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The multi-talented Donald Glover is a writer, actor, musician, comedian, producer and director, who performs under the stage names Childish Gambino and mcDJ. He was born Donald McKinley Glover at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and was raised in Stone Mountain, Georgia. His mother, Beverly (Smith), ran a daycare center, and his father, Donald Glover, is a retired postal worker. He is not, despite rumors, related to actor Danny Glover. He has a younger brother, Stephen Glover, a screenwriter and producer. Donald graduated from New York University with a degree in Dramatic Writing in 2006.
In 2006, at age 23, while still living in the NYU dorms, Glover joined the writing staff of NBC comedy 30 Rock (2006), for which he received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination in 2009. Later credited as an executive story editor, he also had several cameos in front of the camera. In 2009, he left "30 Rock" for a role on the comedy series Community (2009), in which he played an athlete in a rather odd study group, opposite Chevy Chase and Joel McHale. The show ran for six seasons.
Glover is the creator, writer, producer, director and star of the series Atlanta (2016), which debuted on FX in 2016. The series was an immediate critical and commercial hit, winning the 2017 Golden Globe Award for Best Series and Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series (Musical or Comedy) for Glover. At the 2017 Primetime Emmy Awards, Glover won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, while the show also earned four other nominations: Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series, and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Glover (for the episode B.A.N. (2016)) and his brother, Stephen (for the episode Streets on Lock (2016)).
His first stand-up special aired on Comedy Central in March 2010. As Childish Gambino, Glover has released the studio albums "Camp" (2011), "Because the Internet" (2013) and "Awaken, My Love!" (2016). In 2015, he was nominated for Grammy Awards in 2015 for Best Rap Album for "Because the Internet" and Best Rap Performance for his single "3005" In 2018, he was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for "Awaken, My Love!" and Record of the Year for the hit "Redbone," winning the Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance.
On the big screen, Glover's credits include Magic Mike XXL (2015), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), and The Martian (2015). He will star as the young Lando Calrissian in the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) and will provide the voice of Simba in a remake of The Lion King (2019).
In April 2017, Glover was named among Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World."- Producer
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Born November 9, 1965 in Indianapolis, Indiana, US as Ryan Patrick Murphy, he is an American writer, director, and producer, responsible for creating such hits as Nip/Tuck (2003), Glee (2009) and American Horror Story (2011). His mother, J. Andy Murphy, was a writer and communications worker and his father was a circulation director in the newspaper industry. He has one brother. He attended a Catholic school till the eighth grade and graduated from Warren Central High School. He went on to study journalism at the Indiana University Bloomington, where he was also a member of a vocal ensemble, and went on to intern in the style section of the The Washington Post in 1986. In 1990 he got into screenwriting, but only in 1999 was his first story produced: it was Popular (1999), a teen comedy show, which he co-created with Gina Matthews and which run for two seasons. In 2003 he created Nip/Tuck (2003), which brought him his first Emmy nomination. He won the award six years later, when in 2009 he directed the pilot of his hit series Glee (2009) which he co-created with Ian Brennan and Brad Falchuk. In 2011 he and Falchuk co-crated another highly popular series, American Horror Story (2011). in 2015 he was awarded the Award for Inspiration from amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research. In 2018 Murphy signed a five-year $300 million development deal with Netflix. He is a pan equal opportunities activist, both through his movies and television projects which very often focus on the LGBTQ+ community, and as a creator of the Half Initiative, which aims at making Hollywood more inclusive for women and minorities. He's been married to photographer David Miller since 2012. They have three sons, Logan Phineas, Ford, and Griffin Sullivan.- Producer
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Shane Smith is the founder and CEO of VICE, the global youth media brand. One of the industry's most respected visionaries, Smith is also a critically acclaimed journalist, and the host and executive producer for the Emmy winning news series, VICE, on HBO.
Under Smith's guidance, VICE, initially launched in 1994 as a punk magazine, has expanded and diversified to become the world's leading youth media company; operating an international network of digital channels, a television production studio, a record label, an in-house creative services agency, a book-publishing house and a feature film division. VICE recently announced a new TV network in a joint venture with A&E called VICELAND.
VICE's award-winning video content covers news, culture, music, technology, sports and fashion from a unique perspective tailored towards a young international audience often ignored by mainstream media. To syndicate VICE's content globally, Smith established a network of content distribution partnerships with leading platforms, including YouTube, Snapchat, Rogers, HBO, 20th Century Fox, Verizon, and others. VICE's reach has since exploded, with its network of channels reaching hundreds of millions of viewers a month.
Smith has reported from the world's most isolated and difficult places, including North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Liberia and Greenland.
Smith has been awarded numerous journalism and media awards, including the 2014 Knight Innovation Award, two Environmental Media Awards, the Frank Stanton Award for Excellence in Communication, the LA Press Club Award, and more. VICE has also won scores of awards for its groundbreaking reporting, including an Emmy Award for Best Information Series or Special, two Peabody Awards for VICE News, the PEN Center 2014 Award of Honor, the Television Academy Honors for socially conscious programming, and many others.
Smith graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, with a BA in English Literature and Political Science.- Actor
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Aziz Ansari was born in Columbia, South Carolina, to Fatima, a medical office worker, and Shoukath, a gastroenterologist. His family is from Tamil Nadu, India. He graduated from NYU as a business major in 2004. He graduated from the South Carolina Governor's School for Math and Science in Hartsville, SC. He previously attended Marlboro Academy, a private school in his home town of Bennettsville, SC.
Starting out in television like the hit comedy Parks and Recreation (2009), he later had bit parts in the films I Love You, Man (2009), Funny People (2009), and Get Him to the Greek (2010), among others, before co-starring in the comedy 30 Minutes or Less (2011).- Actress
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Mindy Sterling is an American actress from New Jersey. She is known for her roles in the Austin Powers film trilogy, the 2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas film, Con Man, Chowder, The Legend of Korra, iCarly, the Spider-Man 2 video game, Mars Needs Moms, Invader Zim and The Goldbergs. She had a son.- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
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Paul Pennolino is known for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (2014), Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (2016) and The Problem with Jon Stewart (2021).- Writer
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Steven Zaillian was born on 30 January 1953 in Fresno, California, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) and A Civil Action (1998). He is married to Elizabeth Zaillian. They have two children.- Actor
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Tyler Gerald Burrell was born on August 22, 1967 in Grants Pass, Oregon, where his family owned a business. He is the son of Sheri Rose (Hauck), a teacher, and Gary Gerald Burrell, a family therapist, and is primarily of English and German ancestry. He earned a BA from Southern Oregon University and attended The University of Oregon while working as a bartender; he finished his education at Penn State where he got an MFA.
In his early career, Burrell appeared in the films Black Hawk Down (2001) and Dawn of the Dead (2004). He also appeared in a Broadway production of "Macbeth".
After a few appearances on Law & Order (1990) Burrell starred in the comedy sitcoms Out of Practice (2005) and Back to You (2007), costarring Patricia Heaton and Kelsey Grammer. He also made film appearances in The Incredible Hulk (2008) and National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007).
In 2009, Christopher Lloyd gave him the part of Phil Dunphy on the smash hit television series Modern Family (2009), which has gotten rave reviews, Emmys, and the #1 spot on television several times. Burrell has gotten five Emmy nominations and two wins for the popular role.
Burrell's recent films roles include Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014), Muppets Most Wanted (2014), Finding Dory (2016), and Rough Night (2017).- Producer
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Ross Duffer is known for Stranger Things (2016), We All Fall Down (2005) and Wayward Pines (2015). He has been married to Leigh Janiak since 22 December 2015.- Actress
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Ann Dowd was born on 30 January 1956 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress, known for Compliance (2012), Hereditary (2018) and Garden State (2004). She has been married to Lawrence Arancio since 7 November 1984. They have three children.- Producer
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Brian McGinn is a film and television director, writer and producer based in Los Angeles.
Together with David Gelb, he developed the documentary series Chef's Table for television, which New York Magazine said 'changed the way documentary TV looks,' and is now the longest running program on Netflix. Since it launched on the streamer in 2015, McGinn has cast and executive produced each season and directed nine episodes. For his work on Chef's Table, he's earned three Primetime Emmy nominations and five James Beard Awards.
In 2019, McGinn co-created the Netflix series Street Food, which, in its three seasons, has celebrated the casual food of Asia, Latin America and the United States.
McGinn is also the writer, producer and director of the critically acclaimed documentary Amanda Knox, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2016 and was nominated for multiple Primetime Emmys, including Best Documentary and Best Writing for Non-Fiction.
His other credits as a director include the HBO Comedy Special Ferrell Takes The Field, starring Will Ferrell, and episodes of the Netflix series Trial By Media and Dirty Money.
As a founding partner in the production company Supper Club, McGinn's producing credits include the Disney+ original documentaries Wolfgang and Olivia Rodrigo: driving home 2 u, the Pixar documentary A Spark Story, the Marvel Studios documentary Stan Lee, and the LucasFilm documentaries Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return and More Than Robots.
Most recently, McGinn was a co-executive producer for an episode of the second season of FX's acclaimed series The Bear.- Writer
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Award-winning Noah Hawley is one of the most accomplished auteurs and versatile storytellers working in television, film and literature. Hawley balances the art of telling cinematic, unforgettable character-driven stories that linger along after you've been immersed in them.
Over the course of his more than 20-year career, Hawley's work as a novelist, screenwriter, series creator, showrunner and director has garnered acclaim - winning an Emmy®, Golden Globe®, PEN, Critics' Choice, and Peabody Award - and passionate response from audiences.
Also a best-selling author, Hawley has published five novels: A Conspiracy of Tall Men, Other People's Weddings, The Punch, The Good Father, and most recently the bestseller Before the Fall.
Hawley began his television career as a writer and producer on the hit series Bones in 2005, going on to create, executive produce and serve as showrunner for ABC's My Generation (2009) and The Unusuals (2010). Most recently in addition to the groundbreaking series Legion, he serves as executive producer, writer, director and showrunner on FX's award-winning anthology series, Fargo. He will begin production on the fourth installment of Fargo, starring Chris Rock with Hawley directing the first episode, this fall. Both acclaimed series are produced under Hawley's 26 Keys Production banner.
Upcoming projects from Hawley include his feature film directorial debut, Lucy in the Sky, starring Natalie Portman, Jon Hamm, Dan Stevens, Zazie Beetz, Pearl Amanda Dickson, Tig Notaro, and Ellen Burstyn. The film will be released by Fox Searchlight. In addition, Fargo: This Is A True Story, a companion book to the first three seasons of the series and authored by Hawley, will be released by Grand Central Publishing in October.- Writer
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Matt Duffer of The Duffer Brothers, born in Durham, February 15, 1984, is a writer, producer, and director for film and television. He is most known as the creator and showrunner of the hit Netflix Sci-Fi TV series Stranger Things. Other works include the thriller film Hidden and he has written episodes for the TV series Wayward Pines.- Actor
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Alec Baldwin is the oldest, and best-known, of the four Baldwin brothers in the acting business (the others are Stephen Baldwin, William Baldwin and Daniel Baldwin). Alexander Rae Baldwin III was born on April 3, 1958 in Massapequa, New York, the son of Carol Newcomb (Martineau) and Alexander Rae Baldwin Jr., a high school teacher and football coach at Massapequa High School. He is of Irish, as well as English, French, Scottish, and German, descent.
