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Val Kilmer
Biography
Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! (1984), then the cult classic Real Genius (1985), as well as blockbuster action films, including a role in Top Gun and a lead role in Willow.
During the 1990s, Kilmer gained critical respect after a series of films that were also commercially successful, including his roles as Jim Morrison in The Doors, Doc Holliday in 1993's Tombstone, Batman in 1995's Batman Forever, Chris Shiherlis in 1995's Heat and Simon Templar in 1997's The Saint. During the early 2000s, Kilmer appeared in several well-received roles, including The Salton Sea, Spartan, and supporting performances in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Alexander, and as the voice of KITT in Knight Rider.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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John Milius
Biography
John Frederick Milius is an American screenwriter, director, and producer of motion pictures. He was one of the writers for the first two Dirty Harry films, received an Academy Award nomination as screenwriter of Apocalypse Now, and wrote and directed The Wind and the Lion, Conan the Barbarian and Red Dawn.
He wrote a number of iconic film lines such as "Charlie don't surf" and "I love the smell of napalm in the morning," from Apocalypse Now, and the famous Dirty Harry one-liners delivered by Clint Eastwood, including "Go ahead, make my day" and "Ask yourself one question, 'do I feel lucky?' Well, do you, punk?". Milius also wrote the USS Indianapolis monologue in the film Jaws; the sequence performed by Robert Shaw. After his work on Rough Riders (1997), Milius became an instrumental force in lobbying Congress to award President Theodore Roosevelt the Medal of Honor (posthumously), for acts of conspicuous gallantry while in combat on San Juan Hill. Milius made two films featuring Roosevelt: The Wind and the Lion (where he was played by Brian Keith) and the made-for-TV film Rough Riders (where Tom Berenger took the role).
The character of John Milner from the 1973 George Lucas film American Graffiti was inspired by Milius, who was a good friend of Lucas while they were at USC film school. Likewise, the character Walter Sobchak in the 1998 film The Big Lebowski, made by his friends the Coen Brothers, was partly based on Milius. The novella "Blind Jozef Pronek and Dead Souls" by Aleksandar Hemon features an episode with Milius, who is described as "sitting at a desk sucking on a cigar as long as a walking stick."
In 2013 a documentary about his life, titled Milius, was released.
Writer Nat Segaloff called Milius:
"The best writer of the so-called USC Mafia, a tight-knit group that resuscitated—some say homogenised American cinema in the 1970s... Raised on Ford, Hawks, Lean and Kurosawa, shaped by filmmakers as disparate as Fellini and Delmer Daves, Milius favours history books over comic books, character over special effects, and heroes with roots in reality, time, place and customs. Milius' stories reflect his own deeply held ethic, which embraces the values of tradition, adventure, spiritualism, honour and an intense loyalty to friends... Although he privately chafes at his public image as a gun-toting, liberal baiting provocateur, he allows himself to be painted as such, at times even holding the brush. He plays the Hollywood game like a pro, yet sticks to his own rules; he is a romantic filmmaker who avoids love scenes; his movies contain violence, yet no death in them is without meaning."
Milius himself once said:
"Never compromise excellence. To write for someone else is the biggest mistake that any writer makes. You should be your biggest competitor, your biggest critic, your biggest fan, because you don’t know what anybody else thinks. How arrogant it is to assume that you know the market, that you know what’s popular today [...] Write what you want to see. Because if you don’t, you’re not going to have any true passion in it, and it’s not going to be done with any true artistry."
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Naomi Rubin
Biography
After falling in love with acting in school musicals, Naomi Rubin began her professional acting career in 2018 when she was cast in a recurring co-star role as "Noelle" on seasons 2 and 3 of the Netflix original series "Atypical." In addition to the Netflix series, Naomi played "Audrey" in the 2019 Disney pilot "The A Girl," as well as appearing in a long form web-commercial for an international online retailer, and Investigation Discovery's "A Stranger Among Us."
An LA native who began performing at the age of 8, Naomi is on the autism spectrum and credits her neurodiverse thinking for the ability to imagine characters, and animate their emotional universe. She is unafraid of exploring themes of vulnerability and awkwardness in her work, and is drawn to characters in extreme circumstances.
When she's not acting or singing, Naomi can be found volunteering with rescue cats at Perry's Place, obsessing over the Marvel Universe and Broadway musicals, and championing social justice.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: JB Rubin
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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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Norm Macdonald
Biography
Norman Gene Macdonald (October 17, 1959 – September 14, 2021) was a Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, and actor known for his deadpan style. Early in his career, he wrote for the sitcom Roseanne and made guest appearances on shows such as The Drew Carey Show and NewsRadio. He was then a cast member on Saturday Night Live (SNL) for five years, including anchoring the Weekend Update segment for three seasons. After leaving SNL, he starred in the 1998 film Dirty Work and in his own sitcom, The Norm Show, from 1999 to 2001.
In 2013, he started a video podcast, Norm Macdonald Live, on which he interviewed comedians and other celebrities. In 2018, he released Norm Macdonald Has a Show, a Netflix talk show with a similar premise to his podcast. Throughout his career, he appeared in numerous movies and had been a guest on talk shows such as Conan, Late Night with David Letterman, and The Howard Stern Show. He had also worked as a voice actor, notably on the animated show Mike Tyson Mysteries.
