend Jennifer Grey, Broderick was involved in a head on collision that killed two locals. He was deemed at fault and faced up to five years in prison on the charge of causing death by dangerous driving, but was convicted of a lesser charge and fined £100. Broderick has been married to actress Sarah Jessica Parker since 1997, and the couple have three children.


Rupert Everett

biography: Rupert James Hector Everett (born May 29, 1959) is an English actor, director and producer. Everett first came to public attention in 1981 when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film Another Country (1984) as a gay pupil at an English public school in the 1930s; the role earned him his first BAFTA Award nomination. He received a second BAFTA nomination and his first Golden Globe Award nomination for his role in My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), followed by a second Golden Globe nomination for An Ideal Husband (1999).

place_of_birth: Burnham Deepdale, Norfolk, England, UK


John C. Reilly

biography:
John Christopher Reilly (born May 24, 1965) is an American actor. He is known for his character acting, taking on leading and supporting roles in independent drama films and studio comedies. He gained exposure through his supporting roles in Tony Scott's Days of Thunder (1990), Paul Thomas Anderson's films Hard Eight (1996), Boogie Nights (1997) and Magnolia (1999), and Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002) and The Aviator (2004). Reilly was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the corresponding Golden Globe Award for his role in the musical film Chicago (2002). Reilly's other notable films include The River Wild (1994), The Thin Red Line (1998), and The Hours (2002).

Reilly gained prominence for his roles in comedy films such as Cal Naughton in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006). He then went on to play the title character in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) and Dale Doback, one of the two stepbrothers, in Step Brothers (2008). Meanwhile, Reilly began co-starring as Dr. Steve Brule in the comedic television series Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (2007–2010), which led to the spin-off series Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule (2010–2016). He voiced the title character in the Wreck-It Ralph film series (2012–2018). Reilly is also known for his work in the independent films Cyrus, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and Carnage (all in 2011), The Lobster (2015), and The Sisters Brothers (2018). He combined his comedic and dramatic abilities for his portrayal of comedian Oliver Hardy in the biopic Stan and Ollie (2018), earning nominations for the Golden Globe Award and Critics' Choice Award.

Reilly is also known for his work on television. He created and starred in the Showtime comedy series Moonbase 8 (2020) and led an ensemble cast for the HBO sports drama series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022–2023). Reilly performs with his band, John Reilly and Friends. For his role in the Broadway revival of Sam Shepard's play True West (2000), he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.

Description above from the Wikipedia article John C. Reilly, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

place_of_birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA


Jason Robards

biography: Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor. Known as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill, Robards received two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor. He is one of 24 performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting.


Wolfgang Becker

biography: Wolfgang Becker was a German film director and screenwriter who also occasionally appeared as an actor, cameraman, film editor and producer. His greatest success came with the 2003 tragicomedy Good Bye, Lenin!

place_of_birth: Hemer, Germany

known_for_department: Directing


Sam Neill

biography:
Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor. His career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he is regarded as one of the most versatile actors of his generation.

Born in Northern Ireland to an English mother and New Zealand father, Neill moved to Christchurch with his family in 1954. He first achieved recognition with his appearance in the film Sleeping Dogs (1977), which he followed with leading roles in My Brilliant Career (1979), Omen III: The Final Conflict, Possession (both 1981), Evil Angels (also known as A Cry in the Dark) (1988), Dead Calm (1989), The Hunt For Red October (1990), The Piano (1993), and In the Mouth of Madness (1994). He came to international prominence as Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park (1993), reprising the role in Jurassic Park III (2001) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022).

Outside of film, Neill has appeared in numerous television series in guest and recurring roles, including Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983), The Simpsons (1994), The Tudors (2007), Crusoe (2008–2010), Happy Town (2010), Alcatraz (2012), and Rick and Morty (2019). He also starred as the titular character Merlin in Merlin (1998) and Merlin's Apprentice (2006) and as Major Chester Campbell in the first two series of Peaky Blinders (2013–2014). He has presented and narrated several documentaries.

Neill receives the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, the Longford Lyell Award, the New Zealand Film Award, and the Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actor. He also has three Golden Globe and two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He won the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor at the 2023 Logies.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Sam Neill, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

place_of_birth: Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, UK


Richard Attenborough

biography:
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, Kt, CBE (August 29, 1923 – August 24, 2014) was an English actor, filmmaker, entrepreneur, and politician. He was the President of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Attenborough joined the Royal Air Force during World War II and served in the film unit. He went on several bombing raids over Europe and filmed action from the rear gunner's position.

As a film director and producer, Attenborough won two Academy Awards for Gandhi in 1983. He also won four BAFTA Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. As an actor, he is perhaps best known for his roles in Brighton Rock, The Great Escape, 10 Rillington Place, Miracle on 34th Street (1994) and Jurassic Park.

He was the older brother of David Attenborough, a naturalist and broadcaster, and John Attenborough, an executive at Alfa Romeo. He was married to actress Sheila Sim from 1945 until his death.

place_of_birth: Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK


Gena Rowlands

biography: Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlands (June 19, 1930 – August 14, 2024) was an American actress. A four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner, she is known for her collaborations with her late actor-director husband John Cassavetes in ten films, including A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980), which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She also won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Opening Night (1977).

place_of_birth: Madison, Wisconsin, USA


Sakari Kuosmanen

biography:
Sakari Jyrki Kuosmanen (born 6 September 1956 in Helsinki) is a Finnish singer and actor. He has recorded several solo albums and has also done work with Sleepy Sleepers and Leningrad Cowboys. He appeared as himself on the Finnish television series Aaken ja Sakun kesäkeittiö in 1999.

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place_of_birth: Helsinki, Finland


Emmanuelle Béart

biography:
Emmanuelle Béart (born 14 August 1963) is a French actress who has appeared in over 60 film and television productions since 1972. An eight-time César Award nominee, she won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1986 film Manon des Sources. Her other film roles include La Belle Noiseuse (1991), A Heart in Winter (1992), Nelly and Mr. Arnaud (1995), Mission: Impossible (1996) and 8 Women (2002).

Emmanuelle Béart was born in Gassin, on the French Riviera, the daughter of Geneviève Galéa (pseudonym of Geneviève Guillery), a former model who is of Croatian, Greek and Maltese descent, and Guy Béart, a singer and poet. Her Egyptian-born father's family was of Sephardic Jewish descent, who sought refuge in Lebanon during his childhood.

She has a half-sister, Ève (born 1959), on her father's side and six half-siblings on her mother's side; Ivan, Sarah and Mikis Cerieix from her mother's relationship with Jean-Yves Cerieix and Olivier Guespin, Lison and Charlotte from her mother's relationship with Jean-Jacques Guespin.

In her late teens, she spent her summer vacation in Montreal with the English-speaking family of William Sofin, a close friend of her father. At the end of the summer, the family invited her to stay with them and complete her baccalauréat at Collège International Marie de France. They remained close friends.

Béart got an acting role in 1976 film Tomorrow's Children. In her teens she appeared in bit parts in television. Upon graduating from the Collège International Marie de France in Montreal, she returned to France to attend drama school in Paris. A short time later, she was cast in her first adult role in a film, and in 1986 she achieved fame with her role opposite Yves Montand, playing the avenging daughter in French hit Manon des Sources. For her performance, she won the 1987 César Award for Best Supporting Actress. In the 1987 film Date with an Angel, she starred as the Angel. In 1995, she won the Silver St. George award for Best Actress at the 19th Moscow International Film Festival for her starring role in film A French Woman.

In addition to her award for Best Supporting Actress, she has also been nominated for another seven César Awards for Most Promising Actress and Best Actress. Béart received Most Promising Actress nominations for A Strange Passion and Love on the Quiet; followed by Best Actress nominations for Children of Chaos, La Belle Noiseuse (The Beautiful Troublemaker), Un cœur en hiver (A Heart in Winter), Nelly et Monsieur Arnaud (Nelly and Mr Arnaud), and Les Destinées Sentimentales (Sentimental Destinies)

In the 5 May 2003 issue of the French edition of Elle magazine, Béart, aged 39, appeared nude: The entire run of 550,000 copies sold out in just three days, making it the biggest-selling issue in the fashion glossy's long history. ...

