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Édith Piaf
Biography
Édith Piaf (born Édith Giovanna Gassion, 19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963) was a French singer, lyricist and actress. Noted as France's national chanteuse, she was one of the country's most widely known international stars.
Piaf's music was often autobiographical, and she specialized in chanson réaliste and torch ballads about love, loss and sorrow. Her most widely known songs include "La Vie en rose" (1946), "Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960), "Hymne à l'amour" (1949), "Milord" (1959), "La Foule" (1957), "L'Accordéoniste" (1940), and "Padam, padam..." (1951).
Since her death in 1963, several biographies and films have studied her life, including 2007's La Vie en rose. Piaf has become one of the most celebrated performers of the 20th century.
Despite numerous biographies, much of Piaf's life is unknown. She was born Édith Giovanna Gassion in Belleville, Paris. Legend has it that she was born on the pavement of Rue de Belleville 72, but her birth certificate says that she was born on 19 December 1915 at the Hôpital Tenon, a hospital located in the 20th arrondissement.
She was named Édith after the World War I British nurse Edith Cavell, who was executed 2 months before Édith's birth for helping French soldiers escape from German captivity. Piaf – slang for "sparrow" – was a nickname she received 20 years later.
Louis Alphonse Gassion (1881–1944), Édith's father, was a street performer of acrobatics from Normandy with a past in the theatre. He was the son of Victor Alphonse Gassion (1850–1928) and Léontine Louise Descamps (1860–1937), known as Maman Tine, a "madam" who ran a brothel in Bernay in Normandy.
Her mother, Annetta Giovanna Maillard, better known professionally as Line Marsa (1895–1945), was a singer and circus performer born in Italy of French descent on her father's side and of Italian and Kabyle on her mother's. Her parents were Auguste Eugène Maillard (1866–1912) and Emma (Aïcha) Saïd Ben Mohammed (1876–1930), daughter of Said ben Mohammed (1827–1890), an acrobat born in Mogador and Marguerite Bracco (1830–1898), born in Murazzano in Italy.
Annetta and Louis-Alphonse divorced on 4 June 1929.
Piaf's mother abandoned her at birth, and she lived for a short time with her maternal grandmother, Emma (Aïcha). When her father enlisted with the French Army in 1916 to fight in World War I, he took her to his mother, who ran a brothel in Bernay, Normandy. There, prostitutes helped look after Piaf. The bordello had two floors and seven rooms, and the prostitutes were not very numerous – "about ten poor girls", as she later described. In fact, five or six were permanent while a dozen others would join the brothel during market days and other busy days. The sub-mistress of the brothel was called "Madam Gaby" and Piaf considered her almost like family, since she became godmother of Denise Gassion, Piaf's half-sister born in 1931. Edith believed her weakness for men came from mixing with prostitutes in her grandmother's brothel. ...
Source: Article "Édith Piaf" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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Neil McDonald
Biography
Neil McDonald is an actor, director, substitute teacher and semi-retired from the printing industry in which he worked for over 20 years.
Neil relocated to the St. Louis Missouri Metro area ready to begin anew, the theatrical life he put on hold for many years while he chose to maintain a career and his family, wife Kari and son Connor. Originally from the Sierras in California, he moved to Seattle after graduate school, and fate brought Kari, his wife and Neil together at a bus stop. Neil’s past credits include a workshop of five musicals in ten weeks with Tom Lehrer; was a founding member of Central California Conservatory Theatre where he performed in Damn Yankees! and Fiddler on the Roof; a cameo in the 1980’s cult film Radioactive Dreams; voice over work for Public Television in Southern California; multiple roles in plays and musicals including Guys and Dolls, Fiorello!, Pal Joey; Girl Crazy, Outward Bound, Witness for the Prosecution, Anything Goes; and directing projects including The Birthday Party, Lily the Felon’s Daughter, and Beyond the Box, an original one act first produced at Cal State Fullerton.
Neil took on duel roles in the short film “To Inflict” the role of Mr. Berman which is the boss of the main character and Chelsea’s dad. (A Voiceover role on the telephone)
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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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Wakana Minami
Biography
Wakana Minami (美波 わかな, Minami Wakana, born March 1, 1994) is a Japanese voice actress, actress and singer from Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Her old stage name is Wakana Kingyo (金魚 わかな, Kingyo Wakana). Her voice actor activity is represented by HiBiKi. Her stage actress activity is represented by Arble. Arutemate represents her singer activity.
