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Raymond Chow Man-Wai

Biography

Born in 1927, Chow began his professional life as a newspaper reporter. He then broadened his media experience by working for several years as a radio and television producer. In 1959, Chow joined the Shaw Brothers organization in Hong Kong. Chow established Golden Harvest in 1970 producing eight features in the first year of operation. The company grew quickly and through a highly successful association with the late Bruce Lee, introduced a new film genre to audiences all over the world. In 1980, the company celebrated ten years of operation and Chow was named International Showman of the Year by the National Association of Theater Owners in recognition of his contribution to the American motion picture industry. Golden Harvest continues to set new landmarks in the film industry throughout the Asian region. In-roads into the Japanese market and a successful collaboration with Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan have ensured tremendous box office success. In 1987, Chow was honored with the award of O.B.E. and more recently received the "Tokyo Creative Award" for his contribution to Asian cinema. In 1996, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at Cineasia and was honored by the Emperor of Japan when he received the Order of the Sacred Treasure with Golden Rays and Rosette for his contribution to cultural and commercial relations between Hong Kong and Japan. - Biography from Storm Riders DVD
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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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William Cottrell

Biography

“Born 1906 South Bend, Ind., of English parents. Learned to speak English in 1910. Went abroad in 1920. Sentenced to salt mines in Siberia for soaping royal wind shield of Czar Nicholas’ carriage. Escaped to California in 1923. Attended Occidental College in 1920. Awarded consistent freshman medal 1926, ‘27, ‘28, which included a paid vacation at Lincoln Heights, the third year. Two years behind the crank at Disney’s camera and has never been in focus yet.” -published in the June 20, 1931 edition of The Motion Picture Daily Bill Cottrell, nicknamed “Uncle Bill” by his colleagues, was the first president of what is today known as Walt Disney Imagineering, the design and development arm of the Company. During the planning and construction phases of Disneyland, Walt relied heavily on Bill’s creativity, wisdom, and foresight to make his dream come true. Fellow Disney Legend Marvin Davis once said, “It was Walt who said, ‘Let there be Disneyland,’ like the good Lord said, ‘Let there be a world.’ But it was Uncle Bill who was Walt’s counselor and right-hand man.” Born in 1906 to English parents in South Bend, Indiana, Bill graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles, California, where he studied English and journalism. After working for a time on George Herriman’s Krazy Kat comic strip, he was offered a job working cameras at The Walt Disney Studios in 1929. He soon moved into the Story department and contributed ideas for shorts, including Who Killed Cock Robin? Fellow Legend Joe Grant recalled, “Bill was a great fan of Gilbert and Sullivan and you will see elements of that, such as the jury box chorus, in Who Killed Cock Robin?” Bill went on to direct the Wicked Witch and Evil Queen sequences in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and contributed to story on Pinocchio. In 1938, he married Lillian Disney’s sister, Hazel Sewell. In 1941, Bill and Hazel joined Walt Disney and a small group of artists on a goodwill tour of South America on behalf of the United States Government. The trip inspired The Three Caballeros and Saludos Amigos, for which Bill also helped develop story. Bill later contributed to Victory Through Air Power, Melody Time, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. During the 1950s, he carried his interest in story over to WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering), where he helped develop storylines and dialog for such Disneyland attractions as Snow White’s Adventures. Bill was also keen on nomenclature. As former senior vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering John Hench recalled, “He was a talented writer and helped shape how we referred to events and attractions at Disneyland. For instance, he encouraged us to quit using the term ‘ride’ and to refer to attractions as an ‘experience,’ which is exactly what they are—‘an experience.” Among his many contributions to Disney, Bill helped develop the popular Zorro television series and, in 1964, was named president of Retlaw Enterprises, the Walt Disney family corporation. He held that position until 1982, when he retired after 53 years of service. A lifelong fan of Sherlock Holmes, Bill’s idea for a movie about an animal detective inspired the 1986 animated feature The Great Mouse Detective. Bill Cottrell passed away on December 22, 1995, in Burbank, California.
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Leila Kotori

