Trending

Popular people

Rod Ball

Biography

Rod Ball was born in Miami, Florida in 1965. He began acting professionally as a wee lad with a small role in "Lenny", a biopic of Lenny Bruce, starring Dustin Hoffman and directed by Bob Fosse. Soon after, a role in "The Island", starring Michael Caine qualified him to join the Screen Actors Guild (now SAG-AFTRA). He has since served on the Local Board of that union for many years. Rod attended the University of Miami as a Business Management major (in addition to studying film directing and theater) for two years before he transferred to, and graduated from, the University of Colorado (Boulder) with a B.S. in Organizational Management. He has built an extensive body of work while dividing his time between South Florida and Los Angeles. In addition to the films and television shows listed here, his credits include 50+ commercials, many corporate/industry videos, numerous voice overs and the occasional stage play. He has several projects in the pipeline. A few years ago, he launched Principio Productions, LLC, an independent film production company. He has written several screenplays, hopefully to be shot in his beloved hometown. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Principio PR
Read more

Linda Hopkins

Biography

Linda Hopkins (born Melinda Helen Matthews; December 14, 1924 – April 10, 2017) was a Tony Award-winning American actress and blues and gospel singer. She recorded classic, traditional, and urban blues, and performed R&B and soul, jazz, and show tunes. Hopkins was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, the second child of the Reverend Fred Matthews, Sr. and Hazel Smith, Hopkins grew up in the section of New Orleans known by the locals as "Zion City". She went to school in "Gert Town" which bordered the Xavier University of Louisiana. Known as "Lil Helen Matthews" as a child, she was discovered at the age of eleven by Mahalia Jackson when she persuaded Jackson to perform at a fundraiser at her home church, St. Mark's Baptist Church. Lil Helen opened the children's fundraising program with a rendition of Jackson's gospel hit, "God Shall Wipe Your Tears Away". Jackson was reportedly so impressed by Helen's determination and talent that she arranged for the young girl to join the Southern Harp Spiritual Singers in 1936. Hopkins remained with the group for a decade. She first saw Bessie Smith perform Empty Bed Blues at The New Orleans Palace Theatre in 1936. Hopkins greatly admired Smith and later won critical plaudits for her rendition of Smith in the 1959 theatrical presentation Jazz Train. Matthews left New Orleans in the 1950s, and, in 1951, began performing at Slim Jenkins' Night Club in the Oakland/Richmond area. There she met Johnny Otis and Little Esther Phillips who created her stage name, Linda Hopkins. In 1952, Hopkins toured Hawaii and Japan for two years which included a stint with Louis Armstrong at The Brown Derby in Honolulu. She recorded for the Savoy, Crystalette, Forecast, Federal and Atco labels and often appeared at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. In 1960, Hopkins first toured Europe in the Broadway Express, the restaged production of Jazz Train. She recorded "Shake a Hand" with Jackie Wilson on the Brunswick label, which is her sole hit single reaching #21 on the US Billboard R&B chart. She also recorded "I Found Love" and "There's Nothing Like Love" with him on Brunswick in early 1962. She attended Stella Adler's Acting School in New York City. During the 1970s, Hopkins performed in the Broadway musical, Purlie, and with Sammy Davis Jr. for nine months. In addition, she performed at President Jimmy Carter's 1977 inaugural ball. In 1972 she was awarded a Tony and Drama Desk Award for her performance in Inner City. She sang "Do You Believe" at the political event Star-Spangled Women for McGovern–Shriver, bringing 19,000 people to their feet. Hopkins starred in Me and Bessie, a one-woman show paying homage to blues singer Bessie Smith, conceived and written by Hopkins and Will Holt. The world premiere was in Washington, D.C., in 1974. After a run in Los Angeles it transferred to the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway. The critically acclaimed show ran for thirteen months and 453 performances, and Hopkins was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience. ... Source: Article "Linda Hopkins" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Read more