Alec Baldwin burst onto the TV scene in the early 1980s with appearances on several series, including The Doctors (1963) and Knots Landing (1979), before scoring feature film roles in Forever, Lulu (1986), Beetlejuice (1988), Working Girl (1988), Married to the Mob (1988) and Talk Radio (1988). In 1990, Baldwin appeared in the first on-screen adaptation of the "Jack Ryan" character created by mega-selling espionage author, Tom Clancy. The film, The Hunt for Red October (1990), was a box office and critical success, with Baldwin appearing alongside icy Sean Connery. Unfortunately, Baldwin fell out with Paramount Studios over future scripts for "Jack Ryan", and subsequent Ryan roles went to Harrison Ford.
Baldwin instead went to Broadway to perform "A Streetcar Named Desire", garnering a Tony nomination for his portrayal of "Stanley Kowalski" (he would reprise the role in a 1995 TV adaptation). Baldwin won over critics as a lowlife thief pursued by dogged cop Fred Ward in Miami Blues (1990), met his future wife Kim Basinger while filming the Neil Simon comedy, The Marrying Man (1991), starred in the film adaptation of the play, Prelude to a Kiss (1992) (in which he starred off-Broadway), and made an indelible ten-minute cameo as a hard-nosed real estate executive laying down the law in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992). He also made a similar tour-de-force monologue in the thriller, Malice (1993), as a doctor defending his practices, in which he stated, "Let me tell you something: I am God".
Demand for Baldwin's talents in the 1990s saw more scripts swiftly come his way, and he starred alongside his then-wife, Kim Basinger, in a remake of the Steve McQueen action flick, The Getaway (1994), brought to life the famous comic strip character, The Shadow (1994), and starred as an assistant district attorney in the civil rights drama, Ghosts of Mississippi (1996). Baldwin's distinctive vocal talents then saw him voice US-aired episodes of the highly popular UK children's show, Thomas & Friends (1984), plus later voice-only contributions to other animated/children's shows, including Clerks (2000), Cats & Dogs (2001), Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004).
In the early 2000s, Baldwin and Basinger endured an acrimonious break-up that quickly became tabloid fodder but, while his divorce was high-profile, Baldwin excelled in a number of lower-profile supporting roles in a variety of films, including State and Main (2000), Pearl Harbor (2001), The Cooler (2003) (for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor), The Aviator (2004), Along Came Polly (2004) and The Departed (2006). As he was excelling as a consummate character actor, Baldwin found a second career in television comedy. Already known for his comedic turns hosting Saturday Night Live (1975), he essayed an extended guest role on Will & Grace (1998) in 2005 before taking on what would arguably become his most famous role, that of network executive "Jack Donaghy", opposite Tina Fey in the highly-acclaimed sitcom, 30 Rock (2006). The role brought Baldwin two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globes, and an unprecedented six Screen Actors Guild Awards (not including cast wins).
Continuing to appear in films as 30 Rock (2006) wrapped up its final season, Baldwin was engaged in 2012 to wed Hilaria Baldwin (aka Hilaria Lynn Thomas); the couple married on June 30, 2012.- Writer
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Attended Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, graduating in 1994.
Graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1999. Majored in English.
Shortly after graduating from Georgetown University, Jonathan Nolan served as a production assistant on Memento (2000).
Wrote the short story, "Memento Mori", on which the film Memento (2000) is based.
Was co-writer, with his brother Christopher Nolan, on The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Also co-wrote the Terminator Salvation (2009).- Actor
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Riz Ahmed (born 1 December 1982), also known by his stage name Riz MC and birth name Rizwan Ahmed, is a British Pakistani actor, rapper, and activist. As an actor, he has won one Emmy Award, out of two Emmy nominations, and was also nominated for a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award, and three British Independent Film Awards.- Producer
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Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard is one of this generation's most popular directors. From the critically acclaimed dramas A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Apollo 13 (1995) to the hit comedies Parenthood (1989) and Splash (1983), he has created some of Hollywood's most memorable films.
Howard made his directorial debut in 1978 with the comedy Grand Theft Auto (1977). He began his career in film as an actor. He first appeared in The Journey (1959) and The Music Man (1962), then as Opie on the long-running television series The Andy Griffith Show (1960). Howard later starred in the popular series Happy Days (1974) and drew favorable reviews for his performances in American Graffiti (1973) and The Shootist (1976).
Howard and long-time producing partner Brian Grazer first collaborated on the hit comedies "Night Shift" and "Splash." The pair co-founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 to create independently produced feature films.
Howard's portfolio includes some of the most popular films of the past 20 years. In 1991, Howard created the acclaimed drama "Backdraft", starring Robert De Niro, Kurt Russell and William Baldwin. He followed it with the historical epic Far and Away (1992), starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Howard directed Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Gary Sinise and Delroy Lindo in the 1996 suspense thriller Ransom (1996). Howard worked with Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise and Kathleen Quinlan on "Apollo 13," which was re-released recently in the IMAX format.
Howard's skill as a director has long been recognized. In 1995, he received his first Best Director of the Year award from the DGA for "Apollo 13." The true-life drama also garnered nine Academy Award nominations, winning Oscars for Best Film Editing and Best Sound. It also received Best Ensemble Cast and Best Supporting Actor awards from the Screen Actor's Guild. Many of Howard's past films have received nods from the Academy, including the popular hits Backdraft (1991), "Parenthood" and Cocoon (1985), the last of which took home two Oscars.
Howard directed and produced Cinderella Man (2005) starring Oscar winner Russell Crowe, with whom he previously collaborated on "A Beautiful Mind," for which Howard earned an Oscar for Best Director and which also won awards for Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress. The film garnered four Golden Globes as well, including the award for Best Motion Picture Drama. Additionally, Howard won Best Director of the Year from the Directors Guild of America. Howard and producer Brian Grazer received the first annual Awareness Award from the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign for their work on the film.
Howard was honored by the Museum of Moving Images in December 2005, and by the American Cinema Editors in February 2006. Howard and his creative partner Brian Grazer, were honored by the Producers Guild of America with the Milestone Award in January 2009, NYU's Tisch School of Cinematic Arts with the Big Apple Award in November 2009 and by the Simon Wiesenthal Center with their Humanitarian Award in May 2010. In June 2010, Howard was honored by the Chicago Film Festival with their Gold Hugo - Career Achievement Award. In March 2013, Howard was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. In December 2015, Howard was honored with a star in the Motion Pictures category, making him one of the very few to have been recognized with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Howard also produced and directed the film adaptation of Peter Morgan's critically acclaimed play Frost/Nixon (2008). The film was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, and was also nominated for The Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures by the PGA.
Howard has also served as an executive producer on a number of award-winning films and television shows, such as the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon (1998), Fox's Emmy Award winner for Best Comedy, Arrested Development (2003), a series which he also narrated, Netflix's release of new episodes of "Arrested Development," and NBC's "Parenthood."
Howard's recent films include the critically acclaimed drama Rush (2013), staring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl, written by Peter Morgan; and Made in America (2013), a music documentary he directed staring Jay-Z for Showtime.
Howard's other films include In the Heart of the Sea (2015), based on the true story that inspired Moby Dick; his adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling novels Angels & Demons (2009), and The Da Vinci Code (2006) staring Oscar winner Tom Hanks; the blockbuster holiday favorite "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)" starring Jim Carrey; "Parenthood" starring Steve Martin; the fantasy epic Willow (1988); Night Shift (1982) starring Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton and Shelley Long; and the suspenseful western, The Missing (2003), staring Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones.
Recently, Howard directed Inferno (2016), the third installment of Dan Brown 's Robert Langdon franchise and The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years (2016), a documentary about the rock legends The Beatles. He also produced the second season of Breakthrough (2015), Mars (2016), and directed the first episode of Genius (2017), based on the life of Albert Einstein, all for NatGeo.- Producer
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RuPaul Andre Charles is an American actor, model, singer, songwriter, television personality, and author. As executive producer and host of the reality competition TV series RuPaul's Drag Race, RuPaul has received fourteen Primetime Emmy Awards - the most wins for outstanding host of a reality or competition program and for any Black artist in history.
In 2022, RuPaul received a Tony Award as a producer of Best Musical A Strange Loop.
RuPaul is the most commercially successful drag queen of all time, and in 2017 was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.
RuPaul was born and raised in San Diego, CA and later moved to Atlanta, GA to study performing arts. After settling in New York City, RuPaul became a popular fixture on the nightclub scene before achieving international fame with the release of the 1993 song "Supermodel (You Better Work)."
In 1995, RuPaul became the first spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics, raising millions of dollars for the MAC AIDS Fund and becoming the first man to land a major cosmetics campaign.
In 1996, RuPaul landed a TV talk show on VH1, The RuPaul Show, taping more than 100 episodes with co-host Michelle Visage, while simultaneously co-hosting a morning drive radio show with Visage on WKTU.
As a recording artist, RuPaul has co-written and co-produced eighteen studio albums to date, including Foxy Lady (1996), Champion (2009), Glamazon (2011), Born Naked (2014), American (2017), and Black Butta (2023).
RuPaul's Drag Race has produced sixteen seasons to date and has inspired several international spin-off series, including RuPaul's Drag Race: UK and RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars. RuPaul was also featured as a host on the series Skin Wars: Fresh Paint, Good Work, Gay for Play Game Show Starring RuPaul, Lingo, Celebrity Lingo, and was the guest host of NBC's Saturday Night Live on February 8th, 2020.
As an actor, RuPaul has appeared in more than 50 films and television shows, both in and out of drag, including Crooklyn (1994), The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995), But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), the Comedy Central series Broad City (2017), Netflix originals Girlboss (2017) and Grace and Frankie (2019), and as the voice of Queen Chante in The Simpsons (2018). In 2020, RuPaul teamed up with Michael Patrick King (Sex in the City, 2 Broke Girls) to produce the Netflix original comedy series AJ & The Queen, in which RuPaul also starred.
As an author, RuPaul has published four books: the #1 New York Times bestseller The House of Hidden Meanings (Harper Collins, 2024), GuRu (Harper Collins, 2018), Workin' It! RuPaul's Guide to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Style (Harper Collins, 2010), and Lettin' It All Hang Out (Hyperion Books, 1995).
On March 16, 2018, Jane Fonda presented RuPaul with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6652 Hollywood Blvd.
RuPaul lives in New York, California, and Wyomin.- Writer
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David Mandel was born on 24 September 1970 in the USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Veep (2012), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000) and The Cat in the Hat (2003). He has been married to Dr. Rebecca Whitney since 31 December 2006.- Producer
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Tom Hugh-Jones is a creative director, executive producer, writer and director and the key creative behind many of the most successful Wildlife shows made for the major streamers and broadcasters. Tom works for Passion Pictures and before this he spent 7 years at Plimsoll Productions and 22 years at the BBC Natural History Unit. Some of the key titles he has been responsible for include: Planet Earth II, Tiny World, Hostile Planet, A Real Bug's Life, Night on Earth and Human Planet.
