Alicia Vikander

biography:
Alicia Amanda Vikander (born 3 October 1988) is a Swedish actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, and nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and three British Academy Film Awards.

Born and raised in Gothenburg, Vikander began acting as a child in minor stage productions at the Gothenburg opera house and trained as a ballet dancer at the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm. She began her acting career in Swedish short films and television series and first gained recognition for her role in the drama series Andra Avenyn (2008–2010). She made her feature film debut in Pure (2010), for which she won the Guldbagge Award for Best Actress. She gained wider recognition in 2012 for playing Kitty in Joe Wright's adaptation of Anna Karenina and Queen Caroline Mathilde in the Danish film A Royal Affair.

Vikander achieved global recognition for her roles as Vera Brittain in Testament of Youth (2014), a humanoid robot in Ex Machina (2014), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and Gerda Wegener in The Danish Girl (2015), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 2016, Vikander was listed by Forbes in its 30 Under 30 list. She has since starred in the action film Jason Bourne (2016), the fantasy film The Green Knight (2021), the miniseries Irma Vep (2022), the historical drama Firebrand (2023), the horror comedy Rumours (2024) and the sci-fi thriller The Assessment (2024).

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

place_of_birth: Gothenburg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden


Benny Safdie

type: Profile

biography:
Benjamin Safdie (born February 24, 1986) is an American filmmaker, actor, and editor best known for his collaborations with his older brother, Josh Safdie. Together, the Safdie brothers have established themselves as leading voices in contemporary independent cinema with acclaimed films such as Heaven Knows What (2014), Good Time (2017), and Uncut Gems (2019).

In addition to directing, Benny has pursued a parallel career as an actor. His performance in Good Time earned him a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. He has since appeared in high-profile films including Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza (2021), Kelly Fremon Craig’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (2023), and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023).

On television, he co-created, co-wrote, and starred alongside Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone in the Showtime series The Curse (2023).

place_of_birth: New York City, New York, USA

known_for_department: Directing


Takuzō Kawatani

biography: Takuzo Kawatani was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in 165 films between 1967 and 1995. He was most famous for playing villains.

place_of_birth: Changchun, Jilin, China

known_for_department: Acting


Leonard Retel Helmrich

biography: Leonard Retel Helmrich is a Dutch filmmaker who worked as a drama director and cameraman in the Netherlands before going to Indonesia to make a series of documentaries that have won awards world wide. His most famous film Shape Of The Moon won Best Documentary in the World Docs Competition at Sundance 2005 as well as at the International Documentary Film festival Amsterdam (IDFA) in 2004.

place_of_birth: Tilburg


Angie Cheung Wai-Yee

biography: Angie Cheung Wai-Yee is a Hong Kong-based Malaysian Chinese actress. She won the Miss Chinese Malaysia in 1992 and went to Hong Kong to compete for the Miss Chinese International in 1993. After that, she signed a contract with the Hong Kong television TVB and became an actress.

place_of_birth: Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia


Rupert Sanders

biography:
Rupert Miles Sanders (born 16 March 1971) is an English film director. Sanders directed the films Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), Ghost in the Shell (2017), and The Crow (2024). He also directed the pilot episode of the Apple TV+ science fiction series Foundation.

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

place_of_birth: Westminster, London, England, UK


Sabina Akhmedova

biography: Sabina Akhmedova joined Moscow's Institute of Modern Arts when she was 16. During the four year program, she studied with members of the well-known Moscow Art Theatre, founded by acting legend Constantin Stanislavsky. She made her stage debut in Tennessee Williams's "Summer and Smoke" as Rosa Gonzalez. Other performances soon followed, such as Alexander Pushkin's "Small tragedies" and Federico García Lorca's "The house of Bernarda Alba". After graduation, she was promptly recruited by Stas Namin's "Music and Drama Theatre" as a lead actress, where she not only performed in dramatic plays, but also in lively musicals, such as "Hair" and "Jesus Christ Superstar". Her movie debut was as Irina, a romantic girl-next-door in "Christmas Gift" (2001). Other films and TV projects followed, including "Bachelors" and "Ivlampia Romanova". She rose to fame in MTV's comedy "The Club", where she played series regular Tamara for five seasons. This led to her most acclaimed role to date, Lana, in "Diversant 2". The year 2006 found Sabina continuing her studies at the Lee Strasberg Institute in Los Angeles. A versatile actor, Sabina has recently played Goneril in William Shakespeare's "King Lear" at the Strasberg's Marilyn Monroe Theatre, and can be next seen as Amy in the independent feature "Taxi Man".

place_of_birth: Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, USSR


Weng Weng

biography: Ernesto de la Cruz (September 7, 1957 – August 29, 1992), better known as Weng Weng, was a Filipino actor and martial artist. Only 83 cm (2 feet, 9 inches) tall, he is listed in theGuinness World Records as the shortest adult actor in a leading role. He played Secret Agent 00 in For Y’ur Height Only and The Impossible Kid, and also starred in the western "D’Wild Wild Weng".

place_of_birth: Baclaran, Philippines


Junko Miyashita

biography: Junko Miyashita (宮下順子, Miyashita Junko, born 29 January 1949) is a Japanese actress who had a long and varied career working both in pink film and mainstream cinema.

place_of_birth: Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan


Lam King-Kong

biography: King-Kong Lam is an actor and assistant director based in Hong Kong, China.


Ana Girardot

biography:
Ana Girardot (born 1 August 1988) is a French actress and director. She is known for Escobar: Paradise Lost (2014); her role of Lucy in the television series Les Revenants (The Returned); and Someone, Somewhere (2019).  Ana Girardot was born on August 1, 1988 in Paris, France. She is an actress and director, known for Escobar: Paradise Lost (2014), The Returned (2012) and Someone, Somewhere (2019).

Ana Girardot was born on August 1, 1988, in Paris. Ana Girardot is the daughter of French actor Hippolyte Girardot and actress Isabel Otero, and the granddaughter of painters Antonio Otero and Clotilde Vautier. She chose to become an actress despite her father's disapproval, and later went to New York City for two years to study theatre. After performing secondary roles in television and cinema, Girardot scored a leading role in the film Lights Out, which was presented at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

Source: Article "Ana Girardot" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

place_of_birth: Clamart, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France


Alantė Kavaitė

biography: Alantė Kavaitė is a Lithuanian film director, screenwriter and actress.

place_of_birth: Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, USSR

known_for_department: Writing


Benoît Jacquot

biography: Benoît Jacquot is a French film director and screenwriter who has had a varied career in European cinema. Born in Paris, Jacquot began his career as assistant director of Marguerite Duras films, including Nathalie Granger, India Song, and also actor in the 1973 short film La Sœur du cadre. He turned to writing and directing with the 1975 film The Musician Killer, which starred Anna Karina. He has directed over forty films, the most notable of which to American audiences are La Désenchantée (1990), starring Judith Godrèche, and A Single Girl (1995), starring Virginie Ledoyen. In 2003, he directed Massenet's opera Werther conducted by Antonio Pappano at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. His film Farewell, My Queen opened the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012. His 2014 film Three Hearts competed for the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. In July 2024, Jacquot was charged with rape, including of a minor, and was barred from directing and having contact with minors.

place_of_birth: Paris, France


Dan Jeannotte

biography: Daniel Jeannotte is a Canadian actor. He gained recognition for his roles as Brandon Russell in the American-Canadian fantasy television series Good Witch, and as James Stuart in the CW period drama series Reign.

place_of_birth: Montréal, Québec, Canada


Monica Dolan

biography: Monica Dolan is a BAFTA and Olivier Award winning actor whose work spans television, film and stage. Monica was born in March 1969 into an Irish family and has a sister Gabrielle. She studied drama at the Guildhall School in London, graduating in 1991 and soon afterwards went into television. A supremely versatile character actress, she has tended to specialize in stunning portrayals of the darker side of life, as real-life stalker Maria Marchese in U Be Dead (2009), demure but deadly Miss Gilchrist in the superior Poirot adaptation Poirot: After the Funeral (2006) and, particularly, as serial killer Rosemary West in Appropriate Adult (2011) for which she, along with fellow Guildhall graduate Dominic West, deservedly received a BAFTA award.

place_of_birth: Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England, UK


Robert Fripp

biography: Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer.  As a guitarist for the progressive rock band King Crimson, Fripp has been the only member to have played in all of King Crimson's line-ups from their inception in the late 1960s to the present. He is the driving creative and political force of the group, bearing responsibility for line-up changes and ending and resuming the group at various points. He has also worked extensively as a studio musician, notably with singer David Bowie on the albums "Heroes" and Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), Brian Eno, and contributed sounds to the Windows Vista operating system. His complete discography lists more than seven hundred releases over four decades

place_of_birth: Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England, UK


Pat Mastelotto

biography:
Pat Mastelotto (born Lee Patrick Mastelotto) is a rock drummer who has worked with Mr. Mister, King Crimson and XTC, among others. For King Crimson he initially formed part of the "double trio", joining Bill Bruford on drums.

Mastelotto started playing the drums at the age of 10. When he was 16, he was playing in the most popular local bands and, while still in high school, commuted several hours to Lake Tahoe for gigs. Pat moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s and was discovered by Mike Chapman. He worked for many bands and as a studio session drummer, most notably with Scandal. Then in the mid-80s Pat was a founding member of Mr. Mister, a band that had two #1 hits.  He did more session work with Al Jarreau, Pointer Sisters, Patti LaBelle, Kenny Loggins, Jude Cole, Eddie Money, Tina Arena, Martika, Jack Wagner, Danny Wilde, Mark Jordan, Matthew Sweet, Julia Fordham, Robyn Hitchcock, and bands like XTC, The Sugarcubes, Hall & Oates, Cock Robin, The Rembrandts, and The Sugarplastic.  In 1991, Mastelotto co-produced Peter Kingsbery's first solo album. In 1993 he did a world tour with David Sylvian and Robert Fripp, with Trey Gunn and Michael Brook.

Since 1994 Mastelotto has been a member of King Crimson, and appears on over 20 King Crimson CDs and several KC videos. He also produced, edited and mixed several King Crimson ProjeKcts releases. He has also continued guesting on other projects (including Terrien's solo debut album *All the Dolls in the Same Place*, two more Cock Robin albums (2006, 2010), work with the Swedish I/B/ band, a duet with drummer Terry Bozzio, CGT, Mecca, and PJ Olsson).

