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- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Adrianne Palicki was born in Toledo, Ohio, to Nancy (French) and Jeffrey Palicki. Her father is of Polish and Hungarian descent, and her mother is of English and German ancestry. Adrianne graduated from Whitmer High School. She did not take the stage in her first play until she was a sophomore at Whitmer High School. While in high school, she played basketball and ran track, and was runner-up for homecoming queen. She was a series regular on the first three seasons of NBC's drama series Friday Night Lights (2006). She has since starred of co-starred in the films Legion (2010), Red Dawn (2012), and G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013).- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Born two months premature at four pounds, Kate Noelle Holmes made her first appearance on December 18, 1978, in Toledo, Ohio. She is the daughter of Kathleen Ann (Craft), a philanthropist, and Martin Joseph Holmes, Sr., a lawyer. She is of German, Irish, and English ancestry. Her parents have said that her strong-willed personality is probably due to her early birth. Being the youngest in the Holmes clan, completing the family of three other sisters and one brother, Katie was always the baby.
As a teenager, she began attending modeling school. When she was sixteen, her teacher invited her to go to a modeling competition with other girls from her class. She competed in the International Modeling and Talent Association by singing, dancing, and reciting a monologue from To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). By the end of that time in New York, Katie won many awards. But she said she didn't want to model because it wasn't challenging enough. So when she was seventeen, Katie went to Los Angeles to audition for movies. Luckily, on her second audition, she was cast in the movie, The Ice Storm (1997), directed by Ang Lee. Katie's character was Libbets Casey, a rich New Yorker, who is pursued by two of the main characters. It was a small part, but it marked the beginning of her professional acting career.
After the excitement of her first movie, Katie began sending in audition tapes for pilot shows. During that time, she was also starring in her all-girls Catholic high school musical, Damn Yankees, as Lola. After Kevin Williamson received her audition tape for his new show, Dawson's Creek (1998), the producers wanted her to come to Hollywood right away and read live for them. But because they wanted her to come on the opening night for Damn Yankees, Katie had to tell them she couldn't make it. Fortunately, the show's producers wanted her so much for that role, they rescheduled her callback and the result was she got the part as Joey Potter. During her first year with Dawson's Creek (1998), Katie was able to do two movies, Disturbing Behavior (1998) and Go (1999), and, for the former, she won Best Breakthrough Female Performance at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards.
The following year, she starred next to Michael Douglas in Wonder Boys (2000), playing Hannah Green, a published author and a boarder at her teacher's (Douglas) house, who has a crush on him, and tries to seduce him. Her first leading role came in 2002, with Abandon (2002). She played a college student named Katie Burke, who is haunted by the mysterious disappearance of her boyfriend who vanished two years prior. With Dawson's Creek (1998) coming to a close after six years in May of 2003, it was a bittersweet moment for all the cast. Accustomed to being in North Carolina filming ten months out of a year, the cast members now had the opportunity to make more movies.
Katie demonstrated this in October, when she had two new movies, Pieces of April (2003) and The Singing Detective (2003), coming out in that month alone. Pieces of April (2003) is a charming Thanksgiving movie about April (Holmes), the black sheep of her family, who wants to give her family the perfect dinner before her mother passes on. The Singing Detective (2003) is a dark musical where the main character (Robert Downey Jr.) was a writer in a hospital for skin conditions who writes a dark world of seduction and murder in his mind. Katie Holmes played the kind Nurse Mills who tends to his every need. She also gets to lip sync and dance in this movie. In 2004, she starred in the romantic movie First Daughter (2004), in which she played the President's (Michael Keaton) daughter, Samantha, who wants to go to college without any Secret Service tagging along. In 2005, Holmes co-starred in Batman Begins (2005), where she played Rachel Dawes, a childhood sweetheart and love interest to Batman/Bruce Wayne.