Biography

Leila kotori is a British actress, born in a small seaside town Exmouth Devon. From a young age she was always involved in performing arts, starting at the age of 5 in ballet and continuing on to tap and modern dance until she was 15. Immediately after starting Secondary school she enrolled in the award winning youth Theatre company and has been passionately pursuing acting ever since. She studied screen acting at Redroofs Theatre School completing her diploma in 2009, since then she has appeared in numerous film and TV productions. Her previous accomplishments include being cast in 'Human' the multi award winning short by Patrick Ryder, feature films 'Set me Free' (2016) by Kris Smith, 'Fighting Heart' (2017) by Lee Hampton and 'Palatable' by Hartfelt media Ltd. Behind the screens Leila has written and Co - produced the concept film 'Blame' (Hartfelt Media ltd)
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Adam Plachetka

Biography

Bass baritone Adam Plachetka was born in 1985 and completed his studies at the Conservatory of his hometown Prague. Apart from a number of national competitions, he won the International Antonin Dvorak singing competition. In 2005 he made his debut at the Prague National Theatre, where he for example performed as Don Giovanni, Publio (La clemenza di Tito), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Nardo (La finta giardiniera), Argante (Rinaldo) and Guglielmo (Cosi fan tutte). He performed Papageno (Die Zauberflöte) at the Prague State Opera as well as Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia). Engagements led Adam Plachetka to the Salzburg Festival, to the Bayerische Staatsoper, to Glyndebourne, to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, to La Scala Milan and to the Berlin Staatsoper. Since 2010/2011 he is member of ensemble of the Wiener Staatsoper and has for example sung Schaunard, Basilio, Melisso (Alcina), Masetto and Don Giovanni, Haly (L’italiana in Algeri), Graf Dominik, Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Gugliemo, Publio, Dulcamara, Hercule (Alceste), Alidoro here. http://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/Content.Node/home/kuenstler/saengerinnen/Plachetka.en.php
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Lara Lamberti

Biography

Lara Lamberti grew up for a part of her childhood in Berlin. She was born to a family of artists. Her parents were musicians: the father a composer and conductor, the mother a concert and opera singer. Many well known artists were born in this family as well: musicians, painters, designers, ballet dancers, writers and actors. As a teenager, Lara settled in Italy where she started her acting career at age sixteen. She quickly became well known in Italy and abroad. Lara has worked in Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Australia and the United States. While already working in the international film business, she attended private acting schools and workshops in Berlin, the United States and Rome where she also took vocal lessons. She completed those vocal lessons with her mother as well as in international workshops, and qualified as a mezzo soprano opera singer. Although she sang in several concerts, she never pursued that path for a real career. In 1993, Lara started studying psychology and musicology at the Freie Universitaet Berlin, finishing in 1998. Based on her studies, she has been developing an idea for a new way of education as she believes that the educational system lacks the nurturing of the creative side of children and young people. In 1998, Lara started first working in the film financing business and together with another member of her family founded her own production company Alshain Pictures in 2006 as to develop a TV series.
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Saori Sugimoto

Biography

Saori Sugimoto (杉本 沙織, Sugimoto Saori, November 17, 1964) is a Japanese voice actress and narrator Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture. She is affiliated with Aoni Production. She used to work under the name of Saori Suzuki (鈴木 砂織, Suzuki Saori). She replaced Tomiko Suzuki in the role of Kisanta Yamamura in Nintama Rantarō since the season 12. She also played the role of Ramurin in the Shima Shima Tora no Shimajirō series for many years, and also voiced Nyakkii, who appeared after Ramurin's departure. The films she voiced include Shimajiro and Fufu's Big Adventure (2013), Shimajiro and the Whale's Song (2014), Shimajiro and the Mother Tree (2015), Shimajiro in Bookend (2016), Shimajiro and the Rainbow Oasis (2017), Shimajiro the Movie: Adventures on Magic Island (2018), Shimajiro and Ururu's Hero Island (2019), Shimajiro Sky and Bone (2021), Her final voice role was Shimajiro and The Prince of Glittering Kingdom (2022) which was released one year after her death in 2021. She died on October 21, 2021 from anorexia-induced heart failure.
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Surabhi Lakshmi