Source: Article "Emmanuelle Béart" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

place_of_birth: Gassin, Var, France


Norman Reedus

biography: Norman Mark Reedus (born January 6, 1969) is an American actor. He made his acting debut in the 1990s, starring in the role of Murphy MacManus in The Boondock Saints, followed by supporting roles in successful box office films 8MM, Blade II, and American Gangster. Reedus became famous for portraying Daryl Dixon in the hit AMC horror drama series The Walking Dead(2010–2022). Regarded as one of the show's most popular characters, he has starred in his spin-off series, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, since 2023. Reedus hosts the AMC show Ride with Norman Reedus (2016–present). He has modelled for various fashion designers, including Prada. Reedus also landed roles in the television series Law & Order and Hawaii Five-O and ventured into voice acting and motion capture, starring as protagonist Sam Porter Bridges in the video games Death Stranding and Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, and Striker in the animated series Helluva Boss. He has also starred in music videos for Lady Gaga, Marilyn Manson, Keith Richards, Radiohead, R.E.M., and Orville Peck.

place_of_birth: Hollywood, Florida, USA


Lily Rabe

biography:
Lily Rabe (born June 29, 1982) is an American actress. She is best known for her multiple roles on the FX anthology horror series American Horror Story (2011–2021). For her performance as Portia in the Broadway production of The Merchant of Venice, she received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

Her film credits include What Just Happened (2008), All Good Things (2010), Pawn Sacrifice(2014), Miss Stevens (2016), Golden Exits (2017), Vice (2018), Fractured (2019), and The Tender Bar (2021). On television, she appeared in the series The Whispers (2015), The Undoing (2020), The Underground Railroad (2021), and The First Lady (2022).

Description above from the Wikipedia article Lily Rabe, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.


Pete Postlethwaite

biography: Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE (February 7, 1946 – January 2, 2011) was an English stage, film and television actor. After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr. Kobayashi, in The Usual Suspects, and he appeared in Alien 3, In the Name of the Father, Amistad, Brassed Off, The Shipping News, The Constant Gardener, The Age of Stupid, Inception, The Town, Romeo + Juliet, and Æon Flux. In television, Postlethwaite's most notable performance was as the villain Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill in the Sharpe television series and television movies opposite actor Sean Bean's character of Richard Sharpe. Postlethwaite was born in Warrington, England in 1946. He trained as a teacher and taught drama before training as an actor. Steven Spielberg called Postlethwaite "the best actor in the world" after working with him on The Lost World: Jurassic Park. He received an Academy Award nomination for his role in In the Name of the Father in 1993, and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2004 New Year's Honours List. He died of pancreatic cancer.

place_of_birth: Warrington, Cheshire, England, UK


Vince Vaughn

biography:
Vincent Anthony Vaughn (born March 28, 1970) is an American actor, screenwriter, producer, and comedian. He began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before experiencing wider recognition with the 1996 movie, Swingers.

He has since appeared in numerous films including The Lost World: Jurassic Park, The Cell, Zoolander, Old School, Starsky & Hutch, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Anchorman (1 & 2), Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Wedding Crashers, Four Christmases, The Break-Up, Couples Retreat, The Dilemma, The Internship, Hacksaw Ridge, and Freaky, among others.

place_of_birth: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA


Téa Leoni

biography:
Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni (born February 25, 1966), better known by her stage name Téa Leoni, is an American actress. She has starred in a wide range of films including Jurassic Park III, The Family Man, Deep Impact, Fun with Dick and Jane, Spanglish, Bad Boys and Ghost Town.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Téa Leoni, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.


Alessandro Nivola

biography:
Alessandro Antine Nivola (born June 28, 1972) is an American actor. His best-known roles include Pollux Troy in Face/Off (1997), Henry Crawford in Mansfield Park (1999), Billy Brennan in Jurassic Park III (2001), Arthur "Boy" Capel in Coco Before Chanel (2009), Anthony Amado in American Hustle (2013), Peter Forente in A Most Violent Year (2014), Governor Williams in You Were Never Really Here (2017), Mark Madoff in The Wizard of Lies (2017), photojournalist Lee Berger in the miniseries Chimerica (2019), Dickie Moltisanti in The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Detective Hiltz in Amsterdam (2022), and Detective Conley in Boston Strangler (2023).

He has been married to actress Emily Mortimer since 2003; they have two children.

place_of_birth: Boston, Massachusetts, USA


Bernardo Bertolucci

biography:
Bernardo Bertolucci (/ˌbɜːrtəˈluːtʃi/ BUR-tə-LOO-chee; Italian: [berˈnardo bertoˈluttʃi]; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved international acclaim. With The Last Emperor (1987) he became the first Italian filmmaker to win the Academy Award for Best Director, and he received many other accolades including a BAFTA Award, a César Award, two Golden Globes, a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and an Honorary Palme d'Or.

A protégé of Pier Paolo Pasolini, Bertolucci made his directorial debut at 22. His second film, Before the Revolution (1964), earned strong international reviews and has since gained classic status, being called a "masterpiece of Italian cinema" by Film4. His 1970 film The Conformist, an adaptation of the Alberto Moravia novel, is considered a classic of international cinema, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the prestigious Berlin Golden Bear. His 1972 erotic drama Last Tango in Paris was controversial due to its rape scene and, later, comments made by actress Maria Schneider about her treatment on set. Bertolucci's later films such as the historical epic 1900 (1976), the family drama La Luna (1979), and the darkly comedic Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981), were also controversial but acclaimed.

His 1987 film The Last Emperor, a biopic of Chinese monarch Puyi, was a critical and commercial success, earning rave reviews and sweeping the 60th Academy Awards (including Best Picture and Best Director). This was the start of what has since been described as his "Oriental Trilogy", a trio of films including The Sheltering Sky, an adaptation of the novel of the same name, and Little Buddha, a Buddhist religious epic, all three of which feature scores by Ryuichi Sakamoto. His 1996 film, Stealing Beauty, brought him his second of two Palme d'Or nominations. He continued directing well into the 21st century, releasing his final film, Me and You, in 2012.

Bertolucci's films often deal with themes of politics, sexuality, history, class conflict and social taboos, and his style has influenced several filmmakers. Several of his films have appeared on lists of the greatest films of all time. Critics have remarked that what makes Bertolucci different than other directors is his masterful combination of "visual richness and visual freedom".

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place_of_birth: Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italia


Hal Ashby

biography:
Hal Ashby (September 2, 1929 – December 27, 1988) was an American film director and editor associated with the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking. Before his career as a director, Ashby edited films for Norman Jewison, notably The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Editing, and In the Heat of the Night (1967), which earned him an Oscar for the same category.

Ashby received a third Oscar nomination, this time for Best Director, for Coming Home (1978). Other films directed by Ashby include The Landlord (1970), Harold and Maude (1971), The Last Detail (1973), Shampoo (1975), Bound for Glory (1976) and Being There (1979).

Born William Hal Ashby in Ogden, Utah, he grew up in a Mormon household. His tumultuous childhood as part of a dysfunctional family included the divorce of his parents, his father's suicide, and dropping out of high school. Ashby was married and divorced by the time he was 19.

As Ashby was entering adult life, he moved from Utah to California where he soon became an assistant film editor. After being nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing in 1967 for The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, his big break occurred in 1968 when he won the award for In the Heat of the Night.  At the urging of producer Norman Jewison, Ashby directed his first film The Landlord in 1970. While his birth date placed him squarely within the realm of the prewar generation, the filmmaker quickly embraced the hippie lifestyle, adopting vegetarianism and growing his hair long. In 1970 he married actress Joan Marshall. While they remained married until his death in 1988, the two had separated by the mid-seventies, with Marshall never forgiving Ashby, along with Warren Beatty and Robert Towne, for dramatizing certain unflattering elements of her life in Shampoo.

Over the next 16 years, Ashby directed several acclaimed and popular films, many were about outsiders and adventurers traversing the pathways of life. Aside from Shampoo, Ashby's most commercially successful film was the Vietnam War drama Coming Home (1978). Starring Jane Fonda and Jon Voight, both in Academy Award-winning performances, it was for this film that Ashby earned his only Best Director nomination from the Academy for his work.  After Being There (his last film to achieve widespread attention), Ashby became notoriously reclusive and eccentric, retreating to his home in Malibu Colony. Later it was learned that Ashby was using drugs, and he slowly became difficult and unemployable.