With 30 years' experience in television, Tom has earned an industry wide reputation for his visual flair, creative instincts and versatile storytelling skills. Throughout his career, Tom's innovative approach to filmmaking has been recognized with numerous awards including Prime time Emmys and Baftas. He is credited with reinventing the Natural History genre as the show-runner on Planet Earth II which is the top-rated television series of all time on IMDB and the most watched nature show in over 25 years.- Actress
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Tony Award and Emmy Award winner Judith Light made her professional stage debut in 1970 and made her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of A Doll's House starring Liv Ullmann and Sam Waterston. She made her television breakthrough in the daytime soap opera One Life to Live (1968). She assumed the role of Karen Woleck (originated by Kathryn Breech (1976-77), and for a brief period, replaced by Julia Duffy (1977)). Light's extensive theater experience added multidimensional facets to the character, and the performance earned the actress two consecutive Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Light departed from her character in 1983 - to star in ABC's new prime-time sitcom Who's the Boss? (1984) - the role of Karen Woleck was not recast, instead, she departs for an off-screen life in Canada, coinciding with Light's departure from the series. After Light's success on daytime, she landed the leading role of assertive advertising executive Angela Bower on the ABC sitcom Who's the Boss? (1984). The actress co-starred with Tony Danza, who played her housekeeper (and eventual lover). Also featured were Alyssa Milano, Danny Pintauro and Katherine Helmond. The series ran for eight seasons and had constant success. Light also lent her craft to the short lived sitcoms Phenom (1993) and The Simple Life (2003), and several made-for-TV productions, including the biographical drama The Ryan White Story (1989) (in which she portrayed Jeanne White, the mother of HIV/AIDS positive teenager Ryan White); the actress also portrayed Alabama murderer Audrey Marie Hilley in Wife, Mother, Murderer (1991).
In 1999, Light returned to her theater roots for the off-Broadway production of Pulitzer Prize-winning play Wit (2001); the actress received rave reviews as a college professor battling ovarian cancer-and reprised the role for the national tour. Light returned to television in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999); the actress assumed the recurring role of Judge Elizabeth Connelly, making her first appearance during the third season episode Guilt (2002), which was broadcast on March 29, 2009. The character appeared in 25 more episodes of the series, making her last appearance in season 12 episode Behave (2010). Light also appeared in the ABC comedy-drama Ugly Betty (2006), in which Light's performance as the recurring Claire Meade resulted in a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. In 2014, she began starring as Shelly Pfefferman in the critically acclaimed Amazon Studios dark comedy-drama series Transparent (2014), for which she received Golden Globe, Primetime Emmy, and Critics' Choice Television Award nominations.- Actress
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Joanna Bradley is known for Hillary Clinton (2015), Saturday Night Live (1975) and Death by Roo Roo (2003).- Producer
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Laura Dern was born on February 10, 1967 in Los Angeles, the daughter of actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd. Dern was exposed to movie sets and the movie industry from infancy, and obtained several bit parts as a child. Her parents divorced when Dern was two and Dern lost contact with her father for several years as a result.
Her parents' background and her own early taste of the movie-making world soon convinced the young Dern to pursue acting herself. Like so many young actors, her decision may have been influenced by social awkwardness -- the child of 1960s counterculture parents, she was steeped in Eastern mysticism and political radicalism, and was seen as an oddball by her more conservative classmates. Even before her teens, she had achieved most of her impressive 5' 10" height and was rail-skinny with a slouching posture.. Perhaps the nine-year-old Dern found refuge by studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute.
The first success for the young Dern came in 1980, with a role in Adrian Lyne's Foxes (1980), a teen movie starring Jodie Foster. She followed this with several small parts, or parts in small movies, such as Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982) and Teachers (1984), as a student who has an affair with a teacher. (Her mother objected to her active presence on movie sets at age thirteen, which required Dern to sue for emancipation so she could play her role in "The Fabulous Stains"). Her next roles, as the blind girl who befriends the deformed boy in Mask (1985), and as a teen-aged girl whose sexual awakening collides with a mysterious older man in Smooth Talk (1985), gave her career an important boost. Dern appeared to have made it with a leading role in David Lynch's acclaimed Blue Velvet (1986), but it was four years before her next notable film, and this was the bizarre Wild at Heart (1990), also directed by Lynch.
The following year, Dern starred in Rambling Rose (1991), which would become her signature performance, as a sexually-precocious, free-spirited young housemaid in the South in the 1930s. Dern earned an Oscar nomination for her performance, and so did her mother and co-star, Diane Ladd. Dern continues to win prominent roles on the big screen, often in smaller, highly-regarded human dramas such as October Sky (1999), I Am Sam (2001) and We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004), although she is perhaps most widely known for her repeat role as Ellie Sattler in the summer adventure movies Jurassic Park (1993) and Jurassic Park III (2001), or for her guest performance on Ellen (1994), as the woman to whom Ellen finally comes out as a lesbian.
Dern's pre-teen gawkiness matured into lithe beauty, but this doesn't prevent Dern from fearlessly throwing herself into a wide variety of roles which are sometimes unflattering, an excellent example being her unflinchingly comic portrayal of an intensely annoying loser whose pregnancy becomes a social and political football in Citizen Ruth (1996). This results in Dern being one of the most interesting actors working in Hollywood today.
Having previously dated such Hollywood talent as Treat Williams, Renny Harlin, Kyle MacLachlan, Jeff Goldblum and Billy Bob Thornton, Dern eventually married musician Ben Harper in 2005. Early in her career, Dern was roommate to Marianne Williamson, the spirituality guru. Dern attended two days of college at UCLA and one semester at USC.- Writer
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Jo Miller is known for The Daily Show (1996), Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (2016) and The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear (2010).- Producer
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Matt Goldich is a stand-up comedian who has appeared on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Comedy Central's Premium Blend. Matt began performing stand-up comedy in 1999 when he was a sophomore at Brown University, where he founded the Brown Stand-up Comics. In 2001 he was selected as one of the "five funniest college students in America" by HBO.com and performed at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado.
He has also been a staff writer for the Late Show with David Letterman, the Jeselnik Offensive, Ellen, and VH1's Best Week Ever. He has appeared at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, CO and the Bridgetown Comedy Festival in Portland, OR. He has also written for the game shows Cash Cab, Stump the Schwab, The Chase, and the World Series of Pop Culture. He has written for the Spike Guys Choice Awards and was a consultant on the 2014 MTV Movie Awards. He has won two Daytime Emmy Awards.- Producer
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Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon was born on March 22, 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Betty Witherspoon, a registered nurse & John Draper Witherspoon, a military surgeon. Reese spent the first 4 years of her life in Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany, where her father served as a lieutenant colonel in the US Army reserves. Shortly after, the family moved back to the USA & settled in Nashville, Tennessee.
Reese was introduced to the entertainment industry at a very early age. At age 7, she began modeling. This led to appearances on several local television commercials. At age 11, she placed first in a Ten-State Talent Fair.
In 1990, she landed her first major acting role in Robert Mulligan's The Man in the Moon (1991). Her role as a 14-year old tomboy earned her rave reviews. Roles in bigger films such as Jack the Bear (1993) and A Far Off Place (1993) followed shortly after.
Following high school graduation in 1994 from Harpeth Hall, a Nashville all girls school, Reese decided to put her acting career on hold and attend Stanford University where she would major in English literature. However, her collegiate plans were shortly dashed when she accepted roles to star in two major motion pictures: Fear (1996), alongside Mark Wahlberg, and Freeway (1996) with Kiefer Sutherland. Although neither film was a huge box-office success, they did help to establish Reese as a rising starlet in Hollywood and open the door for bigger and better film roles. Those bigger roles came in movies such as Pleasantville (1998), Election (1999) and Cruel Intentions (1999).
Her breakthrough role came as Elle Woods in the 2001 comedy, Legally Blonde (2001). The movie was huge box-office smash and established Reese as one of the top female draws in Hollywood. The next year, she scored a follow-up hit with Sweet Home Alabama (2002), which went on to gross over $100 million dollars at the box office. In 2006, she took home the best actress Oscar for her role as June Carter Cash in the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line (2005). On the late 2000s and early 2010s, Reese continued to star in more romantic comedies, such as Four Christmases (2008) and How Do You Know (2010). In December 2010, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the year 2014, she produced both Gone Girl (2014) and Wild (2014), for which she got nominated for best actress Oscar again for her role as Cheryl Strayed.- Actress
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Born in New York City to legendary screen star Henry Fonda and Ontario-born New York socialite Frances Seymour Brokaw, Jane Seymour Fonda was destined early to an uncommon and influential life in the limelight. Although she initially showed little inclination to follow her father's trade, she was prompted by Joshua Logan to appear with her father in the 1954 Omaha Community Theatre production of "The Country Girl". Her interest in acting grew after meeting Lee Strasberg in 1958 and joining the Actors Studio. Her screen debut in Tall Story (1960) (directed by Logan) marked the beginning of a highly successful and respected acting career highlighted by two Academy Awards for her performances in Klute (1971) and Coming Home (1978), and five Oscar nominations for Best Actress in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), Julia (1977), The China Syndrome (1979), The Morning After (1986) and On Golden Pond (1981), which was the only film she made with her father. Her professional success contrasted with her personal life, which was often laden with scandal and controversy. Her appearance in several risqué movies (including Barbarella (1968)) by then-husband Roger Vadim was followed by what was to become her most debated and controversial period: her espousal of anti-establishment causes and especially her anti-war activities during the Vietnam War. Her political involvement continued with fellow activist and husband Tom Hayden in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In the 1980s she started the aerobic exercise craze with the publication of the "Jane Fonda's Workout Book". She and Hayden divorced, and she married broadcasting mogul Ted Turner in 1991.- Writer
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Bryan Tucker is a stand up comedian and sketch actor, but he's mostly known as a comedy writer. Bryan has written for some of the top sketch shows in the past two decades including The Chris Rock Show and Chappelle's Show. He is senior writer on Saturday Night Live. Bryan is a twelve-time Emmy nominee, the recipient of a Peabody Award, and four Writers Guild Awards. Two sketches that Bryan wrote were picked by the Washington Post as part of "The 20 Defining Comedy Sketches of the Past 20 Years" (Chappelle's Show "The Racial Draft" and SNL's "Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks.) The New York Times said Bryan's Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks sketch "wasn't just the best sketch of the "S.N.L." election season. It was some of the best political analysis of the campaign."
Before he broke into TV writing, Bryan was a performer who played over 500 shows around the country as a stand up and as a player in the sketch/ improv group Selected Hilarity.
Bryan is a writer in his fifteenth season of Saturday Night Live. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.- Actress
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Davis was educated at Loreto Convent and the Western Institute of Technology and graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1977. She found international success with the role of Adela Quested in A Passage to India (1984). Her performance was nominated an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She went on to receive another Academy Award nomination (this time for Best Actress in a Supporting Role) for her performance as Sally in Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives (1992). Davis and Allen would go on to be a longtime collaborators; Allen once described Davis as "one of the most exciting actresses in the world".- Writer
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Sal Gentile is known for Late Night with Seth Meyers (2014), Absolutely Comedy (2013) and CollegeHumor Originals (2006).- Producer
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Elizabeth White is known for Planet Earth II (2016), Frozen Planet (2011) and Terra X - Rätsel alter Weltkulturen (1982).- Writer
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Peter Morgan was born on 10 April 1963 in London, England, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for Frost/Nixon (2008), The Last King of Scotland (2006) and The Crown (2016).- Actress
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- Music Department
Allison Janney is an award-winning actress who has earned a solid reputation in stage productions and in many supporting roles on screen, and who more recently has become prominent by portraying one of the major characters in the popular TV series The West Wing (1999).