Keanu Reeves

Biography

Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break, and The Matrix franchise as Neo. He has collaborated with major directors such as Stephen Frears (in the 1988 period drama Dangerous Liaisons); Gus Van Sant (in the 1991 independent film My Own Private Idaho); and Bernardo Bertolucci (in the 1993 film Little Buddha). Referring to his 1991 film releases, The New York Times' critic, Janet Maslin, praised Reeves' versatility, saying that he "displays considerable discipline and range. He moves easily between the buttoned-down demeanor that suits a police procedural story and the loose-jointed manner of his comic roles." A repeated theme in roles he has portrayed is that of saving the world, including the characters of Ted Logan, Buddha, Neo, Johnny Mnemonic, John Constantine and Klaatu.
Read more

Sigrid Gurie

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sigrid Gurie (May 18, 1911 – August 14, 1969) was a Norwegian American motion picture actress from the late 1930s to early 1940s. In 1936, Gurie arrived in Hollywood. Film magnate Sam Goldwyn reportedly took credit for discovering her, promoting his discovery as "the new Garbo" and billed her as "the siren of the fjords". When the press discovered Gurie's birth in Flatbush, Goldwyn then claimed "the greatest hoax in movie history." She starred as Kokashin, daughter of Kublai Khan, in the 1938 production of The Adventures of Marco Polo, and went on to give worthwhile performances in such films as Algiers (1938), Three Faces West (1940) and Voice in the Wind (1944). She had a minor role in the classic Norwegian film Kampen om tungtvannet (1948). The movie was based principally on the book Skis Against the Atom which was written by her brother. In the late 1940s she attended the Kann Art Institute, operated in West Hollywood by abstract artist Frederick I. Kann (1886–1965). She studied oils and portraiture. Among her works were landscapes, portraits and pen and ink sketches. From 1961 to 1969 she lived in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where she continued painting, and was also designing jewelry for Royal Copenhagen in Denmark. She entered the hospital in Mexico City on an emergency basis for a recurring kidney problem, then developed a blood clot that passed through her lungs, which led to her death.
Read more

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
Read more

Dafne Keen

Biography

Dafne María Keen Fernández (born 4 January 2005) is a British-Spanish actress. She made her debut starring as Ana "Ani" Cruz Oliver on the television series The Refugees from 2014 to 2015, before her breakthrough starring as Laura in the 2017 superhero film Logan, in which she received widespread critical acclaim for her acting. She received several awards, including an Empire Award for Best Newcomer, and nominations for a Critics' Choice Award and a Saturn Award. In 2019, she began starring as Lyra Belacqua in the television series His Dark Materials, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA Cymru.
Read more

Megalyn Echikunwoke

Biography

Megalyn Ann Echikunwoke was born May 28, 1983 in Spokane, Washington. Her father is Nigerian and her mother is of Caucasian descent. Her last name Echikunwoke means "leader of men" and Megalyn is the granddaughter of a Nigerian tribal leader of the Igbo, which technically makes her African royalty. She is known for playing "Nicole Palmer" in the first season of 24 (2001), "Angie Barnett" (Kelso's girlfriend) in the seventh season of That '70s Show (1998) and "Isabelle Tyler" in The 4400 (2004). She was raised on a Navajo Indian Reservation in Chinle, Arizona. In early 2008, she starred opposite Alessandro Nivola in an independent movie, directed by Jerry Zaks, titled Who Do You Love (2008) where she played a heroin-addicted lounge singer. She did all of her own singing in the movie.
Read more