His playing style is flexible, with a long history of mixing traditional acoustic drums with various banks of electronic gear. He is equally comfortable with simple pop grooves as he is with the ornate, dense arrangements of playing in bands like King Crimson.

place_of_birth: Chico, California, USA


Arne Hegerfors

place_of_birth: Göteborg,  Göteborg- och Bohus län, Sweden


Golshifteh Farahani

biography: Golshifteh Farahani (گلشیفته فراهانی) was born on 10th July 1983 and is an international Iranian actress. Golshifteh Farahani started her acting career in theatre at the age of 6. Since then she has played in more than 40 films, many of which have been screened or awarded at international festivals. Amongst her famous Iranian films are Bahman Ghobadi's Half Moon, Dariush Mehrjui's Santoori , Rasool Mollagholipour's M for Mother and Asghar Farhadi's About Elly. Starring in Ridley Scotts Body of Lies (2008), alongside Leonardo Di Caprio and Russel Crowe, Golshifteh Farahani became the first Iranian to act in a major Hollywood production. She has also starred in films such as Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) directed by Ridley Scott, Paterson (2016) directed by Jim jarmush, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), Extraction (2020), and Alpha (2025) directed by Palme d'Or winning filmmaker Julia Ducournau.

place_of_birth: Tehran, Iran


Shahab Hosseini

biography: Shahab Hosseini (شهاب حسینی) is a director and actor of theater, television, and cinema who was born in 1974 in Tehran, Iran. He started his professional career by playing Amir Ghavidel's "Rokhsareh". He Nominated for Best Supporting Actor in Fajr Festival for two consecutive years in "A Candle in The Wind" by Pouran Derakhshandeh and "Salvation in Twenty minutes after Eight" by Sirous Alvand. He then won the Best Actor Award for the Fajr Festival for "The Superstar" by Tahmineh Milani. Shahab Hosseini won an Honorary Diploma of Best Supporting Actor in 2008 in Asghar Farhadi's "About Elly" movie. He also won the Best Actor Award at the Berlin Film Festival in the movie "A Separation" by Asghar Farhadi, after that he won the Best Actor award from Canne Film Festival for "The Salesman" by Asghar Farhadi. He produced his film "Resident of the Middle Class" in 2014. Among the best movies that he has played Bahram Tavakoli's "Parse Dar Meh", Kianoush Ayari's "Khaneh Pedari", "The Painting Pool" by Maziar Miri and "My Brother, Khosrow" by Soheil Biragi can be named.


Michael Thurmeier

biography: Michael Thurmeier is a Canadian animator and film director, best known for his work in the Ice Age franchise.

place_of_birth: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada


Mikako Tabe

biography: Japanese stage and film actress who is from Tokyo. She has played the role of Yaten Kou in the Sailor Moon musicals. She also starred in the comedy series "Yasuko to Kenji".

place_of_birth: Tokyo, Japan


Mikhail Gorbachev

biography: Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: Михаи́л Серге́евич Горбачёв;  2 March 1931 - 30 August 2022) was a Russian and former Soviet politician. The eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, he was the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. He was also the country's head of state from 1988 until 1991, serving as the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989, chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1989 to 1990, and president of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991. Ideologically, he initially adhered to Marxism–Leninism although by the early 1990s had moved toward social democracy.

place_of_birth: Privolnoe, Russian SFSR, USSR [now Russia]


Arin Hanson

biography:
Arin Joseph Hanson (born January 6, 1987), also known by his Internet pseudonym Egoraptor, is an American Internet personality, animator, cartoonist, comedian, voice actor and songwriter. He is known for his Internet animations, as well as being the co-founder and co-star of the popular YouTube Let's Play webseries Game Grumps and one third of the video game-based parody musical trio Starbomb.

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

place_of_birth: West Palm Beach, Florida, USA


Makoto Shimazaki

biography: Born in Tokyo, Shimazaki attended Rikkyo University where he studied under Shigehiko Hasumi, made 8mm films, and appeared in the then amateur works of other Rikkyo graduates such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa. After graduating, he worked at the film company Cine Saison and starting writing about film and doing long interviews of directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Takeshi Kitano for magazines. While working as a projectionist for the Athénée Français Cultural Center in Tokyo, he saved up enough money to make his first 35mm film, Okaeri, for which he won the Wolfgang Staudte Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1995. His next feature film, Not Forgotten, was screened at the Three Continents Film Festival, where its stars, Tomio Aoki, Tatsuya Mihashi, and Minoru Oki, shared the best actor award. Having developed a close relationship with Takeshi Kitano, Shinozaki has made a documentary on the filming of Kikujiro as well as a TV movie based on Kitano's autobiographical novel Asakusa Kid. He has also produced the Cop Festival series featuring short films by directors such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Shinji Aoyama, Akihiko Shiota, and Hirokazu Koreeda. Continuing to write on film, he has published a history of horror cinema with Kiyoshi Kurosawa.


Nathan Witte

biography: Nathan Witte is a versatile Canadian actor, producer, and director known prominently for his leading roles in romance and drama television films. He began his entertainment career at age 17 as a background actor and stunt performer before relocating to Vancouver to pursue acting full-time.

place_of_birth: Calgary, Alberta, Canada


Murray Head

biography:
Murray Seafield St George Head (born 5 March 1946) is an English actor and singer. Head has appeared in a number of films, including a starring role as the character Bob Elkin in the Oscar-nominated 1971 film Sunday Bloody Sunday. As a musician, he is most recognised for his international hit songs "Superstar" (from the 1970 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar) and "One Night in Bangkok" (the 1984 single from the musical Chess, which topped the charts in various countries), and for his 1975 album Say It Ain't So. He has been involved in several projects since the 1960s and continues to record music, perform concerts, and make appearances on television either as himself or as a character actor.

Head was born in London to Seafield Laurence Stewart Murray Head (20 August 1919 – 22 March 2009) and Helen Shingler (29 August 1919 − 8 October 2019). Head's father was a documentary filmmaker for Verity Films. Head's mother played Mme Maigret alongside Rupert Davies in the BBC 1960s television adaptation of the Maigret novels written by Georges Simenon. Head's younger brother Anthony Head is also an actor, best known for playing Rupert Giles in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Head was educated at the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in South Kensington, London and Hampton School in Hampton, Middlesex. He attended Chiswick Polytechnic (A level college) in the early 1960s.

Head began writing songs as a child, and by the mid-1960s he had a London-based recording contract. He briefly appeared as one of the hosts of the Bristol-based television pop show Now! alongside Michael Palin. He had limited success, until asked by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber to play Judas Iscariot on the original concept album version of Jesus Christ Superstar; at the time, he had been appearing in the West End production of the musical Hair. With the Trinidad Singers, the song "Superstar" peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1971.

He made his film debut in The Family Way (1966), which featured Hayley Mills, Hywel Bennett and John Mills in the leading roles. Head won a leading role in the Oscar-nominated film Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), alongside Peter Finch and Glenda Jackson. Despite these successes, he received little public attention in the next ten years (except for his single release, "Say It Ain't So, Joe" in 1975, which has been covered by The Who's lead vocalist, Roger Daltrey, among others, including The Hollies). "Never Even Thought" has been covered by both Colin Blunstone and Cliff Richard.

In 1973, he appeared in a radio drama, The Fourth Tower of Inverness. In 1979, Head appeared in the miniseries Prince Regent and the final episode of the ITV program Return of the Saint. ...

Source: Article "Murray Head" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

place_of_birth: London, England, UK


Grigoriy Chukhray

biography: Grigoriy Chukhray was a Ukrainian filmmaker, who gained fame outside the Soviet Union for his films The Forty-First, shown at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival, and especially Ballad of a Soldier, which won a special jury prize at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival and prizes for Best Picture and Best Director at the 1960 San Francisco International Film Festival.

place_of_birth: Melitopol, Ukraine, USSR


Kotone Amamiya

biography: Kotone Amamiya is a Japanese AV actress active from 2008 to 2014. She debuted in October 2008 and retired in 2014.

place_of_birth: Hyogo, Japan


Amy Yip Chi-Mei

biography: Amy Yip Chi-Mei (Cantonese: 葉子楣) is an actress who was one of the leading sex symbols of Hong Kong Cinema in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Yip is best known for her roles in Hong Kong Category III films such as Sex and Zen and Erotic Ghost Story. Sex  and  Zen is the highest grossing Category III movie in the history of Hong Kong box office.

place_of_birth: Hong Kong, China


Nat Wolff

biography:
Nathaniel Marvin Wolff is an American actor and musician. He gained recognition for composing the music for The Naked Brothers Band (2007–2009), a Nickelodeon television series he starred in with his younger brother, Alex, that was created by their actress mother, Polly Draper. Wolff's jazz pianist father, Michael Wolff, coproduced the series' soundtrack albums, The Naked Brothers Band (2007) and I Don't Want to Go to School (2008), both of which ranked the 23rd spot on the Top 200 Billboard Charts.

Following the ending of the Nickelodeon series, Wolff and his brother formed the music duo Nat & Alex Wolff, and they released the album Black Sheep in 2011. He later became known for his lead role in the film Paper Towns (2015), and other films such as Admission, Behaving Badly, and Palo Alto, each of which premiered in 2013. Wolff also co-starred in the highly successful theatrical film, The Fault in Our Stars (2014) before portraying Ed in the film Ashby in 2015. He portrayed Light Turner in the Netflix adaptation of Death Note (2017).

place_of_birth: Los Angeles, California, USA


Harry Shum Jr.

biography:
Harry Shum Jr. (born April 28, 1982) is a Costa Rican-American actor, singer, dancer, and choreographer. He is best known for his roles as Mike Chang on the Fox television series Glee (2009–15) and as Magnus Bane on the Freeform television series Shadowhunters (2016–19). He was nominated for four Screen Actors Guild Awards for his performance in Glee, winning once. He won the award for The Male TV Star of 2018 in the E! People's Choice Awards for Shadowhunters.

Shum has appeared in the films Step Up 2: The Streets (2008), Step Up 3D (2010), White Frog (2012), Revenge of the Green Dragons (2014), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), the Hulu web series The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers (2010–2011) and the YouTube Originals series Single by 30 (2016). In 2020, he starred in Universal's romantic drama All My Life.

place_of_birth: Puerto Limón, Costa Rica


Warren Christie

biography: Hans Warren Christie is an Ireland-born Canadian television and film actor known for his roles as Sgt. Mark Cross on CTV's Motive, Nick Porter on NBC's The Village, Ryan Kane on USA Channel's Eyewitness, Cameron Hicks on Syfy's Alphas, Ray Cataldo on ABC's October Road, and Aidan 'Greggy' Stiviletto on ABC's Happy Town.

place_of_birth: Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK


Marcel Camus

biography:
Marcel Camus (21 April 1912 – 13 January 1982) was a French film director. He is best known for Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus), which won the Palme d'Or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival and the 1960 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Camus was born in Chappes, in the Ardennes département of France. He studied art and intended to become an art teacher. However, World War II interrupted his plans. He spent part of the war in a German prisoner-of-war camp.

On his return from captivity, his uncle, famous novelist, Roland Dorgelès introduced him to several film-makers. Camus assisted filmmakers in France, including Jacques Feyder, Luis Buñuel, and Jacques Becker.

