Trending
Popular people
Jeff Dunham
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jeff Dunham (born April, 1962) is an American ventriloquist and stand-up comedian who has also appeared on numerous television shows, including Star Search, Late Show with David Letterman, Comedy Central Presents, The Tonight Show and Sonny With a Chance. He is familiar to Comedy Central audiences for his three specials on that network: Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself, Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity, and Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special. Dunham also starred in The Jeff Dunham Show for one season on the network in 2009.[1] His style has been described as "a dressed-down, more digestible version of Don Rickles with multiple personality disorder". Describing his characters, Time observes, "All of them are politically incorrect, gratuitously insulting and ill tempered." Dunham has been credited with reviving ventriloquism, and doing more to promote the art form than anyone since Edgar Bergen.
Dunham has been called "America's favorite comedian" by Slate.com, and according to the concert industry publication Pollstar, he is the top-grossing standup act in North America, and is among the most successful acts in Europe as well. As of March 2009, he has sold over four million DVDs, an additional 7 million dollars in merchandise sales, and received more than 350 million hits on YouTube (his introduction of Achmed the Dead Terrorist in Spark of Insanity is the ninth most watched YouTube video). A Very Special Christmas Special was the most-watched telecast in Comedy Central history, with its DVD going quadruple platinum (selling over 400,000) in its first two weeks. Forbes.com ranked Dunham as the third highest-paid comedian in the United States behind Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock, and reported that he was one of the highest-earning comics from June 2008 to June 2009, earning approximately $30 million during that period.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Jeff Dunham, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read more
Laurent Voulzy
Biography
Lucien Voulzy (born 18 December 1948), better known as Laurent Voulzy, is a French singer-songwriter, composer and musician.
Voulzy was born in Paris, France. He originally led the English-pop-influenced Le Temple de Vénus before joining Pascal Danel as guitarist from 1969 to 1974. However, he is best known for his collaborative songwriting efforts with singer-songwriter Alain Souchon and his solo singing career, which spanned several successful singles and albums.
Voulzy had an international hit with the song Rockollection. The French lyrics were interspersed with some lines from classic rock hits after the chorus.
His major hits also include the singles "Paradoxal Système" (which reached the French Top 10), "Le Soleil Donne" – sung in French, English and Spanish – and the double "Belle-Île-en-Mer, Marie-Galante"/"Les Nuits Sans Kim Wilde" ("Nights without Kim Wilde"; a song inspired by the chart-topping English singer). Other songs entered the French charts ("Bopper en larmes", "Le coeur Grenadine", "Désir, désir", etc.).
Voulzy also enjoys success in Belgium, Switzerland and Québec; and although being a French artist, his songs often contain multiple languages (including lyrics in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, etc.). In 2005, Voulzy co-produced and co-composed Nolwenn Leroy's second album Histoires Naturelles.
Voulzy had a huge hit with his album La Septième Vague which reached number one in 2006. Featured on the album is a cover of the Everly Brothers hit "All I Have to Do Is Dream", recorded as a duet with Irish singer Andrea Corr. The song was released as a single and was also included on The Corrs' greatest hits album Dreams: The Ultimate Corrs Collection.
Voulzy recorded in 2007 a duet with the French guitarist Jean-Pierre Danel on his hit album Guitar Connection 2. The song hit the French charts at No. 7 in 2008. For his 2011 album, Lys and Love, Voulzy recorded a duet on the song "Ma seule amour" with English singer Roger Daltrey of The Who. In 2007, Voulzy toured France.
Source: Article "Laurent Voulzy" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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
Adèle Exarchopoulos
Biography
Adèle Exarchopoulos (born 22 November 1993 in Paris) is a French actress. She is best known for her leading role as Adèle in Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013), for which she earned international attention and critical acclaim; at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, she became the youngest person in the history of the festival to be awarded the Palme d'Or. For her performance in Blue Is the Warmest Colour, she won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, the César Award for Most Promising Actress, and the Trophée Chopard Award for Female Revelation of the Year, among dozens of other accolades.
Read more
Jonny Coyne
Biography
Coyne's earliest performances were in school plays. He played leading roles in two outstanding productions: ‘The Judge’ in Oscar Wilde's 'Hang of the Gaol' and 'Phaeton' in Ovid's Chariot of the Sun. He won rave reviews for his performances in the national press and decided to pursue a career as an actor.He won a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and upon his graduation, he received the Hannam Clarke Award.
