Birthdays: March 26
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- Music Artist
- Actress
- Producer
Best known as the the lead singer of the popular 1960s singing group The Supremes, Diana Ernestine Earle Ross was born on March 26, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan, the second of six children of African-American parents Ernestine Lillian (Moten), a schoolteacher, and Fred Earl Ross, who served in the army. After being raised in housing projects for most of the late 1940s and early 1950s, Diana started singing in the gospel choir of a Baptist church. With friends Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Barbara Martin, she formed a vocal group, The Primettes, at age 15. After Barbara had departed the group, the remaining three girls inked a deal with Motown Records and were renamed The Supremes. Ross wasn't picked to become the group's lead singer until Motown honcho Berry Gordy decided that the time was exactly right, and from then on he described the group as "Diana Ross and the Supremes." From 1965 to 1969 the group had a string of #1 records. In late 1969 Gordy announced that Ross would be leaving the group for a solo career. In the third week of 1970 she played her last concert with The Supremes and started working with the songwriting team of Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson. Ross' first two songs by the team reached #1 on both the pop and R&B charts, justifying her move. Prior to starting a family of her own, she won the title role in the Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues (1972), which was extremely successful at the box office, and had the distinction of being nominated for an Academy Award for her first film. The movie's soundtrack reached #1 on the U.S. charts. Despite fame and fortune, her next two big films,Mahogany (1975) and The Wiz (1978), didn't meet with the same success. However, she had a #1 hit single with "Mahogany" to make up for it. In February 1976, just before another #1 hit with "Love Hangover," she was stunned when her singing partner and friend, Florence Ballard, died after complications from a combination of alcohol abuse and long-term depression, which led to cardiac arrest. Ballard was only 32 years old and Ross was devastated by the loss.
After recovering from Ballard's death, Ross went on to focus on her singing career and continued having more #1 songs, including "Upside Down". The following year she performed the theme song from Endless Love (1981), which was composed by Lionel Richie. That same year she left Motown Records and signed contracts with various record companies across the globe, and formed her own production company. The following year she released "Silk Electric," on which she sang "Muscles," a song written and produced by Michael Jackson.
After she sang a tribute song dedicated to the late Marvin Gaye, Ross scored another #1 song in 1986 in the UK with "Chain Reaction," which brought back her days as the member of The Supremes , and was written and produced by The Bee Gees. Unlike the song she sang when Florence died, this song was about how she became accustomed to Marvin over the years. After an eight-year absence, in 1989 she came back to Motown. Ross had gained more fame through concert appearances over the years, and in April 1993 she became a best-selling author with her first and only children's book, "When You Dream," which featured a CD with four songs that were dedicated to the book. That same year she was declared by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the most successful female singer of all times. Two years later she was honored with the Heritage Award for Lifetime Achievement on the Soul Train Awards. After receiving those honors, she came back to the studio in 1999 with "Every Day Is A New Day," and the song reached the UK Top 10. The following year, with Mary Wilson--the only other surviving original Supremes member--she planned to book a Supremes reunion tour, but this was eventually canceled.
She was arrested in 2002 in Tucson, Arizona, for driving under the influence and after pleading guilty was sentenced to two days in jail, 36 hours of counseling and one year probation. Today she is hard at work finishing her forthcoming book, "Upside Down: Wrong Turns, Right Turns and the Road Ahead."- Al Bianchi was born on 26 March 1932 in Long Island City, New York, USA. He was married to Johnnie Orr. He died on 28 October 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Al Silvani was born on 26 March 1910. He was an actor and assistant director, known for Rocky (1976), Rocky II (1979) and Rocky III (1982). He died on 10 January 1996 in North Hollywood, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Alan Arkin was an Academy Award-winning American actor who was also an acclaimed director, producer, author, singer and composer.
He was born Alan Wolf Arkin on March 26, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York. His family were Jewish emigrants from Russia and Germany. In 1946, the Arkins moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, California. His father, David I. Arkin, was an artist and writer, who worked as a teacher, and lost his job for merely refusing to answer questions about his political affiliation during the 1950s Red Scare. His father challenged the politically biased dismissal and eventually prevailed, but unfortunately it was after his death. His mother, Beatrice (Wortis) Arkin, a teacher, shared his father's views. Young Arkin was fond of music and acting, he was taking various acting classes from the age of 10. He attended Franklin High School, in Los Angeles, then Los Angeles City College from 1951 - 1953, and Bennington College in Vermont from 1953 - 1954. He sang in a college folk-band, and was involved in a drama class. He dropped out of college to form the folk music group The Tarriers, in which Arkin was the lead singer and played guitar. He co-wrote the 1956 hit "The Banana Boat Song" - a Jamaican calypso folk song, which became better known as Harry Belafonte's popular version, and reached #4 on the Billboard chart. At that time Arkin was a struggling young actor who played bit parts on television and on stage, and made a living as a delivery boy, repairman, pot washer and baby sitter. From 1958 - 1968 he performed and recorded with the children's folk group, The Babysitters. He has also recorded an entire album for the Elektra label titled "Folksongs - Once Over Lightly."
In 1957 Arkin made his first big screen appearance as a lead singer with The Tarriers in Calypso Heat Wave (1957). Then he made his Off-Broadway debut as a singer in "Heloise" (1958). Next year he joined the Compass Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri. There he caught the eye of stage director Bob Sills and became the original member of the "Second City" troupe in Chicago. In 1961 Arkin made his Broadway debut in musical "From the Second City", for which he wrote lyrics and sketches, then starred as David Kolowitz in the Broadway comedy "Enter Laughing" (1963), for which he won a Tony Award. He starred in a Broadway musical "From the Second City production, then returned to Broadway as Harry Berlin in "Luv" (1964). Arkin made his directorial debut with an Off-Broadway hit called "Eh?" (1966), which introduced the young actor, named Dustin Hoffman. He won a Drama Desk Award for his direction of the Off-Broadway production of "Little Murders" (1969), and another Drama Desk Award for "The White House Murder Case" (1970). He also directed the original version of Neil Simon's hilarious smash, "The Sunshine Boys" (1972), which ran over 500 performances.
Arkin earned his first Academy Award nomination as Best Actor for his feature acting debut in a comedy The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966), by director Norman Jewison, co-starring as Lt. Rozanov, a Soviet submariner who is mistaken for a spy after his boat accidentally wrecks aground in New England. Arkin demonstrated his dramatic range as the psychopathic killer Roat in suspense film Wait Until Dark (1967), opposite Audrey Hepburn. He reinvented himself as the sensitive deaf-mute in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968), for which he received his second Academy Award Nomination as Best Actor in the Leading role. He followed with what remained his best known role as Captain Yossarian in Catch-22 (1970), directed by Mike Nichols and based on the eponymous anti-war novel by Joseph Heller. In it Arkin arguably gave his strongest performance, however, his career suffered because the film initially did not live up to expectations. After a few years of directorial work on television, Arkin made a comeback with an impressive portrayal of doctor Sigmund Freud in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976). In the early 1980s he acted in three movies that were family affairs, written by his wife, Barbara Dana, and co-starring his son, Adam Arkin.
During the 1990s he turned out several notable performances, such as a bitter former baseball player in TNT's Cooperstown (1993), and as a hilarious psychiatrist opposite John Cusack in Grosse Pointe Blank (1997). He won raves for his portrayal of a divorced father who struggles to keep his kids enrolled in the Beverly Hills school system in Slums of Beverly Hills (1998). Arkin gave a brilliant performance opposite Robin Williams in Jakob the Liar (1999), a film about the Nazi occupation of Poland. He also returned to the New York stage co-starring with his son, Tony Arkin and Elaine May in "Power Plays", which he also co-authored. His most recent comeback as a heroin-snorting, sex-crazed, foul-mouthed grandfather in Little Miss Sunshine (2006), earned him his third Academy Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, and his first Academy Award.
Alan Arkin had been a modern Renaissance man. In addition to his achievements as an actor, director, and producer, he made his mark as a singer-songwriter with his popular-song compositions "Banana Boat Song", "Cuddle Bug," "That's Me," and "Best Time of the Year." Arkin also authored several books, including science-fiction and some children's stories, such as "The Clearing", "The Lemming Condition" and "Cassie Loves Beethoven" among his other publications. He was a father of three sons, Adam Arkin, Matthew Arkin, and Anthony Arkin, and a grandfather of Molly Arkin.
Alan Arkin was a strong supporter of an organic way of living and also a proponent for preservation of the environment and natural habitat. He avoided the show-biz-milieu and was known as an actor who does not really care about prestigious awards, but values having a good job and being acknowledged by his peers. In Arkin's own words he wanted to "Stay home for three months. Living as quietly as humanly possible." Arkin was given an Indian name, Grey Wolf, by his Native American friends in New Mexico.
Alan Arkin died in California on June 29, 2023 at the age of 89. He is survived by his three sons - Adam, Matthew, and Anthony Dana Arkin, and with Dana, Alan Arkin is survived by third wife, Suzanne Newlander Arkin, whom he married in 1999.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
In his ongoing, decades-long career as a composer, Alan Silvestri has blazed an innovative trail with his exciting and melodic scores, winning the applause of Hollywood and movie audiences the world over. With a credit list of over 100 films Silvestri has composed some of the most recognizable and beloved themes in movie history. His efforts have been recognized with two Oscar nominations, two Golden Globe nominations, three Grammy awards, two Emmy awards, and numerous International Film Music Critics Awards, Saturn Awards, and Hollywood Music In Media Awards.
Born in New York City and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, Silvestri first dreamed of becoming a jazz guitar player. After spending two years at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, he hit the road as a performer and arranger. Landing in Hollywood at the age of 22, he found himself successfully composing the music for 1972's "The Doberman Gang" which established his place in the world of film composing.
The 1970s witnessed the rise of energetic synth-pop scores, establishing Silvestri as the action rhythmatist for TV's highway patrol hit "CHiPs." This action driven score caught the ear of a young filmmaker named Robert Zemeckis, whose hit film, 1984's "Romancing the Stone," was the perfect first date for the composer and director. It's success became the basis of a decades long collaboration that continues to this day. Their numerous collaborations have taken them through fascinating landscapes and stylistic variations, from the "Back to the Future" trilogy to the jazzy world of Toontown in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" the tension filled rooms of "What Lies Beneath" and "Death Becomes Her", to the cosmic wonder of "Contact;" the emotional isolation of "Castaway", to the magic of the "Polar Express". But perhaps no film collaboration defines their creative relationship better than Zemeckis' 1994 Best Picture winner, "Forrest Gump", for which Silvestri's gift for melodically beautiful themes earned him an Oscar and Golden Globe nomination and the affection of film music lovers everywhere. This 35 year, 21 film collaboration includes such recent films as "Flight", "Allied" and most recently "Welcome To Marwen". Zemeckis and Silvestri are currently working on "The Witches" based on Roald Dahl's 1973 classic book scheduled for release in October of 2020.
Though the Zemeckis/Silvestri collaboration is legendary, Silvestri has scored films of every imaginable style and genre. His energy has brought excitement and emotion to the hard-hitting orchestral scores for Steven Spielberg's "Ready Player One", James Cameron's "The Abyss" as well as "Predator" and "The Mummy Returns." Alan's diversity is on full display in family entertainment films such as "The Father of the Bride 1 and 2", "Parent Trap", "Stuart Little 1 and 2", Disney's "Lilo and Stitch", "The Croods" as well as "Night at the Museum 1, 2 and 3" while his passion for melody fuels the romantic emotion of films like "The Bodyguard" and "What Women Want".
Most recently, Alan has composed the music for Marvel's "Avengers: Endgame." The film is the culmination of a partnership with Marvel that began in 2011 with Alan's dynamically heroic score for "Captain America: The First Avenger" followed by "Avengers". Since 2011 Alan's collaboration with Marvel helped propel "The Avengers" and "Avengers: Infinity War" to spectacular world-wide success.
Silvestri's success has also crossed into the world of songwriting. His partnership with Six-Time Grammy Award winner Glen Ballard has produced hits such as the Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated song "Believe" (Josh Groban) for "The Polar Express", "Butterfly Fly Away" (Miley Cyrus) for "Hannah Montana The Movie", "God Bless Us Everyone" (Andrea Bocelli) for "A Christmas Carol" and "A Hero Comes Home" (Idina Menzel) for "Beowulf".
Alan and his wife Sandra are long time residents of California's central coast. In 1998 the Silvestri family embarked on a new venture as the founders of Silvestri Vineyards. Their wines show that lovingly cultivated fruit has a music all its own. "There's something about the elemental side of winemaking that appeals to me," he says. "Both music making and wine making involve a magical blending of art and science. Just as each note brings it own voice to the melody, each vine brings it's own unique personality to the wine."
Their other great passion is the ongoing search for the cure to Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes. With the diagnosis of their son at two years of age (now 29) they continue to work the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and dream of the day this disease (and all of the suffering it brings to so many) will finally become a thing of the past.- Aleksey Buldakov was born on 26 March 1951 in Makarovka, Altai Krai, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia]. He was an actor, known for Peculiarities of the National Hunt (1995), Peculiarities of the National Fishing (1998) and Peculiarities of the National Hunt in the Winter (2000). He was married to Lyudmila Buldakova and Lyudmila Kormunina. He died on 3 April 2019 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Alicia Lagano was born on 26 March 1979 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for ParaNorman (2012), NCIS (2003) and Dexter (2006). She has been married to Hector Rendon since 7 June 2013.- Writer
- Actress
Alison Prince was born on 26 March 1931 in Beckenham, Kent, England, UK. She was a writer and actress, known for Jackanory (1965), How's Business (1991) and Trumpton (1967). She was married to Goronwy Parry. She died on 12 October 2019 in Arran, North Ayrshire, Scotland, UK.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Amy Smart was born in Topanga Canyon, California to Judy, who worked at a museum, and John Boden Smart, a salesman. She has German, English, and Irish ancestry.