Entertainment Weekly magazine describes Janney's screen presence as "uncommonly beautiful and infinitely expressive." As an actor, the magazine deems her to be "one to watch."
Janney was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Macy Brooks (Putnam), a former actress, and Jervis Spencer Janney, Jr., a real estate developer and jazz musician. While studying at Kenyon College, Janney answered a casting call for an on-campus play that was to be directed by Kenyon's most famous alumnus, the legendary actor Paul Newman. During her audition/interview, Janney played upon Newman's known passion for race car driving - she explained how she cut thirty minutes off of the 130 mile journey from her home town to the college. She got chosen for the play's cast.
After earning her degree in drama, Janney took Joanne Woodward's suggestion to do further study at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse. She also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.
Early in her career Janney got comedic roles in the soap operas As the World Turns (1956) and Guiding Light (1952). Later, she gave memorable movie performances in supporting roles in Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), American Beauty (1999) and Nurse Betty (2000), and in the made-for-TV movie ...First Do No Harm (1997), among others.
Among her stage work, Janney has played in a revival of Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge" on Broadway opposite Anthony LaPaglia, which earned her a Tony Award nomination, and a Drama League Award for outstanding artist for the 1997-98 season. She played in Noel Coward's "Present Laughter" opposite Frank Langella, which earned her the Outer Critics Circle Award and an Actors' Equity award. Janney also appeared in the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of "The Taming of the Shrew."
In 1999 Janney became part of the original cast of the acclaimed TV series The West Wing (1999) where she played the President's press secretary who eventually gets promoted to the White House Chief of Staff. Her impressive work during the seven seasons of that renowned series earned her four Emmys and two SAG Awards.
With her reputation becoming more broadly established during her work on "The West Wing" Janney won more substantive roles in feature films, in the acclaimed The Hours (2002) where she was Meryl Streep's lesbian lover, and in How to Deal (2003) where she played Mandy Moore's mother.- Actress
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Jane Marie Lynch is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series Glee (2009-2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. Lynch also gained recognition for her roles in Christopher Guest's mockumentary films, such as Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003) and For Your Consideration (2006).- Writer
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Jason grew up in Wantagh, Long Island, and attended Wantagh High School, where he was involved in the school's music and drama programs. After graduating from Wantagh in 1994, Jason attended Cornell University, earning a degree in communications and honing his comedy skills as a member of the university's sketch group. After a move back downstate to New York City, Jason founded (and unceremoniously dissolved) two other sketch groups with several other former Cornellians, and also established a very brief, yet storied stand-up comedy career.- Producer
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Beverly Chase was born in 1977 in the USA. Beverly is a producer and editor, known for Vice (2020), VICE Investigates (2019) and Rock Center with Brian Williams (2011).- Producer
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Jana Kozlowski is known for Vice (2013), People Like You (2022) and Inside the Red Sea Mission (2023).- Actress
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Cicely Tyson was born in Harlem, New York City, where she was raised by her devoutly religious parents, who had come from the Caribbean island of Nevis. Her mother Theodosia was a domestic worker and her her father William was a carpenter and painter. Tyson was discovered by a fashion editor at Ebony Magazine, and with her stunning looks she quickly rose to the top of the modeling industry. In 1957 she began acting in Off-Broadway productions. She had small roles in feature films before she was cast as Portia in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968). Four years later, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her sensational performance in the critically-acclaimed film Sounder (1972). In 1974, she went on to portray a 110-year-old former slave in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974), which earned her two Emmy Awards. She also appeared in the television miniseries Roots (1977), King (1978), and A Woman Called Moses (1978). While Cicely has not appeared steadily onscreen because of her loyalty to solely portraying strong, positive images of Black women, she is definitely one of the most talented, beautiful actresses who ever graced stage or screen.- Actor
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Actor Stanley Tucci was born on November 11, 1960, in Peekskill, New York. He is the son of Joan (Tropiano), a writer, and Stanley Tucci, an art teacher. His family is Italian-American, with origins in Calabria.
Tucci took an interest in acting while in high school, and went on to attend the State University of New York's Conservatory of Theater Arts in Purchase. He began his professional career on the stage, making his Broadway debut in 1982, and then made his film debut in Prizzi's Honor (1985).
In 2009, Tucci received his first Academy Award nomination for his turn as a child murderer in The Lovely Bones (2009). He also received a BAFTA nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for the same role. Other than The Lovely Bones, Tucci has recently had noteworthy supporting turns in a broad range of movies including Lucky Number Slevin (2006), The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Tucci reached his widest audience yet when he played Caesar Flickerman in box office sensation The Hunger Games (2012).
While maintaining an active career in movies, Tucci received major accolades for some work in television. He won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his role in TV movie Winchell (1998), an Emmy for a guest turn on Monk (2002), and a Golden Globe for his role in HBO movie Conspiracy (2001).
Tucci has also had an extensive career behind the camera. His directorial efforts include Big Night (1996), The Impostors (1998), Joe Gould's Secret (2000) and Blind Date (2007), and he did credited work on all of those screenplays with the exception of Joe Gould's Secret (2000).
Tucci has three children with Kate Tucci, who passed away in 2009. Tucci married Felicity Blunt in August 2012.- Actor
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One of the greatest actors of all time, Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia (Admiral) and Robert De Niro Sr. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and his other ancestry is Irish, English, Dutch, German, and French. He was trained at the Stella Adler Conservatory and the American Workshop. De Niro first gained fame for his role in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), but he gained his reputation as a volatile actor in Mean Streets (1973), which was his first film with director Martin Scorsese. He received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Godfather Part II (1974) and received Academy Award nominations for best actor in Taxi Driver (1976), The Deer Hunter (1978) and Cape Fear (1991). He received the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980).
De Niro has earned four Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, for his work in New York, New York (1977), opposite Liza Minnelli, Midnight Run (1988), Analyze This (1999) and Meet the Parents (2000). Other notable performances include Brazil (1985), The Untouchables (1987), Backdraft (1991), Frankenstein (1994), Heat (1995), Casino (1995) and Jackie Brown (1997). At the same time, he also directed and starred in such films as A Bronx Tale (1993) and The Good Shepherd (2006). De Niro has also received the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003 and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2010.
As of 2022, De Niro is 79-years-old. He has never retired from acting, and continues to work regularly in mostly film.- Actress
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Originally from Copley, OH, Carrie Coon is a Chicago-based theatre, television and film actress. She received a BA in English and Spanish from the University of Mount Union, followed by her MFA in Acting at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Coon was nominated for a Tony Award in the Best Featured Actress category for her Broadway debut as Honey in the transfer of Steppenwolf Theatre's production of "Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", directed by Pam MacKinnon. Although Coon did not win in 2013, the production was awarded Best Revival, Best Director (MacKinnon) and Best Actor (Tracy Letts).- Writer
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Melinda Taub is known for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (2016), Bad Internet (2016) and UCB Comedy Originals (2007).- Actress
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Michelle Pfeiffer was born in Santa Ana, California to Dick and Donna Pfeiffer. She has an older brother and two younger sisters - Dedee Pfeiffer, and Lori Pfeiffer, who both dabbled in acting and modeling but decided against making it their lives' work. She graduated from Fountain Valley High School in 1976, and attended one year at the Golden West College, where she studied to become a court reporter. But it was while working as a supermarket checker at Vons, a large Southern California grocery chain, that she realized her true calling. She was married to actor/director Peter Horton ("Gary" of Thirtysomething (1987)) in 1981. They were later divorced, and she then had a three year relationship with actor Fisher Stevens. When that didn't work out, Pfeiffer decided she didn't want to wait any longer before having her own family, and in March of 1993, she adopted a baby girl, Claudia Rose. On November 13th of the same year, she married lawyer-turned-writer/producer David E. Kelley, creator of Picket Fences (1992), Chicago Hope (1994), The Practice (1997), and Boston Public (2000). On August 5, 1994 their son, John Henry was born.- James Anderson is known for Saturday Night Live (1975), Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update Summer Edition (2008) and Saturday Night Live: 40th Anniversary Special (2015).
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Elliot Page was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia to Martha Philpotts, a teacher, and Dennis Page, a graphic designer. Page wanted to start acting at an early age and attended the Neptune Theater School. They began their career at the age of 10 on the award-winning television series Pit Pony (1999), for which they received a Gemini nomination and a Young Artist Awards nomination. Later, Page appeared in Marion Bridge (2002), which won the award for Best Canadian First Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival. They won a Gemini Award for their role of Lilith in the first season of ReGenesis (2004), a one-hour drama for TMN/Movie Central, and for the cable feature, Ghost Cat (2004), for Best Performance in a Children's or Youth Program or Series. In addition, Page appeared in the cult hit TV series Trailer Park Boys (2001).
As the lead in David Slade's Hard Candy (2005), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Page garnered much praise for their tour de force performance as a 14-year-old who meets a 30-year-old photographer on the Internet and then looks to expose him as a pedophile. Films that followed included the title role of Bruce McDonald's The Tracey Fragments (2007); An American Crime (2007), also starring Catherine Keener; and the third installation of the X-Men franchise, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), where Page played Kitty Pryde.
With their breakout role in Jason Reitman's hit comedy Juno (2007), about an offbeat teenager who finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, Page received Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG Best Actress nominations, and won the Independent Spirit Award for their performance. They followed up that turn with the lead in Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, the roller-derby comedy-drama Whip It (2009), Christopher Nolan's psychological thriller Inception (2010), the independent film Peacock (2010), and the dark comedy Super (2010), opposite Rainn Wilson and Liv Tyler.
Page co-starred alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Alison Pill, Alec Baldwin, and Greta Gerwig in the Woody Allen ensemble comedy To Rome with Love (2012), and appeared in the thriller The East (2013), a story centered on a contract worker (played by Brit Marling) tasked with infiltrating an anarchist group, only to find herself falling for its leader (played by Alexander Skarsgård).- Anna Maria Chlumsky is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress, best known playing the lead role of Vada Sultenfuss in My Girl (1991) and its 1994 sequel. Between 1999 and 2005, Chlumsky's career entered a hiatus while she attended college. She returned to acting with roles in several independent films, including Blood Car (2007) and In the Loop (2009). From 2012 to 2019 Chlumsky portrayed Amy Brookheimer on the HBO television series Veep, for which she has received six nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Chlumsky was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Nancy (née Zuncic), a singer, actress, and former flight attendant, and Frank Chlumsky Jr., a chef and saxophone player. She was raised in a Roman Catholic family. Chlumsky is of Czech and Croatian descent.
Chlumsky entered show business at an early age, modeling with her mother in an advertising campaign, though her roles in My Girl (1991) and My Girl 2 (1994) brought her fame. She also starred in Trading Mom (1994) alongside Sissy Spacek, as well as in Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995) with Christina Ricci. In the mid to late 1990s, she appeared or starred in several television films and series.
Chlumsky appeared as Mary Calvin in a season 17 episode of Law & Order, first airing on January 12, 2007; and as Lisa Klein in a season 20 episode, first airing March 15, 2010. In March 2007, she appeared in the 30 Rock episode "The Fighting Irish" as Liz Lemler, a romantic rival of protagonist Liz Lemon, who receives flowers meant for Lemler. Chlumsky was in four episodes of the ABC dramedy Cupid in 2009. Later that year, she starred in the Lifetime Television movie 12 Men of Christmas as Jan Lucas.