Katie has a daughter with her ex-husband, Tom Cruise.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Alyson Stoner got their start as a triple threat on the Disney Channel, co-hosting "Mike's Super Short Show." By age seven, they won the hearts of an older generation as the "Little Pigtailed Dancer" in Missy Elliott's music video, Missy Elliott: Work It (2002). Since their early reign, Alyson has become a powerhouse heavy-weight with blockbuster movies like Cheaper by the Dozen (2003) and the "Step Up" franchise, hit TV shows across networks and cable, and record-setting viral videos. They just completed a 24-city national tour with their original music, leading up to the release of their EP, "While You Were Sleeping," and is Head of Music for the award-winning QWunder app, educating children in emotional and social intelligence.
Alyson is the 6th Most Searched Actress on Google, 16th Most Searched Actress on IMDB, and has over 40 film credits including three in production for 2017. Their social reach is over one Million and they have over 110 Million Views as a fully independent artist on YouTube.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Actress and producer Lizze Broadway is a fast-rising talent on both the big and small screen and will next star as "Emma Meyer" in GEN V, the upcoming spin-off of Amazon's hit franchise THE BOYS.
Born in Toledo, Ohio to school teacher parents, Broadway relocated to Los Angeles with her family at 9 years old. She began acting as a hobby in her early years and quickly found success in television, booking guest star roles on series such as SHAMELESS (Showtime), NCIS (CBS), CHICAGO P.D (NBC) and BONES (Fox). She landed a recurring arc on Alan Ball's HBO dramedy HERE AND NOW and starred in AMERICAN PIE: GIRLS RULES, of the iconic film franchise, as well as the independent horror-thriller THE INHABITANT.
Broadway will next star opposite including Chris Evans, Ana de Armas and Adrien Brody in Dexter Fletcher's feature film GHOSTED for Apple TV+ and will also be seen in the comedy series BASED ON A TRUE STORY for Peacock opposite Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina.
Broadway resides in Los Angeles, California- Actor
- Soundtrack
Sommer returned to Cleveland in 2008 to teach a master class at the Case Western Reserve University / Cleveland Play House graduate program. He earned an MFA in the program in 2004.
Sommer planned his future in improv comedy during his Play House days. He has performed with the Upright Citizens Brigade improv troupe, but the bulk of his career has been in television and film.
Sommer's career is a fulfillment of a childhood dream. He was born in Toledo, and lived in Rocky River and Cuyahoga Falls (Ohio). When he was eight his family moved to Stillwater, Minnesota and graduated from Stillwater Area High School in 1996 and went on to study theater at Concordia College in Moorhead.
He did odd jobs and improv after graduating from college, but wanted to act full time. He saw an ad in a theater magazine about the Cleveland Play House graduate program and applied.
He and his wife, Virginia Donohoe Sommer, met as graduate students. The couple moved to New York in 2004, married the following year and moved to Los Angeles in 2007. Virginia Sommer is a full-time mom to the couple's two children (Beatrice c. 2007 and Patrick Ryan, August 31, 2010).
