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Michel Platini

Biography

Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, and came seventh in the FIFA Player of the Century vote. In recognition of his achievements, he was named a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1985 and became an Officier in 1998. As the president of UEFA in 2015 he was banned from involvement in football under FIFA's organisation, over ethics violations. The ban will last until 2023. During his career, Platini played for the clubs Nancy, Saint-Étienne, and Juventus. Nicknamed Le Roi (The King) for his ability and leadership, he was a prolific goalscorer; he won the Serie A capocannoniere award three consecutive times between 1983 and 1985, and was the top scorer of Juventus's victorious 1984–85 European Cup campaign. Platini was a key player of the France national team that won the 1984 European Championship, a tournament in which he was the top scorer and best player, and reached the semi-finals of the 1982 and 1986 World Cups. Together with midfielders Alain Giresse, Luis Fernández and Jean Tigana, he formed the carré magique (magic square) of the French team in the 1980s. Platini was his country's record goalscorer until 2007, and held the record for most goals (9) scored in the European Championship until being surpassed by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021, despite only appearing in the victorious 1984 edition. Following his retirement as a player, Platini was the France national team coach for four years, and was the co-organizer of the 1998 World Cup in France. In 2007, he became the first former player to be elected as the president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). He also held the positions of chairman of FIFA's Technical and Development Committee and vice-president of the French Football Federation. Born in Jœuf, in the Lorraine region, Platini is the son of Aldo and Anna (née Piccinelli), both of Italian ancestry. Anna's family has its roots in the province of Belluno, while Aldo's father, Francesco Platini, was an immigrant from Agrate Conturbia, in the province of Novara, and settled in France shortly after the end of the First World War. Aldo was a professional footballer and a long-time director for AS Nancy, the club where Michel started his professional career. After performing poorly in the final of a 1969 young footballers' competition, Michel Platini attracted attention at 16 years of age in a Coupe Gambardella tournament match with an impressive display for Jœuf juniors against a Metz junior side. Platini was called up for a trial with Metz, but missed out on the opportunity due to injury, and was not immediately invited back after the Metz coach moved to another club. He returned to regional league football with Jœuf. Another trial at Metz went horribly wrong when a breathing test on a spirometer caused Platini to faint. The doctor's verdict on Platini's breathing difficulties and weak heart ended any hopes Platini had of playing for his boyhood favorites. He then joined the reserve side of his father's club Nancy in September 1972, and became friends with team goalkeeper Jean-Michel Moutier. ... Source: Article "Michel Platini" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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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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Octavia Spencer

Biography

Octavia Lenora Spencer (born May 25, 1970) is an American actress, author, and producer. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. She is one of two black actresses to have received three Academy Award nominations, the first black actress to receive two consecutive Academy Award nominations in back-to-back years, and the first black actress to receive an Academy Award nomination after previously winning.
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Paul Benjamin

Biography

Paul Benjamin (born 1938) is an American actor. Benjamin was born in Pelion, South Carolina. He made his film debut in 1969 as a bartender in Midnight Cowboy. After a small role in Sidney Lumet's The Anderson Tapes, he did extensive television work in the 1970s. A few notable exceptions were a major role in Barry Shear's Across 110th Street, and smaller parts in Gordon Parks' biopic Leadbelly, Arthur Marks' Friday Foster, and Don Siegel's prison film Escape from Alcatraz. He gave exceptional performances in the TV adaptations of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and Gideon's Trumpet. He later starred in the HBO movie The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains, based on the novel by Robert E. Burns. On the big screen in the 1990s, Benjamin worked with some well known directors. He appeared in Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, Robert Townsend's The Five Heartbeats, Bill Duke's Hoodlum, and John Singleton's Rosewood. On television, he appeared in the 1994 pilot episode of ER, which led to his recurring role of homeless man Al Ervin during the next few seasons. Benjamin also worked on the American Masters documentary of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ralph Ellison, which aired on PBS. After 2000, he appeared primarily in small independent films like Stanley's Gig, The Station Agent, Deacons For Defense, and James Hunter's 2004 drama Back in the Day. He recently made a special appearance in the independent film The Talk Man, directed by Gene Gallerano. Description above from the Wikipedia article Paul Benjamin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Sharla Cheung

