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- Nico Tortorella is a native of Chicago, Illinois. He started out in professional theater when he was in the seventh grade. He was offered a contract with Ford Models when he stopped by an open call in 2007. In 2009 he played the character Razor in ABC Family's film "Twelve". He co-starred in the movie with Emma Roberts, Keifer Sutherland, 50 Cent, Ellen Barkin, and Zoe Kravitz. He split his time between Los Angeles and New York.
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Bill Murray is an American actor, comedian, and writer. The fifth of nine children, he was born William James Murray in Wilmette, Illinois, to Lucille (Collins), a mailroom clerk, and Edward Joseph Murray II, who sold lumber. He is of Irish descent. Among his siblings are actors Brian Doyle-Murray, Joel Murray, and John Murray. He and most of his siblings worked as caddies, which paid his tuition to Loyola Academy, a Jesuit school. He played sports and did some acting while in that school, but in his words, mostly "screwed off." He enrolled at Regis College in Denver to study pre-med but dropped out after being arrested for marijuana possession. He then joined the National Lampoon Radio Hour with fellow members Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and John Belushi. However, while those three became the original members of Saturday Night Live (1975), he joined Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell (1975), which premiered that same year. After that show failed, he later got the opportunity to join Saturday Night Live (1975), for which he earned his first Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy-Variety or Music Series. He later went on to star in comedy films, including Meatballs (1979), Caddyshack (1980), Stripes (1981), Tootsie (1982), Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989), Scrooged (1988), What About Bob? (1991), and Groundhog Day (1993). He also co-directed Quick Change (1990). Murray garnered additional critical acclaim later in his career, starring in Lost in Translation (2003), which earned him a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He also received Golden Globe nominations for his roles in Ghostbusters, Rushmore (1998), Hyde Park on Hudson (2012), St. Vincent (2014), and the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge (2014), for which he later won his second Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
With features chiseled in stone, and renowned for playing a long list of historical figures, particularly in Biblical epics, the tall, well-built and ruggedly handsome Charlton Heston was one of Hollywood's top leading men of his prime and remained active in front of movie cameras for over sixty years. As a Hollywood star, he appeared in 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film, The Ten Commandments (1956) , for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He also starred in Touch of Evil (1958) with Orson Welles; Ben-Hur, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor (1959); El Cid (1961); and Planet of the Apes (1968). He also starred in the films The Greatest Show on Earth (1952); Secret of the Incas (1954); The Big Country (1958); and The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965). A supporter of Democratic politicians and civil rights in the 1960s, Heston later became a Republican, founding a conservative political action committee and supporting Ronald Reagan. Heston's most famous role in politics came as the five-term president of the National Rifle Association, from 1998 to 2003.
Heston was born John Charles Carter on October 4, 1923, in No Man's Land, Illinois, to Lila (Charlton) and Russell Whitford Carter, who operated a sawmill. He had English and Scottish ancestry, with recent Canadianforebears.
Heston made his feature film debut as the lead character in a 16mm production of Peer Gynt (1941), based on the Henrik Ibsen play. In 1944, Heston enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces. He served for two years as a radio operator and aerial gunner aboard a B-25 Mitchell stationed in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands with the 77th Bombardment Squadron of the Eleventh Air Force. He reached the rank of Staff Sergeant. Heston married Northwestern University student Lydia Marie Clarke, who was six months his senior. That same year he joined the military.
Heston played 'Marc Antony' in Julius Caesar (1950), and firmly stamped himself as genuine leading man material with his performance as circus manager 'Brad Braden' in the Cecil B. DeMille spectacular The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), also starring James Stewart and Cornel Wilde. The now very popular actor remained perpetually busy during the 1950s, both on TV and on the silver screen with audience pleasing performances in the steamy thriller The Naked Jungle (1954), as a treasure hunter in Secret of the Incas (1954) and another barn storming performance for Cecil B. DeMille as "Moses" in the blockbuster The Ten Commandments (1956).