Attempting to turn a corner in his declining career, Ashby stopped using drugs, trimmed his hair and beard, and began to frequently attend Hollywood parties wearing a navy blue blazer so as to suggest that he was once again employable. Despite these efforts, he could only find work as a television director.

Ashby died on December 27, 1988 at his home in Malibu, California.

The Last Detail, Bound for Glory, Coming Home, and Being There were all nominated for the Palme d'Or.

place_of_birth: Ogden, Utah, USA


Masaya Katō

biography: Masaya Katō (born April 27, 1963) is a Japanese actor and seiyū from Nara in the Kansai region.

place_of_birth: Nara, Nara, Japan


James Shigeta

biography:
James Saburo Shigeta (June 17, 1929 – July 28, 2014) was an American actor, singer, and musician of Japanese descent. He was noted for his roles in The Crimson Kimono (1959), Walk Like a Dragon (1960), Flower Drum Song (1961), Bridge to the Sun (1961), Die Hard (1988), and Mulan (1998). In 1960, he won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, along with three other actors.

In his early career, Shigeta often played romantic male lead roles, which were almost nonexistent for an actor of Asian descent during his time, making him a trailblazer in Asian American representation in media. The Goldsea Asian-American Daily magazine listed him as one of the "Most Inspiring Asian-Americans Of All Time".

Before his Hollywood career he found success as a pop singer and performer abroad, especially in Japan and Australia.

place_of_birth: Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, USA


Katsumi Yanagijima

biography:
Katsumi Yanagishima (柳島 克巳, Yanagishima Katsumi; born 1950, Gifu Prefecture), also credited as Katsumi Yanagijima, is a Japanese cinematographer.

Yanagishima has worked with Takeshi Kitano in many of his films, including A Scene at the Sea, Sonatine, Zatoichi, Kids Return, Kikujiro and Dolls. He won the Japan Academy Prize for best cinematography for Go! in 2002 and for Zatoichi in 2004. Battle Royale and The Grudge 2 are some of his other known films.

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place_of_birth: Gifu, Japan

known_for_department: Camera


Akira Kurosawa

biography: Akira Kurosawa (黒澤 明) was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. He displayed a bold, dynamic style, strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it; he was involved with all aspects of film production. Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936, following a brief stint as a painter. After years of working on numerous films as an assistant director and scriptwriter, he made his debut as a director during World War II with the popular action film Sanshiro Sugata (1943). After the war, the critically acclaimed Drunken Angel (1948), in which Kurosawa cast the then little-known actor Toshiro Mifune in a starring role, cemented the director's reputation as one of the most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two men would go on to collaborate on another fifteen films. Rashomon (1950), which premiered in Tokyo, became the surprise winner of the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice Film Festival. The commercial and critical success of that film opened up Western film markets for the first time to the products of the Japanese film industry, which in turn led to international recognition for other Japanese filmmakers. Kurosawa directed approximately one film per year throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, including a number of highly regarded (and often adapted) films, such as Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957), Yojimbo (1961) and High and Low (1963). After the 1960s he became much less prolific; even so, his later work—including two of his final films, Kagemusha (1980) and Ran (1985)—continued to receive great acclaim. In 1990, he accepted the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Posthumously, he was named Asian of the Century in the Arts, Literature, and Culture category by AsianWeek magazine and CNN, cited there as being among the five people who most prominently contributed to the improvement of Asia in the 20th century. His career has been honored by many retrospectives, critical studies and biographies in both print and video, and by releases in many consumer media.

place_of_birth: Shinagawa, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan


Harry Dean Stanton

biography: Harry Dean Stanton (July 14, 1926 – September 15, 2017) was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than six decades, Stanton played supporting roles in films including Cool Hand Luke (1967), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Dillinger (1973), The Godfather Part II (1974), Alien (1979), Escape from New York (1981), Christine (1983), Repo Man (1984), One Magic Christmas (1985), Pretty in Pink (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Wild at Heart (1990), The Straight Story (1999), The Green Mile (1999), The Man Who Cried (2000), Alpha Dog (2006), and Inland Empire (2006). He had rare lead roles in Paris, Texas (1984) and in Lucky (2017).

place_of_birth: West Irvine, Kentucky, USA


David Frankel

biography: David Frankel (born April 2, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and its 2026 sequel, as well as two episodes of the miniseries Band of Brothers (2001), for which he won an Emmy Award. He also won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for Dear Diary (1996).

place_of_birth: New York City, New York, USA


Emily Blunt

biography:
Emily Olivia Laura Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress. She has received several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and four British Academy Film Awards. Forbes ranked her as one of the highest-paid actresses in the world in 2020.

Blunt made her acting debut in the 2001 drama production of The Royal Family and portrayed Catherine Howard in the television miniseries Henry VIII (2003). She made her feature film debut in the drama My Summer of Love (2004). Blunt's breakthrough came in 2006 with her starring roles in the television film Gideon's Daughter and the comedy-drama The Devil Wears Prada. The former won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her profile continued to grow with leading roles in the period film The Young Victoria (2009), the romantic comedy Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011), the science fiction films The Adjustment Bureau (2011), Looper(2012) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and the musical Into the Woods (2014).

Blunt received critical acclaim for playing an idealistic FBI agent in the crime film Sicario (2015), an alcoholic in the psychological thriller The Girl on the Train (2016), and a survivalist mother in her husband John Krasinski's horror film A Quiet Place (2018), for which she won a SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has since starred in the sequels Mary Poppins Returns (2018) and A Quiet Place Part II (2021), the fantasy adventure Jungle Cruise (2021), and the revisionist Western television miniseries The English (2022). Her portrayal of Katherine Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan's biographical thriller film Oppenheimer (2023) earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Blunt has been working with the American Institute for Stuttering since 2006 to help children overcome stuttering through educational resources and raise awareness of the realities of the condition. She is on the institute's board of directors and hosts a gala to raise funds for speech therapy scholarships for children and adults.

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place_of_birth: Wandsworth, London, England, UK


Adrian Grenier

biography: Adrian Grenier (born July 10, 1976) is an American actor, musician and director. He is best known for his lead role on the HBO original series, Entourage, as Vincent Chase.

place_of_birth: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA


Bo Welch

biography:
Robert W. 'Bo' Welch III is an American production designer, art director, film and television director, and occasional actor. He is best known for his collaborations with directors such as Tim Burton and Barry Sonnenfeld.

Born in Yardley, Pennsylvania, Welch worked as a production designer on three consecutive Tim Burton films (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Batman Returns), as well as on the Barry Sonnenfeld films Men in Black and Wild Wild West, among other films. He made his directorial debut with The Cat in the Hat, based on the beloved Dr. Seuss book of the same name, which was a critical and commercial disappointment.

He has been nominated for four Academy Awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, three of them shared with set decorator Cheryl Carasik and another one with J. Michael Riva and Linda DeScenna. The four films are Men in Black, The Birdcage, and A Little Princess with Carasik and The Colour Purple with Riva and DeScenna.

Welch met actress Catherine O'Hara on the set of Beetlejuice in 1988. Wed in 1992 and with two sons Matthew (b. 1994) and Luke (b. 1997), they were together until her January 2026 death.

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place_of_birth: Yardley, Pennsylvania, USA

known_for_department: Art


Wes Craven

biography: Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was a prolific and influential American film director, writer, producer, and occasional actor known for his pioneering work in the horror genre, and particularly in the teen slasher subgenre. Among his best-known works are such landmark films as "The Last House on the Left" (1972), "The Hills Have Eyes" (1977), "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984) and the "Scream" series (1996–2011).

place_of_birth: Cleveland, Ohio, USA


Heather Langenkamp

biography: Heather Langenkamp (born July 17, 1964) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Nancy Thompson from the A Nightmare on Elm Street films. She also played Marie Lubbock on the sitcom Just the Ten of Us.

place_of_birth: Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA


Gabriel Byrne

biography:
Gabriel James Byrne (born 12 May 1950) is an Irish actor. He has received a Golden Globe Award and nominations for a Grammy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards. Byrne was awarded the Irish Film and Television Academy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and was listed at number 17 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors in 2020. In 2009, The Guardian named him one of the best actors who never received an Academy Award nomination.

