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Ina Balin
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Ina Balin (November 12, 1937 – June 20, 1990) was an American actress on Broadway and in film.
Born as Ina Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, she first appeared on television on The Perry Como Show. She also did summer stock, which led to roles on Broadway, and in 1959, she won the "Theatre World Award" for her performance in the Broadway comedy, A Majority of One, starring Gertrude Berg and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. That same year, she landed her first film role in The Black Orchid, starring Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn.
A year later, Balin was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress — Motion Picture for her performance opposite Paul Newman in From the Terrace. She also appeared in The Young Doctors.
In 1961, she appeared as Pilar Graile in The Comancheros with John Wayne and Stuart Whitman. Co-starring with Jerry Lewis in the 1964 hit comedy The Patsy, Balin also had a secondary, but important part in 1965's The Greatest Story Ever Told. She co-starred with Elvis Presley in his 1969 film Charro!
Balin guest-starred on dozens of television shows, including Bonanza, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Battlestar Galactica, Get Smart, Ironside, Quincy, M.E. and Magnum, P.I. She appeared with Joseph Cotten, Fernando Lamas and Dean Jagger in the 1969 made-for-television movie The Lonely Profession.
In 1970, Balin toured Vietnam with the USO on the first of many trips to the war-torn region. She co-starred in the 1971 film The Projectionist, which marked the screen debut of Rodney Dangerfield. In 1975, she aided in the evacuation of orphans during the fall of Saigon; eventually, she adopted three of these orphaned children. In 1980, she played herself in a made-for-television movie based on these experiences, The Children of An Lac.
While working on The Children of An Lac, she became acquainted with Christy Marx, who at the time worked as a producer's liaison for various television programs. According to Marx, she used Balin's story as a basis for a character in the animated show Jem when she later became a writer. The character of Ba Nee is based on Balin's adopted daughter, Ba-Nhi. Ba Nee's obsession with and struggle to find her birth father are the focus of several episodes of Jem. She co-starred in the comedy The Comeback Trail with the lead actor and director from The Projectionist.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Ina Balin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Dustin Hoffman
Biography
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. Actor Robert De Niro described him as "an actor with the everyman's face who embodied the heartbreakingly human". At a young age Hoffman knew he wanted to study in the arts, and entered into the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music; later he decided to go into acting, for which he trained at the Pasadena Playhouse in Los Angeles. His first theatrical performance was 1961's A Cook for Mr. General as Ridzinski. During that time he appeared in several guest roles on television shows like Naked City and The Defenders. He then starred in the 1966 off-Broadway play Eh? where his performance garnered him both a Theatre World Award and Drama Desk Award.
His breakthrough role was as Benjamin Braddock in Mike Nichols' critically acclaimed and iconic film The Graduate (1967), for which he received his first Academy Award nomination. His next role was "Ratso" Rizzo in John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy (1969), in which he acted alongside Jon Voight; they both received Oscar nominations, and the film went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. He gained success in the 1970s playing roles that shaped the craft of his acting, crossing genres effortlessly in the western Little Big Man (1970), the prison drama Papillon (1973), playing a controversial and groundbreaking comedian in Bob Fosse's Lenny (1975), Marathon Man alongside Laurence Olivier (1976), and as Carl Bernstein investigating the Watergate scandal in All the President's Men (1976). In 1979, Hoffman starred in the family drama Kramer vs. Kramer alongside Meryl Streep. They both received Academy Awards for their performances.
After a three-year break from films, Hoffman returned in Sydney Pollack's show business comedy Tootsie (1982) about a struggling actor who pretends to be a woman in order to get an acting role. He returned to stage acting with a 1984 performance as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman and reprised the role a year later in a television film earning a Primetime Emmy Award. In 1987 he starred alongside Warren Beatty in Elaine May's comedy Ishtar. He won his second Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the autistic savant Ray Babbitt in the 1988 film Rain Man, co-starring Tom Cruise. In 1989, he was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for playing Shylock in a stage performance of The Merchant of Venice. In the 1990s, he made appearances in such films as Warren Beatty's action comedy adaptation Dick Tracy (1990), Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991) as Captain Hook, medical disaster Outbreak (1995), legal crime drama Sleepers (1996), and the satirical black comedy Wag the Dog (1997) alongside Robert De Niro.