Heston delivered further dynamic performances in the oily film noir thriller Touch of Evil (1958), and then alongside Gregory Peck in the western The Big Country (1958) before scoring the role for which he is arguably best known, that of the wronged Jewish prince who seeks his freedom and revenge in the William Wyler directed Ben-Hur (1959). This mammoth Biblical epic running in excess of three and a half hours became the standard by which other large scale productions would be judged, and its superb cast also including Stephen Boyd as the villainous "Massala", English actor Jack Hawkins as the Roman officer "Quintus Arrius", and Australian actor Frank Thring as "Pontius Pilate", all contributed wonderful performances. Never one to rest on his laurels, steely Heston remained the preferred choice of directors to lead the cast in major historical productions and during the 1960s he starred as Spanish legend "Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar" in El Cid (1961), as a US soldier battling hostile Chinese boxers during 55 Days at Peking (1963),played the ill-fated "John the Baptist" in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), the masterful painter "Michelangelo" battling Pope Julius II in The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), and an English general in Khartoum (1966). In 1968, Heston filmed the unusual western Will Penny (1967) about an aging and lonely cowboy befriending a lost woman and her son, which Heston has often referred to as his favorite piece of work on screen. Interestingly, Heston was on the verge of acquiring an entirely new league of fans due to his appearance in four very topical science fiction films (all based on popular novels) painting bleak futures for mankind.
In 1968, Heston starred as time-traveling astronaut "George Taylor", in the terrific Planet of the Apes (1968) with its now legendary conclusion as Heston realizes the true horror of his destination. He returned to reprise the role, albeit primarily as a cameo, alongside fellow astronaut James Franciscus in the slightly inferior sequel Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970). Next up, Heston again found himself facing the apocalypse in The Omega Man (1971) as the survivor of a germ plague that has wiped out humanity leaving only bands of psychotic lunatics roaming the cities who seek to kill the uninfected Heston. And fourthly, taking its inspiration from the Harry Harrison novel "Make Room!, Make Room!", Heston starred alongside screen legend Edward G. Robinson and Chuck Connors in Soylent Green (1973). During the remainder of the 1970s, Heston appeared in two very popular "disaster movies" contributing lead roles in the far-fetched Airport 1975 (1974), plus in the star-laden Earthquake (1974), filmed in "Sensoround" (low-bass speakers were installed in selected theaters to simulate the earthquake rumblings on screen to movie audiences). He played an evil Cardinal in the lively The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge (1974), a mythical US naval officer in the recreation of Midway (1976), also filmed in "Sensoround", an LA cop trying to stop a sniper in Two-Minute Warning (1976) and another US naval officer in the submarine thriller Gray Lady Down (1978). Heston appeared in numerous episodes of the high-rating TV series Dynasty (1981) and The Colbys (1985), before moving onto a mixed bag of projects including TV adaptations of Treasure Island (1990) and A Man for All Seasons (1988), hosting two episodes of the comedy show, Saturday Night Live (1975), starring as the "Good Actor" bringing love struck Mike Myers to tears in Wayne's World 2 (1993), and as the eye patch-wearing boss of intelligence agent Arnold Schwarzenegger in True Lies (1994). He also narrated numerous TV specials and lent his vocal talents to the animated movie Hercules (1997), the family comedy Cats & Dogs (2001) and an animated version of Ben Hur (2003). Heston made an uncredited appearance in the inferior remake of Planet of the Apes (2001), and his last film appearance to date was in the Holocaust-themed drama of My Father (2003).
Heston narrated for highly classified military and Department of Energy instructional films, particularly relating to nuclear weapons, and "for six years Heston [held] the nation's highest security clearance" or Q clearance. The Q clearance is similar to a DoD or Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) clearance of Top Secret.
