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Simon Startin

Biography

Training Simon Startin trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Theatre For the National Theatre: Bacchae, After Life and The Visit Other theatre includes: The Tempest for the RSC; Odd and the Frost Giants at the Unicorn; Princess Essex, The Taming of the Shrew and Ralegh: The Treason Trial at Shakespeare’s Globe; Hir at Park Theatre; Richard III and Romeo and Juliet for Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre; The Plague at the Arcola; The Government Inspector at Birmingham Rep; Islands at the Bush; Trauma at the White Bear; Sherlock Holmes in Trouble at the Royal Exchange, Manchester; The Tempest at Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds; and Ubu, Into the Mystic, The Fall of the House of Usher and Volpone for Graeae TV Holby City, The Musketeers, Doctors, Mapp and Lucia, Criminal Justice, Every Time You Look at Me and Keen Eddie Radio Blind Jack and In Touch Panto (Published September 2025. Photo: Matthew Startin) Source: National Theatre
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Alex Thomson

Biography

Alexander Thomson BSC (12 January 1929 – 14 June 2007) was a British cinematographer. Born in London, England, he was first offered a job by Bert Easey (1901-1973), who was head of cameras at Denham and Pinewood Studios. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Excalibur (1981). His other films included Year of the Dragon (1985), Legend (1985), Labyrinth (1986), The Krays (1990), Alien 3 (1992), Cliffhanger (1993), Demolition Man (1993), Executive Decision (1996) and two of Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare adaptations, Hamlet (1996) and Love's Labour's Lost (2000). After beginning his film career in the late 1940s, he went on to serve as a camera operator under cinematographer Nicolas Roeg on twelve films between 1961 and 1966. In 1998 he shot the Royal Premiered CinemaScope short "The Troop" (dir: Marcus Dillistone) An interview with Alex Thomson appears in a new book Conversations with Cinematographers by David A Ellis, published by Scarecrow Press. Thompson was an avid user of Joe Dunton's custom-built Xtal Xpress lenses, shooting many of his more high-profile projects such as Labyrinth, Legend, The Keep, Year of the Dragon and The Sicilian with them. He was married to the sculptor Diana Thomson, and they had a daughter. Thomson died on 14 June 2007, at the age of 78, in Chertsey, Surrey.
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Christina Aguilera

Biography

Christina María Aguilera (born December 18, 1980) is an American pop singer and songwriter. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994. Aguilera signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection" for the film Mulan. In 1999, Aguilera came to prominence following her debut album Christina Aguilera, which was a commercial success spawning three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)". A Latin pop album, Mi Reflejo (2001), and several collaborations followed which garnered Aguilera worldwide success, though she was displeased with her lack of input in her music and image. After parting from her management, Aguilera took creative control over her second studio album, Stripped (2002, The album's second single, "Beautiful", was a commercial success and helped the album's commercial performance. Aguilera's third studio album, Back to Basics (2006), included elements of soul, jazz, and blues music, and was released to positive critical reception. Aguilera's fourth studio album Bionic was released in June 2010. Aside from being known for her vocal ability, music videos and image, musically, she includes themes of dealing with public scrutiny, her childhood, and female empowerment in her music. Apart from her work in music, she has also dedicated much of her time as a philanthropist for charities, human rights and world issues. Aguilera's work has earned her numerous awards, including five Grammy Awards and two Latin Grammy Award, amongst twenty-one and eleven nominations respectively. Rolling Stone ranked her number fifty-three on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, ranking as the youngest and only artist on the list under the age of thirty. She has become one of the most successful recording artists of the decade, selling more than 75 million albums worldwide.
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Karen Mok Man-Wai

Biography

Karen Mok Man-Wai (born Karen Joy Morris (Chinese: 莫文蔚)) is a Hong Kong pop diva who is one of the leading Asian pop singers and actresses with a career spanning three decades. She is the first female Hong Kong singer to win the Golden Melody Award and has won it a total of three times. She has released 18 solo studio albums, starred in over more than 50 movies, has over 15 million followers on leading Chinese social media site Weibo, took the lead in the Broadway musical Rent on its Asian tour, holds the Guinness World Record for the Highest Altitude Mass-Attended Music Concert.
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Affif Ben Badra

Biography

Affif Ben Badra (sometimes credited as Afif Ben Badra or Ben Badra) (born 1960) is an actor and dancer currently living in France. In the United States he appeared as a warlord in the Roland Emmerich film 10,000 BC and as Tamas in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. He also appeared in the suspense/thriller film Taken, written by Luc Besson, and in the Spanish public TV serie "Aguila Roja". Description above from the Wikipedia article Affif Ben Badra, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Derek Jacobi