She starred in the Off Broadway production of Unconditional by Brett C. Leonard at The Public Theater, which opened on February 2008; it was produced by the LAByrinth Theater Company, She also starred in Lanford Wilson's Balm in Gilead in November 2005 at the American Theatre of Actors in New York City.
In 2009, she appeared in Armando Iannucci's BBC Films political satire In The Loop, co-starring with Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Chris Addison, James Gandolfini, and Mimi Kennedy, a quasi-spin-off of Iannucci's BBC TV series The Thick of It. She plays Liza, a State Department assistant in the movie. From 2012, Chlumsky has played Amy Brookheimer, aide to Julia Louis-Dreyfus's character in HBO's Veep, also produced by Iannucci. In June 2012, she starred in the world premiere of David Adjmi's 3C at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in New York.
Dan Aykroyd, who played her father in the two My Girl films, has said that a script for a third film has been in development since 2003. In April 2012, Chlumsky "put to rest" any rumors that such a film was in development. In addition to her role on Veep, Chlumsky has appeared in multiple television series between 2011 and 2013, including White Collar, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and NBC's adaptation of Hannibal.
Chlumsky has appeared on Broadway in You Can't Take It with You, and beginning in April 2015 as editor Iris Peabody in the comedy Living on Love, with Renee Fleming, Jerry O'Connell and Douglas Sills.
In 2017, Chlumsky appeared in the fourth season of AMC Networks' Halt and Catch Fire as Dr. Katie Herman, the love interest of Gordon Clark (Scoot McNairy).
In October 2019, Chlumsky was cast in a main role, alongside Julia Garner in the Shonda Rhimes' upcoming Netflix limited drama series, Inventing Anna. - Producer
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Lisa Joy was born in New Jersey. Her writing career began on the ABC show Pushing Daisies. In 2011, she joined the staff of Burn Notice as a co-producer. She is co-creator and executive producer of the HBO show Westworld. Her spec script, Reminiscence, was on the Black List in 2013 and is in development at Legendary.- Actor
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Anthony Anderson is an American actor, comedian and game show host who is known for playing Louis Booker from Kangaroo Jack, Glen Whitmann from Transformers, Ray Ray from The Proud Family and Antwon Mitchell from The Shield. He also acted in Blackish, Hoodwinked, The Departed, Agent Cody Banks 2 and Scream 4.- Actor
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Hank Azaria is an American comedian and actor from Queens, New York. He is known for voicing several characters in The Simpsons including Apu, Chief Wiggum, Moe, Bumblebee Man, Lou and Superintendent Chalmers. The latter became well-known due to the "Steamed Hams" scene. He also acted in Godzilla, The Smurfs and Mystery Men.- Producer
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In 1989, Stephen Daldry worked as a freelance reader of unsolicited manuscripts for Literary Manager Nicholas Wright in the Scripts Department at the Royal National Theatre. In July of that year, he directed a Dadaist/expressionist production of "Judgement Day," a play by Odon von Horvath, at the Old Red Lion in London.- Actor
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Liev (pronounced Lee-ev) Schreiber was born in San Francisco. His mother, Heather (Milgram), is a painter, and his father, Tell Schreiber (Tell Carroll Schreiber III), is a theatrical actor who had a small role in The Keeper (1976). His mother is from a working-class Jewish family from Poland and Ukraine, while his father is from an upper-class Protestant family. His parents moved the family to Canada when Liev was one, and divorced when he was five. He and his mother moved to New York, where she drove a cab. During that time, they lived as squatters in abandoned buildings. His mother taught him to read, and she also forbade him from seeing color movies. He grew up seeing silent and black & white movies at a local revival house and particularly enjoyed those of Charles Chaplin. His mother now lives in an ashram in Virginia. He began acting at Hampshire College and continued at the Yale University School of Drama in 1992. He originally wanted to be a playwright, but his teacher encouraged him to become an actor.- Writer
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A director, producer, writer, marketer and film distributor, Ava DuVernay made her feature film debut with the documentary This is the Life (2008), a history on hip hop movement that flourished in Los Angeles in the 1990's. This was followed by series of television music documentaries which included My Mic Sounds Nice (2010) which aired on BET.
DuVernay's first narrative feature film, I Will Follow (2010), secured her the African-American Film Critics Association award for best screenplay. Her follow-up, Middle of Nowhere (2012) won the Best Director Prize at the 2012 Sundance film festival, making her the first African-American woman to receive the award.- Actor
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Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937, in Margam, Wales, to Muriel Anne (Yeats) and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker. His parents were both of half Welsh and half English descent. Influenced by Richard Burton, he decided to study at College of Music and Drama and graduated in 1957. In 1965, he moved to London and joined the National Theatre, invited by Laurence Olivier, who could see the talent in Hopkins. In 1967, he made his first film for television, A Flea in Her Ear (1967).
From this moment on, he enjoyed a successful career in cinema and television. In 1968, he worked on The Lion in Winter (1968) with Timothy Dalton. Many successes came later, and Hopkins' remarkable acting style reached the four corners of the world. In 1977, he appeared in two major films: A Bridge Too Far (1977) with James Caan, Gene Hackman, Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Elliott Gould and Laurence Olivier, and Maximilian Schell. In 1980, he worked on The Elephant Man (1980). Two good television literature adaptations followed: Othello (1981) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982). In 1987 he was awarded with the Commander of the order of the British Empire. This year was also important in his cinematic life, with 84 Charing Cross Road (1987), acclaimed by specialists. In 1993, he was knighted.
In the 1990s, Hopkins acted in movies like Desperate Hours (1990) and Howards End (1992), The Remains of the Day (1993) (nominee for the Oscar), Legends of the Fall (1994), Nixon (1995) (nominee for the Oscar), Surviving Picasso (1996), Amistad (1997) (nominee for the Oscar), The Mask of Zorro (1998), Meet Joe Black (1998) and Instinct (1999). His most remarkable film, however, was The Silence of the Lambs (1991), for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor. He also got a B.A.F.T.A. for this role.- Producer
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Lorne Michaels was born on 17 November 1944 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a producer and writer, known for Saturday Night Live (1975), The Kids in the Hall (1988) and 30 Rock (2006). He has been married to Alice Barry since 1991. They have three children. He was previously married to Susan Forristal and Rosie Shuster.- Actor
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Bill Camp was born on 22 October 1964 in Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Sound of Freedom (2023), 12 Years a Slave (2013) and The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017). He has been married to Elizabeth Marvel since 4 September 2004. They have one child.- Producer
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George Vincent Gilligan Jr. (born February 10, 1967) is an American writer, producer, and director. He is known for his television work, specifically as creator, head writer, executive producer, and director of Breaking Bad and its spin-off Better Call Saul. He was a writer and producer for The X-Files and was the co-creator of its spin-off The Lone Gunmen.
Both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul have received widespread critical acclaim, with Gilligan winning two Primetime Emmy Awards, six Writers Guild of America Awards, two Critics' Choice Television Awards and Producers Guild of America Awards, one Directors Guild of America Award and a BAFTA. Outside of television, he co-wrote the screenplay for the 2008 film Hancock.
Gilligan was born in Richmond, Virginia, the son of Gail, a grade school teacher, and George Vincent Gilligan Sr., an insurance claims adjuster. His parents divorced in 1974 and he and his younger brother, Patrick, were raised in Farmville and Chesterfield County, and attended the laboratory school run by Longwood College. Growing up, Gilligan became best friends with future film editor and film title designer Angus Wall. His interest in film began when Wall's mother, Jackie, who also taught alongside Gilligan's mother, would lend her Super 8 film cameras to him. He used the camera to make science fiction films with Patrick. One of his first films was entitled Space Wreck, starring his brother in the lead role. One year later, he won first prize for his age group in a film competition at the University of Virginia.
Jackie would take Wall and Gilligan to Richmond and drop them off at Cloverleaf Mall to see films, and encourage both of them to pursue a career in the arts. "I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for Jackie. She was a wonderful lady and a real inspiration," he recalls. Gilligan was recognized for his talents and creativity at an early age. George Sr. described him as a "kind of a studious-type young man, and he liked to read, and he had a vivid imagination". He introduced Gilligan to film noir classics, as well as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood Westerns on late-night television. Gilligan won a scholarship to attend the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts. After eighth grade, he moved back to Chesterfield to attend high school.
After graduating from Lloyd C. Bird High School in 1985, Gilligan went on to attend NYU's Tisch School of the Arts on a scholarship, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film production. While at NYU, he wrote the screenplay for Home Fries; Gilligan received the Virginia Governor's Screenwriting Award in 1989 for the screenplay, which was later turned into a film. One of the judges of the competition was Mark Johnson, a film producer. He was impressed by Gilligan, saying he "was the most imaginative writer I'd ever read".- Actor
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Iconic comedian Louie Anderson, the three-time Emmy®-Award winner, was one of the country's most recognized and adored comics; named by Comedy Central as "One of 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians of All Time." His career spanned more than 30 years. He was a best-selling author, star of his own stand up specials and sitcoms, and toured, performing to standing-room only crowds worldwide.
Louis Perry Anderson was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the son of Ora Zella (Prouty) and Louis William Anderson, a trumpet player. He was of Swedish, Norwegian, and English descent. Sharing the ups and downs of his childhood experiences as one of eleven children, Louie crafted comedy routines that rang true for his early club audiences while reducing them to helpless fits of laughter, routines that led him from his career as a counselor to troubled children to the first-place trophy at the 1981 Midwest Comedy Competition. Henny Youngman, who hosted the competition, recognized the diamond-in-the-rough genius of the young comic and hired him as a writer, providing invaluable experience that soon put Louie in his own spotlight on comedy stages all over the country.
Johnny Carson, the comedy icon for generations of rising stars, invited Louie to make his national television debut on the "The Tonight Show" in 1984, and the rest is history. Leno, Letterman, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, "Comic Relief" and Showtime, HBO and CMT specials followed, including hosting the legendary game show, Family Feud, making Louie a household name and opening doors for him as an actor. He guest-starred in sitcoms like "Grace Under Fire" and dramas like "Touched by an Angel" and "Chicago Hope," and had memorable featured roles in film comedies like "Coming to America," opposite of Eddie Murphy, and the classic "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." In 2013, he took a dive on the ABC reality series, "Splash" where he conquered his own fears while becoming an inspiration of hope. His stand up Special, "Big Baby Boomer" premiered on CMT, in 2013. Also in that year, he competed and inspired on the ABC reality competition show, Splash.
In 1995 Louie put his creative energies to work on the Saturday morning animated series "Life with Louie." The long-running series based on Louie's own childhood and his life with his father won three Humanitas Prizes for writing on a children's' animated series, making him the only three-time recipient of this award. It also earned a Genesis Award for its depiction of the proper treatment of animals and, most significantly, two Emmy Awards.
His best selling books included Dear Dad - Letters From An Adult Child, a collection of alternately touching and outrageous letters from Louie to his late father, and Good-bye Jumbo...Hello Cruel World, self-help for those who struggle with self-esteem issues, and his latest installment on family, The F Word, How To Survive Your Family.