Heston was married to Lydia Marie Clark Heston since March 1944, and they have two children. His highly entertaining autobiography was released in 1995, titled appropriately enough "Into The Arena". Although often criticized for his strong conservative beliefs and involvement with the NRA, Heston was a strong advocate for civil right many years before it became fashionable, and was a recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, plus the Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2002, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and did appear in a film or TV production after 2003. He died in April 2008, a memorable figure in the history of US cinema.- Actor
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Joel is a versatile writer-director-actor. The youngest of the nine Murrays is a veteran of over 250 sit-com episodes. He has been a series regular on the comedies Grand, Pacific Station, Love and War, Dharma and Greg and Still Standing. He has also recurred on the series Mike and Molly, My Boys and Two and a Half Men. On the dramatic side, Joel played Freddy Rumsen on AMC's Mad Men as well as Eddie Jackson on Showtime's Shameless. He recently starred in Bobcat Goldthwait's dark comedy, God Bless America. He can be heard playing Don Carlton in the Pixar prequel, Monsters University. He was also in 2011' Best Picture, The Artist. Joel has been in numerous films including One Crazy Summer, Scrooged, Long Gone, Hatchet, Lay the Favorite. Sophie and The Rising Sun, Mr. Pig , Bloodsucking Bastards, Lamb, and Seven Minutes. He can also be seen in the upcoming The Last Word. He studied improvisation with Del Close, among others, and was a founding member of Chicago's Improv Olympic. He enjoyed five years at The Second City in Chicago. He has been doing theater since the 4th grade, performed with the Remains and Organic Theatres Companies in Chicago and still performs frequently at the I. O. West in Los Angeles. Joel loves playing with Whose Live Anyway, playing golf and ordering scotch.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Never work with animals or children. It's the stern warning oft-repeated in Hollywood. Breakout actor Beck Bennett, however, would kindly disagree--with the second part, at least.
Bennett stars in the immensely popular "It's Not Complicated" campaign for AT&T, a series of ads in which he plays the wry, deadpan moderator of a focus group populated by precocious children. "Do you guys think it's better to be fast than be slow?" he prompts the kids, who are gathered around him at a comically child-size table. The kids go on energetic, meandering rants about werewolves and islands made of candy. Bennett blinks in response, unamused. The nation, judging by the social-media buzz and YouTube views the ads receive, is very amused.
Bennett's ads--thanks to his adorable rapport with the kids--have been so enthusiastically embraced that AT&T keeps ordering more, most recently a special March Madness edition co-starring a round-table of basketball legends. As a result, the once up-and-coming actor has been beamed into millions of American households countless times since the campaign's launch in November. Both ubiquitous and beloved at this point, Bennett has joined hallowed pantheon of cherished ad stars, alongside the likes of Flo from Progressive, Verizon's "Can You Hear Me Now?" guy, and Wendy the Snapple lady.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
John Murray was born on 22 June 1958 in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Scrooged (1988), Elf (2003) and Caddyshack (1980).- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Raised in the Chicago area, Seana Kofoed attended Northwestern University as well as The Royal National Theatre in London. She began her stage career in Chicago, appearing in productions at The Goodman Theatre, The Court Theatre and Victory Gardens Theatre before moving to New York.
In New York, Kofoed was best known for productions on and off Broadway. Her Broadway credits include "Proof" with Jennifer Jason Leigh and "Night Must Fall" with Matthew Broderick. Off-Broadway credits include several productions at Manhattan Theatre Club, the Atlantic Theatre Company, and MCC. She received a Drama Desk Nomination for Best Supporting Actress in Shelagh Stephenson's "An Experiment with an Air Pump".
Since moving to Los Angeles, Kofoed has recurred and guested on countless television shows, and was a series regular on Jenny Bicks' Men in Trees, and on the Jamie Denbo/Jenji Kohan comedy, American Princess.
Also a writer, Kofoed wrote and produced the feature film, 30 Miles from Nowhere, a ReFrame stamp recipient for its diverse and gender-balanced cast and crew. She wrote the short film, Together Apart, in which she starred with her husband, Jason Antoon, and she wrote and starred in Donna's Revenge: Confessions of an Ex-Contestant, a comedy about the aftermath of reality television fame.- Actor
- Composer
- Producer
Pete Wentz, the bassist and primary lyricist for the Chicago-based band Fall Out Boy, was born Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III in Wilmette, Illinois. He is the son of Dale (Lewis), a high school admissions counselor, and Pete Wentz, an attorney. His grandfather, Arthur Winston Lewis, served as U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone. Pete's father is of German and English descent, while Pete's maternal grandparents were both from black Jamaican families. Pete grew up in the Chicago hardcore punk scene, and was in several bands before Fall Out Boy, including Firstborn, Arma Angelus, 7 Angels of the Apocalypse / Culture of Violence, Extinction, Forever Ended Today, and Yellow Road Priest. He grew up with band member Joe Trohman. Fall Out Boy is the 4th band that Pete Wentz and Andrew Hurley have done together.