Major works include "8 beat Story ♪" (as Anri Himesaki) and "FLYING PIRATES Neverland Drifting Record -featuring GUY'S-" (Yo Mizuno).
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Josh Brolin
Biography
Josh James Brolin (born February 12, 1968) is an American actor. A son of actor James Brolin, he gained fame in his youth for his role in the adventure film The Goonies (1985). After years of decline, Brolin had a resurgence with his starring role in the crime film No Country for Old Men (2007). Brolin received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for portraying Dan White in the biopic Milk (2008).
Brolin gained wider recognition for playing Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including in the films Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), as well as Cable in Deadpool 2 (2018). His other notable films include W. (2008), True Grit (2010), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), Men in Black 3 (2012), Oldboy (2013), Inherent Vice (2014), Everest (2015), Sicario (2015), Hail, Caesar! (2016), Only the Brave (2017), Dune (2021), and Dune: Part Two (2024).
Description above from the Wikipedia article Josh Brolin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Mervat Amin
Biography
Egyptian actress. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Ain Shams University, Department of English Language. She began her artistic life through the university, where she participated in the university team and performed the play (Oh Tree of Tree) by Tawfiq Al-Hakim, and after graduation she became a professional acting as she presented the play (Airport of Love) with the artist Abdel Moneim Madbouly. It was discovered and presented to the cinema by the artist Ahmed Mazhar in 1968, when I participated with him in the film (Confused Souls), and from here I set out to the world of stardom.
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Fay Baker
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Fay Baker (January 31, 1917 — December 8, 1987) was an American actress on the stage, film and TV in supporting roles, and a successful author under the pen name Beth Holmes. Her novel, The Whipping Boy, made the Los Angeles Times bestseller list in 1978. Baker also published, under her own name, an account of her experiences battling breast cancer, entitled My Darling, Darling Doctors.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Fay Baker, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Maritza Brikisak
Biography
Maritza Brikisak is from Santiago, Chile and is of German and Native American descent. She's lived in Venezuela, Canada, United Kingdom and now resides in Los Angeles. She's fluent in Spanish and holds dual citizenship from the United States and Canada.
Growing up in a conservative household she found in acting a way to express herself. The hobby grew into a profession in Canada when she took to the stage with 'Theater 5' under the tutelage of Valerie Robertson, continued in Ottawa with 'Sears & Switzer', progressed to Toronto at 'The Little Workshop' with Calvin Green who taught the Meisner Technique. She holds a B.A. from Queen's University. In London, England, she trained at Actors Center. In California she's trained with many wonderful teachers including Terry McGovern, Lyle B. Hill at Weist-Barron-Hill, Ed Hooks, Elaine Clark.
Her love of every aspect of filmmaking, accompanied with her unstoppable drive for storytelling and being attracted to unique roles and stories has led her to Producing. She made her feature film directorial debut with 'Sophie's Rules'.
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Ebru Özkan
Biography
Ebru Özkan (born 18 November 1978) is a Turkish actress. Özkan rose to prominence with her role as Halide in Hanımın Çiftliği.[2] She continued her television career with the series Not Defteri, where she played the character of Suna. She played the character of Dilara in the series Paramparça, which was broadcast between 2014 and 2017 and lasted for 3 seasons. In 2018, she played the character of Melek in the TV series Şahin Tepesi. Later, she had the role of İpek Tekin in Hekimoğlu, the Turkish adaptation of the House, M.D. series. She then shared the lead role with Erdal Beşikçioğlu in the TV series Hakim, which is an adaptation of Your Honor. Together with Timuçin Esen, with whom she shared the leading role in the Hekimoğlu series, she appeared in the Disney+ series Ben Gri. In 2023, she portrayed a mystical character named Çavgeş in the Netflix original series Shahmaran.
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MAKO
Biography
Mako Sakurai (桜井 真子, Sakurai Mako, born October 7, 1986), better known by the mononym name Mako (sometimes stylised MAKO), is a Japanese voice actress, singer and a member of the band Bon-Bon Blanco, in which her prominent role is as the maraca player. She has also performed in a Japanese television drama called Meido in Akihabara. She is affiliated with I'm Enterprise. Her anime voice acting debut was in Kamichu! where, in the ending theme song, her character also plays the maracas. As Hinako Hiiragi in anime Chitose Get You!! she plays maracas again, in the ending theme.
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