Biography

Sir Derek George Jacobi CBE (born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. Jacobi is known for his work at the Royal National Theatre and for his film and television roles. He has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, two Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award. He was given a knighthood for his services to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994. Description above from the Wikipedia article Derek Jacobi, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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Nani

Biography

Ghanta Naveen Babu (born 24 February 1984), known professionally by his screen name Nani, is an Indian actor, film producer, and television presenter who works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He made his acting debut in Mohana Krishna Indraganti's romantic comedy *Ashta Chamma* (2008) and appeared in Nandini Reddy's *Ala Modalaindi* (2011). His other films include *Pilla Zamindar* (2011), S. S. Rajamouli's fantasy film *Eega* (2012), Gautham Vasudev Menon's romance *Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu* (2012), *Yevade Subramanyam* (2015), *Bhale Bhale Magadivoy* (2015), *Krishna Gaadi Veera Prema Gaadha* (2016), *Gentleman* (2016), *Nenu Local* (2017), *Ninnu Kori* (2017), *Middle Class Abbayi* (2017), the sports drama *Jersey* (2019), *Nani's Gang Leader* (2019), *Shyam Singha Roy* (2021), *Ante Sundaraniki* (2022), the rural period drama *Dasara* (2023), *Hi Nanna* (2023), and the action thriller *Saripodhaa Sanivaaram* (2024). Nani has received two Nandi Awards, three Filmfare Awards South, including Best Actor for *Dasara* and Critics Awards for Best Actor for *Bhale Bhale Magadivoy* and *Shyam Singha Roy*, and multiple SIIMA Awards. He hosted the reality television show *Bigg Boss Telugu 2* (2018) and established the production banner Wall Poster Cinema, which produced *Awe* (2018), *HIT: The First Case* (2020), *HIT: The Second Case* (2022), and *Court – State vs a Nobody* (2025).
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Sophie Aldred

Biography

Sophie Aldred was born in Greenwich, London, and brought up in nearby Blackheath. After leaving school, she attended Manchester University, where she took a degree in drama. From university she sang in working men's clubs to obtain her Equity Card, then worked in a children's theatre, appearing in a fringe show, "Underground Men," at a pub theatre in London to get an agent, followed by more children theatre. She was appearing in "Fiddler on the Roof" with Topol in Manchester when she landed the part of Ace. At the same time as appearing in "Doctor Who," she presented a series for young children called "Corners" and later "Melvin and Maureen's Music-a-grams," which combined her acting and music skills. She has appeared in a number of theatre productions including a tour of "Daisy Pulls it Off" in which she played the lead, and she played Marjorie Pinchwite in the 1993 West End production of "Lust," a version of "The Country Wife." In 1995 she worked for the Children's Channel on satellite and also Love Call Live for Anglia television with David 'Kid' Jensen. In 1996, she co-authored with effects designer Mike Tucker a book looking at her time in Doctor Who called "Ace!"
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Miray Daner

Biography

Miray Naz Daner (born 15 January 1999) is a Turkish actress. She began her acting career at the age of nine and made her screen debut in the television series Bez Bebek. At the age of thirteen, she played her first lead role "Duygu" in Zil Çalinca which first Turkish series of Disney Channel, version of As The Bell Rings and played herself in Zil Çalinca Avi short movie. At the age of seventeen, she played "Hilal" in Vatanim Sensin about Turkish War of Independence and won a Golden Butterfly Award. She played in Hürkus movie based life of aviator Vecihi Hürkus.
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Casey Chan Lai-Ying

Biography

Casey Chan Lai-ying was born in Hong Kong in 1954. She studied art at Sir Robert Black College of Education, first working in advertising design upon graduation and later at a TV magazine. A fondness for Yamada Yoji prompted her to study directing at College of Art, Nihon University, graduating with a film that won an award. Returning to Hong Kong, Chan worked in production in capacities as varied as production assistant, assistant editor, assistant director, producer and director. She established Gold Harbour International Films in 1992, making her directorial debut with Death Warrant (1992), followed by The Black Morning Glory (1993). Chan also produced a documentary on Hong Kong filmmakers with Japan’s NHK as well as distributing Hong Kong films in Japan. She later distributed DVDs of Japanese films, including the horror series Yotsuya Kaidan and the films of Japanese teen idol Yamaguchi Momoe. Chan’s directorial career is best represented by The Poet (1998), the story of Beijing poet Gu Cheng’s murder of his wife. Other films include Face to Face (2002), a ghost story based on Japanese author Rampo Edogawa’s novel, I Love You, Mom (2013) and the documentary Silk Expression - Silk Road with Chip Tsao (2003). In 2013, she finished the 3D film 3D Lost in Wrestling, which uses 3D technology to animate and interpret metaphysical thoughts of China.
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