Smart was a relatively new arrival when she first gained notice for her supporting roles in the 1999 hit teen films Varsity Blues (1999) and Outside Providence (1999). The Los Angeles native got her start in TV-movies and made her feature debut in Stephen Kay's The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997), which was screened at 1997's Sundance Film Festival alongside Keanu Reeves. She was briefly seen in Paul Verhoeven's big-budget sci-fi actioner Starship Troopers (1997) with actor Casper Van Dien and had an impressive turn in the vastly different, quirkily independent How to Make the Cruelest Month (1998), in which she played Dot, the graceful golden girl who seduces the one-time boyfriend of her sister, troubled protagonist Bell (Clea DuVall). The by-the-numbers horror film Campfire Tales (1997) followed in 1997, along with the topically chilling but clumsily executed Internet stalker thriller Dee Snider's Strangeland (1998), written and produced by and starring the titular Twisted Sister frontman as a deranged torturer who meets his victims in web chatrooms. Amy reached her widest audience with a co-starring role opposite James Van Der Beek in Brian Robbins' surprise box office hit "Varsity Blues (1999)". She played Jules Harbor, a girl who longs for life beyond her small town's high-school-football-obsessed culture but is tied to it as sister of the injured star quarterback (Paul Walker) and girlfriend of his idealistic replacement (Van Der Beek). Her next role was that of Shawn Hatosy's upper-class love interest in Michael Corrente's poignant 1970s-era comedy "Outside Providence (1999)". Based on Peter Farrelly's novel, the film followed a working-class teen (Hatosy) sent by his abrasive but loving father (Alec Baldwin) to a tony prep school after running into trouble at home.- Actress
- Producer
Andrea Pietra was born on 26 March 1968 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is an actress and producer, known for La señal (2007), Socias (2008) and Son de Fierro (2007).- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Archana Puran Singh was born on March 26, 1962 in Dehradun, Uttar Pradesh. She is an Indian actress, television personality and model in Bollywood. She made her debut in with Jalwa (1987) alongside Aditya Pancholi. She is best known for her role as Miss Braganza in the Karan Johar's directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and she also appeared in Agneepath (1990), Raja Hindustani (1996), Mela (2000), Mohabbatein (2000), Krrish (2006), Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008), Money Hai Toh Honey Hai (2008), Bol Bachchan (2012), Kick (2014) and a special appearance in Housefull 4 (2019). She now appears as the permanent guest of The Kapil Sharma Show (2016-). She is married to actor Parmeet Sethi since 1992 with whom she has 2 children.- Barney Eastwood was born on 26 March 1932 in Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, UK. He was married to Frances. He died on 9 March 2020 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Bianca Kajlich was born on 26 March 1977 in Seattle, Washington, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Halloween: Resurrection (2002), Bring It On (2000) and Dark Was the Night (2014). She has been married to Mike Catherwood since 16 December 2012. They have one child. She was previously married to Landon Donovan.- Billy Warlock was born on 26 March 1961 in Gardena, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Days of Our Lives (1965), Society (1989) and Halloween II (1981). He has been married to Julie Pinson since 26 August 2006. He was previously married to Marcy Walker.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Bob Elliott was born on 26 March 1923 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Quick Change (1990), Cabin Boy (1994) and Get a Life (1990). He was married to Virginia Lee Peppers and Jane Frances Underwood. He died on 2 February 2016 in Cundy's Harbor, Maine, USA.- Actress
- Director
- Visual Effects
Brittney Wilson began acting at the age of six and has built up an impressive list of credits. Starting in commercials, Brittney quickly moved on to the film and television world, landing her first speaking role in Disney's So Weird (1999) at the age of seven.
She's since gone on to land leading roles in several television series, including E4/Hulu's Gap Year (2017), Discovery Kid's Dinosapien (2007), Nickelodeon's Romeo! (2003), and recurring roles on shows such as the CW's Life Unexpected (2010), A&E's Bates Motel (2013), and DirecTV's Rogue (2013). In addition to her series credits, she's appeared in many movies of the week on the CBC and the Lifetime and SyFy networks.
Brittney is also a talented voice actor, lending her voice to Mattel's Barbie franchise through Barbie: A Fairy Secret (2011) and others, the Polly Pocket franchise through Polly World (2004) and others, the Littlest Pet Shop: A World of Our Own (2017) franchise, and the Warner Bro's animated series Johnny Test (2005), just to name a few.
Brittney is happy to continue her acting career while branching out into producing, directing and writing.- Actor
- Director
- Production Manager
Carlos D'Agostino is known for Diez segundos (1949), Never Open That Door (1952) and La delatora (1955).- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Carly Hannah Chaikin (born March 26, 1990) is an American actress. She began acting in 2009 and received her breakout role two years later, co-starring as Dalia Royce in the ABC sitcom Suburgatory. She played the role until the series' cancellation in 2014, and one year later began playing the role of Darlene in the critically acclaimed USA Network television drama Mr. Robot.
Chaikin was born in Santa Monica, California, to a cardiologist father and a physiotherapist mother. She was raised Jewish. She went to The Archer School for Girls, a high school in Los Angeles. During this time she played a variety of sports, including volleyball, softball, basketball, and soccer.
In 2009, Chaikin landed the role of Veronica in the film The Consultants, released December 4, 2010 in the US. The same year, Chaikin starred alongside Miley Cyrus in the film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' The Last Song, initially released in the US on March 31, 2010. She played the role of Blaze, the antagonist of the film, a rebel that stirs up trouble for Ronnie, played by Cyrus.
In 2011, Chaikin was cast as Dalia Oprah Royce in the ABC sitcom Suburgatory alongside Jeremy Sisto and Cheryl Hines. Chaikin's character, Dalia, was the mean girl to Jane Levy's Tessa, Her performance received universal acclaim; she quickly became a fan favorite and her performance a popular highlight of the show. Chaikin originally auditioned for the role of Tessa. Chaikin wrote a series of articles as her character, Dalia, for the magazine, Parade. As her character, Dalia, she shot a music video called "You Missed A Spot." In 2013, Chaikin was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Suburgatory and was discussed as a potential Emmy nomination. The series ended its run on May 14, 2014.
Chaikin appeared in the 2012 independent film My Uncle Rafael starring John Michael Higgins. In addition to acting, Chaikin is a writer and producer of short films, including Happy Fucking Birthday, and Nowhere to Go, which was honored at the First Glance Film Festival in 2013.
In 2014, Chaikin was cast in the USA Network TV series, Mr. Robot, starring Rami Malek ("Elliot") and Christian Slater ("Mr. Robot"). She plays the programmer Darlene, part of the fsociety group which writes malicious rootkit code. At the 2015 SXSW film festival, the show won the Audience Award for Episodic TV shows. Mr. Robot was picked up for a second season. Mr. Robot has received widespread critical acclaim. Chaikin auditioned for the roles of both Angela and Darlene. She said that it was a great pilot and that the bad-ass nature of the character really appealed to her.
In 2015, Chaikin guest-starred on Marc Maron's TV show, Maron, as Tina, a college teaching assistant whom Marc's friend (played by Adam Goldberg) has slept with.- Tiny Pretty Things (2020), Netflix's original YA drama series stars Casimere, as Bette, a ruthlessly perfect, supremely confident, ambitious "music box ballerina." Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Casimere started dancing at the age of three and modeling with Ford Models at the age of seven. Casimere was discovered in her early teens when acting coach, Lisa Morgan, rented space at her mom's dance studio.
She was a competitive dancer and national championship winner throughout her childhood studying every style of dance. At the age of 12, Casimere realized her true passion was ballet and began intense training under the guidance of Ballet Mistress, Sherry Moray, also spending summers with Chicago's Joffrey Ballet and American Ballet Theatre in New York City. Her extensive ballet and acting training (in addition to traveling back and forth from Chicago to Los Angeles) led her to online schooling throughout her high school years. During her last year of competing in dance, she won first place overall in the contemporary division at the prestigious Youth America Grand Prix in Chicago.
Her first guest appearance (2014) was on the hit TV show, "Chicago P.D.". In (2015), her acting career began to blossom after she landed the lead role as Linz, a social outcast, in "Guidance" on Hulu along side Michele Trachtenberg.
At nineteen, Casimere moved permanently to Los Angeles for her craft. Her first commercial (2017), the "T-Mobile" bad babysitter showed her true dry sense of humor and quick wit. Since then Casimere has appeared in numerous dance commercials including "SK-II" cosmetics, working with Sia's renown dance choreographer, Ryan Heffington, as well as international commercials for "Jockey" underwear, dance campaigns for "Opening Ceremony" and "Webtoons" for google/apple.
In (2017) she starred as the unattainable, Natalie, in the family feature film, "F.R.E.D.I." on Netflix. Casimere also guest starred (2018) in "Code Black" opposite Marcia Gay Harden and Rob Lowe and (2019) Bravo's "Dirty John" with Eric Bana and Julia Garner. (2019) She appeared as a ballet dancer on NBC drama "This Is Us."
Casimere is of French, Lithuanian and Italian descent. Her father is an engineer and business entrepreneur from Worcester, Massachusetts; her mother is an interior designer, author, and former Chicago Bears Cheerleader; and her brother, Ralphie, a trained classical pianist, works at Capitol Records in Los Angeles. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Charlene McKenna was born on 26 March 1984 in Glaslough, County Monaghan, Ireland. She is an actress, known for Raw (2008), Ripper Street (2012) and Breakfast on Pluto (2005). She has been married to Adam Rothenberg since February 2021.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Charly McClain was born on 26 March 1956 in Jackson, Tennessee, USA. She is an actress, known for Hart to Hart (1979), CHiPs (1977) and This Week in Country Music (1985). She has been married to Wayne Massey since July 1984.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Years before Jack Thompson arrived on the scene, Chips Rafferty was regarded by many as the personification of the stereotypically rugged, straightforward and laconic Aussie male. Tall and thin, though not particularly striking in appearance, Rafferty was a tailor-made star for the austere, modestly-budgeted dramas made 'down under' in the 1940s and 50s. His most individual aspect was in not being remotely reminiscent of any other leading contemporary British or American actor. In his youth, Chips had learned boxing and the art of horsemanship. He also displayed an affinity for painting watercolours. By the time he entered the film industry as an extra with Cinesound Studios in 1939, John William Pilbean Goffage (nicknamed 'Chips' since schooldays) had already seen a great deal of life as a sheep-shearer, drover, roo hunter, gold prospector and cellarman in a wine bar. One of his more exotic activities also included that of a 'false teeth packer'. On the side, he also wrote poems and short stories which he sold to several Sydney publications. His first stint on the stage was as assistant and comic foil to a magician.
After his inauspicious screen debut in 1939, Chips came to the attention of film maker Charles Chauvel who assigned him a rather more roguish-sounding surname and proceeded to cast him as a heroic 'digger' in his patriotic wartime drama 40,000 Horsemen (1940). The resulting box-office success, both at home and abroad, led Chauvel to repeat the exercise with The Rats of Tobruk (1944). After wartime duties with the RAAF, Chips managed to persuade British director Harry Watt to star him in the pivotal role of tough cattle drover Dan McAlpine in The Overlanders (1946). This defined the Rafferty screen personae to such an extent, that he continued to play variations on the theme pretty much throughout the remainder of his career.
Under contract to Ealing, Chips had a brief sojourn in England opposite Googie Withers in The Loves of Joanna Godden (1947), followed by an integral part in Eureka Stockade (1949). In the early 50s, he co-founded - and invested much of his own money in - a short-lived production company, Southern International (in conjunction with the director Lee Robinson). They turned out a few unambitious adventure films like Return of the Plainsman (1953) and King of the Coral Sea (1954). Chips appeared in these as the nominal star. For the most part however, lucrative film work was to be found only in Hollywood: in feature films, like Kangaroo (1952), Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and The Sundowners (1960); or as guest star in television episodes, ranging from Gunsmoke (1955) to Tarzan (1966). He remained for many years Australia's most popular and quintessential actor, an archetypal anti-establishmentarian, irreverent in humour, honest and uncomplicated. His penultimate performance as an outback cop in Wake in Fright (1971) is often cited as one of his best.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Choi Woo-sik was born on 26 March 1990 in Seoul, South Korea. He is an actor, known for Parasite (2019), Okja (2017) and Set Me Free (2014).- Chris Hansen was born on 26 March 1959 in Lansing, Michigan, USA. He is an actor, known for Dateline NBC (1992), To Catch a Predator (2004) and The Boys (2019). He has been married to Gabrielle Gagnon since 13 November 2021. He was previously married to Mary Joan Gleich.
- Stunts
- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
One of the modern US cinema's greatest stuntmen and stunt innovators, Dar Robinson only appeared in a relatively small number of films compared to other stuntmen (before losing his life in an off-set motorcycle accident); however, he set new benchmarks in stunt performances.
Robinson first appeared onscreen doubling for Steve McQueen jumping into the sea off a clifftop in Papillon (1973), and the following year leapt into the sea again on a motorbike doubling for crooked cop David Soul in Magnum Force (1973). Robinson also doubled for Henry Silva in the dramatic conclusion to Sharky's Machine (1981) where Silva's hitman character is blasted by cop Burt Reynolds through a plate glass window and falls to his death from an Atlanta, Georgia, skyscraper. In reality, Robinson took the dive out the window and landed an on an airbag many floors below to break his fall!
Dar was a high-fall specialist and one of his most amazing stunts was doubling for Christopher Plummer at the conclusion of Highpoint (1982) where the villain falls from the 1,170-foot-high CN Tower in Toronto, Canada. Once again, Dar took the plunge with a concealed parachute, which he opened at the absolute last moment, and he earned $150,000 for his work. Robinson also appeared in several minor acting roles onscreen; however, in 1987, Burt Reynolds backed his faith in Dar by casting him as the sadistic albino villain "Moke" in the crime thriller Stick (1985). Not only did Dar act in front of the camera but he also designed and performed the incredible stunt where "Moke" falls to his death from a very high balcony, seemingly straight onto the pavement below. In actual fact, Dar was rigged to a complex wire rig that "deccelerated" his fall, and made the use of an airbag unnecessary.