Biography

Surabhi was born to Andy & Radha on 16 November 1986. She hails from Narikkuni in Kozhikode, Kerala. Her siblings are Subitha Santhosh (sister), Sumitha Akhil (sister) and Sudheesh Kumar (brother). Her grandmother Lakshmi is said to be her pillar of inspiration. Surabhi spent her childhood in Koolikkulangara, Mangad (Unnikulam) in North Kerala. She did her schooling in AUP School Mangad, Kerala. With a merit scholarship, Surabhi passed her BA degree in Bharathanatyam (2009) with first rank from Kaladi Sree Sankaracharya College. She did her Master of Arts (MA) in 2011 in Theatre Arts from the same college with a merit scholarship from the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy. In 2012, she completed her Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Performing Arts from MG University, Kerala. She is currently a research scholar at the Kaladi Sree Sankaracharya College. In 2015, she received the Jawaharlal Nehru Scholarship for the best student. Surabhi’s first love is for theatre arts. Suvarna Theatre’s play called ‘Yakshikathakalum Naattuvarthamanangalum’ won Kerala Sahitya Nataka Academy’s best actress award in 2010. She has also won Best Actress award in 2017 for the drama BOMBAY TAILORS by Athithi School of Performance, Edappally, directed by K Vinodkumar. She won the Abu Dhabi Theatre Fest in 2010 and Flowers TV Best Comedian Award in 2016. Surabhi came into limelight after winning the reality show ‘Best Actor’ in Amrita TV. After that, she has acted in many films. (Please click here to see a list of films.) In 2012, she did a major role in the television serial ‘Kadhayile Rajakumari’ directed by K. K. Rajeev. In 2016, her lead role in the movie, ‘Minnaminungu’ (The Firefly) directed by Anil Thomas and written by Manoj Ramsingh became one of the best characters in her career. She handles a main role (Paathu) in a television serial M80 Moosa on Media One television channel. She has also been part of many Television Commercials.
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Julian Wells

Biography

Born in San Francisco, California and raised in the suburban town of Birmingham, Michigan. She attended Marian High School, an all-girls Catholic prep school. After graduating, she majored in drama at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and graduated in 1998. Her career started with commercials and bit parts on TV shows such as The Sopranos and Entourage. She also worked as a body double for stars such as Kim Cattrall, Kate Moss, and Ashley Judd. Between 2001 and 2010 she appeared in many B movies and soft erotic films, most notably for the New Jersey-based Seduction Cinema production company under the name Julian Wells. Afterward (and using the name Suzy McCoppin) she's covered nightlife for celebrity magazines such as Life & Style, In Touch, and served as an Los Angeles correspondent for British publications such as The Daily Mail, and The Sun. In 2008, she became a nightlife and sex columnist for Playboy Magazine, as well as a comedic online personality. She is a regular contributor on Playboy radio on Sirius. She has also written articles for pop culture website, Popdust and hosted the Under Cover With Suzy McCoppin podcast for twenty-three episodes through July 2014. In 2014, McCoppin and co-author Allison Swan wrote a book titled KissnTell, a work of fiction released digitally through publisher Full Fathom Five. The television rights to the book were purchased by E! with the intention of adapting it into a scripted television series.
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John Woo

Biography

John Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard Boiled and Red Cliff. His Hollywood films include Hard Target, Broken Arrow, Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2. He also created the comic series Seven Brothers, published by Virgin Comics. Woo was described by Dave Kehr in The Observer in 2002 as "arguably the most influential director making movies today". Woo cites his three favorite films as David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï.
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