Producers

Rafael Silva is originally from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, but moved to the United States at the age of 13. Following his grandfather and many of his uncles' footsteps, he grew up wanting to become a veterinarian and working with farm animals.

In his junior year of high school, Rafael signed up to audition for his first play with the intention of overcoming his fear of speaking in public. As his fear diminished, his interest in his newly found craft grew and he decided to audition to performing arts schools in order to attain proper training as an actor.

In 2017, Rafael Silva graduated Pace University, in downtown Manhattan, NY, with a B.F.A. in Acting for Film, Television, Voice-Overs & Commercial.

The tall, handsome and versatile American actor, Maurice Johnson, was born in Augusta, Georgia to Eugene and Ruby Johnson (both nurses). Maurice received a football scholarship to Albany State University and graduated with a degree in Speech and Theatre. Maurice is a notable member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. initiated at the Chi Epsilon chapter at Albany State.

Maurice caught the acting bug after he stepped on the stage in his first stage play, Thomas Meloncon's "Diary of Black Men," directed by Dr. Wendy Coleman at Albany State's Billy C. Black Auditorium. Upon graduating from college, he performed in local and regional stage plays before landing a national SunTrust commercial without having an agent. He continued to hone his craft doing commercials and acting on the indie circuit before landing co-star and guest star roles on hit television shows. His first notable role was in 2012 on CBS's Hawaii Five-O playing the role of Bob Ledford opposite Sam Anderson, Scott Caan and Alex O'Laughlin. He later had roles on shows like CBS's "Good Girls and "The Inspectors", NBC's "Chicago Fire" and "Game of Silence," ABC's "Devious Maids, The Catch, and Nashville," OWN's Tyler Perry's "For Better or Worse," TV One's "Born Again Virgin", VH1's "Daytime Divas" and episodes on CW's "Vampire Diaries" to name a few.

Maurice was first seen on the silver screen in 'Joyful Noise' (2012) opposite Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton. His next notable silver screen appearance was opposite Morris Chestnut and Regina Hall in the thriller "When the Bough Breaks" (2016). Later he appeared in the highly anticipated blockbuster "Billionaire Boys Club" (2018) alongside Hollywood heavyweights Emma Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Ansel Elgort, Taron Egerton, Billie Lourd, Alicia Sanz, Judd Nelson, Jeremy Irvine, and Suki Waterhouse.

Maurice performed in lead roles in three internationally released films. "Titanic 666," (2022) a horror, mystery, and thriller where he plays the supporting role of Collins, the security goon opposite Keesha Sharp , Jamie Bamber and Joseph Gatt. "Farm to Fork to Love," (2021) a romance drama, where he played the leading role of an executive chef at one of the top restaurants in New York. The third one was "The Crickets Dance," (2020) an award-winning drama/crime/history film set in the deep south, where he portrayed the leading role as a Southern lawyer who sought keys to his past most of his life opposite Kristen Renton (Sons of Anarchy). All three films were released on digital and multiple on-demand platforms including Amazon Prime Video, Vudo, Verizon, Comcast, Dish, iTunes, Google Play, and Telus in the U.S., U.K., Italy, and Canada.

2022 was a busy year for Maurice, not only in production for leading roles but directing and producing as well. As the lead character in a film entitled "Jones Plantation," (2023) Maurice plays a brilliant sociopath, a true genius, who specializes in deception and mind control. He also made a cameo appearance in "The Skeleton's Compass," (2022) a children-friendly film that premiered on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Vudu and On Demand. Most recently to hit the silver screen, Maurice starred as Joe in "Yenni Thuniga/Think & Dare," (2022) a Bollywood critically acclaimed feature action film that premiered in thirteen countries and 42 U.S. cities and streamed on Tubi and Prime Video. He is also featured in a newly released movie, "The Anthology of Julius, the Nigerian Immigrant" streamed on Prime Video and Tubi. Maurice has projects in the development pipeline as an actor, producer, and director. Many of his past, current, and future projects are social-conscious focused and can influence change in one's thought process and society at large.

Some of his past awards include Culture and Diversity Film Festival, Judges Award (Winner) 2020 Best Ensemble for "The Crickets Dance"; New York International Film Awards - April Monthly Award (Winner) 2021 for Best Feature Film, "The Anthology of Julius, the Nigerian Immigrant"; North Europe International Film Festival (Fusion Film Festival) - Jury Prize (Nominee) 2021 for Best Lead Actor in "The Crickets Dance," and Sweden Film Awards - April Award (Nominee) 2021.

Maurice has leading roles in upcoming thrillers entitled The Killer Beat (2024), What Lies Under the Tree (2024). Mr. Johnson has an upcoming feature on ALLBLK opposite Tisha Campbell and love interest, Melissa De Sousa entitled Operation: Aunties (slated for 2025 release).

In 2025, Maurice will star as Dr. Ted Richardson in the new CBS's soap opera Beyond the Gates. Beyond the Gates is first new network daytime drama since Passions in 1999 and the first our-hour series in the category centered on an African American family.