Byrne's acting career began at the Focus Theatre in Dublin before he joined London's Royal Court Theatre in 1974. His screen debut came in the Irish drama serial The Riordans and the spin-off show Bracken. He went on to star in such films as Defence of the Realm (1986), Lionheart (1987), Miller's Crossing (1990), Little Women (1994), Dead Man (1995), The Usual Suspects (1995), The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), Enemy of the State (1998), Vanity Fair (2004), The 33 (2015), and Hereditary (2018). He co-wrote The Last of the High Kings (1996) and produced In the Name of the Father (1993).

For his Broadway work, Byrne has received two nominations for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his roles in the Eugene O'Neill plays A Moon for the Misbegotten (2000) and Long Day's Journey into Night (2016). For his television work, Byrne has received two nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Paul Weston in the HBO drama series In Treatment (2008–2010). He also received a Golden Globe Award. His other notable television roles include Vikings (2013), Maniac (2018), and War of the Worlds (2019–2022).

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place_of_birth: Dublin, Ireland


Barry Sonnenfeld

biography:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Barry Sonnenfeld (born April 1, 1953) is an American filmmaker and television director. He worked as cinematographer for the Coen Brothers, then later he directed and produced big budget films such as Men in Black.

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Willem Dafoe

biography:
William James "Willem" Dafoe (/dəˈfoʊ/ də-FOH; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. Known for his prolific career portraying diverse roles in both mainstream and arthouse films, he is the recipient of various accolades, including a Volpi Cup Award for Best Actor, with nominations for four Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, and four Golden Globe Awards. He received an Honorary Golden Bear in 2018.

Born in Appleton, Wisconsin, Dafoe made his film debut with an uncredited role in Heaven's Gate (1980). He is known for collaborating with both mainstream and auteur filmmakers, including Paul Schrader, Abel Ferrara, Sam Raimi, Yorgos Lanthimos, Lars von Trier, Julian Schnabel, Andrew Stanton, Wes Anderson, and Robert Eggers. He received Academy Award nominations for playing a compassionate army sergeant in the war drama Platoon (1986), Max Schreck in the mystery film Shadow of the Vampire (2000), a kindly motel manager in the coming-of-age film The Florida Project (2017), and Vincent van Gogh in the biopic At Eternity's Gate (2018).

His other films credits include To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Wild at Heart (1990), The English Patient (1996), American Psycho (2000), Animal Factory (2000), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Antichrist (2009), The Hunter (2011), John Carter (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), John Wick (2014), The Lighthouse (2019), Togo (2019), Poor Things (2023), and Nosferatu (2024).

Dafoe was a founding member of experimental theatre company The Wooster Group. He portrayed Norman Osborn in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film trilogy (2002–2007) and reprised the role in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). He has also voiced roles in the animated films Finding Nemo (2003), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), and The Boy and the Heron (2023).

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place_of_birth: Appleton, Wisconsin, USA


Chiwetel Ejiofor

biography:
Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor CBE (/ˈtʃuːətɛlˈɛdʒioʊfɔːr/ CHOO-ə-tel EJ-ee-oh-for; born 10 July 1977) is a British actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and a Laurence Olivier Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five Golden Globe Awards. In 2008, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and in 2015, he was appointed Commander (CBE) for his services to the arts.

After enrolling at the National Youth Theatre in 1995 and attending the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, at age 19 and three months into his course, Ejiofor was cast by Steven Spielberg to play a supporting role in the film Amistad (1997) as James Covey. He later won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for Othello (2008). Ejiofor earned the BAFTA Award for Best Actor as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave (2013).

Ejiofor's other films include Dirty Pretty Things (2002), Love Actually (2003), Kinky Boots (2005), Four Brothers (2005), Children of Men (2006), Endgame (2009), 2012 (2009), Salt (2010), and The Martian (2015). He joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe playing Karl Mordo in Doctor Strange (2016) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). He also voiced Scar in The Lion King (2019). He directed, wrote, and starred in the film The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019).

On television, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor for his performance as a jazz band leader in the BBC Two miniseries Dancing on the Edge (2014). He also acted in the BBC drama series The Shadow Line (2011), the HBO television film Phil Spector (2013), and the Showtime science fiction series The Man Who Fell to Earth (2022).

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place_of_birth: Forest Gate, London, England, UK


Lasse Hallström

biography:
Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallström (born June 2, 1946) is a Swedish film director. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards: two for My Life as a Dog (Mitt liv som hund) (1985) (Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay) and one for The Cider House Rules (1999) (Best Director). Hallström learned his craft making music videos, in particular for the group ABBA. Since the international success of My Life as a Dog (1985), Hallström has worked in American movies. His first notable American success was What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993).  He reached his greatest level of prominence when he directed The Cider House Rules (1999) and Chocolat (2000), both of which were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. His 2012 film The Hypnotist was selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.

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place_of_birth: Stockholm, Sweden


Bennett Miller

biography:
Bennett Altman Miller (born December 30, 1966) is an American film director, known for directing the acclaimed films Capote (2005), Moneyball (2011), and Foxcatcher (2014). He has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Director.

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place_of_birth: New York City, New York, U.S.


David Wilson Barnes

biography: David Wilson Barnes is an American stage and screen actor. He holds an MFA in Acting from the School of the Arts, Columbia University, New York.

place_of_birth: San Diego, California, USA


Zach Braff

biography:
Zachary Israel "Zach" Braff (born April 6, 1975) is an American actor, screenwriter, producer, and director. Braff first became known in 2001 for his role as Dr. John Dorian on the TV series Scrubs, which earned him his first Emmy nomination. Braff remained working on Scrubs for eight years, until he announced his departure as an actor, his last episode airing in December 2009. Braff has, however, taken an executive producer's role on the series.

In 2004, Braff made his directorial debut with Garden State, a coming of age film. Braff returned to his home state of New Jersey to shoot the film, which was produced on a budget of $2.5 million. The film made over $35 million at the box office as well as profiting from DVD sales, and was praised by critics, giving Braff his first financial success and critical acclaim in film work. Braff wrote the film, starred in it, and selected and produced the soundtrack record, for which he won a Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album in 2005.

Braff is also known for starring in the films The Last Kiss and The Ex, and for his vocal work on Chicken Little. In 1993, he had a supporting role in Woody Allen's Manhattan Murder Mystery – a role that would mark his film debut. Braff states that he will continue to write and direct films in the coming years.

place_of_birth: South Orange, New Jersey, USA


Jim Parsons

biography: Jim Parsons is an American television and film actor, best known for playing Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory.

place_of_birth: Houston, Texas, USA


Jean Smart

biography:
Jean Elizabeth Smart (born September 13, 1951) is an American actress. She has received numerous accolades including five Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, four Critics' Choice Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as nominations for a Tony Award and a Grammy Award.

Smart first gained prominence for her leading role as Charlene Frazier Stillfield on the CBS sitcom Designing Women, in which she starred from 1986 to 1991. She went on to win five Primetime Emmy Awards for her roles as Lana Gardner in the NBC series Frasier (2000–01), Regina Newley in the ABC sitcom Samantha Who? (2007–09), and Deborah Vance in the HBO Max comedy series Hacks (2021–present). She was Emmy-nominated for her roles in The District (2000–04), 24 (2006–07), Harry's Law (2011), Fargo (2015), Watchmen (2019) and Mare of Easttown (2021). She also acted in FX's Legion (2017–2019) and voiced Ann Possible in the Disney Channel animated series Kim Possible (2002–2007).

On stage, she made her Broadway debut portraying Marlene Dietrich in the biographical play Piaf (1981). She returned to Broadway in the revival of The Man Who Came to Dinner (2000) for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Smart's film credits include The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), Garden State (2004), I Heart Huckabees (2004), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Accountant (2016), A Simple Favor (2018), and Babylon (2022). She received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Guinevere (1999).