Paste magazine named him #31 on their 50 Best Stand-up Comics of All Time.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Norm Macdonald, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Janice Man
Biography
Janice Man is an actress and fashion model from Hong Kong and has played leading roles in several Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong movies and TV series, including The Graduation Song, The Legend of Zu, Helios, Cold War 2, Nightfall and The Midnight After.
Janice Man was discovered by talent seekers on the streets of Hong Kong, and became a professional model since the age of 14. Her modeling career took a sharp turn upwards in 2007 when she participated in television series such as 過渡青春 and movies like Love Is Not All Around. In 2009, August 13, it was announced she signed the contract with Leon Lai's star artist management, A-Music. She later appeared in Hong Kong's Asia Exhibit, Summer Pop Live in HK, and other live concerts. Her fame rose steadily in Asia as she was cast in leading roles in several important films and TV series in Hong Kong and China, working with famous co-stars such as Chow Yun-fat, Nick Cheung and Korean Movie Star, Kim Jae-wook. She was also featured in commercials for Opaque, Ipsa, I.T. Group, Bausch & Lomb, Adidas and Forever Mark. Her more recent accomplishments show a slow but steady turn to more film and TV work, with a critically acclaimed performance in Nightfall in 2012, starring along Simon Yam and Michael Wong.
In 2011, she won the Best Dressed award at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards.
She was the spokesperson of Dr. Kits Hong Kong in 2011, SK-II Facial Treatment Essence from 2013 – 2014 and Adidas Hong Kong's Winter Jacket in 2015.
She is the spokesperson of Bausch & Lomb (Lacelle Series) (from 2011), IPSA and Forevermark (Diamond Ambassador).
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Astrid Bergès-Frisbey
Biography
Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey (born 26 May 1986) is a French-Spanish actress and model. She is best known for playing Suzanne in The Sea Wall, the mermaid Syrena in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Sofi in I Origins. She is the recipient of the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti in 2009 and the Trophée Chopard Award for Female Revelation of the Year at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Nicole Scherzinger
Biography
Nicole Scherzinger was born on June 29 in Honolulu, and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. While attending a performing arts high school, she won the Coca-Cola Classic Talent Contest and performed in many plays at The Actors Theatre of Louisville. She furthered her studies majoring in theater arts at Wright State University before entering the premiere season of the WB's television show, "Popstars" (2000/I), where she earned the role of lead vocalist in the female pop group, Eden's Crush.
Outside of her work with The Pussycat Dolls, Nicole performed with Japanese superstar, Yoshiki Hayashi, at the Tokyo International Forum of Japan and had guest appearances on "My Wife and Kids" (2001) and "Wanda at Large" (2003). Nicole has a single out on Adam Sandler's 50 First Dates (2004) soundtrack: a cover of UB40's "Breakfast in Bed". Her two most recent film roles are the voice of Sina in Moana (2016) and Penny Rivera in Dirty Dancing (2017).
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Olya Zueva
Biography
Director, actress. Born in Vladivostok. From 2006-2016 lived and worked in New York. Received actor’s training at the famous school of Susan Batson, studied at the film faculty at The New School. In parallel to her studies appeared in episodic roles (e.g., in the series “Orange is the New Black”), played the lead role in Anna Melikian’s short “Such a Mood. Bach’s Adagio and a Small Fragment from the Life of the Girl Lena”, scripted and directed short films. In 2016 moved to Moscow. In 2018 played the leading female role in the film “The Coach”.
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Bob Balaban
Biography
Robert Elmer Balaban, Born: August 16, 1945, Chicago, Illinois, U.S (Height: 5' 5" [1.65 m]). is an American actor, author, comedian, director, and producer. He is best known for his appearances in the Christopher Guest mockumentary comedies Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006), as well as his roles in the films Midnight Cowboy (1969), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Altered States (1980), 2010 (1984), Deconstructing Harry (1997), and Capote (2005). Balaban has also directed three feature films, in addition to numerous television episodes and films. He is also an author of children's novels.
Balaban began his career in the 1960s, appearing in small roles in films and television shows. He made his breakthrough role in the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy, playing a young hustler who befriends an aging rodeo cowboy. In the 1970s, Balaban appeared in a number of popular films, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Altered States (1980), and 2010 (1984). He also continued to work in television, appearing in recurring roles on the shows Lou Grant and Designing Women.
In the 1990s, Balaban began a long and fruitful collaboration with filmmaker Christopher Guest. He appeared in all of Guest's mockumentary comedies, including Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006). Balaban's performances in these films were widely praised, and he earned a reputation as one of the most reliable comedic actors in Hollywood.
In addition to his work in film and television, Balaban has also directed three feature films: The Last Shot (1999), Bernie (2011), and A Little Help (2010). He is also a successful author of children's novels, and he has won several awards for his writing.
Balaban is a respected and versatile actor who has enjoyed a long and successful career in the entertainment industry. He is known for his sharp wit, his impeccable comedic timing, and his ability to create memorable characters. He is a true Renaissance man, and he is sure to continue to entertain audiences for many years to come.
Balaban has been nominated for numerous awards throughout his career. He has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, for his work on the television shows Lou Grant and Designing Women. He has also been nominated for two Tony Awards, for his performances in the Broadway plays The Norman Conquests and The Plough and the Stars.
Balaban is a recipient of the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Balaban is married to Lynn Grossman, and they have two children together. He is a resident of New York City.
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