For someone who has made an award-winning impact in all three mediums (stage, film and TV), actress Kathy Baker has been strangely denied all-out stardom, yet continues to demonstrate her versatility in whatever material comes her way.

The comely blonde was born Katherine Whitton Baker in Midland, Texas, to Helene Andree Baker (nee Whitton) and John Seawand Baker, a geologist and educator who taught at both Princeton and the University of Paris. Raised in New Mexico, she first took to the stage at age 10. Influenced by her French-born mother, Kathy attended the University of California at Berkeley and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in French in 1977, then went to Paris to study haute cuisine at the famed Cordon Bleu. She returned to the States to work as a pastry chef, but discovered that she still wanted to act and eventually joined San Francisco's Magic Theatre, where she appeared in the play "The Man Who Killed the Buddha." Her performance drew the immediate attention of playwright Sam Shepard.

1983 was a banner year for Kathy. At the Magic Theatre, wherein she used the stage name of Kathy Whitton Baker, Shepard cast her in a leading role in one of his new plays, "Fool for Love." The premiere garnered exceptional notices and the play (and Kathy) went to New York. She and co-star Ed Harris, won 1984 Obie Awards for their rich performances, as did playwright Shepard for directing. The production itself won the Obie for "Best New American Play." That same year Kathy made a strong movie debut co-starring in The Right Stuff (1983) as the wife of astronaut Alan Shepard (played by Scott Glenn).

Displaying an attractive intelligence in her performances, Kathy continued to make strides on the New York stage both in 1984's "Desire Under the Elms" and as a replacement for the Lemon character in the Obie-winning "Aunt Dan and Lemon" at Joseph Papp's Shakespeare Festival in 1986. Later in the decade, both Kathy and Morgan Freeman stole the thunder right from under star Christopher Reeve in the tense film drama Street Smart (1987) with Kathy delivering a grim, heartfelt performance as an ill-fated hooker to Freeman's feral pimp. Both performances delivered a one-two punch and were applauded for their shocking realism. Each received their share of awards and plaudits; Kathy nabbed both the National Society of Critics and Boston Society of Critics awards, but was shamefully snubbed when it came to the Oscar race (Freeman was nominated, but lost).

Throughout the rest of the decade Kathy continued to give spot-on performances in such quality films as Clean and Sober (1988), as a recovering addict; Permanent Record (1988), as a wife whose son commits suicide; Jacknife (1989), in which she was reunited with Ed Harris as the put-upon, plain-Jane sister of an alcoholic Vietnam vet; and Edward Scissorhands (1990) as a seemingly model housewife who has an uncontrollably flirtatious nature. Top-flight stardom seemed to be almost a given.

With the new decade, however, the movie roles tendered out to her became less frequent or noteworthy so Kathy decided to focus outside her medium of choice and actively search for TV roles. The results were customarily expert. In the slightly quirky Picket Fences (1992), Kathy found a perfect fit taking on the role of small town mother and doctor Jill Brock. Running for four seasons, she was nominated for an Emmy each year and took home the trophy three of those four times for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series".

Into the millennium Kathy has maintained consistency with quality roles in such releases as The Glass House (2001), Assassination Tango (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), Nine Lives (2005), All the King's Men (2006), The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), Miss Nobody (2010), Seven Days in Utopia (2011), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017) and The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019). On TV she and Helen Mirren picked up supporting Emmy nods in the bittersweet Door to Door (2002), with Emmy-winning William H. Macy starring as a man with cerebral palsy.

In 2001 she joined the cast of Boston Public (2000) as a manipulative mom (another Emmy nomination). Some of those episodes were directed by Steven Robman, whom she married in June of 2003. Kathy has two children from a previous marriage.

In addition to guest spots on such TV series as "Fathers and Son," "Nip/Tuck," "Gilmore Girls, "Grey's Anatomy," "Saving Grace," "Medium" (recurring), and "Criminal Minds," she had series roles in Against the Wall (2011), I'm Sorry (2017) and The Ranch (2016).

Tamara Tunie was born on 14 March 1959 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, USA. She is an actress and director, known for Flight (2012), The Devil's Advocate (1997) and Snake Eyes (1998). She was previously married to Gregory Generet and Greg Bouquett.

Kristin Lee Davis was born on February 23, 1965 in Boulder, Colorado. An only child, her parents divorced when she was a baby. She was adopted by her stepfather, psychology professor Keith Davis, after he married her mother, Dorothy, a university data analyst, in 1968. Early in her childhood, Kristin and her parents moved to Columbia, South Carolina, where her stepfather was transferred to a university. She lived in South Carolina until she graduated high school in 1983. She then moved to New Jersey, where she attended Rutgers University. After graduation, she moved to New York and waited tables before opening a yoga studio with a friend. In 1995, she got her big break when she landed the role of Brooke Armstrong Campbell on Melrose Place (1992). She left the show after one year when producers found that audience members hated her character. In 1998, Kristin was cast as Charlotte York in Sex and the City (1998), of which she remained an integral cast member until the series ended in 2004. Kristin Davis resides in Los Angeles.