Description above from the Wikipedia article Jean Smart, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

place_of_birth: Seattle, Washington, USA


Method Man

biography:
Clifford Smith (born April 1, 1971 in Staten Island, New York), better known by his stage name Method Man or Meth is an American hip hop artist, record producer, actor and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He took his stage name from the 1979 film The Fearless Young Boxer, also known as Method Man. He is one half of the rap duo Method Man & Redman along with fellow rapper Redman. He won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By" with Mary J. Blige.

He appeared in the motion pictures Belly, How High, Garden State as well as a minor role in The Wackness. On television, he and hip-hop collaborator Redman co-starred on the short-lived Fox sitcom Method & Red, and he had a recurring role as Calvin "Cheese" Wagstaff on the acclaimed HBO drama series The Wire.

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place_of_birth: Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA


Richard Basehart

biography:
John Richard Basehart (August 31, 1914 – September 17, 1984) was an American actor. He starred in the 1960s television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson.

One of his most notable film roles was the acrobat known as "the Fool" in the acclaimed Italian film La strada directed by Federico Fellini. He also appeared as the killer in the film noir classic He Walked by Night (1948), as a psychotic member of the Hatfield clan in Roseanna McCoy (1949), as Ishmael in Moby Dick (1956), and in the drama Decision Before Dawn (1951). He was married to Italian Academy Award-nominated actress Valentina Cortese, with whom he had one son before their divorce in 1960. Cortese and Basehart also costarred in Robert Wise's The House on Telegraph Hill (1951).

Basehart was also noted for his deep, distinctive voice and was prolific as a narrator of many television and movie projects ranging from features to documentaries. In 1980, Basehart narrated the mini-series written by Peter Arnett called Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War that covered Vietnam and its battles from the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945 to the final American embassy evacuation on April 30, 1975. He appeared in the pilot episode of the television series Knight Rider as billionaire Wilton Knight. He is the narrator at the beginning of the show's credits.

In 1971, Basehart played "Captain Sligo", a comical Irishman with a pet buffalo who negotiates a flawed but legal cattle purchase and unconventionally courts a widow with two children, played by Salome Jens, in CBS's western series, Gunsmoke, with James Arness. Basehart appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-O, and as Hannibal Applewood, an abusive schoolteacher in Little House on the Prairie in 1976.

In 1972, he appeared in the Columbo episode Dagger of the Mind in which he and Honor Blackman played a husband-and-wife theatrical team who were loose parodies of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. In the feature realm, he played a supporting role as a doctor in Rage (1972), a theatrical feature starring and directed by George C. Scott. He made a few TV movies including Sole Survivor (1970) and The Birdmen (1971). Both were based on true stories during World War II.

He died at age 70 following a series of strokes. One month before his death, Basehart was an announcer for the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

place_of_birth: Zanesville, Ohio, USA


Sanaa Lathan

biography:
Sanaa McCoy Lathan (/səˈnɑ/ born September 19, 1971) is an American stage, film, television, and voice actress. She is the daughter of actress Eleanor McCoy and film director Stan Lathan. She earned bachelor's degree in English from University of California, Berkeley, and a master's degree in drama from Yale.

She is best known for her roles as Robyn in The Best Man films and subsequent TV miniseries on Peacock, Naomi Hicks on Netflix's Hit & Run, Violet Jones in Nappily Ever After, Ashe Akino on Fox's drama Shots Fired, Deputy Director Natalie Austin in Now You See Me 2 (2016), Leah Vaughn in The Perfect Guy (2015), Jenelle Wilson on Showtime's drama The Affair, Mona Fredricks on Starz' drama Boss, Andrea in Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (2008), Beneatha Younger in ABC's film adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun (2008), Kenya McQueen in Something New (2006), Ann Merai Harrison in Out of Time (2004), Sidney 'Sid' Shaw in Brown Sugar (2002), Monica Wright in Love & Basketball (2000), Zora Banks in Disappearing Acts (2000), Alicia in The Wood (1999), Vanessa Brooks - the mother of Wesley Snipes' title character - in Blade (1998), and Briana Gilliam on NBC's sitcom Lateline.

She had recurring roles on HBO's Succession and FX's Nip/Tuck, and starred on NBC's short-lived sitcom Built to Last. In 2022, she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, for her work on the television series Succession.

Her other movie credits include With/In Vol 1 (2021) and Vol 2 (2022), American Assassin (2017), Contagion (2011), Powder Blue (2009), AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004), and more. She voiced Catwoman on HBO's animated series Harley Quinn, and Donna Tubbs on The Cleveland Show and on all Family Guy appearances.

In 2004, she starred on Broadway as Beneatha Younger in A Raisin in the Sun with Sean Combs, Audra McDonald, and Phylicia Rashad, and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress. She later reprise her role in the 2008 film adaptation. In 2010, she starred in the all-black performance of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Novello Theatre in London.

She earned a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her recurring role on Succession. She received an NAACP Image Award Nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for her performance in Brown Sugar. She received a NAACP Image Award nomination for her performance in The Best Man. She earned an Essence Award for Best Actress for her performance in Disappearing Acts. She earned the 2001 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress, and a BET Award for her performance in Love & Basketball.

In 2000, she was named by Ebony magazine as one of its 55 Most Beautiful People and was honored by Essence magazine and Black Entertainment Television.

In 2022, she made her directorial debut with the film On the Come Up, in which she also has a supporting role.

place_of_birth: New York City, New York, USA


Sam Troughton

place_of_birth: Hampstead, London, England, UK


Benoît Magimel

biography:
Benoît Magimel is a French actor. A prolific actor who was 14 when he appeared in his first film, Magimel has starred in a variety of roles in French cinema.

For a number of years, he lived with French actress Juliette Binoche, with whom he co-starred in 1999's Children of the Century and later had a daughter, Hana, born in 1999. The relationship ended in 2003.

place_of_birth: Paris, France


Ralph Fiennes

biography:
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director. He has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for three Academy Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award.

Born in Ipswich, Suffolk, Fiennes was trained at and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1985. A Shakespeare interpreter, he excelled onstage at the Royal National Theatre before succeeding at the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1995, Fiennes made his Broadway debut playing Prince Hamlet in the revival of the William Shakespeare play Hamlet, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He was later Tony-nominated for his role as a travelling faith healer in the Brian Friel play Faith Healer (2006).

Fiennes made his film debut playing Heathcliff in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1992). He has earned three Academy Award nominations for his performances in the films Schindler's List (1993), The English Patient (1996), and Conclave (2024). He has also acted in Quiz Show (1994), Maid in Manhattan (2002), The Constant Gardener (2005), In Bruges (2008), The Reader (2008), The Duchess (2008), The Hurt Locker (2009), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), A Bigger Splash (2015), Hail, Caesar! (2016), and The Menu (2022).

Fiennes gained wider recognition for playing Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter film series (2005–2011) and Gareth Mallory / M in the James Bond films (2012–2021); and has voiced roles in the animated films The Prince of Egypt (1998), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), and The Lego Batman Movie (2017). He directed and starred in the films Coriolanus (2011) and The Invisible Woman (2013). Aside from acting, Fiennes has been an ambassador for UNICEF UK since 1999.

place_of_birth: Ipswich, Suffolk, England, UK


Naveen Andrews

biography: Naveen Andrews (born January 17, 1969) is a British actor. He is best known for The English Patient and Lost.

place_of_birth: London, England, UK


Colin Firth

biography:
Colin Andrew Firth (born 10 September 1960) is an English actor and producer. He is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2011, Firth was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and appeared in Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world.

Identified in the mid-1980s with the "Brit Pack" of rising young British actors, he had leading roles in A Month in the Country (1987), Tumbledown(1988) and Valmont (1989). His portrayal of Mr Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice drew widespread attention. It led to roles in more prominent films such as The English Patient (1996), Shakespeare in Love (1998), The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), and Love Actually (2003). He starred as Mark Darcy in the Bridget Jones film series (2001–2025). Also, he acted in the musical comedy Mamma Mia! (2008) and its 2018 sequel.