At the start of his career, he wished for one legacy job -- something to tell the grandchildren about. With 'Mad Men' he has that.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Philip Baker Hall was born in Toledo, Ohio, to Berdene (McDonald) and William Alexander Hall, a factory worker who was originally from Montgomery, Alabama. He did not start acting until he was 30 years old. Known to film fans for his turn as Richard Nixon in Robert Altman's one-man show film Secret Honor (1984), he shot to cult fame when he turned in another electrifying performance, as Sydney, the veteran gambler, in Paul Thomas Anderson's debut feature, Hard Eight (1996). However, it was his work in the same director's star-studded Magnolia (1999) that really caught the mass film public's attention; his performance as the legendary quiz show presenter "Jimmy Gator" was highly acclaimed. These acclaimed smaller films led to Hall's casting in multiple blockbuster hits of the 1990s and 2000s, including The Sum of All Fears (2002) and Dogville (2003), directed by Lars von Trier.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
One of the most prolific character actors of his time starting with his role of Santini in the Blackboard Jungle (1955). Since then has appeared in iconic shows as the Twilight Zone, the Red Skelton Hour, the Dick Van Dyke Show, the Danny Kaye Show, Hazel, My Three Sons, Ben Casey, The Lucy Show, I Dream of Jeannie, The Andy Griffith Show, My Favorite Martian, F Troop, Get Smart. Gomer Pyle, The Flying Nun, The Blue Knight, Barnaby Jones, The Love Boat, Diagnosis Murder and of course M*A*S*H.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Teresa Ganzel is better known as a recurring cast member of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962). She replaced the late Carol Wayne as the Matinee Lady in the popular "Tea Time Movie" skits. She has had several stereotype (ditzy, buxom, blonde bimbo) roles in films such as The Toy (1982) with Jackie Gleason and Richard Pryor, Movie Madness (1982). In the film, she had a memorable topless scene. She made a turn when she appeared in Transylvania 6-5000 (1985). She played the overprotective and confrontational mother, Elizabeth Ellison.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Gracie Dzienny was born on 26 August 1995 in Toledo, Ohio, USA. She is an actress, known for First Kill (2022), Jupiter's Legacy (2021) and Bumblebee (2018).- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Eric Kripke is an American writer and television producer. He came to prominence as the creator of The CW fantasy drama series Supernatural (2005-2020), where he served as show-runner during the first five seasons. Kripke also created the post-apocalyptic drama series Revolution (2012-2014) and co-created the science fiction series Timeless (2016-2018). Since 2019, he has served as show-runner of the superhero series The Boys, which he developed for Amazon Prime Video.- Suzee Pai was born Sue Frances Pai on August 8, 1962 in Toledo, Ohio. Pai did some fashion modeling in New York City and was a Liberty Bells cheerleader for the football team the Philadelphia Eagles. Moreover, Suzee was the Pet of the Month in the January, 1981 issue of "Penthouse." She appeared in a follow-up pictorial in the June, 1982 issue of the same famous men's magazine. Pai has acted in a few movies; she was especially memorable as blind prostitute Siakwan in Sharky's Machine (1981) and enticing green-eyed beauty Miao Yin in the cult favorite Big Trouble in Little China (1986). Her small part as a Vietnamese prostitute in First Blood (1982) was cut from the final theatrical version of the film. Moreover, Suzee had a recurring role as piano player Billie Low in the short-lived TV series Nick & Hillary (1988). Alas, Pai quit acting in the 1990's and has kept a low profile ever since.
- Zuri Hall is an Emmy award winning television personality and actress. The rising star, and Ohio-native, has made numerous guest appearances on scripted shows -- including her appearance opposite Jen Aniston in Apple TV's "The Morning Show"; multiple appearances on "The Arrangement" on E!; TV Land's "Nobodies" (executive produced by Melissa McCarthy); and the digital comedic series "Hashtaggers".
Zuri is the Sideline Reporter for NBC's hit summer competition show "American Ninja Warrior"; a correspondent for Access Hollywood; and the co-host of Access' newest companion show "All Access" - which focuses on entertainment news, human interest & true crime stories.
With a passion for music, and a singing/songwriting background -- Zuri's first loves were singing & acting, and she began pursuing both from a very early age. In addition to her past recording artistry, Zuri also studied Theatre at her alma mater, The Ohio State University, and eventually went on to study Improvisation at the Upright Citizen's Brigade in New York City.
Before leaving for Access Hollywood, Zuri was a daily correspondent, and frequent fill-in co-anchor on E! News from 2015 to 2019. She is also the former host of MTV's after-shows and reunions for the popular reality game show The Challenge. Hall has been a recurring guest on VH1's Big Morning Buzz Live and has appeared on E!'s Fashion Police with Joan Rivers.