Wentz has written a book entitled The Boy With the Thorn In His Side, which is a story based on nightmares he had as a child. It is named after a song by The Smiths. He has another book titled "Rainy Day Kids," which was scheduled to be released February 14th, 2006, but has been postponed because he was unsatisfied with some of the material. In addition, Wentz is writing another book, alternating chapters with William Beckett of The Academy Is....
Wentz has a company called Clandestine Industries, which distributes books and, more notably, clothing, among other things. Additionally, he owns his own imprint of Fueled By Ramen, Decaydance Records, which has signed on several bands, including: Panic! At The Disco, October Fall, Gym Class Heroes and The Hush Soundand Lifetime . He also has a film production company called Bartskull Films, which has released the DVD "Release the Bats", a film about Peter, his friends both in and outside of Fall Out Boy, and many Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen bands.- Actor
- Producer
Will Pullen was born in 1991 in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Unforgivable (2021), Greyhound (2020) and A Little Prayer (2023).- Actor
- Writer
Peter Fox is also a writer whose play Acts Of God was recently published by Samuel French Co. He has also written and directed the CINE Golden Eagle Award winning short film "The Sorrowful Mysteries Of Boomer Pastor". Peter was a member of the Alliance Repertory Theatre in Los Angeles where he served as the Artistic Director for 16 years while also teaching directing at UCLA. He is a graduate of Harvard University with a concentration in Anthropology. He now lives in Ojai where he has been a member of both Theater 150 and The Art Center Theater. You can see his art work at www.peterfoxart.com .- Mina Kolb was born on 7 June 1926 in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for A Mighty Wind (2003), The Hollywood Knights (1980) and Ellen (1994).
- Peter Coffield was born on 17 July 1945 in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Times Square (1980), Barnaby Jones (1973) and CBS Daytime 90 (1974). He died on 19 November 1983 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Janet Armstrong was born on 23 March 1934 in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. She was married to Neil Armstrong. She died on 21 June 2018 in West Chester, Ohio, USA.
- Ed Murray was born on 7 September 1944 in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. He died on 23 November 2020 in Santa Maria, California, USA.
- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Molly has been a respected member of the L.A. theatre, film, and television scene for over two decades. She's had numerous film roles, including The Shift, The TV Set, Dead Man Walking, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, and don't forget Bio-Dome. She's done a bunch of TV, notably Togetherness on HBO, New Girl, The Office, Weeds, Joey, Grounded for Life, The Drew Carey Show, The Gilmore Girls, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While a member of the influential L.A. theatre company The Actors' Gang, she was twice nominated for the prestigious Ovation award, distinguished alongside heavyweights such as Carol Burnett, Glenn Close, Lisa Gay Hamilton and Cherry Jones. Molly is also an accomplished singer-songwriter, and has performed her music in clubs including House of Blues, The Troubadour, and The Mint, and from L.A. to Las Vegas to Chicago to New York. Her three albums, Take it Easy, Be Brave, and Album to Save Humanity (with John Spiker) are available on iTunes- David Orrick McDearmon was born on 27 February 1914 in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. He was a director and actor, known for The Twilight Zone (1959), Burke's Law (1963) and Peter Gunn (1958). He was married to Patricia Breslin. He died on 18 August 1979 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Tad Atkinson made his acting debut at the age of 6, and hasn't stopped since! He initially studied under renowned Hollywood and Broadway director Joshua Logan (South Pacific, Mr. Roberts). He has performed the whole spectrum theatrically, from romantic leads to comic characters to villains. The material he's performed is equally broad, ranging from Shakespeare to premiering original works. By the time he moved to Hollywood to pursue a film career, this stage actor had amassed over 90 performance and technical credits.