Firth won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of King George VI in the historical drama The King's Speech (2010). He was previously Oscar-nominated for his role as a grieving gay man in the romantic drama A Single Man (2009), which earned him the BAFTA Award and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor. He subsequently played secret agent Harry Hart in Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and its 2017 sequel. He also performed in films such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), 1917 (2019), The Secret Garden, Supernova (both 2020), and Operation Mincemeat (2021). For his roles on television, he received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his portrayals of Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart in the BBC film Conspiracy (2001) and Michael Peterson in the HBO limited series The Staircase (2022).

In 2012, he founded the production company Raindog Films, under which he served as a producer for Eye in the Sky (2015) and Loving (2016). His films have grossed more than $3 billion from 42 releases worldwide. Firth has campaigned for the rights of Indigenous people and is a member of Survival International. He has also campaigned on issues such as asylum seekers, refugees' rights, and the environment. He commissioned and co-authored a scientific paper on differences in brain structure between people with different political orientations.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Colin Firth, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

place_of_birth: Grayshott, Hampshire, England, UK


Mehmet Kurtuluş

biography:
Mehmet Kurtuluş is a Turkish actor. He was born in Uşak, Turkey, and moved at the age of 18 months to Germany, where he grew up with his brother, Tekin, in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony.

He performed several minor television roles in episodes of different TV shows and continued working in theater until his big-screen debut in his main role as the young Turkish boy Gabriel in Fatih Akın's filmKurz und schmerzlos (Short Sharp Shock). After his breakthrough, he appeared in the successful TV mini-series Der Tunnel, of Roland Suso Richter, where he performed alongside Heino Ferch and Nicolette Krebitz. Doris Dörrie chose him for her sex comedy Naked.

He went back to working in television with the love film Eine Liebe in Saigon (Love in Saigon) with Luxembourgian actress Désirée Nosbusch (to whom he is engaged).  He played the main detective role in six episodes of the cult German television series Tatort. He announced afterwards that he would be working on international projects.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

place_of_birth: Uşak, Turkey


Regula Grauwiller

place_of_birth: Liestal BL, Switzerland


Inka Friedrich

place_of_birth: Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany


James McAvoy

biography:
James McAvoy (born April 21, 1979) is a Scottish actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in The Near Room (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his feature film career began. His notable television work includes the thriller State of Play, science fiction miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune and the channel 4s BAFTA award-winning series Shameless (British TV series).

He has performed in several West End productions and has received four nominations for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, and has also done voice work for animated films including Gnomeo & Juliet, its sequel Sherlock Gnomes, and Arthur Christmas.

In 2003, McAvoy appeared in a lead role in Bollywood Queen, then in another lead role as Rory in Inside I'm Dancing in 2004. This was followed by a supporting role, as the faun Mr. Tumnus, in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). His performance in Kevin Macdonald's drama The Last King of Scotland (2006) garnered him several award nominations, including the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. The critically acclaimed romantic drama war film Atonement (2007) earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination and his second BAFTA nomination. He later appeared as a newly trained assassin in the action thriller Wanted (2008).

In 2011, McAvoy portrayed Professor Charles Xavier in the superhero film X-Men: First Class, a role he reprised in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018), and Dark Phoenix (2019). McAvoy starred in the crime comedy-drama film Filth (2013), for which he won Best Actor in the British Independent Film Awards. In 2016, he portrayed Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man with 23 alternate personalities, in M. Night Shyamalan's Split, for which he received critical acclaim, and later reprised the role for the sequel Glass (2019). Since 2019, he has portrayed Lord Asriel Belacqua in the BBC/HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials.

place_of_birth: Glasgow, Scotland, UK


Ray Winstone

biography:
Raymond Andrew Winstone (born February 19, 1957) is an English television, stage, film, and voice-over actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, he is perhaps best known for his "tough guy" roles (usually delivered in his distinctive London accent), beginning with that of Carlin in the 1979 film Scum, and Will Scarlet in the cult TV adventure series Robin of Sherwood.

His film résumé includes Fool's Gold, Cold Mountain, King Arthur, The Proposition, The Departed, Beowulf, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Edge of Darkness. He is known for starring in very profane and violent films such as Nil By Mouth, Sexy Beast and 44 Inch Chest. He has also branched out into film production.  Description above from the Wikipedia article Ray Winstone, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

place_of_birth: Hackney, London, England, UK


Val Kilmer

biography:
Val Edward Kilmer (December 31, 1959 – April 1, 2025) was an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! (1984), then the cult classic Real Genius (1985), as well as blockbuster action films, including a role in Top Gun and a lead role in Willow.

During the 1990s, Kilmer gained critical respect after a series of films that were also commercially successful, including his roles as Jim Morrison in The Doors, Doc Holliday in 1993's Tombstone, Batman in 1995's Batman Forever, Chris Shiherlis in 1995's Heat, and Simon Templar in 1997's The Saint. During the early 2000s, Kilmer appeared in several well-received roles, including The Salton Sea, Spartan, and supporting performances in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Alexander, and as the voice of KITT in Knight Rider.

place_of_birth: Los Angeles, California, USA


Hank Azaria

biography:
Henry Albert "Hank" Azaria (born April 25, 1964) is an American actor and producer. He is known for voicing many characters in the long-running animated sitcom The Simpsons since 1989, including Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Superintendent Chalmers, Comic Book Guy, Snake Jailbird, Professor Frink, Kirk Van Houten, Duffman, and formerly Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Lou, Carl Carlson, among others. Azaria joined the show with little voice acting experience, but became a regular in its second season. For his work on the show, he has won four Primetime Emmy Awards.

Alongside his continued voice acting on The Simpsons, Azaria became more widely known through his live-action supporting appearances in films such as Quiz Show (1994), Heat, The Birdcage (1996) (for which he won a Screen Actors Guild Award) and Godzilla (1998). He has also appeared in numerous films including Mystery Men (1999), America's Sweethearts (2001), Shattered Glass (2003), Along Came Polly (2004), Run Fatboy Run (2007), Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and The Smurfs (2011) and The Smurfs 2 (2013). Further voice roles include Anastasia (1997), for which he won an Annie Award.

His live-action television work includes recurring roles on the sitcoms Mad About You and Friends, as well as dramatic roles in the TV films Tuesdays With Morrie (1999) as writer Mitch Albom and Uprising (2001) as Jewish resistance leader Mordechai Anielewicz. For the former, Azaria received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. He starred in the title roles in the Showtime drama series Huff (2004–2006) and the IFC sitcom Brockmire (2017–2020). His recurring role on the drama Ray Donovan earned him a sixth Primetime Emmy Award in 2016.

Azaria made his Broadway debut as Lancelot in Spamalot, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He returned to Broadway in 2007, playing David Sarnoff in The Farnsworth Invention.

place_of_birth: Queens, New York City, New York, USA


David Lynch

biography:
David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Lynch received critical acclaim for his films, which are often distinguished by their surrealist, dreamlike qualities. In his 58-year career, he was awarded numerous accolades, including the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2006 and an Honorary Academy Award in 2019. In 2007, a panel of critics convened by The Guardian announced that "after all the discussion, no one could fault the conclusion that David Lynch is the most important filmmaker of the current era."

Lynch studied painting before he began making short films in the late 1960s. His first feature-length film was the independent surrealist film Eraserhead (1977), which saw success as a midnight movie. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for the biographical drama The Elephant Man (1980) and the mystery films Blue Velvet (1986) and Mulholland Drive (2001). His romantic crime drama Wild at Heart (1990) won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He also directed the space opera adaptation Dune (1984), the surrealist neo-noir Lost Highway (1997), the biographical drama The Straight Story (1999), and the experimental film Inland Empire (2006).

Lynch and Mark Frost created the ABC series Twin Peaks (1990–91), for which Lynch was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. Lynch co-wrote and directed its film prequel, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), and its limited series revival (2017). He has also worked as an actor, including his portrayals of FBI agent Gordon Cole in Twin Peaks and director John Ford in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans (2022), as well as guest roles in TV series such as The Cleveland Show (2010–13), Louie (2012), and Robot Chicken (2020, 2022).