Zuri also has a self-run YouTube channel titled, "Hey Zuri Hall" where she talks about, "love life, and style for girls who hustle." Her channel has more than 100,000 subscribers, and 5MIL+ views. Her career and fashion style have been featured in numerous high profile publications - including Vogue, Essence Magazine, ELLE, and more. - Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Casey Biggs decided to give up football and pursue an acting career while a student at Central Catholic High School in Toledo, Ohio. He joined a glee club and chorus, then started getting involved in musicals and operettas. This led to his audition for the Juilliard School, where he received a BFA in 1977. He continues to star in numerous stage, film and television productions since his graduation.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Victor Raider-Wexler was born on 31 December 1943 in Toledo, Ohio, USA. He is an actor, known for Minority Report (2002), Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) and Secret Santa (2003).- Actor
- Soundtrack
The grandnephew of South African pioneer and former president Paul Krüger, Otto Kruger trained for a musical career from childhood, but after enrolling in Columbia University he switched his career choice to acting. Making his Broadway debut in 1915, at 30, he shortly became a matinée idol of the day, specializing in sophisticated leading roles. He made his film debut in 1915 in The Runaway Wife (1915), but it was in the 1930s that Kruger's polished, urbane characterizations came into full swing. Although he occasionally played a hero, as in Corregidor (1943) he was often cast as the amoral villain or a charming but corrupt businessman (usually a banker), a task at which he excelled. Kruger was one of the industry's busiest character actors until a series of strokes brought about his retirement in the mid-1960s.- A prolific radio and TV actress, Ms. Mitchell was a regular on such classic radio series as "Fibber McGee and Molly" and "The Great Gildersleeve," and on television, "Pete & Gladys" (Janet Colton), "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" (Marge Thornton), and "Bachelor Father" (Kitty Deveraux). She also made frequent appearances on other TV shows, including "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Perry Mason." Ms. Mitchell's feature film credits include "Desk Set," "Big Business," and "The War of the Roses." Best Known for playing Lucy Ricardo's girlfriend, Marion Strong on I Love Lucy, in "Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress" (Episode #69). She made two more appearances as Marion, on "Lucy's Club Dance", and on "Lucy Tells the Truth". She was the wife of composer Jay Livingston (1915-2001).
- Gorgeous and voluptuous 5'3" brunette knockout Cynthia Jeanette Myers was born on September 12, 1950, in Toledo, Ohio. She was raised by her mother Mary, her grandparents and various aunts and uncles after her father was killed in a car accident when she was four years old. She had two siblings, sister Tana and brother Lance. Cynthia was a competitive horseback rider and worked part-time as a theater usher while growing up. She was initially offered opportunities to model at age 14. In 1967 she began modeling for Detroit auto shows. She graduated from Woodward High School in 1968, and became the Playmate of the Month for the December 1968 issue of Playboy. She made regular appearances on the TV series Playboy After Dark (1969) and had uncredited bit roles in The Lost Continent (1968) and They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969).
Myers achieved her greatest enduring cult cinema popularity with her winningly spunky portrayal of wide-eyed innocent rock guitarist Casey Anderson in Russ Meyer's gloriously outrageous Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970). Her only other film role was a small but memorably sexy part as brash prostitute Dolly Winwood in the offbeat Western Molly and Lawless John (1972). Cynthia continued to model as "Miss Earthquake" in magazine print ads for Cerwin-Vega stereo equipment in the early 1970s. She lived in both Las Vegas (NV) and Southern California. The mother of a son, Myers was a beloved frequent guest at autograph conventions held all over the country. She was voted #10 in a poll for Playboy Playmates of the Century in 2000.