With a presentation of engaging tunes, dynamic vocals, and poetic flair in a passionately charged live setting, Jennifer Nettles and her band were quite successful during the mid- to late '90s. Originally a native of Atlanta, GA, Nettles' successful career began with the release of Story of Your Bones and quickly a following was created. Over the course of her touring, Nettles received rave reviews from many publications including Jezebel, Atlanta City Mag, the Album Network, Southeastern Performer, and the Performing Songwriter. Nettles has been rewarded with gigs at such momentous occasions such as the 1999 Lilith Fair Tour, Big Day Out 2000, and Music Midtown 1999.

Though much of her crafty songwriting and poetic expression merits a listen on their own, Nettles joins the royal company of a gifted and charismatic backing band. Drummer Brad Sikes puts forth the group's ever-changing and diverse rhythms. Scott Nicholson brings to life the magic of the piano's keys with stirring ebony-and-ivory passages. Wesley Lupold lays down the framework of the songs chord structures with bass. And Mike Cebulski presents an eclectic array of sounds and rhythms with his gift of percussion. Nettles has received airplay in major cities such as New York, Cleveland, Memphis, Atlanta, and throughout the Carolinas. Because of her songwriting magic and growing fan base, and those behind the scenes who devote their time toward helping market her music, Jennifer Nettles received the distinguished honor of being presented the Independent Musician of the Year award for 2001.

Nettles was influenced and inspired by a splendid mix of rock, blues, folk, and soul, and those influences reflect clearly in her work. She began her singing career in 1996 while performing with Soul Miner's Daughter in the Atlanta and Decatur music scene. A singer since the age of seven, Nettles certainly is not shy of showing her witty charm, and is not afraid of challenging herself to continually write and sing powerful, honest, soul-charging songs with engaging lyrical content. At times her tunes are filled with amazing richness and personality, while others leave the listener dazed and haunted. Referred to as the Jennifer Nettles Band, the group makes routine trips to such notable venues as the Variety Playhouse (Atlanta), the 40 Watt (Athens), and the Mercury Lounge (New York City). Her songs are full of poetic meaning, and the band plays with a sense of attitude, winning over her audiences each and every time, and making a crop of fresh new listeners happy as well. Her release Gravity: Drag Me Down appeared in February 2002.

Scott Evans was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Barbie (2023), Almost Love (2019) and Grace and Frankie (2015).

Christine Taylor is an American actress from Allentown, Pennsylvania. She is known for acting in The Brady Bunch film series and for her collaborations with American filmmaker, actor and comedian Ben Stiller. She acted in Zoolander, DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, Zoolander 2 and many more. She has two children with husband Ben Stiller.

Brandon Beemer was born on 27 February 1980 in Eugene, Oregon, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Bay (2010), Days of Our Lives (1965) and General Hospital (1963).

Alex MacNicoll was born on 1 August 1989 in Hunterdon, New Jersey, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Society (2019), Transparent (2014) and The Last Rampage (2017).

Ellen Kathleen Pompeo was born in Everett, Massachusetts, to Kathleen B. (O'Keefe) and Joseph E. Pompeo, a salesman. She is of Italian (from her paternal grandfather), Irish, and some English, ancestry.

Pompeo made her major studio screen debut in Brad Silberling's Moonlight Mile (2002), starring alongside Susan Sarandon, Dustin Hoffman, and Jake Gyllenhaal. She received outstanding reviews for her portrayal of an outspoken young woman carrying a silent burden that's breaking her heart.

Pompeo starred opposite Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Will Ferrell in the wildly successful Old School (2003) and, before that, in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can (2002), opposite Leonardo DiCaprio.

Pompeo has starred in several independent features, including In the Weeds (2000), Coming Soon (1999), and Life of the Party (2005). Since 2005, she has played Dr. Meredith Grey on the television series Grey's Anatomy (2005).

After her debut film Mississippi Masala (1991) became an art house hit, Sarita Choudhury was determined not to "go Hollywood," focusing her acting energies on independent film instead.

Raised in Jamaica, Mexico, and Italy, the half-Indian, half-English Choudhury studied economics at Queens University in Ontario before switching to acting. She casually auditioned for Mississippi Masala (1991) and wound up cast as the lead opposite Denzel Washington in the singular interracial romance between a Southern African American man and a transplanted Indian woman. Despite the film's surprise success, Choudhury stuck to her non-Hollywood roots, putting her exotic looks and talent to versatile use as a Pakistani country-western singer in Wild West (1992), a Chilean maid who is raped in Bille August's adaptation of The House of the Spirits (1993), and a lesbian mother in Fresh Kill (1994).