His first role on TV was on an episode of London's Burning in 1990. His next big role was in a mini-series Gulliver's Travels starring Ted Danson. He appeared in many British TV series over the next few years including guest appearance on EastEnders, Pulling and The Bill. In 2003, he was cast in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. In 2010, he was cast in The Nutcracker in 3D.
His biggest role was as Warden Edwin James on Alcatraz. He was later cast in Would You Rather and the British film, London Boulevard. In 2013, he was cast in two major films, in a supporting yet adequate role. He was cast as a henchman in Gangster Squad and as the right hand man of John Goodman's character in The Hangover Part III.
Read more
Amir Jadidi
Biography
Amir Jadidi (Born June 21, 1984) is an Iranian theater and film actor. Jadidi holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering together with a master’s in MBA. Besides his artistic endeavors, he also pursues a profession as a tennis player. Ever since he began his career as an actor with the film “Africa” by Houman Seyyedi, he has been renowned for his diverse portraits and has achieved critical success; Jadidi has earned several nominations and awards among which was Fajr International Film Festival’s best actor crystal Simorgh (phoenix) for the films “The Lost Straight” and “Cold Sweat” in 2018.
Read more
Carolyn Seymour
Biography
Carolyn Seymour (born 6 November 1947) is an English actress, best known for portraying the role of Abby Grant in the BBC series Survivors. Born Carolyn von Benckendorf in Buckinghamshire, to a Russian father and an Irish mother. One of her earliest television roles was as Jenny in the BBC drama series Take Three Girls. and an early film appearance was as Zita in the film Steptoe and Son (1972) alongside Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell. Her best-known movie role remains Grace Gurney in The Ruling Class (also 1972), opposite Peter O'Toole.
She left Survivors at the end of its first series, due to disagreements with the producers over the direction the show and her character were taking. She appeared in the Space: 1999 episode "The Seance Spectre", and with Joan Collins in The Bitch. She then moved to the United States and made numerous television appearances including Hart to Hart, Modesty Blaise, Family Ties, Cagney & Lacey, Remington Steele, Magnum, P.I., The Twilight Zone, Murder, She Wrote, Matlock, Quantum Leap; Star Trek: The Next Generation, Civil Wars, L.A. Law, Red Shoe Diaries, Star Trek: Voyager, and ER.
She has also contributed voice work for several Star Wars video games, portraying characters such as Shmi Skywalker and Mon Mothma. She provides the voice for the Locust Queen Myrrah in Gears of War, Dr. Karin Chakwas in the Mass Effect series and the Elder God of Water in Mortal Kombat Annihilation. She has played in audio plays by L.A. Theatre Works and The Hollywood Theater of the Ear, and recently began narrating audiobooks. Since 2014, she has played Abby Grant in Big Finish Productions' Survivors series, based on the book by Terry Nation and the television series.
From 2014 onwards, she has voiced Bierce in Dark Deception.
Read more
Ashanti
Biography
Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas born October 13, 1980 is an American recording artist, record producer and actress who rose to fame in the early 2000s. Ashanti is most famous for her eponymous debut album, which featured the hit song "Foolish", and sold over 503,000 copies in its first week of release throughout the U.S. in April 2002. The album set a Soundscan record as the biggest opening week sales for a new female artist, outselling debuts by Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill. In the same week, she became the first female performer to simultaneously hold the top two places on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with "Foolish", and "What's Luv?" (with Fat Joe). Ashanti broke records again by having three top ten songs, "Foolish," "What's Luv?" and "Always on Time", on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the same week, being the first woman to accomplish this feat and being second only to the Beatles. In 2003, the self-titled debut album won Ashanti her first Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B album. As of 2008, she has sold more than 27 million albums worldwide. Ashanti ended the decade (2000–09) as the third top new R&B artist behind Alicia Keys and Beyonce Knowles. She also ended the decade at number 38 on the Top Artist of the Decade list. As of 2010, Ashanti is listed in the 20 Best Selling Music Singles Since 1990 in History. She ranked #17, with Foolish selling more than 7.4 million copies in the U.S.
Ashanti sang background vocals for Jennifer Lopez on "I'm Real (Murder Remix)" and wrote and sang background on the song "Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix)" sung by Jennifer Lopez, both reaching number one on Billboard Hot 100 , which was also in the top 10 charts at the same time as "Foolish", "Always on Time" (with Ja Rule), and "What's Luv" (with Fat Joe). Later that year, she was acclaimed as the "Princess Of Hip-Hop & R&B" by her label and capped off her successful debut by winning eight Billboard awards and two American Music Awards. Within seven years of Ashanti's career, she has scored 16 top 40 hits on the Hot 100. Ashanti has endorsed numerous products including Gap, Herbal Essences and Mudd Jeans.