In a famous photo of the French New Wave filmmakers, taken on the steps of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes in 1959, Marcel Camus appears alongside François Truffaut, François Reichenbach, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, Jean-Luc Godard, Roger Vadim, Jean-Daniel Pollet, Jacques Rozier, Jacques Baratier, Jean Valère, Édouard Molinaro and Robert Hossein.

In 1958, at the suggestion of producer Sacha Gordine, he travelled to Brazil to adapt for the screen, with the help of Jacques Viot, a play by famous poet and diplomat Vinícius de Moraes, Orfeu da Conceição, which became Orfeu Negro. It was a transposition of the love story of Orpheus and Eurydice to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro during Carnival.

The film won over both the general public and a large proportion of the critics. The film was a worldwide success, winning several awards including the Palme d'Or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in 1960.

It introduced Europeans and Americans to Rio, Carnival and bossa nova, with unknown black actors and a tender view of Brazil. American-French actress Marpessa Dawn, who played Eurydice in the film, became the director's wife.

In 1960, Camus made a second Brazilian-themed film, Os Bandeirantes. This adventure film follows a French diamond miner in Brazil who, after being betrayed and left for dead by a friend, embarks on a quest for vengeance but finds himself falling in love with a Brazilian woman along the way.

Twenty years after Orfeu Negro, Camus returned to Brazilian themes for what would prove to be his last film, Bahia (also known as Otalia da Bahia and Os pastores da noite), based on a novel by Brazilian novelist Jorge Amado. These films, however, failed to recapture the success of Orfeu Negro.

In 1976, he returned to the country that fascinated him and his wife, Brazil, to direct Otalia de Bahia, adapted from Jorge Amado's novel Os pastores da noite (Shepherds of the Night).

In 1970, Camus had a last great success with a World War II comedy, Atlantic Wall, starring the well-known French comedian Bourvil. It was the second most popular film in France in 1970, attracting 4 770 962 viewers. Camus ended his career working primarily in television.

Camus married one of the stars of Orfeu Negro, Marpessa Dawn, but they divorced shortly thereafter. He then married another actress from Orfeu Negro, Lourdes de Oliveira. Camus and de Oliveira have two children, including the writer Jean-Christophe Camus.

Camus died in Paris and is buried there in Père Lachaise Cemetery.

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

place_of_birth: Chappes, Ardennes, France


Arnaud Viard

biography: Arnaud Viard (born August 22,1965) is a French actor.

place_of_birth: Lyon, Rhône, France


Yike Zeng

place_of_birth: Changde, Hunan Province, China


Sarik Andreasyan

biography:
Sarik Garnikovich Andreasyan (Russian: Сарик Гарникович Андреасян; Armenian: Սարիկ Գառնիկի Անդրեասյան; born 24 August 1984; Yerevan) is a Russian-Armenian director, producer, and screenwriter who has worked on films and commercials. He is the founder of Enjoy Movies. In May 2017, Andreasyan left Enjoy Movies studio to start another studio, Bolshoe Kino (Big Movies in Russian). In 2020, the Andreasyan brothers left Bolshoe Kino studio and founded K.B.A. studio.

His early movies were mostly low-budget comedies. However, since 2015, Sarik began to move towards science fiction, action and dramas. Most of Andreasyan's films were met with negative critical reception in Russian media, according to review aggregators Kritikanstvo and Megacritic. Notable exceptions are the drama Earthquake and anthology film duology Moms, that received more positive reviews. Only two movies by Andreasyan were rated by Rotten Tomatoes, both American Heist and Guardians have a "rotten" rating.

His early comedies, such as The Pregnant ($8.3M Gross), Moms ($7.8M Gross), What Men Do! ($11.3M Gross), were commercial hits. Andreasyan's recent high-budget movies, however, are considered box office bombs, according to various Russian media. This includes American Heist, Mafia: The Game of Survival, and Guardians.

Andreasyan's disaster drama film Earthquake was selected as the Armenian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards,  but was disqualified by the Academy.

place_of_birth: Yerevan, Armenian SSR, USSR


Sergey Bekhterev

biography:
Впервые снялся в кино в 11 лет в фильме «Удивительный заклад» Леонида Макарычева.  В

 1979 окончил актерское отделение факультета драматического искусства

ЛГИТМиКа (сейчас Санкт-Петербургская Академия Театрального Искусства),

мастерская Аркадия Кацмана и Льва Додина.  С 1979

года — актер Санкт-Петербургского Государственного Малого Драматического

 театра, затем — актер Творческого объединения «Арт-Питер».  В

 2003 году поставил и сыграл с актрисой и продюсером Ольгой Обуховской

спектакль «Вацлав Нижинский. Повенчанный с Богом» по дневникам

гениального русско-польского танцовщика.  В 1996 году Сергею Бехтереву было присвоено звание Заслуженного артиста РФ.

place_of_birth: Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, RSFSR, USSR


Yannis Smaragdis

biography: Yannis Smaragdis was born in Crete in 1946. He studied Film in Greece and France. He made his first appearance in 1972 with the short film Two Three Things..., which received the first prize at the Athens Film Festival, as well as a Special Mention at the Montreal Film Festival. Iannis Smaragdis' career has been full of creativity and counts many successes. His most significant features are Cavafy (1996) and El Greco (2007). They were both very successful and award-winning films that participated in many international festivals, the most significant being the Toronto International Film Festival. On television, he touched the hearts of audiences with his Good night to you, Kyr Alexandre in 1980. In 1988 he directed the 13-episode series Hush... Our Country is Sleeping..., which is considered the best TV series since the beginning of television broadcasting in Greece. Iannis Smaragdis has directed many more TV series, such as Hadjimanuel (1984) and Les Enfants Gates (2001). He has also directed documentaries and essays: Spyros Louis (2004), I've brought to art (1998), Thus spake the city (1990-1993), to name a few. In 2007 he directed Opera of Shadows at the Athens Concert Hall. In 2012, he completed his new film God Loves Caviar, which officially participated at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. It was released in Greek theatres in October 2012 and was a box office hit for three consecutive weeks. Until 31 December 2012 it reached 350.000 admissions. He is currently working on his new project titled Nikos Kazantzakis, a film about the great Greek author and based on the latter's autobiography Report to Greco. On the internet he was also voted the most popular artist for the year 2012. Earlier this year he was appointed by the Istituto di Studi Giuridici Economici e Sociali Internazionali I.S.G.E.S.I. in Rome to the position of Manager of Cinema and Theatre and head of all scientific studies of the same department. He is a member of the Giuseppe Sciacca International Awards Committee.

place_of_birth: Gonies, Heraklio, Greece


Satomi Suzuki

biography:
Satomi Suzuki (鈴木 さとみ, Suzuki Satomi, born September 9, 1988) is a Japanese AV pornstar who is affiliated with LINX. Her body measurements are JP: 85-58-82 (US: 33-23-32) (F cup) and her height is 151 cm. Her hobbies are watching plays. She made her debut in November 2006. At the time of her debut, she was under the agency Glow Up Promotion, but since 2018 she has been affiliated with LINX.

*** Not to be confused with AV actress Aoi Mizutani (水谷 あおい), who briefly used the alias Satomi Suzuki (鈴木 さとみ).

place_of_birth: 日本・東京都


Gracie Glam

biography: Gracie Glam was born on September 30, 1990 in Raleigh, North Carolina. She's of Dutch descent. Glam first became involved in the adult entertainment industry when she posed for a nude pictorial for the men's magazine "Score" while studying fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Gracie moved to Los Angeles, California on June 1, 2009 and started performing in explicit X-rated fare at age 19 that same year. She initially did girl-girl scenes for Reality Kings. Gracie was nominated for an AVN Award for Best Group Sex Scene in 2010 and subsequently won the AVN Award for Best New Starlet in 2011.

place_of_birth: Raleigh, North Carolina, USA


Jada Stevens

biography: Jada Stevens is 5'3 (1.59m) and 114 lbs (52 kg) with a great set of naturally perky 32C tits. Jada has short brown hair and stunning hazel eyes. She has her belly button pierced and has a tattoo on her neck. Jada does both hardcore and softcore scenes, but seems to focus more on her hardcore work. She has shot for such large names in the adult industry as Zero Tolerance, New Sensations and BangBros

place_of_birth: Snellville, Georgia, USA


Toshiyuki Nishida

biography: Toshiyuki Nishida (西田 敏行, Nishida Toshiyuki, born November 4, 1947, died October 17, 2024) was a Japanese actor. He has won two Japanese Academy Awards for best actor, for The Silk Road (1988) and Tsuribaka Nisshi 6 (1993). He has also won the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actor for Get Up! and Tsuribaka Nisshi 14 (2003). Outside Japan he is best known for his role as Pigsy (Cho Hakkai) in Monkey.

place_of_birth: Koriyama, Fukushima, Japan


Herman Koch

place_of_birth: Arnhem, Gelderland, Netherlands


Karl-Heinz Hess

place_of_birth: Frankfurt am Main - Germany


Robin Aubert

biography: Robin Aubert (born May 13, 1972) is a Québec actor, screenwriter and film director. He is most noted for his performance in the film The Countess of Baton Rouge (La Comtesse de Bâton Rouge), for which he received a Genie Award nomination for Best Actor at the 18th Genie Awards in 1997, and his 2017 film Ravenous (Les Affamés), which won the Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Film at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.


Professeur Choron

biography:
Georget Bernier (21 September 1929 – 10 January 2005), more commonly known as Professeur Choron, was a French humorist and founder of Hara Kiri magazine.

Born in La Neuville-aux-Bois in Lorraine, Bernier was orphaned by his father at 11 years and without a proper education, he vacillated between many jobs before fighting in the Indochina Wars for 28 months. On his return he worked in the press, and rose through the ranks to take the position of sales manager of the satirical newspaper Zéro.

It was at Zéro that he met François Cavanna and Fred, with whom he founded the magazine Hara Kiri in 1960. After an initial ban, production of the magazine moved from Rue Choron to Rue de Montholon and Éditions du Square was created at its publication house.

In addition to his role of patron of Éditions du Square, Bernier also invested time in writing and photo-editing for Hara Kiri. It was during this era that he appeared on Jean-Christophe Averty's television variety show Les Raisins verts.

In 1969 the Hara Kiri team created Hara-Kiri Hebdo which shortly thereafter was renamed L’Hebdo Hara-Kiri. Other magazines published by Bernier's Editions du Square were the monthly comic Charlie Mensuel, one of the first ecological journals La Gueule ouverte, Mords-y l'œil, Surprise from designer Bernard Willem Holtrop, and Jean-Patrick Manchette's BD, l'hebdo de la BD.

1970 saw the creation of Charlie Hebdo, a weekly political newspaper for which Bernier was a regular contributor. The publication folded in 1981, but was relaunched by Cavanna and Bernier in 1993 and, as of 2011, remains in publication.