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Kathy Najimy
Biography
Kathy Ann Najimy (born February 6, 1957) is an American actress, most notable as Olive Massery on the television series Veronica's Closet, Sister Mary Patrick in Sister Act and the voice of Peggy Hill on the animated television series King of the Hill. Prior to her film work, she was best known for two Off Broadway shows with Mo Gaffney working as the duo Kathy and Mo. One of the shows became an HBO comedy special and garnered Najimy her first nationwide fan base.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Kathy Najimy, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Alejandro Doria
Biography
Alejandro Doria (Buenos Aires, November 1, 1936 - Buenos Aires, June 17, 2009) was an Argentine film director, television director, actor and theater director. In his career, he won many national and international awards, including the 2007 Goya Award and the Silver Columbus for Las manos, the Cóndor de Plata Award for Realizing, the South Award for Las manos, and the Montreal Festival Ecumenical Award for La island. The classic Argentine comedy film "Waiting for the float" is also his authorship (based on the play by Jacobo Langsner).
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Giovanna Grigio
Biography
Giovanna Grigio dos Santos is a Brazilian actress and presenter. She debuted on television in 2007 as a child reporter O Melhor do Brasil, on Rede Record, commanding the segment 'A Galerinha'. In 2009 she became a host of Band Kids, by Band, where she stayed until the following year. In 2013 she was chosen to play Mili in the second Brazilian version of the telenovela 'Chiquititas' on SBT. In 2016 she played Gerusa in 'Êta Mundo Bom' on Rede Globo. In 2017 she joined the cast of the twenty-fifth season of 'Malhação: Viva a Diferença' as Samantha Lambertini. In the second half of 2020, she debuted in Globoplay's exclusive series called 'As Five'.
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Sean Connery
Biography
Sir Thomas Sean Connery (August 25, 1930 - October 31, 2020) was a Scottish actor and producer who won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award), and three Golden Globes, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award.
Connery was the first actor to portray the character James Bond in film, starring in seven Bond films (every film from Dr. No to You Only Live Twice, plus Diamonds Are Forever and Never Say Never Again), between 1962 and 1983. In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables. His films also include Marnie (1964), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Highlander (1986), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Dragonheart (1996), The Rock (1996), and Finding Forrester (2000).
Connery was polled in a 2004 The Sunday Herald as "The Greatest Living Scot" and in a 2011 EuroMillions survey as "Scotland's Greatest Living National Treasure". He was voted by People magazine as both the “Sexiest Man Alive" in 1989 and the "Sexiest Man of the Century” in 1999. He received a lifetime achievement award in the United States with a Kennedy Center Honor in 1999. Connery was knighted in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to film drama.
On October 31, 2020, it was announced that Connery had died at the age of 90.
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Lynn Hamilton
Biography
Lynn Hamilton began her career in Chicago's community theater scene. At 29, she made her Broadway debut in 1959's Only in America and went on to appear in numerous Broadway and Off Broadway productions, while also taking her talents to the small screen with roles on the television series Gunsmoke and Room 222. One of her most memorable roles was as Donna Harris on NBC's Sanford and Son. She also starred as Miss Verdie on The Waltons, Vivian Potter on the daytime drama Generations, ex-con Cissie Johnson on the 1991 nighttime soap Dangerous Women, and Georgia Anderson in Roots: The Next Generation. Her additional TV credits include roles on 227, The Golden Girls, NYPD Blue, Cold Case, and Judging Amy.
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Monica Pinto
Biography
Monica Pinto is a director and actress, known for Extreme Cheapskates (2014) and Jersey Shore (2012). Her nickname is Hypmosis. She was born in Miami, Florida in 1993. Her family moved to New Jersey when she was 8 years old. As a child, she took pride in her ability to entertain her friends and family, so from a very young age Monica knew that she wanted a career in acting.