Dar Robinson was much loved by many people in Hollywood and his tragic passing meant the movie business lost a stunt genius and many people lost a sincere friend. Director Richard Donner dedicated his high voltage action film Lethal Weapon (1987) to Dar's memory!- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Producer
In some ways, the seemingly impossible dream of acting was made for someone as tenacious as Dee Christian, a.k.a. "Deke" Anderson. In high school, at a mere 138 pounds, he was an All State Center for the Reno High Huskies. And at only 19, he owned and operated the largest bodybuilding gym in northern Nevada, where he trained to become a 4 time State Champion body builder and also happened to employ Kane Hodder, a.k.a. "Jason" of "Friday the 13th" fame. Deke's love for acting was born at the Nevada Opera Guild, where he performed in many musicals. Not long after he threw Kevin Costner's character off of a bridge in Reno in the feature "Stacy's Knights," he headed to Hollywood. It was 1982; in Westwood, he founded, owned and operated Deke's Muscled Cabs, a pedi-cab business which paid his bills in the beginning. He was Taft-Hartlied into SAG on his first L.A. job. For 40 plus years following that timely Taft Hartley, Deke has had a wonderful career both in front of and behind the camera. Deke directed and field produced 63 episodes of "Real Stories of the Highway Patrol" across and throughout 8 of our great states. He thus developed a deep "nuts and bolts" sense of production needs, and is therefore as reliable as they come as an actor. And Deke is also incredibly nuanced in his acting range, and his reels show it - they reflect a wonderfully diverse cast of characters over many years - Dads, Executives, psychos, Satan, goofballs and more! Deke has also been privileged to be a part of truly iconic TV/Film moments. He is a Tiny Ash tormenting good friend Bruce Campbell in Sam Raimi's cult classic "Army of Darkness," as well as Lilith's bachelor party beefcake stripper love interest "Randy" on "Cheers," and the spoiled arrogant rich suitor striking out with Madonna in her "Material Girl" music video. And he was cast as a Series Regular in what was reportedly then the most expensive CBS TV pilot ever shot! His wealth of experience makes Deke not only an amazing actor, but perhaps more importantly, an amazing acting instructor. Deke has loved mentoring his students in one of the most prominent acting havens in Hollywood and the Southeast region, Next Level Acting Studios. Deke resides in Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia, depending on where he is currently shooting, but Texas with his wife, daughter and Schnauzer is where he calls home.- Actor
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Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on March 26, 1987, Donnie Bentley made his debut as an actor in a Verizon Indy Car Commercial (2011). Also following up with a Nationwide Nascar commercial (2011). Since those early roles, Donnie Bentley has amassed an enviable list of credits that shows no signs of slowing. Just last year he has jump started his TV and Film career, as a marine in the third episode of Cinamax and Showtime's TV series Banshee (2013), The Ultimate life (2013). This year already booked as a Featured American soldier in the upcoming feature Film America the Movie (2014) and as Jason in Fix it in post (2014).
The oldest son of three, son of a construction company business owner And mother-School Admissions Representative, Donnie Bentley was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, but grew up in Fuquay Varina, North Carolina Where he graduated from the local High School. Showing little interest In his father's construction business. Donnie was looking for a change Of scenery and spent some time in the United States Marine Corps. Back To the civilian life, he attended Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina, originally wishing to be a music Education teacher for High school. But after he discovered his inspiration for the Entertainment world he suddenly had to change his direction to modeling And acting, where he got signed with a prestigious agency located in Hickory North Carolina, Where he is currently filming to this day.- Ed Peck was born on 26 March 1917 in New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Bullitt (1968), The Last Unicorn (1982) and Heaven Can Wait (1978). He died on 12 September 1992 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Ed Wasser was born on 26 March 1964 in Roslyn Heights, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Babylon 5 (1993), Quantum Leap (1989) and Stormswept (1995).- Actress
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At just 12 Years old Ella Anderson was praised by critics for her role as Jeannette Walls in "The Glass Castle" as "The show-stealing Ella Anderson" "First among equals" "Emotional and raw" "Simply Enchanting..possessing acting chops well beyond her years." "Anderson is a revelation"
Ella Anderson is a versatile actress known for her roles in "The Glass Castle" 'The Boss,' 'Mother's Day', 'Unfinished Business' and the 2016 Kids Choice Award winner for Favorite Kids TV Show, 'Henry Danger' Anderson was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on March 26, 2005. She got her big break at 5, when she was discovered by a casting director in Detroit, Michigan. She quickly landed a part in the Feature Film 'Touchback', followed by roles in films that include 'The Giant Mechanical Man', 'Last Man Standing', 'The Possession of Michael King', James Franco's directorial debut film, 'Bukowski', as well as Franco's UCLA short film 'Miss Famous' with Kristin Wiig. Anderson has social media follow of nearly 4.5 million strong across multiple platforms, thanks to her role playing Piper Hart in Nickelodeon's 'Henry Danger', which completed production on 128 episodes. While working on the series, she has also appeared in a string of major Hollywood productions including, 'Unfinished Business' with Vince Vaughn, the 2015 blockbuster comedy 'The Boss' with Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Bell and the Garry Marshall helmed, 'Mother's Day' alongside Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston and Julia Roberts. Her work in Destin Daniel Cretton's drama 'The Glass Castle' alongside Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts and Oscar Winner Brie Larson, is unlike anything you have seen from Anderson thus far, proving Anderson can move seamlessly between comedy and drama. Ella lives with her mom, dad and twin brothers, Gabriel and Julian in Los Angeles. She loves animals and is the proud adopted owner of 2 small dogs named Pasha and River.- Actor
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Emilio "El Indio" Fernandez Romo is the most famous person in the history of Mexican movies. For an era he symbolized Mexico due to his violent machismo, rooted in the Revolution of 1910-17, and because of his staunch commitment to Mexican cultural nationalism. Born to a Mexican (Mestizo) father and a Native American Kickapoo mother, Emilio was himself the "mestizaje" (mestizo) that his films would later glorify.
The teenaged Fernandez abandoned his studies to serve as an officer in the Huertista rebellion, which broke out on 12/4/1923, led by Gen. Adolfo de la Huerta. On July 20th of that year, Pancho Villa had been ambushed and murdered; one theory was that the killing was done by agents of Mexican President Álvaro Obregón. Obregon, when he served as a general during the revolution, had defeated Villa in four successive battles collectively known as the Battle of Celaya, which was the largest military confrontation in Latin-American history before the 1982 Falklands War.
Under the Constitution of 1917 that Obregon himself helped write, Mexican presidents could not succeed themselves (Obregon would later have the constitution amended so he could serve a second, non-consecutive term; after winning the presidential election of 1928, he was assassinated before his inauguration). Obregon had won the presidency in 1920 after inciting a successful military revolt against President Venustiano Carranza, who had planned on naming Ignacio Bonillas as his successor instead of Obregon, who believed that he deserved it. The revolt began when the governor of the state of Sonora, Gen. Huerta, broke with President Carranza and declared the secession of Sonora. This was a signal for the beginning of the successful uprising against Carranza, led by Obregon and supported by Gen. Plutarco Elías Calles. After Carranza was killed in an ambush, Huerta served as provisional president of Mexico from 6/1/1920 to 12/1/1920, until elections could be held. When Obregon won the federal election, Huerta became Minister of Finance in the new government.
Huerta considered himself the natural successor to President Obregon, just as Obregon had considered himself Carranza's natural successor. The murdered Villa was seen as an ally of Huerta, who had publicly announced his candidacy for the presidency. Obregon, however, planned to remain in power by handpicking his successor, a tradition that lasted throughout 20th-century Mexican politics. When he named his anti-clerical Minister of the Interior, the former Gen. Calles, as his heir, Huerta rose up in a rebellion that eventually affected half of the Mexican army. Like Huerta a native of Sonora and a former general in the Mexican army, Calles had preceded him as governor and military ruler of their home state from 1915-16. Huerta thought his service and loyalty to Obregon should have brought him the presidency, but Mexican presidents, not allowed to succeed themselves and limited (mostly) to one term, tried to extend their power by naming political puppets as successors (Calles would outdo Obregon by controlling the Mexican presidency outright or through puppets from 1924-34).
The rebellion was a serious threat to Obregon, but he was able to quash it by using loyal army units, battalions of workers and farmers and intervention by the US. By the time the revolt ended in March 1924, 54 generals and 7,000 soldiers were gone, either killed in battle, executed, exiled or dismissed. Obregon banished Huerta to exile in the US (where he lived in Los Angeles, supporting himself as a music teacher). This was the cauldron of violence and nationalism in which the young Fernandez came into his manhood. He received a 20-year prison sentence for his participation in the rebellion on the losing side. Escaping prison by following Huerta into exile in Los Angeles, Fernandez absorbed the rudiments of filmmaking as a bit player and extra working in Hollywood in the 1920s and early 1930s. With the election of Lázaro Cárdenas as president in 1934, the Huertista rebels were granted an amnesty (Huerta himself was recalled from exile by Cardenas in 1935 and served in several posts, including Inspector General of Foreign Consulates and Director General of Civil Pensions). Fernandez returned to Mexico in 1934 and began working in the Mexican movie industry as a screenwriter and actor. His Indian looks, which gave him his nickname "El Indio," also brought him his first lead role, playing an Indian in Janitzio (1935). Due to his imposing physical presence and Indian countenance, El Indio was cast as bandits, charros (cowboys) and revolutionaries.
The Cardenas government of 1934-40 established the framework in which the "Golden Age of Mexican Cinema" could be realized. The political system that dominated Mexico for over half a century was consolidated during his regime. The government incorporated trade unions, campesino (peasant) organizations and middle-class professionals and office workers into the ruling Party of the Mexican Revolution (later the Party of the Institutional Revolution, or PRI). Cardenas oversaw the redistribution of millions of acres of land to peasants and the expansion of collective bargaining rights and wage increases to workers.
Cardenas and all subsequent PRM/PRI presidents (all presidents of Mexico in the 20th century beginning with Calles were PRM/PRI members; Vicente Fox was the first from outside the party in three-quarters of a century) maintained political control of Mexico by granting favors and concessions to their constituencies inside the corporatist party structure in exchange for worker and campesino organizations delivering votes and suppressing discontent among their constituencies. The PRM/PRI itself created an organizational structure for the government that allowed citizens access to the political realm, in the sense that they could interface with government agencies. Once inside the government machine, seeking redress, favors, etc., the non-connected citizen was led through a maze of layers of bureaucracy that never permitted a satisfactory result. Citizens caught in the maze were eventually frustrated and discouraged, but the ingenious if disingenuous system worked as it gave them input--just no guaranteed output. By frustrating them within an institutional structure, the PRM/PRI governments--both federal and state--took the fight out of them. The PRM/PRI sought to control frustration that had led to violence in the past, particularly among the generals who had the power to destabilize the society and economy. That government structure thus served as a homeostatic device for the people's frustration, relieving it and never allowing it to build up again into a revolutionary situation.
Cardenas' most notable achievement arguably was the nationalization of Mexico's oil industry. After unsuccessfully trying to negotiate better terms with Mexican Eagle--the holding company owned by Royal Dutch/Shell and Standard Oil of New Jersey--Cardenas nationalized Mexico's petroleum reserves and expropriated the equipment of the foreign oil companies on 3/18/38. A spontaneous six-hour parade broke out in Mexico City to celebrate the event. Unlike Fidel Castro's nationalization of foreign assets in Cuba, Shell and SONJ were compensated for their expropriated assets. Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and the Mexican model became a beacon for other oil-producing nations seeking to gain control over their own energy resources from foreign companies. Cardenas was the only PRM/PRI president who did not enrich himself while in office. After retiring as Minister of Defense in 1945--the post he took after relinquishing the presidency--he assumed a modest lifestyle. He spent the last years of his life supervising irrigation projects and promoting education and free medical care for the poor. This was the man who set the tone of the modern Mexico that arose from the revolution and civil wars of the 1920s, who cleared the ground for the economic boom of the 1940s in which the "Golden Age of Mexican Cinema" reached its apogee. Classic Mexican cinema has mostly been ignored in the US due to the language barrier and a colonialist mindset suffused with racism. When Mexican cinema has been addressed by those north of the border, the primary focus fell on the brilliant cinematography of Gabriel Figueroa, who shot films for John Ford and John Huston, or on former Hollywood star Dolores Del Río. Fernandez's reputation was so great that he was even appreciated in the US in his lifetime, but his notoriety as a sort of wildman of the Mexican movie industry and his appearance as an actor in Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969) overshadowed his greatness as a director. While Mexico has often served as a locale for American films--the genres of sweet (white) young things imperiled by swarthy Mexican bandits and of Americans in revolutionary Mexico, to say nothing of Zorro and The Cisco Kid--have been part of the Yankee cinema since the East Coast-based film companies began relocating to southern California in the early 1910s. Gringo Warner Baxter won the second Oscar ever awarded for Best Actor playing The Cisco Kid in a role originally intended for Raoul Walsh, of all people. Mexico has been the site of such blockbuster films as Viva Villa! (1934), Juarez (1939), Viva Zapata! (1952), Vera Cruz (1954), The Professionals (1966) and "The Wild Bunch," but except for La caza del oro (1972), a Johnny-Come-Lately to the genre, they seldom featured Mexican actors in anything other than bit parts, if at all, with the exception of Anthony Quinn, one of the few Mexican-Americans to achieve superstar status. Mexican performers taken up by Hollywood --such as Ramon Novarro, Rita Hayworth, John Gavin and Raquel Welch--were, like half-Mexican baseball great Ted Williams (born in San Diego), de-ethnicized in a sort of cultural ethnic cleansing. Salma Hayek, who is of mixed Mexican and Lebanese parentage, is arguably the first Mexican since Lupe Velez and Dolores del Rio to cross over as a Hollywood superstar and remain identifiably Mexican (even at the dawn of a new millennium, she was urged by her Hollywood agents to play up her Arabic ethnicity, even with anti-Arab feeling rife in Hollywood and the US at large--their "reasoning" was that no one would go see a Mexican in movies since their cleaning ladies were Mexican),
Until the 1990s, with Like Water for Chocolate (1992) ("Like Water for Chocolate"), Mexican films themselves seldom strayed in the Yankee consciousness, except for the rare one like The Pearl (1947), based on a novel by Californian John Steinbeck and a prize-winner at the Venice Film Festival. "La Perla" was directed by Fernandez, the greatest director to come out of Mexico's golden age of cinema. The first Mexican feature was released in 1906, though production often was eclipsed by political and economic conditions. There were documentaries made about the Mexican Revolution in the 1910s, but very few films were made in the 1920s. Sergei Eisenstein's trip to Mexico in the early 1930s to make Que Viva Mexico (1979), which remained unfinished due to his problems with his American backer, Upton Sinclair, injected a new enthusiasm into the Mexican movie industry.