Choudhury worked with Mississippi Masala (1991) director Mira Nair again in The Perez Family (1995) and played the cuckolded queen Tara in Nair's frankly-sensual feminist parable Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996).

By the late 1990s, Choudhury added a touch of Hollywood to her repertoire with supporting roles in the glossy Alfred Hitchcock remake, A Perfect Murder (1998) and the John Cassavetes retread Gloria (1999).

Brandon Claybon was born in Memphis, TN on October 10th. He began his career as a print model and quickly transitioned into appearing in television commercials for numerous top brands. Brandon made his television debut as a party-goer in the CBS hit show Two and Half Men (2011). In 2012, Brandon was cast as Lemuel McVie in an episode of CBS's crime-drama The Mentalist.

Simone Kessell was born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. Her mother is Maori and her father of European decent. Simone began her acting career as a teenager in New Zealand working on local TV drama's and hosting her own kids show 'The Cartoon Company' at 18. She later moved to Sydney and worked on television shows with some of Australia's leading industry talent. A move to the U.S was inevitable and after basing herself in Los Angeles Simone found roles on prominent American films and TV shows. She was cast as a lead on FOX's Spielberg produced Terra Nova and then went on to star in a lead role in ABC's 'Of Kings and Prophets'. Her performance was a "definitive highlight," "A stand out performance" according to the Boston Globe and New York Times. Recently she was main cast in ABC's prime time drama series 'The Crossing'. Her other recent work includes Australian biker thriller 1% (Outlaws A24) for which she received a 2018 AACTA (Australian film award) nomination for best supporting actress against Nicole Kidman's 'Boy Erased'. Her latest series 'Reckoning' will premiere this Fall 2019 with Sony Pictures Television.

Neil Patrick Harris was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on June 15, 1973. His parents, Sheila Gail (Scott) and Ronald Gene Harris, were lawyers and ran a restaurant. He grew up in Ruidoso, New Mexico, a small town 120 miles south of Albuquerque, where he first took up acting in the fourth grade. While tagging along with his older brother of 3 years, Harris won the part of Toto in a school production of The Wizard of Oz (1939).

His parents moved the family to Albuquerque in 1988, the same year that Harris made his film debut in two movies: Purple People Eater (1988) and Clara's Heart (1988), which starred Whoopi Goldberg. A year later, when Neil was 16, he landed the lead role in Steven Bochco's television series about a teen prodigy doctor at a local hospital, Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989), which launched Harris into teen-heartthrob status. The series lasted1989-1993 and earned him a People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Performer in a New Series (1990) and a Golden Globe Nomination (1990). Harris attended the same high school as Freddie Prinze Jr., La Cueva High School in Albuquerque. Neil acted on stage in a few plays while there, one of which was his senior play, Fiddler on the Roof (1971), in which he portrayed Lazar Wolf the butcher (1991).

When "Doogie Howser, M.D." stopped production in 1993, Harris took up stage acting, which he had always wanted to do. After a string of made-for-television movies, Harris acted in his first big screen roles in nine years, Starship Troopers (1997) with Casper Van Dien and then The Proposition (1998). In July 1997, Harris accepted the role of Mark Cohen for the Los Angeles production of the beloved musical, Rent (2005). His performance in "Rent" garnered him a Drama-League Award in 1997. He continued in the musical, to rave reviews, until January 1998. He later reprised the role for six nights in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in December 1998.

In 1999, Harris returned to television in the short-lived sitcom Stark Raving Mad (1999), with Tony Shalhoub. He was also in the big-screen projects The Next Best Thing (2000) and Undercover Brother (2002), and he can be heard as the voice of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the newest animated Spider-Man (2003) series. Harris has continued his stage work, making his Broadway debut in 2001 in "Proof." He has also appeared on stage in "Romeo and Juliet," "Cabaret," Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in Concert (2001), and, most recently, "Assassins." In 2005, Harris returned to the small screen in a guest-starring role on Numb3rs (2005) and a starring role in the sitcom How I Met Your Mother (2005). Neil played the title role in the web-exclusive musical comedy Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008), widely downloaded via iTunes to become the #1 TV series for five straight weeks, despite not actually being on television.

Emmy Award-winning Sarah Michelle Gellar was born on April 14, 1977 in New York City, the daughter of Rosellen (Greenfield), who taught at a nursery school, and Arthur Gellar, who worked in the garment industry. She is of Russian Jewish and Hungarian Jewish descent.

Eating in a local restaurant, Sarah was discovered by an agent when she was four years old. Soon after, she was making her first movie An Invasion of Privacy (1983). Besides a long list of movies, she has also appeared in many TV commercials and on the stage. Her breakthrough came with the television series Swans Crossing (1992). In 1997, she became known to the cinema audience when she appeared in two movies: I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and Scream 2 (1997). But she is most commonly known for her title role in the long-running television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997). She also won an Emmy Award for her performance as Kendall Hart on the soap opera All My Children (1970).