Lynch's other artistic endeavours included his work as a musician, encompassing the studio albums BlueBOB (2001), Crazy Clown Time (2011), and The Big Dream (2013), as well as painting and photography. He has written the books Images (1994), Catching the Big Fish (2006), and Room to Dream (2018). He has directed several music videos for artists such as Chris Isaak, X Japan, Moby, Interpol, Nine Inch Nails, and Donovan, and commercials for Calvin Klein, Dior, L'Oreal, Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, and the New York City Department of Sanitation. A practitioner of Transcendental Meditation (TM), he founded the David Lynch Foundation, which seeks to fund the teaching of TM in schools and has since widened its scope to other at-risk populations, including the homeless, veterans, and refugees.

place_of_birth: Missoula, Montana, USA


Noah Baumbach

biography:
Noah Baumbach (born September 3, 1969) is an American filmmaker. He received Academy Award nominations for writing his films The Squid and the Whale (2005) and Marriage Story (2019), both of which he also directed, while the former garnered him one of the few screenwriters to ever sweep "The Big Four" critics awards: Los Angeles Film Critics Association, National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Circle, and National Society of Film Critics.

He has written and directed a number of other films, including Margot at the Wedding (2007), While We're Young (2014), and The Meyerowitz Stories (2017). He is also known for his collaborations with his partner Greta Gerwig in Greenberg (2010), Frances Ha (2013), Mistress America (2015), and White Noise (2022), as well as with Wes Anderson, co-writing The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009).

Description above from the Wikipedia article Noah Baumbach, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

place_of_birth: Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA


Anjelica Huston

biography:
Anjelica Huston (born July 8, 1951) is an American actress, director, producer, author, and former fashion model. She is the daughter of director John Huston and granddaughter of actor Walter Huston. After reluctantly making her big screen debut in her father's A Walk with Love and Death (1969), Huston moved from London to New York City, where she worked as a model throughout the 1970s. She decided to actively pursue acting in the early 1980s, and, subsequently, had her breakthrough with her performance in Prizzi's Honor (1985), also directed by her father, for which she became the third generation of her family to receive an Academy Award, when she won Best Supporting Actress, joining both John and Walter Huston in this recognition.

Huston received Academy Award nominations for Enemies, A Love Story (1989) and The Grifters (1990), for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress, respectively, BAFTA nominations for Best Supporting Actress for the Woody Allen films Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for starring as Morticia Addams in The Addams Family (1991) and its sequel Addams Family Values (1993). She also received acclaim for her portrayal of the Grand High Witch in Roald Dahl's film adaptation The Witches (1990). Huston has frequently worked with director Wes Anderson, starring in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and The Darjeeling Limited (2007). Her other notable credits include The Dead (1987), Ever After (1998), Buffalo '66 (1998), Daddy Day Care (2003), 50/50 (2011) and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019). She has lent her voice to several animated films, mainly the Tinker Bell franchise (2008–2015).

On television, Huston has had recurring roles on Huff (2006), Medium (2008–2009), and Transparent (2015–2016). She won a Gracie Award for her portrayal of Eileen Rand on Smash (2012–2013). Huston made her directorial debut with the film Bastard Out of Carolina (1996). This was followed by Agnes Browne (1999), in which she also starred. She has written the memoirs A Story Lately Told (2013) and Watch Me (2014).

place_of_birth: Santa Monica, California, USA


Chris Wedge

biography:
John Christian Wedge (born March 20, 1957) is an American filmmaker, animator, and voice actor. He is best known for being the lead animator of the sci-fi action film Tron (1982), co-founding the now defunct animation studio Blue Sky Studios, and directing the short film Bunny (1998) and the feature films Ice Age (2002), Robots (2005) and Epic (2013). Wedge has received two Academy Awards nominations: one for Bunny, for which he won Best Animated Short; and Ice Age, nominated for Best Animated Feature. He also created and voiced the character Scrat in the Ice Age franchise (2002–2022).

Description above from the Wikipedia article Chris Wedge, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

place_of_birth: Binghamton, New York, USA

known_for_department: Production


John Leguizamo

biography:
John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (born July 22, 1960) is a Colombian-American stand-up comedian, actor, and film producer. He has appeared in over 100 films, produced over 20 films and documentaries, made over 30 television appearances, and has produced various television projects. He has also written and performed for the Broadway stage receiving four Tony Award nominations for Freak in 1998, Sexaholix in 2002, and Latin History for Moronsin in 2018. He received a Special Tony Award in 2018.

Leguizamo began his career as a stand-up comedian in New York City. After several years of doing supporting roles in film and television, he rose to fame with significant roles in the fantasy adventure Super Mario Bros. portraying Luigi Mario and the crime drama Carlito's Way portraying Benny Blanco (both from 1993), followed by a role as drag queen Chi-Chi Rodriguez in the road comedy To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995), for which he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination. Other films Leguizamo has since appeared in include Romeo + Juliet (1996), The Pest (1997), Summer of Sam (1999), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Empire (2002), Love in the Time of Cholera (2007), Righteous Kill (2008), The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), The Counselor (2013), John Wick (2014), John Wick 2 (2017), and The Menu (2022). As a voice actor, he narrated the sitcom The Brothers García (2000–2004). He played Sid the Sloth in the Ice Age franchise and Bruno Madrigal in Encanto (2021).

Leguizamo is also known for his television roles including Freak (1998) for which he received the 1999 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. This historic win made Leguizamo the first Latino to win this award in Emmy history. He received further Primetime Emmy Award nominations for the miniseries Waco (2018) and the Netflix limited series When They See Us (2019). He has also appeared on ER, The Kill Point, Bloodline, and The Mandalorian. In 2023, he hosted the MSNBC series Leguizamo Does America.

place_of_birth: Bogotá, Colombia


Cedric the Entertainer

biography:
Cedric Antonio Kyles (born April 24, 1964), known professionally as Cedric the Entertainer, is an American actor and comedian. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Calvin Butler on the CBS sitcom The Neighborhood, Mullins on The Last O.G., Reverend Boyce 'The Voice' Ballentine on The Soul Man, co-starred as Cedric Jackie Robinson on the WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show, Eddie in the Barbershop films, and as one of the four comedians featured in the Spike Lee film The Original Kings of Comedy.

He has starred as the lead in the films Johnson Family Vacation and Code Name: The Cleaner. His other films include First Reformed, Why Him?, A Haunted House 1 & 2, Larry Crowne, Cadillac Records, The Honeymooners (2005), Be Cool, Man of the House, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Intolerable Cruelty, Dr. Dolittle 2, and Big Momma's House.  He has also done voice work for Ice Age, the Madagascar film series, Charlotte's Web (2006), Planes, and Planes: Fire & Rescue.

He hosted BET's ComicView during the 1993–1994 season and Def Comedy Jam in 1995 as well as the 12th season of the daytime version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 2013–14.

In 2019, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

place_of_birth: Jefferson City, Missouri, USA


Liselotte Pulver

biography: Liselotte Pulver (11 October 1929), sometimes credited as Lilo Pulver, is a Swiss actress. Pulver was one of the stars of German cinema in the 1950s and 1960s, where she often was cast as a tomboy. She is well known for her hearty and joyful laughter.

place_of_birth: Bern, Switzerland


Luciano Vincenzoni

biography:
Luciano Vincenzoni (7 March 1926 – 22 September 2013) was an Italian screenwriter, known as the "script doctor". He wrote for 65 films between 1954 and 2000.

Vincenzoni was born in Treviso, Veneto. He is probably best known in world cinema for his scriptwriting of Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in 1966, but he also wrote for a number of other Spaghetti Westerns.

place_of_birth: Treviso, Veneto, Italy


Julie Andrews

biography:
Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is a British film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honours. Andrews was a former British child actress and singer who made her Broadway debut in 1954 with The Boy Friend, and rose to prominence starring in other musicals such as My Fair Lady and Camelot, and in musical films such as Mary Poppins (1964), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and The Sound of Music (1965): the roles for which she is still best-known. Her voice, which originally spanned four octaves, was damaged by a throat operation in 1997.

Andrews had a revival of her film career in 2000s in family films such as The Princess Diaries (2001), its sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), the Shrek animated films (2004–2010), and Despicable Me (2010). In 2003 Andrews revisited her first Broadway success, this time as a stage director, with a revival of The Boy Friend at the Bay Street Theatre, Sag Harbor, New York (and later at the Goodspeed Opera House, in East Haddam, Connecticut in 2005).