While most American film historians place the Golden Age firmly in the 1940s--some specifically assigning it to the period 1943-46 and others extending it until the mid-'50s--the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema properly stretches back to 1936, peaks in the mid-'40s (when the Mexican cinema receives international recognition; two of Fernandez's films won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and were nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festivals) and terminates in the mid-'50s, with the end of Fernandez's 25-film collaboration with cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa. Figueroa, the Mexican movie industry's first great director, inaugurated the Golden Age in 1936 with two hits, Out on the Big Ranch (1936) ("Out at Big Ranch") and Let's Go with Pancho Villa (1936) ("Let's Go with Pancho Villa"). Both were "political message" movies addressing the social and cultural issues lying at the heart of Mexican Revolution. "Vamonos con Pancho Villa" has the distinction of being the first feature produced at the Mexican government-subsidized studio Cinematografica Latino Americana S.A., while "Allá en el Rancho Grande" made Tito Guízar a star. Guizar eventually became the Mexican movie industry's first superstar by playing in the "comedias rancheras" (ranch comedies) genre that was the most popular type of film in Mexico in the 1930s. A hit with audiences throughout Latin America, "comedias rancheras" were set in an idyllic, pre-revolutionary Mexico. The vaudevillian Mario Moreno, who became a Latin-American superstar under the name Cantinflas, made his short-subject debut in 1936 and would soon become the Latin-American film industry's leading comedian when he made his feature-film debut in You're Missing the Point (1940) ("There is the Detail"). The Cantinflas character is rooted in the image of the "pelado," or poor white trash, and his character deflates respectable society through his sharp repartee. Peace--i.e., a lack of overt domestic political turmoil--laid the groundwork for the development of a truly popular indigenous cinema in the 1930s and '40s. The comedias rancheras and Cantinflas comedies helped make the Mexican cinema commercially viable. With Hollywood distracted by turning out propaganda and military training films during World War II, there was an opening in Latin America that the Mexican industry filled. Without competition from Hollywood, the Mexican movie industry dominated Latin-American cinemas for most of the decade. Movie production tripled in the 1940s compared to the previous decade. The Mexican film industry underwent a consolidation and developed a star system, some of whom crossed over to achieve international recognition. The peak of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema came in the 1940s, spurred by rapid industrialization and a resulting affluence--although inequitably distributed--caused by trade with the US, as World War II boosted American demand for Mexican raw materials. The Mexican movie industry became the world's largest producer of Spanish-language films, helped by the fact that the other large producers, Argentina and Spain, were headed by fascist governments. Though the Mexican government was conservative and repressive in the 1940s, it encouraged the production of nationalist films that helped articulate a Mexican identity. During the 1940s Mexican movie stars and directors became popular icons, and some even became public figures with effective political influence. Among the movie stars blossoming during the decade were Dolores del Rio, Pedro Infante, Jorge Negrete, Joaquín Pardavé and María Félix, while Fernandez and Figueroa became globally known. Luis Buñuel moved to Mexico and would direct some of the country's major movies in the following decade.
Mexican movies typically were genre pictures, melodramas, romances, musicals, comedies and horror, which addressed all aspects of Mexican society, from love stories about the "lumpen proletariat" to dramas about the Indians. Mexican movies are a mirror of Mexican society, including history (19th-century dictator Porfirio Díaz and his court, The Revolution and Villa and Emiliano Zapata), obsessions (both familial and erotic) and mythology (Indian and big-city culture). Mexican cinema did this using the classic genres of the the melodrama, the comedy (in its romantic, musical and ranchera versions, and slapstick and farce) and even the horror film. With its proximity to Hollywood, and the fact that many leading lights of the Mexican cinema were familiar with Hollywood production values, the indigenous movie industry set a high standard for itself, as it had to measure up to Hollywood product.
Fernandez made his motion picture debut as an actor in Chano Urueta's El destino (1928), but his early work in movies was in American westerns churned out by Monogram director John P. McCarthy, including the Bob Steele programmers The Oklahoma Cyclone (1930), The Land of Missing Men (1930), Headin' North (1930), The Sunrise Trail (1931) and the Tim McCoy "hoss opera" The Western Code (1932). After a supporting role in Enrico Caruso Jr.'s La buenaventura (1934), he made his return to Mexican pictures in 1934, starring in Heart of a Bandit (1934) and director Fernando de Fuentes' Cruz Diablo (1934).
Fernandez's first film as a director was La isla de la pasión (1942), in 1941, which he also wrote and in which he played a bit part. The movie starred Pedro Armendáriz, who Fernandez would cast in many of his films. Another favorite collaborator was his wife Columba Domínguez. El Indio rapidly gained a reputation as Mexico's premier director making populist dramas. His Maria Candelaria (1944) put Mexican film on the map when it won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946. It has been variously praised as "the highest triumph of Mexican plastic arts on celluloid" and as "a titanic promise for strictly patriotic [Mexican] cinema." French film critic Georges Sadoul, in his 1954 book "Histoire General du Cinema," praised the film for its "authentic" portrayal of rural Mexican life and for addressing race relations.
The film remains controversial in Mexico due to El Indio's aesthetic choices, which emphasized the exotic and primitive, and his representation of Mexican Indians, which some critics believed was inauthentic or "touristy." The nationalistic Fernandez wanted to articulate an idea of what it meant to be Mexican that was uniquely Mexican, and not influenced by Hollywood, whose films he felt were Americanizing Mexican cinema audiences. Terming his films "autos sacramentales [passion plays] of mexicanidad," Fernandez wanted to create a Mexican cinema that Mexicanized Mexicans. The film stars Dolores del Rio, the Hollywood movie star who had returned to Mexico after becoming disillusioned with the American movie industry, as the daughter of a prostitute trying to survive just before the Revolution. Set in the floating gardens of Xochimilco in Mexico City, del Rio's character is shunned by the locals, who are indigenous people. Her great desire is to marry her lover, played by Pedro Armendariz, but their romance proves to be star-crossed. Fernandez's direction was flawless, and Figueroa's black-and-white cinematography was masterful. The collaborators created one of the classics of not just Mexican movies but of world cinema. When El Indio and Figueroa were making "Maria Candelaria," they were part of a movement in which Mexican filmmakers were consciously attempting to create an indigenous art cinema that could compete with Hollywood product while simultaneously articulating a vision of Mexicans that was rooted in the "indigenismo" and "mestizophilia" of Mexican intellectuals. José Vasconcelos, the Minister of Education during the Obregon administration, was particularly influential due to his concepts of "mexicanos en potencia" and the cosmic race. In Vasconcelos' philosophy, the "barbarous" Indian was redeemed by a modernization program based on education, and by the assimilation of the Indians with the Caucausian Europeans into "la raza" of mestizos ("mestizaje"). Gabriel Figueroa was conscious of the fact that he and Fernandez, a creative team that became known as "Epoca de Oro," invented an idea of rural Mexico that did not actually exist. Figueroa established himself as the leader in imagining a new, post-revolutionary Mexican consciousness, through the vehicle of the visual image. A "painter in light," Figueroa learned his craft from Gregg Toland and Eduard Tisse, Eisenstein's cinematographer. Figueroa is credited with creating the classic Mexican film aesthetic in collaboration with El Indio and other film directors. In over 200 movies, he developed the classic imagery and aesthetic of Mexican cinema, which also influenced and was influenced by contemporary Mexican artists. Figueroa pioneered an indigenous visual vernacular that affected the muralist movement, and he has been referred to as the fourth of the most important Mexican muralist after Orozco, Diego Rivera and David Siqueiros. Siqueiros himself called Figueroa's cinematography "murals that travel."
In their 25 films together between 1942-58, El Indio and Figueroa created the idea of "mexicanidad" cinema while elevating the mestizaje (mixed-race) identity, as well as the status of the pre-Columbian culture. The epic visual style they developed was indebted to Eisenstein's unfinished "Que viva Mexico." Their style fetishized the Mexican landscape through beautiful, carefully composed, stationary long shots. For two decades Mexican art cinema was identified with the films resulting from the Fernandez-Figueroa collaboration. Their films not only affected Mexican audiences' collective identity, but they affected how their audiences, both domestic and global, viewed Mexico and its history.
The climax of "Maria Candelaria" was an homage to Carlos Navarro's classic "indigenista" film Janitzio (1935). The movie is evocative of the anti-clerical struggles engendered by the Revolution. The secularization of the Mexican state was begun with the 1910 Revolution, continued with the 1917 Constitution, and reached a violent apotheosis in the Cristero Rebellion of 1926-29, when the President tried to crack down on the Roman Catholic church. However, the anti-clericalism of the revolutionaries had to co-exist with the cult of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the symbol that has proved the most powerful and enduring in creating a Mexican national consciousness. Our Lady has served as a symbol for political struggles from the 19th-century wars of independence to the Cristero wars. On one level, "Maria Candelaria" is a paean to the cult of the Virgin Mary, a phenomenon present in much of classical Mexican cinema, which likely is one of the reasons the films Fernandez and Figueroa and others of the 1940s and 1950s proved so popular all over Latin America.
In 1946 Fernandez filmed an adaptation of John Steinbeck's novella "The Pearl," in Spanish- and English-language versions. Shot by Figueroa and starring El Indio's favorite actor, Pedro Armendariz, "La perla" won El Indio a nomination for Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, further solidifying his notoriety as a director and publicizing the Mexican movie industry. The film also won him the Golden Ariel for Best Picture at the 1948 Ariel Awards (the Mexican equivalent of the Oscars), and Fernandez, Figueroa, Armendariz and Juan García won Silver Ariels for Best Direction, Cinematography, Actor and Supporting Actor, respectively. Figueroa won a Golden Globe for Best Cinematography in 1949 from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
In 1948 Salón México (1949) was released, written and directed by Fernandez with cinematography by Figueroa. An urban melodrama, the film was groundbreaking in that it helped usher in a new genre, the "cabaretera" (cabaret) film, racier and just as commercial as the familiar genre of rancheras, which was then fading in popularity. The movie recreates the atmosphere of the famous Mexico City dance hall and won Marga López an Ariel Award for her role as the taxi dancer Mercedes. The movie featured a sensual soundtrack performed by the Afro-Cuban music group Son Clave de Oro. By the end of the 1940s Emilio Fernandez was the most famous and prestigious director in all of Latin America. He would continue his reign as Mexico's premier director into the mid-'50s, when his powers began to decline and Spanish amigra Luis Buñuel took over the title. As the most famous directors and biggest stars aged or died, Mexican cinema began to decline commercially, and the Golden Age of Mexican cinema came to an end (ironically, Bunuel's Mexican oeuvre strengthened as the national cinema went into decline and L'age d'or went into eclipse).
Although Fernandez and Figueroa last worked together in El puño del amo (1958), which starred El Indio's half-brother Jaime Fernández, the collaboration was essentially over by the mid-'50s when they made La rosa blanca (1954) and La Tierra del Fuego se apaga (1955). Their last great film together was La rebelión de los colgados (1954) (based on B. Traven's "Rebellion of the Hanged," it's English-language title), which starred Pedro Armendariz and Emiolio's half-brother Jaime Fernández, both of whom were nominated for Silver Ariel awards as Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively. Jaime Fernandez won the Ariel, as did Amanda del Llano for Best Supporting Actress, Gloria Schoemann for editing and José B. Carles for sound. Antonio Díaz Conde was nominated for a Silver Ariel for Best Score. As his collaboration with Fernandez waned, Figueroa's professional relationship with Bunuel waxed. Figueroa first served as director of photography on Bunuel's classic The Young and the Damned (1950), which won 11 Ariels in 1951, including the Golden Ariel as Best Picture in 1951 and awards for Best Cinematography for Figueroa and Best Director and Original Story for Bunuel. Their other films together were Nazarin (1959) ("This Strange Passion"; winner of the International Prize at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival), Fever Mounts at El Pao (1959); The Young One (1960), (which won a Special Mention at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival); The Exterminating Angel (1962), ("The Exterminating Angel"); and Simon of the Desert (1965) ("Simon of the Desert"). Of the Golden Age output, "New York Times" movie critic A.O. Scott said, "There is a frankness in these films that would never have passed muster with the Hays Office." The Golden Age had peaked in the 1940s, bolstered by the economic boom caused by the World War II alliance with the US, government support for the industry via state-funded studios, the maturation of a star system, and the rationalization of distribution and exhibition. Aside from Bunuel's pictures, the post-Golden Age era saw indigenous cinema suffer through the 1960s, as the industry became more dependent on formulaic pictures and such popular genres as the "Santo the Wrestler" series. During the 1960s and 1970s many low-grade horror and action movies were produced with professional wrestler Santo and Hugo Stiglitz being the biggest stars. However, the moribund 1960s led to a revival of government support for the industry in the 1970s, which established the base for a revival of Mexican art cinema in the 1980s and 1990s. El Indio continued directing films until 1979, but when his collaboration with Figueroa ended in 1958, his reputation suffered as the artistry of his pictures declined. He began acting more, though he directed a picture every few years. Gradually, the notoriety of his life began overtaking his reputation as a filmmaker. El Indio lived out the fantasy of perhaps every director when he shot a critic, who had dissed one of his movies, in the testicles. A violent man, he shot and killed a farm laborer, which he claimed was in self-defense. Convicted of manslaughter in 1976, he served six months of a 4-1/2-year sentence. By the 1960s Fernandez's off-screen reputation as a violent man led to his typecasting as brutal villains in many Mexican and American films. As an actor, Fernandez appeared with his brother, singer/actor Fernando Fernández, in John Ford's The Fugitive (1947), on which he also served as associate producer. Other American films he appeared in were John Huston's The Unforgiven (1960) (on which he also served as second unit director) and The Night of the Iguana (1964), the John Wayne pictures The War Wagon (1967) and Chisum (1970) (on which he also served as second unit director), Sidney J. Furie's The Appaloosa (1966) in support of Marlon Brando, and Burt Kennedy's Return of the Seven (1966). After assaying the role of renegade Mexican Gen. Mapache in the classic "The Wild Bunch", Fernandez appeared in two other Peckinpah films, as Paco in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) and as El Jefe, who gives the order to Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974). He was reunited with John Huston in Under the Volcano (1984) and appeared in Roman Polanski's Pirates (1986).
El Indio's last two films as a writer-director were México Norte (1979) and Erótica (1979), in which he also starred. In all, El Indio directed 43 pictures from 1942-79. He was the credited screenwriter on 40 pictures, starting with Beautiful Sky (1936) in 1936. He also served as second-unit director, both credited and uncredited, on such American pictures shot in Mexico as The Magnificent Seven (1960), in which he was attached to the American crew by the Mexican government to ensure that the depictions of Mexicans were not racist or demeaning. Fernandez died in Mexico City on 8/6/86.
Government sponsorship of the industry and the creation of state-supported film helped create the phenomenon known as the "Nuevo Cine Mexicano" ("New Mexican Cinema") that catapulted Mexican movies into prominence on the global market in the 1990s. Amores Perros (2000), And Your Mother Too (2001) and The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002) are just three of the most recent Mexican films that have featured prominently in American art cinemas. The spirit of El Indio lives on!