Sarah has since starred in many films, including Simply Irresistible (1999), Cruel Intentions (1999), and the live-action Scooby-Doo (2002) movies as the lovable Daphne Blake. She also provided her voice to several movies, including Small Soldiers (1998), Happily N'Ever After (2006) and TMNT (2007), starred in the box office hit The Grudge (2004), and co-starred with Robin Williams and James Wolk in the television series The Crazy Ones (2013).

She resides in Los Angeles, California, with her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr.. They have been married since 2002, and have two children.

Milo Manheim is an up-and-coming American actor born and raised in Los Angeles. He began his acting career in a local after-school program in Culver City at the age of seven, and he soon went on to perform in 15 musicals with Liza Monjauze Productions. These musicals include: Rent, Footloose, Tommy, A Chorus Line, Gypsy, and Spring Awakening.

Milo was discovered when casting director Amber Horn saw his performance as "Roger" in the musical Rent. This was a pivotal point in his budding career as she brought him in to audition for a new Disney Channel musical, Zombies. Milo booked the male lead, and Zombies premiered on Disney Channel in February 2018.

As the only son of Emmy and Golden Globe award winner Camryn Manheim, Milo grew up on the set of The Practice and Ghost Whisperer, and he developed an appreciation for the craft at an early age. In addition to his love of television and film, Milo is still drawn to the stage. Right after filming Zombies, Milo performed in the original musical Generation Me, which was performed at the Hudson Theatre and Playwright Horizons in New York City. He won the "Best Leading Actor" award for his role at the 2017 New York Musical Festival.

Following in his family's footsteps, he is an avid participant in community service and charities. After his role in Generation Me, Milo became an advocate for teen suicide prevention. He has also worked with a variety of different organizations to give back, including Bread & Roses Restaurant, Pediatric Aides, Poker for Puppies, Buy Life, and Foster Cares. Milo has volunteered with the Venice Family Clinic which provides health care to low-income residents, and he worked with disabled students at McBride Elementary to get them involved with the arts. In 2008, Milo contributed to the Obama campaign with funds raised from a lemonade stand and was invited to Washington D.C. to attend the inauguration. In Addition, for the past six years, Milo has been involved in Robert Kennedy Jr.'s Waterkeeper Alliance, and he had the opportunity to interview Robert Kennedy Jr. on a CBS news segment about the environment.

Milo plays guitar, drums, piano, and ukulele, and he dabbles in various wind instruments.

Kit Williamson is an actor, filmmaker and internet person, best known for playing Ed Gifford on the final two seasons of AMC's Mad Men. He is the creator and star of the Emmy-nominated web series EastSiders, which is now streaming worldwide on Netflix, translated into more than two dozen languages. The series is also distributed on DVD and VOD through Wolfe Video, and has brokered additional distribution deals with Amazon, Hulu, Fullscreen, Logo and Canal 22 in Mexico.

He is the recipient of numerous scholarships, fellowships and awards for his work, including 6 Daytime Emmy Nominations (for outstanding digital daytime drama series, outstanding writing and outstanding directing), The Vanguard Award from OutSHINE Film Fest, The LA Weekly Award for Best Web Drama (EastSiders) and Best Web Comedy (Hipsterhood), a Satellite Award Nomination and The Playwrights First Award.

Kit is an alumnus of the Sundance Lab and has written projects for CBS, Legendary Entertainment, A&E Studios and MTV Studios. His work has screened at numerous festivals including Outfest, Newfest, Inside Out Toronto, SeriesFest, Reeling Chicago and Palm Springs Cinema Diverse.

Originally from Jackson, Mississippi, Kit left home to study acting and creative writing at Interlochen Arts Academy when he was sixteen. Kit began his career on Broadway in the Tony-nominated revival of Talk Radio while a Junior at Fordham University and went on to receive his MFA in playwriting from UCLA. As an actor, he has appeared in episodes of The Good Wife, Odd Mom Out, Public Morals, Numb3rs, Bosch, the Lifetime movies Anatomy of Deception and The Sinister Surrogate, the NBC Universal movie Ana Maria in Novela Land and the independent features Retake (Frameline), Kiss Me, Kill Me (Reeling Chicago) and Best Friends Forever (Slamdance). He also produced and starred in two seasons of the LA Weekly Award winning web series Hipsterhood. Most recently he can be seen in the indie feature 12 Hour Shift, which premiered at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival.

Jamie Foxx is an American actor, singer and comedian. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, for his work in the biographical film Ray (2004). The same year, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the action film Collateral (2004). Other prominent acting roles include the title role in the film Django Unchained (2012), the supervillain Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), and William Stacks in the modern version of Annie (2014).

