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Ruhollah Khomeini
Biography
Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini (17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which saw the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the end of the Persian monarchy. Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country's first supreme leader, a position created in the constitution of the Islamic Republic as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the nation, which he held until his death. Most of his period in power was taken up by the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988. He was succeeded by Ali Khamenei on 4 June 1989.
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Klim Shipenko
Biography
Klim Alekseevich Shipenko (Russian: Клим Алексеевич Шипенко; born 16 June 1983; Moscow) is a Russian film director, screenwriter, cinematographer, actor, producer and cosmonaut. Two-time winner of the Golden Eagle Award in the category "Best Feature Film" (for "Salyut-7" in 2018 and for "Text" in 2020). The director of Son of a Rich - one of the highest-grossing films in Russia and the CIS (more than 3 billion rubles box office receipts). In 2021, he became a participant in a space flight within the framework of the scientific and educational project "Challenge". It is the first feature-length fiction film to be filmed in space by professional film-makers. His father is actor, director, playwright Alexey Shipenko.
Shipenko was born in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Russia). In 2002 he entered the California State University at Northridge (Film Production Department). He worked as an intern on the set of the film Something's Gotta Give by Nancy Meyers. Filmed the diploma film as a cameraman. Studied at the Sal Dano Professional Actors Workshop. In 2004 he returned to Moscow. For a short time he worked on Channel One, was the director of the Plantain program about cars.
In 2021, Shipenko shot portions of a science fiction film aboard the International Space Station. It is to be the second narrative feature-length fiction film shot (partially) in space (after Return from Orbit), and it is the first feature-length fiction film to be filmed in space by professional film-makers. The project is tentatively called The Challenge (2023), and was shot between the launch of Soyuz MS-19 and return of Soyuz MS-18. The first narrative film filmed fully (the narrative film Return from Orbit had some scenes filmed in space) in outer space was a short film titled Apogee of Fear, shot in 2008. The Challenge was in a race with Tom Cruise and Doug Liman to shoot the first narrative feature film in space. On the ISS Shipenko was in charge of camera, lighting, sound recording and makeup. The acting was done by actress Yulia Peresild. The filming equipment was launched at Progress MS-17 and returned on Soyuz MS-18. Pyotr Dubrov and Mark Vande Hei helped with filming.
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Sean Becker
Biography
Sean Becker is an Emmy award-winning director whose short films have played in festivals all across the country. After graduating from San Jose State University in 2003, Sean directed video segments for a variety show which aired on the UPN network. This resulted in a regional Emmy award in 2005 for the short film "Parallel/Parallel". In 2006, Sean co-founded Awkward Pictures along with producing/writing partner, Payman Benz. The company was created with the intent to produce comedy based entertainment on both the screen and the internet. Sean currently resides in Studio City, California.
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Emma Roberts
Biography
Emma Rose Roberts (born February 10, 1991) is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of actor Eric Roberts and niece of actress Julia Roberts. After making her acting debut in the crime film Blow (2001), she gained recognition for her lead role as Addie Singer on the Nickelodeon television teen sitcom Unfabulous (2004–2007). For the series, she released her debut soundtrack album, Unfabulous and More, in 2005. She went on to appear in numerous films, including Aquamarine (2006), Nancy Drew (2007), Wild Child (2008), Hotel for Dogs (2009), Valentine's Day (2010), It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010), and The Art of Getting By (2011).
Looking for more mature roles, she obtained starring roles in the films Lymelife (2008), 4.3.2.1. (2010), Scream 4 (2011), Adult World (2013), We're the Millers (2013), Palo Alto (2013), The Blackcoat's Daughter (2015), Nerve (2016), Who We Are Now (2017), Paradise Hills (2019), and Holidate (2020). She gained further recognition for her starring roles in multiple seasons of the FX anthology horror series American Horror Story (2013–present) and for the lead role of Chanel Oberlin on the FOX series Scream Queens (2015–2016).
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Charlie Barnett
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charlie Barnett (September 23, 1954 – March 16, 1996) was an American actor and comedian.
Barnett was born in Bluefield, West Virginia. He first made a name for himself in the late 1970s and early 1980s, performing several shows of raunchy comedy a day at outdoor parks in New York City, most notably in Washington Square Park, where he competed for crowds with musicians, frisbee players, jugglers and other entertainers. Flautist/driver Ruben Riera agrees, Charlie was one of the only street performers able to "fill the fountain" (an amphitheatre in a large circular fountain) in Washington Square Park. In September 1980, Barnett auditioned for Saturday Night Live and producer Jean Doumanian was ready to hire him; however, Barnett was self-conscious about his poor reading skills and he skipped a follow-up reading. Barnett's spot in the cast was ultimately given to Eddie Murphy.Barnett was jealous and resentful of Murphy for several years, although in 1983, he told Jet magazine, "“Now that I'm making it, I watch Saturday Night Live every Saturday.”
Barnett went on to appear in film and on television. In the 1983 comedy film D.C. Cab, he played the role of Tyrone. He had a recurring role on the hit 1980s TV series Miami Vice as Neville 'Noogie' Lamont.
He also appeared on Def Comedy Jam in 1993. Although the episode was not aired on TV, the DVD release of Def Comedy Jam contains an extra DVD with "2 Raw 4 TV", which has a Barnett performance.
Barnett's last film role was in 1996 in the film They Bite.