In 2002 "La Perla" was named to the National Film Preservation Board's National Film Registry, which is maintained by the US Library of Congress. Fernandez and his collaborator Gabriel Figueroa were honored on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of El Indio's birth at the inaugural Puerto Vallarta Film Festival of the Americas held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in November 2004.- Emily Tosta was born on 26 March 1998 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She is an actress, known for Mayans M.C. (2018), Party of Five (2020) and Willy's Wonderland (2021).
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Eric Allan Kramer is an American actor and fight choreographer. Kramer has appeared in numerous feature films and television programs including True Romance and Robin Hood: Men in Tights and is also known for his performances as Thor in The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988), and as Scott Miller on AMC's Lodge 49 but is best known for his role as Dave Rogers on The Hughleys and Bob Duncan on Good Luck Charlie from 2010-2014. He also appeared as Iron Mike Wilcox in the 2019 video game Days Gone.- Actor
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Ernest Lee Thomas was born in an economically-low neighborhood in Gary, Indiana. Thomas's attempt to become a successful person was to move to New York and become a Broadway actor. He made his professional debut as as a Broadway actor appearing in the 1974 revival production of Love For Love, also in the 1975 revival production of 'The Member Of The Wedding'.
Thomas also became a graduate of the prestigious American Academy Of Dramatic Arts in New York City. He then moved to Los Angeles to further pursue his career as a television and film actor. Shortly after moving there he received a role on the starting sitcom The Jeffersons (1975) playing the character Ronnie Walker. Thomas also guest starred on other popular shows like Baretta (1975) and The Brady Bunch (1969).
During a taping session of The Jeffersons (1975) he was informed by the agent of Isabel Sanford that there was an audition for a show called, What's Happening!! (1976). He landed the role of Roger "Raj" Thomas at the age of 26. He said there were two-hundred talented actors up for the role and he states he was very blessed to have been chosen.
Shortly after the show's cancellation in 1979 despite it's high ratings, Ernest Thomas was on the verge of making his mark in Hollywood as a movie actor. Thomas received the opportunity to be a part of the comedy crime film A Piece of the Action (1977) starring along side comedic genius Bill Cosby and two Academy Award winners, Sidney Poitier and James Earl Jones. Thomas played the character John and the movie went on to receive rave reviews.
After just missing out on the role of Kunta Kinte in the successful mini-series Roots (1977), Thomas was given the role of Kailubu. Roots (1977) went on to win several prestigious awards and inspired millions of people to find their ancestral background like Alex Haley, the author of the book on which the series was based.
What's Happening Now! (1985) was the sitcom sequel to What's Happening!! (1976). This time the spin-off presented Raj as a more mature and well-developed character, even having a wife played by Anne-Marie Johnson, and becoming a successful writer. The show was in syndication for three years. Soon after the show ended Thomas made several guest appearances on various shows as Raj Thomas including The Parent 'Hood (1995), Martin (1992), Soul Food (2000), The Steve Harvey Show (1996), All About the Andersons (2003) and Just Jordan (2007).
In 1992, Ernest Thomas starred along side various renowned actors including Denzel Washington in the biographical movie, Malcolm X (1992). Thomas played the character Sidney. The film was a success and was recently selected to be placed in the United States National Film Registry by Library Of Congress as they described it as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In 1996 Thomas starred opposite gospel Grammy award singer Kirk Franklin in the sold out tour of "He Say, She Say, But What Does God Say". In 2005, Ernest Thomas made his comeback of being a sit-com star by being a recurring character in the period sitcom, Everybody Hates Chris (2005). Ernest Thomas played a funeral director, Mr.Omar. Ernest Thomas also because of this role is vividly remembered by younger and older audiences.
Ernest Thomas earned a bachelor degree of Science in Sociology and Psychology from Indiana State University. Though Thomas has never married, and is believed not to have any children, nevertheless, in an interview with VladTV, Thomas mentioned that he does have a daughter.Ernest Lee Thomas- Etienne Draber was born on 26 March 1939 in Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France. He was an actor, known for Madame Bovary (1991), Le fou du roi (1984) and Plus belle la vie (2004). He died on 11 January 2021 in Paris, France.
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As an actor, Evan has starred or co-starred in various films, television series, commercials and other forms of entertainment. As a filmmaker Evan's short film "Woman X" was shortlisted for a BAFTA award and was shown on HBO and Starz. His other short film that he wrote and starred in "Cloud Nine", directed by Nicole Bettauer was a Skky Vodka Short Film Festival finalist and was seen on HBO. "In a Day", Evan's debut feature as a writer / director played numerous festivals and won various awards and had a theatrical run in Los Angeles. "In a Day" was picked up for domestic and international distribution by IFC Films and was seen on the Sundance Channel, Netflix, Amazon, iTunes and other online platforms. Evan also directs, writes and or creates music videos, commercials, web content and other creative side projects, as well as continues to act.- Actress
- Writer
Floriana Lima was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. She studied Communication at Ohio State University and thought she would go into investigative journalism. Post- graduation, she worked as a production assistant at NBC4 in Columbus, Ohio. It was there that she realized she wanted to switch gears to on-camera work. She moved to LA shortly after and started booking acting jobs.
Lima quickly established herself as one of the fresh-new faces on television. She played Maggie Sawyer, a detective for the National City Police Department who takes a special interest in the cases involving aliens, in the second season of the CW series Supergirl. She played Miranda Riggs in multiple episodes of the Fox series Lethal Weapon. And, she was in the ABC political drama, The Family. Lima wrote, produced, and starred in the web comedy series Girls Guide to LA.- Actress
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- Additional Crew
Francesca Marie Smith was born on 26 March 1985. She is an actress and writer, known for Hey Arnold! (1996), Hey Arnold: The Jungle Movie (2017) and The Prince of Egypt (1998).- Director
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- Camera and Electrical Department
Francis Lawrence is an American filmmaker. He started directing over sixty music videos before he directed the cult classic Keanu Reeves film Constantine, I Am Legend and Water for Elephants. He also directed The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2, and Red Sparrow, which all starred Jennifer Lawrence.- Composer
- Soundtrack
Fred Parris was born on 26 March 1936 in Milford, Connecticut, USA. He was a composer, known for Dead Ringers (1988), Dirty Dancing (1987) and The Irishman (2019). He was married to Emma. He died on 13 January 2022 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Frederikke Dahl Hansen was born on 26 March 1994 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She is an actress, known for Copenhagen (2014), Denmark (2017) and You & Me Forever (2012).- Freya Tingley was born in Perth, Australia (the most isolated city in the world) on March 26, 1994. From a very young age, Freya took to performing, where she explored modeling, singing, dancing and the like, but it finally clicked when she enrolled in an acting school. The ability to inhabit other characters, far away from her own personality, provided a creative high unlike anything she had experienced. With an admiration for character actors such as Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman, she decided to follow in their footsteps.
Taking the leap of faith at the tender age of seventeen, Freya's supportive mum allowed her to move to Hollywood to "give it a shot for a year" -- her only plan B being a bakery in Perth where she had a part-time shift. Now, it is true that Freya makes a great muffin with raspberries and white chocolate, but it is hardly her calling. Determined, she went on hundreds of auditions and on the very day of her 18th birthday, she booked Netflix's second original series Hemlock Grove, helmed by horror master Eli Roth.
The rest, as they say, is history as she went on to play a variety of characters in both TV and film including originating the "Wendy Darling" character in the Peter Pan segment of Once Upon a Time for ABC, as well as Franki Valli's troubled daughter in the film adaptation of the Broadway smash Jersey Boys, directed by Clint Eastwood -- a personal hero of Freya's, and like Clint, she has plans to make the transition from actor to actor/director in the near future.
She still cooks muffins with raspberries and white chocolate, but is proud to call the film industry her vocation, and most importantly, her passion. - Gabriela Rodriguez was born on 26 March 1993. She is an actress, known for Days of Our Lives (1965), As the Bell Rings (2007) and The Tenant (2010).
- Actress
- Producer
Gala Gordon is a British producer and most recently been appointed Contributing Editor at Harper's Bazaar to cover the West End theatre shows online and in print.
Gala has co-founded a new production company with actress Lily James. They develop thought-provoking and innovative film, television and theatre.
Previously, Gala founded her former production company Platform Presents to create a platform for rising talent: actors, writers and directors, with a particular interest in female voices. In a quest to discover new and exciting writing talent, Gala initiated the Platform Presents Writers Prize amassing up to 3000 entries per year from across the globe. During this time, Gala worked with many formidable writers including, Robert Schenkkan, Kenneth Lonergan and Mary Laws. As a result of the Prize, Platform Presents produced the European premiere of Mary Law's play Blueberry Toast at the Soho Theatre (Fleabag), which received critical acclaim. Harper's Bazaar selected Gala as a 2020 Change Maker, whilst Vanity Fair, Forbes, The Evening Standard and The New Yorker reviewed her company's work.
Tipped by ES Magazine as 'a woman pivoting to transform London's West End,' Gala was chosen as a UK representative of the theatre industry to discuss Rebuilding our Capital of Culture interviewed by Chief Theatre Critic, Nick Curtis.- Actor
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Gary was nominated for Best Actor for the Canadian series "Wild Roses" for the CBC at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in 2009. The show was also nominated. Born and raised in Newport News, Virginia.. He is a proud uncle, and son of Joe and Bev...and has 9 nieces and nephews. Gary moved to Los Angeles in 1979, but always considers Virginia his home. For the last 14 years he has split his time between the States and Canada. Gary is now a dual citizen, and enjoys the time he spends in the great white north. He has been teaching acting for the past 15 years, doing seminars in the US and Canada, and just finished teaching a semester at the University of the Arts in San Francisco. He enjoys his "frustrating" time on the golf course, playing in numerous charity events every year, and still swings a pretty mean tennis racket. A big sports fan...he cheers for the underdog...Cowboys - Joe Tores team in New York City...and the house that Jerry West built.- With over 100 projects in film, television and in theatre Gene Bervoets (1956) is one of Belgium's well-established actors. In 2015 he won the Ensor for Best Actor for his interpretation of bus driver Mario Dockers in Paradise Trips. Additionally, Bervoets has been nominated several times in the aforementioned category among which his nomination for a Golden Calf in 2009 for his role in De Laatste Dagen van Emma Blank. One of the prices brought home for Erotic Tales: The Waiting Room, written and directed by Jos Stelling, was a Golden Calf for Best Short Film. Most recently Bervoets is known for playing the leading role of Maurice Teirlinck, an ex-commander in the navy and fugitive, in Beau Séjour 2. Bervoets was part of the series Professor T., Tabula Rasa, Lockdown and Déjà Vu to name a few. In film he worked with directors including Alex van Warmerdam, Dominique Deruddere and Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah. At the moment Bervoets is on set with Willem Dafoe, working on a movie directed by Vasilis Katsoupis.
- Germán Kraus was born on 26 March 1944 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is an actor, known for Mi familia es un dibujo (1996), Dibu 3 (2002) and Nada x perder (2001).
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Hakeem Abdul-Samad was born on 26 March 1975 in Carson, California, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for Ernest Goes to Camp (1987), Amen (1986) and Diff'rent Strokes (1978).- Actress
- Writer
Haley Ramm has been making a name for herself over the past decade working alongside Hollywood veterans such as Jodie Foster, Sean Penn, Hope Davis, Jason Bateman and Peter Sarsgaard. Her innocent beauty coupled with her gritty roles in film and television have made her a standout among young Hollywood. Haley most recently starred in Hulu's thriller Light As A Feather and is well known from her starring role in the Freeform drama Chasing Life. She can next be seen starring opposite Keke Palmer in the Showtime film PIMP from Executive Producer Lee Daniels.
At age three Haley Ramm, a Dallas native, started dancing in local studios. Her love of dancing on stage led to enrollment in acting classes and, at the recommendation of a teacher, her parents began looking for an agent. Almost immediately she signed an agency contract. After a few years of booking independent shorts and a slew of Hasbro commercials, Haley and her family ( with the help of her Dallas agent) discussed giving Los Angeles a shot.
Upon making the move from Texas, she began booking roles and capturing audiences in co-star / guest-star roles and blockbuster films. After finding a manager in L.A., she booked small guest roles on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000) and Yes, Dear (2000). Those television roles were followed by two national commercials. Then she booked what was to be her feature film debut in Rumor Has It... (2005). The Rob Reiner-directed film went through script rewrites and her role as "the young Jennifer Aniston" was cut to merely still shots. Soon after came Flightplan (2005). Just a few short months after completing "Flightplan" she booked the role of Kelly Beardsley, Dennis Quaid's daughter, in the comedy Yours, Mine & Ours (2005). It was another great opportunity to work with phenomenal actors. Dennis, Rene Russo and Jerry O'Connell proved to be great role models with strong work ethics. Soon after came Into The Wild (2007), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Skateland (2010), Red State (2011) and Disconnect (2012). At the same time she was building her TV resume with a notable 6 episode arc on Without A Trace and guest stars on NCIS, iCarly, The Mentalist and Nikita. Since then Haley has steadily worked even while a series regular on Freeform's Chasing Life. During these years she shot Dakota's Summer [in which she stars as 'Dakota Rose' with Emily Rickards and Marin Hinkle], ImagiGary [directed by and starring The Middle's Charlie McDermott], and Victor [with Khleo Thomas], Blumhouse's Seven in Heaven, Banana Split [ Written by Hannah Marks and directed by Benjamin Kasulke].
In 2015, she joined forces with AARDA (American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association) as a celebrity ambassador and together, with her mother who suffers from multiple autoimmune diseases, launched AARDA's "Linking Together For A Cure" walk in Los Angeles which is in its 4th year. Raising awareness and research money for these diseases is a passion for Ramm and she has successfully recruited support and spread awareness for AARDA.
Haley currently resides in Los Angeles .- Actor
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Harrison Houde "Canada's young up-and-coming top rising stars." -Hollywood Reporter
Harrison has acted in over 100 episodes of television. He hosted 3 seasons of an educational children's science show called Finding Stuff Out (2011-2014) in which he won a Canadian Screen Award for in 2016 the highest accolade in Canadian film. You may also have seen Harrison as Scaredy in Spooksville (2013-2014). Harrison is also known as Bowie Sherman in YTV's & Netflix original sitcom Some Assembly Required (3 seasons, 2014-2016) for which he got nominated for a Young Artist Award. His first appearance was on the big screen screen in the 20th Century Fox theatrical release of Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010) as Darren Walsh 'The Cheese Touch Kid', as well he has made appearances performing in The Fairly Odd Parents [Live Action Movie] (2011), Disney XD's Pants on Fire (2014), Rogue (2017), CW's iZombie (2018), The Hollow (Netflix, 2018) and Summer of '84 (Sundance Film Festival, 2018) .