Cynthia Meyers died of lung cancer at age 61 on November 4, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. - Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Comedian, actor, pianist, composer and songwriter. He was a night club pianist, later joining the Henry Halstead orchestra in 1923. He created the character of 'Charlie Weaver' for The Jack Paar Show, and portrayed 'Mrs. Butterworth' in television commercials. He joined ASCAP in 1959, and his chief musical collaborator was Charles "Bud" Dant. His popular-song compositions include: "It's Xmas in Mount Idy" "Just Got a Letter from Mama"; "On the Boardwalk at Snider's Swamp"; "Fight for Sub-Normal U"; "Who'll Sign the Pardon for Wallace Swine?"; and "Don't Give the Chair to Buster".- Álvaro Rico was born on 13 August 1996 in Toledo, Spain. He is an actor, known for El Cid (2020), Elite (2018) and Invasión (2024).
- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Daws Butler spent the greater part of his career as one of the premier voice-over actors in Hollywood- providing the voices for such well- known characters as Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick-Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, Jinks the cat, Dixie the mouse, Augie Doggie, Peter Potamus, Wally Gator, Hokey Wolf, Super Snooper, Blabber Mouse, Cogswell Cogs, Elroy Jetson and many others. He also provided the voices for such long-running commercial characters as Snap, diminutive companion of Crackle and Pop of noisy cereal fame, as well as Cap'n Crunch, spokesman for a somewhat quieter breakfast treat.
Butler was born in Toledo, Ohio and spent his formative years in Oak Park, Illinois. Although his initial ambition was to be a cartoonist, he had a talent for vocal humor and mimicry as well. Paradoxically, he was also quite shy. As a sort of self- imposed therapy, he forced himself to address large audiences by entering local amateur contests and performing impersonations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rudy Vallee and a Model T Ford starting on a cold morning (an audience favorite). He found that the laughter and applause he got in response was well worth the effort and it clinched his decision to pursue an acting and performing career. Eschewing the last few months of his senior year in high school, he began appearing in Chicago theaters and nightclubs along with two other impersonators he had met along the way. Because they all maxed out at around five feet, two inches in height and primarily did impressions of radio personalities, they billed themselves as "The Three Short Waves."
After two years in the Navy during World War II, during which he met and married Myrtis Martin of Albemarle, N.C. (whose next-door neighbor provided the inspiration for what would later become the southern drawl of Huckleberry Hound), Butler ferried his wife and son out to Hollywood. He finally broke into radio, performing in dramatic as well as comedy programs and specializing in dialects and a wide range of vocal characterizations.
In 1949, Butler and Stan Freberg were featured in a new television puppet show called "Time for Beany." Butler was the voice of a propeller-capped kid named Beany while Freberg voiced his best pal, Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent. During five years of five shows a week, they were honored with two Emmy awards.
At Capitol Records in the early 1950s, Butler and Freberg co-wrote and co-voiced a comedy record takeoff on the TV show "Dragnet," called "St. George and the Dragonet." Not only was Jack Webb flattered and amused by the record, but it was the first comedy record to sell more than a million copies. Butler's and Freberg's partnership produced several other comedy platters beloved by disc jockeys across the country, even today. Butler was also a part of Freberg's comedy ensemble on the Stan Freberg Radio Show in the summer of 1957 and on a later and very popular comedy single called "Christmas Dragnet."
After lengthy and very productive collaborations with famed animators/directors Tex Avery and Walter Lantz, Butler embarked on yet another inspired partnership, with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at Hanna-Barbera Productions. There, beginning in the late 50s, Butler created his most famous cartoon characterizations, aided and abetted by another gifted voice actor, Don Messick-Boo Boo and Ranger Smith to Butler's Yogi Bear and Pixie the Mouse to his Dixie, among others.
For legendary cartoon producer Jay Ward, Butler, along with fellow actors and friends June Foray and Bill Scott, performed in two animated series, "Fractured Fairy Tales" and "Aesop and Son." His long-running Cap'n Crunch character was also a Jay Ward creation.
