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Jody Flader
Biography
Jody Flader is an American actress,voice actress and singer. From the age of nine, she was heavily involved in community and semi-professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area, at venues such as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
She earned her B.A. from Harvard University and went on to earn an M.F.A. in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco before settling in New York City, where she made her Off-Broadway debut as the lead in the Vineyard Theater's quirky production,"The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island," to rave reviews.
She continues to do theater in New York as well as pursuing roles in film & television, and maintaining a thriving commercial career.
She assumed the role of narrator for Oxygen's true-crime series Snapped, after long-time narrator and producer Sharon Martin left the series in 2018.
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John Cullum
Biography
John Cullum (born March 2, 1930) is an American actor and singer. He is a five-time Tony Award nominee and two-time winner, both for Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Shenandoah in 1975 and On the Twentieth Century in 1978). On screen, Cullum is best known for his starring role as tavern owner Holling Vincoeur in Northern Exposure (1990 - 1995), which earned him an Emmy nomination. He also had recurring roles on ER, Law & Order: SVU, The Middle, and Madam Secretary. His film appearances include Hawaii (1966), 1776 (1972), All Good Things (2010), Kill Your Darlings (2013), Before We Go (2014), and Christine (2016).
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Mai Tachihara
Biography
Mai Tachihara, born on February 16, 1967, is a Japanese actress and jazz singer known for her dynamic talents. Her birth name is Ritsuko Iwayama. She is affiliated with the agency Friend's List.
Hailing from Tokyo, Mai Tachihara's journey into the world of entertainment began at a young age. During her high school years at Kanagawa Prefectural Shichirigahama High School, she was drawn to acting. In 1983, while still in high school, she stood out among 6,108 contestants in the "'83 Toho Film New Star Scout Audition," marking her entry into the entertainment industry. Her involvement in the anime series "Igano Kabamaru," where she voiced the heroine Maiko Okubo, served as the catalyst for adopting the stage name Mai Tachihara. She further honed her skills by graduating from Tamagawa University's Faculty of Literature, majoring in theater arts.
Mai Tachihara's acting career flourished over the years, with a notable regular role as one of the lawyers in the television drama "Nananin no Onna Bengoshi" (Seven Female Lawyers) since 1991.
Her artistic abilities extend beyond acting, encompassing various talents and interests. She excels in traditional Japanese dance, mastering the art of Nihon Buyo. Additionally, she is skilled in playing the traditional instruments of Wadaiko (Japanese drums) and Nagauta Shamisen. Tachihara's hobbies are equally diverse, including playing the guitar (acoustic, electric, and classical), engaging in boxing, jazz dance, cheer dance, classical ballet, gardening, and DIY projects. Her qualifications span a wide range, from holding a regular driver's license and being a certified cook to achieving second-level certification in the English Language Proficiency Test (Eiken), becoming a Medical Yoga Instructor and a Medical Aroma Instructor, and obtaining the title of Centenarian Advisor, specializing in supporting health and longevity.
Mai Tachihara's remarkable journey is a testament to her multifaceted talents and unwavering dedication to both the performing arts and personal growth.
(Translated from Japanese Wikipedia Article 立原麻衣)
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Joan Hodges
Biography
Biography
In 1965 Joan was chosen to be one of the six original Playboy Bunny Girls and went to Chicago to train in the Chicago Playboy Club. She returned to England in 1966 to audition and train British girls to open the London Playboy Club in Park Lane. Whilst there Frank Sinatra chose her to appear in his film The Naked Runner.
In October 1966 Joan married Chas Hodges (of Chas & Dave). She then decided to become a full time Mum. They now have three children, Juliet, Kate, who is a singer/songwriter (kategarnermusic.com) and Nik, who is a musician and Film/tv composer (nikhodges.com). Joan and Chas also have a granddaughter fashion designer Charlie Hodges (saccharineshrine.com) and Grandson Harry Garner.
In 1992 Joan fulfilled a lifetime ambition to become an actress, she enrolled and trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts as a mature student.
Upon graduation she joined The Millfield Theatre Company in North London, where she appeared in several productions, making her professional acting debut as the Nurse in Romeo & Juliet. During the run she was spotted by a casting director, who cast her in London's Burning, her first TV appearance. Joan's big break came in 1997 when John Sullivan offered her the role of Marilyn in his new Comedy/Drama series Roger Roger for the BBC, in which she appeared as a regular for 3 series, working alongside Robert Daws, Philip Glenister and Pippa Guard. Joan has also played Georgia Mackenzies mother, Irene Hagger, in Hot Money for Granada, Mrs Meadows in Fierce for Channel 4 Films and Eileen Draper in The Bill for Thames Television. She was also Jimmy's Mum who 'made his sandwiches!' in the award winning Lucozade TV commercial. Another career highlight was playing Marion in the 2001 Christmas Special of Only Fools & Horses for the BBC.
Joan is a member of The Actors' Guild of Great Britain and Women in Film & Television.
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Fran Drescher
Biography
Francine Joy Drescher (born September 30, 1957) is an American actress, comedian, writer, activist, and trade union leader. Drescher is known for her role as Fran Fine in the television sitcom The Nanny (1993–1999).
