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Anthony Matteo
Biography
Anthony "Tony" Matteo is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Hitman" Tony Stetson. He is best known for his time in Extreme Championship Wrestling during the 1990s.
Stetson was one of ECW's initial stars, appearing at the company's first event in 1992. He quickly rose to success as a tag team competitor, winning the promotion's Tag Team Championship twice while also achieving singles success by winning the Pennsylvania Heavyweight Championship during his career. He later joined Raven's Nest and adopted a character called The Broad Street Bully.
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Laura Kirk
Biography
Laura Kirk is an award winning filmmaker with credits as a producer and actor in many films including Andrea Arnold’s American Honey: Cannes 2016, The Sublime and Beautiful : Slamdance 2014. A veteran on the independent film festival circuit, Kirk co-wrote and starred one of the first digital films: Lisa Picard is Famous: Cannes 2000. It is included in John Gaspard’s book “Fast, Cheap and Under Control ...Lessons Learned from the Greatest Low Budget Movies of All Time.” Kirk began her career on stage in New York off-Broadway and regionally where she was also a teaching artist in homeless shelters and in schools for Dreamyard Drama Project. Major training in Meisner was with Wynn Handman and Suzanne Esper and improvisation with Alan Arkin. Commercials include national campaigns for Block Advisors, Verizon, Wrangler Jeans, Jeep and Dr. Pepper. Laura is a co-founder of the mentoring group “Women of Lawrence Film” where she puts into practice her interests in remedying gender inequity in film. Her research on Eve Unsell will be published in the upcoming "When Women Wrote Hollywood" (Forthcoming McFarland).
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Jocelyne Béroard
Biography
Jocelyne Béroard (born 12 September 1954) is a Martinican singer and songwriter. She is one of the lead singers of the Zouk and Compas band Kassav'. As a solo artist, she helped create zouk Beton, a music genre started by Kassav'. The main members are from Guadeloupe and Martinique.
Béroard was born in Fort-de-France, Martinique, and studied in France, attending the National School of Fine Arts in Paris, before beginning to work with Caribbean artistes as a background singer in 1980. She has served as a lead singer of Kassav' since 1983. She has also recorded several albums as a solo artist. In 1986, she won a Gold Disc for her album Siwo (the all-time biggest seller for an album by a female in the West Indies). In 1987, she recorded a duet with Philippe Lavil, the hit single "Kolé séré", which peaked at number four in France. In 1999, she was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.
In 2014, she sang "On n'oublie pas" (written by Serge Bilé) with several artists and personalities including Alpha Blondy, Harry Roselmack and Admiral T. This song is a tribute to the 152 victims from Martinique of the crash of 16 August 2005, to remember this event and to help the AVCA, the association of the victims of the air disaster, to raise funds.
She helped American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett write the song "Love and Luck", which appeared on the compilation album Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads. The song mentions the Kassav song "Kolé Sére".
On 1 April 2019, it was announced on Kassav's official Facebook page that Béroard was to marry her longtime fellow Jacob Desvarieux, singer and musician of the band and that the festivities were to take place on the day Kassav' will celebrate their 40 years. The announcement later proved to be a joke for April Fools' Day.
Source: Article "Jocelyne Béroard" 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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Chad Slivenski
Biography
Chad Slivenski is a semi-retired American professional wrestler, known by his ringname Chad Bowman, who competed in East Coast and Mid-Atlantic independent promotions during the 1990s and 2000s. Early in his career, Slivenski spent time in regional promotions such as the United States Wrestling Association and Smokey Mountain Wrestling before their close in the mid-1990s, and made occasional appearances as a preliminary wrestler in World Wrestling Entertainment.
Slivenski also wrestles under the name "Stone Cold" Chad Austin, an in-ring persona he originally used in Extreme Championship Wrestling, and continued in other Philadelphia-based "hardcore" wrestling promotions such as Combat Zone Wrestling and IWA Mid-South. While in ECW, Austin was subject to a real-life "shoot" when New Jack intentionally broke his leg with a steel chair. In later shoot interviews, New Jack has credited Austin for inadvertently inspiring his 187 finishing move, a top rope dive onto an opponent with a steel chair, which he had first used to injure him.
A mainstay of the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation (MEWF) and Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW), he and kayfabe brother Chip Bowman were members of the "heel" stable Total Quality Management with MCW Heavyweight Champion "Wiseguy" Jimmy Cicero and MCW Tag Team Champions Cueball Carmichael & Dino Devine from 2000 until their breakup in 2002. He and Devine later began teaming together as The Slackers and won both the MEWF and MCW Tag Team titles.