In his later years, Butler established a popular and respected actors' workshop in his home, training talented students not only in voice- over techniques, but in all areas of acting, including the physical. On that subject, especially, one had only to witness Butler's histrionic physicality when voicing Yogi Bear or his laid- back, sleepy-eyed mien as he became Huckleberry Hound to understand why he considered facial expression and physical movement as essential as sound in producing a living, breathing character. One of Butler's star workshop students was Nancy Cartwright, later the voice of Bart Simpson on "The Simpsons." Daws Butler passed away on May 19, 1988 of a heart attack, having just completed three Yogi Bear films and 15 new half-hour Yogi Bear cartoon shows. He also lived to see the rebirth of The Jetsons for a new generation, voicing 30 of the new shows along with all the members of the original cast. During his longest- standing creative collaboration, the 30-odd years with Hanna-Barbara Productions, Daws Butler performed in the neighborhood of 40 different characters. In the years that followed his death, seven actors were required to replace them all.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Character actor of distinctly American persona who nevertheless made several films in Britain before returning to the U.S. to carve out a career as a familiar face in American movies. Short, bald and built like a tank with a streetwise character and a Damon Runyan accent, Welden played countless gangsters and smalltime hoods, often with a comic aspect. He was the henchman who beat the snot out of Bette Davis in Marked Woman (1937) and gunned down Elia Kazan in City for Conquest (1940), and made numerous appearances as crooks on Adventures of Superman (1952). As a sideline, he owned Nutcorn, a popular Beverly Hills confectionery. He retired from acting in his sixties.- Actress
- Producer
Toledo Ohio native, Tiffany Adams, was raised by her loving and hard working single mother. As early as elementary school, Tiffany Adams was attracted to acting, had found solace in the theater, and has always been very good at it. She recalls the very first standing ovation she received was after delivering Martha's monologue in a local production of the play The Children's Hour. Tiffany's love for the arts lead to her involvement in performing arts programs offered though the public school system. She played violin in the orchestra, studied ballet and jazz, took voice lessons, and acted in a number of musical theatre productions.
As a teenager, Tiffany Adams wanted to be part of the Toledo Repertory Theatre. The tuition was out of her reach, so she auditioned and earned several of their scholarships. She was involved in a number of productions: Peter Pan, A Christmas Carol, A Chorus Line, ect. To this day, Tiffany is convinced that the Toledo Repertory Theatre saved her from a number of bleak possibilities facing a young underprivileged inner-city kid.
By the time Tiffany graduated from high school, she knew she wanted a career in film, and wanted to make movies. She decided to move to New York or L.A. Her mother supported this decision, but encouraged her to be practical by first learning a trade. Together, that is to say, mostly at the decision of her mother, they settled on optics as a feasible trade and solid career choice. As a result, Tiffany studied Ophthalmic Technologies and learned to make eyeglasses, grind lens and dispense contacts. She also continued taking acting classes.
It was around this time, that Tiffany traveled to Texas for a talent competition after hearing that major L.A. casting directors were going to be the judges. She competed with 200 other women in categories for drama, improvisation, commercial, sitcom, and special talents. When the competition came to an end and the judging was complete, one by one, the names of the winners were announced for each category. Tiffany's name was not called. With a broken heart, and tears welling up, she got up to leave. As she exited the doors of the event, the MC announced that there was one final category: the grand prize winner for ALL the categories across the board. He then called out Tiffany's name, but she was too far out the door to hear it. A show volunteer had to run and catch her to tell her she had won. Her trophy was huge. One of the judges was L.A. Casting Director Ricki Maslar. Ricki explained that if she had a SAG card she would be certain to land acting work in Los Angeles. However, because Tiffany had only performed in local theatre, she wasn't yet a member of the Screen Actors Guild. Tiffany, determined as ever, asked Ricki to give her one year to get her SAG card and move to L.A. Ricki agreed.
When Tiffany returned home with her monster trophy, and told her mother about meeting Ricki Maslar, her mom replied, "You're still going to optician school."