In 2016, Louie was cast to co-star along with Zach Galifianakis and Martha Kelly in the hit FX series, "Baskets." Anderson's extraordinary new role is Christine Baskets, the matriarch of the Baskets clan. The character is based on both his mother and his five sisters, who were a major presence in his life; "I'm not as nice in the character as my mom was as a person. It really is an extension of my mom, Anderson says, adding that he always aims to make his performance "as real as possible" without "affecting or cartooning it up. It felt like it was divine intervention when I got the call to be on the show, that somehow my mom, from the great beyond, was finally getting herself into show business where she truly belonged in the first place."
When not in production, Louie traveled the States doing what he loved to do, stand-up comedy, and again delivered to his fans his inimitable brand of humor and warmth. He died on January 21, 2022, in Las Vegas, of large B-cell lymphoma.- Actor
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Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the first incarnation of "In the Heights" his sophomore year at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Off-Broadway, "In The Heights" received nine Drama Desk nominations, including best music, best lyrics, and it won the award for outstanding ensemble performance; received the Lucille Lortel Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for best musical; received the Obie Award for outstanding music and lyrics; received a Theater World Award for outstanding debut Performance and the Clarence Derwent Award both for Mr. Miranda's performance. He is the recipient of the 2007 ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award. He has appeared on The Sopranos (1999) and Sex and the City (1998), House (2004), and The Electric Company (2006). He is also a co-founding member of Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip-hop comedy group that tours comedy festivals all over the world.- Actress
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- Soundtrack
Jessica Lange was born in 1949, in Cloquet, Minnesota, USA, where her father worked as a traveling salesman. She obtained a scholarship to study art at the University of Minnesota, but instead went to Paris to study drama. She moved to New York, working as a model, until producer Dino De Laurentiis cast her as the female lead in King Kong (1976). The film attracted much unfavorable comment and, as a result, Lange was off the screen for three years. She was given a small but showy part in Bob Fosse's All That Jazz (1979), before giving a memorable performance in Bob Rafelson's The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), as an adulterous waitress. The following year, she won rave reviews for her exceptional portrayal of actress Frances Farmer in Frances (1982) and a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her work in Sydney Pollack's Tootsie (1982) (as a beautiful soap-opera actress). She was also outstanding as country singer Patsy Cline in Karel Reisz's Sweet Dreams (1985) and as a lawyer who defends her father and discovers his past in Music Box (1989). Other important films include Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991) (as a frightened housewife) and Tony Richardson's Blue Sky (1994), for which she won a Best Actress Academy Award as the mentally unbalanced wife of a military officer. She made her Broadway debut in 1992, playing "Blanche" in Tennessee Williams "A Streetcar Named Desire".- Writer
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John Oliver was born on 23 April 1977 in Birmingham, England, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (2014), The Lion King (2019) and The Smurfs (2011). He has been married to Kate Norley since October 2011. They have two children.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Evan Rachel Wood was born September 7, 1987, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her father, Ira David Wood III, is a theatre actor, writer and director, and her mother, Sara Wood, is an actress and acting coach. She has two older brothers--Dana Wood, a musician, and Ira David Wood IV, who has also acted. Evan and her brothers sometimes performed at Theatre In The Park in Raleigh, which her father founded and where he serves as executive director.
At the age of five she screen-tested against Kirsten Dunst for the lead role in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) after a long auditioning process. She moved to Los Angeles with her mom and brother Ira in 1996 and has had success ever since, appearing in a TV series, TV movies and feature films. She has appeared in Practical Magic (1998), starred in the comedy S1m0ne (2002) as Al Pacino's daughter, and followed that with Thirteen (2003), with Holly Hunter. Her breakout role as Tracy in "Thirteen" garnered her a Golden Globes nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture: Drama and for a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role. At the time of this SAG nomination, she was the youngest actress to be nominated in the Leading Role category. She received a Golden Globe and Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie" for her portrayal of Veda Pierce in the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce (2011).
She also earned acclaim for her powerful performance as Stephanie, Mickey Rourke's estranged daughter, in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler (2008).- Actor
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- Additional Crew
Academy Award, Emmy and Tony Award nominee Brian Tyree Henry is a versatile actor whose career spans film, television and theater. Earlier this year, Henry starred opposite Jennifer Lawrence in A24's "Causeway," which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and is streaming globally on Apple TV+. For his role, Henry earned an Academy Award nomination and was included in Time Magazine's list of 10 best movie performances of the year. He also received the AAFCA Award and Black Reel Award for best supporting actor, a Critics' Choice Award nomination, Film Independent Spirit Award nomination and a Gotham Award nomination.
Henry is most widely known for his starring role in the Emmy, Golden Globe and Peabody Award winning FX series "Atlanta." For four seasons, Henry portrayed Alfred Miles, Atlanta's hot of the moment rapper who has been forced to navigate fame while remaining loyal to family, friends and himself. He received Emmy, SAG, Critics' Choice and MTV Movie & TV Award nominations for his work.
Henry is currently in production on the Apple TV+ series "Sinking Spring," which will be directed by Ridley Scott, and he will also reprise his role in Sony's animated feature "Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, releasing this June. He recently completed production on several projects, including Warner Brother's "Godzilla vs. Kong" sequel, MGM's feature film "Flint Strong" and the FX original limited series "Class Of '09," where he will portray the character of Tayo Michaels, a brilliant and unorthodox FBI agent. The series, releasing this May, examines the nature of justice, humanity and the choices people make that ultimately define their lives and legacy.
In 2022, Henry starred as "Lemon" in Sony's hit feature film "Bullet Train" alongside Brad Pitt and directed by David Leitch. In 2021, Henry starred in four feature films, including Marvel's "Eternals," directed by Chloe Zhao. Henry starred as "Phastos," the intelligent weapons and technology inventor. He also starred in Warner Brothers' blockbuster "Godzilla vs. Kong," in which he portrayed the character of Bernie, a truth seeking podcast host and conspiracy theorist, the indie drama "The Outside Story," in which he received rave reviews for his leading role, and in Netflix's "The Woman in the Window" opposite Amy Adams and Gary Oldman.
In 2018, Henry had a prolific year on the silver screen, starring in a diverse array of feature films. He co-starred in the action thriller "Hotel Artemis" alongside Jodie Foster and Sterling K. Brown, Sony's drama "White Boy Rick" with Matthew McConaughey, director Steve McQueen's thriller "Widows" opposite Viola Davis, Sony's Oscar-winning animated film "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" and Barry Jenkins' "If Beale Street Could Talk," for which he received critical acclaim (NAACP nomination) for his performance as the character "Daniel Carty." In 2019, Henry starred in MGM's "Child's Play," Blumhouse's "Don't Let Go," which premiered at Sundance, and the indie comedy "Fam-i-ly."
Henry's additional film credits include his NAACP nominated role in Netflix's "Vivo," "Superintelligence" with Melissa McCarthy and the indie films "Irreplaceable You," "Puerto Ricans in Paris" and "Crown Heights." On television, he has appeared in numerous shows, including "HouseBroken," Room 104," "Drunk History," "BoJack Horseman," "How To Get Away With Murder," "Vice Principals," "Boardwalk Empire," "The Knick," "The Good Wife" and "Law & Order." In 2017, he guest-starred as "Ricky" on NBC's "This Is Us," for which he earned an Emmy nomination.
Henry originated the role of "The General" in the critically acclaimed Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, for which he received high praise. In Spring 2018, Henry returned to Broadway in Kenneth Lonergan's Tony nominated play Lobby Hero. For his role, he received Tony, Drama Desk and Drama League Award nominations. Henry's wide-range of theater credits include The Fortress of Solitude and The Brother/Sister Plays/The Brothers Size (Helen Hayes Best Actor Nomination) at The Public Theatre, as well as Romeo and Juliet and Talk About Race at New York Stage and Film and The Public.
A graduate of Atlanta's Morehouse College, Henry received his MFA from Yale's School of Drama.- Actress
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Pamela Adlon comes from an acting family and began her career in television in 1983. She has appeared in many popular TV shows, including as a voice actress in a number of animated TV series including, most famously, King of the Hill (1997) for which she won an Emmy for her role as Bobby Hill.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Ron Cephas Jones was born on 8 January 1957 in Paterson, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for This Is Us (2016), Luke Cage (2016) and Half Nelson (2006). He died on 19 August 2023 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Producer
- Writer
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Anthony Bourdain was born in New York City, to Gladys (Sacksman), an NYT staff editor, and Pierre Bourdain, a Columbia Records executive. He attended The Englewood School for Boys in New Jersey and Vassar College (for two years), and was a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America. He began his career in the food industry as a dishwasher, gradually working his way up through preparation, to line cook, sous chef, and chef. He was executive chef of Manhattan's Brasserie Les Halles, which meant, in his words, that he got to "swan around the kitchen, taking credit for others' work." Bourdain lived in New York City, and had a daughter Ariane, with his wife Ottavia.- Director
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Lesli Linka Glatter is a director of film, network, cable, and premium cable television drama, with both pilots and episodes to her credit. Lesli's TV work includes Homeland (2011), The Newsroom (2012), The Walking Dead (2010), Justified (2010), Ray Donovan (2013), Masters of Sex (2013), Nashville (2012), Boss (2011), True Blood (2008), Mad Men (2007), The Good Wife (2009), Weeds (2005), House (2004), Heroes (2006), The West Wing (1999), NYPD Blue (1993), ER (1994), and Freaks and Geeks (1999), to name a few. Her first series was Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories (1985) followed by Twin Peaks (1990), for which she received her first Directors Guild Award nomination. Lesli has also directed numerous pilots including Grace (2011), Gilmore Girls (2000), In My Life (2002), Newton (2003), Six (2017) and Pretty Little Liars (2010). In addition, Lesli was the Co-Executive Producer/Director of Shawn Ryan's The Chicago Code (2011), NBC's The Playboy Club (2011), John Wells' Citizen Baines (2000), HBO's The Leftovers (2014) and was the Executive Producer/Director of Homeland (2011) Seasons 3 through 8.
Lesli began her directing career through the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women. Her short film, Tales of Meeting and Parting (1985), was nominated for an Academy Award, as well as winning numerous awards in festivals throughout the country.
Lesli made her feature film directorial debut with New Line's coming-of-age comedy, Now and Then (1995), featuring Demi Moore, Melanie Griffith, Rosie O'Donnell and Christina Ricci, followed by Polygram's romantic period drama The Proposition (1998), featuring Kenneth Branagh, Madeleine Stowe and William Hurt. She directed HBO's State of Emergency (1994), which she received a Cable ACE nomination for Best Picture, as well as a Humanitas Award nomination. Lesli's other HBO films include Into Into the Homeland (1987) and The Promise.
In 2010, Lesli was nominated for an Emmy for directing the Mad Men (2007) episode "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency (2009)," as well as winning a Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Dramatic Series for the same episode. In 2013, she was nominated for her third Directors Guild Award for the Homeland episode Q&A (2012) as well as an Emmy nomination for the same episode. In 2013, Lesli was nominated for her fourth Director's Guild Award for the season finale of Homeland (2011), The Star (2013). In 2015, Lesli won the Director's Guild Award for the Homeland (2011) episode From A to B and Back Again (2014) and received her 3rd Emmy nomination for that episode as well. Lesli's 6th DGA Award nomination was for the Homeland (2011) episode The Tradition of Hospitality (2015) as well as her 4th Emmy nomination. Lesli received her 5th Emmy nomination for the Homeland (2011) Season Finale, America First (2017) and her 7th DGA nomination for the America First (2017) Season Finale, Paean to the People (2018). Lesli has also received 2 Emmy Nominations as part of the America First (2017) production team for Best Drama Series.