Michael J. Fox

Biography

Michael Andrew Fox OC (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a retired Canadian-American actor. Beginning his career in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom Family Ties (1982–1989). Fox is famous for his role as protagonist Marty McFly in the Back to the Future film trilogy (1985–1990), a critical and commercial success. He went on to headline several films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including Teen Wolf (1985), The Secret of My Success (1987), Casualties of War (1989), Doc Hollywood (1991), and The Frighteners (1996). Fox returned to television on the ABC sitcom Spin City in the lead role of Mike Flaherty from 1996 to 2000. In 1998, Fox disclosed his 1991 diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. He subsequently became an advocate for finding a cure and founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation in 2000 to help fund research. Worsening symptoms forced Fox to reduce his activities and led to his return to television in Spin City when he was still a major movie star. He continued to make guest appearances on television, including recurring roles on the FX comedy-drama Rescue Me (2009) and the CBS legal drama The Good Wife (2010–2016) that garnered him critical acclaim. He voiced the lead roles in the Stuart Little films (1999–2005) and the animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001). His final major role was on the NBC sitcom The Michael J. Fox Show (2013–2014). Fox retired in 2020 due to his declining health. Fox won five Primetime Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Grammy Award. He was also appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2010, along with being inducted to Canada's Walk of Fame in 2000 and the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002. For his advocacy of a cure for Parkinson's disease, he received an honorary doctorate in 2010 from the Karolinska Institute and an honorary Oscar in 2022.
Read more

Jean Jaurès

Biography

Jean Jaurès est un homme politique français, né à Castres (Tarn) le 3 septembre 1859 et mort assassiné à Paris le 31 juillet 1914. Orateur et parlementaire socialiste, il s'est notamment illustré par son pacifisme et son opposition au déclenchement de la Première Guerre mondiale. Issu de la bourgeoisie et agrégé de philosophie, il débute sa carrière politique comme député républicain1 mais adhère définitivement au socialisme après la grande grève des mineurs de Carmauxet s'oppose aux lois scélérates2. Durant l'affaire Dreyfus, il prend la défense du capitaine et pointe l'antisémitisme dont celui-ci est victime3. En 1905, il est un des rédacteurs de la loi de séparation des Églises et de l'État4. La même année, il participe à la création de la Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière (SFIO), dont il est l'acteur principal, unifiant ainsi le mouvement socialiste français. Ses positions réformistes lui valent toutefois l'opposition d'une partie de la gauche révolutionnaire5. Il consacre les dernières années de sa vie à empêcher, en vain, le déclenchement de laPremière Guerre mondiale, et se lie aux autres partis de l'Internationale ouvrière, faisant planer la menace de grève générale au niveau européen6. Ces positions pacifistes lui valent d'être assassiné par le nationaliste Raoul Villain à la veille du début du conflit7. Cet événement entraîne paradoxalement le ralliement de la gauche à l'« Union sacrée ». En 1924, sa dépouille est transférée au Panthéon. Bien qu'historiquement rattachée à la gauche réformiste, la figure de Jaurès est aujourd'hui aussi bien utilisée par la gauche que par la droite8dans les discours politiques.
Read more

John C. McGinley

Biography

John C. McGinley is an American actor, writer, and producer. He was born on August 3, 1959, in New York City, New York. McGinley is widely recognized for his versatile performances in both film and television, often portraying intense and memorable characters. One of McGinley's most notable roles is as Dr. Perry Cox in the television series "Scrubs," which aired from 2001 to 2010. His portrayal of the acerbic yet compassionate doctor earned critical acclaim and a dedicated fan following. McGinley's performance in "Scrubs" showcased his ability to seamlessly transition between comedic and dramatic moments, making the character one of the show's highlights. Prior to "Scrubs," McGinley appeared in a variety of films, including "Platoon" (1986), directed by Oliver Stone, where he portrayed Sergeant Red O'Neill. He has worked with Stone on multiple occasions, including in films like "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989) and "Wall Street" (1987). McGinley's roles in these films showcased his range and versatility as an actor. He has also appeared in other notable films such as "Office Space" (1999), "Any Given Sunday" (1999), "Identity" (2003), and "Se7en" (1995), among others. McGinley's performances often leave a lasting impression, and he has been praised for his ability to bring complexity and depth to his characters. In addition to his work in film and television, John C. McGinley has also made appearances in theater productions. He has performed on Broadway in plays such as "Requiem for a Heavyweight" and "Glengarry Glen Ross." Beyond acting, McGinley has taken on roles as a producer and writer. He co-wrote and produced the film "Colin Fitz Lives!" (1997) and served as an executive producer on "Scrubs."
Read more