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Macha Méril

Biography

Macha Méril, born Princess Maria-Magdalena Vladimirovna Gagarina on 3 September 1940, Rabat, Morocco, is a French actress and writer, descended by her father from the Russian princely house Gagarin and by her mother from a Ukrainian noble family. She has appeared in 119 films between 1959 and 2007, including roles in films directed by Jean-Luc Godard (Une femme mariée, 1964), Luis Buñuel (Belle de jour, 1967) and Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Chinese Roulette, 1976). She also played in the Quebec series Lance et Compte. Description above from the Wikipedia article Macha Méril,licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Mantan Moreland

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Although his brand of humor has been reviled for decades, Negro character actor Mantan Moreland parlayed his cocky but jittery character into a recognizable presence in the late 1930s and early 1940s, appearing in a long string of comedy thrillers . . . and was considered quite funny at the time! Born just after the turn of the century in Louisiana, Mantan began running away from home at age 12 to join circuses and medicine shows, only to be brought back time and again. During these times he sharpened his comic skills and developed routines and acts that eventually became popular on the vaudeville stage, or what was then called the "chitlin' circuit." A solo performer by nature, he often teamed up with other famous comics (such as Ben Carter) to keep working, and became a deft performer of "indefinite talk" routines, where two quicksilver comics continually topped each other in mid-sentence, as if reading each other's mind (i.e., "Say, did you see...?" "Saw him just yesterday...didn't look so good"). Mantan's focus gradually shifted his trade toward film, where he initially appeared in servile bits (shoeshine men, porters, waiters). However, his talent for making people laugh couldn't be overlooked and he soon earned featured status in Harlem-styled western parodies and grade "A" comedy films playing the superstitious, ever-terrified manservant running from any kind of impending doom. Moreland's peak in movies came with his recurring role as Birmingham, the skittish chauffeur, in the "Charlie Chan" series, where he was forever forewarning his boss to stay away from an obviously dangerous case or situation. Though haunted mansions were an ideal place for setting off his stereotyped character, Mantan would be haunted in a different way by this Hollywood success in years to follow. By the 1950s, racial attitudes began to change and, with the rise of the civil rights movement, what was once considered hilarious was now interpreted as demeaning and offensive to both blacks and whites. Mantan and others, such as Stepin Fetchit, were ostracized and ridiculed by Hollywood for their past negative portrayals. It took decades for audiences to forgive and newer generations to forget the Depression-era comedy of Mantan Moreland in order for the actor to come back. In the late 1960s he managed a modest resurgence on TV and in commercials and occasional films, allowing him to work again with such comic heavyweights as Bill Cosby, Godfrey Cambridge and director Carl Reiner. It was all too brief, however, for Mantan, long suffering from ill health, died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1973, just as he was settling in to his renewed popularity. Today, audiences tend to be kinder and more understanding of Moreland, remembering him as a highly talented comic who, in the only way he knew, broke major barriers and opened the doors for others black actors to follow.
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Yasuaki Kurata

Biography

Yasuaki Kurata (born March 20, 1946), a.k.a David Kurata, is a Japanese actor specializing in action movies. An accomplished martial artist, he has dan ranks in karate (5th degree), judo (3rd degree), and aikido (2nd degree). He is perhaps best known for his extended battle against Jet Li in Fist of Legend and for his villainous role in So Close. He is fluent in Cantonese. Kurata's home town is Sakura-mura, Niihari District, Ibaraki (now part of Tsukuba). Having studied performing arts at Nihon University and Toei Theater School, he began to work as an actor in the late 1960s. In 1971, Kurata made his Hong Kong debut in the Shaw Brothers Studio kung-fu movie Angry Guest  . Since then he has appeared in numerous other films and TV series within the genre. In addition to his work as an actor, Kurata runs the stunt agency Kurata Promotion (established 1976 under the name Kurata Action Club),  teaches at a private college (the University of Creation, Art, Music & Social Work),  is chief advisor to the All Japan Nunchaku League, and in 2004 published a book, Hong Kong Action Star Kōyūroku. Description above from the Wikipedia article Yasuaki Kurata, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Sean Connery

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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 31 October 2020, it was announced that Connery had died at the age of 90. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sean Connery, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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Jason Impey