Lesli serves as the 1st Vice President of the Directors Guild of America, is on the DGA's Western Directors Council, as well as being an adviser at the Sundance Directors Lab. She serves on the Executive Committee of the Directors Branch of The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Lesli recently received the Caucus Foundation Award, the Dorothy Arzner Directing Award from Women in Film, and the Franklin Schaffner Award from the American Film Institute, as well as an Honorary Degree from the American Film Institute. Lesli has been actively mentoring for many years and most recently helped develop the successful program, NBC Female Forward. Lesli has been involved on projects for Netflix, Amazon, Showtime and Epix.
Prior to her work as a director, Lesli was a modern dance choreographer, working throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States.- Actress
- Producer
Claire Elizabeth Foy (born 16 April 1984) is an English actress. She studied acting at the Liverpool John Moores University and the Oxford School of Drama and made her screen debut in the pilot of the supernatural comedy series Being Human, in 2008. Following her professional stage debut at the Royal National Theatre, she played the title role in the BBC One miniseries Little Dorrit (2008), and made her film debut in the American historical fantasy drama Season of the Witch (2011). Following leading roles in the television series The Promise (2011) and Crossbones (2014), Foy received praise for portraying the ill-fated queen Anne Boleyn in the miniseries Wolf Hall (2015).
Foy gained international recognition for portraying the young Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of the Netflix series The Crown (2016-2017), for which she won a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, among other awards. In 2018, she starred in Steven Soderbergh's psychological thriller Unsane and portrayed Janet Shearon, wife of astronaut Neil Armstrong, in Damien Chazelle's biopic First Man. For the latter, she was nominated for the BAFTA and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.
Foy was born in Stockport. She has said that her mother, Caroline, comes from "a massive Irish family". Her maternal grandparents were from Dublin and Kildare, respectively. She grew up in Manchester and Leeds, the youngest of three children. Her family later moved to Longwick, Buckinghamshire, for her father's job as a salesman for Rank Xerox. Her parents divorced when she was eight.
Foy attended Aylesbury High School, a girls' grammar school, from the age of twelve; she then attended Liverpool John Moores University, studying drama and screen studies. She also trained in a one-year course at the Oxford School of Drama. She graduated in 2007 and moved to Peckham to share a house "with five friends from drama school".- Producer
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- Director
Judd Apatow is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He directed The 40-Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, This is 40, Funny People, Trainwreck and The King of Staten Island. He also developed the television shows Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Girls, Love and Crashing. He is married to Leslie Mann and has two children.- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Dave Chappelle's career started while he was in high school at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC where he studied theatre arts. At the age of 14, he began performing stand-up comedy in nightclubs. Shortly after graduation, he moved to New York City where he quickly established himself as a major young talent. At the age of 19, Chappelle made his film debut in Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993). Chappelle then starred in the short-lived sitcom, Buddies (1996) and had a featured role in The Nutty Professor (1996).- Actor
- Producer
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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).- Director
- Producer
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Jamie Babbit was born on 16 November 1970 in Shaker Heights, Ohio, USA. She is a director and producer, known for But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), Only Murders in the Building (2021) and My Lady Jane (2024). She was previously married to Karey Dornetto.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Carrie Frances Fisher was born on October 21, 1956 in Burbank, California, to singers/actors Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. She was an actress and writer known for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). Fisher is also known for her book, "Postcards from the Edge", and she wrote the screenplay for the movie based on her novel. Carrie Fisher and talent agent Bryan Lourd have a daughter, Billie Lourd (Billie Catherine Lourd), born on July 17, 1992.- Actress
- Producer
Most recently, Keri can be seen starring in "The Diplomat" for Netflix in which Keri plays the titular role of an American Diplomat in London. She also stars in an episode of the limited anthology series "Extrapolations" created by Scott Burns. She also recently starred in "Cocaine Bear" for Universal Pictures from director Elizabeth Banks. Last year, she starred in the supernatural horror thriller "Antlers" for director Scott Cooper and producer Guillermo del Toro, and in "Star Wars: Episode IX" which reunited her with friend and director J.J. Abrams.
For six seasons Keri starred in the critically acclaimed FX series "The Americans" for which she received a Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Drama, three Emmy Award nominations, two Golden Globe Award nominations, six Critics' Choice Award nominations - one win - and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.
Russell's film credits include "We Were Soldiers," "Mad About Mambo," "The Upside of Anger," "Mission Impossible III," "August Rush," "The Girl In The Park," "Bedtime Stories," Extraordinary Measures," "Goats," "Austenland," "Dark Skies," "Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes," "Free State Of Jones," and the romantic comedy "Waitress" for which she received rave reviews.
Keri first garnered attention when she starred in the title role of the hit television series "Felicity" from J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves. Just four months after the show's acclaimed premiere on the WB, she was honored with a Golden Globe® Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Drama Series.
Keri's other television credits include the miniseries "Into the West," executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the Hallmark Hall of Fame Presentation "The Magic of Ordinary Days," and "Running Wilde" with Will Arnett.
Keri starred alongside Adam Driver in the Broadway revival of Lanford Wilson's "Burn This." The limited engagement play, directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer, opened in March 2019 and ran through July 2019.
Russell returned to New York theatre after making her off- Broadway stage debut in production of Neil LaBute's "Fat Pig," in 2005.- Actress
- Producer
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Samira Wiley was born on 15 April 1987 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Orange Is the New Black (2013), The Sitter (2011) and The Handmaid's Tale (2017). She has been married to Lauren Morelli since 25 March 2017.- Actor
- Producer
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Tony Hale was born on 30 September 1970 in West Point, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Arrested Development (2003), Veep (2012) and Toy Story 4 (2019). He has been married to Martel Thompson Hale since 24 May 2003. They have one child.- Actor
- Producer
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Geoffrey Roy Rush was born on July 6, 1951, in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, to Merle (Bischof), a department store sales assistant, and Roy Baden Rush, an accountant for the Royal Australian Air Force. His mother was of German descent and his father had English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. He was raised in Brisbane, Queensland, after his parents split up.
Rush attended Everton Park State High School during his formative years. His early interest in the theatre led to his 1971 stage debut at age 20 in "Wrong Side of the Moon" with the Queensland Theatre Company.
Known for his classical repertory work over the years, he scored an unexpected hit with his Queensland role as Snoopy in the musical "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown". A few years later he moved to France to study but subsequently returned to his homeland within a short time and continued work as both actor and director with the Queensland company ("June and the Paycock," "Aladdin," "Godspell," "Present Laughter," "The Rivals"). In the 1980s Rush became a vital member of the State Theatre Company of South Australia and showed an equally strong range there in such productions as "Revenger's Tragedy," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Mother Courage...and Her Children," "Blood Wedding," "Pal Joey," "Twelfth Night" and as The Fool in "King Lear".
Rush made an inauspicious debut in films with the feature Hoodwink (1981), having little more than a bit part, and didn't carry off his first major role until playing Sir Andrew Aguecheek in a movie production of Twelfth Night (1986). Yet, he remained a durable presence on stage with acclaimed productions in "The Diary of a Madman" in 1989 and "The Government Inspector" in 1991.
Rush suffered a temporary nervous breakdown in 1992 due to overwork and anguish over his lack of career advancement. Resting for a time, he eventually returned to the stage. Within a few years film-goers finally began taking notice of Geoffrey after his performance in Children of the Revolution (1996). This led to THE role of a lifetime as the highly dysfunctional piano prodigy David Helfgott in Shine (1996). Rush's astonishing tour-de-force performance won him every conceivable award imaginable, including the Oscar, Golden Globe, British Film Award and Australian Film Institute Award.
"Shine" not only put Rush on the international film map, but atypically on the Hollywood "A" list as well. His rather homely mug was made fascinating by a completely charming, confident and captivating demeanor; better yet, it allowed him to more easily dissolve into a number of transfixing historical portrayals, notably his Walsingham in Elizabeth (1998) and Leon Trotsky in Frida (2002). He's also allowed himself to have a bit of hammy fun in such box office escapism as Mystery Men (1999), House on Haunted Hill (1999), The Banger Sisters (2002), Finding Nemo (2003) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). More than validating his early film success, two more Oscar nominations came his way in the same year for Quills (2000) (best actor) and Shakespeare in Love (1998) (support actor) in 2000. Geoffrey's amazing versatility continued into the millennium with his portrayal of the manic, volatile comedy genius Peter Sellers in the biopic The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004). He also merited attention as Lionel Logue in The King's Speech (2010), Basil Hunter in The Eye of the Storm (2011), Hans Hubermann in The Book Thief (2013), artist/sculptor Alberto Giocometti in Final Portrait (2017) and Michael Kingley Storm Boy (2019).
Rush's intermittent returns to the stage have included productions of "Marat-Sade," "Uncle Vanya," "Oleanna," "Hamlet" and "The Small Poppies". In 2009 he made his Broadway debut in "Exit the King" co-starring Susan Sarandon. His marriage (since 1988) to Aussie classical actress Jane Menelaus produced daughter Angelica (1992) and son James (1995). Menelaus, who has also performed with the State Theatre of South Australia, has co-starred on stage with Rush in "The Winter's Tale" (1987), "Troilus and Cressida" (1989) and "The Importance of Being Earnest" (as Gwendolyn to his Jack Worthing). She also had featured roles in a few of his films, including Quills (2000) and The Eye of the Storm (2011).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Shannon Purser is an American actress, known to audiences for her roles in the series Stranger Things (2016) as Barbara "Barb" Holland, and CW's teen drama Riverdale (2017) as "Ethel Muggs". She was born on June 27, 1997, in Atlanta, Georgia, where she worked at a movie theatre. She switched her focus on a career in acting. After making her screen debut in 2016 on "Stranger Things", other television projects soon followed, including "Riverdale" (2017) and a pilot for a series called Rise (2018). Between television projects, Shannon made her film debut in the fantasy-horror venture Wish Upon (2017). She quickly joined the cast for the 2018 series Final Space (2018) and the 2018 comedy Life of the Party (2018), and landed her first leading role, in the 2018 comedy Sierra Burgess Is a Loser (2018).- Actor
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Mandy Patinkin was born Mandel Bruce Patinkin in Chicago, Illinois, to Doris "Doralee" (Sinton), a homemaker and cookbook writer, and Lester Patinkin, who operated two scrap metal plants. He is of Russian Jewish and Latvian Jewish descent. Growing up, he began singing in synagogue choirs at the age of 13-14 and still continues to use his fantastic voice in musicals and in recordings. Attending Juilliard, he became good friends with actor Kelsey Grammer and upon hearing that Cheers (1982) was auditioning for the role of Dr. Frasier Crane he immediately put Grammer's name forward for the role. Rumours persist about Patinkin's sudden departure from Criminal Minds (2005). He simply failed to show up one day for a table read. He has contacted the entire cast to explain what is referred to as "personal reasons" for leaving. It seems that although Patinkin was prepared for the show to include violence the actual level of violence portrayed was unacceptable to the actor. He left to do more light hearted work. Patinkin supports many charities including: PAX, Doctors Without Borders, Americans for Peace Now, The September 11th Fund, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America and Gilda's Club.- Music Artist
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Snoop Dogg is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, media personality, entrepreneur, and actor.