He attended Taylor University as an English major, achieved a Masters degree and finished all of the coursework towards a PhD in British Literature at Ball State University. He has taught college and was the Director of Drama at Fort Wayne Christian School.
In 2004, he decided to pursue acting as a full-time career and made the move to L.A. He has studied in LA with Richard Waterhouse and Joel Colman.- Editorial Department
- Editor
- Producer
Scott Jacobs was born on 15 May 1981 in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. Scott is an editor and producer, known for Men in Black: International (2019), The Bourne Legacy (2012) and Defiance (2008).- Sarah Ruhl was born on 24 January 1974 in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. She is a writer, known for The Glorias (2020), The New World and Like Father, Like Son.
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Allison Lane was born in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. She is known for Going Down in LA-LA Land (2011), Criminal Minds (2005) and See U Next Tuesday (2015). She is married to Christopher "Chris" ....- Actor
- Producer
Charlie Trotter was born on 8 September 1959 in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), The Kitchen Sessions with Charlie Trotter (1999) and Fix This Kitchen (2010). He was married to Rochelle Smith and Lisa Ehrlich. He died on 5 November 2013 in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois, USA.- Additional Crew
- Actor
- Director
Fred Fein was born on 12 July 1960 in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. He is an actor and director, known for X-Men (2000), Surrogates (2009) and Space Cowboys (2000).- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Beth Blatt was born on 27 November 1957 in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) and One Woman: The UN Women song (2013).- Mark Fotopoulos was born on 25 September 1956 in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982). He died on 29 November 1991 in Duval County, Florida, USA.
- A versatile and prolific veteran actor (his first paid film role was at age nine!), Sky returned to Central Florida in 2015 after more than a decade working in Hollywood.
His Los Angeles stage credits include Actors Co-op's To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as Rhinoceros and Bury The Dead with The Antaeus Classical Theatre Company. He also was in California Artists Radio Theatre's Leviathan 99 - a radio drama tribute to author, Ray Bradbury, performing live-on-stage with a cast that included William Shatner, Sean Astin, Samantha Eggar, Norman Lloyd and Walter Koenig. In regional theatre, Sky has performed lead roles in Barnum, California Suite, Noises Off!, The Music Man, The 1940's Radio Hour, and Murder in The Cathedral, among many others.
Sky's television work includes a recurring role (40+ episodes) as a mysterious Monk on the NBC daytime drama series, Passions, and supporting role appearances on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Commander-In-Chief; FOX's MADtv; and Untold Stories of the E.R. on The Discovery Channel and Animal Planet's sit-com, Ella & Me. He's also been seen on HBO's Deadwood, WB's Gilmore Girls, and NBC's Medium, to name a few.
His feature film credits include Can I Get a Witness Protection?, Ten Men on The Field, The Marionette, Who Wants to Marry My Husband?, and a song-and-dance lead role as a well-meaning but inept wizard in the Barney & Friends family movie, The Land of Make Believe (distributed internationally). He also appeared in music videos for Christina Aguilera (Hurt) and Eurythmics (I've Got a Life), which reached #1 on the Billboard Magazine club charts.
Sky's work as a voice actor includes the role of "Air Traffic Control" for Paramount Digital's Top Gun: Wingman Edition video game; narration for a reality TV show produced by the team behind Bravo's Real Housewives of Beverly Hills; and multiple live radio drama productions, live on stage with classic comedians Carl Reiner, Linda Henning, Marvin Kaplan and JoAnne Worley. In total, including the 15 years he spent as a radio and television host, Sky has voiced and/or produced thousands of commercial, narration, ADR and animated character projects.
Through the years, Sky has also been seen (or heard) in live and multi-media theme park attractions at Universal Studios Florida/Islands of Adventure/The Wizarding World of Harry Potter; the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom; and NASA's Space Center Houston.
Now semi-retired, Sky remains active in entertainment, and enjoys hiking, biking and travel. He lives in Central Florida with his wife, Sharon.