Harrison Houde has been involved in music and film when he was only 4 years old. Since his early teens he's been writing music and composing scores for his original online content. He plays piano, drums, and various electronic instruments with some serious skill; he always knows how to pick up a beat. He continues using these talents in his acting and producing career. Harrison began creating original digital content on YouTube in 2008, and quickly gained recognition amongst the early YouTube community. Before he transitioned to traditional content in 2012 he gained over 17,000 subscribers, and over a million total views.
Houde continues to act, and has started a production company Houde Entertainment Inc. developing various projects he has a passion for. His films have premiered at festival de Cannes with Telefilm Canada's Not Short on Talent, TIFF Kids, Toronto Shorts International Film Festival, California's Independent Film Festival, IndiFest, and more. Harrison is currently developing his feature-length directorial debut.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Harry Rabinowitz was born on 26 March 1916 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was a composer and actor, known for Masters of the Universe (1987), Time Bandits (1981) and Death and the Maiden (1994). He was married to Mary (Mitzi) Cooper Scott and Lorna Thurlow Anderson. He died on 22 June 2016 in France.- Heather Goldenhersh was born on 26 March 1973 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for The Merchant of Venice (2004), Wedding Daze (2006) and Kinsey (2004). She is married to Brían F. O'Byrne. They have two children.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Heidi Zeigler is best known for her roles on the 1980's television series Rags to Riches Rags to Riches (1987) and Just the Ten of Us Just the Ten of Us (1987). Zeigler began acting at the tender age of three. After doing her fair share of national commercials by age four, she began landing a stream of consecutive roles and was a highly pursued child star until her retirement in 1992. At age four, she landed ABC-TV's movie Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter (starring Jeff Goldblum and Cloris Leachman), in which she played one of Goldblum's two daughters. Soleil Moon Frye is also credited in the TV drama, portraying Zeigler's character as having aged several years at the culmination of the movie. At five, Heidi co-starred in the TV pilot for an unsold series, "Mr. Mom" (starring Barry Van Dyke). Also among her early roles were television movie California Girls (Robbie Benson, Ernie Hudson, Doris Roberts, Zsa Zsa Gabor) and an episode of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories Amazing Stories (1985)." Interestingly, a number of her co-stars on both Rags to Riches and Just the Ten of Us also appeared in episodes of Amazing Stories. At age six, Zeigler was cast in what was perhaps her most popular role, as "Mickey Foley," the youngest of six orphan girls adopted by millionaire bachelor "Nick Foley" (Joseph Bologna), on NBC's one-hour musical drama Rags to Riches Rags to Riches (1987) (co-stars included Tisha Campbell and Heather McAdam). The show piloted as a two hour television movie in 1986 and was canceled in 1988, despite having a large fan base. Interest in Heidi Zeigler's work has recently resurfaced with the airing of television's Glee Glee (2009), as some fans are now likening the show to Rags to Riches due to shared commonalities in genre. After the cancellation of Rags to Riches in 1988, Zeigler was quickly cast as "Sherry Lubbock" in ABC's "Just the Ten of Us," spin off of Growing Pains Growing Pains (1985). Zeigler, along with Just the Ten of Us co-stars (including Jamie Luner and Brooke Theiss), appeared in two episodes of Growing Pains shortly before landing this role. Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and Dennis Haysbert all appeared as recurring roles on Just the Ten of Us. Both Growing Pains and Just the Ten of Us were starting points for numerous stars, including also Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. The shows were taped in adjacent sound stages at Warner Brothers. Shortly after Just the Ten of Us was canceled in 1990, Zeigler was cast as "Swan Babit" in her first feature film as part of an all-star ensemble in 'Paramount Picture''s There Goes the Neighborhood (starring Jeff Daniels and Catherine O'Hara). Zeigler's co-stars included Hector Elizondo, Rhea Perlman, Chazz Palminteri, Harris Yulin and Judith Ivey. Working closely with Rhea Perlman and Dabney Coleman (as their daughter in the film), it is rumored that despite Zeigler's vocal desire to retire in order to attend public school, she consented to what would be her final role in the Fox TV series Drexell's Class_"Drexell's Class" (1991)_ (starring Dabney Coleman), as a result of Coleman's request to feature Zeigler as a lead role in the series. Both Jason Biggs and the late Brittany Murphy started their careers as co-stars on Drexell's Class. Lasting only two seasons, the show was canceled in 1992. Zeigler then retired to pursue a private life as an adolescent student in her hometown of Westlake Village, California. Since her retirement, Heidi Zeigler has maintained a private life, earning her B.S. and multiple graduate degrees after being on record as a student B.Y.U., U.S.D., S.D.S.U., and C.S.U.S.M. from 1997 to present (2011). Despite remaining private, updated photographs have surfaced as it appears she was involved in a Rags to Riches reunion event with co-star Blanca De Garr and the show's creator (Broadway producer Bernie Kukoff) in 2010.- Izzy Young was born on 26 March 1928 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Det finns inga smålänningar (1981), Evil Ed (1995) and Folklore Center Blues (2017). He died on 4 February 2019 in Stockholm, Sweden.
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Jack Snyder, known for his stylistic storytelling and twist endings, is an award-winning filmmaker who has written, directed, and produced both features and short films.
Jack began his journey into professional filmmaking by co-writing and directing "Ghost Image" (2007) in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. This supernatural thriller stars Elisabeth Rohm (American Hustle, Joy) and Stacey Dash (Clueless). "Ghost Image" aired over 250 times on the Showtime Network and The Movie Channel and was picked up by 20th Century Fox and NBC/Universal for foreign distribution.
Snyder's second film, "Fatal Call" (2012), which he directed from his own screenplay, is an action-thriller about a man's small town affair with a seductive woman that sends his life spiraling out of control. The film stars Jason London (Dazed and Confused), Danielle Harris (multiple Halloween movies), and Kevin Sorbo (Hercules, Andromeda). It was released on VOD through Warner Brothers in 2013.
In 2015, Jack and actor/writer/director Griff Furst (The Magnificent Seven, Trumbo, Banshee) co-wrote a chilling screenplay adaptation of the horror novel, Cold Moon Over Babylon, by the late Michael McDowell, a novelist and screenwriter best known for "Beetlejuice" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas". The film, titled "Cold Moon", stars Josh Stewart (Criminal Minds, Interstellar, The Dark Knight Rises), Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), Frank Whaley (Pulp Fiction, Luke Cage), Robbie Kay (Once Upon A Time, Heroes Reborn) and Candy Clark (American Graffiti, Zodiac). It is slated for a limited theatrical release in late 2017.
Jack Snyder resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Carol, and stepson Michael, and when he is not making movies or writing screenplays, he spends time with his family down at the beach.- Actor
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- Stunts
A masculine and enigmatic actor whose life and movie career have had more ups and downs than the average rollercoaster and whose selection of roles has arguably derailed him from achieving true superstar status, James Caan is New York-born and bred.
He was born in the Bronx, to Sophie (Falkenstein) and Arthur Caan, Jewish immigrants from Germany. His father was a meat dealer and butcher. The athletically gifted Caan played football at Michigan State University while studying economics, holds a black belt in karate and for several years was even a regular on the rodeo circuit, where he was nicknamed "The Jewish Cowboy". However, while studying at Hofstra University, he became intrigued by acting and was interviewed and accepted at Sanford Meisner's Neighborhood Playhouse. He then won a scholarship to study under acting coach Wynn Handman and began to appear in several off-Broadway productions, including "I Roam" and "Mandingo".
He made his screen debut as a sailor in Irma la Douce (1963) and began to impress audiences with his work in Red Line 7000 (1965) and the western El Dorado (1966) alongside John Wayne and Robert Mitchum. Further work followed in Journey to Shiloh (1968) and in the sensitive The Rain People (1969). However, audiences were moved to tears as he put in a heart-rending performance as cancer-stricken Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo in the highly rated made-for-TV film Brian's Song (1971).
With these strong performances under his belt, Francis Ford Coppola then cast him as hot-tempered gangster Santino "Sonny" Corleone in the Mafia epic The Godfather (1972). The film was an enormous success, Caan scored a Best Supporting Actor nomination and, in the years since, the role has proven to be the one most fondly remembered by his legion of fans. He reprised the role for several flashback scenes in the sequel The Godfather Part II (1974) and then moved on to several very diverse projects. These included a cop-buddy crime partnership with Alan Arkin in the uneven Freebie and the Bean (1974), a superb performance as a man playing for his life in The Gambler (1974) alongside Lauren Hutton, and pairing with Barbra Streisand in Funny Lady (1975). Two further strong lead roles came up for him in 1975, first as futuristic sports star "Jonathon E" questioning the moral fiber of a sterile society in Rollerball (1975) and teaming up with Robert Duvall in the Sam Peckinpah spy thriller The Killer Elite (1975).
Unfortunately, Caan's rising star sputtered badly at this stage of his career, and several film projects failed to find fire with either critics or audiences. These included such failures as the hokey Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976), the quasi-western Comes a Horseman (1978) and the saccharine Chapter Two (1979). However, he did score again with the stylish Michael Mann-directed heist movie Thief (1981). He followed this with a supernatural romantic comedy titled Kiss Me Goodbye (1982) and then, due to personal conflicts, dropped out of the spotlight for several years before returning with a stellar performance under old friend Francis Ford Coppola in the moving Gardens of Stone (1987).
Caan appeared back in favor with fans and critics alike and raised his visibility with the sci-fi hit Alien Nation (1988) and Dick Tracy (1990), then surprised everyone by playing a meek romance novelist held captive after a car accident by a deranged fan in the dynamic Misery (1990). The 1990s were kind to him and he notched up roles as a band leader in For the Boys (1991), another gangster in Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), appeared in the indie hit Bottle Rocket (1996) and pursued Arnold Schwarzenegger in Eraser (1996).
The demand on Caan's talents seems to have increased steadily over the past few years as he is making himself known to a new generation of fans. Recent hot onscreen roles have included The Yards (2000), City of Ghosts (2002) and Dogville (2003). In addition, he finds himself at the helm of the hit TV series Las Vegas (2003) as casino security chief "Big Ed" Deline. An actor of undeniably manly appeal, James Caan continued to surprise and delight audiences with his invigorating performances up until his death in July 2022 at the age of 82.- Music Department
- Actor
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A graduate of East Side High School in Newark, New Jersey, James Moody took up the alto saxophone at the age of sixteen, and after serving in the U.S. Air Force Band, he joined Dizzy Gillespie and was associated with him and with Milt Jackson throughout the '40's; at the end of the decade he moved to Sweden where he became known for his "Moody's Mood for Love", his take on the standard "I'm In The Mood For Love". He continued his association with Gillespie, and also headlined his own band. In 1985, he received a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance on Manhattan Transfer's "Vocalese" album. A jazz stalwart for several decades, Moody is still active in the field, and is proficient on tenor, alto and soprano sax as well as the flute.- Actress
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Jennifer Grey is an American actress who starred in the film Dirty Dancing (1987) opposite Patrick Swayze, a sleeper hit that would become one of the biggest films of the 1980s. She had previously appeared with Patrick Swayze in John Milius's cold war drama Red Dawn (1984) as 'Toni,' one of the 'Wolverines,' a group of renegade teenagers fighting for their country during World War III.
She then starred in Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club (1984) and the John Badham project American Flyers (1985). By this time she had been linked in with the 'so-called' Brat Pack and unsurprisingly won a starring role in John Hughes's hit comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) playing the older sister of Matthew Broderick and love interest of Charlie Sheen.
As the 1980s drew to a close, Jennifer headlined Howard Brookner's romantic drama Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989), which again teamed her with Alan Ruck, and also Matt Dillon and Madonna. Since then she has worked steadily, starring in over 34 Film and TV appearances including If the Shoe Fits (1990), Wind (1992), and Bounce (2000).
Jennifer will nevertheless be best remembered as 'Baby' in Dirty Dancing (1987), a role that earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress.- Jessica Leigh McClure was born in 1983 in Illinois. She attended Brigham Young University from 2002 to 2005 where she met her husband, Jedediah McClure. They were married on November 16, 2005. Jessica lives in Illinois with her husband and two kids. Jessica Leigh McClure is a performer and the owner of Parties with Character, a company dedicated to creating unique memories through meaningful entertainment by providing Princess, Superhero & character appearances in the Chicagoland area (http://www.partieswithcharacter.me/).
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Joby Baker was born on 26 March 1934 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is an actor and writer, known for Girl Happy (1965), Quincy M.E. (1976) and Key Witness (1960). He was previously married to Dory Previn, Joyce Harriet Winter and Joan Blackman.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Joe Anderson was born on 26 March 1982 in England, UK. He is an actor, known for Across the Universe (2007), The Crazies (2010) and The Ruins (2008). He is married to Elle.- John Malcolm was born on 26 March 1936 in Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland, UK. He was an actor, known for Emmerdale Farm (1972), Enemy at the Door (1978) and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984). He was married to Tamara Fuerst. He died on 14 June 2008 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
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- Music Department
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Johnny Crawford was born on 26 March 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for The Rifleman (1958), Hellboy (2004) and The Thirteenth Floor (1999). He was married to Charlotte Samco. He died on 29 April 2021 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Music Department
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Jon English was born on 26 March 1949 in Hampstead, London, England, UK. He was an actor and composer, known for All Together Now (1991), Against the Wind (1978) and The Pirates of Penzance (1994). He was married to Carmen Sora. He died on 9 March 2016 in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.- Actor
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- Music Department
Actor/Comedian Jon Reep was born in Hickory, NC. He lived there until he moved to Raleigh, NC in 1992. While attending North Carolina State University he began performing stand-up comedy at Goodnights comedy club. He graduated from NCSU in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater, Mass Communication, and Public & Personal communication. After graduating Jon was employed at UNC-TV where he became the assistant director of such TV shows as "North Carolina Now" & "Legislative Week in Review", while at night simultaneously honing his skills as a stand-up comedian. In 1998 Jon left UNC-TV to pursue comedy full time. He traveled all over the country performing in comedy clubs and colleges in every state in America. In 2000, Jon was invited to perform at the Montreal Just for Laughs festival, and shortly thereafter moved to Los Angeles, CA to further is career as a stand-up comedian and actor.
As an actor Jon has played the pot smoking farmer "Raymus" from the movie "Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay", and the dim witted cop Gerald Bob from the ABC Sitcom "Rodney". He played a goodwill worker in Disney Channels "Good Luck Charlie" and was the HEMI guy in Dodge Truck's popular ad campaign.