Andrews is also an author of children's books, and in 2008 published an autobiography, Home: A Memoir of My Early Years.

place_of_birth: Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, UK


Wayne Robson

biography: Wayne Robson (April 29, 1946 – April 4, 2011) was a Canadian television, stage, voice and film actor known for playing the part of Mike Hamar, an ex-convict and sometime thief, on the Canadian sitcom The Red Green Show from 1993 to 2006, as well as in the 2002 film Duct Tape Forever.

place_of_birth: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada


Hilary Duff

biography:
Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She is the recipient of several accolades, including seven Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, four Teen Choice Awards and two Young Artist Awards. She also began her acting career at a young age, quickly being labeled a teen idol, as the title character of the television series, Lizzie McGuire and in the film based on the series, The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003).

Thereafter, she appeared in numerous mainstream films such as Cadet Kelly (2002), Agent Cody Banks (2003), Cheaper by the Dozen (2003) and A Cinderella Story (2004). She later appeared in independent films playing a wider range of adult-themed roles, such as a promiscuous pop star in War, Inc. (2008), a suicidal, rebellious teenager in According to Greta (2009) and as the title character in the controversial The Haunting of Sharon Tate (2019), inspired by the real-life Tate–LaBianca murders. From 2015 to 2021, Duff starred as Kelsey Peters in TV Land’s longest-running original series Younger, for which she received two People's Choice Awards nominations. As of 2022, she currently produces and stars in How I Met Your Father as the lead role, Sophie.

Duff first came to prominence in the music industry after releasing her debut studio album, the Christmas-themed Santa Claus Lane (2002), through Buena Vista Records. Her second album, Metamorphosis (2003), was hugely successful, topping the Billboard 200 chart and earning a 3x Platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She enjoyed significant commercial success with her subsequent Platinum and Gold-certified albums released through Hollywood Records; Hilary Duff (2004), Most Wanted (2005) and Dignity (2007). Following a hiatus from music, Duff signed with RCA Records for her fifth album, Breathe In. Breathe Out. (2015), which debuted within the top-five in Australia, Canada and the United States. Duff has also been hailed as an inspiration by subsequent Disney teen stars such as Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Bridgit Mendler and Selena Gomez, and has sold an estimated 15 million records worldwide.

In addition to music and acting, she has also co-authored a trilogy of novels, beginning with Elixir (2010), which became a New York Times best seller, and followed by the sequels Devoted (2011) and True (2013). Duff's success in the entertainment industry led her to venture into business with fashion lines of her own such as Stuff by Hilary Duff, Femme for DKNY and most recently the "Muse x Hilary Duff" collection, a collaborative effort with GlassesUSA which was credited to have boosted GlassesUSA's sales for its premium brands. She has also invested in a number of businesses ranging from cosmetics to children's products. In 2019, she was appointed as the chief brand officer of Naturalena Brands' "Happy Little Camper" and "Veeda" lines of products; although this partnership ended with a lawsuit in 2021.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Hilary Duff, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

place_of_birth: Houston, Texas, USA


Kati Outinen

biography:
Anna Katriina Outinen (born August 17, 1961) is a Finnish actress who has often played leading female roles in Aki Kaurismäki's films.

Outinen was born in Helsinki. Having studied under Jouko Turkka during his "reign" of drama studies in Finland, she nevertheless has never been associated with the "turkkalaisuus" school of acting methodology. Her breakthrough role was as a tough girl in the generational classic youth film Täältä tullaan elämä by Tapio Suominen.

In 1984, she appeared in Aikalainen.

Besides a strong domestic reputation gained through a widely varied list of roles in theater and television drama, film director Aki Kaurismäki's films have brought Outinen international attention and even adulation, particularly in Germany and France.

At the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, Outinen won the award for Best Actress for the Kaurismäki film The Man Without a Past.

place_of_birth: Helsinki, Finland


Michael Haneke

biography: Michael Haneke (born March 23, 1942) is a German-Austrian filmmaker and writer best known for his bleak and disturbing style. His films often document problems and failures in modern society. Haneke has worked in television‚ theatre and cinema. He is also known for raising social issues in his work. Besides working as filmmaker he also teaches directing at the Filmacademy Vienna. At the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, his film The White Ribbon won the Palme d'Or for best film, and at the 67th Golden Globe Awards the film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He has made films in French, German and English.

place_of_birth: Munich, Germany


Roland Emmerich

biography: Roland Emmerich is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer who is known for his work on disaster and action flicks. He made a name for himself with The Noah's Ark Principle (1981) and co-founded Centropolis Entertainment in 1985 with his sister.  Besides his work in the entertainment industry, he is a collector of art and an active campaigner for the LGBT community, global warming awareness and equal rights.

place_of_birth: Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany


Mike Reiss

biography:
Michael "Mike" Reiss (born September 15, 1959) is an American television comedy writer. He served as a runner, writer, and producer on the animated series The Simpsons and co-created the animated series The Critic. He created and wrote the online cartoon Queer Duck and also worked on screenplays that include: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Horton Hears a Who!, The Simpsons Movie, and My Life in Ruins!.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Mike Reiss, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

place_of_birth: Bristol, Connecticut, USA


Dennis Quaid

biography: Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor. He became known during the 1980s after appearing in several successful films, including as Mike Brody in Jaws 3-D (1983), Alex Gardner in Dreamscape (1984), Remy McSwain in The Big Easy (1987), Tuck Pendleton in Innerspace (1987), Jefferson "Jeff" Blue in Undercover Blues (1993), Bowen in Dragonheart (1996), Joe Doe/William in Gang Related (1997), Frank Towns in Flight of the Phoenix (2004), Jack Hall in The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and Reverend Shaw Moore in Footloose (2011).


Devid Striesow

biography:
Devid Striesow (born October 1, 1973 in Bergen auf Rügen) is a German actor. He starred as "Sturmbannführer Herzog" (Bernhard Krüger) in Stefan Ruzowitzky's 2007 film The Counterfeiters, which was awarded the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for that year. 2022 Devid got his biggest role so far which is General Friedrichs in «All Quiet On The Western Front»

Description above from the Wikipedia article Devid Striesow, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

place_of_birth: Bergen auf Rügen, Germany


August Diehl

biography:
August Diehl (born 4 January 1976) is a German actor, known for playing the Gestapo Sturmbannführer Dieter Hellstrom in Inglourious Basterds and Michael "Mike" Krause, Evelyn Salt's husband, in the movie Salt.

Description above from the Wikipedia article August Diehl, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

place_of_birth: West Berlin, West Germany [now Berlin, Germany]


Steven Weber

biography:
Steven Robert Weber is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Brian Hackett on the television series Wings, voicing Charlie B. Barkin in All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series, and portraying Jack Torrance in the TV miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining.

Weber was born on March 4, 1961, in Briarwood, Queens, New York. He is the son of Fran (Frankel), a nightclub singer, and Stuart Weber, a nightclub performer, and Borscht Belt comic and manager. He began his acting career in high school, appearing in several productions. After graduating from high school, he attended the High School of the Performing Arts in New York City and graduated from New York State University at Purchase.

Weber's first major acting role was in the 1987 film Hamburger Hill. He then went on to appear in a number of other films, including The Flamingo Kid (1984), The Kennedys of Massachusetts (1990), and The Shining (1997).

In 1990, Weber began starring as Brian Hackett on the television series Wings. The show ran for eight seasons and was a critical and commercial success. Weber's performance on the show earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy.

In 1994, Weber began voicing Charlie B. Barkin in the animated series All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series. He continued to voice the character until the show ended in 1996.

In 1997, Weber starred in the TV miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining. He played Jack Torrance, the role made famous by Jack Nicholson in the 1980 film. Weber's performance was praised by critics, and he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film.

Weber has continued to work in film and television since then. He has appeared in a number of films, including The Santa Clause 2 (2002), The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006), and The Christmas Chronicles (2018). He has also appeared in a number of television shows, including iZombie, NCIS: New Orleans, and Chicago Med.

place_of_birth: Briarwood, Queens, New York, USA