His music career began in 1992 when he was discovered by Dr. Dre and featured on Dre's solo debut, "Deep Cover", and then on Dre's solo debut album, The Chronic. He has since sold over 23 million albums in the United States and 35 million albums worldwide.
Snoop's debut album, Doggystyle, produced by Dr. Dre, was released in 1993 by Death Row Records. Bolstered by excitement driven by Snoop's featuring on The Chronic, the album debuted at number one on both the Billboard 200 and Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Selling almost a million copies in the first week of its release, Doggystyle became certified quadruple platinum in 1994 and spawned several hit singles, including "What's My Name?" and "Gin & Juice". In 1994 Snoop released a soundtrack on Death Row Records for the short film Murder Was the Case, starring himself. His second album, Tha Doggfather (1996), also debuted at number one on both charts, with "Snoop's Upside Ya Head" as the lead single. The album was certified double platinum in 1997.
After leaving Death Row Records, Snoop signed with No Limit Records, where he recorded his next three albums, Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told (1998), No Limit Top Dogg (1999), and Tha Last Meal (2000). Snoop then signed with Priority/Capitol/EMI Records in 2002, where he released Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss. He then signed with Geffen Records in 2004 for his next three albums, R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, and Ego Trippin'. Malice 'n Wonderland (2009), and Doggumentary (2011) were released on Priority. Snoop Dogg has starred in motion pictures and hosted several television shows. He also coaches a youth football league and high school football team.
Snoop has 17 Grammy nominations without a win. In March 2016, the night before WrestleMania 32 in Arlington, Texas, he was inducted into the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame, having made several appearances for the company, including as Master of Ceremonies during a match at WrestleMania XXIV. On November 19, 2018, Snoop Dogg was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He released his seventeenth solo album, I Wanna Thank Me in 2019.- Actress
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Kimberly Alexis Bledel was born in Houston, Texas, to Nanette (Dozier) and Martin Bledel. Her parents are both Spanish-speakers (her mother was born in Arizona and raised in Mexico, and her father was born in Argentina), and Alexis's ancestry includes Danish, Welsh, English, Scottish, Irish, and French.
Alexis made her television debut in Gilmore Girls (2000), after spending years in front of the camera as a model. Bledel's parents encouraged her to try community theater in Houston when she was 8 years old, hoping it would help their daughter overcome her shyness. She went on to perform in productions of Our Town, The Wizard of Oz and Aladdin, and later was scouted in a local mall to model. She began her modeling career while still in high school, traveling all over to locations like Tokyo, Milan, New York and Los Angeles. After graduating, she enrolled at NYU as a film major. In the Spring of 2000, Bledel landed a manager through her modeling agency and headed to Los Angeles for her first pilot season, where she quickly landed the coveted role of Rory on Gilmore Girls (2000).
When she's not working, Bledel enjoys writing, reading, shooting photography, going to the movies and spending time with her family. She was married to actor Vincent Kartheiser, with whom she has a son.- Producer
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Spike Jonze made up one-third (along with Andy Jenkins and Mark Lewman) of the triumvirate of genius minds behind Dirt Magazine, the brother publication of the much lamented ground-breaking Sassy Magazine. These three uncommon characters were all editors for Grand Royal Magazine as well, under the direction of Mike D and Adam Horovitz and Adam Yauch before the sad demise of Grand Royal Records. Jonze was also responsible for directing the famous Beastie Boys: Sabotage (1994) short film as well as numerous other music videos for various artists.- Actress
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Ellie Kemper, born Elizabeth Claire Kemper on May 2, 1980, is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She is best-known for her role as "Erin Hannon" in the NBC series The Office (2005), as well as her supporting roles in the films Bridesmaids (2011) and 21 Jump Street (2012)). She plays the title role in the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015), for which she has received critical acclaim. In the summer of 2015, she joined NBC News as a temporary co-host on NBC's morning news program, The Today (1952) Show.- Actress
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Alison Wright was born on 12 July 1976 in Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for The Accountant (2016), The Americans (2013) and The Nanny Diaries (2007).- Actor
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Born and raised in Washington DC, Jeffrey Wright graduated from Amherst College in 1987. Although he studied Political Science while at Amherst, Wright left the school with a love for acting. Shortly after graduating he won an acting scholarship to NYU, but dropped out after only two months to pursue acting full-time. With roles in Presumed Innocent (1990), and the Broadway production of Angels in America, (in which he won a Tony award), within a relatively short time Wright was able to show off his exceptional talent and ability on both stage and screen alike. His first major on-screen performance came in 1996 in the Julian Schnabel directed film Basquiat (1996). Wright's harrowing performance as the late painter Jean Michele Basquiat was critically acclaimed. Wright later had a continuing role in the HBO dramatic series Boardwalk Empire (2010).- Producer
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Tim Gunn was born in Washington DC. He began working at New York's Parson's The New School for Design in 1982, and serves as chair of the department of fashion design. During the school's summer hiatus, Gunn is involved in the hit TV show Project Runway (2004) where he serves as a den father and mentor to the contestants. Gunn lives in New York City.- Actress
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Thandiwe Newton was born in London. She is the daughter of Zimbabwean mother Nyasha, a health-care worker from the Shona tribe, and British father Nick Newton, who worked as a lab technician. She lived in Zambia until political unrest caused her family to move back to the UK, where she lived in Cornwall (in southwest Britain) until she was 11 and enrolled in London's Art Educational School to study modern dance until a back injury forced her to quit dancing. This led to her auditioning for films. Her first role was in John Duigan's Flirting (1991). She then moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue acting. When her British accent limited the amount of work she was getting, she returned to Britain, studied at Cambridge University, and earned a degree in anthropology. Between semesters she continued acting and became noticed in in- demand for future film roles.- Producer
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Martha Stewart was born on 3 August 1941 in Nutley, New Jersey, USA. She is a producer and actress, known for Bad Moms (2016), Men in Black II (2002) and Pixels (2015). She was previously married to Andrew Stewart.- Producer
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Son of Danny Singleton, a mortgage broker, and Sheila Ward, a pharmaceutical company sales executive, and raised in separate households by his unmarried parents, John Singleton attended the Film Writing Program at USC, after graduating from high school in 1986. While studying there, he won three writing awards from the university, which led to a contract with Creative Artists Agency during his sophomore year. Columbia Pictures bought his script for Boyz n the Hood (1991) and budgeted it at $7 million. Singleton noted that much of the story comes from his own experiences in South Central LA and credited his parents with keeping him off the street.- Editorial Department
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Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, and science communicator.
Born and raised in New York City, Tyson became interested in astronomy at the age of nine after a visit to the Hayden Planetarium. After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science, where he was editor-in-chief of the Physical Science Journal, he completed a bachelor's degree in physics at Harvard University in 1980. After receiving a master's degree in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin in 1983, he earned his master's (1989) and doctorate (1991) in astrophysics at Columbia University. For the next three years, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University. In 1994 he joined the Hayden Planetarium as a staff scientist and the Princeton faculty as a visiting research scientist and lecturer. In 1996, he became director of the planetarium and oversaw its $210-million reconstruction project, which was completed in 2000.
From 1995 to 2005, Tyson wrote monthly essays in the "Universe" column for Natural History magazine, some of which were published in his book Death by Black Hole (2007). During the same period, he wrote a monthly column in Star Date magazine, answering questions about the universe under the pen name "Merlin". Material from the column appeared in his books Merlin's Tour of the Universe (1998) and Just Visiting This Planet (1998). Tyson served on a 2001 government commission on the future of the U.S. aerospace industry, and on the 2004 Moon, Mars and Beyond commission. He was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in the same year.
In 2014, he hosted the television series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, a successor to Carl Sagan's 1980 series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.
As a science communicator, Tyson regularly appears on television, radio, and various other media outlets.- Producer
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John Dahl is known for 30 for 30 (2009), The Sporting Life with Jim Huber (1992) and The All-American Cuban Comet (2020).- Writer
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Pat Cassels is known for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (2016), CollegeHumor Originals (2006) and The Final Girls (2015).- Actor
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Emmy-nominated actor and producer Michael Kenneth Williams was one of his generation's most respected and acclaimed talents. By bringing complicated and charismatic characters to life--often with surprising tenderness--Williams established himself as a gifted and versatile performer with a unique ability to mesmerize audiences with his stunning character portrayals.
Born in 1966 in Brooklyn, Williams was best known for his remarkable work on The Wire (2002). The wit and humor that Williams brought to Omar, the whistle-happy, profanity-averse, openly gay drug dealer-robbing stickup man, earned him high praise, and made Omar one of television's most memorable characters. Williams also co-starred in HBO's critically acclaimed series Boardwalk Empire (2010), in which he played Chalky White, a 1920s bootlegger and the impeccably suited, veritable mayor of Atlantic City's African American community. In 2012, "Boardwalk Empire" won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. He received his first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie for HBO's Bessie (2015) and subsequently received his second nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for his portrayal of Freddy in HBO's The Night Of (2016).
In 2018, Vice (2013) returned for its sixth season with an extended special season premiere produced by and featuring Williams as he embarked on a personal journey to expose the root of the American mass incarceration crisis: the juvenile justice system. The episode "Raised in the System" offered a frank and unflinching look at those caught up the system, exploring why the country's mass incarceration problem cannot be fixed without first addressing the juvenile justice problem. Williams investigated the solutions that local communities were employing that resulted in drastic drops in both crime and incarceration. Michael garnered his first Emmy nomination as a producer for this incredible documentary and continues to host screenings across the country as a way to educate and raise awareness.
Giving back to the community played an important role in Williams' off-camera life. He launched Making Kids Win, a charitable organization, the primary objective of which is to build community centers in urban neighborhoods that are in need of safe spaces for children to learn and play. Williams served as the ACLU's Ambassador of Smart Justice.
Williams began his career as a performer by dancing professionally at age 22. After numerous appearances in music videos and as a background dancer on concert tours for Madonna and George Michael, Williams decided to pursue acting seriously. He participated in several productions of the La MaMA Experimental Theater, the prestigious National Black Theater Company. and the Theater for a New Generation, directed by Mel Williams.
Michael K. Williams was born, raised, and resided in Brooklyn, New York, until his death on September 6, 2021.- Actress
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Aduba began earning recognition for her work in 2003, with a performance in "Translations of Xhosa" at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts that won her a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Play. Her Broadway debut was in 2007 as Toby in "Coram Boy". She was a member of the Original Revival Cast of "Godspell" at the Circle in the Square Theatre from 2011 through 2012. She also played the mother of the title character of "Venice" at The Public Theater in New York.
Her first television appearance was on the TV Series "Blue Bloods" in 2012. In 2013 she began to receive wider recognition and acclaim for her portrayal of Suzanne Warren, also known as "Crazy Eyes", in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black (2013).- Actress
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Regina King was born in Los Angeles, California, to Gloria, a special education teacher, and Thomas King, an electrician. She began her career in the television show 227 (1985), followed by a role in Boyz n the Hood (1991). She began to be recognized by a mainstream audience after her role as Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character's wife in Jerry Maguire (1996). She co-starred in Enemy of the State (1998) as Will Smith's character's wife.