Biography

He was only 10 years old when he first picked up the camera and started self shooting independent short films that would turn into some of his controversial and often challenging features. After a few shorts as a child Jason went to study media at Bedford College at the age of 16 in which he gained a GNVQ, A/S and BTEC National Diploma while making a variety of student films, his final assignment being the heavy art house short 'The Evil Within' that was the start of the self harming and inner demon battle theme that has become very common ground in his work. Straight after studying he left and became a freelance filmmaker at the age of 19 in which he wears many hats including directing, producing, writing, cinematography, acting and editing. Due to lack of funds and most of the early films being self funded he took most of the production crew roles on himself and would even end up acting in many short and feature films to fill the roles which ended up him being cast in other peoples movies! In 2004 at an early stage of his filmmaking career he won best film for the zombie themed flick - 'Zombies in the Wood'. After 2 years of making many short films and finding success in gaining festival and TV screenings of the various shorts he moved on to make his first full length feature film 'Sick Bastard' that has ended up with a number of DVD distribution deals. Jason has carried on to make a great deal more short and feature films in which most are available world wide. He has created a lot of work in the horror genre in which he has become most known for but also created some very hard hitting social dramas. Jason continues to be a self shooting filmmaker and has quite a raw DIY approach to filmmaking. He has directed for TV shows & music videos as well as his own films, and has also collaborated and been a director of photography & editor for other projects. He has put many of his short films together to create anthology works of horror and ended recycling quite a lot of his old footage in other features he has made, something he gained a bit of a reputation for. As well as all this filmmaking he undertakes Jason also works a facilitator, camera operator & editor for film workshops across the UK giving the opportunity to other people to learn the art of bringing your vision to life using moving image.
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Glenn Close

Biography

Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale (the scheming Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons (1988), and deranged stalker Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction (1987). She is also known for playing Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians (1996), and its sequel 102 Dalmatians (2000). She has been more recently known for her Emmy winning role as Patty Hewes in the FX TV series Damages. She has been nominated eight times for an Oscar, twice for a BAFTA Film Award and three times for a Grammy, and has won three Tonys, an Obie, three Emmys, three Golden Globes, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Description above from the Wikipedia article Glenn Close, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Tom Segura

Biography

Tom Segura (born April 16, 1979) is an American comedian from Cincinnati, Ohio. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California. Segura was born April 16, 1979 and originally lived in Dayton, Ohio. He also lived in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Vero Beach, Florida. He has been performing as a comedian since shortly after he graduated from Lenoir-Rhyne University. Segura has performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, The Comedy Festival, the Global Comedy Festival in Vancouver, Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, the South Beach Comedy Festival. Tom was also a San Francisco regional finalist on Last Comic Standing 2. Segura is a member of the Deathsquad Network of standup comedians. When he was 18, Segura overdosed on GHB and fell into a short coma. He has two sisters. Segura is married to comedian Christina Pazsitzky. In 2015, they had their first child together. Tom also speaks Spanish fluently.
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Toru Furuya

Biography

Toru Furuya (古谷 徹 Furuya Tōru) is a veteran narrator and seiyū (voice actor) born on July 31, 1953 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As a child, he was a member of Gekidan Himawari, a children's acting troupe. He is currently employed by the talent management firm Aoni Production. Furuya is most known for the roles of Amuro Ray (both in the original Mobile Suit Gundam and its following Gundam sequels), Hyouma Hoshi (Kyojin no Hoshi), Pegasus Seiya (Saint Seiya), Yamcha (Dragon Ball Z), Kyosuke Kasuga (Kimagure Orange Road), and Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask (Sailor Moon). He is also the first and only seiyu who has provided a Japanese voice for Mario. He also used a pseudonym Noboru Sōgetsu (蒼月 昇 Sōgetsu Noboru) in the cast of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 for Ribbons Almark's role (but used his real name in the narration role). Both the narration role and Ribbons mark Furuya's first role in a non-Universal Century Gundam series. Shuichi Ikeda who played Char had his earlier with Gilbert Durandal in Gundam SEED Destiny. He was a best friend of the late Hirotaka Suzuoki and is noted to be friends with Ikeda. He was at one time married to fellow seiyuu Mami Koyama but amicably divorced in 1983. He later married seiyuu Satomi Majima, who was the other main character of Stop!! Hibari-kun!. Description above from the Wikipedia article Tōru Furuya, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Rafael Silva

Biography

Rafael Silva was born on June 18th, 1994, in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. He moved to the United States at the age of 13, to Harrison, New Jersey. Silva did not grow up in the acting world. Following his grandfather' and many of his uncles' footsteps, he grew up wanting to become a veterinarian and working with farm animals. However, when Silva moved to the United States and experienced continuous culture shock, he became introverted and fearful of speaking in public. In order to overcome that fear, he signed up to do a play his junior year of high school and slowly grew passionate for the theater and film. Silva attended Pace University, in downtown Manhattan, NY, and graduated with a B.F.A. in Acting for Film, Television, Voice-Overs & Commercial.
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Millie Bobby Brown

Biography

Millie Bobby Brown (born 19 February, 2004) is a British actress and producer. She gained recognition for playing Eleven in the Netflix science fiction series Stranger Things (2016–present), for which she received nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards. Brown has starred in the adventure film Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) and its sequel Godzilla vs. Kong (2021). She also starred in and produced the Netflix mystery film Enola Holmes (2020) and its 2022 sequel. In 2018, Brown was featured in the Time 100 list of the world's most influential people, and was appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, the then youngest person selected for this position.
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