In 1988 Bernier adapted his fiches bricolages for television. He also participated in Jean-Michel Ribes' Merci Bernard. His last publications include La Mouise and Grodada, a publication for children. He also participated in several publications affiliated with Hara-Kiri, including ZOO and Yeti, as well as the launching of the periodical Zero in 1986.

In 1996, Aure Atika's interview of Jackie Berroyer for Radio Nova, at a bar's round table, degenerated into an angry exchange of words between Choron, who was sitting at the table, and Atika, with Choron denouncing her questions as "stupid" and Atika flinging the contents of her glass at him.

Bernier was the father of the comedian Michèle Bernier. He died 10 January 2005 at Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital in Paris and was buried at Montparnasse Cemetery alongside his wife Odile Vaudelle (1934–1985). In 2008, director Pierre Carles and artist Martin released the documentary Choron Dernière in his honour.

Source: Article "Professeur Choron" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.


Margot Robbie

biography:
Margot Elise Robbie (/ˈmɑːrɡoʊ ˈrɒbi/ MAR-goh ROB-ee; born 2 July 1990) is an Australian actress and producer. The world's highest-paid actress in 2023, she is known for her performances in both blockbuster and independent films. Robbie has been nominated for three Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and six British Academy Film Awards.

Born and raised in Queensland, Robbie began her acting career in 2008 on the television soap opera Neighbours, where she appeared as a regular until 2011. After relocating to the US, she starred in the television drama Pan Am (2011–2012). She gained international recognition with her breakthrough role in Martin Scorsese's black comedy The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). She garnered wider acclaim for her performances as Jane Porter in The Legend of Tarzan (2016) and Harley Quinn in three superhero films of the DC Extended Universe: Suicide Squad (2016), Birds of Prey (2020) and The Suicide Squad (2021).

Robbie earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for portraying figure skater Tonya Harding in the biopic I, Tonya (2017). She received critical acclaim for her performances as Elizabeth I in Mary Queen of Scots (2018), Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), and a Fox News employee in Bombshell (2019), the latter earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She starred as an aspiring actress in the period drama Babylon (2022). She played the titular fashion doll in the fantasy comedy Barbie (2023), her highest-grossing release, which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture as a producer. She has since produced and starred in Wuthering Heights (2026).

In 2017, Time included Robbie among its list of the 100 most influential people in the world. She is married to filmmaker Tom Ackerley, with whom she has one child. Together, they co-founded the production company LuckyChap Entertainment in 2014. Under the label, they have produced several projects, including the films I, Tonya, Promising Young Woman (2020), Barbie, and Saltburn (2023), as well as the Hulu series Dollface (2019–2022) and the Netflix miniseries Maid (2021). Outside the entertainment industry, Robbie is an advocate for human rights, women's rights, gender equality and LGBT rights.

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

place_of_birth: Dalby, Queensland, Australia


Giacomo Battiato

biography:
Giacomo Battiato (born 18 October 1943) is an Italian film director and writer.

He began his career in 1973 on Italian RAI TV and ten years later started in cinema with I paladini. His first book, Fuori dal cielo (1996), won the Prize Domenico Rea. He directed two non-fiction films about Pope John Paul II: Karol: A Man Who Became Pope (Karol, un uomo diventato Papa) in 2005 and Karol: The Pope, The Man (Karol, un papa rimasto uomo) in 2006.

place_of_birth: Verona, Italy


Paolo Paraiso

biography: Paolo Paraiso is a Filipino actor. Known as a runway model in the late 90s, Paraiso transitioned into acting in the early 2000s.


Jessie Cave

biography: Jessica Alice Cave Lloyd (born May 5, 1987) is an English actress, comedian and cartoonist, known for her role as Lavender Brown in the Harry Potter film series and for her shows in London and at the Edinburgh Fringe. She has also published a book of cartoon doodles called Love Sick, some of the designs in which have appeared on greeting cards. A comedic play based on her life and relationships, Sunrise, was first performed in 2019. Cave's first novel, Sunset, was published in 2021.

place_of_birth: London, England, UK


Shefali Chowdhury

biography: Shefali Chowdhury (born 20 June, 1988) is a Welsh actress originally from Denbigh, Wales. She was brought up in a Muslim family, along with five siblings, of whom she is the youngest. Shefali is of Bengali origin; her parents immigrated to England from Sylhet, Bangladesh in the 1980s, when many Bengalis migrated to the UK. She plays Harry Potter's Yule Ball date, Parvati Patil, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry Potter in the film, spoke at the launch of Goblet of Fire in London and said, "I had a dance scene with Shefali. She was completely gorgeous."  She also appeared in an uncredited role in a Tamil film Kannathil Muthamittal.  Shefali landed the coveted role of Parvati Patil whilst she was still a student in her final year at Waverley School in Birmingham. She did four A Levels, in English Language, Literature, Sociology, and Religious Studies at The Sixth Form College, Solihull. Her studies coincided with shooting of the current instalment of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, where she reprised her role as Parvati Patil.  Despite Parvati's relatively small role in the book, Chowdhury was able to reprise her role for film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.[1]. She did not, however, appear in either part of the adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  She is currently studying Photography in Birmingham, UK.  ((Biography from the Harry Potter Wiki))

place_of_birth: Denbigh, Denbighshire, Wales, UK


Afshan Azad

biography: Afshan Azad is a British actress, model, and media personality who achieved global recognition for her role as Padma Patil in the internationally acclaimed Harry Potter film franchise.Born on February 12, 1988, in Manchester, England, Azad is of Bangladeshi descent. She unexpectedly launched her acting career in 2004 when casting agents visited her school. After auditioning "just for the fun of it," she successfully landed the role of Padma Patil for the series' fourth installment.Azad made her debut on the big screen in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). She subsequently reprised her role across four additional films, wrapping up her time in the wizarding world with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011). Beyond her live-action appearances, she also lent her voice to the character for the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix video game adaptation.Following her tenure in the Harry Potter franchise, Azad expanded her professional horizons into modeling, television presenting—including guest-hosting roles for CBBC—and lifestyle digital content creation. She continues to engage with a dedicated international fanbase through pop culture conventions, media appearances, and brand partnerships.

place_of_birth: Manchester, England


Freddie Stroma

biography: Freddie Stroma (Frederic Wilhelm C. J. Sjöström) is a British-French actor whose work spans major film franchises and television. He reached his widest global audience with his role as Cormac McLaggen in the Harry Potter film series, before moving into more prominent television roles, including Adam Cromwell on UnREAL and H.G. Wells on Time After Time. He also appeared in 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi and became best known for playing Adrian Chase / Vigilante in James Gunn’s television series Peacemaker, a DC Comics adaptation.


Leonid Nevedomsky

place_of_birth: Vitebsk, Belorusskaya SSR, USSR


Michael Mak Tong-Kit

biography: Michael Mak Tong-Kit (Chinese: 麥當傑, brother to Johnny Mak Tong-Hung) is a director and producer, known for Island of Greed (1997), Sex and Zen(1991) and Butterfly and Sword (1993).


Vyacheslav Razbegaev

place_of_birth: Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia]


Ario Bayu

biography: Ario Bayu (born in Jakarta, 6 February 1985) is an Indonesian model and actor. He is best known for his roles in Dead Time: Kala as Eros, Dead Mine as Captain Tino, and in the Hollywood production Java Heat as Lieutenant Hashim.

place_of_birth: Jakarta, Indonesia


Daniele Costantini

place_of_birth: Isola del Liri, Lazio, Italy


Nikolai Stambula

place_of_birth: Rubizhne, Voroshilovgradskaya oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR


Moyoco Anno

biography:
Moyoco Anno is a Japanese manga artist and fashion writer, with numerous books published in both categories. Her work Sugar, Sugar Rune won the Kodansha manga award for children in 2005. Anno is married to director Hideaki Anno of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame.

(Source: Wikipedia)

place_of_birth: Suginami, Tokyo, Japan


Vanessa Martinez

biography:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Vannessa Martinez (born June 19, 1979 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actress. She has appeared mostly in the films of director John Sayles, in particular Limbo (film), Lone Star (1996 film) and Casa de los babys.

place_of_birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA


Anton Pampushnyy

place_of_birth: Celinograd, Kazakistan


Boris Galkin

biography:
Boris Sergeevich Galkin (born September 19, 1947, Leningrad) is a Soviet and Russian actor and director of theater and cinema, screenwriter, producer, composer. Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1999).

Born September 19, 1947 in Leningrad in the family of a worker Sergei Mikhailovich Galkin (1911-1985) and serving Svetlana Georgievna Galkina (1924-2006). Father's father died in the Great Patriotic War. Grandmother by father, Anna Mikhailovna Galkina, lived 95 years.

In 1969 he graduated from the Shchukin Theater School. From 1971 to 1977 he worked as an actor and director in Moscow and Novgorod theaters, including an actor at the Moscow Drama and Comedy Theater on Taganka.

In 1977 he graduated from the director's department of higher theater courses at GITIS.

Since 1996 - deputy director for the production of the M. Gorky film studio.

Since April 2003 - the host of the program "I Serve the Fatherland!" On "First Channel" (since October 2016 - on "OTR").

On June 28, 2005, he signed a letter in support of the verdict of former Yukos executives. "

From 2005 to April 18, 2008 he was president of the Guild of Russian Film Actors.

He starred in more than seventy films.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

place_of_birth: Leningrad, USSR (St. Petersburg, Russia)


Rudolf Nureyev

biography:
Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev (17 March 1938 – 6 January 1993) was a Tatar dancer from the former Soviet Union, considered one of the most celebrated ballet dancers of the 20th century. Nureyev's artistic skills explored expressive areas of the dance, providing a new role to the male ballet dancer who once served only as support to the women.

He defected to the West, despite KGB efforts to stop him. According to KGB archives studied by Peter Watson, Nikita Khrushchev personally signed an order to have Nureyev killed

Description above from the Wikipedia article Rudolf Nureyev, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

place_of_birth: Irkutsk, USSR [now Russia]


Mykola Litus

place_of_birth: Tsybulovo, Kirovograd region, Ukrainian SSR


Alain Gomis

biography: Alain Gomis is a French-Senegalese film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his 2017 film Félicité, which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, along with being Senegal's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards.

place_of_birth: Paris, France


Danielle Darrieux

biography: Danielle Darrieux (French pronunciation: [da.niɛl i.vɔn ma.ʁi ɑ̃.twa.nɛt daʁ.jø]) (May 1, 1917 – October 17, 2017) was a French actress and singer, who appeared in more than 110 films after 1931. She was one of France's great movie stars and her eight-decade career is among the longest in film history.

place_of_birth: Bordeaux, Gironde, France


Carlos Atanes

biography:
Carlos Atanes (Barcelona, 1971) is a Spanish filmmaker, writer and playwright whose work occupies a singular place in European underground cinema. Since the late 1980s, he has built a distinctive artistic universe that combines science fiction, fantasy, surrealism and philosophical inquiry, becoming one of the most recognisable cult auteurs of contemporary Spanish cinema.