Biography

Sharla Cheung Man, also known as Cheung Man (born February 7, 1967) is an actress working in the Hong Kong film industry. Sharla Cheung was discovered by Wong Jing, with whom she worked on many of his productions in the early 1990s. Cheung gained popularity with the numerous films she's starred in alongside Stephen Chow, in which she was frequently cast as Chow's love interest. They partnered for more than 10 films from 1988 to 1994, including All for the Winner, God of Gamblers II, Fist of Fury 1991, Fight Back to School, Royal Tramp, and King of Beggars. Another frequent co-star is Andy Lau, who appeared alongside Cheung in such films as God of Gamblers, God of Gamblers II, and Lee Rock. After an impressive body of work in the early 1990s (she starred in about 50 films between 1990 and 1995), Sharla Cheung moved into producing in 1995 with Dream Lover (starring Tony Leung Ka-fai and Wu Chien-lien). However, Cheung was unhappy with it and she remade the film as Romantic Dream (starring Cheung and Lau Ching-wan). Both versions opened in 1995. The films, however, were commercial failures, and Cheung then retired from the film industry to focus on various business interests. Cheung made a comeback in acting in the early 2000s to star in several television series. She appeared in such TV series as My Celebrity Boyfriend in 2003 and Legend of the Book's Tower in 2005 alongside Nicky Wu. In 2006, she portrayed Diao Chan, one of the Four Beauties of ancient China, opposite Ray Lui, in the TV series Diao Chan. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sharla Cheung, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.​
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Susie Scott

Biography

Former Playboy Playmate of the Month (May 1983) and (briefly) an actress, Susie has spent the past several decades as a patron savior for scores of abandoned Haitian babies. She founded the Mercy and Sharing Foundation, an Aspen, Colorado-based charity that provides shelter, schooling and health care to thousands of children from the poorest slums of Haiti. The charity, funded mostly through private donors, runs six schools, three orphanages, an abandoned-baby ward and a cervical cancer screening center. Because of her charitable work, she was made an honorary Haitian citizen and, in 2004, was invited to Buckingham Palace to receive the Rose Award, presented by the foundation established to further Princess Diana's commitment to the poor.
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Don Shula

Biography

Donald Francis Shula (January 4, 1930 – May 4, 2020) was an American professional football player and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. He played seven seasons as a defensive back in the NFL. The head coach of the Miami Dolphins for most of his career, Shula is the NFL's winningest head coach at 347 career victories and 328 regular season victories. His first Super Bowl title during 1972 is the only perfect season in NFL history. Shula is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in NFL history.
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Yuriy Borisov

Biography

Yuriy Alexandrovich Borisov (Russian: Ю́рий Алекса́ндрович Бори́сов; born December 8, 1992; Reutov) is a Russian actor. Winner of the Golden Eagle Award – 2021. He was nominated at the European Film Awards (2021) as Best European Actor for "Compartment No. 6" (2021). Borisov was born in Reutov, Moscow Oblast near Moscow. In 2013 he graduated from the Shchepkin Higher Theater School (course of Vladimir Mikhailovich Beilis and Vitaly Nikolayevich Ivanov), and won the Golden Leaf award in the Best Actor category for the role of Alexander Tarasovich Ametistov in the play Zoykina's Apartment. Yura started working as a film actor in 2010, and played main roles in various television series. In 2013–14 he worked at the Moscow theater "Satyricon". In 2019, he starred in the film The Bull, for which he was nominated for the 18th Golden Eagle Awards 2020 in the category Best Leading Actor, and also received an award "Event of the Year" from the magazine "Kinoreporter" in the category "Discovery of the Year". He also played minor roles in the films T-34 (2019 film), Union of Salvation (2019 film), and Invasion (2020 film). In February 2020, the film AK-47 was released, in which Yura Borisov played the main role – Mikhail Kalashnikov, and received positive reviews from film critics. For this role he was awarded the Golden Eagle Award – 2021. 2021 was a very busy year for Yura Borisov – he played in 8 feature films released in 2021. In 2021 Yura played the lead role in Finnish-Russian film Compartment No. 6 directed by Juho Kuosmanen, which won the Grand-Prix at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.
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Melissa Leo

Biography

Melissa Leo (born September 14, 1960) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in 1985, for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Ingenue/Woman in the Drama Series “All My Children”. Her most notable role as was as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on “Homicide: Life on the Street” for the show's first five seasons from 1993–1997. Following several films, Leo received critical acclaim and national attention in earning several nominations and awards, including an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Leo earned several awards for her role as Alice Ward in the critically acclaimed film, “The Fighter” (2010). For this role Leo won the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Leo currently appears on the television series Treme.  Leo currently resides in Stone Ridge, New York and two sons John Matthew Heard (born 1987), and Adam (adopted - born 1984).
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Clotilde Hesme

Biography

Clotilde Hesme ( born 30 July 1979 in Troyes, Aube) is a French actress. She is the sister of Annelise Hesme, and Élodie Hesme, who are also actresses. After studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique (CNSAD), she appeared in plays and was noticed by Jérôme Bonnel who cast her in his film Le Chignon d'Olga in 2002. In 2005 she appeared in Philippe Garrel's Regular Lovers. She was nominated for the 2008 César Award for Most Promising Actress for her appearance in Christophe Honoré's Love Songs and nominated for a Molière Award the same year for her performance in Marivaux's La Seconde Surprise de l'amour. She won the SACD Plaisir du théâtre prize in 2009. Description above from the Wikipedia article Clotilde Hesme, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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