Within the next year, Tiffany finished trade school and drove her old Chevy pickup truck across the country to L.A. Fortunately, it didn't break down until after she crossed the California state line.
Within two months of moving to L.A., casting director Ricki Maslar called Tiffany in for a role in the feature film "The Year That Trembled" with Fred Willard, Martin Mull and Danica McKellar from The Wonder Years. Tiffany booked the role. Ironically, the film shot on location back in her home state of Ohio. She fondly remembers returning as a "working SAG actress" who even had her own trailer.
Shortly after that, Tiffany was cast in national commercials for Burger King, Huggies, Hyundai, Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, Nike and the list goes on. Although Tiffany's main work is in TV and film, she remains loyal to her roots, taking theatre roles when she can.
Regardless of what success Tiffany achieves, she still remembers her roots and makes a point to give back and help the youth in less affluent communities. She has been involved in a number of organization that help homeless and poverty stricken children. She also frequently takes time out of her busy schedule to coach and mentor children in the arts.
Today, Tiffany Adams' career continues to reach new heights. She now books starring roles in films with actors such as Danny Trejo and Eric Roberts. She also regularly guest stars in major network primetime shows including CSI: Cyber, Glee, Major Crimes, and many others. In light of her continued and growing success, Tiffany C. Adams is a young actress whose star is rising by leaps and bounds.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Brett Leonard is a film director.
Mr. Leonard has recently been named by The Producers Guild of America, in association with Variety Magazine, as one of its "Digital 25", recognizing the twenty five leading visionaries, innovators and producers who have made significant contributions to the advancement of storytelling through digital media. The Guild's 4,500 members, including producers of film, television and new media, along with a distinguished Digital 25 Advisory Board, voted Mr. Leonard for this honor. Other recipients include directors James Cameron and Ridley Scott.
Mr. Leonard became a globally-recognized pioneer of digital filmmaking when he directed and co-wrote the hit motion picture Lawnmower Man, starring Pierce Brosnan and Jeff Fahey. The film is considered a cult classic, way ahead of its time in the use of groundbreaking computer graphics, and the portrayal of a networked data culture. Lawnmower Man is one of the true progenitors of the "cyber genre" and was the number one commercially successful independent film of 1992, costing under $6 million and earning over $200 million worldwide.
Mr. Leonard was a key participant of the Sony 2000 think tank, a small group of media visionaries assembled to discuss the future of media by the top brass of the Sony corporation.
He directed Peter Gabriel's Kiss That Frog, the first HD all computer graphic music video/ride film. Kiss That Frog toured the world as a wildly popular theme park attraction, and won Mr. Leonard a 1994 MTV Music Video Award.
In the ensuing years, Mr. Leonard has continued to push the envelope in his feature film work, establishing himself as a pioneer of digital visual effects and cutting-edge independent film, and 3D production.
He first stepped into the third dimension with his IMAX 3D work, and directed T-Rex in IMAX 3D, which was the No.#1 hit 3D movie in history for over ten years, having grossed over $100 million worldwide on IMAX screens alone. It was also the first 3D film to use photo-realistic computer graphics and stereoscopic compositing; techniques that led to the innovations of current 3D film spectaculars such as James Cameron's Avatar. He then went on to direct Anthony Hopkins in the IMAX 3D spectacular The Magic Box.
Mr. Leonard is also known for having a keen eye for new talent, both in front of and behind the camera. He was instrumental in bringing Russell Crowe to American film audiences, giving Russell his first lead in a Hollywood film, Virtuosity, starring Denzel Washington and directed by Mr. Leonard. He did the same for Alicia Silverstone in his film for Tri-Star, Hideaway, and started Rachel Taylor's career (Transformers, American Horror Story) in his film for Marvel Studios, Man-Thing.
Television star, Alex O'Loughlin (lead in the smash-hit series Hawaii Five-O), was given his first break by Brett, and first appeared in Mr. Leonard's films, Man-Thing and Feed.