As a comedian he was the Winner of NBC's "Last Comic Standing" season 5. He's been on Comedy Central's "Premium Blend", the half-hour special "Comedy Central Presents: Jon Reep", & his on special "Jon Reep: Metro Jethro". He's been on TBS's "Pit Stop Comedy", NBC's "Late Friday" or CMT's "Comedy Club" & "Comedy stage."
Jon resides in Los Angeles with his wife and 2 dogs.- Director
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- Producer
Jonathan first found fame for his revolutionary work on Radiohead's 'Street Spirit' and Jamiroquai's multi-MTV award winning 'Virtual Insanity' video.
In 1999 he directed the ground-breaking Guinness 'Surfer', which picked up 2 D&AD Black Pencils and the top spot at most of the other awards festivals that year. The film still heads many lists as one of the best commercials of all time. He has made iconic commercials for Stella Artois, Levis, Nike, Sony, Volkswagen, Channel 4, Wrangler, Apple and many others. His film for Alexander McQueen won a Grand Prix at the Ciclope Festival in Berlin.
In 2000 Jonathan directed Sexy Beast which was nominated for Best British Film by BAFTA. This was followed 4 years later with Birth, staring Nicole Kidman and Lauren Bacall. His 2014 film, Under The Skin stars Scarlett Johansson and is an adaptation of Michel Faber's 2000 novel of the same name. Under The Skin received 2 BAFTA nominations and won critical acclaim as a 'landmark in filmmaking'.
Later on, Jonathan directed work for the BBC in the form of 2019's 'The Fall', a short film influenced by Goya's 'The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters' and a hunting photograph of Donald Trump's two sons posing with a dead leopard; and 2020's Strasbourg 1518, a collaboration in isolation created during Covid, inspired by a unique plague striking inhabitants of the city who danced until their ultimate demise.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Jonathan Drew Groff is an American actor and singer. Known for his performances on screen, stage and television, Groff is the recipient of such accolades as a Grammy Award and has been nominated for two Tony Awards, two Drama League Awards, a Drama Desk Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.- Soundtrack
Jonida Maliqi (born 26 March 1983) is an Albanian singer, television host, media personality, philanthropist, fashion icon and entrepreneur.
Born and raised in Tirana, Albania, she rose to popularity at the age of thirteen upon her debut at the "Festivali i Këngës", the third-oldest televised song contest in Europe. Maliqi entered the competition for several times and has also hosted its 49th edition in 2010. In 2018, Jonida reached the number one position with the song "Ktheju Tokës" (Return to the Land), thus becoming Albania's sixteenth representative in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Maliqi has won an array of music awards throughout her career and has played Bithia in the Albanian version of 'The Ten Commandments: The Musical' as well as Juliet in Roméo et Juliette Musical. In 2012, Maliqi became the captain of her team at the Albanian version of the Dutch TV series I Love My Country whereas in 2013 she hosted the first season of The Voice Kids Albania. In 2014 she co-hosted the fourth season of Dancing with the Stars (Albanian TV Series) whereas in 2016 she appeared as a judge on the fifth season of The Voice of Albania.
Jonida is a recognized style icon, being referred to as a "fashionista" by the press. She regularly graces the covers of various magazines and has also been featured on Cosmopolitan among others. Jonida is regarded as one of the most popular pop singers in the Albania and is renowned for her unique vocal, artistry, philanthropy, fashion sense and persona.- Actor
- Casting Director
Jorge Dorio is known for Recordando el show de Alejandro Molina (2011), Tango (1992) and La luz del bosque (2008).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Jorge Ortiz de Pinedo was born on 26 March 1948 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He is an actor and producer, known for Una familia de diez (2007), Cándido Pérez, especialista en señoras (1991) and Cándido Pérez, Dr. (1987).- Juan Alberto Mateyko was born on 26 March 1946. He is an actor, known for Un viaje de locos (1974), Ché OVNI (1968) and Siempre fuimos compañeros (1973).
- Judith Baldwin was born in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She is an actress, known for Pretty Woman (1990), The Stepford Wives (1975) and No Small Affair (1984).
- Known throughout Brazil for her outstanding roles in soap operas, the actress and model Juliana Paes began her artistic journey in 1998, with a small role as an extra in "Malhação". Her first character came soon after, in 2000, when she played the maid "Ritinha" in the soap opera "Laços de Família". After that, her career as an actress took off, which gave Juliana many notable roles in several successful soap operas on Rede Globo, such as "Celebridade" (2003), "América" (2005), "Caminho das Índias" (2009), "Gabriela" (2012), "Totalmente Demais" (2015), "A Força do Querer" (2017), "A Dona do Pedaço" (2019) and many others.
Juliana also collects roles in major productions, such as "Mais Uma Vez Amor" (2005), "Amor Por Acaso" (2010), "A Despedida" (2015), "Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos" (2017) e "Predestinado - Arigó e o Espírito de Dr. Fritz" (2022), which will be released in September. However, the actress' presence on the big screen isn't limited to Brazilian cinema. Juliana also has a career in dubbing, giving her voice to characters in the animations "Kung Fu Panda (2008)", "Kung Fu Panda: Holiday" (2010), "Happy Family" (2017) and "The Croods: A New Age" (2021).
Juliana played the character "Maria Marruá" in the first part of the remake of "Pantanal", currently shown on Rede Globo. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Kathryn Bernardo was born on 26 March 1996 in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. She is an actress, known for The Hows of Us (2018), Hello, Love, Goodbye (2019) and Barcelona: A Love Untold (2016).- Actor
- Sound Department
- Soundtrack
Kazuhiko Inoue was born on 26 March 1954 in Yokohama, Japan. He is an actor, known for Naruto (2002), Guilty Crown (2011) and Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger (2016).- Actress
- Producer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Keira Christina Knightley was born March 26, 1985 in the South West Greater London suburb of Richmond. She is the daughter of actor Will Knightley and actress turned playwright Sharman Macdonald. An older brother, Caleb Knightley, was born in 1979. Her father is English, while her Scottish-born mother is of Scottish and Welsh origin. Brought up immersed in the acting profession from both sides - writing and performing - it is little wonder that the young Keira asked for her own agent at the age of three. She was granted one at the age of six and performed in her first TV role as "Little Girl" in Royal Celebration (1993), aged seven.
It was discovered at an early age that Keira had severe difficulties in reading and writing. She was not officially dyslexic as she never sat the formal tests required of the British Dyslexia Association. Instead, she worked incredibly hard, encouraged by her family, until the problem had been overcome by her early teens. Her first multi-scene performance came in A Village Affair (1995), an adaptation of the lesbian love story by Joanna Trollope. This was followed by small parts in the British crime series The Bill (1984), an exiled German princess in The Treasure Seekers (1996) and a much more substantial role as the young "Judith Dunbar" in Giles Foster's adaptation of Rosamunde Pilcher's novel Coming Home (1998), alongside Peter O'Toole, Penelope Keith and Joanna Lumley. The first time Keira's name was mentioned around the world was when it was revealed (in a plot twist kept secret by director George Lucas) that she played Natalie Portman's decoy "Padme" to Portman's "Amidala" in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). It was several years before agreement was reached over which scenes featured Keira as the queen and which featured Natalie!
Keira had no formal training as an actress and did it out of pure enjoyment. She went to an ordinary council-run school in nearby Teddington and had no idea what she wanted to do when she left. By now, she was beginning to receive far more substantial roles and was starting to turn work down as one project and her schoolwork was enough to contend with. She reappeared on British television in 1999 as "Rose Fleming" in Alan Bleasdale's faithful reworking of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist (1999), and traveled to Romania to film her first title role in Walt Disney's Princess of Thieves (2001) in which she played Robin Hood's daughter, Gwyn. Keira's first serious boyfriend was her Princess of Thieves (2001) co-star Del Synnott, and they later co-starred in Peter Hewitt's 'work of fart' Thunderpants (2002). Nick Hamm's dark thriller The Hole (2001) kept her busy during 2000, and featured her first nude scene (15 at the time, the film was not released until she was 16 years old). In the summer of 2001, while Keira studied and sat her final school exams (she received six A's), she filmed a movie about an Asian girl's (Parminder Nagra) love for football and the prejudices she has to overcome regarding both her culture and her religion). Bend It Like Beckham (2002) was a smash hit in football-mad Britain but it had to wait until another of Keira's films propelled it to the top end of the US box office. Bend It Like Beckham (2002) cost just £3.5m to make, and nearly £1m of that came from the British Lottery. It took £11m in the UK and has since gone on to score more than US$76m worldwide.
Meanwhile, Keira had started A-levels at Esher College, studying Classics, English Literature and Political History, but continued to take acting roles which she thought would widen her experience as an actress. The story of a drug-addicted waitress and her friendship with the young son of a drug-addict, Pure (2002), occupied Keira from January to March 2002. Also at this time, Keira's first attempt at Shakespeare was filmed. She played "Helena" in a modern interpretation of a scene from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" entitled The Seasons Alter (2002). This was commissioned by the environmental organization "Futerra", of which Keira's mother is patron. Keira received no fee for this performance or for another short film, New Year's Eve (2002), by award-winning director Col Spector. But it was a chance encounter with producer Andy Harries at the London premiere of Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) which forced Keira to leave her studies and pursue acting full-time. The meeting lead to an audition for the role of "Larisa Feodorovna Guishar" - the classic heroine of Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago (2002), played famously in the David Lean movie by Julie Christie. This was to be a big-budget TV movie with a screenplay written by Andrew Davies. Keira won the part and the mini-series was filmed throughout the Spring of 2002 in Slovakia, co-starring Sam Neill and Hans Matheson as "Yuri Zhivago". Keira rounded off 2002 with a few scenes in the first movie to be directed by Blackadder and Vicar of Dibley writer Richard Curtis. Called Love Actually (2003), Keira played "Juliet", a newlywed whose husband's Best Man is secretly besotted with her. A movie filmed after Love Actually (2003) but released before it was to make the world sit up and take notice of this beautiful fresh-faced young actress with a cute British accent. It was a movie which Keira very nearly missed out on, altogether. Auditions were held in London for a new blockbuster movie called Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), but heavy traffic in the city forced Keira to be tagged on to the end of the day's auditions list. It helped - she got the part. Filming took place in Los Angeles and the Caribbean from October 2002 to March 2003 and was released to massive box office success and almost universal acclaim in the July of that year.
Meanwhile, a small British film called Bend It Like Beckham (2002) had sneaked onto a North American release slate and was hardly setting the box office alight. But Keira's dominance in "Pirates" had set tongues wagging and questions being asked about the actress playing "Elizabeth Swann". Almost too late, "Bend It"'s distributors realized one of its two stars was the same girl whose name was on everyone's lips due to "Pirates", and took the unusual step of re-releasing "Bend It" to 1,000 screens across the US, catapulting it from no. 26 back up to no. 12. "Pirates", meanwhile, was fighting off all contenders at the top spot, and stayed in the Top 3 for an incredible 21 weeks. It was perhaps no surprise, then, that Keira was on producer Jerry Bruckheimer's wanted list for the part of "Guinevere" in a planned accurate telling of the legend of "King Arthur". Filming took place in Ireland and Wales from June to November 2003. In July, Keira had become the celebrity face of British jeweller and luxury goods retailer, Asprey. At a photoshoot for the company on Long Island New York in August, Keira met and fell in love with Northern Irish model Jamie Dornan. King Arthur (2004) was released in July 2004 to lukewarm reviews. It seems audiences wanted the legend after all, and not necessarily the truth. Keira became the breakout star and 'one to watch in 2004' throughout the world's media at the end of 2003.
Keira's 2004 started off in Scotland and Canada filming John Maybury's time-travelling thriller The Jacket (2005) with Oscar-winner Adrien Brody. A planned movie of Deborah Moggach's novel, "Tulip Fever", about forbidden love in 17th Century Amsterdam, was canceled in February after the British government suddenly closed tax loopholes which allowed filmmakers to claw back a large proportion of their expenditure. Due to star Keira and Jude Law in the main roles, the film remains mothballed. Instead, Keira spent her time wisely, visiting Ethiopia on behalf of the "Comic Relief" charity, and spending summer at various grandiose locations around the UK filming what promises to be a faithful adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel Pride & Prejudice (2005), alongside Matthew Macfadyen as "Mr. Darcy", and with Donald Sutherland and Judi Dench in supporting roles. In October 2004, Keira received her first major accolade, the Hollywood Film Award for Best Breakthrough Actor - Female, and readers of Empire Magazine voted her the Sexiet Movie Star Ever. The remainder of 2004 saw Keira once again trying a completely new genre, this time the part-fact, part-fiction life story of model turned bounty hunter Domino (2005). 2005 started with the premiere of The Jacket (2005) at the Sundance Film Festival, with the US premiere in LA on February 28th. Much of the year was then spent in the Caribbean filming both sequels to Pirates Of The Caribbean. Keira's first major presenting role came in a late-night bed-in comedy clip show for Comic Relief with presenter Johnny Vaughan. In late July, promotions started for the September release of Pride & Prejudice (2005), with British fans annoyed to learn that the US version would end with a post-marriage kiss, but the European version would not. Nevertheless, when the movie opened in September on both sides of the Atlantic, Keira received her greatest praise thus far in her career, amid much talk of awards. It spent three weeks at No. 1 in the UK box office.
Domino (2005) opened well in October, overshadowed by the death of Domino Harvey earlier in the year. Keira received Variety's Personality Of The Year Award in November, topped the following month by her first Golden Globe nomination, for Pride & Prejudice (2005). KeiraWeb.com exclusively announced that Keira would play Helene Joncour in an adaptation of Alessandro Baricco's novella Silk (2007). Pride & Prejudice (2005) garnered six BAFTA nominations at the start of 2006, but not Best Actress for Keira, a fact which paled soon after by the announcement she had received her first Academy Award nomination, the third youngest Best Actress Oscar hopeful. A controversial nude Vanity Fair cover of Keira and Scarlett Johansson kept the press busy up till the Oscars, with Reese Witherspoon taking home the gold man in the Best Actress category, although Keira's Vera Wang dress got more media attention. Keira spent early summer in Europe filming Silk (2007) opposite Michael Pitt, and the rest of the summer in the UK filming Atonement (2007), in which she plays Cecilia Tallis, and promoting the new Pirates movie (her Ellen Degeneres interview became one of the year's Top 10 'viral downloads'). Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) broke many box office records when it opens worldwide in July, becoming the third biggest movie ever by early September. Keira sued British newspaper The Daily Mail in early 2007 after her image in a bikini accompanied an article about a woman who blamed slim celebrities for the death of her daughter from anorexia. The case was settled and Keira matched the settlement damages and donated the total amount to an eating disorder charity. Keira filmed a movie about the life of Dylan Thomas, The Edge Of Love (2008) with a screenplay written by her mother Sharman Macdonald. Her co-star Lindsay Lohan pulled out just a week before filming began, and was replaced by Sienna Miller.