Among his most acclaimed works are the dystopian science-fiction films "FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions" and "Proxima", as well as the surreal and deeply underground "Maximum Shame" and "Gallino, the Chicken System", which established him as one of the most uncompromising voices in contemporary European cult cinema. His films have often provoked strongly divided reactions, being celebrated by admirers for their originality and audacity while dismissed by detractors as deliberately provocative and inaccessible.

Works such as "The Metamorphosis of Franz Kafka" and "Perdurabo (Where is Aleister Crowley?)" reveal his enduring interest in literature and esotericism, while "Báthory" (2026) sees him moving further into experimental cinema through a more abstract and formally daring approach. Throughout his career, Atanes has remained fiercely independent, building a body of work distinguished by its originality, intellectual ambition and complete artistic freedom.

place_of_birth: Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain


Paul Vecchiali

biography: Paul Vecchiali (April 28, 1930 - January 18, 2023) was a French filmmaker and author.

place_of_birth: Ajaccio, Corse-du-Sud, France


Jordan Vogt-Roberts

biography: Jordan Charles Vogt-Roberts is an American film and television director. His feature directorial debut, The Kings of Summer, screened at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, and also at the 2013 Cleveland International Film Festival. The film won the Narrative Feature Audience Award at the 2013 Dallas International Film Festival.[1] He also wrote and directed a short film which screened at the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW, Successful Alcoholics. He also co-wrote and directed the TV series Mash Up. In 2017, Vogt-Roberts directed the MonsterVerse film Kong: Skull Island.

place_of_birth: Detroit, Michigan, USA


Terry Notary

biography:
Terry Notary (born August 14, 1968) is an American actor, stunt coordinator/double and movement coach. Notary mainly portrays creatures and animals for the film and television industry, and is known for his motion capture performances in films, including Avatar, The Adventures of Tintin: Secrets of the Unicorn, the Planet of the Apes reboot series, The Hobbit trilogy, and Kong: Skull Island. In 2018, Notary played Cull Obsidian in the Marvel Studios films Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

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

place_of_birth: San Rafael, California, USA


Vladimir Kaplunovskiy

place_of_birth: Kharkov, Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire

known_for_department: Art


Oleg Strizhenov

place_of_birth: Blagoveshchensk, Amur Okrug, Russian SFSR, USSR [now Amur Oblast, Russia]


Elena Proklova

place_of_birth: Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR


Ai Kanzaki

place_of_birth: Ōta, Tokyo, Japon


Sam Claflin

biography:
Samuel George Claflin (born 27 June, 1986) is an English actor. After graduating from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2009, he began his acting career on television and had his first film role as Philip Swift in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011).

Claflin gained wider recognition for playing Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games film series (2013–2015) and for his starring role in the romantic comedy Me Before You (2016). He has since portrayed Oswald Mosley in the television series Peaky Blinders (2019–2022) and Mycroft Holmes in the mystery film Enola Holmes (2020). In 2023, Claflin played Billy Dunne in Daisy Jones & The Six. Based on the book of the same name, it follows the story of a rock band in the 1970s, and premiered on Amazon Prime Video on March 3, 2023.

place_of_birth: Ipswich, Suffolk, England, UK


Zhanna Prokhorenko

biography: Zhanna Prokhorenko (11 May 1940 – 1 August 2011) was a Soviet actress, best known for her role in Grigory Chukhray's film Ballad of a Soldier. She was awarded People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1988. She was also a recipient of the Order of the Badge of Honour and of the Medal "For Labour Valour".

place_of_birth: Poltava, USSR (Ukraine)


Yulia Peresild

biography: Yuliya Sergeyevna Peresild (Russian: Юлия Сергеевна Пересильд; born 5 September 1984) is a Russian stage actress, singer, and cosmonaut.

place_of_birth: Pskov, RSFSR, USSR


Aishwarya Bhaskaran

biography: Aishwariya is a South Indian actress who has acted in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu movies. She is the daughter of popular actress Lakshmi.

place_of_birth: Chennai, Tamilnadu


Yuri Bogatyryov

biography: Yuri Bogatyryov was a renowned Soviet actor born on March 2, 1947, in Riga, Latvia. He graduated from the Moscow Art Theatre School in 1968 and quickly became one of the most celebrated actors of his generation. Bogatyryov is best known for his collaborations with director Nikita Mikhalkov, including standout performances in films such as "Slave of Love" (1976), "An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano" (1977), and "Five Evenings" (1979). His role in the 1981 film "Kinfolk" further solidified his reputation as a versatile and compelling actor. Bogatyryov's talent extended to the stage, where he performed at the Sovremennik Theatre. Tragically, his life was cut short when he died on February 2, 1989, in Moscow. Despite his untimely death, Yuri Bogatyryov remains a significant figure in Soviet and Russian cinema.

place_of_birth: Riga, Latvian SSR, USSR


K. Bhagyaraj

biography: K. Bhagyaraj (born 7 January 1953) was a Tamil film director, actor, screenwriter and producer. He had also written and directed Telugu, Hindi films and TV serials. He won a Filmfare Best Actor Award for Mundhanai Mudichu (1983). He was editor of weekly magazine Bhagya and had also written several novels. He was called as "King of Screenplay in Indian Cinema".

place_of_birth: Vellangkoil, Tamil Nadu, India


Allari Naresh

biography:
Edara Naresh (born 30 June 1982), better known as Allari Naresh, is an Indian film actor who appears in Tollywood films. He is the son of Telugu veteran director and producer E. V. V. Satyanarayana.

He got the moniker "Allari" after the success of his first film in Tollywood. His debut film in Tamil, Kurumbu, was a remake of Allari. He received Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actor and Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award in 2008 for his performance as Gali Seenu in the movie Gamyam.

He produces films along with his elder brother Aryan Rajesh under their production company, E. V .V. Cinema.

place_of_birth: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India


Sebastiano Somma

biography: Sebastiano Somma was born on 21 July 1960 in Naples, Campania, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Il diavolo è Dragan Cygan (2024), Opera (1987) and Io Jane, tu Tarzan (1989). He has been married to Morgana Forcella since 12 June 2004. They have one child.

place_of_birth: Naples, Campania, Italy


Ruby Kammer

biography: Ruby Kammer is an Australian actress known for her global television and film career, highlighted by her role as Sloane in the hit Netflix series From Scratch (2022). As a child, she moved from Melbourne, Australia to Rome, Italy with her family, allowing her to establish a multi-lingual and international acting portfolio.

place_of_birth: Melbourne, Australia


Sergey Makhovikov

place_of_birth: Pavlovsk, Leningradskaya oblast, RSFSR, USSR


Natalya Tkachenko

place_of_birth: Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR


Nattie Neidhart-Wilson

biography: Natalie Katherine Neidhart-Wilson is a Canadian professional wrestler. She is a third-generation wrestler of the Hart wrestling family and the first third-generation female wrestler in the world. Neidhart began her professional wrestling career in 2000 training in the Hart Family Dungeon under the guidance of her uncles Ross and Bruce Hart. She became the first woman in history to have graduated from the dungeon. Neidhart also trained in amateur wrestling and mixed martial arts.

place_of_birth: Calgary, Alberta, Canada


Maryse Mizanin

place_of_birth: Montreal, Quebec, Canada


Joshua Fatu

biography:
Joshua Samuel Fatu is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs under the ring name Jey Uso. He is a member of the renowned Anoaʻi family of Samoan professional wrestlers.

Trained since childhood by his father, WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi, Fatu debuted in WWE's then-developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in 2010, and wrestled as Jules Uso alongside his twin brother, Jimmy, as The Usos, where they became FCW Florida Tag Team Champions. They were moved to the main roster later that year. While on the main roster, they have been managed by their cousin Tamina Snuka, and Jimmy's wife, Naomi. From July 2021 to June 2023, he was part of the villainous stable The Bloodline with his first cousin once removed and group leader Roman Reigns and his brothers Jimmy and Solo Sikoa.

During his time as part of The Usos, Fatu won the award of holding the record for the longest male tag team championship reign in WWE history at 622 days, which was accomplished in their fifth reign with the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship. They are overall eight-time tag team champions in WWE, capturing the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship three times and winning the Slammy Award for Tag Team of the Year in both 2014 and 2015. In 2017, they won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship on three occasions, followed by a fourth reign in 2019 and a fifth reign in 2021. They are the first team to win both the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championships and the first team to hold them simultaneously as the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship.

As a singles professional wrestler, Fatu has won the 2020 Feud of the Year category for his feud with Roman Reigns by the CBS Sports and has won the 2021 André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He would later win the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship with Cody Rhodes, marking his fourth reign with the Raw Tag Team Championship and sixth reign with the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. In 2024, he won the Intercontinental Championship, the first singles title of his career.

place_of_birth: San Francisco, California, USA


Patricia Stratigeas

biography:
Patricia Anne Stratigeas (born December 18, 1975) better known by the ring name Trish Stratus, is a Canadian professional wrestler, actress and yoga instructor. She is currently signed to WWE. Often regarded as one of the greatest Women's Performers of all time, she was also one of the most popular wrestlers in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). She is considered one of the icons of the Attitude Era.

After beginning her career as a fitness model, Stratigeas began working for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which was later renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Early in her career, she was mostly involved in sexually themed storylines, such as managing the team T & A, and a kayfabe affair with Vince McMahon's Mr. McMahon character. As Stratus spent more time in the ring, her perceived wrestling skills strengthened and her popularity increased. Because of this, she was made a one-time WWE Hardcore Champion, three-time "WWE Babe of the Year" and was proclaimed "Diva of the Decade". After nearly seven years in the business, Stratus retired from professional wrestling on a full-time basis at WWE Unforgiven on September 17, 2006, after winning her record-setting seventh WWE Women's Championship.

Following her full-time performing, she would make occasional appearances and wrestle part-time in WWE. In 2011, Stratus was a trainer for WWE Tough Enough. She was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013. In 2018, she returned to WWE, participating in the 2018 Women's Royal Rumble and later competing at the all-female Evolution event in October of that year. She had her latest match against Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam 2019. The following year she became the first woman to receive the Lou Thesz Award from the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. In 2021, WWE named Stratus as the greatest female superstar of all time.

Aside from professional wrestling, Stratus has appeared on a number of magazine covers and has been involved in charity work. She has also hosted several award and television shows and formerly owned a yoga studio. Stratus will be a judge on the second season of Canada's Got Talent, which aired in 2022.