Comedian Dave Chappelle has acknowledged Barnett as an influence and mentor. At one point Chappelle had expressed interest in doing a biopic on Barnett.
Comedian Dave Chappelle has acknowledged Barnett as an influence and mentor. At one point Chappelle had expressed interest in doing a biopic on Barnett.
Death Having contracted HIV through heroin abuse, Barnett eventually died from complications of AIDS on March 16, 1996.
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Jack Kirby
Biography
Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994), born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor. Growing up poor in New York City, Kurtzberg entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s. He drew various comic strips under different pen names, ultimately settling on Jack Kirby. In 1941, Kirby and writer Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics. During the 1940s, Kirby would create a number of comics for various publishers, often teaming with Simon.
After serving in World War II, Kirby returned to comics and worked in a variety of genres. He contributed to a number of publishers, including Archie Comics and DC Comics, but ultimately found himself at Timely's 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics, later to be known as Marvel Comics. In the 1960s, Kirby co-created many of Marvel Comics' major characters, including the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Hulk, along with writer-editor Stan Lee. Despite the high sales and critical acclaim of the Lee-Kirby titles, Kirby felt treated unfairly, and left the company in 1970 for rival DC Comics.
While working for DC, Kirby created his Fourth World saga, which spanned several comics titles. While these and other titles proved commercially unsuccessful and were canceled, several of their characters and the Fourth World mythos have continued as a significant part of the DC Comics universe. Kirby returned to Marvel briefly in the mid-to-late 1970s, then ventured into television animation and independent comics. In his later years, Kirby received great recognition for his career accomplishments, and is regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium.
In 1987, Kirby, along with Carl Barks and Will Eisner, was one of the three inaugural inductees of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Jack Kirby, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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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 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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Joey Marquez
Biography
Joselito Perez Marquez (born Artemio Perez Marquez Jr.) better known as Joey Marquez, is a Filipino actor, comedian, politician and former professional basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association. He was city mayor of Parañaque, Philippines from 1995 to 2004. He is retired from politics and is focused on his TV and movie projects. Before embarking on a career as an actor-comedian, Marquez played for Presto Fun Drinks, later known as the Great Taste Coffee Makers, from 1981 to 1983 before moving to Gilbey's Gin Tonics, which would later be popularly known as Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, under legendary playing-coach Robert Jaworski beginning the 1984 season. He played briefly for Hills Bros. Coffee Kings in 1987 before leaving the game for good to become a full-time actor.
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Alceu Valença
Biography
Alceu Valença (born July 1, 1946) is a Brazilian singer, musician, and songwriter.
Alceu Valenca was born in the countryside of Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. He is considered the most successful artist in achieving an aesthetic balance between traditional northeastern Brazilian music and a broad range of electronic sounds and effects from pop music. In most of his songs, one can find traces of maracatu, coco and "repentes de viola" (improvising fast-paced Brazilian folk music). Valença could utilize the electric guitar, the electric bass, and lately even a synthesizer was added to his broad scope of musical instruments.
Because of that, Valença was able to recreate Northeastern traditional music, like baião, coco, toada, maracatu, frevo, caboclinhos, embolada and repentes: all sung with a sometimes rock sometimes alternative sounding music background. His music and his themes are intangible, universal and unlimited. However, his aesthetic basis is genuinely Brazilian Northeastern music.
Alceu Valença was born in São Bento do Una in Northeast Brazil. When he was young, he used to listen songs by Dalva de Oliveira, Orlando Silva, Sílvio Caldas etc. When he was 5 years old, he participated in a music contest, singing a song by Capiba. Some years later, his mother got sick and his family moved to Recife to live in his aunt's house. In this period, Valença got interested in some musical instruments, such as acoustic guitar and viola. However, he only won his own guitar when he was 15.
In 1970, Valença earned a law degree at the Recife Law School. However, he only followed the career for a few months. In fact, in the early 1970s, the reason he had no time for a law career was that he had already launched into a musical direction.
He started his musical career in 1968, with the group Underground Tamarineira Village, later known as Ave Sangria. He also played with Zé Ramalho and Elba Ramalho during this period. In 1972, he joined Geraldo Azevedo. Together, they participated of many festivals and, in that same years, recorded their first album: Alceu Valença & Geraldo Azevedo, also known as Quadrafônico.
Along his career, Valença recorded more than 20 albums and travelled around many countries, such as Portugal, France, Netherlands and United States. Actually, he is considered one of the greatest exponents of the music of Pernambuco.
Finally, with the 2013 release of Três Tons de Alceu Valença, a box with the oldies Cinco Sentidos (1981), Anjo Avesso (1983) and Mágico (1984) all of Alceu Valença's solo work is available on CD. In 2014, his album Amigo da Arte was nominated for the Latin Grammy Award for Best Brazilian Roots Album.
Source: Article "Alceu Valença" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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Dennis Gassner
Biography
Dennis Gassner (born October 22, 1948) is a Canadian production designer. He is notable for his work on Bugsy, Road to Perdition, Big Fish, Blade Runner 2049, and 1917, as well the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th movies in the James Bond franchise, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, and Spectre. He has been nominated seven times for the Academy Award for Best Production Design and has won once. Gassner was nominated for the Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Contemporary Film for his work on Quantum of Solace and won for his work on Skyfall.
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