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Douglas Henshall
Biography
Douglas Henshall was born in Glasgow, Scotland in November 1965. His mother was a nurse and his father a salesman. He is the youngest of three children and has two older sisters. He grew up in Barrhead and attended Barrhead High School. Whilst at school a friend asked him to join The Scottish Youth Theatre based in Glasgow. After leaving school, he moved to London to train at Mountview Theatre School. He returned to Glasgow after training where he joined the 7:84 theater company. Eventually, he went back to live in London where he received critical acclaim for his theater work, notably "Life of Stuff" at the Donmar Warehouse (1993) and "American Buffalo" at the Young Vic (1997). One of his first successful film roles was as Edgar in
Angels and Insects (1995) before going on to star in Orphans (1998), The Man with Rain in His Shoes (1998), Lawless Heart (2001) and It's All About Love (2003) . He has also starred in many television series and is known for his roles in
Psychos(1999), Kid in the Corner (1999), Loving You (2003) and Frances Tuesday (2004). Douglas has also performed in plays for BBC radio, including the role of Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet (1999), David in "The Long Farewell" (2002), Jack Parlabane in "Bampot Central" (2004) and Richard in "Richard III" (2004). In the summer of 2002, Douglas returned to the London stage where he performed the role of Michael Bakunin in
Tom Stoppard's new trilogy of plays, 'The Coast of Utopia', at The National Theatre. During 2004 he continued stage work starring as John Proctor in 'Arthur Miller' 's 'The Crucible' at The Crucible in Sheffield and Thomas Huxley in 'Darwin in Malibu' by Crispin Whittell, at the Hampstead Theatre. In 2005 Douglas made his West End debut at The Lyric, Shaftesbury Avenue playing Biff Loman in the critically acclaimed production of Arthur Miller' 's play 'Death of a Salesman', alongside
Brian Dennehy.
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Tom Boric
Biography
Thomas Boric is a Croatian retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name Paul Diamond. He is best known for being one half of the tag team Badd Company with Pat Tanaka as "Hard Rock" Paul Diamond and for his time in WWE as Kato, one half of The Orient Express as Kato, also with Tanaka. Before he was a professional wrestler, Boric was a professional soccer player. Diamond worked for Jerry Lawler's promotions in Memphis after working for WCW, first for the United States Wrestling Association where he held the USWA World Tag Team Championship alongside Steven Dunn. After the USWA, he worked for "Music City Wrestling" until a torn triceps muscle put him out of action for six months in 1998. Diamond had set up an agreement to join Shawn Michaels' Texas Wrestling Academy Diamond also wrestled for the Texas Wrestling Alliance under the name of "Venom", holding the TWA title twice and also being involved in Shawn Michaels return to wrestling after a 1998 back injury that was thought to have put a permanent end to his wrestling career. When Michaels handed the wrestling academy to head trainer Rudy Gonzalez, Diamond and his family moved to Tampa then to Winnipeg where Diamond opened up a wrestling school called "Paul Diamond Hard Knocks Pro Wrestling Academy," while helping out his terminally ill father. Diamond semi-retired from active competition in 2001 to focus on the wrestling academy; his only active involvement in recent years has been Rocket City Wrestling in Huntsville, Alabama wrestling sometimes twice, as Diamond and as Max Moon while also being involved in the booking. In May 2012, he began working for the Decatur Parks and Recreation Department. He was married to Lisa Motley, who sometimes worked as his valet Cherry Velvet. They have two children (Kiana and Quentin). Quentin played goalie (like his father) in Huntsville for Bob Jones High School's top ranked soccer team and in April 2015 signed an athletic scholarship to play at Tennessee Wesleyan College. He is currently married to Dawn Doyle.
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Pat Tanaka
Biography
Patrick Tanaka is an American professional wrestler best known for his work in the American Wrestling Association as one half of Badd Company and the World Wrestling Federation as one half of The Orient Express. He is the son of Duke Keomuka. In his career, which has spanned almost three decades, Tanaka has appeared in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), World Wrestling Federation (WWF), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW),Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Trained by his father, Duke Keomuka, Hiro Matsuda, and the New Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo, Pat Tanaka debuted in 1984 for NJPW. During his time there, he wrestled the likes of Keiichi Yamada, Shunji Kosugi, Black Cat, Naoki Sano, Tatsutoshi Goto, Shinichi Nakano, and Hirokazu Hata. After a year in New Japan, Tanaka started wrestling as a jobber in Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985. In 1986, Tanaka moved to Memphis, Tennessee where he worked for Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett’s Continental Wrestling Association. Early on Tanaka teamed with Jeff Jarrett to win the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship.[3] In late 1986 the tag-team specialist Tanaka was teamed up with Paul Diamond, who was also seen as a tag-team specialist, to form Badd Company,[4] a move that paid off pretty soon as the two won the CWA/AWA International Tag Team Championship, beating Tarzan Goto and Akio Sato on December 15, 1986. The first reign was short lived as The Sheepherders (Luke Williams & Butch Miller) defeated the duo on January 10, 1987. Badd Company quickly regained the titles only to lose them to Tarzan Goto and Akio Sato on February 5, 1987. The third reign with the tag-team titles came on May 9, 1987 when the team beat Mark Starr in a handicap match, but lost them back to Starr and his new tag team partner Billy Joe Travis. Badd Company had one last run with the International tag team titles as they won the vacant titles on May 25, 1987 and held them until July 6, 1987 where they lost the titles to Bill Dundee and Rocky Johnson (who were the last International tag team champions). While in Memphis Badd Company also won the CWA's main tag team title, the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship, defeating Jeff Jarrett and Billy Joe Travis on August 8, 1987.