Ashanti cites Janet Jackson, Prince, Madonna, Tupac Shakur, Aaliyah, Tamia, Mary J. Blige, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Yolanda Adams, Toni Braxton, Luther Vandross, The Beatles, The Clark Sisters, Smokey Robinson, Donna Summer, and Blue Magic as her musical influences. Praised as a gifted songwriter by her peers and critics alike, Ashanti has written/co-written the bulk of all her music. She is currently working on her own publishing company entitled Written Entertainment. She released her fourth studio album entitled The Declaration on June 3, 2008 and is currently in the studio working on her fifth. She also performed the charity tune "Just Stand Up" alongside 14 other female singers for the "Stand Up to Cancer" live television special which helped raise $100 million dollars for cancer research
Description above from the Wikipedia article Ashanti, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Read more
Larry Parks
Biography
Samuel Klausman Lawrence Parks was born in Olathe, Kansas, on December 13, 1914, of German and Irish descent. As a child growing up in Joliet, Illinois, he was plagued by a variety of illnesses, including rheumatic fever, but persevered with physical exercise and sheer strength of will. Majoring in science at the University of Illinois, his plans to become a doctor dissolved when, to the dismay of his parents, he found a passionate sideline in college dramatics. He began appearing in touring shows, then made the big move to New York, finding initial employment as an usher at Carnegie Hall and a tour guide at Radio City. Following a number of summer stock shows, he made an inauspicious 1937 Broadway debut with a minor role in the Group Theatre's presentation of "Golden Boy". Developing a close-knit relationship with the Group, he was just beginning to build up his resumé in such Broadway outings as "All the Living", "My Heart's in the Highlands" and "Pure in Heart" when he had to return to his Illinois home following the death of his father.
He toiled for a time in Chicago as a Pullman inspector on the New York Central Railroad until the possibility of a film role had him re-setting his acting sights on Los Angeles. Although the film deal fell through, Larry stayed in L.A. and somehow made ends meet working construction. Columbia expressed interest in the fledgling actor and signed him up in 1941 after a favorable screen test. He stayed for nine years. His buildup was slow-moving, taking his first small step with a minor role in Mystery Ship (1941). Time, however, did not increase the tempo or quality of his movies. Either he was oddly cast, such as his role as an Indian opposite exotic Yvonne De Carlo in The Deerslayer (1943), or completely dismissed, as co-star of such obscurities as The Black Parachute (1944), Sergeant Mike (1944) or She's a Sweetheart (1944). His association with the Group Theatre back in New York led to a chance introduction to musical actress Betty Garrett and the couple married in 1944. Larry had settled by this time in Hollywood but Betty was a hot item on Broadway. MGM finally offered her a contract and she relocated to Los Angeles to join her husband. The couple eventually had two children, one of whom, Andrew Parks, became a fine actor in his own right. Their other son, Garrett Parks, served as composer for the film Diamond Men (2000). Larry scored an Oscar nomination playing Jolson (which was originally offered to both James Cagney and Danny Thomas), and hoped for equally challenging roles. His hopes were dashed as the studio instead continued casting him haphazardly in mild-mannered comedies and swashbuckling adventures. Other than the box-office sequel Jolson Sings Again (1949), most of Larry's films were hardly worthy of his obvious talent. To compensate somewhat, he managed to find a creative outlet in summer stock, and both he and Betty put together a successful vaudeville act with one tour ending up playing London's Palladium.
Following the completion of Love Is Better Than Ever (1952) with Elizabeth Taylor, the political scandal erupted and erased all of his chances to do film. One of many casualties of Hollywood "blacklisting", he was forced to end his association with Columbia, and he and Betty, whose own career was damaged, traveled to Europe to find work
Read more
Kirby Marcos
Biography
The Ring Crew Express (RCE) is the professional wrestling tag team of Kevin Dunn and Kirby Marcos, better known simply as Dunn and Marcos. They are best known for their work in Ring of Honor but have also wrestled for other promotions, such as Full Impact Pro, Chikara, Buffalo Championship Wrestling, NWA Upstate, and now Next Era Wrestling. They are called the Ring Crew Express because they pay their dues by setting up and taking down the ring for ROH shows. Dunn and Marcos are fans of rock music, using themes from Poison and Twisted Sister, as well as playing air guitar and wearing band T-shirts during their matches.
Read more