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

place_of_birth: Ontario, Canada


Axelle Laffont

biography:
Axelle Laffont (born 24 July 1970) is a French actress and comedian.

She was born in Marseille. She is both the granddaughter of publisher Robert Laffont, and the daughter of Patrice Laffont, television presenter, and Catherine Laporte. She is also the stepdaughter of Édouard Molinaro who married her mother in 1982.

Axelle Laffont participated in La Matinale d'Arthur from 1996 to 1999, but became known by intervening in La Grosse Émission from 1999 to 2000 and then presenting in 2000 and 2001 a very special weather and staggered in the show Nulle part ailleurs on Canal+, based on sketches and burlesque disguises.

She also appeared in series such as Un gars, une fille, Caméra Café, H (Season 1 Episode 12: A Red Flacon) and Kaamelott (Book 3 Episode 5: Sefriane of Aquitaine).

She makes a one-woman show La Folie du spectacle on a production by Serge Hazanavicius and Maurice Barthelemy of Robins des bois from 2002 to 2005.

In 2007, she co-wrote and co-produced Mariage surprise.

From September 2007 to January 2008, she regularly appeared in the program On n'est pas couché hosted by Laurent Ruquier on Saturday nights on France 2.

In 2009, she wrote the comic, Marny. In February 2010, she released her first album Axelle Laffont in translation, which incorporates American standards translated into French.

She also appeared on France Inter's Le Fou du roi. In 2012, she plays Smoke this cigarette at the Théâtre des Mathurins. In September 2015, she returned on stage with the one woman show HyperSensible, directed by Charles Templon.

Source: Article "Axelle Laffont" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

place_of_birth: Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France


Katerina Shpitsa

biography: Katerina Anatolievna Shpitsa is a Russian theatre and cinema actress. She is an actress best known for Katya: Military Story and Brothel Lights. Wikipedia

place_of_birth: Perm, Russian SFSR, USSR, [now Russia]


Maya Stojan

biography: Maya Stojan is an actress and producer.

place_of_birth: Geneva, Switzerland


Guillaume Gouix

biography:
Guillaume Gouix (born 30 November 1983) is a French actor, director and screenwriter. He started in the limited television series Gone for Good (2021).

Guillaume Gouix learned acting at the Conservatory of Marseille, then at the Regional School of actors of Cannes.

On stage, he works often with directors of Didier Galas, Jean-Pierre Vincent and Bruno Bayen.

Gouix made his big screen debut in the film "Deuxième quinzaine de juillet" directed by Christophe Reichert. He is also known for the role of Serge in the TV Series The Returned.

Since 2014, Gouix has been in a relationship with French actress Alysson Paradis. In September 2015, the couple's first child, a son, was born. On 22 April 2022, Paradis announced that she's expecting her second child with Gouix.

Source: Article "Guillaume Gouix" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.


Jeremy Strong

biography:
Jeremy Strong (born December 25, 1978) is an American actor. Known for his intense method acting style in roles across both stage and screen, he has received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Tony Award and a Golden Globe Award, and nominations for an Academy Award and BAFTA Award. In 2022, Strong was featured on Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

A graduate of Yale University, Strong continued his acting studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. His first off-Broadway performance was as a distraught soldier in the John Patrick Shanley play Defiance in 2006, with his Broadway debut being in the role of Richard Rich in the 2008 revival of the Robert Bolt play A Man for All Seasons. His film debut came that same year with the comedy Humboldt County. He played minor roles in the 2012 films Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty before receiving early recognition for Parkland (2013) and The Big Short (2015). Strong gained international recognition with his portrayal of Kendall Roy in the HBO drama series Succession (2018–2023), which won him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Strong went on to feature in the films The Gentlemen (2019), The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), and Armageddon Time (2022). In 2024, he returned to Broadway to play a conscientious doctor in a small town in the revival of the Henrik Ibsen play An Enemy of the People, where he earned a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. That same year, Strong received praise for his portrayal of Roy Cohn in The Apprentice, which earned him nominations for the BAFTA, Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

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

place_of_birth: Boston, Massachusetts, USA


Kunitoshi Manda

biography: Film director, screenwriter and critic. Born 1956.

place_of_birth: Tokyo, Japan


Yosui Inoue

biography: Singer, lyricist, composer, guitarist and record producer.

place_of_birth: Fukuoka, Japan

known_for_department: Sound


Ken Sanders

place_of_birth: Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan


Hiroshi Katsuno

place_of_birth: Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan


Akio Ido

biography: Akio Ido was a Japanese screenwriter primarily remembered for his popular Roman Porno screenplays.


Kyoichi Mizuki

place_of_birth: Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan


Nagatoshi Sakamoto

place_of_birth: Izumo, Shimane, Japan


Mark Bernes

place_of_birth: Nezhin, Chernigovskaya guberniya, Russian Empire


Felix van Groeningen

biography:
Felix van Groeningen (born 1 November, 1977; Ghent) is a Belgian filmmaker. He is known for The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012) and Belgica (2016), with the former being nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards. He made his English-language debut with the biographical drama Beautiful Boy (2018).

Van Groeningen was born in Ghent. His parents were hippies who led a very liberal lifestyle. He has an older brother, Seppe. After his parents' divorce, they lived in the same house, but each with a new partner. His father started a live music club 'The Charlatan' when he was twelve-years-old, which became the inspiration for his film Belgica. He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) and graduated in 2000 with a Masters of Audiovisual Arts, his masters thesis was the short film 50CC.  After graduating from college, van Groeningen directed several short films, and written and directed several stage plays. He embarked on a long-term collaboration with Dirk Impens, originally his professor at KASK, who produced all five of Van Groeningen's feature films from 2004 to 2016 under his production company Menuet. Impens announced he was closing down Menuet in July 2017.

He and Belgian actress Charlotte Vandermeersch have a son, Rufus, who was born in 2018. He is fluent in several languages, including Flemish Dutch, French, and English.

place_of_birth: Ghent, Belgium


Jamal Joseph

place_of_birth: New York City, New York, USA


Jay Manalo

biography: Manalo is a Filipino actor. He won Best Actor at the Gawad Urian Awards for the 2002 Erik Matti film Prosti and at the FAMAS Awards for the 2003 thriller Bayaran.


Benjamin Walker

biography: Benjamin Walker (born born June 21, 1982) is an American actor, best known for his film appearances in Kinsey (as Alfred Kinsey at age 19), Harlon Block in Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers, and his critically acclaimed portrayal of Andrew Jackson in the Off- and On Broadway incarnations of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.

place_of_birth: Cartersville, Georgia, USA


Monsour Del Rosario

biography: Manuel Monsour Tabib del Rosario III (born May 11, 1965) is a Filipino actor, martial artist, producer, businessman, and politician. He is popularly known as a taekwondo champion and actor who starred in several Filipino and international action films.

place_of_birth: Manila, Philippines


Han Hyo-joo

biography: Han Hyo-Joo (한효주) was born on February 22, 1987 in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea. Her mother worked as an elementary school teacher before becoming an inspector for public schools and her father worked in the military. As a child, Han Hyo-Joo was good in sports and enjoyed track & field. In her sophomore year of high school, Han Hyo-Ju moved to Seoul and attended Bulgok High School. Although her father, conservative & strict, opposed her move to Seoul she was able to go forth with her wishes. After high school, Han Hyo-Joo majored in theatre at Dongguk University. According to Han Hyo-Ju, her personality fits her blood type-A classification: calm, doesn't get angry easily, & able to endure without a lot of expression.  In 2003, Han Hyo-Ju won the grand prize for the Miss Bing-geure contest, which attracted the attention from the entertainment world (Bing-geure is a Korean food company). In 2005, Han Hyo-Ju received her first acting roles in the MBC sitcom “Nonstop 5” and the movie “My Boss, My Teacher”. Her debut performances went largely unnoticed. In 2006 Han Hyo-Ju received her first leading role in the KBS2 drama “Spring Waltz”. Director Yun Seok-Ho of “Spring Waltz” stated that he first got the idea to cast Han Hyo-Joo after browsing the Internet and coming across her picture. Yun Seok-Ho felt she still held the purity of a child and a sense of mysteriousness which suited her character well. Han Hyo-Joo also stated that working on “Spring Waltz” was difficult, largely due to her inexperience in acting.  Han Hyo-Joo's first leading performance in a feature film came with the 2006 independent film “Ad Lib Night,” helmed by well-regarded director Lee Yoon-Ki. Han Hyo-Joo's experience working on “Ad Lib Night” went far more smoothly than her first leading role in a drama series. Han Hyo-Joo recalled that the one month shoot seemed to zoom by and wished it could have lasted longer. Her performance was enthusiastically received by critics and Han Hyo-Joo received “Best Actress” awards from the 26th Korean Movie Critics Organization and the 20th Singapore International Film Festival.  Han Hyo-Joo's commercial break-out role came with her performance in the popular 2009 SBS drama series “Brilliant Legacy,” alongside actor/singer Lee Seung-Ki. The drama series, mixing a healthy dose of Korean melodrama with a Charles Dickens' “Great Expectations” like storyline, captured the attention of Koreans throughout the summer of 2009. “Brilliant Legacy”regularly received ratings in excess of 40% and catapulted Han Hyo-Joo as one of the more popular young actresses in Korea. With her popularity, media reports and gossip magazines began to speculate on who Han Hyo-Joo was dating.  In 2010, Han Hyo-Joo branched out of her comfort zone and took the lead role in the MBC historical drama series “Dong Yi”.

place_of_birth: Cheongju, North Chungcheong, South Korea


Liza Wong Ming-Chuen

biography: Elizabeth "Liza" Wong Ming-chun GBS SBS (born 28 August 1947), is a Hong Kong diva, actress and MC. She is a personality in Chinese-speaking communities. She has been nicknamed "The Big Sister" in the Hong Kong entertainment circle. Wong was a delegate in the National People's Congress from 1988 to 1997, and she is a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

place_of_birth: Shanghai, China


Chen Ping

biography: Chen Ping (Chinese: 陳萍, born 7 July 1948) is a Taiwanese actress.

place_of_birth: Kaohsiung, Taiwan


Analía Gadé

biography: Maria Esther Gorostiza Rodriguez, better known as Analia Gadé (1931- 2019), was an Argentine actress born in Cordoba.  She changed her name after participating in a radio contest and thus entering the artistic world. She worked in several Argentine films during their golden age. While filming "Cita en las estrellas", she met Juan Carlos Thorry, who then became her husband. She then moved to Spain, where she had a somewhat unsuccessful career. In the 60s, however, she hosted her own TV show thanks to her beauty and talent. She also participated in multiple European co-productions. During the last years of her career, she devoted herself almost completely to theater.

place_of_birth: Córdoba, Argentina


Pyotr Shcherbakov

place_of_birth: Pozdnyakovo, Kaluzhskaya guberniya, RSFSR, USSR


Alina Pokrovskaya

place_of_birth: Donetsk, Ukrainian SSR, USSR


Gerald Bezhanov

place_of_birth: Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, USSR


Lev Perfilov

place_of_birth: Kolomna, Moskovskaya oblast, RSFSR, USSR


Naomi Scott

biography:
Naomi Grace Scott (born 6 May 1993) is an English actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Olivia Lytton on Netflix's Anatomy of a Scandal, Elena Houghlin in Charlie's Angels (2019), Princess Jasmine in the Disney live-action version of Aladdin (2019), Kimberly Hart / The Pink Ranger in Power Rangers (2017),  Ryoko in The Martian (2017), Maddy Shannon on FOX's Terra Nova, and Mo in Lemonade Mouth (2011).