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Carter Wong
Biography
Carter was born in Macau in 1947 and began learning traditional Chinese Kung Fu when he was eight years old. Carter began his training under the Principal of Shaolin Monk and the Grand Master of Wudang Chi-Kung. In addition to Chinese Kung Fu, Master Wong also traveled to and trained in Japan, Thailand, and Korea with the Masters of Karate, Muay-Thai, Taekwondo, and Hapkido.
Grand Master Carter Wong founded the International Chung Hop Kuen World Federation. Chung Hop Kuen is his own style of martial arts based on Chinese Kung Fu mixed with Muay-Thai, Taekwondo, Hapkido and Karate. It is represented in many countries around the world, including China, America, Canada, Australia and Europe. He has opened branches in South America and South-East Asia, and it is represented in 36 countries.
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Bruce Woyan
Biography
Bruce Alan Woyan was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Buzz Sawyer. Sawyer started wrestling in 1978 (other sources state 1979) in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliate Jim Crockett Promotions. He stayed there with some stints in Georgia Championship Wrestling until 1984. He mainly teamed with his brother, Brett Sawyer. Buzz had a feud with The Road Warriors after he left their manager Paul Ellering's Legion of Doom. Pez Whatley was the first wrestler to pin Sawyer on live television. He also had an epic feud with Tommy Rich that led to many bloody matches, the greatest of which occurred on was billed as the "Last Battle of Atlanta" and for the first time featured a completely enclosed cage; Rich won the match. It also featured manager Paul Ellering suspended 20 feet above the ring in a smaller cage. This is the match that Shawn Michaels credits for inspiring the Hell in the Cell concept used by WWE. The stipulation for this match was that Sawyer and Rich would never wrestle one another again. Tommy Rich lost a match to Ted DiBiase in which the stipulation was a loser leaves town match. Rich appeared the next week on TV under a mask and calling himself the mysterious Mr. R. WWE released the entire match on the WWE Network on September 5, 2016. Sawyer had a short WWE run in 1984 as "Bulldog" Buzz Sawyer (since the moniker Mad Dog was being used by Maurice Vachon) with Captain Lou Albano as his manager. Sawyer's gimmicks included a dog chain, a lot of barking, and a new bulldog finisher. After his WWF stint, he surfaced in the NWA territory Championship Wrestling from Florida, under the mind control of Kevin Sullivan. He feuded with Mike Graham, Dusty Rhodes, and Adrian Street. In 1985, Buzz went to Mid-South Wrestling (which became the Universal Wrestling Federation in 1986) and became a protégé of Dick Slater's. After Slater won the North American title, he gave the Mid-South TV title to Sawyer to defend for him. The promotion tricked Slater into letting Sawyer defend the North American title (which he promptly lost), and Sawyer then refused to give the TV belt back to Slater. In 1986, Sawyer left the UWF for World Class Championship Wrestling. He formed a team with Matt Borne and they won the WCWA Tag Team Championship. He also won the WCWA Television Championship and the WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship and feuded with Brian Adias while there. He got into a feud with Dingo Warrior and he lost his tag team titles, with Master Gee substituting for him, to Warrior and Lance Von Erich before reportedly being fired after failing a drug test.[6] He returned to WCW in 1989 as part of Gary Hart's J-Tex Corporation that was feuding with the Four Horsemen, and he had several matches against Arn Anderson.[6] He then joined Kevin Sullivan's "Slaughterhouse" stable in 1990. At the Wrestle War event in 1990, he was victorious in a tag team match where he and Sullivan defeated The Dynamic Dudes (Shane Douglas and Johnny Ace), but also fractured his wrist. He left WCW in 1991. Sawyer died at his Sacramento, California apartment from heart failure due to a drug overdose on February 7, 1992.
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