Mr. Leonard has also been instrumental in dozens of careers behind the camera - Some of the most notable are production designer, Alex McDowell (Minority Report, The Terminal, Watchmen) who's first feature was Lawnmower Man, and director of photography Russell Carpenter, who went on to win the Academy Award for Titanic. Literally hundreds of computer graphic animators and 3D innovators who are now in the top ranks of the business, all got their start on Mr. Leonard's groundbreaking films.
Most recently, Mr. Leonard is again pioneering new media forms with a musically driven feature film concept for the Internet called PopFictionLife - Believing that new content distribution platforms need their own creative "genres", Mr. Leonard and his team have focused on creating projects in a style designed specifically for "personal screens" (iPhone, iPad, etc.). PopFictionLife is an Internet movie concept where a music-driven story is told in 5min "Frags" that connect together to form a full-length feature film. A FragFilm is not a typical web series - it delivers the "movie" experience in a form parsed for the short attention spans of the YouTube generation, designed for easy viewing and downloading on the Internet and mobile platforms. FragFilms of the PopFictionLife genre revolve around the actual lives of developing or established music artists, fictionalized in fun and creative ways to have the dramatic impact of a Hollywood movie. This presents the artist and their music in an entertaining and compelling context beyond "reality", with the style and high production values audiences expect from feature films and television.
Mr. Leonard has produced and directed the first two FragFilms of the PopFictionLife concept, entitled Feel (for Hollywood Records/Disney), and The Other Country (for PFL Transmedia), both of which have been distributed world-wide through the Internet.
Mr. Leonard, in partnership with producer Wilbert Smith Ph.D., has also recently completed a feature-length documentary entitled, Hole in the Head: A Life Revealed, narrated by renowned actor Dennis Haysbert. The film had its world premiere at the International Black Film Festival of Nashville, where it won the "Director's Choice" award for socially-relevant documentary, and has been endorsed by many spiritual leaders, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who says this "story lives on and inspires us all!"
Mr. Leonard and Mr. Smith are now developing Hole in the Head: A Life Revealed into a dramatic feature film based on the incredible true story.
While continually directing feature films over the last twenty five years, Mr. Leonard also produced numerous interactive projects that were well ahead of their time - many at the forefront of defining what is now called "user-created interactive entertainment".
He created a sensation when he took his Swarm Cam-Fusion Station onto the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Billy Idol, and implemented one of the first live web-casts ever, from the House of Blues in Los Angeles.
Consequently, Mr. Leonard was approached by the Creative Artists Agency and Intel Corporation to direct a state-of-the-art "interactive show" for the CAA/Intel Media Lab, with his team at L-Squared Entertainment doing the technical implementation. The "show," IS?TV®: The Virtual Studio Tour, was to introduce the Hollywood community to the "future of entertainment." As producer and director of this ambitious and pioneering project, Mr. Leonard digitized his star Danny DeVito, creating an interactive animated character named "Mr. Head", who guided the audience/participants through the interactive experience. Looking at this presentation now, over ten years later, the volcanically changing media landscape we inhabit today is incredibly similar to what this presentation predicted back then - Mr. Leonard was one of the first to envision the "YouTube", "Facebook" cyber-world of our new millennium.
Mr. Leonard continues to develop ground-breaking projects for enabling truly interactive user-created media experiences, for both the Internet and location-based immersive media venues. Brett's philosophy, born out in all of his interactive work, is to empower people to create story, character, and emotion in any new media experience, no matter what the technology being used to create it.- Olivia Stuck was born on 23 March 1999 in Toledo, Ohio, USA. She is an actress, known for Kirby Buckets (2014).
- Producer
- Actress
- Writer
Gloria Steinem was born on 25 March 1934 in Toledo, Ohio, USA. She is a producer and actress, known for The First Wives Club (1996), V for Vendetta (2005) and The Good Wife (2009). She was previously married to David Bale.