In 2020, she founded the production company 'New Name Entertainment' alongside with her husband Jordan Spence.

Her mother, Usha Scott (née Joshi), is of Gujarati Indian descent from Uganda, and her father, Christopher Scott, is British.

place_of_birth: Hounslow, Greater London, England, UK


Antonio Negret

biography:
Antonio Negret is a Suma Cum Laude graduate from the USC School of Cinema Television, with a minor from the USC School of Theatre where he was the recipient of multiple scholarships.

His first feature, "Towards Darkness," premiered in competition at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival. It dealt with 90 minutes in a kidnapped hostage's life, and the frustration his family, a special ops team, and a man in charge of delivering the ransom money all felt as they rushed to save him. It starred Emmy and Golden Globe winning actress America Ferrera (Ugly Betty, How To Train Your Dragon), Tony Plana (Goal, 187), and David Sutcliffe (Gilmore Girls, Private Practice). At the festival, the film was picked up for distribution by Peace Arch Entertainment and MGM. Subsequently, Negret's talent was recognized and highlighted by The Hollywood Reporter as part of their 'Top 10 Latino Directors to watch'.

Subsequent to the "Towards Darkness" premiere, Negret developed the script for "Operation Checkmate," a thriller for Screen Gems about the real-life rescue of Ingrid Betancourt. He also directed two feature films - "Seconds Apart" and "Transit." "Seconds Apart," an After Dark Films production, was released by Lionsgate. The film stars Orlando Jones (Runaway Jury, Evolution) as a detective trying to solve a series of mysterious deaths connected to a pair of twins.

"Transit" stars Jim Caviezel(Passion of the Christ, The Count of Monte Cristo), James Frain (Tron:Legacy, Trueblood), Harold Perrnieau (Lost, Romeo+Juliet) and Elisabeth Rhom (Heroes, Miss Congeniality 2). "Transit" is executive produced by Joel Silver (Sherlock Homes, The Matrix).

Early in his career, Negret directed multiple award winning short films. He also directed two seasons of the weekly television series "Not So Foreign Filmmakers Showcase." The show encompassed sketches and interviews with celebrity guests, among which included Virginia Madsen, Rosario Dawson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jay Hernandez, and Robert Rodriguez.

Negret has lived and worked in Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, England, and the United States. He continues to pursue challenging and polemic filmmaking.


Meguri Fujiura

biography: Fujiura Megu is an ex-AV actress, singer, and former member of me-me and Ebisu Muscats. She graduated from Ebisu Muscats in March 2010.

place_of_birth: Tokyo, Japan


Gene Krupa

place_of_birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA


Philippe Gildas

biography:
Philippe Gildas (born Philippe Lepêtre; 12 November 1935 – 28 October 2018) was a French journalist.

Beginning his career in 1962, Gildas became the director of information for an RTL radio station. Born as Philippe Lepêtre, he took the name Gildas as a pseudonym over the radio. In 1969, Gildas turned to French Public Radio and Television (ORTF). In 1972, he became editor in chief of ORTF, although it was dissolved in 1974. He was editor in chief at France Inter from 1973 to 1974, and then worked at Europe 1 from 1975 to 1986 as editor in chief and deputy director of information.

Gildas began working for Canal+ in 1985 as a director, and launched his own talk show, Gildas Direct. He left the show in 1987 to direct Nulle part ailleurs, and Philippe Risoli took over as director of the talk show. Nulle part ailleurs was a comedic talk show that took serious issues and put a humorous spin on them. Gildas won a 7 d'or award for the show in 1994 and 1997.

In 2001, Gildas was promoted to president of CNews after a deal with Canal+. In 2007, he launched Vivolta, a television network aimed at Baby boomers. In 2010, Gildas published an autobiography titled Comment réussir à la télévision quand on est petit, breton, avec de grandes oreilles?. In 2018, Gildas made his final television appearance in the TV documentary La Télé des années 80: les Dix Ans qui ont tout changé, aired on France Télévisions.

Philippe Gildas died on 28 October 2018 following a battle with cancer. He was buried on 5 November 2018 at the Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Source: Article "Philippe Gildas" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

place_of_birth: Auray, Morbihan, France


Vytautas Tomkus

place_of_birth: Radviliskis, Republic of Lithuania


Fridrikh Ermler

biography:
Fridrikh Markovich Ermler[a] (13 May 1898 – 12 July 1967) was a Soviet film director, actor, and screenwriter. He was a four-time recipient of the Stalin Prize (in 1941, twice in 1946, and in 1951).

After studying pharmacology, he joined the Czarist army in 1917 and soon took part in the October Revolution on the side of the Bolshevists. Captured and tortured by the White army, he only became a full party member at the end of the Civil War.

From 1923 to 1924 Ermler studied at the Cinema Academy. In 1932 he took part in creating one of the first Soviet talkies – the movie Vstrechny (The Counterplan). He also was one of the founders of the Creative Association KEM (together with E. Ioganson). In 1929-1931 Ermler studied at the Communist Academy and wrote for the newspaper Kino. He also became the chairman of the Russian Association of Revolutionary Filmmakers.

In 1940 he became the director of the Lenfilm studio. Between 1941 and 1944, he worked at the Central United Film Studio of Feature Films (TsOKS) in Alma-Ata (now Kazakhfilm Film Studio).

He died on 12 July 1967, in Komarovo. A memorial plaque was placed on the house in Leningrad where he lived from 1930 to 1962.

place_of_birth: Rezekne, Latvia


Thanos Grammenos

biography:
Thanos Grammenos born in 1927 in Agrinio, he studied at the drama schools of Sokratis Karatinos and the National Theater and participated in several classic films of Greek cinema such as Thiasos and The Stone Years. Grammenos became widely known from the role of the servant Mathios of the film family of the "Fourtunakis" in the film "The Fairy and the Boy". He was one of the co-founders of the cooperative troupe of S.E.H. Arma Theater, while he also worked as an assistant director in the cinema. He worked as a journalist in the literary magazine Efitheorisi Technis, where he wrote theater and cinema reviews and in 1974 he founded the publishing company Thymari.

(Source: Wikipedia)

place_of_birth: Agrinio, Greece


Nicole Appleton

biography: Nicole Appleton is an English-Canadian television presenter, singer-songwriter and actress.

place_of_birth: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada


Jordan Peele

biography:
Jordan Haworth Peele (born February 21, 1979) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is known for his film and television work in the comedy and horror genres. Peele started his career in sketch comedy before transitioning his career as a writer and director of psychological horror and satirical films. In 2017, Peele was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.

Peele's breakout role came in 2003, when he was hired as a cast member on the Fox sketch comedy series Mad TV, where he spent five seasons, leaving the show in 2008. In the following years, he and his frequent Mad TV collaborator, Keegan-Michael Key, created and starred in their own Comedy Central sketch comedy series Key & Peele (2012–2015). The series was critically acclaimed, winning two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. The two wrote, produced, and starred in the comedy film Keanu (2016) and appeared in various projects since.

His 2017 directorial debut, the horror film Get Out, was a critical and box office success, for which he received numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, along with nominations for Best Picture and Best Director. Critics have frequently named Get Out as one of the best films of the 21st century. He received another Academy Award nomination for Best Picture for producing Spike Lee's drama BlacKkKlansman (2018). He directed, wrote, and produced the acclaimed films Us (2019) and Nope (2022). He founded the film and television production company Monkeypaw Productions in 2012. He wrote and produced Candyman (2021), and Wendell and Wild (2022).

Peele has also voice acted in the animated films Storks (2016), Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017) and Toy Story 4 (2019), as well as in the adult animated sitcom Big Mouth (2017–present). He co-created the TBS comedy series The Last O.G. (2018–2022) and the YouTube Premium comedy series Weird City (2019). He also served as the host and producer of the CBS All Access revival of the anthology series The Twilight Zone (2019–2020).

place_of_birth: New York City, New York, USA


Keegan-Michael Key

biography:
Keegan-Michael Key (born March 22, 1971) is an American actor and comedian, best known for starring in the Comedy Central sketch series Key & Peele and for his six seasons as a cast member on MADtv. He has also appeared in the films Wonka, Toy Story 4, and Pitch Perfect 2.

Key was born in Southfield, Michigan and raised in Detroit. His father is African-American and his mother is European-American. He was adopted as a child. In 1989 he graduated from Shrine Catholic High School in Royal Oak, Michigan. Key attended the University of Detroit as an undergraduate and earned his Master of Fine Arts at the Pennsylvania State University School of Theatre. While at The University of Detroit Mercy, he was a brother of Phi Kappa Theta.

place_of_birth: Southfield, Michigan, USA


Robert Putt

biography: Robert Putt is a familiar faced British character actor with a career stretching for over 40 years.

place_of_birth: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, UK


Nicola Stephenson

place_of_birth: Oldham, Lancashire, England, UK


Holliday Grainger

biography: Holliday Clark Grainger (born 27 March 1988), also credited as Holly Grainger, is an English screen and stage actress. Some of her prominent roles are Kate Beckett in the BAFTA award-winning children's series Roger and the Rottentrolls, Lucrezia Borgia in the Showtime series The Borgias, Robin Ellacott in the Strike series, DI Rachel Carey in the Peacock/BBC One crime drama The Capture and Estella in Mike Newell's adaptation of Great Expectations.

place_of_birth: Didsbury, Manchester, England, UK


Angie Chiu Nga-Chi

biography: Angie Chiu Nga-Chi (Chinese: 趙雅芝; born 15 November 1954) is a Hong Kong actress, and was the third runner up in the 1973 Miss Hong Kong pageant.

place_of_birth: Hong Kong, China


James Doherty

biography:
James Doherty (born 17 December 1966) is an English actor. Born in Guildford, Surrey, he was educated at Felsted School in Essex and was a member of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. He trained at the Guildford School of Acting, graduating in 1989. He is married to TV presenter Joanna Sinnott and together they have two children, Jago (2006) & Nell (2013).