Jamie Foxx was born Eric Marlon Bishop in Terrell, Texas, to Louise Annette Talley and Darrell Bishop, who worked as a stockbroker and had later changed his name to Shahid Abdula. His mother was an adopted child. When her marriage to his father failed, his maternal grandparents, Mark and Estelle Talley, stepped in and, at age seven months, adopted Jamie too. He has said that he had a very rigid upbringing that placed him in the Boy Scouts and the church choir. During high school, he played quarterback for his high school team and was good enough that he got press in Dallas newspapers. He studied music in college. He released a music album, "Peep This" (1994), and sings the theme song for his movie, Any Given Sunday (1999). However, in 1989, his life changed when a girlfriend challenged him to get up onstage at the Comedy Club. In fact, he says he took his androgynous stage name because he learned that women got preference for mike time on open stage nights. That led to his being cast on Roc (1991) and In Living Color (1990).

Foxx had his own WB television show from 1996 to 2001, the sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show (1996), in which he played Jamie King Jr. Foxx is also a Grammy Award-winning musician, producing four albums which have charted highly on the US Billboard 200: "Unpredictable" (2005), which topped the chart, "Intuition" (2008), "Best Night of My Life" (2010), and "Hollywood: A Story of a Dozen Roses" (2015). In 2012, Foxx starred in the title role of the Quentin Tarantino written and directed Django Unchained (2012). Foxx starred alongside his Ray co-star Kerry Washington, as well as Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson. In 2013, Foxx was cast as President James Sawyer in White House Down (2013) alongside Channing Tatum. The following year, Foxx appeared as the villain Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), and co-starred with Quvenzhané Wallis in Annie (2014), Sony's Will Smith and Jay-Z produced update of the comic strip-turned-musical.

He has two children, including Corinne Foxx, (born 1994), who resides with her mother.

Connie Britton began playing country music fading sensation Rayna Jaymes in Nashville (2012) after having wrapped production for the five season long Friday Night Lights (2006) alongside Kyle Chandler. She previously appeared in Universal's Friday Night Lights (2004) -the movie- directed by Peter Berg and also starring Billy Bob Thornton; and Edward Burns' independent feature Looking for Kitty (2004).

Britton was born Constance Elaine Womack in Boston, Massachusetts, to Linda Jane (Cochran) and Edgar Allen Womack, Jr., a physicist and energy company executive. She is of Irish, German, and English descent.

Britton received accolades for her starring roles in Edward Burns' acclaimed independent films The Brothers McMullen (1995) and No Looking Back (1998). In the former, she captivated moviegoers with her portrayal of "Molly", the luminous wife of a cheating husband. This popular low-budget film went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. After nearly canceling her audition with director Edward Burns, this last meeting of the day turned into the role that would launch her career. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Britton moved to Lynchburg, Virginia, at the age of seven with her family, including her fraternal twin sister. She went on to attend Dartmouth College, where she majored in Asian studies and spent a term in Beijing, China. Upon graduation, she moved to New York, where she spent two years at the Neighborhood Playhouse studying with Sanford Meisner, and an additional two years performing in regional theater and off-Broadway productions. She moved to Los Angeles after the success of The Brothers McMullen (1995).

She starred in ABC's Lost at Home (2003) opposite Mitch Rouse and Gregory Hines. Her other television credits include The Fighting Fitzgeralds (2001) opposite Brian Dennehy, a recurring role in the highly-acclaimed drama The West Wing (1999) and a starring role in the award-winning comedy Spin City (1996) opposite Michael J. Fox. Additionally, Britton starred in the recent feature films The Next Big Thing (2001) and One Eyed King (2001).

In her free time, Britton, who resides in both New York and Los Angeles, enjoys hiking, yoga, and doing volunteer work.

Zachary Quinto was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Margaret J. (McArdle), an Irish-American office worker, and Joseph John Quinto, an Italian-American barber. Zachary graduated from Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, with the class of 1995, where he won Pittsburgh's Gene Kelly Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the Major General in Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance". He then went on to attend Carnegie Mellon University, where he continued to hone his talents by performing in plays and musicals. He first appeared on numerous television series since 2000 and, in 2003, landed the role of computer expert "Adam Kaufman" on the Fox series, 24 (2001), during its third season. In 2006, Quinto portrayed serial killer "Sylar" on the science fiction series, Heroes (2006), until its cancellation in 2010, after four seasons. He was cast in his first main film role as "Spock", in the hugely successful franchise reboot, Star Trek (2009).

Multi-Emmy-winning actor, writer and producer, Mike Manning, has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. On TV, Manning is most known for his roles in Disney's snowboarding movie "Cloud 9," on MTV's "Teen Wolf," as 'The Manny' on NBC's popular drama "This Is Us," and playing 'Charlie Dale' on the long-running soap "Days of Our Lives". Manning's other TV credits include "Hawaii Five-0" on CBS, "Major Crimes" on TNT, "Crash & Bernstein" on Disney XD, Tyler Perry's "The Haves and the Have Nots," and "The Bay" (Peacock), for which Manning won two Emmy Awards and was also nominated for an Independent Series Award.