In Miami, Monica has worked as a model and has had roles working in commercials and occasionally as an extra. Monica now resides in New York City
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Elizabeth Archer
Biography
Based in Los Angeles, Elizabeth Archer is a left-of-center director + writer who creates stories rooted in vibrant, stylized worlds and has a funny bone for offbeat, comedic filmmaking. Her cheeky sensibility, visual aesthetic and playful tone breathes life into both her narrative and commercial work. She explores the absurdities of modern life from an emotional palette of both subtle, nuanced performances and hilarious physical comedy.
During her time in Los Angeles, Elizabeth has worked for companies such as Hello Sunshine, Netflix and most recently, as a treatment designer at PRETTYBIRD. She has directed dozens of comedic short films, sketches and commercials - most notably for Spotify and Almost Friday TV. Her latest short film, Two Women Make a Lunch Plan, premiered at Palm Springs Short Fest (nominated for Best Comedy Short and Best Midnight Short) and has gone on to play at over ten festivals like LA Shorts, Silver Lake Shorts and Salute Your Shorts. She recently directed a six-part workplace comedy series, Bosses, starring Keke Palmer for KeyTV. She is currently writing various dark comedy feature film scripts....stayed tuned.
In 2025, Elizabeth created Tell Me I’m Funny - a quarterly, one-hour comedy event featuring women and nonbinary stand-up comics and short films, followed by a networking mixer where comedians and filmmakers can connect. Elizabeth is signed across the board at 42 Management & Production for directing/writing, at SLMBR PRTY for U.S. commercials and as a freelance treatment designer at the Betterment Society.
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Stanislas Wawrinka
Biography
Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlights include three Grand Slam titles at the 2014 Australian Open, 2015 French Open and 2016 US Open, where he defeated the world No. 1 player in the final on all three occasions. Other achievements include reaching the final of the 2017 French Open, winning an ATP Tour Masters 1000 title at the 2014 Monte-Carlo Masters, and reaching three other Masters finals (at 2008 Rome, 2013 Madrid and 2017 Indian Wells). Representing Switzerland, Wawrinka won gold in doubles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with teammate Roger Federer, and was also pivotal in the Swiss team's victory at the 2014 Davis Cup.
Wawrinka considers clay his best and favorite surface, and his serve and backhand his best shots. John McEnroe once said that Wawrinka has one of the most powerful backhands ever, and in 2009 said he possessed "the best one-handed backhand in the game." He has been described by The Economist as "Tennis's great latecomer", owing to finding success late in his career. Prior to the 2014 French Open, he requested and was granted a formal change in his name from "Stanislas Wawrinka" to "Stan Wawrinka", stating that he plans to use the abbreviated name in tournament draws and press conferences.
Wawrinka was born in Switzerland to a German father and Swiss mother. He holds dual Swiss–German citizenship. His father Wolfram Wawrinka, a farmer and social worker, is German of Czech ancestry. Wawrinka's paternal great-grandfather originated from Silesia — the border region between Poland and the former Czechoslovakia — and the surname originates with the Polish language. It is related to Wawrzyniec, the Polish version of Laurence, or Laurentius. Wawrinka's mother, Isabelle, an educator, is Swiss. His mother works as a biodynamic farmer helping disabled people and with her husband, took over the running of her in-law's farm. The property, known as "Ferme du Château", is near Lausanne, and attached to the castle of Saint-Barthélemy. The farm assists people with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities, and people with depression or drug and alcohol problems. Here Wawrinka grew up with his elder brother, Jonathan, and his two younger sisters, Djanaée and Naélla, who are students and tennis players. Wawrinka attended the Rudolf Steiner School in Crissier.
Wawrinka started playing tennis at the age of eight, and played once a week until he was eleven, when he started to practice three times a week. Wawrinka stopped attending regular schooling at age 15 to focus full-time on tennis. However, he continued his schooling by distance education with the French organization CNED, which offered him greater flexibility.
Wawrinka turned professional in 2002 at the age of 17. He was coached from age eight until June 2010 by Dimitri Zavialoff. ...
Source: Article "Stan Wawrinka" from Wikipedia in english, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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