Drescher made her screen debut with a small role in the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, and later appeared in American Hot Wax (1978) and Wes Craven's horror tale Stranger in Our House (1978). In the 1980s, she gained recognition as a comedic actress in the films Gorp (1980), The Hollywood Knights (1980), Doctor Detroit (1983), This Is Spinal Tap (1984), and UHF (1989) while establishing a television career with guest appearances on several series. In 1993, she achieved wider fame as Fran Fine in her own sitcom vehicle The Nanny, for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Comedy Television Series during the show's run. In the 2000s, Drescher reinforced her position as a leading sitcom star with Living with Fran and Happily Divorced. Since 2012, she has starred in the animated Hotel Transylvania film series.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Fran Drescher, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Hadil Kamel
Biography
An Iraqi actress, she began her acting career in childhood at the age of four in the play "Sacrifice and Wall" directed by Dr. Mohammed Al-Janabi. However, her actual start was in children's programs at the radio and television building when she was 14 years old. She then began participating in numerous television, theatrical, and cinematic works for the Public Corporation for Radio and Television, the Cinema and Theater Department. She has had roles in television dramas with Arab artistic companies from Jordan, Lebanon, and the Joint Production Program for Gulf States in the third season of "Open Sesame". She graduated from the College of Fine Arts in the academic year 1989-1990, earning a Bachelor's degree, and in 1994 she obtained a Master's degree in the Department of Audiovisual Arts with a specialization in Television Directing.
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Akshay Kumar
Biography
Akshay Kumar is an Indian film actor, producer and martial artist who has appeared in over a hundred Hindi films. When he began his acting career in the 1990s, he primarily starred in action films and was particularly known for his appearances in feature films commonly called the "Khiladi series", which included Khiladi (1992), Sabse Bada Khiladi (1995), Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996), and Khiladi 420 (2000), as well as other action films such as Mohra (1994). As a stunt actor, he often performed many dangerous stunts in his films, which earned him a reputation as the "Indian Jackie Chan". He later gained more fame for his drama, romance and comedy roles. He started becoming known for his performances in romance films like Yeh Dillagi (1994) and Dhadkan (2000) as well as drama films such as Ek Rishtaa (2001). His comic performances in comedy films such as Hera Pheri (2000), Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004), Garam Masala (2005) and Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005) met with acclaim. His success further rose in 2007, when he starred in four consecutive commercial hits. In 2008, the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Law on Kumar in recognition of his contribution to Indian cinema. In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. He has thus established himself as one of the leading actors in Hindi cinema. In 2009, Kumar founded the Hari Om Entertainment production company.
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Edmond Rostand
Biography
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays contrasted with the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century. Another of Rostand's works, Les Romanesques (1894), was adapted to the 1960 musical comedy The Fantasticks.
Rostand was born in Marseille, France, into a wealthy and cultured Provençal family. His father was an economist, a poet who translated and edited the works of Catullus, and a member of the Marseille Academy and the Institut de France. Rostand studied literature, history, and philosophy at the Collège Stanislas in Paris, France.
When Rostand was twenty years old, his first play, a one-act comedy, Le Gant rouge, was performed at the Cluny Theatre, 24 August 1888, but it was almost unnoticed.
He and his fiancé Rosemonde Gérard became friends with Emmanuel Chabrier in 1889, and the composer quickly set three of his poems (and two of hers) to music; the following year the two collaborated on À la musique for the house-warming of a mutual friend. In 1890, Rostand published a volume of poems called Les Musardises. The same year he offered a one-act Pierrot play in verse to the director of the Théâtre François. This gave him the opportunity to write for the state theatre a three-act play, also in verse, as are all Rostand's plays. He considered himself a poet, whether writing plays or poetry.
The resulting play, Les Romanesques, was produced at the Théâtre François on 21 May 1894. It was a great success and was the start of his career as a dramatist. This play would be adapted in 1960 by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt into the long-running American musical The Fantasticks.
Rostand's next play was written for Sarah Bernhardt. La Princesse Lointaine was based on the story of the 12th-century troubadour Jaufre Rudel and his love for Hodierna of Jerusalem (who is the archetypal princesse lointaine character). This idealistic play opened on 5 April 1895, at the Théâtre de la Renaissance. The part of Melisandre (based on Hodierna's daughter Melisende of Tripoli) was created by Sarah Bernhardt but the play was not particularly successful. When Bernhardt performed it in London later the same year, it received a bad review from George Bernard Shaw but this was not surprising considering Shaw's bias for realism. Rambaldo di Vaqueiras: I Monferrato, 1922 1922 verse drama by Nino Berrini(it) is based on La Princesse Lointaine.
Bernhardt, undeterred, asked Rostand to write another play for her. She created the role of Photine in La Samaritaine (Theatre de la Renaissance, 14 April 1897), a Biblical drama in three scenes adapted from the gospel story of the woman of Samaria. This play was more successful and became part of Sarah Bernhardt's repertoire. Rostand felt satisfied that he had proven to the public that he was something more than a writer of comedies. ...
Source: Article "Edmond Rostand" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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Sean Connery
Biography
Sir Thomas Sean Connery (August 25, 1930 – October 31, 2020) was a Scottish actor and producer. He 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, Connery died at the age of 90.
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Jagadish
Biography
P. V Jagadish Kumar, popularly known as Jagadish, is an actor well known for portraying comedic roles in Malayalam films. He has acted in over 300 films over his career spanning more than three decades. He is best known for his roles in In Harihar Nagar (1990), Godfather (1991), Butterflies (1993) and Hitler (1996). Jagadish has also stared as a lead character actor in several sleeper hits during the early 1990s.
Jagadish has also worked as a screenwriter in a handful of films. Before entering the film industry he worked as college lecturer. He had a short stint in politics and had unsuccessfully contested the 2016 Kerala state elections under the banner of the Indian National Congress. Jagadish is also active in television as a show host.
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