Manning has been recognized for his noteworthy performances in the civil rights feature film "Son of the South" executive produced by Oscar-winner Spike Lee, and the third installment of the "God's Not Dead" faith-based blockbuster. Other credits include "The Call" featuring Lin Shaye and Tobin Bell, the Shudder Original "Slapface," and "Eyes in the Trees" with Oscar-winner Sir Anthony Hopkins, which Manning also co-wrote.

Growing up in Colorado, Manning showed an interest in acting at an early age, getting involved in high school theatre productions like "Oliver!" and "The Secret Garden." He has since performed at the Santa Monica Playhouse in Lisa Visca's original "Climax" opposite Rae Dawn Chong, and later as the lead in "Raise Me Up." Mike is also a voiceover actor, working on some of the largest foreign Netflix shows in the world, including the worldwide Spanish hit "Money Heist," the French hit "Lupin," Mexico's "Unstoppable," Italy's "Generation 56K" and the Spanish Sci-Fi "Welcome to Eden."

In 2014, Mike executive produced the Showtime documentary "Kidnapped for Christ" alongside Tom DeSanto ("X-Men"). That year, the New York Post referred to Manning as an actor becoming "an up-and-coming producer to remember," and he's been creating meaningful content ever since. In 2022, Manning launched Mannifest Productions, aiming at continuing his producing endeavors, with a focus on representation and using storytelling to illuminate certain social causes.

After producing "An Act of Love" with actress Pauley Perrette ("NCIS"), Mike later produced the homeless youth documentary "Lost in America," featuring Oscar-winner Halle Berry, Tiffany Haddish, Grammy-winner Jewel and Rosario Dawson. Manning also helped produce "The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson," directed by Oscar-nominated David France, which was a Netflix Original after premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival. Other producing credits include: the SXSW thriller "M.F.A.," the Tribeca comedy "Folk Hero & Funny Guy" with Wyatt Russell and Melanie Lynskey, the SXSW award-winning drama "Jinn" and the Lionsgate film "Powder Pup," which Manning co-wrote.

Mike works with nonprofits that advocate for the poor, the environment, and equal rights. In 2010, Manning lobbied Congress on behalf of The Human Rights Campaign while on MTV's "The Real World." Since then, Mike has received proclamations from the New York City Council and other political organizations for his cause-related work. He's on the board of Boo2Bullying, Legacy Youth Leadership, and the world's largest youth-led clean water organization Thirst Project.

Best known for his starring role as Det. Sonny Crockett on the hugely successful TV series Miami Vice (1984), Don Johnson is one of the stars who really defined the 1980s. As James "Sonny" Crockett he went toe-to-toe with drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes, assassins, illegal arms-dealers and crooked cops on a weekly basis from 1984 to 1989, appearing in a grand total of 110 episodes. The show, which was executive-produced by four time Oscar-nominated director, producer and writer Michael Mann, paired Johnson with the equally cool Philip Michael Thomas as Det. Ricardo Tubbs and the calm and stoic presence of Edward James Olmos as Lt. Martin Castillo. It revolutionized television with its modern fashion, pop music, unique style and use of real locations. Johnson typically wore $1000 Armani, Versace and Hugo Boss suits over pastel cotton T-shirts, drove a Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona (later a Ferrari Testarossa) and lived on an Endeavour 42-foot sailboat named "St. Vitus' Dance" with his pet alligator Elvis. He also had full use of an offshore powerboat. Still, "Miami Vice" had not only style but substance, and his portrayal of the Vietnam veteran turned vice detective turned Sonny Crockett into the world's favorite cop. For his work on "Miami Vice" Johnson won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series in 1986, and was nominated in the same category a year later. He also picked up an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1985.

Johnson was born in Flat Creek, Missouri, the son Eva Lea "Nell" (Wilson), a beautician, and Wayne Fred Johnson, a farmer. As a kid, he wanted to become a professional bowler. Later, after a few brushes with the law at a young age, he discovered acting. After working on the stage for a while he ventured into films and television, but was not able to break into stardom despite, among other things, starring in the sci-fi cult classic A Boy and His Dog (1975).

Johnson starred in four failed TV pilots before landing his career-high role on "Miami Vice", which propelled him to superstardom. He directed four highly praised episodes of the show. He balanced his work on the series by appearing in a praised TV-movie adaption of the William Faulkner novel The Long Hot Summer (1985) and the feature Sweet Hearts Dance (1988) with Susan Sarandon. After the series ended he focused solely on his film career. Although movies like Dead Bang (1989), The Hot Spot (1990) and Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991) did not fare well with the critics, quite a few of them have obtained a considerable cult following, with fans praising them as all being quality contributions to their genre. His film work has given Johnson the opportunity to work with legendary filmmakers like John Frankenheimer, Sidney Lumet and Dennis Hopper.