Doherty is best known for his appearances in TV comedy including roles in The Thick Of It, Veep, Rev, Miranda, The Windsors, and the BAFTA winning Him & Her - The Wedding. His work in feature films includes roles in Backbeat, Verity's Summer, Inbred, Deviation, London Road and the Oscar nominated In the Loop.

He has also appeared in West End musicals including roles in, Les Misérables, The Buddy Holly Story, A Slice of Saturday Night and Marguerite. Doherty played the role of Amos Hart in the West End production of Chicago at the Cambridge Theatre in 2011 opposite Christie Brinkley. He later reprised this role when the show transferred to the Garrick Theatre playing opposite America Ferrera.

Doherty has appeared in London Road, 50 Years on Stage and Beyond Caring at the National Theatre. In January 2020, Doherty began playing the role of Claude in the multi award-winning Come From Away  at the Phoenix Theatre in London.

place_of_birth: Guildford, Surrey, England, UK


Dimitris Poulikakos

biography:
Dimitris Poulikakos (Greek: Δημήτρης Πουλικάκος, January 21, 1943 - ) is a Greek singer, composer, actor, radio producer, announcer of commercials, writer, and translator of surrealist poetry and literature. He is also a prominent figure in the Greek Rock scene.

He became known for his appearances in films and television series from the 1970s to the 1990s. Main appearances: Sloths of the Fertile Valley (1978), Glue Harp (1982), Dracula of the Exarchies (1983), BIOS + state (1987), Made In Greece (1987), The meteoric step of the stork (1991), Female Company (1999), Soapstone (1995) etc. His main television appearances are in the series The Arbitrary (1989 - 1991), The Men and the Not in the episode "In the Name of the Man" in the second season (1994-1995) where he plays the head prisoner in the prison, Two Strangers (1997 ), Seven deadly mothers-in-law (2008) et al.

He is considered one of the main representatives of Greek rock. The record of Metaforai Ekdromai Mitsos is the forerunner of the Greek rock 'n roll discography. His concert at the end of the 1970s in Zografou is a milestone in Greek rock music history.

place_of_birth: Athens, Greece


Adrian Schiller

biography: Adrian Schiller (February 21, 1964 - April 3, 2024) was a British actor was best known for The Last Kingdom, Victoria and Doctor Who.

place_of_birth: London, England, UK


Hazel Scott

biography:
Hazel Dorothy Scott was a Trinidad-born jazz and classical pianist, singer, actress, television pioneer, and civil rights advocate. Born on June 11, 1920, in Port of Spain, Trinidad, she moved to Harlem, New York, as a child and became a celebrated prodigy, studying piano at Juilliard at an unusually young age. Known for her dazzling ability to “swing the classics,” Scott blended classical technique with jazz improvisation and rose to fame at New York’s Café Society.

In Hollywood, Scott refused degrading roles and insisted on appearing as herself, using her public image to challenge racist portrayals of Black women. She also refused to perform before segregated audiences and used contract clauses to force venues toward integration. In 1950, she made television history as the first African American to host her own TV show, The Hazel Scott Show. Her career was damaged by Red Scare blacklisting after she challenged accusations before HUAC. Scott later lived and performed in Paris before returning to the United States. She died in Manhattan on October 2, 1981. Her legacy endures as a pioneering artist who fused virtuosity, representation, and activism.

place_of_birth: Port of Spain, Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago


Gero Zambuto

place_of_birth: Grotte, Agrigento, Sicily


Hanna Polak

biography:
Hanna Polak (born 1967) is a Polish documentary director, cinematographer and producer. For her short documentary film, "The Children of Leningradsky", about a community of homeless children living in the Leningradsky railway station in Moscow, she was nominated for an Academy Award and an Emmy Award. In 2003, she was awarded Best Producer of Documentary Movies at the Kraków Film Festival for Railway Station Ballad.

In 2004, Polak completed her documentary film, "The Children of Leningradsky", which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). In 2014, Polak has completed her documentary film "Something Better To Come", which received the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) Special Jury Award, and won main prizes at several film festivals.  Polak’s works as a producer, director, and cinematographer have appeared on major television networks worldwide including American HBO, ABC (American Broadcasting Company), Canal+, France 2, Fuji Television, ITN, TVP (Telewizja Polska), TVN (Poland), Belgian Radio and TV, and many other TV stations. Her films have been screened in hundreds film festivals around the world, including Sundance Film Festival, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, True/False Film Festival, and FIPA (Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels).

In 2006, Polak’s photography works won her third prize in the UNICEF International Photography Competition Photo of the Year. For her cinematography work for Stone Silence, shot in Afghanistan, she was awarded with the Artistic Mastery of Photographing award from the Kiev Film Festival. For her cinematography work for Something Better to Come, she was awarded with the Best Cinematography award from Gdańsk DocFilm Festival and with Canon Non Fiction Frame Special Mention from Docs Against Gravity film festival.

Polak has collaborated with different aid agencies to help unprivileged children. For her charitable efforts, Polak was awarded the prestigious Golden Heart Award, the “Award for serving the uppermost ideals of mankind” by NTV (Russia), and the Crystal Mirror award by the Mirror magazine in Poland, an award that recognizes “people of dialogue, those who unite, not divide.”

She has lectured on documentary filmmaking at many universities worldwide, including UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, North Carolina, Chapel Hill; University of Guadalajara, Mexico; North Texas University; Monterey Institute of International Studies, California; Middlebury College, Vermont; University of Hawaii, Honolulu, and many others.

Polak was a jury member at the Kraków Film Festival and the Document International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Glasgow, Scotland; she was a tutor for the EsoDoc workshop; and she was an expert for the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (Poland), evaluating documentary projects for the Polish Film Institute.

place_of_birth: Katowice, Śląskie, Poland


Luke Macfarlane

biography: Thomas Luke Macfarlane is a Canadian actor and former singer. He is known for playing Scotty Wandell on the ABC television drama Brothers & Sisters (2006–2011), RAC Agent D'avin Jaqobis on the Space television science fiction series Killjoys (2015–2019), the romantic lead in a number of Hallmark Channel movies, and Aaron in Bros.

place_of_birth: London, Ontario, Canada


Shintaro Shimosawa

biography: Shintaro Shimosawa is an American screenwriter and producer. He is the Head of Production at Bad Hombre.

place_of_birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA

known_for_department: Production


James Reid

biography:
Robert James Reid (born 11 May 1993) is a Filipino actor and singer. He is best known for his roles in the films Diary Ng Panget (2014), Talk Back and You're Dead (2014), Beauty and the Bestie (2015), Never Not Love You (2018), and Miss Granny (2018).

In 2017, alongside Reid's release of his debut album Palm Dreams, he and Bret Jackson founded the record label Careless, formerly known as Careless Music Manila.

place_of_birth: St Leonards, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia


César Domboy

biography: César Domboy was born on March 10, 1990 in France. He is an actor, known for The Walk (2015), The Princess of Montpensier (2010) and Outlander (2014).

place_of_birth: France


Amy Schumer

biography:
Amy Beth Schumer was born in Manhattan and grew up on Long Island, New York. She attended South Side High School and was voted both "Class Clown" and "Teacher's Worst Nightmare" upon graduation in 1999. Schumer graduated from Towson University in 2003 with a degree in theater. She moved to New York City after college, where she studied at the William Esper Studio for two years and worked as a bartender and a waitress. Through her father, she is the niece of Chuck Schumer, U.S. Senator from New York.

Amy Schumer portrayed a young woman diagnosed with breast cancer in the off-Broadway black comedy Keeping Abreast. She started doing stand-up comedy on June 1, 2004, when she first performed at Gotham Comedy Club. She recorded a special for Comedy Central before appearing on Last Comic Standing; she said in August 2012 that she thought of the special as her "big break".

After not passing an audition for an earlier season, she advanced to the finals of the fifth season of the NBC reality television talent show Last Comic Standing and placed fourth. Schumer said in April 2011, "Last Comic was totally fun. I had a great time because there was no pressure on me; I had been doing stand-up around two years. I wasn't supposed to do well. So every time I advanced it was a happy surprise. I kept it honest on the show and it served me well." (Wikipedia)


Maven Huffman

biography:
Maven Klate Huffman is an American YouTuber and semi-retired professional wrestler. He is the inaugural male winner of Tough Enough and went on to wrestle under his first name in the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF/WWE) from 2001 to 2005, in which time he became a three-time WWF Hardcore Champion and was named 'Rookie of the Year' by Pro Wrestling Illustrated.

Since his departure from the WWE, Maven has made occasional appearances on independent circuits and in the media, including two years as a presenter on HSN. He launched his YouTube channel in 2023, on which he discusses his experience of being a professional wrestler.

place_of_birth: Crimora, Virginia, USA


Hwang Woo-seul-hye

biography:
Hwang Woo-seul-hye (born Hwang Jin-hee on August 10, 1979) is a South Korean actress. She made her acting debut as a "dumb blonde"-type character in the critically praised black comedy Crush and Blush (2008). Hwang has since played leading roles in the indie melodrama Lovers Vanished (2010), the TV sitcom I Need a Fairy (also known as Sent from Heaven, 2012), and the romantic comedy Virgin Theory: 7 Steps to Get On the Top (2014).

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

place_of_birth: Seoul, South Korea


Boyd Holbrook

biography:
Robert Boyd Holbrook (born September 1, 1981) is an American actor. He made his acting debut in the 2008 Gus Van Sant film Milk and had his breakthrough portraying DEA agent Steve Murphy in the Netflix television series Narcos (2015–2016).

His acting credits include the television programs Hatfields & McCoys (2012), The Sandman (2022–2025), Justified: City Primeval (2023), The Morning Show, and the films Little Accidents (2014), The Skeleton Twins (2014), A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014), Logan (2017), The Predator (2018), O.G. (2019), Vengeance (2022), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), The Bikeriders (2023), and A Complete Unknown (2024).

place_of_birth: Prestonsburg, Kentucky, USA


François Arnaud

biography: François Arnaud (born François Barbeau; July 5, 1985) is a French Canadian television, stage and film actor. Arnaud is best known for his performances as Cesare Borgia in Showtime's TV series The Borgias, as Scott Hunter in Heated Rivalry, and as Antonin in the critically acclaimed French Canadian movie J'ai tué ma mère. In Quebec, he is known for his role as Théo in the TV series Yamaska.

place_of_birth: Montreal, Quebec, Canada


Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey

biography:
Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey (born 26 May 1986) is a French-Spanish actress and model. She is best known for playing Suzanne in The Sea Wall, the mermaid Syrena in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Sofi in I Origins. She is the recipient of the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti in 2009 and the Trophée Chopard Award for Female Revelation of the Year at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

place_of_birth: Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain


Ali Fazal

biography: Ali Fazal is an Indian actor and model. He made his screen debut with a small role in the English language film The Other End of the Line before appearing in the American television miniseries Bollywood Hero.

place_of_birth: Lucknow, India