What was announced to be Keira's final Pirates movie in the franchise, Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End (2007), opened strongly in June, rising to all-time fifth biggest movie by July. Atonement (2007) opened the Venice Film Festival in August, and opened worldwide in September, again to superb reviews for Keira. Meanwhile, Silk (2007) opened in September on very few screens and disappeared without a trace. Keira spent the rest of the year filming The Duchess (2008), the life story of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, based on Amanda Foreman's award-winning biography of the distant relation of Princess Diana. The year saw more accolades and poll-topping for Keira than ever before, including Women's Beauty Icon 2007 and gracing the covers of all the top-selling magazines. She won Best Actress for Atonement (2007) at the Variety Club Of Great Britain Showbiz Awards, and ended the year with her second Golden Globe nomination. Christmas Day saw - or rather heard - Keira on British TV screens in a new Robbie The Reindeer animated adventure, with DVD proceeds going to Comic Relief. At the start of 2008, Keira received her first BAFTA nomination - Best Actress for Atonement, and the movie wins Best Film: Drama at the Golden Globes. Seven Academy Award nominations for Atonement soon follow. Keira wins Best Actress for her role as Cecilia Tallis at the Empire Film Awards. In May, Keira's first Shakespearean role is announced, when she is confirmed to play Cordelia in a big-screen version of King Lear, alongside Naomi Watts and Gwyneth Paltrow, with Sir Anthony Hopkins as the titular monarch. After two years of rumours, it is confirmed that Keira is on the shortlist to play Eliza Doolittle in a new adaptation of My Fair Lady. The Edge Of Love opens the Edinburgh Film Festival on June 18th, and opens on limited release in the UK and US. A huge round of promotions for The Duchess occurs throughout the summer, with cast and crew trying to play down the marketers' decision to draw parallels between the duchess and Princess Diana. Keira attends the UK and US premieres and Toronto Film Festival within the first week of September. The Duchess opens strongly on both sides of the Atlantic. Two more movies were confirmed for Keira during September - a tale of adultery called Last Night (2010), and a biopic of author F Scott Fitzgerald entitled The Beautiful and the Damned.
Keira spent October on the streets of New York City filming Last Night alongside Sam Worthington and Guillaume Canet. Keira helped to promote the sixtieth anniversary of the UN's Declaration of Human Rights, by contributing to a series of short films produced to mark the occasion. In January 2009 it was announced Keira had signed to play a reclusive actress in an adaptation of Ken Bruen's novel London Boulevard (2010), co-starring Colin Farrell. Keira continues her close ties with the Comic Relief charity by helping to launch their British icons T-shirts campaign. In the same week King Lear was revealed to have been shelved, it was announced that Keira would instead star alongside her Pride & Prejudice co-star Carey Mulligan in an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Never Let Me Go (2010). A new short film emerges in March, recorded in the January of 2008 in which Keira plays a Fairy! The Continuing and Lamentable Saga of the Suicide Brothers (2009) was written by Keira's boyfriend Rupert Friend and actor Tom Mison. It went to be shown at the London Film Festival in October and won Best Comedy Short at the New Hampshire Film Festival. Keira continued to put her celebrity to good use in 2009 with a TV commercial for WomensAid highlighting domestic abuse against women. Unfortunately, UK censors refused to allow its broadcast and it can only be viewed on YouTube. May and June saw Keira filming Never Let Me Go (2010) and London Boulevard (2010) back-to-back. In October, a new direction for Keira's career emerged, when it was announced she would appear on the London stage in her West End debut role as Jennifer, in a reworking of Moliere's The Misanthrope, starring Damian Lewis and Tara Fitzgerald. More than $2m of ticket sales followed in the first four days, before even rehearsals had begun! The play ran from December to March at London's Comedy Theatre.- Keith Diamond was born on 26 March 1962 in Jamaica, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for Awakenings (1990), Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979) and Desert Saints (2002).
- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Kelsey Edwards is an American actress and musician best known for her role as Abby in "Minor Details" starring opposite Jennette McCurdy. She can be seen as Liz Fairchild in Orion Pictures' newest film "The Wolf of Snow Hollow," directed by Jim Cummings. One of her favorite roles was playing Tony Hale's daughter in TV pilot "The Farkles."- Music Artist
- Actor
- Producer
Kenny Chesney was born on 26 March 1968 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. He is a music artist and actor, known for The Do-Over (2016), Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016) and Kenny Chesney: You and Tequila ft. Grace Potter (2011). He was previously married to Renée Zellweger.- Kevin O'Neal was born on 26 March 1945 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for What's Up, Doc? (1972), Love Story (1970) and No Time for Sergeants (1964). He was married to Sheila Stubbs. He died on 28 January 2023 in Thousand Oaks, California, USA.
- Producer
- Actress
Leeza Gibbons was born on 26 March 1957 in Hartsville, South Carolina, USA. She is a producer and actress, known for The Apprentice (2004), Leeza (1994) and Entertainment Tonight (1981). She has been married to Steve Fenton since 20 April 2011. She was previously married to Stephen Meadows, Chris Quinten and John Hicks.- Leigh Bowery was born on 26 March 1961 in Sunshine, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He was an actor, known for The Ghosts of Oxford Street (1991), The Fall: Mr. Pharmacist (1986) and Lana Pellay: Pistol in My Pocket (1986). He was married to Nicola Bowery. He died on 31 December 1994 in London, England, UK.
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Leonard Simon Nimoy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Dora (Spinner) and Max Nimoy, who owned a barbershop. His parents were Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. Raised in a tenement and acting in community theaters since age eight, Nimoy did not make his Hollywood debut until he was 20, with a bit part in Queen for a Day (1951) and another as a ballplayer in the perennial Rhubarb (1951). After two years in the United States Army, he was still getting small, often uncredited parts, like an Army telex operator in Them! (1954). His part as Narab, a Martian finally friendly to Earth, in the closing scene in the corny Republic serial Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952), somewhat foreshadowed the role which would make him a household name: Mr. Spock, the half-human/half-Vulcan science officer on Star Trek (1966) one of television's all-time most successful series. His performance won him three Emmy nominations and launched his career as a writer and director, notably of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), the story of a humpback whale rescue that proved the most successful of the Star Trek movies. Stage credits have included "Fiddler on the Roof", "Oliver", "Camelot" and "Equus". He has hosted the well-known television series In Search of... (1977) and Ancient Mysteries (1994), authored several volumes of poetry and guest-starred on two episodes of The Simpsons (1989). In the latter years of his career, he played Mustafa Mond in NBC's telling of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1998), voiced Sentinel Prime in the blockbuster Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), and played Spock again in two new Star Trek films, Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013).
Leonard Nimoy died on February 27, 2015 in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 83.- Leslie Jean Mann was born in San Francisco, California. She was raised in Newport Beach, California by her mother, Janet Ann Ayres. At the age of seventeen, she launched her career, appearing in various TV commercials.
Her screen break came when she was cast as Nurse Mary in the short-lived Birdland (1994). Further TV and film roles followed, including The Cable Guy (1996), where she met her husband, Judd Apatow, who was a producer on the film. The story goes that after Mann left her audition for the role, Apatow turned to his colleagues and said "there goes the future Mrs. Apatow".
Further successes followed for Mann in such projects as George of the Jungle (1997) and The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005). She also appeared alongside her daughters - Maude Apatow and Iris Apatow - in Knocked Up (2007), Funny People (2009) and This Is 40 (2012). - Lolita Torres was born on 26 March 1930 in Avellaneda, Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was an actress, known for La hermana San Sulpicio (1960), Más pobre que una laucha (1955) and 40 años de novios (1963). She was married to Julio Cesar Caccia and Santiago Rodolfo Burastero. She died on 14 September 2002 in Capital Federal, Argentina.
- Lucas Nicolas Bravo, is a French actor and model. He is known for starring in the Netflix romantic comedy series Emily in Paris as chef Gabriel, Emily's downstairs neighbor and love interest. Bravo was born on 26 March 1988 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes; the son of the retired French footballer Daniel Bravo and singer Eva Bravo. He attended the Lycée Pasteur in Neuilly-Sur-Seine.
- Tall and rangy, usually sporting long mangy hair, and frequently projecting a strong and intense on-screen presence, character actor Luke Askew made a potent and lasting impression playing a substantial volume of mean and fearsome villains in both motion pictures and television shows alike in a career that spanned over forty years.
Askew was born on March 26, 1932 in Macon, Georgia, of English and Scandinavian descent. He first developed an interest in acting towards the end of his high school years. He attended the University of Georgia (where he initially planned on getting a B.A. in Business Administration), Mercer University, and the Walter F. George School of Law. Askew served in the U.S. Air Force in strategic air command intelligence during his college years.
Following college Askew worked as a radio deejay and television announcer prior to beginning his acting career in Off-Broadway stage productions in New York City (Askew lived in Greenwich Village in the early 1960s and kept himself afloat working as a furniture mover). Luke moved to Los Angeles in 1966 and made his film debut in 1967 in "Harry Sundown". Best known as the stranger on the highway in the hippie counterculture cult classic "Easy Rider", Askew's other memorable roles included the redoubtable Boss Paul in "Cool Hand Luke", the peaceful hippie commune leader Jonathan Tremaine in "Angel Unchained", the scary and brutal thug Automatic Slim in the grim revenge thriller "Rolling Thunder", the sleazy coroner Dexter Ward in "The Beast Within," and the no-nonsense Irish gypsy crime lord Boss Jack Costello in "Traveller".
Askew also appeared in a sizable number of Westerns made throughout the 1960s and 1970s: he had a rare lead role in the spaghetti Western "Night of the Serpent" and gave an especially fine performance as tough and stoic veteran cowpoke Luke in the gritty gem "The Culpepper Cattle Co."
Among the many TV series Askew popped up in throughout the years are "The High Chaparral", "Mission: Impossible", "Cannon", "Quincy, M.E.", "The Six Million Dollar Man", "Fantasy Island", "T.J. Hooker", "The Fall Guy", "Airwolf", "Murder, She Wrote", "Walker, Texas Ranger", "Everwood", and "Cold Case". He had a recurring role as the dangerous polygamist Hollis Greene on the acclaimed cable TV program "Big Love".
Askew died at age 80 at his home in Portland, Oregon on March 29, 2012. He was survived by his wife and his son, Christopher, a painter and tattoo artist. - Luke Ford was born on 26 March 1981 in Canada. He is an actor, known for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), Animal Kingdom (2010) and The Black Balloon (2008).
- Actress
Madhoo was born in the Malini household on March 26th. Her dad's name is Raghunath, who is the brother of Bollywood actress Hema Malini. Her mom's name is Renuka. She was taught Bharat Natyam by her mom. Madhoo lost her mom to Cancer when she was just 13 years old.
Treating her aunt as her role model, Madhoo wanted to be an actress. After being offered a small role, she enrolled in Roshan Taneja's School of Acting for 2 months. Subsequently she learned that she had been dropped quite unceremoniously.
This blow empowered her to take up jogging and swimming to lose weight; got braces for her teeth; had a hair cut; got a complete make-over, including clearing up her skin; perfected her Hindi. And then viola - a new, improved, and sexy Madhoo emerged.
An Aries, Madhoo's acting career started with Ottayal Pattalam in Malyalam. She was first introduced to Bollywood in Phool Aur Kaante. Her role in 1992 Tamil movie Roja made her famous overnight, leading to the film being dubbed in multiple languages. Her other popular releases included Diljale, Yeshwant, and Pehchaan.
Her career as an actress spanned from 1990 through on to 2002. She acted in a total of approximately 30 movies in Hindi, Tamil, Malyalam, Kannada, & Telegu.
She was signed by Kallol Sen to act in his "Love Sex Etc", but subsequently changed her mind. She has appeared in 'Mann Main Hai Vishwas' on Sony Television.
She married Anand Shah, who comes from a rich industrialist family, relocated to the U.S. where she gave birth to two daughters, Amela and Kela. Ameya has already indicated that she wants in act in movies.- Composer
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Manuel Wirzt was born on 26 March 1963 in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a composer and actor, known for El último verano (1996), Witches Girl (2013) and Franco Buenaventura, el profe (2002).- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Marcus Allen was born on 26 March 1960 in San Diego, California, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Hustlers (2019), Searching for Angela Shelton (2004) and Arli$$ (1996). He was previously married to Kathryn Edwards.- Marcus Smythe, actor of film, television and theatre, died Aug. 20 at his home with family in La Crescenta, Calif. He was 70. The cause of death was the culmination of a three-year battle with brain cancer. He is survived by his wife, Suzanne Goddard-Smythe, two sons, Harrison and Duncan, and brother Casey of Tucson, Ariz., as well as nieces and nephews in Kansas and Arizona. He is preceded in death by parents, Patricia (Schweitzer) and Paul Smythe and brother Scott. Smythe was a familiar romantic lead in the most popular daytime-television serials of the 1970s and '80s. These included his portrayal of Gordon Middleton on "The Guiding Light," Dane Taylor on "Search for Tomorrow," and Peter Love on NBC's long-running and award-winning "Another World." He also appeared with such acting luminaries as Henry Fonda, Myrna Loy and Jessica Tandy in feature films and performed extensively in off-Broadway theatrical productions and national stage tours. He was the recipient of Drama Logue and LA Weekly Drama Awards during his stage career in Los Angeles. He was a member of SAG, AFTRA and Actors Equity. He received his B.A. in theatre from Otterbein University in 1972 and a Master of Fine Arts from Ohio University in 1975. He appeared at the Cleveland Playhouse post-college before his move to New York City. With his sons, Smythe was active in Boy Scouts of America in La Crescenta. He served as assistant scout master, Chaplain and recruiter as well as coaching, with wife Suzanne, both sons to achieve Eagle Scout.
- Actress
- Director
María Luisa Alcalá was born on 26 March 1943 in Mexico City, Mexico. She was an actress and director, known for La Alacrana (1986), Violación (1989) and El privilegio de amar (1998). She was married to Héctor Espinosa. She died on 21 February 2016 in Mexico City, Mexico.