After working steadily, Johnson returned to TV in 1996 with the cop show Nash Bridges (1996). The show, which Johnson created and produced, did very well. It co-starred Cheech Marin and Jodi Lyn O'Keefe. Johnson played the title role, a captain in the San Francisco PD's Special Investigations Unit. He was again paired with a flashy vehicle, this time an electric-yellow 1971 Plymouth Barracuda convertible. After "Nash Bridges" went off the air Johnson kept a low profile, but continued to appear in films and on television. He starred in the failed WB courtroom drama Just Legal (2005), which was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and traveled to Europe to make the Norwegian screwball comedy Lange flate ballær II (2008) and the Italian films Bastardi (2008) and Torno a vivere da solo (2008). As a supporting actor, he's been seen in mainstream films such as Machete (2010), Django Unchained (2012) and Knives Out (2019).

Johnson had two pre-fame marriages that were annulled within a matter of days. In the early 1970s, he lived with rock groupie Pamela Des Barres. In 1972, Tippi Hedren, his co-star in The Harrad Experiment (1973), allowed him to date her daughter Melanie Griffith despite the fact she was only 14 and he was 22; the relationship culminated in a six-month marriage during 1976. From 1981 to 1985, he lived with actress Patti D'Arbanville and they had one son together. After short-lived liaisons with Cybill Shepherd, Barbra Streisand and a barely legal Uma Thurman, he remarried Griffith in 1989. The couple divorced again in 1996, after she left him for Antonio Banderas. Johnson was engaged to "Nash Bridges" co-star O'Keefe, but broke it off before they made it to the altar. Since 1999 he's been married to former debutante Kelley Phleger, with whom he has three children.

It was after the 1968 Democratic convention and there was a casting call for a film with several roles for the kind of young people who had disrupted the convention. Two recent graduates of Catholic University in Washington DC, went to the audition in New York for Joe (1970). Chris Sarandon, who had studied to be an actor, was passed over. His wife Susan got a major role.

That role was as Susan Compton, the daughter of ad executive Bill Compton (Dennis Patrick). In the movie Dad Bill kills Susan's drug dealer boyfriend and next befriends Joe (Peter Boyle)-- a bigot who works on an assembly line and who collects guns.

Five years later, Sarandon made the film where fans of cult classics have come to know her as Janet, who gets entangled with transvestite Dr. Frank n Furter in The The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). More than 15 years after beginning her career Sarandon at last actively campaigned for a great role, Annie in Bull Durham (1988), flying at her own expense from Rome to Los Angeles. "It was such a wonderful script ... and did away with a lot of myths and challenged the American definition of success", she said. "When I got there, I spent some time with Kevin Costner, kissed some ass at the studio and got back on a plane". Her romance with the Bull Durham (1988)) supporting actor, Tim Robbins, had produced two sons by 1992 and put Sarandon in the position of leaving her domestic paradise only to accept roles that really challenged her. The result was four Academy Award nominations in the 1990s and best actress for Dead Man Walking (1995). Her first Academy Award nomination was for Louis Malle's Atlantic City (1980).

The Emmy Award-winning actor stars in NBC's Emmy and Golden Globe nominated drama series This Is Us (2016). For his role as Randall Pearson, Brown won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, as well as a Golden Globe, becoming the first African-American actor to win his category in the award show's 75-year history. Additionally, Brown made history by becoming the first African-American actor to receive the SAG Award for Outstanding Male Actor in a Drama and also received a SAG award alongside his cast for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. He also has won an NAACP Image Award and Critics Choice Award, and has been nominated for a TCA Award and a Teen Choice Award. In 2016, Brown portrayed prosecutor Christopher Darden in FX's highly-rated award-winning television event series Inside Look: The People v. O.J. Simpson - American Crime Story (2016). He won an Emmy Award and Critics Choice Award for the role and was nominated for a Golden Globe, SAG Award, and NAACP Image Award.

Brown was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Aralean Banks and Sterling Brown. His father died when he was ten, after a heart attack. Brown graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama from Stanford University, before receiving his Master's Degree in Fine Arts from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons.

Brown can be seen in Marvel's Black Panther (2018). Later in the year, he co-starred in Fox's The Predator (2018) and Hotel Artemis (2018), with Jodie Foster and Brian Tyree Henry. In 2017, Brown co-starred in Open Road's Marshall (2017), for which he received an NAACP Image Award nomination for his role. In 2016, Brown co-starred with Tina Fey in Paramount's Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016).

A lover of theater, Brown has performed in a variety of staged shows, including NY and LA productions of Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3), for which he won an NAACP Theatre Award and was nominated for an Ovation Award. His additional stage credits include MacBeth, The Brother/Sister Plays and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui opposite Al Pacino.

For seven years, Brown portrayed Dr. Roland Burton in the critically acclaimed Lifetime series Army Wives (2007). Additional television credits include Supernatural (2005), Person of Interest (2011), Masters of Sex (2013), Castle (2009) and Criminal Minds (2005). His film credits include Our Idiot Brother (2011), The Suspect (2013), Righteous Kill (2008), Trust the Man (2005), and Spaceman (2016).